The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 688 - 687: New Life

Chapter 688: Chapter 687: New Life

Upon hearing her homeroom teacher’s words, Ren Jingshu’s face turned pale instantly.

She knew all too well how strong-willed and proud her mother was; she would never spread the family’s dirty laundry publicly. And the fact that her mother had told the homeroom teacher clearly meant she was trying to coerce her through the threat to her reputation and future prospects to return and admit her wrongs.

Two paths lay before Ren Jingshu.

One was to return home, concede to her mother, and continue to endure her control.

The other was ruin and disgrace.

Her mother had made it quite clear, she would help her only if she returned; otherwise, she would not care about her life or death.

...

"So you’ve come back. That means you’ve thought things through?"

Watching Ren Jingshu walking into the living room, her mother sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, emanating a confident "I knew you would come back."

"Yes, I’ve thought things through."

Renshu’s reply undoubtedly satisfied her mother, who smiled.

Rising to her feet, she patted Ren Jingshu’s shoulder kindly, "You must know, the person in this world who loves you the most and wants the best for you is only me. As long as you are outstanding, your future partner will be a hundred, no, a thousand times better than this Zhao Yun."

Ren Jingshu forced a smile, "When is the investigation team arriving?"

Her mother glanced at the time, "They should be here soon. The Sun Family has been dealt with; we’ll just say Sun Liwen injured her foot and voluntarily gave up her spot for you. You don’t have to worry about anything else."

Ren Jingshu remained non-committal, "I’ll go upstairs to look for some materials."

"Go ahead, I’ll call you when the people from the investigation team arrive."

About ten minutes later, Nanny Hong came upstairs to inform Ren Jingshu that the investigation team had arrived.

When Ren Jingshu entered the living room, her mother was chatting merrily with the people from the investigation team.

She found a spot and quietly sat down.

Upon seeing her, the investigation team began to question her: "Ren Jingshu, do you know Sun Liwen?"

"Not really, I’ve seen her a few times, but we’ve had no personal contact or communication."

The investigator noted down her response and continued, "We received a report claiming that you took her place in the Nationwide Dance Competition. Is there any truth to that?"

No, she hurt her foot and voluntarily gave up her spot to me.

This was the answer her mother wanted to hear.

"Yes."

Ren Jingshu’s single word of affirmation stunned everyone.

Her mother was the first to recover, laughing awkwardly, trying to smooth things over: "This child is terrified, she’s not thinking straight. Jingshu, answer properly."

The last sentence carried a warning and a meaning.

"I’m very lucid, and I know what I’m saying. I indeed took Sun Liwen’s place in the competition."

Under her mother’s shocked and furious gaze, Ren Jingshu gave a dejected smile, "I thought about it a lot, and I considered giving in to you, but I’m truly tired of a life controlled by you. I want to make my own choices, even if they’re wrong."

After speaking, Ren Jingshu stood up and bowed to the people from the investigation team, expressing her apologies and remorse for her actions, and then left the Ren residence without looking back.

...

"What? She actually admitted it!?"

Ren Yingying didn’t find out about the investigation team’s visit until she got home from school.

She had been feeling regretful about not witnessing Ren Jingshu being investigated, assuming Jingshu must have been terrified.

But when she heard that Ren Jingshu had actually admitted to taking the spot, she could hardly contain her delight.

Even though it was Yingying who had schemed behind the scenes, her intent was only to cause Jingshu some trouble.

With her mother’s means and the Ren family’s connections, it would be easy to smooth things over.

But she hadn’t expected that Ren Jingshu would self-destruct and admit everything in public.

"You foolish girl, sigh, you’re too impulsive. Even if you’re angry with your mother, you shouldn’t treat your future as a joke!"

Dean He, on his end, having learned that Ren Jingshu had admitted to "taking over" the spot, summoned her to his office to let out a string of reprimands.

"I made a mistake, and I’m willing to face all the consequences."

Hearing her words, Dean He grew even more frustrated, "You facing the consequences? You speak so lightly, do you think this is only about you? You..."

"Enough, go out. This is the path you’ve chosen; I hope you don’t regret it."

At the critical moment, rationality still triumphed over impulse, preventing Dean He from exposing the entire chain of interests behind the incident.

But even if he didn’t say it, Ren Jingshu understood.

It was nothing more than a transaction of money and power, and her own confession made everyone involved in the chain of interests extremely embarrassed and passive.

But she had no other choice.

Two days later, a decision from the Capital regarding Ren Jingshu’s taking over the spot was made.

Her competition results were canceled, her trophies and certificates taken back, and she was forever disqualified from competing.

Correspondingly, Capital Dance Academy also revoked her admission qualifications.

This incident would be recorded in her personal file as an indelible stain on her life.

Even if she scored excellently in the art exam next year, she might still be affected by this and get rejected.

The news spread throughout the school, and wherever Ren Jingshu went, criticism and pointing fingers followed, labels like moral corruption and cheating were attached to her.

But this wasn’t the worst of it.

"Jingshu, Dean He’s intention is that Liwen will use this dance studio from now on. If you still want to practice, you can only go to the main dance studio," Wan Ying said.

Ren Jingshu had always been an outstanding student of the dance academy, with her own private studio. There were only five such private studios in the entire school.

Dean He taking back her personal studio and making her practice with the other ordinary students in the main dance studio clearly signified that he had given up on her.

"Okay, I got it. I’ll pack up my personal items and leave," Jingshu responded.

Seeing her calm and compliant demeanor, Wan Ying felt very uncomfortable.

"Jingshu, do you regret it?"

Ren Jingshu shook her head, "No, this is what I deserve. When you do something wrong, you should be punished, shouldn’t you?"

Wan Ying didn’t know what to say.

In the eyes of a child, taking someone else’s place is a wrongdoing, but the adult world doesn’t talk about right or wrong, only pros and cons.

The dance academy retracting Ren Jingshu’s private studio was actually an indirect way of venting their anger and punishing her.

And this was tacitly approved by Mother Ren.

In her eyes, Ren Jingshu was still too young to understand the complexities and darkness of society.

Someday, Ren Jingshu would surely regret her choices today.

The main dance studio was crowded, and every gaze was sharp—mockery, ridicule, whispering, like sharp knives stabbing at her.

"She’s been kicked out of the private studio, and yet she shamelessly refuses to leave. Talk about thick-skinned."

"Otherwise, how could she have the nerve to impersonate someone else in the competition? Would you dare to do that?"

"Why is she even still dancing? With her reputation, I doubt any schools or dance troupes would want to take her in, right?"

"She’s just putting on an act~"

Ren Jingshu tried hard to ignore all the surrounding chatter and focused solely on her practice.

Even if the whole world gave up on her, she would not give up on herself, nor on the dance she loved.

To others, she had fallen into an abyss.

But for her, this was a new beginning.

It was the start of something new.

From now on, she would walk her own path, step by step, even if she stumbled and bled.

...

After practice, Ren Jingshu picked up her things and prepared to take the bus back to school. Passing by a billboard, someone suddenly sprang out from behind it.

"Jingshu!"

Ren Jingshu kicked forward without hesitation, "You scared me."

Zhao Yun didn’t even flinch; to him, the kick was no different from a tickle.

It made Ren Jingshu feel a little embarrassed, "What are you doing here?"

"Of course, I came to comfort you. Such a big thing happened, and there’s not much I can do, look, I made sandwiches myself."

Ren Jingshu received the lunch box, and through the glass lid, she could see the custard-colored sandwich with pink bacon and egg and vegetables in the middle—it looked quite appealing.

"Thank you."

"I haven’t eaten either," Zhao Yun said, scratching his head.

"Then you should head home and eat," she said, before walking away.

Zhao Yun, unwilling to give up, followed her, "I made enough sandwiches for two people."

Ren Jingshu nodded, "I know. I’ll share it with my roommate. You’ve worked hard."

"..."

A few steps later, Ren Jingshu turned her head and couldn’t help laughing when she saw him standing there looking dejected.

"Aren’t you leaving?"

Only then did Zhao Yun realize he’d been played by Ren Jingshu. He cheerfully caught up with her, "Jingshu, you’ve become naughty."

As Ren Jingshu was about to speak, she saw Mother Ren standing not far in front, staring coldly at the two of them.