Chapter 32: I Want to Leave the Shi Family

She did not return to school, instead hailing a cab to go back to the Shi house.

Upon returning to the Shi household, Shi Kezhen did not put on her usual obedient and submissive mask.

She walked straight up to Mother Shi.

Mother Shi was somewhat surprised by her sudden return.

“Today is only Tuesday; why did you suddenly come home?”

Shi Kezhen stood in place, her head slightly lowered as she looked directly at Mother Shi sitting on the sofa.

“Mother, I want to leave the Shi family.”

Mother Shi was visibly shocked.

“What did you say?”

Shi Kezhen enunciated each word clearly.

“I said, I want to leave the Shi family.”

Mother Shi finally regained her composure.

“Why?”

Shi Kezhen spoke her true thoughts.

“Yanzhou already has a girl he likes; I don’t want to keep waiting for the day he accepts me anymore.”

Mother Shi suddenly let out a laugh, not loud, but filled with absolute mockery.

“You can’t be naive enough to think that, with your background, you could rightfully marry into the Shi family and become the proper Mrs. Shi, could you?”

Shi Kezhen didn’t speak; she knew Mother Shi had always looked down on her.

Mother Shi stood up, looking down at her.

“Since we are speaking openly, I might as well lay my cards on the table today.”

“Yanzhou will definitely enter into a marriage alliance with a girl of equal social standing in the future.”

“As for you, since you have already performed the wedding ritual, you will stay properly in the Shi family by his side.”

“To the outside world, you will remain the adopted daughter of my Shi family.”

Shi Kezhen looked at Mother Shi in disbelief.

Although she had always known Mother Shi looked down on her and disdained her background, she truly hadn’t expected Mother Shi’s real thoughts to be like this.

“Won’t the future Mrs. Shi mind me staying by his side?”

“Can she accept me, a non-blood-related sister, remaining by his side for the rest of my life?”

Mother Shi smiled again, an assured composure of victory in her expression.

“You can rest assured about that; as long as you remain in the Shi family merely as a sister, the future Mrs. Shi won’t mind.”

Shi Kezhen closed her eyes.

“Why… why can’t you just set me free?”

Since they looked down on her and disdained her background, why couldn’t they just let her go?

Mother Shi’s smile faded, replaced by an unquestionable firmness.

“Do not forget, you were brought in to cure my son’s misfortune.”

“So no matter who he marries in the future, you must remain by his side.”

“If we set you free, and my son encounters some calamity or misfortune in the future, can you bear that responsibility?”

“So,” Shi Kezhen’s voice finally trembled slightly, but she still didn’t back down, “you want to bind me to the Shi family for the rest of my life, as an adopted daughter who has neither a proper status nor a public identity?”

Mother Shi sat back down, elegantly crossing one leg over the other.

“Blame only your bad luck for being reincarnated in an era that only allows monogamy.”

“If this were ancient times, you could at least have become an unloved first wife… or a secondary wife.”

“Look at Xu Zhimo’s first wife; while he was being romantic and having flings abroad, didn’t his first wife still dutifully serve her parents-in-law at home and raise his children?”

“That is the duty you ought to fulfill.”

“I cannot do that.”

The atmosphere instantly turned cold.

After a moment, Mother Shi slammed her hand heavily on the coffee table in front of her.

“Excellent.”

Her voice was squeezed through her teeth.

“So all your sensible and obedient behavior in front of me was just an act!”

Shi Kezhen met her gaze.

“You can think that way if you like.”

“Originally, I was waiting for the day Yanzhou accepted me.”

“If that day had truly come, I would have played along in front of you for a lifetime.”

“If one can play along for a lifetime, then it isn’t really an act anymore, is it?”

She paused, then continued.

“But now there’s no need to play along anymore; I have no reason to compromise my own desires just to meet your high standards.”

Mother Shi’s expression warped.

Shi Kezhen looked at her, saying word for word.

“Actually, you look down on me quite a bit as well, don’t you?”

“Every day, you nitpick at everything I do, satisfied with neither this nor that, criticizing me at every turn because you feel I’m completely unworthy of your son.”

“Since that is the case, why bother binding me to his side?”

Mother Shi stood up.

“I do look down on you, but as I just said, you are the one who cured my son’s misfortune.”

“For the sake of my son’s health, you must be bound to his side for the rest of your life.”

Shi Kezhen looked at Mother Shi for a long time, and then, she smiled.

“It’s the twenty-first century now; don’t you find this ritual curing business laughable?”

Mother Shi’s eyes flickered.

In truth, she had never been a superstitious person.

But that year, her son was comatose, and the doctor said he might never wake up for the rest of his life.

Yet, Shi Kezhen arrived.

And after a little over half a month, her son actually woke up.

She would rather believe it was true; she couldn’t gamble with her only son’s life.

She couldn’t afford to lose.

***

This conversation ended on a sour note.

Shi Kezhen prepared to return to her room to spend some time alone before heading back to school in the afternoon, but she had only just reached the stairs.

“Uncle He,” Mother Shi called over the butler, Uncle He, from her seat on the sofa, her tone as flat as if she were giving instructions for a routine chore.

“Go to the school and request a long leave of absence for Kezhen.”

“Just say… she is sick.”

“The specific duration of her leave is to be decided.”

Uncle He bowed slightly and offered a clever little suggestion.

“Madam, why don’t we directly apply for the young mistress to withdraw from the school?”

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