Chapter 8  : Don’t Deserve Her

Ye Shu was a great mother. What a shame that Mu Yourong was not a good daughter to her.

Besides the blood selling incident, Mu Yourong had committed many other selfish acts.

Not long before this, Mu Yourong had proposed for Ye Shu to sell her kidney so that they could buy a new house.

Had it not been for the Mu family suddenly dropping by at the house, Ye Shu would have sold her kidney away by now…

Afterward, Mu Yourong made an even bigger fuss. She spread the rumor that Ye Shu was a disreputable mistress and gave a false account by claiming that Ye Shu was guilty of switching her child with a wealthy family’s child… She did not have the slightest care about Ye Shu’s love for her over the years.

In the past, Ye Sen did not understand why the kind and loving Ye Shu would have such a selfish daughter like Mu Yourong. He had only come to the realization when the Mu family found them.

It turned out that Mu Yourong was not Ye Shu’s biological daughter. The switched-at-birth incident came as a crushing blow to Ye Shu. She did not expect that the daughter she painstakingly raised was actually not her biological child.

To make matters worse, her adopted daughter had a fallout with her and hated Ye Shu after she was reunited with her family. She even refused to meet her or acknowledge her as her mother.

Ye Shu felt that her determination over the years turned into a joke. In fact, she even wanted to commit suicide at one point. Fortunately, Ye Zhuo came home.

Ye Zhuo lowered her head to write the prescription while she said, “Mom, I’ll go with you to resign from your job at the barbecue skewer shop later.”

Ye Shu worked in a barbecue skewer shop to make a living.

“Resign?” Ye Shu asked in astonishment, “How is that okay!?”

Even though the barbecue skewer shop did not pay very well, it was enough to pay for the household expenses at the very least!

What would the entire family eat if she were to resign from the job?

Right then, Ye Zhuo placed down her pen after she wrote the prescription. “Mom, you really can’t be working anymore in your current health condition! Otherwise, the consequences will be dire, and your life will be at stake.”

Upon hearing that, Ye Sen was startled, so he hastily added, “Listen to Zhuo Zhuo, sis! There’s nothing more important than your health!”

Ye Zhuo had easily made the diagnosis that Ye Shu sold her blood recently. As a result, Ye Sen believed in her medical skill without the slightest doubt.

“All of you are making a mountain out of a molehill. My health has always been the same; I don’t see what’s the issue there.” Ye Shu put on a carefree expression on her face.

Meanwhile, Ye Zhuo continued to speak, “Mom, if you’re refusing to resign because of monetary reasons, there’s no need for you to worry about that. I borrowed 10,000 bucks from a classmate yesterday, and I’m planning to use the money to purchase some investments and wealth management products.”

In truth, her money was earned from the gambling den, and there was utterly no need for her to borrow from her classmate. She said so because Ye Shu was not fond of gambling.

Right then, Ye Sen hastily took out all the money in his wallet. “Sis, this is the monthly wage and bonus I received yesterday. I shall hand over my monthly wage to you for safekeeping from now on.”

“I can’t take your money.” Ye Shu rejected.

Ye Sen replied, “We’re a family, sis. There shouldn’t be a difference between what’s yours and mine. I want you to be healthy too.”

Ye Shu chuckled and replied, “My body is really doing fine.”

As a sister and a mother, Ye Shu could not allow herself to stay home doing nothing. Even resting and recuperating made her feel like an ungrateful person.

Then, Ye Zhuo looked at Ye Shu. “Mom, we have just rekindled our relationship. I don’t want to lose you as my mother because of money issues. As the saying goes, it is always better to endure short-term pain than allow a disease to remain untreated. If you insist on going to work, I will leave this family at once and assume that you are not my mother so that I won’t be sad when you’re gone!”

Upon saying that, Ye Zhuo turned around and left without the slightest hesitation.

“Don’t leave, my niece!” Ye Sen hastily tugged at Ye Zhuo’s sleeve and then turned around to look toward Ye Shu. “Do something, sis!”

Ye Shu hesitated for a moment but then said, “Zhuo Zhuo, I promise you that I… I will resign from my job.”

“Alright.” Ye Zhuo cracked into a faint smile and held Ye Shu’s hand. “Let’s go then, mom!”

Together, the mother and daughter walked across the long basement corridor. Ye Shu was generally a nice person, so many people greeted her along the way. “Are you heading out, Ye Shu?”

Ye Shu introduced these people to Ye Zhuo one by one. “Zhuo Zhuo, this is Auntie Wang; this is Auntie Liu.”

In response, Ye Zhuo greeted the crowd respectfully.

“Ye Shu, is this your niece?”

Ye Shu chuckled and answered, “Sister Liu, this is my daughter, Ye Zhuo.”

“What a good girl! She looks really pretty too! Ye Shu, you’ll have a blessed life from now on!”

Needless to say, the crowd broke into a heated discussion after they left.

“Ye Shu’s biological daughter is really pretty! She looks just like Ye Shu!”

“She is pretty, but what a waste that she’s an illegitimate daughter that no one wants.”

“I don’t know what was on Ye Shu’s mind. She is beautiful, so why couldn’t she just get married to someone? Why did she have to be someone’s mistress? In the end, she didn’t get anything out of it, and now she even lives in a basement.”

“Look at you talking! Where else is a mistress going to stay if not a basement? It’s her fault for ruining someone else’s marriage and family!”

“That’s karma!”

“...”

It did not take long before Ye Shu and Ye Zhuo arrived at the barbecue skewer shop where she worked.

The barbecue skewer shop owner was a middle-aged woman about the age of 40, and her name was Qian Lingyu.

After finding out that Ye Shu was resigning from her job, Qian Lingyu spoke in a displeased tone, “We’re going through a busy phase now, yet you suddenly want to resign from your job. How are we going to hire a replacement in such a rush?”

Ye Shu was very ashamed, so she answered, “Boss, will you please look into this matter and see if you can make an exception…?”

“We’re running a barbecue skewer business, not a charity. If every staff member in my shop were to do what you are doing, I wouldn’t be able to stay in business anymore. You have to inform me a month in advance if you want to quit, at the very least, so that I can hire a new staff. How are we going to get another staff member if you quit whenever you like? You can quit, but I’m going to take one month’s pay as a penalty!”

Upon hearing that, Ye Shu replied, “I won’t resign anymore then.”

One month’s wage was over 2,000 bucks. She felt that it was a waste to have her wage deducted like that.

Ye Zhuo looked toward Qian Lingyu. “Auntie, my mother is ill, and she needs some time to rest and recuperate. How about this, I will work on behalf of my mother for a month so you can have time to hire a new staff member. Do you think that is alright?”

“You?” Qian Lingyu sized up Ye Zhuo. “Young maiden, let’s not joke around. This job is not suitable for you.”

The maiden had slim arms and skinny legs; how was she capable of working the job?

Then, Ye Shu tugged at Ye Zhuo’s hand. “Zhuo Zhuo, why don’t we just forgo the pay…?”

Ye Zhuo smiled and then looked toward Qian Lingyu. “Please allow me to give it a try, auntie! If I don’t perform, you can fire me.”

Even though a month’s pay was not much, it was Ye Shu’s hard work and effort. Ye Zhuo did not want her hard work to go to waste just like that.

Qian Lingyu smiled and answered, “Alright then. I shall give you a chance in view of you being such a filial child! However, I’m just going to put it out there. If you’re incapable of performing, I will send you away at once!”

“Thank you, auntie.”

“You start at half-past six at night, don’t forget to come,” Qian Lingyu added.

After leaving the barbecue skewer shop, Ye Zhuo took Ye Shu to a traditional Chinese medicine dispensary.

Ye Shu asked out of curiosity, “Zhuo Zhuo, what are we doing at the traditional Chinese medicine dispensary?”

Ye Zhuo said, “We’re here to get some herbal medicine! It’s not enough for your body to recuperate only through rest; you need some traditional Chinese herbal medicine as nourishment too.”

…

Over at the other side in the Mu family’s home, the butler jogged over to the living hall and said in a panic, “Sir, madam, the Cen family are arriving soon!”

“So soon?” Mu Dabing was stunned for a moment.

Mu Dabing learned about the news of the Cen family’s return to Yunjing Province only this morning. He learned that the Cen family was in a financial crisis and that they are on the verge of bankruptcy too. Mu Dabing did not expect that the Cen family would pay a visit so soon.

Shen Rong frowned ever so slightly and said, “The Cen family came back at this crucial time… is it because of the marriage between their fifth son and Yourong?”

Mu Dabing replied, “Tell me about it; I am certain it is because of that! The Cen family is in a financial crisis, and they are on the verge of bankruptcy too. They probably want to use the marriage alliance to close a loophole in their funding!”

“No!” Shen Rong continued, “I won’t allow our Yourong to marry into the Cen family!”

In Shen Rong’s heart, Mu Yourong was the bright moon in the sky and the fairy maiden of the nine heavens! How could she allow Mu Yourong to marry into a family that was close to bankruptcy? She would never allow it!

“Tell me about it! I won’t allow Yourong to marry into the family, of course!” Mu Dabing’s expression made him look extremely displeased.

The marriage between the Cen family and the Mu family was not a secret in Yunjing City.

The Cen family was a century-old powerful family with imperial court officials in the family a few generations ago. Would they not be ridiculed by others if they were to break the marriage so recklessly? As a result, they had to figure out a way to satisfy both sides.