Chapter 216: Li Xuan, You've Become Stupid

At that moment, Si Rong understood why Ming Zi said she would definitely be surprised if she saw Li Xuan.

Because if she hadn't been a close friend of Li Xuan for many years, with her features and expression etched into her memory to the point of extreme familiarity, she wouldn't have recognized her at all.

Li Xuan was the same age as her, yet she looked a full fifty or sixty years old.

She wore exaggerated eyeliner, had a burgundy perm, was dressed in cheap, gaudy clothes, and was smoking a cigarette.

She was saying something to a girl beside her.

Si Rong looked over and froze for a moment.

If she was shocked by Li Xuan's transformation, she felt something different regarding Shen Yuan.

Fishnet stockings, exaggerated large earrings, a backless camisole—while someone dressed like this isn't necessarily a bad girl, a good girl certainly wouldn't dress like this.

Li Xuan and her daughter both saw Si Rong.

Upon seeing Si Rong, Shen Yuan subconsciously ran away in a panic.

She ran all the way into a small alley; even when she had encountered police while streetwalking, she had never run this fast.

Shen Yuan leaned against the wall, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes.

She thought, why did she run?

Was it because she didn't dare face Si Rong? Or was she afraid of being looked down upon?

Or was what she didn't dare face actually her former self?

Once, when she was still young, princess dresses were very noble, and few girls could afford to wear them.

But Si Rong would buy them for her to wear.

When she was with her foster mother, she was dressed to look noble, but after being with her biological mother, she was groomed into a streetwalker.

How ridiculous!

The most ridiculous thing was herself; she didn't originally have a submissive personality, but now, following Li Xuan in this trade, it was essentially because she had resigned herself to being base.

Her life, it seemed, would just be like this.

Li Xuan, meanwhile, looked at Si Rong for a long time.

So long that the cigarette she was about to finish burned her fingers, and only then did she snap back to reality.

Si Rong was still so beautiful, with clear eyes and a prosperous life.

Every gesture was full of elegance.

How nice.

So nice that it made her jealous, made her hate!

Why did she always meet the wrong men? Every man she met was a fickle piece of trash!

Why was there no one in this world who truly loved her?

Had she not sacrificed enough for marriage? Even when her fourth husband took a fancy to Shen Yuan, she had painfully persuaded her daughter to submit.

Yet in the end, she still couldn't keep a man who loved her!

Now she understood; the heavens were biased.

Biased toward Si Rong, letting her meet a good man like Jiang Cheng who had both ability and a future.

"You're back?"

From the sound of Li Xuan's voice, Si Rong deduced that she must have been smoking for quite a while.

It was that thick, smoker's rasp.

"Wasn't it good staying in Haidao? Is this a return to Huaiyang to retire?"

Si Rong pursed her lips and calmly countered, "The one who should be retiring is you."

She was still young.

"Si Rong, for so many years, I've been thinking about one question," Li Xuan circled her twice, looking at the two porcelain-like children beside her, "Where exactly am I inferior to you?"

"You are, of course, inferior to me in every way," Si Rong said bluntly, "To not even be able to figure out such a simple question, Li Xuan, you've become stupid."

Li Xuan:...

"It seems that in the years you went to Haidao, you didn't just grow in age," Li Xuan felt she couldn't out-talk her and was very angry, "Your tongue has become sharp too. But in this world, no one is always smooth sailing; the tides always turn. Until the very last moment, how can one tell who will end up more miserable!"

"Take you, for example. At such an old age, you tried your hardest to compete with me and only managed to give birth to twins. How do you know they will become your hope in the future, rather than a death warrant?"

She wanted to curse the pair of fraternal twins Si Rong had given birth to, wishing they would be even more miserable than her own child.

"Yes, the future is still uncertain," Si Rong didn't want to waste words with her, "But the present is clear as day; whoever is miserable knows it themselves."

She took the two children and turned to leave. Jiang Sinian looked back and shouted at Li Xuan, "You are old, ugly, and bad! You will definitely be the most miserable in the future!"

This woman was no good; it seemed she had a grudge against Mom.

He had to scold her.

"Right! Brother is right! You are old, ugly, and bad!" Jiang Siyu also shouted.

Li Xuan:...

Heh~ Now Si Rong has little helpers, but whether they can grow up is another matter.

In two more months, Shen Chi can be released from prison.

By then, her son certainly won't let Si Rong or these two children off.

She was waiting for that day.

It was good that Si Rong was back; she happened to have some things she needed to confirm again.

Before, when she opened a dance studio on Zhangshu Street, she had originally wanted to rent the dance studio opposite that Si Rong ran.

But she had never seen the landlord of those commercial properties.

Recently, she had vaguely heard that the property was very likely bought by Si Rong a few years ago.

If Si Rong bought it before she divorced Shen Lan, then this property should also have half belonging to Shen Lan.

Although Shen Lan is dead, he still has children.

With housing prices rising so sharply now, if she could be allotted two apartments, she wouldn't have to work the streets so hard.

Wait two more days; once it's confirmed, she is going to take Si Rong to court.

Huh? Where is my daughter?

Li Xuan searched for quite a while before finding Shen Yuan, and seeing her squatting on the ground, looking utterly dejected, harsh words spilled out involuntarily, "What? Regretting again that you didn't crawl out of Si Rong's belly?"

"You saw it too, she has her own daughter now, and you are my, Li Xuan's, daughter."

"Let's go! It'll be dark soon, don't delay things."

Shen Yuan did not want to look at her, "I don't want to go today."

"You don't want to?" Li Xuan got angry seeing her like this, "Do you think I, your mother, enjoy dealing with those stinking men? But if we don't go, how are we going to pay off our debts?"

They hadn't earned any money from doing pyramid schemes before, and they had even been swindled out of hundreds of thousands.

Those hundreds of thousands were borrowed from loan sharks; if they didn't pay them back, those people would kill them.

"Why do I have a mother like you!" Shen Yuan couldn't help but accuse, "I've never seen a mother force her daughter to do this!"

"Well, don't you lack any other skills? If you could earn money doing something else, would I need you to do this?"

Li Xuan held back and softened her voice a little.

"Just endure it for a few more days; once Mom gets the money, I won't let you do this anymore."

"Besides, your brother will be out soon, and when the three of us are together, we will definitely be able to live a good life!"

Shen Yuan looked at the sky, speechless.

She no longer believed these kinds of words.

A stupid mother gives birth to a stupid child; her brother won't be of any use when he gets out, he's just another guy who thinks he's clever.

She stood up, knowing she had to go today; she needed to save up some money for her own future.

Li Xuan usually gets two hundred yuan for a job she books for her daughter, while she herself can only earn one hundred yuan due to her age.

Shen Yuan entered the small motel with the man and raised the price on the spot, "I want three hundred."

The man looked at her face and suddenly slapped her.

Shen Yuan began to sob, and at that moment, the motel door was suddenly kicked open.