Chapter 115: The Seventieth Birthday

Translator:

Atlas Studios

Editor:

Atlas Studios

The meal felt tasteless to them.

The atmosphere was rather awkward. After the meal, Xia Ling hastily bade him farewell.

She only felt at ease after she returned back home. As she looked at the pieces of property certificate scattered all over the floor underneath the sofa, she started to become lost in thought again. What sort of messy life was this? Pei Ziheng was getting close to finding her, and even Li Lei…

Since when did her life turn into a chaotic mess?

The phone started to ring.

Xia Ling reached out to answer it. “h.e.l.lo?”

“Is this Xiao Ling?” The voice on the phone sounded like a middle-aged man’s.

Startled, Xiao Ling took a few seconds to realize who the caller was. It was Father Ye, her father in this lifetime. Although they had not kept in contact for a long time, Xia Ling asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Father Ye sounded a little uneasy. The last time Xia Ling went home, he and Mrs. Ye tricked her into entering Ye Xingfei’s ward to make her meet Pei Ziheng. After that, they never contacted each other anymore. Truthfully, Father Ye felt guilty and blamed himself for letting his daughter down, but what else could he have done?

At that point in time, Pei Ziheng had coerced them into co-operating with him. Father Ye was afraid of Pei Ziheng and also disregarded his wife’s advice: that the huge sum of money Boss Pei was willing to pay was sufficient for the family of three to live worry-free financially for the rest of their lives.

Yes, a family of three.

Father Ye, Mrs. Ye, and Ye Xingfei.

They did not take into account Ye Xingling’s welfare. To this family, she was like an outsider.

Father Ye adjusted the tone of his voice in an attempt to sound gentle and said, “Xiao Ling, please don’t resent us for that situation in the past. Dad and your Aunt Liu were experiencing difficulties then…”

Difficulties? Xia Ling laughed coldly. It was simply a case of them disregarding all their moral principles at the sight of profits and betraying their daughter.

However, she could not be bothered to expose him. He was never close to her anyway. It did not matter whether he sold her out or lied to her, because nothing he did could even stir the slight bit of emotion in her. “Dad, get straight to the point. I’m very busy,” she said. She did not believe that Father Ye would call her for the sole reason of apologizing. If he really had the heart to apologize, he would not have waited till now.

Father Ye awkwardly laughed. “Xiao Ling, your grandmother’s 70th birthday is approaching. A few of your aunts, uncles, and cousins are going to the celebration. Our family is going as well. Look, how about you prepare some clothes and go back to the countryside with us a few days later?”

After hearing him say that, Xia Ling suddenly remembered.

According to the memories of the person’s body she was in, Grandma Ye’s 70th birthday was really approaching. This grandma treated Ye Xingling very well. After Ye Xingling’s father married stepmother Aunt Liu when Xingling was a child and started to neglect her, only Grandma Ye showered her with love. Grandma took care of all of Xingling’s needs ranging from winter clothes to avoid the summer heat alone.

The original owner of this body was very close to Grandma Ye.

Xia Ling thought, since she was occupying someone else’s body, she should also be filial to those who treated her well before. As such she promised him. “I will be there.”

Father Ye was very happy, but his voice faltered after that.

“What else is there?” Xia Ling was starting to get impatient.

At the other end of the phone, Aunt Liu’s bitterly sarcastic voice could be heard. “Useless thing. All I did was tell you to ask your daughter, but you can’t even seem to do it. Are you mute? Let me tell you, I’m not willing to contribute a single cent towards that old woman’s birthday gift. If you dare, you can join the celebration empty-handed. Otherwise, you can ask for the money from your daughter!”

Xia Ling listened and frowned. What was the commotion about?

Father Ye sighed deeply and was finally determined to ask. “Xiao Ling, you are a famous celebrity now… Well, you see, you know our financial situation is not that great. Do you think you can contribute to your grandmother’s birthday present?”

Xia Ling sneered and realized what Aunt Liu’s intentions were.

Their greed was truly limitless. They were even calculative when it came to the old relative’s birthday gift. However, even if they did not ask, Xia Ling would have prepared the money. In her memories, Grandma Ye’s legs were weak and once it was winter, they would ache due to the cold. After pondering, Xia Ling decided to buy a better quality pair of pants for Grandma Ye to keep her warm. When it came to clothes, the market was confounded with them. As such, the materials used to make the clothes were not very reliable. The lucky thing was that in her past life, she had worn a few good clothes. Using her gut feeling, she could deduce with a high success rate which stores sold quality clothing.

“I will prepare it,” she said icily.

“What are you planning on buying?” Father Ye asked. He had no choice as his wife ordered that not only should Xia Ling prepare the birthday gift, it should also be something expensive and the most presentable so that others would not look down on them!

Xia Ling pondered for a bit, and then immediately he guessed his intentions and sneered a little. She asked, “What are you planning on letting me buy?”

“Well…” Father Ye hesitated a little and said, “Your Fourth Uncle who has a very successful business said that this time, he will be buying a mahogany bed for your grandmother. Since we have a celebrity like you in our family, our relatives all say that our present should be on par with your Fourth Uncle’s.”

All of the relatives said that?

It was more likely that her step-mother Aunt Liu said that!

Xia Ling did not give a direct answer. “I have limits.”

She hung up the phone.

It was actually desolate to think about it as she had only debuted a few months ago. During that period of time when she was being shaded very severely by others, no family member called to comfort her. However, now that they needed her money, they did not hesitate to demand an exorbitant amount.

Famous celebrity?

She laughed. Have they ever seen a famous celebrity that was financially constrained like her? It was as if her father forgot that to treat Ye Xingfei’s illness in the beginning, she borrowed a huge sum of money from Skyart Entertainment that amounted to millions and her debt was still not repaid yet.

Even now, just to save the face of the family in front of their relatives, their first request was “something no less expensive than a mahogany bed”?

“Why did you not s.n.a.t.c.h it back?” Xia Ling whispered under her breath and kicked the pile of paper fragments that were once the deed of a Green Hill Pavilions’ vila. Not surprisingly, she thought about how overbearing Li Lei was when he tore it apart. How good it must feel to have money! You could easily tear apart a deed to a villa worth with tens of millions of dollars. When would she able to be as rich and willful as him?

How about you be my girlfriend…

Li Lei’s handsome face appeared in her mind again. This time he was saying seductive things in a low, magnetic voice. Xia Ling scratched her hair in some annoyance before she quietly searched for a broom to clear up the paper fragments on the floor.

The next day, she counted her savings and asked Sister Mai Na and Wei Shaoyin to borrow some money to buy clothes. She made it clear that the money would be used to help Grandma Ye buy a custom-made set of clothes made of pure camel hair.

She knew a custom-tailor that was quite good, but it would only help members and not entertain other customers.

In her past life, she had a members.h.i.+p card, but in this life, there was a long way to go before she could obtain one.

Xia Ling was busy racking her brains, but Sister Mai Na candidly told her. “Look for our Boss, then. He can do anything!”

Xia Ling shook her head. She had just rejected his procession of love. Looking for him at this time would just be too awkward. Besides, she also did not wish to overly depend on anyone… Overdependence was truly a terrible habit.

“I have no other way to help you then.” Sister Mai Na showed no concern. “The members.h.i.+p card of the S.S.D. clothing store is famous for being difficult to obtain. How about you consider another store?”