Yu Xinjie felt like the ground had slipped from under her feet. One mont, she was winning, and now, suddenly everything had turned. Yu Yaoyao had Shen Yichong listening to the call by her side. She even recorded her call. She had always been so careful about everything. She made sure she called Yu Yoayao after the transaction, so she didn’t leave any written evidence behind. But today, in her panic she had handed the evidence to Yu Yaoyao on a silver platter.
“Yu Yaoyao, you are absolutely shaless…,” she said, red-eyed, trying to hold back her tears. She had sold the news to the reporters trying to defa Yu Yaoyao and made sure to be careful about it, keeping her identity hidden. And now, suddenly, everything was spoilt.
Yu Yaoyao scoffed. “?” she said, “You blackmail , you try to destroy my career and reputation and you call shaless? From which angle am I the shaless one, sister?”
“You scold like that,” said Yu Xinjie, “You threaten and scare .”
“By the way,” continued Yu Yaoyao, “I seem to have forgotten a bit. What evidence were you going to give to the reporters?”
What should I do? Yu Xinjie thought frantically. She felt goosebumps rise along her arm. She felt cold and scared. If Yu Yaoyao gave this recording to the reporters, she is done for. Her life in China would be like a street rat’s, spit and scorned by everybody. She was so numb and shocked that tears flowed from her eyes.
“I was just joking with you, sister,” she said, trying to placate Yu Yaoyao, “It was just a ga like we used to play when we were young.”
Yu Yaoyao gave a snort. “A ga?” she retorted vehently, “Do you an those gas where we would play hide-and-seek and you made sure to quietly take your friends and leave at the garbage dump, alone and scared? Or the ones where you had pretend like I was your husband’s mistress and you would beat for real? You used to say they were innocent gas as well.”
Yu Yaoyao had thought that the original Yu Yaoyao in her body was really silly to the point of stupidity where she had let her stepmother and sister trample all over her. But looking back at her mories, she realized that original Yu Yaoyao had been so pitiful, thinking her stepmother and stepsister would love her if she did everything they wanted, to the point of being abused and hit by them.
Yu Xinjie swallowed in fear. She had treated Yu Yaoyao very badly when they were young, and now those mories would be her downfall. She couldn’t give any excuses because they weren’t children anymore.
“Sister…,” she said softly. She couldn’t form any more words that would refute her. She had nothing to say in her defense.
“Yaoyao,” said Zhao i into the phone, snatching it away from Yu Xinjie. “Listen to . Even if Yu Xinjie has threatened you out of impulse, don’t you rember how well I treated you when I first ca here? I have always loved you both equally. Your father didn’t trust with money, so he would give agre allowance only enough to cover the household expenses. But I used money from my own savings to buy you gifts. For my sake, forgive Yu Xinjie. What she did today was very wrong. Please accept my apology on her behalf.”
Yu Xinjie looked at her mother, taken aback. Her mother was trying her best to save her. She was always so uptight and bowing to none, yet right now, she was apologizing to Yu Yaoyao just to save her. Tears flowed down Yu Xinjie’s face. Why would you bow down on my behalf?
Yu Xinjie reached a hand to get her phone back, but Zhao i slapped her hand away. Zhao i clutched the phone to her ears and wept. She no longer cared about her elegant image.
“Yaoyao, do you still consider your mother?” asked Zhao i, “You always said you wanted to be your second mother. I was so nice to you.”
“I rember you saying the sa thing many tis, Aunt Zhao,” said Yu Yaoyao without emotion. “Every ti when you asked for money from , or when you forced to ask Shen Yichong for money, you would say the sa thing. You always guilt-tripped into asking for more money. I know your dialogue word for word.”
Zhao i looked shocked. “Yaoyao, I—”
Her sentence was cut short by Yu Yaoyao. “You said you were so nice to that you would buy gifts,” she said, “Tell , the scarf you supposedly bought for once. Is it not true that these ‘gifts’ you talk about were the leftovers or things disliked by Yu Xinjie. You always gave the second hand clothes that Yu Xinjie didn’t like. That brooch that you always boasted about giving to , wasn’t it old and you wanted to discard it and found to give it to, so you could lant to my father on your ‘sacrifice’, wanting a new diamond one? Was that the ‘love and affection’ that you boast about as a mother to ?”
The corner of Zhao i’s mouth trembled. “Yaoyao,” she said, “What are you talking about? I never….”
On the other side of the phone call, Yu Yaoyao was sprawled on the big hotel bed and her slender arms were wrapped around Shen Yichong’s waist. As she heard her mother and sister’s words, she rolled her eyes.
In the original plot of the novel, these details were unknown. But towards the end of her life, Yu Yaoyao was humiliated by Yu Xinjie while in paralysis at the hospital. The original owner of the body had broken down upon realizing that she had always been alone, and her mother and sister had never loved her. Broken with so many emotions, the original Yu Yaoyao had taken her own life after hearing about her son’s death. Yu Yaoyao won’t let that happen here. She recalled the plot of the original story and her hand on Shen Yichong’s arm gripped tighter. He stroked her hair trying to soothe her.
Since the day she had possessed the original Yu Yaoyao’s body, she had sworn to help her. She wanted to give Yu Yaoyao her justice and reclaim everything she would have lost.
“Enough!” she thundered. They were trying to paint themselves as the victim. They were so shaless, indeed. If Yu Yaoyao wasn’t aware of the real plot she would have fallen for their cries and tears, but not anymore. “Your maternal love that you boast about is not even worth a fart. You have always exploited . Who are you trying to convince right now?”
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