Volume One, Chapter 46: Do You Miss Your Mother?

“Sang Wan, I’m sorry!”

It seemed that after confirming the truth, Lin Qiyue returned to her former kindness when they met after work that evening. Her face was filled with sincere apology. “I believed what Lin Chaochao said and misunderstood you. I owe you an apology! … Are you free this weekend? Let me treat you to a meal, as a way of expressing my regret!”

Sang Wan wanted to decline.

But this was an olive branch from her superior.

Not to mention, on the day of the interview, even before she had made it to the HR Director’s round, Lin Qiyue was already vying for her.

Her competition with Manager Wang indirectly proved Sang Wan’s capability and value.

It allowed her to negotiate her ideal salary and ultimately join the Lou Corporation.

Sang Wan smiled. “Manager Lin, let me treat you.”

Lin Qiyue laughed and changed her proposal. “How about we just split the bill, then?”

“Sure…” Sang Wan nodded with a smile.

As the elevator descended, Lin Qiyue gazed at Sang Wan’s elegant and beautiful profile reflected in the wall, her heart filled with complex emotions.

Sang Wan had tossed out the bomb.

Lin Chaochao had lit the fuse.

As a result, Lin Qiyue had spent the entire afternoon torn between silence and outbursts.

When Lin Chaochao clung to their mother’s arm, bragging about her promising young boyfriend while slyly mocking Lin Qiyue for being a tomboy and unwanted, Lin Qiyue had never been angry or upset.

But today, Lin Qiyue was truly angry and troubled.

She was angry with Lin Chaochao for lacking self-respect, for seducing a married man and then provoking the wife, wearing her disgrace as a badge of honor.

She was troubled by the unknown consequences the future might bring.

If Lin Chaochao could actually end up with Lu Jinnian, then that was her own doing.

But if not?

People are drawn to their own kind.

Although they’d only worked together for a week, on the day of the interview, Sang Wan’s demonstrated strength and her own compelling charm showed her abilities—and indirectly reflected the competence of President Lu of the Lu Corporation.

He might be a scoundrel, but in other respects, he was certainly no ordinary man.

Otherwise, Sang Wan wouldn’t have chosen him, married him, and borne his children.

People of ability might occasionally be blinded, swayed by youthful beauty.

But in time?

Did Lin Chaochao, with her shallow knowledge, truly think she could captivate Lu Jinnian for a lifetime?

Whether she ended up like Sang Wan—married and then divorced—or was abandoned even before the wedding, neither outcome was something Lin Chaochao could bear.

Lin Qiyue didn’t care about Lin Chaochao’s fate or whether she could handle the consequences.

But she worried about their mother.

Their mother’s health was poor, and over the years she had been worn down and heartbroken by Lin Chaochao.

If anything were to happen to Lin Chaochao, then they…

After much hesitation, Lin Qiyue turned and asked Sang Wan, “Sang Wan, have you really decided to get divorced?”

“Of course,” Sang Wan replied with a smile. “We’re getting the divorce certificate next Monday, so I’ll be an hour late. I’ll work overtime this Friday to finish the drawings and send them to you. If you need anything on Monday, wait until I arrive at the office at ten.”

“Sang Wan…” Lin Qiyue couldn’t hold back any longer. “Do you think your ex-husband… will marry Lin Chaochao?”

Sang Wan was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head with a bitter smile. “I don’t know.”

When she was eighteen, she thought she and Lu Jinnian would grow old together.

But in just ten years, everything had changed.

The man who once swore he would love her for a lifetime had, in the blink of an eye, become a stranger.

She could no longer guarantee her own happiness.

How could she promise anything for Lin Chaochao?

“Let’s wish her good luck,” Sang Wan said with a smile as she walked out of the elevator.

…

In the dining room of the Lu family villa, Lu Jinnian and little Lu Mumu sat across from each other.

The sounds of Ultraman battling monsters blared, childish and noisy, as Lu Mumu stared unblinkingly at his tablet.

Like a puppet, he occasionally opened his mouth, letting the nanny feed him.

Barely ten minutes passed before Lu Jinnian lost his patience. “Turn it off!”

Sensing Lu Jinnian’s anger, the nanny switched off the tablet, placed the spoon in Lu Mumu’s hand, and swiftly left the dining room.

“I don’t want to eat! I want to watch Tiga! I want to watch Tiga!” he shouted, tossing away his spoon.

He kicked the dining chair in frustration.

“I want to watch Tiga!” Lu Mumu protested.

“Lu Mumu!” Lu Jinnian’s face darkened.

Lu Mumu pouted and muttered, “Grandma says I can watch. Aunt and Chaochao say I can too. Why can’t I?”

“When you eat, you should eat properly. When you watch the iPad, you can focus on that. You can’t be distracted when you do things!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized these were Sang Wan’s words.

He paused.

Remembering why he had come home early today, his expression softened. “It’s been a while since you’ve seen Mommy, hasn’t it? Do you miss her?”

Lu Mumu’s little face drooped.

Did he?

Maybe just a little.

Mommy’s embrace was always so soft.

The red bean buns she made looked like monsters, and he could eat several big monster buns at once.

But she was too strict!

Mumu, no iPad during meals!

Mumu, put away your blocks after playing!

Mumu, don’t throw things around, you’ll hit the flower babies.

Mumu, it’s almost bedtime, no more sweets!

Aunt Chaochao wasn’t naggy like that.

Aunt Chaochao was never strict.

And he remembered how, at the sports day, Sang Wan had walked off without looking back.

While Aunt Chaochao always called him “Brother Mumu” and greeted him with a smile.

Lu Mumu shook his head. “No, I don’t miss her!”

“Then… if Daddy and Mommy get divorced and Aunt Chaochao comes to live with us, would you like that?” Lu Jinnian asked.

When Lu Jinnian was three, he had seen his father grab his mother’s head and smash it against the wall.

From that moment, he felt he had grown up.

Lu Mumu was five, two years older than he had been.

He should grow up and learn to understand.

So, instead of hiding the family’s changes, it was better to tell him openly.

It was Sang Wan who didn’t want him.

If there was resentment, it should be toward Sang Wan.

Seeing Lu Mumu in a daze, Lu Jinnian asked again, “Would you like that?”

Lu Mumu sat blankly.

He thought of what had happened in kindergarten lately.

The mischievous boys taunted him, “Lu Mumu, your mom doesn’t want you anymore!”

The quiet girls wrinkled their noses at him. “We don’t play with naughty kids. Lu Mumu, your mom worked so hard to give birth to you, and you made her angry—now another woman will be your new mom. My mom says you’re a leaky jacket, a thankless wolf!”

He wasn’t leaky, and he wasn’t a thankless wolf!

She was the one who didn’t want him first!

At home, she was always scolding him.

She lied, saying she was on a business trip.

She even frightened him by sticking tubes in her nose and pretending to be a ghost!

He didn’t have such a scary, ugly mom.

“Daddy, will Aunt Chaochao pick me up from kindergarten every day?”

“Yes, she will.”

“Will Aunt Chaochao make monster-shaped red bean buns for me?”

“…She will.”

Aunt Chaochao could also fold paper planes that could fly so far.

Aunt Chaochao always found Ultraman cartoons he hadn’t seen before and let him watch while he ate.

Aunt Chaochao knew many, many fun things.

Thinking that no one would nag him anymore, that he could watch as long as he wanted, sleep as late as he liked, Lu Mumu pressed down that strange, unnameable feeling in his heart.

His eyes shone as he looked up at Lu Jinnian. “Daddy, I’d like that!”