Chapter 141: The reborn of paranoid boss cannon fodder wife
Chapter 141: Settling the Accounts
The door was closed, and family matters were kept private.
Bai Lu slowly rose from the small stool, her expression calm as she locked eyes with Li Xuelan: "You say I have no conscience, but have I ever been in your eyes? Do you have any regard for me in your eyes?"
"Your eyes only see Bai Chaojie, right?"
The painful aftermath of Bai Chaojie's affair echoed through the entire front yard, making the situation even more miserable.
Hearing this, Li Xuelan couldn't help but feel heartache: "Xiao Jie is your younger brother. Can't you let him off a bit? As his elder sister, must you compete with him for everything? Will letting him off lead to his death?"
"Throughout our lives, how many times have I let him off?"
Before Li Xuelan, who only had Bai Chaojie in her eyes, could retort, Bai Lu began to recount the unfair treatment she had endured in the Bai family since childhood.
"When Bai Chaojie was six years old, playing with other kids and making a mess with mud, I, at the age of six, was asked to wash the clothes for the whole family and learn to cook. Starting from the age of six, all the chores, from doing laundry to cooking and fetching water, were mine."
"At the age of ten, while Bai Chaojie was playing with other kids after school and on weekends, I, just turning ten, was asked to help at the brickyard, carrying bricks, drying bricks, stacking bricks. After finishing the work, I still had to do the laundry and cooking."
"When the family could only afford porridge, Bai Chaojie had porridge, and I had porridge water. When we could afford meals, Bai Chaojie had a proper meal, and I had porridge. When there was meat, Bai Chaojie had meat, and I had vegetables. When we had chicken, Bai Chaojie had chicken legs and wings, and I had chicken head, feet, and back..."
"Bai Chaojie got new shoes and clothes every year, while my clothes were patched and mended continuously. When the shoes became too small, I squeezed into them. I kept patching the clothes until there were more stitches than fabric, and only then could I afford the cheapest new clothes."
"When Bai Chaojie had a slight cold or fever, you would rush him to the hospital for treatment. When I was sick, I would only rest for a couple of days, not doing laundry or cooking, lying in bed and enduring it. If I survived, it was my luck; if I didn't, it was my fate. Did any of you care about whether I lived or died?"
Li Xuelan admitted that she did favor Bai Chaojie, but she absolutely denied disregarding Bai Lu's life: "If I didn't care about your life, would you still be alive now?"
"Your brother is a boy. He will grow up to carry on the Bai family line, continue the family name, and take care of your father and me in our old age. If I don't treat him well, who else should I treat well?"
"When a daughter gets married, she becomes part of her husband's family. The one to take care of us in our old age will be the son-in-law's family. Will you still care about our well-being in the future? Even if I treat you poorly, I gave birth to you, raised you, and have the merit of bringing you up. Shouldn't you offer a helping hand when you face difficulties in your natal family?"
Li Xuelan didn't think favoritism was wrong; the merit of giving birth and raising a child always outweighed everything: "If I were really heartless, I could have abandoned you after giving birth. You would have ended up like the beggars in the alley last year, starving or freezing to death."
While Li Xuelan did have the merit of nurturing the original owner, it didn't mean she could erase everything the original owner had done.
Since Li Xuelan wanted to settle things this way, Bai Lu decided to tally up everything, so Li Xuelan couldn't use the merit of nurturing to argue in the future.
"You did bear me for ten months, and I acknowledge that debt." Bai Lu didn't argue with the facts.
But when something was wrong, it had to be corrected: "As for raising me, I started taking on all the major and minor household chores for the family from the age of six. Whether I had time or not after school and on weekends, I had to go to the brickyard to help you with chores in exchange for Bai Chaojie's wages. During this time, my living conditions were worse than those of the servants in the old landlords' homes. Where is the nurturing merit?"
Li Xuelan was momentarily speechless by Bai Lu's articulate words, feeling that Bai Lu was no longer the same.
The Bai Lu she had watched grow up, who endured everything and was timid and weak, seemed to have changed.
She no longer listened to her, was no longer foolish and silly, and could calculate everything clearly.
Li Xuelan couldn't accept this unfamiliar Bai Lu and became even more blunt: "Do you think education doesn't cost money? From elementary school to high school, all the tuition and textbook fees were provided by the family. Can the chores you did compensate for such a large sum of money?"
"It can't."
Accepting the truth, Bai Lu calmly overturned it: "Isn't the 30,000 yuan Xiao Cheng gave me enough?"
Li Xuelan was speechless.
Bai Lu continued, "Didn't you ask me where the money from selling candied chestnuts went? I'll tell you now that I returned all of it to Xiao Cheng."
"That night, nothing happened between Xiao Cheng and me. The pregnancy test result was a hospital mix-up with the same name; I wasn't pregnant at all. You used the child as leverage to extort the 30,000 yuan dowry money from Xiao Cheng without any justifiable reason."
"If Xiao Cheng accuses us of extortion, both you and I will end up in jail. If I hadn't hurriedly sold candied chestnuts and returned the money to him before the truth came out, do you think you could still stand here peacefully?"
Li Xuelan knew very well who Xiao Cheng was, and saying he was ruthless would be too kind. No one in this world had ever plotted against Xiao Cheng and walked away, either crawling back or being carried back.
At this moment, Li Xuelan noticed Bai Lu's belly, which didn't look like that of a seven or eight-month pregnant woman at all.
She also noticed that Bai Lu's figure was not as slim as before, and her skin was fairer and more delicate than before.
Working at the brickyard exposed her to the wind and sun, and even if Bai Lu had naturally fair skin, prolonged exposure could turn it into a yellowish color. If it weren't for her delicate facial features and beautiful appearance, it wouldn't look good at all.
Moreover, Bai Lu's hands, due to frequent labor, had developed a thin layer of calluses. In winter, they would become dry and peel. They would turn white for a while, but as soon as she worked at the brickyard again, calluses would form, and it had nothing in common with the soft and tender appearance before her.
Li Xuelan remembered clearly that when Bai Lu moved to Xiao Cheng's house, she was a thin and fair girl who would fall with a gust of wind.
Being able to develop such fair and tender skin, spending the winter comfortably in Xiao Cheng's house without exposure to the wind and sun, lying at home every day, was the only way to restore her fair skin. After the calluses on her hands peeled off and new skin grew, she didn't do any work, resulting in the current fair and tender appearance.
A body no longer thin, with a healthy and sunny complexion, proved that Bai Lu was living well in Xiao Cheng's house.
It seemed that Li Xuelan had found the reason why Bai Lu suddenly became unfamiliar and helped Xiao Cheng.
"Is 30,000 yuan enough to cover your education expenses? Then what about the life-saving grace you admitted to? Without me, there would be no you. I endured the hardships of pregnancy for ten months and gave birth to you with great effort. I just asked for the recipe for candied chestnuts. Isn't it reasonable?"
"It's not excessive."
Bai Lu remained calm, her tone plain: "But I have the right to choose not to give it."
Saying something disrespectful, she continued, "When you are old, bedridden, and if you need care, I will fulfill my duty as a child to arrange for a high-level caregiver to take care of you."
"If you want me to serve you like before, be your obedient servant, and obey your every command, it's impossible."
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