About half an hour later, Chen Qiaoyu arrived at Ling Ruonan’s villa.
Luo Ziling had already taken a shower, changed clothes, and prepared breakfast.
He’d asked Shi Yidan to buy it from outside: buns and steamed bread with porridge and fried dough sticks.
He thought Chen Qiaoyu hadn’t eaten yet, so he prepared breakfast for two.
Unexpectedly, Chen Qiaoyu had already eaten.
"I grabbed something nearby when I went out," Chen Qiaoyu looked a little embarrassed, but she still sat with Luo Ziling and had a bowl of porridge.
"Auntie, what else do you want to tell me?" Luo Ziling didn’t bother with small talk and went straight to the point.
"Some things between the Chen Family and the Luo Family, and some disputes between the Chen Family and the Yang Family. Saying them in front of Qingyin feels a bit inconvenient, and there are things I don’t want her to know, so I wanted to talk to you alone!" Chen Qiaoyu looked quite embarrassed. "I’m sure you know—sometimes the feuds between families are full of filthy things that are hard to talk about."
Luo Ziling nodded, acknowledging what Chen Qiaoyu said.
"Back then, after the Chen Family found out I wasn’t Chen Rushan’s biological child, they treated my mom cruelly!" Chen Qiaoyu let out a heavy sigh and went on, "The one in charge of Chen Family affairs then, Old Chen, told Chen Ruchang to handle it. No one expected that Chen Ruchang, worse than a beast, would actually force himself on my mom—his younger brother’s wife."
What Chen Qiaoyu said made Luo Ziling stare in shock, his mouth wide open.
Chen Qiaoyu’s mother was Chen Rushan’s wife, and Chen Ruchang’s sister-in-law.
For Chen Ruchang to lay hands on his own sister-in-law and violate her—wasn’t that just beyond imagination?
As for Chen Ruchang’s character—at this point, it seemed he didn’t have any.
However, Luo Ziling also knew that many people who looked all glorious and upright on the surface actually had plenty of dark sides others never saw.
Just like those high and mighty big shots—before their scandals break, they’re all like flawless saints.
Once they’re unlucky, the mess that spills out is jaw-dropping.
"My mom was very beautiful, otherwise Chen Rushan wouldn’t have taken a fancy to her. Later she told me that Chen Ruchang had always coveted her looks and tried to flirt with her many times, but my mom ignored him. Old Chen put him in charge of this matter, and he took the chance to threaten her and force himself on her. In the end, my mom endured that humiliation because I was still a child then. She knew that once my parentage was exposed, only she could protect me." As she said this, tears were rolling in Chen Qiaoyu’s eyes and her voice choked. "Afterwards, my mom used the threat of exposing this scandal to force Chen Ruchang to protect the two of us. In the end, he agreed!"
Luo Ziling didn’t interrupt; he just quietly listened to what Chen Qiaoyu said.
"But later, Chen Rushan still found out, and the two brothers turned against each other because of it." Chen Qiaoyu raised her head, wiped her eyes twice, then looked at Luo Ziling with a half-smile that wasn’t really a smile. "This is why the two brothers could never get along, and it’s also an important reason behind the heavy conflicts between Chen Yining, Chen Yijing and Chen Yihe, Chen Yiping. When they were young, those four cousins often quarreled and even came to blows. Until now, none of them have let go! Of course, later a lot of their conflicts were because I was stirring things up."
"That’s complicated enough," Luo Ziling sighed inwardly, but only gave a slight nod and didn’t interrupt to ask her anything.
Chen Qiaoyu continued, "Later, to get back at Chen Ruchang and Chen Rushan, my mom tried every way she could—moving back and forth between the brothers to get evidence of their crimes. But in the end, she failed. When I was eighteen, she died. The Chen Family announced that she died of depression, but I never believed that conclusion. I think they killed my mom. They wanted to silence her."
"Did you find out anything afterwards?" Luo Ziling finally couldn’t help but ask.
"No!" Chen Qiaoyu shook her head. "I couldn’t find any evidence. It’s possible she really died of illness. But no matter what she died of, the Chen Family are the murderers who drove her to her death!"
Luo Ziling fell silent again; he didn’t know what to say.
After being quiet for a while, Chen Qiaoyu went on, "Because my mom risked everything to protect me, my identity was never fully exposed, and I continued to grow up as a daughter of the Chen Family. My mom was afraid the Chen Family would harm me, so for primary school, middle school, and high school I didn’t study in Yanjing, but was sent to the south. I don’t know if Qingyin ever told you—before university, I wasn’t in Yanjing; I was in Yangcheng."
Luo Ziling shook his head. "She never said, maybe she was afraid it’d make things awkward, so she kept quiet!"
"When I was eighteen, I got into a university in Yanjing and finally came back to this place that always gave me very mixed feelings. I never thought that less than half a year after I returned to Yanjing, my mom would die." Chen Qiaoyu wiped her eyes again. "Before she died, she told me a lot of things and said that if I was ever in trouble, I could seek help from your grandfather."
"Your grandmother is my aunt in name. She and my mom were always very close—they were classmates. I just didn’t expect that in the end she’d cut ties with the Chen Family and leave with your grandfather." Speaking of this, a look of sadness appeared on Chen Qiaoyu’s face. "When your grandmother ran off with your grandfather, my mom helped cover for them. It’s just that your grandfather and your dad didn’t stay in Yanjing all the time. If your grandfather had stayed in Yanjing, my mom might not have died of illness."
After listening to what Chen Qiaoyu said, Luo Ziling felt a heaviness in his chest.
He hadn’t imagined that among the older generations there were still so many entanglements and feuds.
Feeling a bit worked up, Chen Qiaoyu clearly didn’t plan to stop there and continued, "Among the Chen Family, there are hardly any good people—except the women."
What she said made Luo Ziling think of Chen Xiaoyi.
Chen Xiaoyi and her daughter were in Paris; he didn’t know how they were doing.
These two days, because he’d been busy, he hadn’t contacted Chen Xiaoyi.
Tomorrow, he should find a chance to get in touch with Chen Xiaoyi and ask about her and her daughter.
But what Chen Qiaoyu said next cut off his train of thought. "Later, when Sir Ling fell ill, your grandfather brought your father to Yanjing again. I never expected that this time, with your grandfather bringing your father back to Yanjing, so many things would happen and affect so many people’s lives."
Luo Ziling immediately focused.
What Chen Qiaoyu was going to say next was what he was most interested in.
If she was detailed enough, many things he still hadn’t figured out might finally become clear.
"Because your grandmother eloped with him, your grandfather ended up at odds with everyone in the Chen Family. But he got along well with your maternal grandfather and Fang Xiang, and on top of that his Martial Arts were formidable and his medical skills excellent, so the Chen Family couldn’t do anything to him. That time, when your grandfather brought your dad back, aside from treating Old Mr. Ling, he had another plan: to settle your dad in Yanjing."
"At that time, your dad was already an adult. If I remember right, he should have been twenty-three that year!"
"My dad said he met my mom when he was twenty-four," Luo Ziling corrected her. "So he should have been twenty-four that year, right?"
"Maybe I remembered wrong!" Chen Qiaoyu looked a bit embarrassed. "That year I was twenty and already a junior at Renmin University."
Luo Ziling nodded and didn’t interrupt again, continuing to listen to what Chen Qiaoyu had to say.