The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 689 - 688: How Long Will You Like Me?

Chapter 689: Chapter 688: How Long Will You Like Me?

Seeing her mother not far away, Ren Jingshu reigned in her smile and turned to say to Zhao Yun, "You go back first."

Zhao Yun looked at her with concern, "If your mom scolds you, just let it go in one ear and out the other, don’t bother with her. If she starts to get physical, just run; you have good stamina and long legs, she won’t be able to catch you."

Jingshu’s previously heavy heart was lightened by his words.

"Got it."

Only after Zhao Yun had walked away with frequent backward glances did Jingshu approach her mother.

"I really didn’t expect you to have fallen this far, getting into such big trouble and still having the leisure to flirt with someone surnamed Zhao!"

Ren’s mother began with a sharp and sarcastic tone. Jingshu was ready for this and replied with self-mockery, "Then what would you have me do, beg for forgiveness with my death?"

"How have I raised you from a young age? A girl should know to respect and love herself. Don’t you have any sense of shame?"

"If you’re referring to taking Sun Liwen’s place, then yes, I do feel ashamed."

"You!"

Her mother, angered and wanting to raise a hand to her, quickly realized they were on a busy street and forcefully suppressed her rage.

"I can overlook past events as long as you admit your wrongs and promise to be obedient from now on. I will help you remove the blemishes from your record and provide you with a new identity to start over; it won’t affect your arts exam next year."

"I refuse."

Ren’s mother, barely containing her temper, felt it surge up again, her face menacingly dark, "There have to be limits to your willfulness! Are you so intent on defying me that you’re willing to ruin your whole life? Do you no longer wish to dance?"

"I’ll continue to dance, but I don’t want to be a puppet acting on your whims!"

Ren’s mother, furious, snatched the lunchbox from her hand and threw it onto the ground.

The lunchbox burst open, and sandwiches rolled all over the place.

Watching this unfold, Jingshu couldn’t hold back her anger, "What gives you the right to smash my things?"

Her mother said furiously, "What’s so good about him that has you so bewitched, willing to forsake your own future?"

"Yes, in your eyes, he might not have much to offer, but he respects me, cares about me."

"From childhood to adulthood, isn’t everything about your life personally managed by me? After eighteen years of meticulous care, am I inferior to a random box of food he gives you? Are you an ingrate?"

"Yes, you provided for me, clothed me, and helped me grow up healthy. But at the same time, you also deprived me of my freedom and desires. Any friend I made, you would criticize for coming from a bad family background; what I wore and ate never once followed my own wishes."

"When I came first in exams, you took it for granted. If I didn’t get first, you suspected that I was being lazy. What you consider encouragement and motivation feels like a cage and shackles to me, and there hasn’t been a day I haven’t wanted to escape."

Yet even when the conversation reached this point, Ren’s mother didn’t think she was wrong.

She laughed bitterly in extreme anger, "Fine, I never imagined that all my painstaking effort would end up raising someone ungrateful. Remember, you chose this path yourself, don’t come to regret it!"

After Ren’s mother left, Jingshu bent down to pick up the things scattered on the ground, but someone else acted quicker than her.

"Why haven’t you left yet?"

"I was worried you’d be at a disadvantage. Your mom’s so fierce, like a tigress."

Jingshu nudged him lightly with her foot, "Don’t talk about my mom like that. Have some respect."

"I won’t say it again in the future."

Zhao Yun agreed quickly, tossing the sandwiches into a bin nearby for stray cats and dogs to find, then asked her what she wanted to eat, offering to take her there.

Jingshu thought for a moment and said, "Let’s have pancakes."

"Just pancakes? Anything else?"

The pocket money in his pocket was nearly bursting to get out; he really wanted to treat Jingshu to something nice and show off his boyfriend prowess.

"Pancakes will be fine."

Seeing Jingshu insist, Zhao Yun had to agree, "There’s a pancake stall just up ahead, let’s go."

"Not that one, let’s go to a different one."

Ren Jingshu took Zhao Yun to the small stall where they had bought pancakes last time and ordered a bean-flour pancake. After it was ready, she asked the owner to cut it in half.

Zhao Yun definitely wouldn’t be full from just half a pancake, so the two of them found a noodle stall nearby.

"Zhao Yun."

"Hmm?"

"Why did you first pursue me?"

Zhao Yun was stunned for two seconds before he realized that Ren Jingshu was asking about why he pursued her.

He wiped his mouth with a napkin, grinned, and counter-asked, "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

Ren Jingshu thought for a while, "Let’s hear both."

"A lie is that you’re beautiful and have a good personality. The truth is that you’re not only beautiful and have a good personality, but you also dance well and your studies are good, too."

Ren Jingshu slowly swallowed the food in her mouth and asked him, "What if I can’t dance anymore in the future?"

"Why can’t you dance?"

"My reputation isn’t great now, and there’s a negative record in my file. It will affect me whether it’s for going to university or getting a job in the future."

Zhao Yun’s expression turned unusually serious, "Jingshu, as long as you want to dance, you can keep dancing. Your legs are your own, and no one can stop you. If you can’t go to a domestic university, we’ll go abroad. And you don’t need to worry about work—if worst comes to worst, we’ll start our own business. Whether you want to form a dance troupe or open a dance school, I’ll support you all the way."

Ren Jingshu couldn’t quite pinpoint her feelings.

The major issues that seemed to be world-ending to others, when spoken by Zhao Yun, seemed like minor matters.

It was much later that she understood this was a sense of security.

"Why are you so good to me?"

"You’re my girlfriend, if I’m not good to you, who else should I be good to?"

"Then do you like me?"

Zhao Yun’s face reddened, and it took him a while to quietly reply, "I do."

Although he had several girlfriends before, saying "I like you" to a girl was the first time for him, and it was quite embarrassing.

In contrast, Ren Jingshu was quite calm, "How long will you like me?"

Zhao Yun didn’t even have to think, "Of course, for a lifetime."

"Then your lifetime is pretty short."

Watching Ren Jingshu’s teasing expression, Zhao Yun suddenly realized, "You’re different from them."

This "them" referred to the girlfriends he had dated before.

"What’s different? It’s just the difference between a new love and an old flame."

"No, it’s not!"

Zhao Yun didn’t care about eating his noodles anymore and hurriedly explained, "It’s like picking up shells on a beach, walking and picking as you go. Some people are lucky and find their favorite one first, but others have to pick up several before they find the one they truly like."

"Jingshu, I’ve now found the shell I truly like. I will hold it tight in my hand and not let it slip away."

Any other girl might have been swept off her feet by such a confession.

But Ren Jingshu remained indifferent; her upbringing in a foster environment since childhood had honed her precocious and clear-headed mind.

She didn’t believe in unreasonably good things happening.

"How do you know you won’t find a shell you like even more in the future?"

"You have to go to the beach to pick shells, right? If I don’t go, I won’t find any, will I?"

Ren Jingshu didn’t continue to argue with him, "Let’s eat, it’ll get cold soon."

But Zhao Yun looked at her, his eyes filled with anticipation, "What about you, Jingshu, am I the shell you want?"