Returning - Chapter 201

Chapter 201: Nothing Left

Zhuang Ye had just reached the villa entrance when he could already clearly hear the arguing coming from inside.

He had been out all night in the cold wind and was only now returning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, yet the two inside had clearly been at it for quite some time.

Pushing the door open, he immediately spotted his mother on the sofa. She was still in her nightgown, unwashed, the tear tracks on her face adding an extra layer of dishevelment.

As for the man he called his father, he was already fully dressed and looked ready to rush out the door. Seeing Zhuang Ye enter, he said nothing, merely glancing over indifferently before leaving.

Zhuang Ye knew that Zhuang Zhen had nothing to say to him—furious at him for his betrayal of the Zhuang family, yet also guilty for failing to fulfill a father's duty towards him.

And he, towards this man he had hated for so many years, equally had nothing to say.

Looking at his mother, still silently weeping on the sofa, Zhuang Ye said, "You can get divorced now, right?"

Weng Ruohua looked at him, uncomprehending.

"I said, get a divorce." Zhuang Ye smiled sarcastically. "In the past, you couldn't bear to part with the title of Mrs. Zhuang, scheming with all your heart to keep this position. Now that the Zhuang family has nothing left, there's no need for you to hold on any longer. After all these years of fighting, splitting up would be better for everyone."

Weng Ruohua continued to stare fixedly at him. Only after a long while did she ask, "Do you hate me very much right now?"

"Yes." He was resolute, then paused and added slowly, "Not just now. Actually, in the past… I've hated you before, too."

Meeting her shocked and wounded gaze, Zhuang Ye smiled faintly. "I think my sister probably hated you as well. It's just that she, like me, no matter what, chose to stand on the side of her own biological mother. Whatever you did, we would always convince ourselves to understand you, to support you."

Weng Ruohua pulled out a tissue to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Zhuang Ye already heading upstairs without hesitation.

She thought he didn't want to deal with her and had just returned to his room. But after only a few minutes, he came back down, carrying a cardboard box, and placed it in front of her.

An ominous premonition suddenly surged in her heart. Weng Ruohua's lips trembled. "You… what are you doing?"

"Everything is in here." Zhuang Ye took the items out of the box one by one and placed them on the table. "Two villas, three apartments, three cars, company equity, a trust fund, and all my savings."

Weng Ruohua shot up from the sofa. "What are you trying to do? Learn from Ji Sui and sever ties with the Zhuang family? He's not a member of the Zhuang family, but you…"

"And I am a member of the Zhuang family?" Zhuang Ye suddenly let out a low laugh. "From childhood to now, did you ever truly see me as a son? If you hadn't needed a son to fight for the family inheritance, would you have given birth to me? Did my father ever care about me? Did my sister ever really care about me?"

Looking at the various property deeds he'd placed on the table, Weng Ruohua's eyes reddened, her whole body trembling. "You were born from me! The blood of the Zhuang family flows in your veins! You think these things…"

"I know, these things are far from enough to repay the grace of being born and raised. To truly repay it, I should give this life of mine back as well." Zhuang Ye looked at her calmly. "Don't worry, this life will always be yours. Whenever you want it, just tell me, and I can return it to you at any time."

"Zhuang Ye!" Watching his figure turn to leave, Weng Ruohua collapsed onto the sofa once more, breaking down. "Come back here! What right do you have to just leave?"

Zhuang Ye halted his steps, then slowly turned to look at her. "Rest assured, you will always… be my biological mother. That is a fact I can never change in this lifetime. It's also impossible for me to truly sever ties with the Zhuang family. These things were originally given by you. The Zhuang family is now saddled with debt. Even if I didn't hand them over to pay your debts, when the court ruling comes down later, the result will be the same. As for this place…"

Zhuang Ye looked up, sweeping his gaze around this villa he had lived in for so many years, and smiled. "Even if it isn't sealed off by the court in the end, I won't set foot in here again. This place has never been my home. But you can rest assured, as a son, I will fulfill the duties I ought to. You and my father don't need to worry about having no one to provide for you in your old age. But the relationship between us stops there."

His mother's cries still came from behind him. Even after the villa's main door was shut, it couldn't block out those piercing, mournful sounds.

Zhuang Ye lifted his head to look at the morning sun on the horizon and took several deep breaths, yet still felt that suffocating sensation hadn't eased in the slightest.

He and this twisted family had never truly been separable. But then again, when had he ever truly belonged to this family?

"You can't do this. Your father won't like it."

"Why can't you even do this right? How can your father like you if you're like this?"

These were the two sentences Zhuang Ye heard most often as a child.

Though he was young, his mother had told him very early on that the Zhuang family valued sons over daughters, that his father had other women outside, and that as the eldest son of the Zhuang family, he bore a heavy burden. If he couldn't make his father like him, then this family would fall apart, and he would lose his father forever.

Back then, he didn't even understand what the word "affair" meant. He only often heard words like "whore" and "vixen" from his mother's mouth, and felt very afraid in his heart, afraid that he really would lose his father.

During that time, the sole goal of his life was to curry his father's favor.

He fought desperately to get first place on exams, just so he could see a smile on his father's face when handing him the test paper. He cultivated all sorts of hobbies and interests, also just to hear his father's praise when performing in front of him. He didn't dare get too close to Ji Sui, because his mother scolded him, forbidding him to play and waste time with unrelated people.

He understood better than other children his age how to read people's expressions, understood how to speak to make people happy. And indeed, he didn't let his mother down, deeply winning the affection of his father and grandfather at a very young age.

But gradually, he discovered that his mother didn't seem any happier because of this. He would still always see his mother in tears, hear his mother complaining to him, hear his parents arguing time and time again.

He asked his sister why this was, if it was because his father still didn't like him enough. His sister told him that all of this was normal, that every family was like this, and told him not to overthink it.

And he really did believe it was normal. But when he visited Ling Jianwei's home for the first time and saw Ling Jianwei's parents always chatting and laughing, saw them cooking together, saw them kiss and say goodbye before going out, he suddenly realized that perhaps not every family was the same.

In the Zhuang family, he had hardly ever seen a scene of his parents sitting together and smiling, much less the almost daily arguments and frequent situations where they completely ignored each other.

In that moment, Zhuang Ye knew clearly that he envied Ling Jianwei immensely.

Not just envying Ling Jianwei's outstanding academic achievements at school, but even more so, the way his parents interacted, and even envying how his parents would kiss his cheek, pat his head, and smilingly say to him, "What a wonderful treasure."

Zhuang Ye thought, the reason the Zhuang family wasn't like this must be because he wasn't working hard enough. Perhaps he needed to be like Ling Jianwei, who could skip two grades in elementary school and still get first place, praised as a genius by everyone around him.

So, in every aspect, he worked harder than usual. He made Ling Jianwei his target for learning and striving. He yearned for the day when the Zhuang family could also be as harmonious and happy as the Ling family.

But what he waited for was not the scene he had been hoping for.

When his test scores finally surpassed Ling Jianwei's, when he couldn't wait to rush home clutching that test paper, what awaited him was not his father's praise and smile, but the arrival of a new member of the Zhuang family.

That person was called Zhuang Ze, only one year younger than him. His father said, this was his blood brother.

That day, the Zhuang family descended into chaos. His mother argued with his father without regard for face, smashing a house full of things. His father was also fiercely slapped by his grandfather. But in the end, the Zhuang family still decided to keep Zhuang Ze.

That day, his mother held him and wept bitterly the entire night, saying his father wouldn't want him anymore, saying that woman outside was his father's first love, saying that Zhuang Ze was his father's favorite child.

That day, his mother, crying to the point of breakdown, also fiercely slapped him, scolding him for being useless, scolding him for lacking the ability to gain his father's affection.

That day, Zhuang Ye felt his world had collapsed.

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