Chapter 43: The Selfish Girl

  The New Year is approaching, and Su Mo Ruo said goodbye to Ji Lan after a brief greeting, but didn't go over to bid her farewell in person. After all, she would be back soon, just over a month later. She had left things here in the care of Ji Lan, so there shouldn't be any major issues.

  No longer refusing Song Xue Li's kindness, she called her family driver and together they sent her off to the train station.

  The Spring Festival travel season has arrived, and the number of passengers coming and going has increased several times compared to before. Among them, most are students and migrant workers returning home. Song Xue Li covered her nose and followed Su Mo Rou to squeeze into the waiting hall. The stench in the large hall made her frown, and the people sitting or lying on the chairs, some even sleeping on the ground, made her feel anxious. As a young lady who had never suffered before, she couldn't help but grab Su Mo Rou's sleeve, her voice trembling, "How can there be so many people here... Let's not take this train, let's go to the airport instead."

  She didn't have no money to take the train, nor was she trying to show off her low profile. It's just that their side is a poor and remote area, the airport is in the province, if she takes a plane, she would have to transfer many times, but the train is different. According to her mother Liu Qin, two months ago, the train had already reached their county, taking the train was more convenient for her.

  "Snowy, the train can go directly to our county, it's more convenient for me to rush back home by train. The traffic on our side is not convenient, and taking a plane doesn't work at all."

  "Alright, you can stay in Yanjing from now on. When the time comes, we'll bring your foster mother over to enjoy life together. We're good sisters, and your mom should be considered my half-mom too. We'll take care of her together, okay?" After hesitating for a long time, Song Xue Li reluctantly agreed, but her eyes still showed that she wasn't very willing. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly had a great idea, and when she spoke it out, her eyes were still fixed on Su Mo Ruo.

  She didn't want to explain these things to her either, after all, it would be hard to make her understand in a short while, so she just smiled and nodded, "Okay, you decide what to do, but that's for later, little miss, I have to catch the train now."

  "I'll take you in." Looking at the things in Su Mo's hands, there were really a lot of them, a trunk plus two handheld gift bags, and it was hard to believe that Su Mo could easily carry them in.

  "Sorry, miss. You can't go in without a ticket." The ticket inspector at the entrance stopped Song Xue Li from following and said with a serious face.

  Since she was young, everyone has always catered to her, and Song Xue Li had never been looked down on before. Now that she's being glared at by the ticket inspector, she shot back: "What are you glaring for? Are you going to scam me out of a ticket?"

  "Our train for this class is already full, miss. Even if you buy a ticket now, you can only choose another time and class." The person listening to this had also gotten angry. Originally, during the Spring Festival travel season, it's busy, so generally when they encounter people who they think are looking for trouble, they won't have a good attitude or be polite in their explanation.

  The ticket inspector's loud and rude voice made Song Xue Li's face turn bright red, she took out her phone and dialed a number, then immediately hung up the phone after shouting loudly.

  There were still people waiting in line to check their tickets, and suddenly some people began to be dissatisfied with the situation where those in front had stopped moving forward.

  Just as the ticket inspector called security to throw Song Xue Li out, several main people in charge of the train station rushed over.

  After these people came, things naturally changed. Song Xue Li followed Su Mo Ruo to send her off on the train. As the train slowly started moving, she reluctantly waved goodbye.

  This time back, Su Mo Ruo also did not choose to sit in a hard seat again. After all, it would take until tomorrow to arrive, and with one night, there was a place to rest well, so that the spirit could be fully restored before returning to see her mother-in-law.

  As soon as she thought of Liu Qin, they hadn't seen each other for almost a year. They rarely called each other during normal times. Her foster mother was even frugal with the little money spent on phone calls. She couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart. This time when she went back, she was considering giving some money to her foster mother so that she wouldn't be too tired. She wanted to tell her that she had earned some tuition fees outside, but she couldn't find an excuse or reason to explain where the money came from. If she said she made it by stock trading, or if she said she helped some big bosses do something big, her foster mother was uncultured and a rural woman who wouldn't understand much. The more money you earned, the more likely it would be seen as "dangerous" or "problematic" to them. They would ask questions until the end, and in the end, she might just dig a hole for herself to jump into.

  On the train, I didn't expect to run into an acquaintance. This person was Wu Linlin, a schoolmate from back in the day when Luo Qingcheng came to report for duty on this side. She was wearing even more dazzling clothes than last time we met, and it seemed that she hadn't been living a dull life in Beijing for the past year. These clothes of hers probably cost over a thousand yuan to buy, which is a small fortune for an ordinary family in today's era. From some of her actions and words, I could guess that her family wasn't well-off, and it seemed that this woman was someone who liked to put on a good face despite being poor.

  "Lingling, have you finished packing up over there?" At this time, a middle-aged woman's voice rang out. Lu Qingcheng looked up to see that it was Wu Lingling's mother, the same woman who had accompanied them on the hard-seat train to take her daughter to Beijing for her report.

  Seems to dislike seeing his own mother, with a look of disgust in his eyes, he glanced around cautiously like a thief, glared at his mother and said, "I told you not to come over here, I can handle it myself."

  "Oh, you child, I'm still not at ease with you, just come and take a look, besides, everything is placed on your side, if I don't keep an eye on it, what if something gets lost?" The woman saw her daughter's displeasure, her face somewhat embarrassed, but she still spoke out her mind.

  Anyway, Wu Linlin didn't want her mother to come over. With so many people watching, she was dressed so beautifully, why should this mother come and lose face? She glared at her own mother, then said in a harsh tone: "Alright, alright, hurry up and leave! I can see it myself, it's just a few things, if they're lost, they're lost. We can just buy new ones."

  The woman was unhappy, "You child, these things don't need to be bought with money, your mom told you at the time, our family doesn't have that kind of money, why did you buy these things to show off, you're not happy with that, and insisted on buying so many useless things to bring back and give to everyone. Do you know how wasteful this is? Your dad works hard every day at home to earn a little bit of money, if you keep buying like this, who knows how many months your dad will have to work overtime to make it back?"

  Never thought his own mother would say such a thing in public, his face suddenly turned bright red.

  A pair of eyes stared at their own mother, hating to death in their heart, "What do you mean? With so many people around, are you trying to humiliate me in public?"

  "You... what are you saying, child? Although I said it with my mouth, if you really want to buy these things, I won't stop you." The woman's face also turned a bit red, seeing her daughter get angry and feeling a bit regretful for speaking hastily earlier. Seeing the people around them sticking their heads out to look over, she became flustered and quickly waved her hand, helping her daughter clarify, "Everyone don't look at my daughter, my daughter is very well-behaved, she really is very well-behaved. Those things were all bought with her father's and my agreement, she studies so diligently, everyone don't misunderstand her."

  "This child is educated, how can he treat his own mother like this, without any manners."

  "It's really like that, this mother is indeed something, the child treats her like this and she can still do it to this extent, truly a case of 'a loving mother spoils the child'."

  "That's right, I just heard that he is a top student."

  Louder and louder murmurs drew everyone's attention to Wu Linlin.

  "It's all you..." Wu Linlin's eyes turned red, and as she looked on, tears began to fall.

  As a mother, she had always been most fond of this daughter. The daughter was capable and studious, and had even gotten into the prestigious university in the capital city, making her parents proud. But now, she had gone and made the child cry, and when she tried to comfort her, the daughter pushed her away, causing her to become anxious and burst into tears as well.

  The woman's actions led to more people blaming Wu Linlin.

  Wu Linlin burst into tears, and in her heart, it was as if a fire was burning. Looking at her mother's gaze, which had grown even colder, she stood up after a while and shouted angrily: "What do you want to do? Don't you dare come back here and sit in your hard seat! Are you trying to let everyone continue to accuse me?"

  The woman's body shook as soon as she heard her daughter's words, and she looked around with a somewhat pitiful gaze. She continued to beg for mercy from her daughter, then walked out of the bedroom suite with an unsteady gait.

  Su Mo sat on the lower bunk, coldly staring at Wu Linlin who was climbing up to the upper bunk. Her feelings towards this girl were even worse now, not a bit of self-blame as a daughter, but instead after all these years, she had grown up into an adult and still didn't understand how to respect her own mother.

  She, without biological parents, only had a foster mother, even if it was the former Su Mo Ruo. For this foster mother, she was also respectful in her heart. However, this girl was born with blessings but didn't know them. In her heart, she only thought that her parents couldn't give her wealth and power, couldn't make her a rich princess. From young to old, it's likely that in her heart, she had always been resentful of her parents.

  "Hey, classmate! The last time we sat on the train together, I didn't get a chance to hear you introduce yourself. I heard that you're also a freshman at Jinghua University?" With a completely different attitude from before, she had a big smile on her face and was staring straight at Su Moruo with her eyes wide open. Although what happened earlier made her unhappy, finding a classmate from the same school in the same place was also a delightful thing.

  But after what happened just now, Sumo has already refused to associate with this girl in her heart. She is too self-interested, and people like that will only harm themselves if they get involved.

  Moreover, Wu Linlin's intention to make friends with her was not pure either.

  So, she didn't care about what others said, she just wanted to go home and see her adoptive mother as soon as possible. It had been a year since they last saw each other, and she didn't know if her mother was still alive or not. She also wondered if her mother would be very happy when she saw her come back. And then there was Tan Yunning, who was also on this side. When she had time, she planned to go visit him and see how he was doing as a teacher in that mountain village.