It seemed like a choice even a fool could make. On one side was a wealthy household, and on the other was a farming family that could barely be considered above the poverty line. However, there were stakes involved on the farmers’ side—specifically, Liu Anran’s company.
Liu Xie didn’t understand the nuances of business competition. Otherwise, she would have decisively told Liu Anran to step back behind the scenes and sever ties with the company so that his personal issues wouldn’t affect its future leadership. There were plenty of ways to solve this kind of problem. But it was precisely because Liu Xie didn’t understand that she felt so desperate.
“So what do we do now? I don’t want Liu Anran to go anywhere else. He’ll suffer.”
“Even if you tell me this now, there’s nothing I can do,” Liu Mother replied. She truly had no way to deal with her own children.
“That family is clearly just seeing how well Liu Anran is doing and coming to suck his blood. They even want to ruin him. They’re playing way too dirty.” Liu Xie’s search for a solution turned into a vent of complaints within just a few sentences. “They just can’t stand to see him living a good life. Liu Anran is such a good person…”
Liu Mother only smiled bitterly and stroked Liu Xie’s long hair. While comforting her daughter, she couldn’t help but wear an expression that looked like a farmer watching a prize cabbage about to be rooted up and stolen by a pig.
“Liu Anran belongs in our house. Our family loves him so much, and I love him so much.” Liu Xie was still muttering to herself. At this moment, her rambling mouth made her look more like a little girl. “Can their family love Liu Anran as much as we do? Look how well we’ve raised him—he’s so fair and healthy.”
“Even if it’s confirmed that he’s their child, if I saw that he was doing better now than he would be with me, I would have the decency to leave him alone. But they insist on bothering him, and it just happened to be caught on camera? What kind of intentions do they even have…”
Liu Xie’s muttering had now evolved into a higher, more potent form. Resentment.
“Do you really not want him to go that badly?”
“He shouldn’t have to go in the first place,” Liu Xie said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “He’s family to us. Parents who abandoned their child shouldn’t count as parents, right? If it weren’t for me, Liu Anran would have died in a trash heap long ago because of them.”
“And even the name Liu Anran was given by me. What right do they have to snatch him away from my side?”
The more Liu Xie spoke, the angrier she got. “No, I’m going to go find where those two old scumbags are staying. I’m going to throw lime powder in their eyes.”
“Hey, hey.” Liu Mother pulled back Liu Xie, who was on the verge of exploding. “Don’t be so impulsive. Learn from Liu Anran and be a bit more composed.”
“I think he’s being too composed! People are riding all over him now. If he were like me and pointed at those two scumbags’ noses from the start, cursing them for abandoning him, would we even be in this mess?” Liu Xie’s teeth were practically itching with rage.
Liu Mother could see it clearly now; Liu Xie seemed completely unable to accept the idea of Liu Anran leaving. “Do you really care about him that much?”
“Duh! If I don’t care, who will? He’s going to spend the rest of his life with me—the kind of thing no one can stop.” Liu Xie continued her grumbling. “It was supposed to be just the two of us, just our business. Now all this nonsense is happening…”
“Ahhh, this is so annoying!” The Golden Lion Queen frustratedly clawed at her own hair.
Liu Mother’s smile became increasingly strained.
“Hey, tell me… what if Liu Anran really chooses to go with them? What then?” Liu Xie’s tone carried a hint of worry. But there was also a spark of hope; she wanted to hear the answer she desired from her mother.
“Then there’s not much we can do. After all, it would be his own choice. If we interfere, it would make us look like the bad guys,” Liu Mother could only say this much to her.
Liu Xie was visibly more displeased after hearing this. “How can it be like that? Compared to us, the parents who are only showing up now are the ones who aren’t good people, right?”
“The difference between good and bad people in this world isn’t something that can be explained in a single sentence. But if many people say the same thing over and over, then a good person becomes bad, and a bad person becomes good.” Liu Mother still spoke in a soft, gentle voice.
The furious Golden Lion Queen certainly understood what her mother meant; she just couldn’t accept it for the time being. “But I just don’t want Liu Anran to go…”
“Daughter, sometimes we have to learn to say goodbye. We meet so many fellow travelers in this life; someone is bound to get off at the next stop.”
“Bullshit. I’m the driver. If I say Liu Anran can’t get off, then he can’t. He still owes me for his ticket anyway.” Liu Xie righteously rejected her mother’s logic. “If you won’t help me, I’ll go find Dad.”
With that, she stood up and walked straight to the study door. Without even knocking, she pushed her way inside. “Dad, you have to help me.”
“How am I supposed to help you?” Behind the desk, Liu Father frowned and set down the book in his hand. “If he really wants to leave, that’s his own choice. What can you do? Kidnap him and bring him back in chains?”
“I don’t think he’s the type who would just leave. There must be a lot of things he’s struggling to say.” Liu Xie stuck to her original thought. “How about this? We kidnap him back first and ask him exactly how many secrets he’s hiding.”
“Don’t just act on every whim.” Liu Father slammed his book onto the desk, creating a loud thud.
“But Liu Anran is about to leave! What do you expect me to do?” For once, Liu Xie talked back to her father, who always represented the ‘correct’ authority. “I can’t let him go.”
“Will your world stop turning without him?” Liu Father seemed to be getting a bit heated as well.
“Yes! My world won’t turn without him! So what?”
“You…” Liu Father pointed at Liu Xie, but in the end, his anger dissolved into a sigh. “Sigh.”
His adopted, most sensible son rarely asked him for anything. But this one request had turned into a massive ordeal. He truly didn’t know what to say to Liu Xie, who was acting like a stubborn mule. To put it another way, if he was going to keep acting this out, he was starting to run out of lines.
Perhaps it was because he felt a bit powerless and helpless that his own son and daughter had ended up like this.
“Just give me a straight answer. Are you going to help or not?”
Because it involved Liu Anran, Liu Xie was somehow braver than she had ever been, even going so far as to point her finger at her old man’s nose.
“Whatever decision he makes, he will definitely have to announce it in public. At that time, I’ll likely be asked to be the mediator. When that happens, it’s not impossible for me to say a few things that favor the two of you. But his decision and the final result cannot be changed,” Liu Father said, letting out another heavy sigh.
“Then what use is that?” Liu Xie stomped her foot and marched straight out of the study. “If you won’t help me, I’ll find a way myself.”
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What a clingy sister.