Happy reading~

Chapter 175: The Vicious Pigging Out Cycle

Xiao Yan was starting to eat increasingly more. He was practically a rice tub now. The more he ate, the fatter he got, but the fatter he got, the more he ate. It became a vicious cycle.

Master Xiao sighed every day when he saw his son eat. He used to have hope that his son would make a comeback, but now even his grandson had been sent to a juvenile center. The current situation made Master Xiao very depressed.

There was nothing more painful than seeing hope slowly be destroyed. After this short period of time, Master Xiao's hair had turned completely white.

Meanwhile, Madame Xiao had to do laundry, cook, and stoop over to mop the floor everyday.

Her originally well-maintained skin quickly lost its collagen and started sagging. She no longer had the charming and youthful appearance she used to have because even if she had the time, she didn't have the money to spend on skincare.

The old couple were now just struggling at death's door in Ning Shu's grasp. All they hoped for enough food to survive another day.

Madame Xiao could now pull out a ingatiating smile every time she had to ask Ning Shu for money. Her once luxurious and graceful manner could no longer be made out.

She had aged a lot.

Meanwhile, though nothing remained of Xiao Yan's old appearance, he still continued to be conceited and always looked at Ning Shu coldly. Sometimes a glint of maliciousness would appear in the seams that was left of his eyes. Ning Shu could tell with a single look that he was planning something stupid.

She laughed coldly, then said in front of all the members of the Xiao family, "I've already written my will. If I die, all my a.s.sets will be donated. This house will be donated as well, so at that time, you guys can go eat dirt."

"Wretch, wretch! You malicious woman! I'm your husband! Your money is also my money, how dare you donate it!? Wretch! It must be due to my eight lifetimes of acc.u.mulated misfortune that I ended up marrying a bearer of ill luck like you!" The chunks of flesh on Xiao Yan's face trembled repulsively.

Ning Shu laughed coldly and replied, "I'm definitely not some bearer of ill luck. If it's a bearer of ill luck, it should probably be Su Meng. The Xiao family only went bankrupt after you got together with Su Meng. You shouldn't forget that we've been married for six years, and nothing like this had ever happened."

It would be best if Xiao Yan headed over to start a love and hate tug-of-war with Su Meng. Right now, Ning Shu didn't even feel like insulting Xiao Yan's body or trampling on his pride anymore. Doing so only got her hand pointlessly oily and gross.

Xiao Yan had a sinister expression on his face and his fat trembled with his rage. In the end, he shouted towards Ning Shu, "You wretch! There's no way I'd believe your words."

Fine, if you wanted to deceive yourself, then go ahead.

Ning Shu had no plans to try and show Xiao Yan a good side of her.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yan really was trying to convince himself. Although he didn't believe Ning Shu's words, Su Meng had ran away right after seeing him earlier, so a shadow was left in his heart.

On the other side, Su Meng had no choice but to beg Li Xiuwen for help to save her son. Su Meng made a determined and self-sacrificing look and pretty much conveyed: as long as you save my son, you can do whatever you like. She still felt pain from betraying Xiao Yan, but she had no choice.

In the end, Li Xiuwen gave in and tried to save Su Dabao. However, he couldn't even see Su Dabao. The people in the juvenile detention center had isolated him off and put him under heavy guard. A child this small had such amazing ability, there was no way they could let him back into society.

Moreover, the people at the center discovered that this little kid's mentality was a bit twisted. He had no sense of right or wrong at all. It was too dangerous.

No matter how much influence Li Xiuwen had, there was still no way he could save Su Dabao who had been labeled as dangerous by the nation. It would be good if Su Dabao ended up successfully brainwashed, but if he couldn't be taught, then they could only end his life once he turned eighteen.

Su Meng lost all hope when she learned that even Li Xiuwen wasn't able to save Su Dabao. She weeped endlessly everyday like the world was collapsing. After facing a pair of swollen eyes all the time everyday, Li Xiuwen became a little vexed and didn't look for Su Meng as much.

Su Meng despaired even more. She felt as if she had been abandoned by the whole world and became even more broken-hearted. She hugged Su Xiaobao everyday and cried. Su Xiaobao's expression was numb and a bit gloomy as she consoled her mommy and tried to get her to stop crying. However, after it went on for a long time, Su Xiaobao gave up trying and just listened as Su Meng cried all day.

#comment: Su Meng's 'innocence' means that she doesn't see the realities of life. The only initiatives she takes is to ask others for help. It's alright if others could still help her, but if they can't, she doesn't know to think about what she can do with her own powers… so she kind of brought it on herself for not actually paying attention to her children in the past, and not using her charm to continue persuading someone in power to get her son out.

But I think it's still important to remember that, a lot of daily happiness comes at the price of trampling on others, that's why it's so important to put ourselves in different shoes and consider the consequences of our actions. At the same time, a lot of simple happiness comes just from doing some little thing to bring another person happiness. But first of all, love yourself, live the life you desire, and be the person you want to be. Only then will you be able to extend your love to others with confidence despite the painful things the world throws at you. The world is large, I'd like to believe it's overall, kinder than this fiction.

Happy reading~

Chapter 176: Never Looked for Xiao Yan Again

Even with the situation like this, Su Meng still didn't look for Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan's face had probably given her too much of a shock.

Later, Li Xiuwen got married to the daughter of a wealthy family rather than to Su Meng. When Su Meng found out about this, she felt like her entire world had turned dark. Li Xiuwen, that gentle man, had also betrayed her. Su Meng felt like the Heavens were making her endure all the sufferings of the world. She felt really really hurt ah.

During Li Xiuwen and that wealthy miss's wedding ceremony, Su Meng asked Li Xiuwen why he betrayed with a despairing expression in front of everyone. At that time, Li Xiuwen's entire face turned black and he had people directly throw Su Meng out.

When Ning Shu found out that the supporting male lead-sama didn't end up together with the female lead, she curled her lips in disdain. He had already successfully taken the spot of the male lead, yet he decided he didn't want the female lead anymore? That was such a sad amount of ambition, he deserved his fate of being a supporting male lead.

However, it seemed like after the main couple, Xiao Yan and Su Meng's relations.h.i.+p was destroyed, the supporting male lead halo above Li Xiuwen's head also disappeared.

Li Xiuwen's new wife wasn't some pushover either. She immediately took back the apartment Li Xiuwen had given Su Meng back and kicked Su Meng out. Su Meng, who had nowhere to go, could only rent a small and dirty apartment to stay in.

As of now, Su Xiaobao was already six years old, at the age of starting school, yet this fact didn't seem to have occured to Su Meng. She spent her days grieving over the lost past and didn't even think about earning money to support herself. When they finally ran out of money, Su Meng could only look at Su Xiaobao with her wide almond eyes helplessly. Finally, she said to Su Xiaobao with a resolved expression, Mommy will definitely work hard to raise you, definitely.

It wasn't that Su Meng hadn't thought of looking for Xiao Yan. She had secretly gone to find Xiao Yan once before, only to find that Xiao Yan was now as fat as a pig. Not only that, he was missing a leg. Due to the fact that he was too fat to fit into a wheelchair, he could only lie on the bed all day. The room had a strange smell that made people want to vomit, but it was no surprise. After all, he ate, drank, and did all his s.h.i.+t in the room, so it was natural that the smell was unbearable.

As for how Xiao Yan lost his leg, it was back then when Xiao Yan found out that his son was going to be imprisoned for life. He had rushed too much when going down the stairs and ended up falling and breaking his bones. However, it'd heal up fine with a plaster cast.

When Ning Shu heard the doctor say this, she had remarked 'really?' then signed the surgery papers and said, 'just saw it off.'

When Xiao Yan found out that he lost his leg, he practically went crazy. Glaring at Ning Shu, he had vowed, "Su Ran, even if I become a ghost, this lifetime, next, the one after that, I won't ever forgive you."

Ning Shu smiled, unconcerned. However, that smile chilled Xiao Yan to the bones. This woman, this woman…

Su Meng left and never looked for Xiao Yan again.

When Ning Shu found out, she just gave an indifferent smile without saying anything. True love was nothing more than this. They hadn't had to struggle to make ends meet since they had an unending source of wealth for them to enjoy a incomparably romantic life. They could spend all day doing nothing but getting hung up over loving someone that loved someone else and such trifling matters.

It was an incomparably beautiful love unstained with the reality of the world ah.

#comment: What I wrote in the last chapter, the Chinese term for it is 'chicken soup.' It refers to texts that are heartwarming, inspirational, and often pa.s.sed around a lot on social media in order to gain attention due to the feel-good vibes that quickly gets annoying. But every once in a while, a little chicken soup is good, right? Just like how some cynical salt is good after some (a lot of) sweets.  

Haha, writing chicken soup was how I got into to college, so *wink wink* (US) college-bound students should start thinking about their past experiences and how to make some good chicken soup out of that.