Lu Jinse gritted her teeth in anger. To achieve her goal, Lu Lili had no qualms about driving a wedge between her and her father.
"Preferring death to being sent to the countryside?"
Who was she threatening?
"Go ahead and die!"
"What a vile person!"
...
The next morning, her father approached Lu Jinse to discuss whether she could yield her university admission spot to Lili.
Lu Jinse refused immediately. Although she liked Xu Yueshan, she did not want to marry so young. If she could go to university and avoid being sent to the countryside, why would she have to marry? Besides, after graduating from university, the state would assign her a job.
However, Lu Jinse’s father was a man of integrity all his life, but he was soft-hearted and easily swayed. The phrase he said to Lu Jinse most often was: "For the sake of family harmony, endure a moment for peace; take a step back for a wider sky."
Therefore, one could easily imagine Lu Jianliang’s attitude toward this matter.
Lu Jinse still heartlessly refused. But the wicked Lu Lili secretly snuck into her room and stole the university admission notice. Lu Jinse discovered it and got into a fight with her; relying on her longer reach, she managed to snatch the notice back.
But Lu Lili remained undeterred; she continued to scheme, desperately wanting that university admission notice.
One day, taking advantage of the time when Xiao Guifang and her daughter were not at home, her father, Lu Jianliang, spoke to Lu Jinse.
"Your aunt only has this one daughter. I can't bear to see her sent to the countryside to farm. You have the university qualification and you have Xu Yueshan, but Lili has nothing. Daughter, for the sake of family harmony, please give the university diploma to Lili."
Lu Jinse still heartlessly refused. But she could not bear to see her father looking troubled and sighing at home every day. He suffered from high blood pressure and had a weak trachea; whenever he got upset, he would cough. As a daughter, she could not bear to watch it.
Lu Jinse’s heart softened, and she agreed.
She thought that marrying Xu Yueshan would be blissful, but to her surprise, it was the exact opposite. The cruel reality made Lu Jinse regret her decision. If she hadn't given away her university spot and had chosen to graduate and start a career before marrying, she wouldn't have been looked down upon by her in-laws and forced to be a maid for her entire life!
This was the root of all evil!
After Lu Lili graduated from university, she was assigned a job at the Municipal Power Bureau. For Lu Jinse, who had been battered by the harshness of life, this news was devastating.
...
After her rebirth, Lu Jinse discovered that she had already given her university spot to Lu Lili. Thinking of the various ways her stepmother, Xiao Guifang, had shown favoritism since marrying into the Lu family, she couldn't help but burn with rage.
Endure? Endure my foot!
From this day forward, the word "endure" would not exist in Lu Jinse’s dictionary.
"Dad! Mom! Big sister is back!"
Lu Lili ran into the living room to announce this startling news toward her parents' bedroom.
A woman's voice soon came from the bedroom: "Who is back?"
Xiao Guifang walked out wearing a cardigan, her almond-shaped eyes beneath her short, curly black hair full of surprise.
"Jinse? Why are you back? Why didn't you give us a heads-up?"
She hurried over.
Lu Jinse’s eyes were as calm as water. "Auntie, this is my home. Do I need to announce myself every time I want to come back?"
Xiao Guifang smiled and explained, "Jinse, that's not what I meant. You got caught in the rain, didn't you? Look, your clothes are all wet."
"It's fine."
Lu Jinse walked straight toward her room; she had no interest in watching this performance of a stepmother caring for her stepdaughter. They were both seasoned foxes; why bother with this charade?
Living a second life, what kind of person was she? What could she not see through?
Lu Jinse pushed open the door and flicked the light switch on the wall. She froze.
What was the meaning of this?
Not only was her room covered in dust, but the floor was also piled with miscellaneous junk. Wine bottles and broken cardboard boxes were strewn everywhere. Lu Jinse couldn't even find a place to stand if she wanted to enter.
She looked back at Xiao Guifang. "Auntie, can you explain this to me?"
Xiao Guifang came over with a smile. "Jinse, don't be angry. It's like this: you're getting married soon, right? The room was just sitting empty, so I put some old things in here. I’ve been saving them up; selling them later can help with the household expenses, right?"
The corner of Lu Jinse’s mouth twitched. "Old things? That’s a nice way to put it. This is just trash. Not to mention I’m not married yet, even if I were, can I not return home? You’ve turned my room into this; where am I supposed to stay when I visit?"
Xiao Guifang said again, "Jinse, of course you can come home. You can just squeeze in with Lili for now. If you and your husband come back together, just let me know in advance and I’ll..."
"Exactly," Lu Lili suddenly interjected. "Big sister, you can stay with me. I don't mind."
Lu Jinse raised an eyebrow. "You don't mind, but I do."
Wasn't this just trying to deprive her of her right to return home? She had only been gone for a month, and they had already turned her room into a storeroom!
Just then, Lu Jianliang came out of the bedroom carrying a basin of foot-soaking water.
"Daughter, why are you arguing with your sister as soon as you get home?"
Seeing her father, Lu Jinse set her canvas bag by the door.
"Dad, let me do that."
She took the basin, poured the water into the drain in the kitchen, rinsed the basin, and placed it on the bottom shelf of the metal stand.
Lu Jinse washed her hands and returned to complain.
"Dad, my room has become a dumping ground. There's not even a place to step. How can anyone live in there? Can I not be angry? What is Auntie doing?"
Finally, there was genuine emotion on her face; she was no longer icy.
"Heh," Lu Jianliang gave a faint laugh. "Daughter, no need to be angry over such a small thing. Your mom didn't know you were coming back today. My room is a mess too. Guifang, hurry up and clean the room."
"Alright."
Xiao Guifang responded and went to get a broom to tidy up the house. Lu Lili glanced at Lu Jinse and then went back into her own room, closing the door.
Lu Jianliang went back into the bedroom, took a jacket, and handed it to Lu Jinse.
"Daughter, put this on first so you don't catch a cold. What happened to your hair? Why is it so messy?"
"My hair? I dried it with a towel."
After putting on the jacket, Lu Jinse felt less anxious. She hadn't known it would rain today, so she was only wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.
"Daughter, come here," Lu Jianliang said, walking toward the living room. "Let's have a chat."
"Oh."
Lu Jinse watched her father walk away, noting the gray hairs at the back of his head and his shoulders, hunched under his gray shirt, no longer as upright as they were in his youth. Her heart ached. How had she not noticed that her father had developed gray hair so early in her previous life?
Lu Jinse followed him, though her bottom still hurt from walking. She didn't want her father to know about the car accident, so she tried to walk as normally as possible.
Lu Jinse sat gently on the sofa. Lu Jianliang took a bamboo-covered thermos from the coffee table and poured a cup of hot water.
"Daughter, drink some hot water to warm up."
"Thanks, Dad."
Lu Jinse took the steaming cup with both hands; a wave of warmth surged into her heart.
"You don't need to be so polite with me."
Lu Jianliang sat opposite her and asked calmly, "Daughter, why did you come home in such heavy rain? Did you have an argument with Yueshan?"
Lu Jinse looked into his eyes and said, "Dad, if I tell you the reason why I came home, please, please don't get angry."
Her father had hereditary high blood pressure; her grandfather had passed away from a ruptured cerebral vessel caused by high blood pressure.
"Alright," Lu Jianliang nodded. "I won't be angry. Tell me."
Lu Jinse looked at the water cup and said, "Dad, I don't want to marry Xu Yueshan anymore."
She knew this news would be like a bolt from the blue for her father, as he had always been proud of having Xu Yueshan as his son-in-law. Every time he chatted with the neighbors, he would hint at how relieved he was that his daughter had found such a good family to marry into.
After a long while, Lu Jinse finally heard her father respond.
"Daughter, tell me your reasons."
Lu Jinse kept looking at the cup and said, "Our personalities don't match."
This was the excuse used by many couples to break up—a seemingly perfect yet unoriginal excuse. But it was also the most practical one.
"Personalities don't match?" Lu Jianliang knit his brows. "How do they not match? Daughter, didn't you like Yueshan a lot?"
His voice held a hint of suppressed anger.
Lu Jinse’s eyelashes fluttered, and she raised an eyebrow at her father.
"Are you angry? You just said you wouldn't be angry," she reminded him softly.
"Sigh!" Lu Jianliang said, looking deeply troubled. "You child, how can I not be angry about something as big as this? Is marriage a game for children? You’re a family when you’re happy today, and you break up when you’re unhappy tomorrow? Why on earth are you making a fuss about breaking up?"