Chapter 493: Chapter 1169: The ’80s Drama Queen is Forced to Become a Top Student (4)

Ren Xingchen was indeed quite attractive. She was tall and slender with fair, delicate skin and refined, exquisite features. She possessed the gentle grace of a southern woman, and when she smiled, a pair of cute canine teeth would appear.

No one could imagine that she was the mother of a nine-year-old child.

Just then, Sheng Leyun didn’t wait for Xiao Xuezhen to make introductions. ’He probably doesn’t want to introduce his unpresentable daughter anyway,’ she figured. So, she stepped forward with a smile, bowed politely, and called out a greeting.

"Hello, Aunt Huang. My name is Sheng Leyun. My dad was Sheng Xibao, Mr. Xiao’s comrade-in-arms who sacrificed himself to save him. Mr. Xiao brought my mom and me to the Capital City to live a better life."

"From now on, we’ll be neighbors..."

Her little mouth chattered away, and her high, shrill child’s voice was especially attention-grabbing in the bustling family quarters.

"So you’re Sheng Ying’s only daughter? Oh my, you’ve grown so big!" an auntie came forward, happily taking Sheng Leyun’s hand with a smile. But when she felt the little one’s hands, which were covered in thick calluses, her brow furrowed, and she turned them over to get a better look.

"You poor child. Sheng Ying has only been gone a few years. How have you endured so much hardship?"

She then glanced at Ren Xingchen, who had deliberately changed her clothes before leaving the train so she wouldn’t be outdone or embarrass Xiao Xuezhen. ’Are they really mother and daughter?’ she wondered.

Xiao Xuezhen’s smile held an imperceptible trace of strain. ’Living near people you know leads to too many complications.’

"Sister-in-law Xuebin, the mother and daughter have been on the train for two days and two nights. They’re very tired. I’ll take them home to rest first. Once they’re rested, I’ll bring them around to meet everyone."

The crowd could only suppress their curiosity and intense desire to gossip, watching them leave.

That Sister-in-law Xuebin pursed her lips and said to a few good friends who had gathered around, "Sheng Ying was such a good man back then. He was handsome and exceptionally capable. Even though he was a soldier from the countryside, his physical fitness was one of the best in the army. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have become an officer."

"Tsk tsk, all the other guys’ families came to live with the army, but he was all alone. He mailed his monthly allowance home on time, didn’t smoke or drink, and just gnawed on steamed buns. Tsk tsk, and look what happened."

"He supported such a delicate, pretty wife, only for another man to reap the benefits..."

"How much could the two of them, a mother and daughter, even spend? Tsk, the mother’s dressed no different from us city folk. But look at that little girl... sigh. Who knows how much she’s suffered? The calluses on her hands are thicker than those of a woman who works the fields..."

"I think that child will suffer a lot in the future, too. The Xiao family has two kids, both two or three years older than her. And with the Lan Family’s character, who knows how they’ll torment this mother and daughter..."

Everyone here had been transferred from the same military unit and assigned to this area, so the families all knew each other from way back. They had been here for seven or eight years, and their social circle was stable and had even grown. When it came to gossip, they always had all the facts and could get straight to the heart of the matter!

Xiao Xuezhen lived in a communal apartment building, in a small suite on the second floor near the lavatories.

It was about forty square meters, comprising an inner and an outer room, plus a small balcony. The living room had been partitioned with wooden planks to create an extra little room. The stove was right by the entrance, and the walls were stained yellow and black with soot.

"Um, you two can start unpacking. I’m going to the canteen to get us some food. The children are at their maternal grandfather’s place. Tomorrow, we’ll bring over some gifts to properly introduce ourselves, and then we’ll bring the kids home."

Xiao Xuezhen washed his hands, changed his clothes, and walked out with a mess tin.

Ren Xingchen dawdled, slowly opening their luggage. After a long moment, she asked meekly, "Yunyun, where do you think we should put all this?"

Sheng Leyun sat on a chair, resting her chin in her hands as she watched her mother. "You’re the mistress of the house now. You have to make these decisions for yourself. Otherwise, if the Lan Family finds out you have no backbone, tsk tsk, your life here is going to be very difficult."

"Also, I’m at a critical stage of my physical and mental development. I need to eat well, sleep well, and have fun. Therefore, I’m going to act just like the other children in the Xiao family."

"And if you can’t stand that and try to work me like a slave, I’ll scream until every last neighbor knows that you’re abusing your late husband’s child for some new man!"

Ren Xingchen was so furious she spun around, looking for something to hit her with.

"Go on, hit me. That’s perfect. I’ll just say you’re trying to murder me! Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re my birth mother," Sheng Leyun said with a smile, stepping forward and effortlessly hoisting a heavy chair.

Ren Xingchen was terrified. Her eyes went wide, and she was too frozen with fear to even take a step back.

But then, Sheng Leyun shoved the chair into her mother’s hands, pointed to her own forehead, and said with a chuckle, "What were you looking for? A broom? A mop? Those things are too flimsy. A stool is much better. Go on, smash it right here. I’ll be disappointed if you don’t draw blood!"

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