WBSGVS Chapter 82 V2

Xiàng Héng had always been one to spend money as soon as he got it. It wasn’t even Monday yet, and their dad hadn’t given them money for the week. So where did Xiàng Héng get the money to buy ice cream?

Xiàng Lián immediately suspected that Xiàng Yì had stolen her money, so she went to tell Xiàng Lìfēng.

Without saying anything, Xiàng Lìfēng gave Xiàng Héng a beating.

Xiàng Héng, who had always been increasingly silent, didn’t even try to defend himself. It wasn’t until today, when Xiàng Lián found two yuan under Xiàng Yì’s pillow, that she realized it was Xiàng Yì who had stolen her money!

Angry, Xiàng Lián chased after him to hit him, but unfortunately, she couldn’t outrun her thirteen-year-old brother, and he quickly got away, leaving her behind.

Her pocket money was gone, and she had wrongfully blamed her second brother. Xiàng Lián felt aggrieved and angrily muttered, “Good-for-nothing, always been dishonest since you were little…”

As she cursed, she suddenly remembered two people from ten years ago.

One was Dù Qīng Lí, who had almost become their stepmother.

The other was Sòng Dōngyún, who had become their stepmother but had been driven away by them.

Back then, the third one had wrongfully accused the little beggar that Dù Qīng Lí had protected, causing her to trip and injure her foot.

Now, the third one was still dishonest, causing trouble for the second one.

It was… the same old story, ten years unchanged!

Xiàng Lián sneered bitterly, sighing in her heart. She regretted some of the foolish things she did when she was young. Everything had turned out the way they wanted—no more stepmother, no other people in their home.

But was it really good this way?

After that incident, their father had said he wouldn’t remarry or find them a stepmother, no matter how much their grandmother pleaded. Of course, later, she learned the truth: no one dared to become their stepmother with children like them in the house.

At home, the four of them lived together, and only she, as the girl, was expected to do the laundry.

At first, she protested, unwilling to do it. But when her grandmother threatened that if she didn’t, their father would remarry, she reluctantly agreed. She hated the idea of a stepmother, so she gritted her teeth and did the laundry for the whole family every day.

Later, she also had to clean the house.

And she had to cook the meals.

After graduating from elementary school, her grades were so bad that everyone suggested she stop going to school. Back then, she didn’t realize what a big mistake that was, thinking it was a good thing to quit school. So she stopped, and now, with only an elementary school diploma, she felt embarrassed whenever she went outside.

Meanwhile, Dù Qīng Yǔ, who had been in the same class as her, went to the best middle school in the town after elementary school and then to the best high school in the city.

Recently, she heard that Dù Qīng Yǔ had aced the college entrance exams. The media was interviewing her, and she even appeared on the city’s television station.

Everyone was praising Dù Qīng Lí for being able to raise children well.

Xiàng Lián was filled with envy. If she hadn’t played pranks with her brothers, and hadn’t driven her away, would she be the one everyone admired as the top student?

She had long regretted it, but what good was that now?

That person hated her, and even when they had the chance to meet, the other person couldn’t even be bothered to look at her, as if she were just an unimportant stranger.

When she pushed open the door to her house, Xiàng Lián immediately smelled alcohol. She furrowed her brows and called out, “Xiàng Héng!”

Xiàng Héng walked out of the room, his long hair hanging over his eyes, looking somewhat gloomy, as if mushrooms could grow on him at any moment. “What?”

“Is Dad home?” Xiàng Lián asked out of habit.

“I don’t know,” Xiàng Héng replied, then shut the door behind him.

Xiàng Lián glared in frustration, but the door had already been closed. The living room was a mess, so she resigned herself and started cleaning. The more she cleaned, the more suffocated she felt, but there was also a sense of helplessness as if everything was her fault.

She envied Dù Qīng Yǔ and regretted chasing Dù Qīng Lí away.

But what she regretted even more was causing trouble and forcing Sòng Dōngyún to leave.

The good life she had imagined never came. Without a stepmother, their lives became a mess. Because they were young and didn’t think things through, it took them a long time to slowly steal oil from the house, eventually causing the incident where their stepmother fell and hurt herself.

Sòng Dōngyún divorced Xiàng Lìfēng.

But Xiàng Lìfēng had changed. He no longer showed them any tenderness, and before the divorce, he had already scared them into submission with beatings. After the divorce, if they made any mistakes, they were guaranteed to be brutally punished.

And those beatings weren’t just light punishments.

They were the kind of beatings that left them unable to walk.

Just thinking about the days after Sòng Dōngyún divorced Xiàng Lìfēng made Xiàng Lián shiver. The lessons from that time had made her obedient, and she no longer dared to cause trouble.

Her younger brother, Xiàng Héng, also became quieter. He had gone from being full of mischievous ideas to now being so docile that nothing could provoke him.

Without a mother to guide them, and with only the harsh discipline from Xiàng Lìfēng, they couldn’t communicate properly. Later, Xiàng Yì also went astray, and eventually, Xiàng Lìfēng, looking at his three failed children, turned to drinking. A once happy family slowly fractured.

After cleaning the living room, Xiàng Lián washed her hands and sat down to rest.

At that moment, a girl ran upstairs and said, “Xiàng Lián, I heard an outstanding entrepreneur is coming to the town to open a factory and give back to the community. Should we go take a look? The mayor is personally cutting the ribbon!”

This was a big deal.

In a town like theirs, it was rare to have such an exciting event.

An outstanding entrepreneur?

Xiàng Lián was suddenly interested and quickly followed the girl out.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was at a factory on the edge of town. They usually knew it was a factory, but had it been built by this successful entrepreneur?

There were a lot of people there, and the two girls squeezed through the crowd to the front, where they could see the excitement.

As soon as Xiàng Lián saw the scene, her excitement turned into shock.

On the stage, after the host introduced them, two outstanding female entrepreneurs stepped forward.

Both of them were women!

The crowd around them gasped, and the sound of discussions and admiration filled the air.

But Xiàng Lián didn’t hear any of it.

Her eyes were fixed on the two women, filled with shock and panic.

She never imagined that the outstanding young entrepreneurs, who were being praised by the mayor and covered by the media, were the stepmothers she and her brothers had once tried so hard to drive away!!!

And not just one!

But two!

What kind of hopeless fate was this?