Chapter 482: Chapter 167: The 80s Drama Queen is Forced to Act as a Top Student (2)

She took a deep breath, suppressing her anger. "Yunyun, what’s gotten into you today?"

"Didn’t we already agree you’d go to the Capital City with your Mr. Xiao? What’s this tantrum all about?"

"If you don’t want to come with us, fine. Take this stuff and go back to your grandmother’s house."

As she spoke, Ren Xingchen tried to shove a flimsy-looking bundle into Sheng Leyun’s hands.

The truth was, Ren Xingchen was a classic dodder vine—always clinging to a man or humbly depending on her own family.

Now that she’d finally found a second chance at love, she was desperate to avoid letting this burden drag down her happiness.

If her family hadn’t been so concerned with saving face, and if Sheng Leyun’s father hadn’t held the status he did, Ren Xingchen would have abandoned the girl without a second thought.

Sheng Leyun dodged again and shouted indignantly:

"I know I’m a burden. I’m getting in the way of your second chance at happiness, so I should just be sensible and get out of your sight."

"But this Xiao guy is different. My dad died saving him. He promised my dad he would take care of his wife and daughter. So why is he only taking care of you, while you two are trying to get rid of me?"

Her words plunged the three rows of people in front of and behind them in the bustling waiting room into a dead silence.

Xiao Xuezhen and Ren Xingchen stood frozen in place, mortified.

"Yunyun, I came to get you both, didn’t I?" Xiao Xuezhen immediately said with a gentle smile. "I’m the one who bought the clothes you’re wearing and the snacks in your backpack. And I’m going to have you attend school in the Capital City."

Ren Xingchen added with an awkward laugh, "Oh, this child. Your Mr. Xiao has done so much, and you can’t even give him a single ’thank you’? He decided to bring us to the Capital City because he heard you couldn’t go to school back home."

"I was just trying to scare you earlier. I wanted you to stop throwing a tantrum and learn to be grateful..."

Sheng Leyun snorted. "I don’t need your fake kindness. If my dad were still alive, I’d have clothes and snacks, and I’d be able to go to school."

"Oh, right. Uncle Xiao, where did you pick up these clothes?"

"Not only are they huge, but there’s an ink stain on the chest. Let me guess: your daughter wore them and didn’t want them anymore, so you made your savior’s ’poor little wretch’ uphold the fine virtue of thrift by taking on her cast-offs?"

"And Mother, you haven’t even married into the Xiao family yet, and you’re already siding with outsiders. It’s true what they say: a new dad for you means a wicked stepmother for me."

"What do you mean, ’learn to be grateful’? All I know is that the only reason I don’t have clothes, or snacks, or can’t go to school is because my dad sacrificed his life to save him!"

"Shouldn’t *he* be the one grateful to my dad? Shouldn’t *he* be the one to raise me properly? How did this turn into me owing *him*?"

"If you don’t want to raise me, just say so! Why make me shamelessly beg you for it?"

"I knew it. You think I’m a burden and that I should just go join my dad..."

With that, her rebellious teenage defiance vanished. "Sheng Leyun, the Poor Little Victim," had logged on. Cupping her face in her hands, she choked out her accusations one by one, tears streaming down her face.

Hiding her plain, tear-streaked face, her frail frame looked especially pitiable and heart-wrenching.

"What kind of guardians are you? How could you let a child be so wronged?"

"Yeah, her father saves your life, and you just take his wife and mistreat his kid?"

"’Grateful’? How can you lie through your teeth and twist the truth like that? Is that something a mother should say? She doesn’t even protect her own child. I bet those two were secretly involved long before her husband died..."

These were all strangers who would soon be heading their separate ways, so they felt free to voice their passionate opinions and say whatever was on their minds without any fear of consequence.

Besides, they had all grasped the key point: the little girl’s father was a martyr!

What a poor little girl. She may have had a great father, but her mother seemed completely useless. Look what she’s let her daughter become.

Xiao Xuezhen and Ren Xingchen were inwardly fuming, wishing they could sew the little brat’s mouth shut.

The reputation they had been so desperately trying to protect was completely torn to shreds by her few wailing cries.

Even though no one in the crowd knew anyone else, their faces were burning with shame.

"You... you don’t know anything! Stop talking nonsense!" Ren Xingchen hissed through gritted teeth. She lunged to grab Sheng Leyun’s arm. "The train is about to arrive! We need to get on board!"

Sheng Leyun dodged back in feigned terror, hiding right behind an impeccably dressed old woman with her hair combed neatly in place.

"What do you think you’re doing?" The old woman patted Sheng Leyun comfortingly and shielded the girl with her body. She turned to Ren Xingchen with a cold expression. "I’ve been watching you two for a while now."

"All you can think about is how to treat your two kids back in the Capital City well, so you’re just going to wrong this poor, fatherless child?"

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