Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 284 - 284 281 Abandoned by All

Chapter 284: Chapter 281: Abandoned by All Chapter 284: Chapter 281: Abandoned by All It was 8 P.M. when Zhou Youming walked back to the family residences.

Song Xiwen was getting ready to take a shower and was startled by the sound of the door opening, then immediately turned and walked out of the bedroom.

Standing at the bedroom door, she looked coldly at Zhou Youming, who was changing his shoes, and scoffed, “Finally, you deign to return? If I hadn’t caused a problem, would you not have called me or even come home?”

Zhou Youming took off his coat and hung it on the rack by the door, pausing mid-motion at her words, and turned to look at Song Xiwen in disbelief, “So you met with that old man just to get me to see it?”

In truth, whether she did or didn’t was immaterial; the key issue was that her behavior had severely exceeded Zhou Youming’s understanding.

“You think too highly of yourself,” Song Xiwen denied vehemently, yet Zhou Youming’s next words made her face change color instantly.

“That’s good to hear. I thought that in your heart, I was more important than your grandmother.”

Zhou Youming watched as her gaze grew colder, “Song Xiwen, you are aware of the harm he caused your grandmother all those years ago, so I’m really curious to ask you, when you were sitting face to face with him, calm and composed, did you think of your grandmother at all? And when he said he was your biological grandfather, had you already forgotten about your own grandfather?”

Song Xiwen’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot, and after a long time, she bit out, “This is my family’s business, it’s none of your concern.”

Zhou Youming nodded, “You’re right, it’s your family’s business, and I shouldn’t interfere. I came back today primarily to talk to you about Haohao.”

“That’s my son. I’ve said it before, your mother can only take care of him until the end of this month. He must be returned to me on the first of next month.”

Mentioning Haohao distorted Song Xiwen’s expression even more. Zhou Youming had insisted on sending Haohao to his parents against her wishes, and that had already severely violated her bottom line.

“Even if we divorce and go to court, I will get custody of Haohao. Zhou Youming, don’t you even think about taking my son away from me.”

Zhou Youming looked at her silently for a while. Originally, he thought that since they were not divorcing, they could not continue to be so rigid with each other, which was why he returned today—to inquire about the matter with that old man and, furthermore, to tell her that his parents would come to Yunzhou to take care of Haohao.

By then, they would rent a house near the family residences. During the day, they would help pick up and drop off Haohao, and at night, Song Xiwen would take him back to her own home. This arrangement would release them from having to leave work early to pick up the child every day, and they wouldn’t need to cook in the evenings either, saving both hassle and effort.

Of course, the most important thing was he trusted his mother to take care of the child, and given Song Xiwen’s current state, she really wasn’t suitable to look after Haohao.

But now… Zhou Youming felt very powerless!

The two parted on bad terms once again.

After Zhou Youming left, Song Xiwen smashed a cup. With a snap, the shattered pieces scattered across the floor, and Yao Yeqiang’s words rang in her ears, “Come to North CityBeicheng with me. As long as you and the child come back to the Yao Family with me, you can have anything you want…”

Here, she had nothing but Zhou Youming’s aggravation, not to mention the daily collapse of not seeing Haohao!

She was nearly at her breaking point!

Yet, at the same time, she couldn’t help but recall Zhou Youming’s words, “When you sat down with him, calm and composed, did you think of your grandmother? And when he said he was your real grandfather, had you already forgotten your own grandfather?”

Her grandparents were in her heart, but… they were no longer there, ah. They couldn’t affect her situation; they were unable to help her.

Torn inside, Song Xiwen sat in the living room for a long time before picking up the receiver to call home.

“Is that you, Xiaoxi?” A lifeless, listless voice came through the receiver. It was Xie Jingying, who hadn’t been doing well lately. She couldn’t sleep at night, lacked energy during the day, and seemed to have aged a decade all at once. Even her once-prided jet-black hair had turned significantly grayer.

She looked as if she had been through a severe illness.

However, Song Xiwen didn’t catch the abnormality in her mother’s voice, assuming she was simply low in energy because she was about to sleep.

“Mom, that old man came looking for me.”

The other end went silent for a moment, then Xie Jingying’s increasingly heavy panting came through, so loud that Song Xiwen could almost see smoke coming out of her mother’s nose, and hear her teeth grinding in anger, “He… that bastard, what does he want?”

Considering the blow Xie Jingying had taken that day, Xie Yanhai hadn’t told her about this. Hearing it so suddenly, Xie Jingying felt so agitated that her heart and lungs ached.

No wonder he hadn’t come to her. Instead, he had targeted Xiaoxi, that scumbag, truly shameless.

Song Xiwen had wanted to explain things in more detail to her mom, but now, hearing her tone… it was clear that she loathed her biological father to the extreme.

“He wants me to go with him to North City.”

“In his dreams! That shameless old thing, it wasn’t enough for him to disgust me, now he wants to disgust you too! Does he have no sense of what kind of trash he is? A virtueless, smoke-spewing dog, the Yao Family is plagued with disasters because they’ve done too many disgraceful things, they’ve all been struck dead by lightning because even the heavens can’t stand their misdeeds. And now, he even dares to consider making a claim on you, the bastard born of coercion…”

Xie Jingying was so angry her insults got all muddled. Eventually, the phone was taken away by her brother, Song Laosan, who calmly talked her down. It took a while for her emotions to settle.

Song Laosan said to Song Xiwen, “Your mom can’t stand hearing that old man’s name. Don’t bring him up in front of her again. Also, if he tries to contact you, just ignore him.”

This outcome was beyond Song Xiwen’s expectations. She mumbled an agreement and quickly hung up the phone.

Then she paced the living room, restless and agitated.

Song Xiwen thought that if she were to sue Zhou Youming, based purely on her own visible circumstances, it was unlikely that she’d get custody of Haohao.

But if she needed someone’s help, who could she turn to?

Her aunt?

She didn’t believe her aunt would take her side. Her great-uncle and cousins admired Zhou Youming, and upon hearing of her divorce, they might even advise her to give up Haohao’s custody rights.

Most importantly, they probably had heard about Jiajia’s situation. If even Zhou Youming blamed her, what more could she expect from them?

Apart from her aunt’s family, she couldn’t think of anyone who would and could help her.

Of course, except Yao Yeqiang.

The recent phone call had made her realize a harsh truth: if she chose to accept Yao Yeqiang’s help, it meant she would be severing ties with her mom, it meant becoming an outcast, with no one standing by her side!

…

In the evening, Mu Jiawen went to the library to borrow books. Just as she had made her selection and was about to go find the librarian, someone tugged on her ponytail from behind.

Of course, it was just a gentle tug that was quickly released.

She glanced sideways at her older brother, “You’re really not up to par as a boyfriend. Miss Luo is ill, and you still have the mood to pick out books here?”

Yu Heng’s hand paused on a book, surprised, “Ill? When did this happen?”

They were in different departments, so it wasn’t unusual for them not to see each other for a day or two.

“She was like this in class this morning. She went, ‘Ugh–!’ almost threw up. She must be sick, right?”