Lu Keqing, who always managed to control her emotions, wept uncontrollably in front of her brother's tombstone.
What good is revenge if her brother will never come back? She'll never see her kind, loving brother again.
Xu Zifan knelt down beside her and gently put his arm around her shoulder. "Keqing, this world holds memories that your brother doesn't want to recall. His leaving here is also leaving behind the pain. In the next world, he will forget everything and start a new life, experiencing new joys and sorrows. Let's remember him together and wish him well, okay?"
Lu Keqing nodded heavily, her tears soaking his clothes, but she forced herself not to cry out loud.
It took her a while to calm down. She wiped away her tears and smiled at the tombstone, saying, "Brother, I haven't introduced you yet. This is my boyfriend. His name is Xu Zifan. He's very good to me. You can rest assured that he will take care of me from now on."
Xu Zifan held her cold hand and said to the tombstone, "I am also your older brother, I can understand how you feel. I will cherish Keqing for the rest of my life, brother, you can rest in peace."
The two stood quietly for a while, and Lu Keqing took him to pay respects to her parents. She also told them the good news that her great revenge had been achieved, and introduced Xu Zifan to them.
This is like saying goodbye to the past. Some things can't be remembered forever. When it's time to let go, you have to let go. She still has a long road ahead of her.
It wasn't a lie when she said she wanted to study at the grave; she had stopped her studies to seek revenge, and now she wanted to pick them up again.
She studied jewelry design, and she loves designing. Now, leaving the past behind, she's ready to pursue her dream. Moreover, having been immersed in the Xu family's environment for the past few years, she has gained a lot of new insights and inspiration regarding jewelry, so continuing her studies will be no problem at all.
After completing her enrollment procedures, Xu Zifan took her home to meet his parents.
Xu Mengyao liked her from the start and was the first to notice their ambiguous relationship. Of course, she wholeheartedly agreed and immediately started calling her "sister-in-law"!
Although Li Xiulan felt awkward that Lu Keqing had worked as a maid at home, she accepted her as her granddaughter-in-law because her grandchildren valued the girl so much.
She agreed with Xu Zifan's judgment, but lacked confidence in her own. Having experienced the marriage with Feng Xiangjun, who was a good match in terms of social standing, she had no requirements regarding her granddaughter-in-law's family background. As long as Xu Zifan liked her and had made a good choice, that was enough.
Xu Zhenhua had previously learned about Wang Yalin's crime at the age of fourteen and had even asked Xu Zifan about it. He knew about Lu Keqing for a long time and advised Xu Zifan that Lu Keqing might also be seeking revenge against the Xu family.
However, Xu Zifan felt that he was insulting his intelligence, which infuriated him so much that he simply stopped caring. Anyway, he had long since given up on controlling his son.
Lu Keqing thus became Xu Zifan's official girlfriend, and the women in the circle who were eager to make a move were stunned. They couldn't figure out where this woman came from, and how she managed to win over Xu Zifan and his family as soon as she appeared.
However, none of them knew that Lu Keqing had once worked as a maid. Qi Xiangheng wouldn't say anything, and Xu Zifan had also dealt with all the relevant information. All they knew was that Xu Zifan's girlfriend was a college student studying jewelry design, a top student. They also knew that Xu Zifan doted on his girlfriend just like he doted on his younger sister—spoiled her rotten. No matter how much others regretted it, it was too late.
At first, some people were curious whether these two pampered women would fall out. After all, Xu Mengyao seemed to be a brother-obsessed woman, so could she tolerate a sister-in-law who suddenly appeared? And could Lu Keqing tolerate her pampered sister-in-law? Conflicts between sisters-in-law are most likely to occur, so it was unknown who Xu Zifan would side with.
Surprisingly, these two women didn't have any conflicts. Instead, they seemed like best friends who had known each other for a long time. They would meet up and hang out whenever they had free time, their relationship even closer than that of blood sisters. Some people even saw them having dinner with Xu Zifan, and after the meal, they went shopping and sent Xu Zifan away. At the time, Xu Zifan complained that his sister was stealing his wife!
Everyone gradually realized that they would never see Xu Zifan make a fool of himself again. Not only was he adept at business, but he also handled family relationships like a textbook example. They had no idea how high his emotional and intellectual intelligence was; he was practically everyone's idol.
After seeing Lu Keqing appear, Xu Zhenhua noticed that his son and daughter smiled more. They had always gotten along well, and Xu Zhenhua gradually felt at ease and genuinely accepted this daughter-in-law.
He visited Feng Xiangjun at the sanatorium and told her what kind of person his daughter-in-law was. However, Feng Xiangjun's temperament became increasingly strange, and she often lost her temper without warning. He said he would no longer bring his daughter-in-law to see her.
Unexpectedly, Feng Xiangjun actually remembered the maid's name. Because her family had always blamed her for treating Xu Mengyao badly, she had specifically looked up the maid's information to show her good character. Now, upon hearing this, she exploded, "You actually agreed to let Zifan have a maid as his girlfriend? What if word gets out and the Xu family loses all face?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Zhenhua's face darkened. "Haven't the Xu family lost enough face? The Xu family has never relied on these things to gain face. Zifan has managed the Xu family very well, and that is the real face of the Xu family."
Feng Xiangjun sneered, "You all think you're right, but I'm always wrong. If I do something that doesn't please you, you won't forgive me. You do whatever you want. Didn't you force me to become disabled? In the end, you sent me here and haven't even come to see me. You're living a comfortable life without a care in the world. Now that your son has a girlfriend, I can't even say a word?"
Xu Zhenhua took a deep breath to suppress his anger and said with annoyance, "Difficult..."
"Wang Yalin never repented until her death; it turns out it was all your doing."
Feng Xiangjun was stunned. "What? Wang Yalin is dead? How did she die?"
Before, no one had come to see her or told her about this. Xu Zhenhua then told her about how Wang Yalin was married off to a cripple by the Wang family and how she burned them to death. He also told her that Wang Yalin had killed someone when she was fourteen and that she was trying to get away with it until her death, and that she had never repented.
Feng Xiangjun was struck dumb, her lips trembling for a long time before she could utter a sound, "Fourteen...she's fourteen years old..."
"Yes, she found out when she was fourteen that you were born in Linhe Town. She was curious about where she was born, so she made a special trip over there during her travels and happened to see the Wang family and Yao Yao at the hospital."
She resembled the Wang family a lot, but Yao Yao looked somewhat like my mother. She thought it was too much of a coincidence, so she hired a private investigator to look into it. That year, she uncovered the truth about the baby swap.
Feng Xiangjun mechanically turned her head slowly, her eyes filled with shock and confusion. It turned out that when they found Xu Mengyao, Wang Yalin had already known about her background for three whole years.
Xu Zhenhua sighed, "I'm telling you all this because I want to tell you that Yao Yao's jade gourd was sold by the Wang family to the Lu family. Lu Keqing's brother wore it when he came to Yanjing for university for good luck. Wang Yalin saw that jade gourd and, fearing we would find out, plotted to have Lu Keqing's brother die of alcohol poisoning."
"Xiangjun, I've never seen anyone more vicious than Wang Yalin in my entire life. She dared to do such things at fourteen. If she were still alive, I don't know if she would have schemed against the Xu family later."
Feng Xiangjun seemed to have lost the ability to speak, and stood there motionless.
Xu Zhenhua stood up and said, "I'll come see you again when I have time. Take good care of yourself."
Despite being husband and wife, they had nothing to say to each other upon meeting. Xu Zhenhua didn't linger any longer, handed Feng Xiangjun over to the caregiver, and left.
Feng Xiangjun locked herself in her hospital room for a whole day without eating or drinking. She thought about when Wang Yalin was still a baby, about when Wang Yalin grew up and could say comforting words, about how Wang Yalin had become her pride. But she didn't know that Wang Yalin had killed someone when she was fourteen, and that she knew her own background and had disguised it so well in front of her.
The daughter she raised with her own hands turned out to be a venomous snake. Xu Zhenhua said that she was just like Wang Yalin, and after thinking about it, she realized that it was true.
She realized that what bothered her most wasn't not understanding her daughter, but rather the way she would be condemned if this got out. Her daughter, whom Feng Xiangjun had raised, had harmed someone at fourteen—didn't that mean she wasn't a good person either? Wang Yalin was her greatest shame!
Grandpa Feng made wrong decisions and ruined the family business. She worked hard to support the Feng family, but Feng Donghui once again squandered the business and went to prison. Meanwhile, her daughter committed crimes and murders repeatedly. These are all people connected to her. Does that mean that in other people's eyes, Feng Xiangjun is just as rotten as they are?
She'd been strong-willed her whole life, longing for a life of glamour and to be envied by others. Now, crippled and hiding in a nursing home, she still couldn't escape the stigma surrounding her. She could imagine the mockery people in her circle would hurl at her, and just thinking about it made her wish she were dead!
On a sunny day, Feng Xiangjun dismissed her caregiver while she was out sunbathing, and went to the lakeside in her wheelchair. Without hesitation, she climbed over the railing...
When the staff found her, Feng Xiangjun had already drowned. Xu Zhenhua was shocked when he received the news. He had visited her that day, and Feng Xiangjun still had the energy to argue with him. How could she have committed suicide just a few days later?
He inquired about the caregiver's condition in detail and learned that Feng Xiangjun had been showing signs of depression recently, with her thinking becoming extremely extreme, and she would magnify negative thoughts many times over. Her suicide attempt was very likely triggered by his words.
Xu Zhenhua couldn't understand it no matter how hard he tried. He had only mentioned Wang Yalin's matter. Did Feng Xiangjun really care so much about Wang Yalin? Did she not care about her own children? Did she commit suicide because her adopted daughter died?
The real reason for Feng Xiangjun's suicide was thus buried. No one could have imagined that what she cared about was her ruined reputation and being ridiculed by everyone.
Xu Zhenhua no longer had any feelings for Feng Xiangjun, but they had been married for over twenty years, and Feng Xiangjun had committed suicide because of his advice. He fell ill after handling the funeral arrangements.
Xu Zifan brought Lu Keqing home to see him, and Xu Mengyao also put aside her studies to take care of him. At such a sensitive time, people wondered if he might also pass away.
Seeing the three of them, Xu Zhenhua felt much relieved. He smiled at them, leaning against the headboard, "Don't worry about me, as long as you're all doing well. Yao Yao, focus on your college entrance exam and don't let me distract you. Zi Fan and Ke Qing, you can go about your business too. I'm fine."
He just felt that life was too fragile. First, his adopted daughter was gone, and then his wife was gone too. He had been so busy with work that he neglected his family, and only now did he realize how precious the people around him were. He owed his family so much, and he only hoped that he would have a chance to make it up to them in the future.