Ma Lan, unaware of her daughter’s deeper turmoil, assumed it was just her usual nagging, harmless as ever. She sneered, “So what if I curse her? Let me tell you, not beating that old hag to death myself makes me a saint! If it were someone less restrained, your grandma would’ve been dead countless times. Maybe one day she’d be the subject of a crime documentary!”
She continued, smirking, “Honestly, the only decent one in the Xiao family was your grandpa. Years ago, I resented him for pushing a good son-in-law onto you, but now I see he was looking out for you. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be living so well. He should’ve lived longer, and your grandma should’ve gone sooner! Good people die young, while disasters live forever!”
Ma Lan, always quick to vent, found exhilaration in her unrestrained tirades. For years, she’d offset any outside frustrations by unloading at home.
Sometimes, she’d deliberately pick fights.
Like now, her initial jabs at Old Lady Xiao were casual, but with Xiao Changkun and Xiao Churan chastising her, she grew irritated. It sparked a defiance, “Oh, I curse that old hag to vent, and you two dare oppose me? Well, I’ll curse her to death!”
Her words poured out like machine-gun fire, “That old hag bullied me for years, even broke my leg! If she dies one day, I’ll buy twenty thousand pounds’ worth of firecrackers to celebrate! Even if the city bans them, I’ll set them off! Lock me up for days, I don’t care, I’ll make sure that old hag has no peace even in death!”
The usually gentle Xiao Churan suddenly stood, slamming the table, shouting, “Enough!!!”
Her outburst startled not only Xiao Changkun and Ma Lan but also nearby guests.
Losing control, Xiao Churan ignored the stunned gazes, storming out.
Ye Chen hurried after her, while Ma Lan muttered stubbornly, “This kid, always siding with outsiders, never with me…”
As Xiao Churan burst through the door, tears streamed uncontrollably.
Ye Chen caught up, seeing her tear-streaked face, and asked with concern, “Darling, what’s wrong?”
Xiao Churan shook her head, stubbornly saying, “Nothing, I’m fine…”
Ye Chen sensed something amiss, pressing, “Why are you crying? Your mum’s always like this, honestly, I’m used to it. You’ve lived with her for thirty years, you should be too.”
Xiao Churan broke down, sobbing, “I just don’t want her to be like this forever! I just want her to improve, to get better, to stop breaking everything! Why can’t she do it?!”
“For nearly thirty years, she’s been the same! She’s suffered so many losses, but never learned a single lesson!”
“All these years, she’s never fixed her flaws or problems! It’s always someone else’s fault, always someone wronging her!”
“Do you know the only progress I’ve ever seen in her all these years?”
Ye Chen shook his head awkwardly, asking, “What is it?”
Xiao Churan cried out, “Her attitude towards you! The only thing she’s improved on in all these years is how she treats you. Nothing else has changed or improved at all!”
Ye Chen comforted, “Even if it’s just that bit of progress, it’s still something, right? You can’t say she’s made no progress at all.”
Xiao Churan sobbed uncontrollably, choking, “Yes… there’s that tiny bit of progress… but… but I know it’s not her getting better! It’s you getting better!”
She looked up, red eyes fixed on Ye Chen, tears streaming as she choked, “It’s because your abilities have grown stronger, your connections wider, your wealth greater, that she calls you her good son-in-law, no longer mocking or insulting you like before! At the end of the day, she’s still the same, the same unchanging her!!!”
At that moment, Xiao Churan’s emotions collapsed entirely. She sank to the ground, burying her face in her arms, trembling with sobs.
Ye Chen didn’t understand. He felt Xiao Churan shouldn’t be so sensitive. They say you stop feeling lice after too many bites—he’d endured Ma Lan’s jabs for five or six years and was immune, so why had Xiao Churan, after thirty years, suddenly lost her composure? He suspected her state wasn’t entirely about Ma Lan, but he couldn’t pinpoint what else was wrong.
Some things in life are like a maths problem missing a key condition—you know something’s off, but you can’t work out what or find the right solution.
Xiao Churan’s pain was a culmination of years of suppressed frustration, unspoken bitterness, and anguish with nowhere to go.
The thought that in a month she’d vanish from Ye Chen’s world made her heart ache even more.
In that moment, she was the loneliest person in the world.
