Chapter 197 Lin Chu, Come Out! I Know You’re In There, Come Out! (1/2)

Lu Zhenghang did not feel even an ounce of pity toward Zhu Hexuan at this moment, as he proceeded to lift his leg and shake Zhu Hexuan off. Zhu Hexuan, who had originally been hugging his leg, was promptly flung to the ground.

Lu Zhenghang grabbed onto Zhu Hexuan's arm and lifted her up. At this moment, it looked as though Zhu Hexuan did not have even a shred of dignity left.

”Zhenghang, what are you doing! You can't treat me this way. Zhenghang, in any case, we've been together for a long time and I've given you everything. Did you know——” Zhu Hexuan said as she wailed, her face covered in tears and mucus. Her mucus that flowed from her nose stuck onto her lips now as she begged incoherently.

Lu Zhenghang looked at her disheveled appearance and felt disgusted. There was no hint of the usual gentle look he wore when he was with Zhu Hexuan in the past. Even though at the time, it was undoubtedly only out of politeness, he still had an elegant demeanor and was graceful whilst also showing a great deal of tolerance toward her.

However, at the moment, one could no longer see any other emotions on his face apart from disgust.

He opened the front door and then threw Zhu Hexuan out. He did not have an ounce of pity on his face as he did this, so much so that his revulsion was tangible.

”I'll get someone to pack up the stuff you left behind and ship them to you.” Lu Zhenghang said in an annoyed tone.

”Lu Zhenghang! You can't be this uncompassionate!” Zhu Hexuan fell onto the ground, but quickly tried to get up and dash back in.

Once her eyes fell on the door, Lu Zhenghang slammed it in her face, almost hitting Zhu Hexuan's face in the process.

”Lu Zhenghang, you can't be like this! Lu Zhenghang, you can't treat me like this! When we're together, you were gentle and caring. Now you won't even look at me, you're heartless! I've done so much for you, now you're chasing me away as if you're chasing away a beggar. Lu Zhenghang, open the door, you open the damn door now!” Zhu Hexuan was still shouting outside as she slammed the door with her palm, making it swell up and itch from the pain.

The construction materials used in Ding City were reliable as well, so the door was thick and strong. She had slammed it with quite a lot of force, but in reality, it did not transmit that much sound into the house.

Lu Zhenghang did not pay even the slightest bit of attention toward the annoying ramble outside. He turned toward the aunty that was standing there in shock and said, ”The next time she comes, don't let her in.”

The aunty cautiously agreed and Lu Zhenghang then returned to his bedroom.

Zhu Hexuan stood on the other side of the door, banging away for quite some time. When there was no reaction, she finally sat down on the floor with both her hands on the threshold.

How did it come to this, she had lost everything in a single night.

Not that long ago, she had been so arrogant as she had moved to Ding City. She even became neighbor with Lin Chu, but because Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng were both constantly not around, she had gone there a couple of times, only to find it unoccupied. She wanted to find a day when Lin Chu would be at home so that she could go over and have a chat with her to show off the life that she was enjoying now.

Lin Chu was not the only one that had married into a good family; she had also found herself an outstanding man that was handsome, with a good family background, and was Yan Beicheng's equal. She was Lu Zhenghang's girlfriend, and if Lin Chu had the means to become Madam Yan, then she would certainly have the means to become Madam Lu as well. She was more capable than Lin Chu and would certainly do better than her.

However, she had nothing now. The days of her living in Ding City all seemed like nothing but a dream - the grand scenery, the extravagance, all of it was merely a dream. Now that she had woken up from the said dream, all that was left for her was the harsh reality.

Zhu Hexuan sat on the ground and cried for a long time. All the makeup on her face had begun to run whilst her mascara and lipstick were smudged all over her face as if it were a paste. Zhu Hexuan sobbed as she took out a tissue from her bag to wipe off the smudged makeup, then took out another wet tissue and wiped it once more.

She did not immediately leave and instead pondered about what she was to do next. There was nowhere else for her to go now as Lu Zhenghang would not change his mind. She felt that if she had no one else to rely on, then she had to at least keep her job.

She knew that she was willing to lose her dignity in order to keep her job. She took out her mobile phone and found Lin Chu's phone number, but when she dialed it, there was no response. She did not even hear the ringing sound.

She knew that it was because Lin Chu had blocked her number. After this, Zhu Hexuan clenched her teeth as she contemplated. As things have gone this far, she could only count on Lin Chu now as only she was able to help her out.

She was not thinking about the fact that she was the one that had tried to ruin Lin Chu before. Since she was facing difficulty, she needed to look for Lin Chu for help.

She took the elevator to Lin Chu's floor and pressed the doorbell for quite a while, yet no one answered the door.

”Lin Chu, come out! I know you're in there, come out!” Zhu Hexuan shouted as she knocked on the door.

After pounding at the door for some time, she did not get any response whatsoever.

She then thought of going to the ground floor and looking up from below. Upon reaching the ground floor and looking up, she saw that Yan Beicheng's house was dark as the lights were not switched on.

Were they really not home?

Zhu Hexuan gave it a thought and went outside to call for a cab. After she got in, the driver asked her where she wanted to go.

Zhu Hexuan hesitated for a while before giving him the address of the orphanage.

It was not very late when she reached the orphanage. It was around eight o'clock, and the old principal was not yet asleep. The children were washing up, and they were planning to go to bed when the clock struck half-past eight.

Teacher Yuan got up to open the door as the doorbell rang. However, she was startled upon seeing Zhu Hexuan.

They had not seen her ever since the last time Zhu Hexuan had come over and caused a ruckus. She was going around claiming that the old principal was biased, which in turn had almost caused the old principal to fall ill due to anger.

Now that Zhu Hexuan had come by again, Teacher Yuan's first thought was that she was here to cause more trouble.

”Miss Zhu.” Teacher Yuan greeted her in a distant manner and smiled. She assumed that one would not start a fight if the other party was smiling amicably.

Zhu Hexuan felt a twang of discomfort. Teacher Yuan used to call her ”Hexuan” so intimately when she was younger, yet now she referred to her as ”Miss Zhu”. Nevertheless, this was not the time to worry about such a thing.

Zhu Hexuan waited until Teacher Yuan had opened the door before she gave her a forceful smile. ”Is the old principal asleep?”

Teacher Yuan's mouth twitched upon hearing her question. ”Not yet, but she's going to bed soon.”

'Therefore, even if you have something you want to say, you don't need to stick around and tell us. Please leave.'

Zhu Hexuan acted dumb, as if she did not understand what this implied, and casually entered the premises. ”It's good that she's not asleep.”

The old principal was sitting in front of the sewing machine in the living room as she toiled away at a small shirt for Lin Chu's baby. When a child was just born, wearing a hundred families' clothes* (TN: A hundred families' clothes is a Chinese custom, whereby a baby's garment is made of old colorful cloth strips obtained from many people's household.) would be the most comfortable thing that they could wear. Even if they were old clothes, they had been worn countless times, and thus had been washed many times. This made them the softest material in the world for a baby's shirt.

Moreover, there was an older generations' theory that went - a hundred families' clothes accumulated from a hundred families' good fortune, lesser illness and lesser misfortune*. (TN: This is a Chinese idiom that basically means that a baby wearing a hundred families' clothes will carry all their good luck, which will hopefully offset any misfortune.)

The word about Lin Chu's pregnancy had not yet spread, so these clothes belonged to Teacher Yuan and Teacher Wang's grandson and granddaughter's clothes. Baby clothes did not require much material anyway, so cutting up a few pieces from it was more than enough.

She was in the middle of doing this when Zhu Hexuan came in and called out arrogantly. ”Old principal!”

The old principal turned off the sewing machine and turned around in surprise. She saw Zhu Hexuan crying as she walked toward her. Then, she immediately knelt on the ground and lunged at her leg.

The old principal was flabbergasted. ”Child, what… What happened to you?”

Zhu Hexuan tearingly told her the new developments and, naturally, skipped the part where she tried to ruin Lin Chu. She merely mentioned that the messy things she had done in the past had all been exposed.

”Old principal, I've recognized my mistakes. Originally, I was too embarrassed to look for you, but not because I didn't want to admit my mistakes. I knew that I had done wrong and I didn't have the guts to come to you. However, this time I really have nowhere else to go. I'm regretting what I've done, and I won't dare do such things in the future. I was too young when I first stepped into the society. I'd found myself a job as a journalist and felt good about it, thinking that it was finally my chance to prove myself. Moreover, life in B City was not easy as I'm sure you know. I wanted to gain a foothold in B City as soon as possible. I ventured down the wrong path in the pursuit of money. I know now what I did was wrong, and I want to make amends for the things I did when I was young. The problem is that I think I've lost the chance to redeem myself.”