Chapter 201 - Friend Turned Mistress (2/2)

Shi Luo's eyes widened slightly.

”May I come in?”

They glanced in the direction of the voice only to find Shen Lihua standing near the door.

'How much did she hear?' was the first thought that came to their minds as they stood up.

”Please,” Yu Mei nodded at her.

As Shen Lihua's gaze landed on Shi Luo's face, her brows furrowed slightly, ”You look familiar...?”

Shi Luo raised an eyebrow. It was her first time meeting this elegant lady who was possibly her friend's mother-in-law and she was pretty sure of that. ”Hello, Madam. I'm Shi Luo,” She bowed slightly.

”Shi...?” Shen Lihua's gaze flashed, ”Is your mother's name Shi Qing by any chance?”

”You know my mom?”

”Of course,” Shen Lihua stepped closer to her, ”I even held you when you were born. You were so small at that time. Time passed too fast. You both are grown up now,” She said looking at both Shi Luo and Yu Mei, ”Come, give me a hug, dear.”

Shi Luo nodded as she leaned in for a hug.

Shen Lihua patted her back, ''You can call me Aunt.”

As they parted, Shi Luo glanced at her, ”I was not aware of it. Mom never mentioned you.”

Shen Lihua stroked her cheeks as a soft smile made its way to her face., ”Li Na, Shi Qing, and I were best friends. Your mother and I married at the same time and we were even pregnant around the same time. At one point, we were planning to have you betrothed to Ah Xuan.''

Yu Mei, who was listening to everything quietly, taking as much as information she could found herself choking on her saliva when she heard the last line. She broke into coughing fits as the piece of information got too heavy for her taste.

Shi Luo patted her back, ”Don't worry. There will not be a friend turned Mistress trope here, I don't have such hard taste. With a man like him, I will lose all my brain cells and wake up with grey hairs,” She whispered. Other than Han Mei who is now Yu Mei, to everyone, Jun Zixuan is a devil incarnate and Shi Luo was not as naive to see him as an angel.

Yu Mei glared at her.

Shen Lihua glanced at her beloved daughter-in-law, ”You are acting like they were betrothed. I was saying that we planned that initially but then you came into the picture, your mom was persistent on having you marry Ah Xuan. And we went with that.”

”Her mother?” Shi Luo was confused.

”Li Na. The third friend in the picture,” Yu Mei answered nonchalantly.

Shen Lihua slapped her shoulder, ”Is this the proper way to talk about your mother?”

”Ah...Mother-in-law, this is domestic violence,” Yu Mei rubbed her shoulder.

Shi Luo paused for a moment, ”If you all were so close, then why-?”

”Then, why we lost connection with each other?” Shen Lihua finished the sentence for her and as Shi Luo nodded, she continued speaking, ”We all got a life, challenges that were too hard to overcome, we all got stuck in different struggles and schemes that were tough to get rid of. By the time I was away from all that, Li Na was no more and your mother...sigh...I never got the proper chance to reunite with them.”

Yu Mei and Shi Luo exchanged glances. They could hear the sadness in the woman's voice.

”Can you tell me more about Li...my mom?”