Title: Rebirth of the Evil Mother-In-Law
Translator: Fringe Capybara
Chapter 2 - Previous Life (2)
Fang JunRong tried her best to control her emotions as she asked, “Which dress? You dyed your hair?”
Feeling a little guilty, Li XinYun touched the tip of her hair before she defended herself, “I have already graduated high school. You said before that I can dye my hair after the university entrance examination. Mom, where’s that dress that was given to me by Aunty? I can’t remember where I put it. I want to wear it on my birthday.”
Her daughter XinYun was the only thing that kept her going when she was in the mental institution. She had reminisce over every memory of her daughter and every little bit of it seemed like it had just happened yesterday.
“It's over on my side. You didn’t want to misplace it so you put it over on my side specifically.”
“Oh yeah! I had forgotten all about it!” said Li XinYun as she stuck her tongue out briefly, feeling silly. Then, wrapping her arm around her mother’s, she said to her mother affectionately, “Mom’s the best. Oh, right, mom. Do you think I can invite my classmates to my birthday?”
Fang JunRong had never been able to resist puppy eyes from her daughter. Now that she had gone back eight years and knew what was installed for her daughter, how could she let any sadness touch that smile of hers?
“Of course you can. You can invite as many people as you want.”
“Heh, I knew mom loved me the most.” Li XinYun went on jabbering about herself. Fang JunRong looked at her smile and couldn’t help but recall another detail. Jiang YaGe’s parents passed away on the same day as XinYun’s birthday. In her previous life, XinYun looked forward to her birthday so much and coordinated everything herself yet her husband Li WangJin used “it would upset YaGe” as an excuse and cancelled it. Even her son stood on his side. XinYun was his real daughter, but he’d put Jiang YaGe ahead of her on everything.
This was the beginning of XinYun’s displeasure with Jiang YaGe, and everything else snowballed from here on out.
XinYun might have a little bit of a temper, but she was not a petty person. If the other two didn’t place Jiang YaGe before her on just about anything, she never would have hated Jiang YaGe so much.
This time around, she wouldn’t let her daughter feel a shred of grievance. Her man? She didn’t want him anymore. Her son? She’d just pretend that she had given birth just to a placenta. She owed them nothing. Any last bit of love she had for her son was gone during her time at the mental institution. The timing of her rebirth wasn’t the best. She still had a lot of faith in her husband then, and he had control of the company. If she was to divorce him now, she wouldn’t be able to come out ahead.
She has time. She could take her time and plan it all out. She would take back everything that was hers!
Listening to her daughter’s coquettish voice, the darkness around her started to dissipate.
“XinYun, why are you still gluing to your mother all day long like an immature child?”
The smile on Fang JunRong’s lips disappeared after hearing her husband’s voice. The man whom she was supposed to spend the rest of her life was one of those who hurt her the most.
“XinYun will always be a child in my mind no matter how old she is. I like her around me,” said Fang JunRong mildly while exercising her best self-control to not jump up and scratch the hell out of that face.
Appearance-wise, Li WangJin, who was already in his 40s, was well maintained and looked to be in his thirties. That plus his incredible net worth caused him to have many admirers over the years, but he had turned them all down and earned the reputation of being a good husband in the eyes of the public. Fang JunRong had once been very proud of that. But she never expected that great husband of hers would one day be able to watch his own daughter suffer and watch his wife taken to the mental institution and suffer the way she did there.
When the public thought that it was Jiang YaGe who was not familial, it was Li WangJin who stood up and stamped the approval that Fang JunRong had bad temperament and was the source of all the problems. He blamed his wife for mistreating Jiang YaGe. In his eyes, everything was Fang JunRong’s fault.
Thinking of that, the burning hatred inside of her hit her like a tidal wave and almost drowned her. Up until the end of her life, she never figured out why he treated Jiang YaGe better than his own daughter and why was he able to be so ruthless to her and her daughter.
Li WangJin put on a resigned look as though he was going along with them. “The two of you are always on the same side. I can never win.”
Li XinYun said gloatingly, “Mom loves me the most.”
“Then can XinYun let me borrow your mother for a few minutes? There’s something I wanted to talk to her about,” said Li WangJin.
Li XinYun wasn’t an immature person. As though she had misunderstood something, she winked at Fang JunRong and let go of her. She bounced away and her voice came from afar, “Don’t worry. I won’t eavesdrop on the adults’ secrets!”
Fang JunRong, on the other hand, had a pretty good idea what Li WangJin wanted to talk to her about. It was probably about how he wanted to bring over Jiang YaGe; it was about that time.
After their daughter was gone, Li WangJin let out a sigh and a disturbed look. “JunRong, do you remember the kid Jiang YaGe?”
How could she not?
Fang JunRong snickered to herself but said calmly, “The one who’s lost her parents to a car accident, right?”
“Yes, that one,” said Li WangJin as a hint of pain flashed through his eyes. “Originally, I figured that even though she had lost her parents, they have left her with plenty of money so she would still be alright. Who’d have thought that her relatives could be so ruthless that they had taken away her money and her house with the help of her grandmother?
“Not only did they leave her nothing for her college tuition, they even wanted to marry her off to some old man back in the village. Her father was my roommate back in college. I can’t just stand around and let this happen to her, so I would like to bring her over.”
Those were the exact same words from her previous life.
That was truly not a dream.
Fang JunRong’s nails were about to dig into her own palm. Back then, she had been friends with Jiang YaGe’s father and also felt bad learning about what had happened to her and agreed to Li WangJin’s suggestion right away. But this time around…
“What do you think, JunRong?”
Perhaps, she had remained silent for too long, so there was a rare sense of anxiousness in Li WangJin’s voice.
Fang JunRong looked up and put on the perfect look. She frowned slightly as those she felt for her and said, “What had happened to her was very awful.”
She paused for a little and carried on, “But if she is to stay here without an official title, she’d have to withstand a lot of gossip for living in someone else’s house.”
Her words had, indeed, gave Li WangJin some hesitation.
Fang JunRong continued to say, “Why don’t we make it official and adopt her? That way she won’t be looked down upon.”
Li WangJin was ecstatic, “JunRong, you are indeed the most caring and reasonable person in the world.”
Fang JunRong did not fail to notice the irony in this whole situation. Anyone who didn’t know better would think that Jiang YaGe was his real daughter. He had never been that nice to XinJun before. But since he looked at Jiang YaGe as his own daughter, it was her duty to make sure that was the case. They’d be long divorce by then, and Jiang YaGe wouldn’t get any of her inheritance anyway.
What Fang JunRong really wanted to find out was, with the added sibling title between them, would her wonderful son still fall madly in love with Jiang YaGe?