Faced with Yang Xueyi’s questioning, Mrs. Yang Meiying’s answer was so hopeless it could be used as the template for a collection of wrong answers.
“Yes, I gave it to him. Something happened to his family, so he can’t live in the villa anymore. I was just about to tell you.”
“Then let him stay in a hotel!”
“How can someone stay in a hotel long-term? It’s cold and unfeeling,” Mrs. Yang Meiying said as if it was only natural.
“Besides, hotels are too expensive. Xiao Yun probably doesn’t have that much money right now.”
“Besides, it’s not like I’m letting him stay for free. I’m charging him rent too, just giving him a little bit of a discount.”
Mrs. Yang Meiying spoke with conviction: “Instead of letting our new house sit empty, it’s better to rent it to him. We know Xiao Yun well, he’s clean and tidy, and we don’t have to worry about him messing up or damaging the place. Plus, it’s only a few minutes’ walk from his hospital, so it’s really convenient for him.”
“Now that something’s happened to his family and he can’t go back to the villa, he’d have to rent a place anyway. He’s all alone, and I’ve taken care of him for over ten years—he’s like half a son to me. I just can’t bear it.”
Yang Xueyi was nearly amused to death by her own mother’s “both children are my own” logic.
But Mrs. Yang Meiying remained stubborn: “And how does him living here affect you? Aren’t you staying at the company dormitory? If you’re not living here, and I’m working as a live-in nanny elsewhere, the house would just sit empty.”
She sounded cheerful: “I thought if I rent it to him, the rent can help subsidize you. Our mortgage pressure won’t be so high, and you won’t have to work so hard.”
It did sound like a reasonable plan—if Yang Xueyi didn’t need a place to live herself…
But of course, she couldn’t let her mother know she’d impulsively quit her job.
“The staff dorm charges rent now! I’m moving back to the new house!”
Yang Xueyi hadn’t expected that even after making up an excuse, Mrs. Yang Meiying still wouldn’t budge: “Isn’t that even better? You take the master bedroom, he takes the guest room.”
“I don’t feel safe with you living alone. With him there, if anything happens, there’s someone to look after you. Plus, you won’t be up all night with no one to keep you in check.”
No way!
“I don’t feel safe living with him!”
Yang Xueyi blurted out, slandering Ying Yun’s character: “I’m afraid he’ll try something with me! Mom, don’t say he definitely wouldn’t—I mean, you never really know someone. Can you guarantee it? What if he loses his mind one night, then what?”
“Don’t tell me it’s like adopting a stray cat or dog. Even when adopting pets, you have to neuter them. Can I confiscate Ying’s crime tools and neuter him?”
“He probably doesn’t even like me, but what if he’s tempted by my beauty? Men don’t have that much self-control. I’m so pretty and have a good figure. He’s a normal man, living with me every day—it would be so easy for him to lose to my charm and get swept away…”
In order to avoid living with Ying Yun, Yang Xueyi spared no effort to distort the facts while he was in the bathroom, so much so that she didn’t notice the sound of the hairdryer had already stopped.
She was talking so much her mouth was dry, and when she looked up, she realized Ying had already come out of the bathroom at some point.
He was wearing casual home clothes, leaning against the wall, looking at Yang Xueyi with deep, expressionless eyes.
Who knew how long he’d been listening.
“Yang Xueyi.”
The main character had arrived.
Instead, Yang Xueyi felt a little guilty.
She desperately tried to shake off the R-rated scenes she’d just seen in the bathroom, hung up the phone, and didn’t dare meet Ying Yun’s eyes.
She could only bluff and shout loudly, “What?”
Even without looking at him, just from his voice she could imagine this annoying guy was definitely full of ridicule.
“Don’t you think you’re the one who should have your crime tools confiscated?”
This was simply absurd!
“I’m a woman—what crime tools do I have?”
The answer to Yang Xueyi’s question was Ying Yun’s cold, cutting voice: “Your eyes. Those are your crime tools.”
“You don’t know what you were just looking at with those sinful eyes?”
Ying Yun sneered: “Your accusations against me are all baseless speculation. But my accusation against you—you’re already guilty. So who’s really got designs on whom?”
“You were staring at my lower half so intently—did you think I was blind and didn’t notice?”
Ying Yun’s voice was icy, but every word made Yang Xueyi want to strangle him on the spot.
She stared at his lower half?
What was so great about it that she’d want to stare!
She wished she’d gone blind just now!
“Yang Xueyi, when I wasn’t wearing clothes, you stared at me; now that I’m dressed, you still keep glancing over there every now and then. Your criminal intent couldn’t be more obvious.”
“Fine, fine, I’m a female pervert, I stared at your lower half. Go call the police then!”
Yang Xueyi was about to explode with anger: “Ying Yun! Do you even get the point? This is my home! My house! What decent man comes to a single woman’s house to take a shower?”
Her blood was boiling, and her desire for revenge took over: “You should read fewer stories about landladies falling for down-and-out tenants. They’ll rot your brain! Me having designs on you? Can you be a little more self-aware?”
After she finished, Yang Xueyi actually regretted it.
Although she was just giving him a taste of his own medicine, after all, Ying Yun had just fallen on hard times.
Saying this was a bit too cruel.
Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, Ying Yun’s face darkened: “I have a night shift tonight, I don’t have time. After work tomorrow, I’ll move out.”
“Aunt Yang told me no one was living here, that’s why I came. If I’d known you were here, I definitely wouldn’t have come.”
He obviously didn’t want to talk to Yang Xueyi any longer.
He tossed out those words, grabbed his things, and left with a cold face, slamming the door behind him.
***
Move out.
Although the conversation ended badly, just thinking that Ying Yun would soon be moving out made Yang Xueyi breathe a sigh of relief.
She checked the time and remembered Mrs. Yang Meiying had said she’d forgotten a box at Ying Yun’s housekeeper’s room, so she decided to go over now.
After more than a month, stepping into the villa she’d lived in for ten years, Yang Xueyi was flooded with emotion.
In just a month, the villa’s layout and décor had changed dramatically.
Mrs. Ying had always liked the Nordic minimalist style, so the paintings on the walls were all modern abstract pieces with a strong sense of design.
But now, all the furniture had been replaced with gorgeous light French style, and the paintings on the walls had become colorful still-life oils.
Yang Xueyi had never really considered this place her home, but after ten years, she still had some attachment to it.
As she walked toward the basement, she noticed that the family photo wall in the living room had also been replaced.
The photos of Ying Yun and Mrs. Ying had all been taken down and replaced with a plain background wall.
Only on the coffee table in the study on the second floor was there still a photo of Ying Yun and Mrs. Ying together, as if someone had forgotten to clear it away.
The guilt Yang Xueyi had tried to ignore earlier came flooding back.
At this moment, she realized with painful clarity that Ying Yun no longer had a home.
She began to regret her harsh words earlier.
As Yang Xueyi was packing her mother’s last box in the housekeeper’s room, she heard the sound of a car being locked in the underground garage, then the basement door opened and someone walked in—
“Really, how can someone be so shameless? Knowing full well her child isn’t Ying Wenjun’s, yet she still clings to his side. At least now she’s finally given up her position.”
“That Ying Yun? Does he even deserve the surname Ying? He’s just a bastard with unknown origins. At least he was smart enough to leave on his own and not get in my way. Otherwise, if he upset me and something happened to my child, would he be able to pay for it?”
“It’s my child who’s the true heir of the Ying family. That Ying Yun better not even think about getting a single cent!”
The person’s tone was full of petty glee, clearly not expecting anyone to be in the housekeeper’s room.
She spoke without restraint, chatted a bit more on the phone, then took the elevator upstairs.
It was obvious who this was.
After she left, Yang Xueyi waited a moment, then quietly went up to the second floor, took the photo of Ying Yun and Mrs. Ying from the study, and finally left the villa with her mother’s last box.
On the way home, looking at the photo of Ying Yun and Mrs. Ying, Yang Xueyi’s regret hit its peak.
Hearing that Ying Yun was doing badly and seeing it with her own eyes were two completely different things.
Yang Xueyi might dislike Ying Yun, but she wasn’t cold-blooded.
Thinking about it, the reason this young master ended up staying at her house was probably because he’d been kicked out of the villa and had nowhere else to go.
Mr. Ying used to be so proud of him, but now probably hates him just as much.
After all, who could tolerate a living reminder of their own betrayal?
Ying Yun used to have a trust fund, but now Mr. Ying probably wouldn’t give him a single cent…
Right?
Tsk…
Pitiful as he was, Yang Xueyi comforted herself—Ying Yun was a doctor, after all, with a regular income.
He’d get by one way or another.
If he couldn’t stay at her house, he could always rent somewhere else, even if it wasn’t great.
Yang Xueyi brought her mother’s luggage home, then, still conflicted, went to the nearby market to buy groceries.
Unexpectedly, she ran into Ying Yun there.
Could it be that, after storming out of her house, he had nowhere to go and had just been wandering around the market?
Even though he was wearing casual clothes and was no longer a “favored by the heavens” young master, years of cultivated bearing couldn’t be hidden.
Standing in the market, Ying Yun seemed completely out of place, like a pearl covered in dust.
This market was a model of the new era’s green markets in Rong City—well-designed, clean, and tidy.
Every vendor provided excellent service, and to ensure vegetable quality, the owner would carefully pick out any that weren’t fresh and put them in a discount bin.
Yang Xueyi crept closer, then saw what Ying Yun was buying.
He was actually buying vegetables from the discount bin!
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