Chapter 233: You Can Choose for Yourself

Chapter 233: Chapter 233: You Can Choose for Yourself

"How self-righteous. You didn’t even bother to figure out who said it before jumping out and throwing accusations around. Next time you point fingers, please get your facts straight. Nuannuan didn’t say that—I did, okay?"

Before Gu Nuan Nuan could even react, Dong Xinran couldn’t take it anymore. She furiously jumped out, slapped away the finger Gu Jiayi was pointing at Gu Nuan Nuan, and corrected her with pointed seriousness.

"And another thing, everyone in this entire town should know perfectly well that the ones responsible for the death of your and Lin Jia Bao’s mother weren’t just Nuannuan’s grandmother and father. If I recall correctly, they were *your* grandmother and father too, right? Hmph. Like mother, like daughter. Your mother shamelessly destroyed Nuannuan’s mother’s family, and now you have the audacity to come here and shamelessly hurl baseless accusations at Nuannuan. What, do you really think you’re all that? You think Nuannuan’s an easy target, a pushover you can just walk all over?"

"I-I didn’t mean to... I heard her say it with my own ears, that’s why I went over to ask her." Dong Xinran’s ferocity intimidated Gu Jiayi. She stumbled backward, instantly putting on a weak, pitiful act and wiping at her eyes. In moments, she had rubbed them raw and red, looking as wretched as possible. Inevitably, a few other students in the class began to secretly sympathize with her, their gazes toward the seemingly aggressive Dong Xinran now tinged with faint disgust.

Lin Jia Bao’s glare at Dong Xinran, however, was openly hostile.

Dong Xinran, however, was naturally thick-skinned. She paid his glare no mind and was completely oblivious to the looks of disgust from the other students. She simply stared at Gu Jiayi in disbelief. "’Not on purpose’? So that means it *was* on purpose? You’re the type of person who fiercely interrogated Nuannuan a moment ago, but now you have the nerve to casually say you just ’asked’ her a question?"

Gu Nuan Nuan was touched that Dong Xinran had jumped out to defend her. While those disapproving looks might have escaped Dong Xinran’s notice, how could they possibly escape Gu Nuan Nuan’s Divine Sense? Her gaze swept over them nonchalantly, not only causing a cold sweat to break out on their backs but also committing their disgusted faces to memory.

’It’s true,’ she thought. ’You’ll always find these sanctimonious types who can’t tell right from wrong and just judge based on appearances.’

Gu Nuan Nuan made a mental note to remind Dong Xinran later to stay far away from classmates like that. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the teacher in the hallway outside the classroom and quickly tugged on her friend’s hand. "Stop talking. The teacher’s here."

The words had barely left Gu Nuan Nuan’s lips when the warning bell for class rang. The teacher walked into the classroom with a stack of books right as the bell sounded. Everyone scrambled back to their seats. Gu Jiayi and Lin Jia Bao, knowing there were already more than enough rumors and gossip circulating about them, didn’t dare linger either.

The rest of the afternoon passed without incident. The siblings, Gu Jiayi and Lin Jia Bao, didn’t come to bother them again, and Dong Xinran and Gu Nuan Nuan naturally had no desire to interact with them.

Soon, it was time to go home. Gu Nuan Nuan went to the shop and, after subtly asking around, learned that a certain annoying person had already left. She breathed a massive sigh of relief and even ate an extra bowl of rice that night because of it. But who could have known her good mood would only last until after dinner? When she saw Luo Xiaohu trying to inconspicuously hand her a letter, the familiar handwriting on it made her nearly curse out loud.

"Sister-in-law, my boss specifically asked me to give this to you. He said he was just passing through on other business this time, so he could only stay for a few hours to see you. Next time he’s on leave, he’ll definitely come and have a proper talk with you to clear up the misunderstanding between you," Luo Xiaohu said with a grin, relaying Luo Hongyi’s message.

"Who gave you permission to call me ’sister-in-law’?"

Gu Nuan Nuan glared daggers at Luo Xiaohu, her stare so intense his face went deathly pale and his legs grew weak, forcing him to lean against the wall for support. He watched in utter horror as Gu Nuan Nuan, her eyes practically blazing, snatched the letter. After just a few moments of crushing it between her fingers, the letter disintegrated into a fine powder. With a flick of her hand, she sent it scattering into the air, leaving no trace behind.

Luo Xiaohu gaped in disbelief. Such an ability was something he had never heard of, let alone witnessed. He was certain that not even his own boss was this powerful.

He was speechless. "..."

"Tell him there are no misunderstandings between us to clear up. Don’t write to me again, and don’t ever show your face in front of me again. Otherwise, hmph, I have plenty of ways to make sure you get kicked out of the Zhang family along with him." Without waiting for Luo Xiaohu’s reaction, Gu Nuan Nuan spun around and left. Back in her room, the knot of anger in her chest refused to dissipate.

’A ’misunderstanding’?’ she scoffed internally. ’He says it so easily. Could everything that happened between them truly be brushed aside with that one simple word? If she weren’t worried that Luo Xiaohu leaving the Zhang family would lead him to repeat the tragedy of his past life, entangling her in the resulting karma, she would have found a way to drive them away long ago.’

Gu Nuan Nuan was suddenly overcome with a powerful urge to vent to someone. Unfortunately, Cao Cao was still upgrading, and besides Cao Cao, there was absolutely no one she could confide in. In the end, with her emotions in turmoil and sleep far from her mind, she could only take the Jade Scrolls out of her storage ring. She forced herself to focus all her attention on them, and before she knew it, she was completely engrossed, reading straight through the entire night.

「The Lin family.」

After dinner, Lin Jia Bao obediently took out his half-finished math notebook and started on his homework. Lin Kangshun stood nearby, watching him. Seeing his grandson methodically solve one problem after another, he nodded repeatedly with a gratified smile. He sat back down on the sofa and praised him to Yu Xiuying, "Jia Bao is as smart as I thought. He’s solved several problems now and hasn’t gotten a single one wrong. His handwriting is very neat, too. The children of our Lin family are just brilliant."

Yu Xiuying smiled and rolled her eyes at him. "Listen to you, tooting your own horn."

"He’s smart, so he deserves to be praised, doesn’t he?" Lin Kangshun laughed proudly. Seeing that Lin Jia Bao had packed up his notebook and pencil case, he beckoned him over. "All done with your homework? Come here, then. Your grandma and I have something to talk to you about."

"Yes, all done. I actually finished part of it at school during lunch. Grandpa, Grandma, what did you want to talk about?" Lin Jia Bao dutifully walked over and sat down between them. Half a year ago, such obedience from him would have been unthinkable to Lin Kangshun and Yu Xiuying, but now they had grown used to it. And though the boy’s affection toward them had noticeably diminished, they still believed that once they escaped their current environment, he would eventually become as close to them as ever.

Lin Kangshun exchanged a look with Yu Xiuying before saying to Lin Jia Bao, "Your grandma and I have discussed it. We’re preparing to leave this place and move somewhere else."

"Move?" Lin Jia Bao shuddered and froze on the spot. The only thought that surfaced in his mind was, ’So what Dong Xinran said was actually true.’

"That’s right, move. But you’re older now, so we’ll let you choose for yourself. You can either leave this troubled place with us, or you can choose to stay."