Shi Lan pulled her daughter to sit down, her tone was unprecedentedly gentle.
"Your sister doesn't know what happened tonight. We want to give her a surprise. Then you..."
Listening to his mother expressing the same very simple matter in complicated language, Shi Rao smiled on his face and sighed in his heart.
Do we want to give Xie Yu a surprise, or you, the stepmother, want to give her a surprise
"Remember? Don't make mistakes."
Shi Rao, who hadn't celebrated her birthday at home for three years, looked at the plan written down by her mother stroke by stroke, and her heart was constantly filled with sour water.
"Don't worry, I'm here, no problem."
The two mothers looked at each other and smiled, with warmth flowing between their brows and eyes.
"Alan, look how lucky you are, two daughters! You don't look like me, you only have one son who is out of tune all day long."
As soon as the voice spread, the incoherent son came over, Qiu Cheng swaggered in with his hands in his hands, followed by a fat tiger with a steamed face.
"Mom, why am I out of tune? Last night, I worked overtime until after three o'clock. I don't have any credit but hard work."
After speaking, he looked at the mother and daughter in surprise, as if he had just noticed a visitor at home.
"When did Aunt Shi and Rao Rao come here? Why didn't I see it outside?"
Le Weiwei, who had been worried that Shi Rao, a wild child, would seduce her precious son just now, was quietly relieved when she heard this.
"Don't pretend to be wronged here, why do you work overtime until three o'clock, don't you know?"
After finishing speaking, she deliberately gave her son a sideways look, urging him to leave here.
"Hurry up and go upstairs to read the documents. If you delay work, be careful that your father makes you work overtime every day."
Qiu Cheng didn't understand his mother's reaction, why did he let him leave when the guests came? Not enemies.
However, thinking that there is still a chance to meet in the evening, he nodded with a flat mouth.
"That's fine, I'll go up first, lest my dad come back and scold people."
"Aunt Shi, I'm going upstairs to work overtime first, you and my mother continue to chat."
"Okay, young people should focus on their careers."
Taking a full view of Qiu's mother's reaction, Shi Rao deliberately flirted with Qiu Cheng secretly in front of her, which made his mouth dry, and wanted to take her back to the bedroom to educate her.
Before leaving, Qiu Cheng gave her a "wait for me" look, Shi Rao returned a winking look not to be outdone, and said in a coquettish voice.
"Brother Qiu Cheng, come on."
Looking back, she asked Shangqiu's mother pretending to be dazed when she met Shangqiu's mother's resentful eyes.
"Aunt Le, why have you been staring at me today? Is there something strange on my face?"
She lowered her head pretendingly, and wiped her face carelessly with her pale fingers, as if she wanted to wipe things off.
Le Weiwei, who had almost lost her size, was taken aback for a while before regaining her hostess' aura, and said with a smirk on the corners of her mouth.
"No, no, I just think you are different from the TV."
Upon hearing this, Shi Rao got excited, took out the state of filming, and looked at the other party earnestly.
"Have you been watching my drama recently? Is it "Dream Maker"? What do you think of my performance? To be honest, I don't think my performance is very good this time, but everyone in the studio said it was good."
Dreammaker is a movie she filmed last year. Jiang Zixing and Bai Shanshan, who are trending today, are her boyfriend and best friend in the movie.
"I always feel that they are comforting me. You have watched TV dramas for so many years. I believe in your vision. Would you like to comment?"
"ah?"
Like falling beans, she threw out several questions in one breath, which made Qiu's mother confused. She didn't recover for a long time, but Shi Lan who was on the side came out to make a solution.
"What are you talking about? It depends on how embarrassing you Auntie Le is. She is just being polite to you. You are still online, right?"
As soon as her mother gave her a lecture, she looked like an eggplant beaten by frost again, pitifully lowering her head. Seeing her deflated, Le Weiwei was happy, and came out lovingly to smooth things over.
"Alan, don't be so strict with Rao Rao. She has not been with you since she was a child, so she must be different from Yu'er. You have to tolerate her and teach her slowly."
Hearing that she was implying that he had no tutor, Shi Rao gritted his teeth and wanted to go back, but his mother took a step ahead.
"Oh, if only she was as sensible as Yu'er, I..."
Seeing them praising Xie Yu back and forth, the frost in Shi Rao's eyes was getting thicker and thicker, and he looked at the teacup absent-mindedly with one hand on his chin, as if he couldn't understand what they were saying at all.
****
Back at Xie's house, she planned to go upstairs to rest, but when she reached the stairs, she was stopped by her mother.
"Rao Rao, don't be in a hurry to go upstairs, and practice what your mother told you. There can be no mistakes in today's surprise party."
"I want to say hello to my grandmother. I haven't gone to say hello to her until now."
Thinking of that unsmiling mother-in-law, Shi Lan's expression froze for a moment, and she hurriedly changed her words with a smile.
"Look at my memory, then go up quickly, she should be practicing calligraphy in the room at this time."
"I'll come down after talking with grandma."
Leaving this sentence behind, she ran up to the second floor, pursing her red lips where her mother couldn't see, the irony in her eyes was evident.
Walking to the door of her grandmother's room, she knocked lightly on the door and opened the door to ask for permission.
The old lady's bedroom is a three-bedroom decorated in pure Chinese style. When the door is opened, there is a large living room. On the right is her bedroom, and on the left is the study.
Two circular arches opened up three rooms, and Yu Man folded his hands in front of him, looking like a lady. Gently push aside the beaded curtain on the arch, and you can see the old lady in Tang suit who is full of hair but full of energy.
"Grandma, I'm back."
The old lady raised her eyes, and when she saw her, she bent her lips and smiled, put down the wolf hair in her hand, and walked out from behind the desk.
"It turned out to be Rao Rao, finally willing to come back to see me, an old lady?"
"What are you talking about? When I was on the set, I thought of you every day."
Shi Rao glanced at the Four Treasures of the Study on the desk, raised her eyebrows obediently, and gently shook her grandmother's hand.
"You are practicing calligraphy again, when will you give me a set of calligraphy, I will take it back and hang it in the house, and improve accordingly."
Looking at the quirky little granddaughter, the old lady took off her glasses and asked her with a smile.
"What do you want me to write?"
Hearing this, she tilted her head and rubbed her chin in embarrassment to think, and finally she had a flash of inspiration.
"Just write four words to attract wealth and treasure!"
"You skinny monkey, you want to be beaten again, don't you?"
The old lady waved her hand pretendingly, she shrank her neck in cooperation and hid around, begging for mercy while hiding.
"Rao Rao knows it's wrong, grandma, please don't hit me."
"Okay, don't fight with you, come out and have a cup of tea."
It's strange to say that although she doesn't like Shi Lan, she likes Shi Rao more than her granddaughter Xie Yu.
"Just came back from Qiu's house, have you figured out that matter?"
Before the words finished, the smile on Shi Rao's face disappeared. Grandma was the only person in the family who knew about the things between her and Qiu Cheng. This question was naturally about him.
"Honestly, I can't do it, I still like him."
"But he is very likely to become your brother-in-law. Although I prefer you, I will never allow the Xie family to become someone's gossip."
Facing grandmother's kind reminder, or gentle warning, Shi Rao touched the cup wall and sighed faintly.
"I know that if they do get engaged, I'm out. I'm back this time just to try again and fight for it again."
Taking advantage of the opportunity to celebrate her sister's birthday, to re-enter this circle and return to Qiu Cheng's side, even if she tried all 36 tricks, she would still let that man stand by her side wholeheartedly.
"Tell me, if this is the case, why did you break up with him in the first place?"
When it came to the breakup, she said innocently, dumbfounded.
"You were young and energetic back then. Knowing that his mother didn't like me, I couldn't calm down."
"is that so?"
Knowing that grandma saw it, Shi Rao smiled awkwardly, "Just treat it like this, anyway, I am prepared this time, and I must take him down!"
Compared with his parents' contempt, she was most afraid of her sister taking her love with a knife. On the first day when she came to Xie's house, her mother approached her bedroom and gently gave her a fatal blow:
[Rao Rao, without my sister, we wouldn't have our current life. Everything in the family belongs to my sister. You can't argue with her. Whatever my sister wants, you have to give her, remember!]
Over the years, she couldn't count how many things she gave to Xie Yu. The older sister snatched her beloved things, and then turned around and abandoned them like shoes, including her mother, Shi Lan.
With so many lessons learned from the past, how could she, who had nothing at the time, dare to risk Qiu Cheng.
Looking at the confident little girl, the old lady put down her teacup and said with a smile.
"What did you do to prepare?"
Shi Rao shook his head pretentiously, and blinked mischievously.
"You can't say this, and no one can say it. Don't worry, I won't do anything to harm the interests of the Xie family."
"Grandma knows you are a child who knows how to measure, and grandma is just curious about how you will deal with him."
Based on what she knew about Shi Rao, this girl didn't seem like someone who could bow down to Qiu Cheng for the sake of love. Shi Lan could do this kind of thing, but her own daughter would definitely not be able to do it.
"I won't tell you if you're curious. If you do, you'll laugh at me."
Those plans sounded too embarrassing, and they were not something that "every lady" could do. For the time being, she didn't want to ruin her image as a "good girl" in Xie's house.
"Then you can hurry up, if you get married, I dare to go and urge Yu'er to go on a blind date."
Thinking of the scene of Xie Yu being urged to marry, Shi Rao shuddered all over, feeling goosebumps almost crawling to his scalp.
"Don't tell me I didn't find out. After all these years, how come my sister doesn't even have a rumored boyfriend? There is no shortage of young talents around her, right?"
When this matter was mentioned, the old lady felt a headache and sighed helplessly.
"Oh, it's not about her mother. She blamed me at the beginning, forget it, don't mention it, don't mention it."
Xie Yu's mother has always been a taboo of the Xie family. Shi Rao has not even seen a picture of that woman in the Xie family for so many years.
All she knew was that after Tang Yunmei gave birth to Xie Yu, she didn't care about it. When the child was three years old, she left a signed divorce agreement and left.
Xie Yu, who had lost her mother, almost suffered from autism. At this time, Shi Lan, who had given birth to her child less than half a year ago, appeared and cared for her in every possible way, making up for her lack of maternal love.
After several years, the two are not mother and daughter, but they are better than mother and daughter. The old lady finally agreed with her son to marry Shi Lan for her granddaughter's sake.
Of course, Shi Rao's childhood was not much better, not even as good as Xie Yu's.
Not long after Shi Rao was born, her mother left her and her grandmother to go to a big city to find her husband. Home.
Before seeing the paternity test, Xie Yu had always thought of her younger sister as a child who grew up in an orphanage, and would cling to Shi Rao first if she had any good things, and protect her with all her heart.
A year later, Xie Yu received a paternity test from her uncle's family, and found that the younger sister who grew up in an orphanage turned out to be her half-brother and sister. When Shi Lan was pregnant with Shi Rao, her parents... Not yet divorced.
The loyal and loving father became a cheating man; the gentle and virtuous mother was the mistress who destroyed his family; the well-behaved and sensible younger sister was actually an illegitimate child who came to fight for property with him!
Under this series of blows, Xie Yu, who was sensitive, cried and made trouble at home and hanged himself, almost cutting his wrists with his hands.
At that time, the whole family surrounded her sister. Shi Rao, who was isolated and helpless in Xie's house, sneaked out with pocket money and a small schoolbag on her back, preparing to go to the station to buy a ticket to go back to the countryside. She will always remember what her grandmother said.
[If you are wronged outside, you can go home, this will always be your home, and I will always be your grandmother.]
No one noticed that there was a six-year-old girl missing in the family. Thanks to her luck, she met the unreasonable Qiu Cheng on the road, picked her up and carried her home.
[The Xie family doesn't want you, so you can come to my house, no one would dare to bully you with me around.]
From that day on, her patron saint changed from her grandmother to Qiu Cheng who was only four years older than herself. The Xie family is no longer a harbor she can rely on, and Xie Rao is no longer her name.
The author has something to say:
Rao Rao has always had a clear distinction between love and hate. If you treat me well, I will treat you well. If you treat me badly, even if it is my own mother, I don't have to.
When his peers were still bullying girls, Qiu Cheng had already started teasing girls