Chapter 54: Chapter 54 In short, Cheng Zhiwei is not to be trifled with.

Seo Zhenzhen glanced at the kitchen and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. "I just returned to the country today, and came to visit uncle and auntie. They insisted I stay for dinner. I hope it hasn’t inconvenienced you."

Her tone was calm and gentle as if there had never been any discord between them, just the unfamiliarity of having not seen each other for a long time due to going their separate ways.

But no matter what Seo Zhenzhen thought, Cheng Zhiwei didn’t want to see her, whether out of guilt or helplessness.

Her emotions were very complicated, to say the least.

Right, the affair with Zhou Lin was an accident, and then the accident happened to Seo Zhenzhen, which, in a way, was related to her. Even more, everyone felt Seo Zhenzhen’s accident was caused by Cheng Zhiwei, but in fact, Cheng Zhiwei’s guilt towards her was limited.

What she wished for more was to never see her again in this lifetime.

Cheng Zhiwei smoothed out those emotions little by little and said with a calm demeanor, "Not at all."

She put down her bag and went to the kitchen to help.

After nearly an hour of busyness, the dishes were served on the table, all to Seo Zhenzhen’s taste.

Cheng Zhiwei took four bowls to serve the rice, and as she turned around, she saw Zhou Lin, who had arrived at some point. He bent over to pick up Seo Zhenzhen, carried her steadily over, placed her beside the dining table, and grabbed chopsticks for her, caring for her attentively.

Throughout it all, he never once looked at Cheng Zhiwei.

The sour feeling in her heart, intensified infinitely by Seo Zhenzhen’s presence, made Cheng Zhiwei purse her lips. She placed a bowl of rice in front of Seo Zhenzhen and sat down with her eyes downcast.

Cheng Shang’s severe face rarely showed a hint of a smile. "Zhenzhen, you haven’t come back for three years. I don’t know if your tastes have changed. Try aunty’s cooking," he said warmly.

Seo Zhenzhen chuckled and picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks. "Aunty’s cooking is the taste I’ve missed the most."

Cheng Zhiwei listened absentmindedly, eating the grains of rice from her bowl one by one, until Guo Cuihua, unable to watch anymore, added some vegetables to her bowl. "You child, is rice really that delicious to you? Eat some vegetables," she said.

Seo Zhenzhen spoke in a relaxed tone, a hint of laughter in her voice. "I remember Zhiwei preferring stronger flavors, the complete opposite of me. These dishes might be too bland for her taste."

Before Cheng Zhiwei could respond, Cheng Shang frowned and said, "Don’t mind her, eat it or not."

With that remark, the atmosphere at the dining table instantly cooled.

Guo Cuihua shot Cheng Shang a glare. "We are eating. Why are you scolding the child?" she chided.

"She’s already in her twenties, what child? It’s because you spoil her too much that she ended up doing such shameful things," Cheng Shang criticized harshly.

Cheng Zhiwei gripped her chopsticks tightly. It had started again.

In the past three years, she seldom came back, but every time she did, Cheng Shang would use that incident to lecture her. Cheng Zhiwei felt very repressed.

Her gaze drifted involuntarily across the table and met Seo Zhenzhen’s apologetic eyes. It seemed she felt sorry for being the cause of Cheng Shang’s scolding. Zhou Lin was carefully picking bones from the fish, then gently placed the tender flesh into Seo Zhenzhen’s bowl.

Nobody felt there was anything inappropriate about the scene.

A suffocating sensation swept over her.

Cheng Zhiwei’s hand relaxed, and the chopsticks slid to the ground.

The small sound, like the fuse of a firecracker being lit, the explosion was a matter of just two or three seconds.

"Smack."

Cheng Shang slammed his chopsticks down on the table, his face darkening in an instant. "You just drop chopsticks and bowls when I say one thing to you, no manners at all," he said sternly.

Cheng Zhiwei had just seen Zhou Lin taking attentive care of Seo Zhenzhen, which made her uncomfortable, hence the chopsticks had slipped. She hadn’t actually thrown them, but for Cheng Shang, explanations were useless. Since Seo Zhenzhen’s accident, Cheng Shang was convinced it was Cheng Zhiwei’s lack of shame that wronged Seo Zhenzhen and, thus, he always firmly took Seo Zhenzhen’s side in any matter.

Zhou Lin would hate nothing more than to grovel at Seo Zhenzhen’s feet and apologize to her for the rest of her life.

She stood up, looking at Cheng Shang with an expressionless face, "I never wanted to come here in the first place."

She seldom talked back.

Caught off guard, Cheng Shang’s temper flared up as he shouted Zhou Lin’s name, "Cheng Zhiwei, this is not the place for you to cause trouble."

"Enough already, Zhiwei has finally come home for once, why are you scolding her? Sit down and let’s have a good meal," Guo Cuihua said, defending Cheng Zhiwei with a heavy tone, her heart aching for her.

"This is not your place to speak," Cheng Shang bellowed at her directly.

Guo Cuihua was stunned, and her eyes instantly reddened.

Cheng Zhiwei’s temples throbbed violently, her nerves tense and on edge as she raised her voice sharply, "You want to defend Seo Zhenzhen, go ahead and do so, but why are you getting angry at mom?"

Seo Zhenzhen blinked innocently, "I... Are Uncle and Auntie arguing because of me?"

She put down her chopsticks, "Sorry for disturbing your dinner. I’ll leave, but before I do, Zhiwei, there’s something I want to ask you."

Cheng Zhiwei’s lips curled into a cold, thin smile. Was she about to ask her to give Zhou Lin back to her?

Unfortunately, it was Zhou Lin himself who refused to divorce.

But perhaps, Zhou Lin had been waiting for Seo Zhenzhen to bring it up now, just to humiliate her.

Her heart clenched tight, Cheng Zhiwei pressed her lips together and said nothing, just watched Seo Zhenzhen emotionlessly.

"What is it? Go ahead and say it," Cheng Shang said.

Seo Zhenzhen sighed softly, "It’s like this, I have a younger sister named Bai Zhuzhu. She’s proud, arrogant, and impulsive. She offended Zhiwei and is now detained at the police station. I’m here to beg Zhiwei, if possible, to look past our previous relationship and spare her this time."

Cheng Zhiwei felt a buzzing sound in her ears, which made it somewhat difficult to hear Seo Zhenzhen’s words clearly. What did she say?

Did she say that Bai Zhuzhu is her younger sister?

Her gaze shot toward Zhou Lin, observing his calm demeanor. Cheng Zhiwei’s heart skipped a beat as she realized the truth.

Zhou Lin had known all along.

She bit her lip hard, no wonder Zhou Lin was so good to a supposed stand-in. So Bai Zhuzhu wasn’t a stand-in after all, but Seo Zhenzhen’s younger sister - such similar looks could only be between biological siblings.

It turned out that from beginning to end, it was only Cheng Zhiwei who was the joke.

Seo Zhenzhen looked sadly teary-eyed, "Our family favored boys over girls. I was abandoned as soon as I was born. Although Zhuzhu wasn’t abandoned, her childhood was also difficult. That made her very defiant, offending many people. When I had my troubles, I had no choice but to entrust her to Ah Lin, but I didn’t want to cause you, Zhiwei, any misunderstanding."

Her words carried countless entangled meanings.

Every meaning weighed heavily on Cheng Zhiwei’s heart, as heavy as a thousand pounds, making it hard for her to breathe.

But in short, Cheng Zhiwei was not tolerated.

Cheng Zhiwei remembered Zhou Lin saying she couldn’t stand others, but it turned out this was what he meant; she had thought Zhou Lin had wanted to have his cake and eat it too, claiming she couldn’t tolerate a mistress.

However, Bai Zhuzhu’s identity as her sister was much harder for Cheng Zhiwei to accept than her being Zhou Lin’s mistress.

"She’s still young, and with a criminal record, her life would be ruined. Zhiwei, can you agree to let her go?"

"Just think of it as compensation for the incident three years ago."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read