Chapter 4— [To be a naive woman]

Lou Yao Yao left the hospital on the same day, because her body basically had no issues. Going home was better than staying in the hospital and feeling useless. Even though Fang Xi Lei didn’t agree, she was unable to change Lou Yao Yao’s mind and could only agree. Naturally, the discharge could not be avoided.

The first thing she did after returning home was to take a bath. As for Lou Qing Qing, who looked like wanted to speak out but couldn’t, was doing housework in the hall. Lou Yao Yao completely ignored her. Lou Qing Qing had better not provoke her; otherwise she would experience what true viciousness was like.

During her previous life, she cherished her reputation too much. Although there were many people insulting her behind her back, outside of quarrelling and sarcastic words, she basically hasn’t done anything excessive. Other people had the idea that jiejie was treated as a servant and beaten. In reality, how could that ever happen? Lou Qing Qing had a father who cared so much about her….

Besides… she was unable to defeat Lou Qing Qing.

A disgraceful thing was that Lou Yao Yao, who was pampered from childhood and disliked sports, was 1 meter 62 centimeters whereas Lou Qing Qing was 1 meter 68 centimeters. Even if they don’t compare heights, their statures had a great deal of difference. Lou Yao Yao wasn’t flat as an airport; she could be proud of what she had. However compared to Lou Qing Qing’s bountiful stature, hers was unsightly.

After Lou Yao Yao finished her bath, she wrapped a towel around her and looked in the mirror. She sighed with discouragement. She couldn’t help but look at her feet. Her toes were as smooth as jade. Her skin was tender and glossy. In her previous life, in order to not be inferior to Luo Qing Qing she continuously wore 19 centimeter high heels. Not to even mention her suffering, her feet changed shape because she wore heels for too long without removing them.

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Lou Yao Yao couldn’t help but rejoice. The time she arrived was not too early nor too late. If it was two years later, Lou Qing Qing would have graduated and gained “independence.” She had completely changed her plain and simple style of dress she wore to school for a sexy, seductive style. She was enchanting and dazzling. Other people all said it was because she left the family that mistreated her. Naturally she would be reborn.

Jealousy makes people crazy. Especially when you discover that the person who you thought was continuously inferior to you is now far above you… that taste is enough to obliterate all rationality.

Lou Yao Yao pushed open the bathroom door and stepped barefoot onto the soft wool carpet. Her toes were fully splayed out. The soft and wonderful sensation transmitted itself to her brain. It seemed as though all her worries left her. Lou Yao Yao slowly walked step by step. For the first time she seriously sized up her own room.

On the floor was a soft, snow white woolen carpet. At the sides of the French window were light blue curtains. In the center of a room was a large bed which she could roll around over 10 times without falling off. The curtains around the bed were pink as were the bed sheets, quilt, and pillows. There were even two bunny dolls that were as big as a half a person at the headboard of the bed. This was the princess room that all girls dreamed about. Lou Yao Yao sat down at the head of the bed and touched one of the bunny dolls reminiscently. It was hard to imagine that such cute decorations came from her severe, old-fashioned maternal grandfather.

Her mother was born when her maternal grandfather was nearing 50 years of age. Reasonably speaking, (it’s expected that) a girl born in the autumn of one’s later years to be exceptionally spoiled. However mother, was brought up in an exceptionally severe manner similar to a boy by maternal grandfather since she had lost her own mother. This severity was because he knew that he was old and wouldn’t be able to protect her for many years. He was worried that when he passed away other people would bully his daughter. Thus, he would prefer that his daughter resented him and cruel-heartedly estranged his daughter.

Perhaps in order to make up for not being intimate with her mother, maternal grandfather incomparably doted on Lou Yao Yao despite being excessively strict. It seemed as though he wanted to give to Lou Yao Yao everything he hadn’t given mother.

Lou Yao Yao thought, perhaps, this room was what maternal grandfather once wanted to give to mother.

However, this room that was filled with the atmosphere of dreams was destroyed by Lou Yao Yao in a rage two years later.

She was already 22 years old but still lived in a pink princess room. Mature women would sneer at the childishness.

Over the years, Lou Yao Yao reminisced many times on her princess bedroom and her own naivety. Only a woman who was old would know to long for this naivety. When one is young, they want to grow up. But after they do grow up, they learn to yearn for this past naivety. However, it was impossible to have as they have already become a mature woman. Naivety is for small children.

A young girl wearing a princess skirt will forever be naive and lovable. However, an adult woman wearing a princess skirt, although she might be a little cute and delicate; she is actually artificial and pretending to be pure.

God knows how much Lou Yao Yao wanted to be artificial once.

But she couldn’t. She didn’t want to be inferior to Lou Qing Qing. She didn’t want people to say that she wasn’t feminine or to say that she didn’t have sex appeal.

These things, she doesn’t want them now, in these past years living has made her incomparably tired.

In the instant her gaze landed on the bed, Lou Yao Yao resolved this time she would cherish everything, not allowing anyone to change it.

As for the public’s view, in those past years, other than being a joke what has she gained? Let other people continue to laugh; she accepted it and would turn their laughter into praise.

Lou Yao Yao’s mood rose as though she was walking on clouds. She wandered around her room. Her small cat shaped dressing table did not have clustered cosmetics anymore. This was good. Her clean and neat dressing room was full of cute clothes and devoid of sexy clothes that was unattainable for her. This was wonderful. Every piece of furniture was covered in pink frills. This was marvelous! Being a naive woman was truly great!

Lou Yao Yao was simply enchanted. It was only when Aunt Liu knocked on the door to remind her she should eat dinner that she struggled out of her pink bubble.

She was in her dressing room for a very long time choosing what to wear. She hesitated, unable to choose. She wanted to wear every piece of clothing. It was really too hard to choose so she decided to close her eyes and randomly take a set of clothing.

After changing, Lou Yao Yao sat at her dressing table to tidy up her hair. But then, she saw a familiar box on top of the dressing table. After a while, Lou Yao Yao took the box and opened it in a complicated mood. There were two simple chain bracelets lying in the box.

The chain bracelet was made of square blue beads with a few veins running through them. The corners of the bead were rubbed round so that it would not prick one’s hand.  It was ice-cold to the touch. It resembled jade but wasn’t jade; It resembled stone, but wasn’t stone. She had prepared it for Chen Hao to wear as a birthday gift and had planned to give to Chen Hao one day. She herself had worn the other pair. Chen Hao had never seen her wearing it but she had worn it for 7 years.

It was a simple gift but she had spent a lot of thought on it. Perhaps the gift was too simple Lou Qing Qing disdained to destroy it. She carried it off only to return it later. Otherwise, she would have had to make up for it. Anyway, Lou Yao Yao was notorious for causing trouble intentionally. There was no need to throw filthy water on her reputation twice.

Naturally, Lou Yao Yao would not gift the chain bracelet again. But… she wasn’t able to give it up. After all, she had spent so much thought on it. Nor was she used to the feeling of emptiness on her wrist.

After thinking for a while, Lou Yao Yao opened a nearby drawer to find a business card.

“Hello, is this Lin Jewelry Line? ………… I am Lou Yao Yao. Last time I custom ordered a pair of chain bracelets from your store. …..…..…. No, there aren’t any problems. I would like to order another pair………..….. Not the same pair. I would like to change one of the names.”

Lou Yao Yao put down the phone and found a pair of scissors. She cut the two chain bracelets and threw them in the trash with no regrets.

Gifts were good. Regard was also good. But they should be given to people who would treasure them. In all those years, Chen Hao hadn’t discovered this secret. Would he now discover it?

Instead of thinking of this problem, Lou Yao Yao took one of the many similar shaping objects from the right drawer and went downstairs.

Other than Lou Yao Yao, Lou Yuanzhi, Fang Lei Xi and Lou Qing Qing had been waiting at the dinner table for some time.

Looking at Lou Yao Yao, Lou Yuanzhi who was originally laughing and talking with Lou Qing Qing, his face immediately sank….

Lou Yao Yao didn’t care at all. She went down the stairs with joy, completely disregarding Lou Yuanzhi, as if he were nothing.

Fang Xi Lei looked at Lou Yao Yao and hinted to Auntie Liu to serve dinner. However, Lou Yuanzhi blocked her. He looked coldly at Lou Yao Yao, “don’t rush to serve the food. Lou Yao Yao, I have something to say to you.”

Lou Yao Yao had just arrived at the table. She shouted “mother” warmly, then pulled out a chair and sat down. Then she leaned to look at Lou Yuanzhi. She couldn’t help but admit that this man was undoubtedly quite handsome. It seemed as though time was particularly kind towards this man. He was already in his 40’s, but looked like he was in his early 30’s. He normally showed excessive mildness. Even when putting on a cold face, he still seemed amicable, without any killing power. It is said that a person’s face is shaped by their heart. Lou Yao Yao once believed that he was cold on the outside and warm-hearted inside. Only afterwards did she learn that he was just pretending to have forgotten how to express himself, his anger.

Regarding his daughter’s examining look, Lou Yuanzhi was somewhat displeased. His face became colder by two points. “Lou Yao Yao, how many times have I told you? When doing things, don’t be careless. If you make a mistake, the first thing you should do is analyze yourself. You shouldn’t blindly push your own mistakes onto someone else. This time because of your own negligence you lost something but you pushed all the blame on your jiejie. How do I usually teach you? Could it be that my, Lou Yuanzhi, daughter can only falsely accuse people?”

“I am sorry, Father. I know I’m wrong.” When everyone thought that Lou Yao Yao would get angry and retort, Lou Yao Yao obediently lowered her head and honestly admitted her wrongs.

Lou Yuanzhi stared blankly. Seeing that Lou Yao Yao’s expression was somewhat inquiring, his mood softened a little. “Knowing your mistake is good. Yao Yao, give your jiejie an apology.”

Everyone waited for Lou Yao Yao to blow up. Fang Xi Lei was already greatly displeased. But, there was nothing wrong with what Lou Yuanzhi had said. However, if her daughter blew up and said something excessive, she would treat it as the wind blowing past her ears. There was no reason to let her daughter be bullied.

“Jiejie, sorry,” when Lou Yao Yao was speaking, she looked at Lou Qing Qing miserably with big eyes, “I shouldn’t have been so stingy. Despite knowing that your cell phone was broken, I didn’t want to lend you a cell phone.”

Lou Yao Yao placed the thing in her hand on the table and pushed it near Lou Qing Qing.  It was probably a new cell phone. Shifting to a new topic, Lou Yao Yao opened her eyes piteously to say, “But jiejie, that cell phone model you took from my room yesterday is a gift from Qin Zhi. Although I don’t use it now, I want to keep it as a memento. Therefore, can jiejie give me back that cell phone model? In addition, that cell phone model is already old. Jiejie, why don’t you use this model?”

Lou Qing Qing was dumbstruck. She had already been prepared for the torrent of scolding that was sure to happen. She hadn’t thought that it would be like this.

After listening to her daughter’s words, Fang Xi Lei knew that things had turned for the better. She immediately rushed to ask before Lou Yuanzhi. “Yao Yao, what’s going on? Didn’t you say that the gift you prepared for Chen Hao was lost? What does a cell phone have to do with this?”

“The gift I was going to give Chen Hao? After I took it back yesterday, I didn’t like it. I conveniently discarded it on the ground. Jiejie, wasn’t the matter about the cell phone?” Lou Yao Yao’s face was bewildered; she flung the issue back to Lou Qing Qing.

Lou Yuanzhi also asked a question, “Qing Qing, what’s the matter? Why is that Yao Yao’s account is different from yours?”

“Father, the matter isn’t…….”

“Father, jiejie might be embarrassed to tell you the truth. Actually, it’s like this: two days ago I wasn’t careful and broke jiejie’s phone. But, jiejie works with the student association so it’s inconvenient for her not to have a phone. Therefore, jiejie wanted to borrow a cell phone and return the phone when she got next month’s living expenses.  However, at that time, I was squabbling with jiejie so I refused to agree to this. Yesterday, when I returned, I discovered that I was missing a phone so I quarreled with jiejie. Today, I carefully thought it over. I was wrong in this matter. I have so many phones, but I refused to lend one to jiejie. I was being petty. I’m sorry, jiejie. I’ll give you this cell phone model. You don’t have to return it.”

Lou Qing Qing always spoke softly. How could she be Lou Yao Yao’s match? Lou Yao Yao’s voice drowned out Lou Qing Qing’s. Afterwards, Lou Yao Yao let out a flood of words. The meaning of her tone and those words, rather than saying it was to admit her wrongs, it was to show off.

Lou Qing Qing was accused falsely, instantly the rim of her eyes turned red, “Father, it isn’t like that. Auntie Liu and Auntie Lu can testify. What Yao Yao said isn’t true.”

Lou Yuanzhi had a bit of a headache. On the left, Yao Yao was wearing a look of sincere repentance on her face. On the right, Qing Qing’s anxious eyes were red; she looked as if she was bearing an enormous grievance. Lou Yuanzhi short-temperedly looked at the two housekeepers standing at the kitchen doorway, waiting to serve the food, “Yesterday’s matter, how much did you hear?”

Immediately, everyone’s gaze turned toward the two housekeepers. The two housekeepers glanced at each other; Auntie Liu smiled at Yao Yao and then said, “We were downstairs. What we heard wasn’t very clear; however, we did really hear the two words: phone and gift.”

Auntie Lu also nodded.

Lou Qing Qing stared with wide eyes, she looked wounded and as if she couldn’t believe her ears. She resigned herself to be especially respectful towards the two aunts, to the point that she even helped them with the housework. Compared to Lou Yao Yao, who was always requesting this and that and even shouted and quarreled with them, she treated them much better. She didn’t understand. Why did they help Yao Yao frame her?

Looking at Lou Qing Qing’s expression, Lou Yao Yao smiled. She was always a person who understood how to make use of one’s advantages. Lou Qing Qing could not understand. After all that is said and done, she was an outsider to this household. Besides, Qing Qing naively thought that the two aunties’ indulgence to her was merely because they were the housekeepers of this household. No, no it wasn’t like that. In this age, if one’s job wasn’t satisfactory, one could definitely leave. Their indulgence of her was because of their deep affection towards her.

From the very beginning of her memories, she was with these two housekeepers. To say her relationship with them was like half a family member wouldn’t be overboard. Lou Qing Qing who came in halfway, how could she understand! Lou Qing Qing saw her as arrogant and despotic. She hadn’t seen what made her so arrogant!

In her past life, she was too stupid; otherwise, with everything she had, how could Lou Qing Qing rise up? Stop dreaming!

“Ok, this is the end of this matter.” Lou Yuanzhi looked at the maids with concealed rage in his eyes. He was even a little resentful toward Lou Qing Qing because she made him lose face. But he couldn’t show his mood on his face. “Come serve dinner.”

“Father…” Lou Qing Qing thought today was too much like a fantasy. Her brain seemed a little insufficient. Why did father not help her redress her grievances when she was treated unjustly? Why did it easily pass over?

She didn’t understand. Her grievance hadn’t gotten the slightest response.

Lou Qing Qing didn’t know but Lou Yao Yao did. It was because Lou Yuanzhi had a taboo. One couldn’t discuss money with him. If she hadn’t rebirthed, she probably wouldn’t have known that her father had such an interesting secret.

Also this matter, how could they figure out whether it was true or false? The number of phones that she discarded in the cell phone drawer, even she didn’t how many there were. Not to mention the ones mother bought her or the ones she bought. Even Qin Zhi bought her many phones. If one or two were missing, who would know? Who could testify? Basically, no one would ever be able to tell. If the phone couldn’t be found in Lou Qing Qing’s room, who knew where she had concealed it?

Lou Yuanzhi’s weakness was money. Lou Qing Qing’s weakness was also money. What? The fact that his wife hadn’t driven away the illegitimate child was already good! Could one expect her to give money as well? Don’t make me laugh! But for certain reasons, Lou Yuanzhi wouldn’t give too much money to Lou Qing Qing.

As a matter of fact, Lou Qing Qing’s phone really had been broken by her. Both father and mother knew about it. It was just that Lou Qing Qing had never asked to borrow one of her phones.

But so what? She wanted to inverse right and wrong, black and white, who can stop her? Even if someone knew that she is telling a lie, who can testify?

Although a lie is a lie, a lie that can make people be at a loss for words, this is proof. She should thank Lou Qing Qing. Qing Qing had taught her this truth.

Lou Yao Yao ate dinner while delightfully humming a tune, not caring in the slightest about the mood of the two other people. Although Fang Xi Lei couldn’t really bear to watch her daughter’s indecent behavior, she didn’t want to destroy one of her daughter’s rare happy moods.

Lou Qing Qing grinded her teeth. When had she ever been so humiliated? This first confrontation, Lou Qing Qing was completely defeated. She was even unable to make heads or tails of her defeat. However, this was only the beginning! After dinner, Lou Yao Yao who was rolling on top of her pink bed, howled inside of her heart, “This childish feeling is really good!”