"Don't you know? When you were away all these years, your grandfather, grandmother, your father and your sister… all of us were thinking of you! We were all looking forward to the day that you would come home."
"Really? How come I didn't know that there were so many people thinking about me?" Xu Xiyan sneered.
She'd believe Su Rui's words when pigs learned to fly. Xu Xiyan knew very well that Su Rui was the person who didn't want her to return home the most, followed by Xu Xinrou.
Both mother and daughter had always dreamed of killing off Xu Xiyan; then they would be able to rule the Xu family.
"Yes, I've said it right. Everyone missed you."
Su Rui looked Xu Xiyan up and down, and noticed that there was a big change to her temperament, and that she'd become more beautiful, too.
She sneered inwardly. How did she become more beautiful? What has she been eating for these past five years?
Su Rui was an extremely shrewd woman. Her eyes lit up when she saw the bag in Xu Xiyan's hands. "Oh, what's this? I thought you were just coming home. No need to bring gifts…?"
She snatched the bag from Xu Xiyan's hands rudely and opened it, curious to see what kind of expensive gifts she had brought from abroad. When she looked inside, she was disappointed.
"What, I thought… oh, don't tell me you only brought a few pieces of mung bean cakes?"
Su Rui then stared at the words on the box, scrunching up her face in disgust. "It's… it's made in Peijing!?"
Xu Xiyan hadn't come to visit them on purpose, nor had she ever thought of bringing them gifts. She took the bag back and said, "I bought the mung bean cakes for grandpa, not for you."
Su Rui rolled her eyes and gave Xu Xiyan a dismissive look. Not a single trace of familial love existed between the two.
As the two glared at each other, Xu Xinrou entered the house. Su Gang was carrying shopping bags of various sizes for her.
Seeing that her daughter had come back, Su Rui took the chance to break the awkward silence and greeted Xu Xinrou with a smile.
"Xinrou, you're back! Why have you brought back so many things? Just look at you, always thinking of bringing gifts to your family. Never stingy!"
Xu Xinrou smiled sweetly. "Of course, I had to bring you and grandma gifts, mom. It's not like I get to come home and see you all the time."
At this moment, the matriarch of the Xu family came into the room, smiling. "Xinrou, is that you?"
"Yes, Grandma!" When Xu Xinrou stepped into the house, she noticed Xu Xiyan was present, too. She eyed at her warily, asking, "Mom, how come she's here?"
Su Rui was an expert hypocrite. She explained to her daughter, with fake sincerity, "Your sister came back to visit. I've ordered the kitchen to prepare more food for lunch. It's so rare that you sisters are both back home. We should have lunch together."
Madam Xu hadn't seen Xu Xiyan for years. Her eyesight was very poor, so she hobbled towards Xu Xiyan, leaning heavily on her walking cane, trying to examine the details of her face.
"Oh, my dear Xinrou, I haven't seen you for a few days and you've already grown more beautiful! You look prettier than your mother when she was a young lady."
Xu Xinrou watched her grandmother mistake Xu Xiyan for herself and shower her with praises. She was so angry that she felt like vomiting.
She hurried forward and pulled her grandmother away, as if Xu Xiyan was going to steal her away. As she turned, she shot Xu Xiyan a sharp look, wanting to cut her up into pieces.
They had not even settled the slapping incident at the shoot a few days ago. How dare she bring herself here?
In the living room, Su Rui and her daughter were busy sweet-talking the family elder, trying to please her. Xu Xiyan left them and let Su Gang take her to see her grandfather.
It was only when Xu Xiyan was about to see her grandfather that she realized he no longer lived in the house. He'd been moved to a remote and gloomy hut at the northwest corner of the yard.
This is no place for a human to live!
This used to be the storage shed!
How could they let grandpa live here?