Chapter 13

At dinner, Zhang Xuemei's old problem flared up, and she didn't come downstairs.

Elder Lu didn't care. There was a saying: "When there are no tigers in the mountains, the monkeys call themselves kings," which referred to Zhang Xuemei.

If it weren't for his old illness recurring and him being hospitalized for three months, it wouldn't have been Zhang Xuemei's turn to have her daughter substitute for the marriage and push her to Gu Tingchen to meet and marry.

After this incident, he was completely disappointed in his blind son.

No hope; he didn't want to spend the last leg of his life under the thumb of the second wife his rebellious son married!

Maybe she wouldn't even need to pull his oxygen mask; she would just anger him to death!

"Manman, eat more ribs. Look at you, so thin. When you get to the Sea Island, don't be distant with your brother. If you want anything, just ask him~"

"Mm, I will."

"Your brother is currently a battalion commander in the troops. If you see a female comrade you like, if she doesn't mind your brother, you can play matchmaker.

Your brother's rank can get a family compound; having one more person to support you will be good too."

"Okay, as long as Big Brother is willing too."

Shen Man chatted and laughed with her grandfather; there was no rule that one couldn't talk while eating.

Come to think of it, Grandfather was born a peasant child, so he didn't care about those rules.

In the Lu family, Grandfather's words were the rules!

Elder Lu had no requirements for his future granddaughter-in-law's family background; just one point: his granddaughter had to like him and have her eye on him.

If she chose right, he would bless the couple's happiness.

If she chose wrong, he would rush over, stare at the person training, and train him into a qualified grandson-in-law!

Compared to the liveliness and harmony of the grandfather and granddaughter, Lu Mingyuan, who was vacuum-isolated and ignored, was like an invisible person.

Only when chewing something did he have a sense of being a living person.

In fact, he wanted to be close to his daughter, but one mistake led to another!

The damage had been done, and he was willing to take out everything he had to make up for it and repair the father-daughter relationship, but there was always something missing.

Soon dinner ended. Shen Man accompanied her grandfather to watch TV for a while. After 8:30 PM, she didn't need to urge him; he turned it off consciously and told her to go back to her room to rest.

"Manman, let's go into the study and talk, okay?"

Lu Mingyuan had a faint smell of tobacco on him, his face was haggard, and his eyes were full of earnestness.

He wanted to explain to his daughter that he hadn't forgotten their mother and daughter all these years.

He had his difficulties back then, and he hoped his daughter wouldn't resent him, and hoped his daughter could tell him whether her mother had lived a good life all those years and whether she had mentioned him in her final moments.

"Okay."

Shen Man accidentally caught a glimpse of a dark shadow on the stairs; she thought it was her stepmother eavesdropping.

Since she wanted to listen, she would grant her wish.

The father and daughter entered the second-floor study one after the other. Shen Man lagged behind by one step and deliberately didn't close the door tightly, leaving a crack.

"Sit."

Lu Mingyuan felt inexplicably nervous, his palms trembling slightly.

"Mm."

Shen Man was very calm and acted normally.

After the two sat down, the atmosphere was inexplicably suffocating.

"Dad, what do you want to know?"

Shen Man asked directly, not wanting to waste time here.

"Manman, I want to know, after your mother divorced, was she alone, or did she reorganize a family?"

Lu Mingyuan asked with difficulty, asking the question he desperately wanted to know.

"After my mother divorced, she took me back to our hometown in Suzhou, and we lived together for twelve years in the house left by my maternal grandfather.

During that time, many uncles pursued my mother, but she refused them all."

Shen Man pursed her lips, her tone indifferent and distant, but her words contained deep meaning.

If it weren't for this man's poor judgment of people, being wrapped up in gratitude, how could the original body's mother have divorced him and taken the original body away?

The suffering and difficulties the original body and her mother had gone through had everything to do with this man!

This man, on the other hand, remarried quickly, doted on his stepdaughter like a worry-free princess, and even handed over his biological daughter's betrothal on a silver platter.

Was his brain filled with water?

No, his brain was filled with shit!

"I knew it, your mother always had me in her heart. It was me who failed her back then; it was my fault~"

Lu Mingyuan covered his face with both hands, not hiding his fragility in front of his daughter, and cried.

Shen Man lowered her eyes, hiding her true emotions, and swallowed the rebuttal in her throat.

No, the original body's mother didn't choose to be single because she still loved you, but because she had experienced a bad marriage and didn't want to gamble on a man's love again.

In Aunt Ge's memories, the original body's mother was a gentle, beautiful, kind, calm, and clear-headed new-era woman.

In the original body's diary, it recorded the selfless maternal love her mother had for her during her growth.

Her mother didn't choose to be single because of this scumbag father, but precisely because she had experienced this marriage with the scumbag father, she lost confidence in men and would rather raise her alone than date another man!

Lu Mingyuan was now full of guilt, immersed in the emotions of regret, remorse, and sadness, completely unaware that the gaze watching him through the crack in the study door carried a trace of resentment...

Shen Man felt the resentful gaze behind her and didn't expose her thoughts, feeling happy instead.

Look, you watched the man you snatched with all your heart, but his heart was filled with someone else...

Why should the scumbag father be allowed to take over the stepmother and daughter and enjoy married life? She wanted to plant a thorn in both their hearts!

How could the living compete with the dead?

Shen Man took out an old, greenish handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to the tearful man, comforting him:

"Dad, don't be sad. Mother, in heaven..."

Would definitely laugh at you.

Lu Mingyuan looked at the handkerchief his daughter handed him with teary eyes, took it with trembling hands, held his heart, and choked:

"I'm sorry, Qingluo, I'm sorry."

A scumbag's tears were no different from a crocodile's tears.

Shen Man felt no emotion in her heart, and in fact, she wanted to laugh.

Hold it, she pinched her thigh, and a voice with a hint of crying sounded:

"Dad, I was often bullied by other children when I was little. They called me a bastard, a wild child.

Mother was also slandered by many people and suffered a lot of bullying. At that time, I asked Mother, who is my father, and where is he?"

"Mother just cried, held me tight, and treated my wounds. At that time, I thought, if only I had a tall and mighty father, then Mother and I wouldn't have to suffer the cold eyes and bullying of others?"

Killing wasn't as good as a quick death; she was doing it on purpose, deliberately not giving the scumbag father a quick release!

She just wanted to let the other party live in pain and guilt for a lifetime!

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Lu Mingyuan couldn't hold it anymore. Under his daughter's questioning, his psychological defense collapsed, and guilt and remorse attacked him like a tide...