Chapter 145: Player 17

Mi Rou had known Yu Liuxue for so many years that she could see right through her little schemes. Mi Rou was definitely not the kind of person to sit around and wait for doom. She gritted her teeth and nodded, admitting, “Yes, I’ve known everything all along.”

Nan Xu’s eyes immediately narrowed. Mi Rou turned to Yu Liuxue and gave her a faint smile. “Because Jian Yin told me all of it herself.”

Then she turned to Nan Xu with an innocent look, her expression pure and harmless as she asked, “Didn’t Jian Yin tell you any of this? Aren’t you the most important person in her heart?”

Yu Liuxue was instantly horrified: “?!!!”

[We have a traitor among us].jpg

Yu Liuxue never imagined she’d end up hoisted by her own petard. Her little face turned pale as a sheet, looking pitiful and fragile. Seeing her so delicate and helpless, Nan Xu’s heart softened without her even realizing it. The anger that had just flared up vanished completely in an instant.

Nan Xu pressed her lips tightly together and fell silent. The situation was on the verge of spiraling out of control. Yu Liuxue cautiously walked over to Nan Xu and lowered her head to apologize. “Xiao Xu, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

Mi Rou also felt that Nan Xu looked too pitiful. She scratched her chin and couldn’t help but offer some comfort. “Nan Xu, don’t take it too hard. If you want to get through life, sometimes you just have to wear a little green on your head.”

As soon as she said that, Yu Liuxue and Nan Xu both shot her vicious glares. Mi Rou shrank her neck and instinctively took two steps back, quickly changing the subject. “Shiyu and Yuyu are still waiting for you two. Once you’re done talking, come back soon.”

She had already disappeared around the corner when she suddenly backed up again and said considerately, “Take your time and talk through all the things you haven’t said in the past three years. I’ll hold off Shiyu for you. Don’t worry.”

The ambiguous glint in Mi Rou’s eyes only made things even harder to resolve.

This time, Mi Rou really did leave. Yu Liuxue began racking her brain for excuses to comfort Nan Xu, but before she could come up with anything useful, Nan Xu spoke first. “Xiao Yin, I know. I know everything.”

Yu Liuxue looked up in shock. You know what?

“All this time, you’ve resented me for stealing Tang Shiyu from you. And I know that in your heart, there’s only ever been her.” Nan Xu gave a bitter tug at the corner of her lips. “You two are a perfect match. Whether it’s in your heart or Tang Shiyu’s, I’ve always been the shameless third wheel.”

“I was overestimating myself, trying to come between you two.”

Nan Xu let out a low laugh. “So I have no reason to blame you. After all, I was the one in the wrong from the start.”

Yu Liuxue froze for a moment and quickly tried to explain. “Actually, I don’t really like Tang Shi…” Yu. I don’t care who I end up with! Just as Yu Liuxue was about to say that, a small white blur suddenly dashed in. She threw herself onto Nan Xu and clung tightly to her leg.

“Sister Xu, Mama’s just a heartless jerk. Since she’s already broken your heart, why don’t you just wait for me to grow up?”

“I’m really well-behaved. I never throw tantrums. And just a tiny Barbie doll is enough to make me happy…”

Nan Xu lifted her eyelids and looked at Yu Liuxue. “?” Is this all you’ve taught her over the years?

Yu Liuxue’s face immediately darkened as she dragged Tang Yu back. “Don’t listen to her nonsense. She always thinks I’ve wronged every woman in the world. You’re not the first one she’s said this to.”

Nan Xu didn’t feel any better after hearing that. In fact, her emotions only grew more complicated. It was already bad enough realizing that the woman she’d finally admitted to liking was a liar. Now even Tang Yu—the child she once mistakenly thought was her own—turned out to be just as much a little con artist as Jian Yin.

Her future work would keep her in the country, and she’d still be in contact with Jian Yin. Didn’t that mean…

Even with one foot in the grave, she’d still be getting played in circles by this mother-daughter pair of scoundrels?

Nan Xu suddenly felt like her future was pitch black.

Was this karma for trying to interfere in someone else’s relationship? Even if it was, wasn’t it coming a little too fast? And lasting way too long? Looking at Tang Yu’s elfin little face, Nan Xu couldn’t help but shiver. She was even scarier than Jian Yin.

Tang Yu got a fierce scolding from Yu Liuxue, who grabbed her by her little pigtails. “You’re not getting any time off this weekend. Tonight I’m calling your piano teacher to schedule makeup lessons.”

Watching this scene, Nan Xu finally let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness Jian Yin could keep her in line.

But before she could fully relax, Tang Yu blinked her eyes and looked at her with a pitiful expression. “Sister Xu, Mama said you’re a Level 10 pianist¹ and even performed overseas. You’re so amazing. Could you come to my house tonight and teach me piano?”

“I’m really slow. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t learn. Yuyu is so heartbroken.”

Yu Liuxue chimed in at the perfect moment. “Yeah, can’t even pass Level 6 at age three. What a little loser.”

Nan Xu couldn’t help but question her entire existence. Her expression turned into that of the subway grandpa looking at his phone: “…???” What nonsense are you two spouting?

Tang Shiyu was extremely displeased that Nan Xu had been whispering with her wife behind her back for so long—especially since even her own daughter had run off to join them. She lifted her eyelids and watched Tang Yu walk in, holding Yu Liuxue and Nan Xu’s hands on either side. She nearly ground her teeth to dust.

She knew that in her past life, she had wronged Jian Yin, leading to her early death. So in this life, she worked herself to the bone, just to give Jian Yin the best of everything.

She practically handed over her heart and life to her.

But Jian Yin remained indifferent. Aside from going out to drink tea, shop, and chat with rich, beautiful socialites, she showed no interest in anything else.

Tang Shiyu was baffled. Wasn’t Jian Yin the one who used to cling to her all the time, following her around like a shadow? She even suspected that Jian Yin was playing hard to get. So she tied up all her loose ends and disappeared for a full seven days without a word.

The result? Jian Yin and Tang Yu, the two of them, didn’t care at all.

No, they probably didn’t even notice she was gone.

In the end, Tang Shiyu had to swallow her pride and return home under the mockery of her friends. She felt utterly humiliated. But… when she saw Tang Yu quietly carrying over a bowl of hot porridge and softly telling her that Jian Yin had saved it just for her, she suddenly felt content again.

Even though the next day, the housekeeper told her that the porridge was actually Tang Yu’s stolen snack stash.

She should’ve known. Why else would Jian Yin put half a bowl of rainbow gummy bears at the bottom of the porridge?

Even her daughter was lying to her.

[Can’t even laugh].jpg

Whenever Nan Xu and Tang Shiyu met, sparks flew. They couldn’t stand each other. Watching these two former superior and subordinate turn into bitter enemies, Mi Rou couldn’t help but sigh. It only made her more determined to stay far away from Jian Yin.

Just looking at her daughter, who was clearly cut from the same cloth, it was obvious that the mother-daughter duo would have the upper crust wrapped around their fingers for the next eighty years.

Especially Tang Yu—despite her young age, she already had all the makings of a little heartbreaker.

Tang Shiyu hadn’t pried into what happened between Yu Liuxue and Nan Xu, but after she finally breathed a sigh of relief and brought her wife and child home, she turned around only to find that Nan Xu had followed them. Tang Shiyu was full of question marks. Just then, Tang Yu hugged her little backpack, blinked excitedly, and said, “Mama, Sister Xu is staying at our house tonight and sleeping in my bed!”

Tang Shiyu instinctively looked at Yu Liuxue. Yu Liuxue looked completely innocent. “Your daughter insisted on having someone teach her piano. Xiao Xu couldn’t say no, so she agreed.”

Tang Shiyu immediately saw black. Nan Xu—so she really couldn’t get Jian Yin, and now she was going after the child instead! But Tang Yu was only three years old! Tang Shiyu’s face clearly said “not welcome,” but that didn’t stop Tang Yu’s affection for Nan Xu in the slightest.

Looking at her daughter’s starry-eyed expression, Tang Shiyu couldn’t help but recall how Jian Yin used to look at her. Back then, Jian Yin had also run up to her with that same joyful sparkle in her eyes, as if she were her whole world, her one and only. That feeling of being treated as someone special still made Tang Shiyu’s heart feel sweet as honey.

So after going upstairs, Yu Liuxue was inexplicably pounced on by Tang Shiyu. She clutched the bedsheet in confusion. “?”

She hadn’t even done anything tonight.

In the end, Tang Yu didn’t manage to sleep in the same bed as Nan Xu. Nan Xu gently declined, afraid that if she gave in, she’d end up repeating the same mistake from four years ago—getting played in circles by Tang Yu just like she had been by Yu Liuxue. After all, Tang Yu was Yu Liuxue’s biological daughter, taught by her hand. Who knew if the student might surpass the master?

Under Nan Xu’s strict defense, not only did Tang Yu’s wish fall through, she was also ruthlessly subjected to two full days of piano lessons under the watchful eyes of Nan Xu, Yu Liuxue, and Tang Shiyu.

Tang Yu practiced until she nearly foamed at the mouth. As she played, she cried inside: Why are you dragging a child into your adult drama? I’m only three years old!

Tang Shiyu and Nan Xu were now openly at odds with each other, but Yu Liuxue, like a blind woman, seemed completely unaware. Tang Yu admired her mom’s obliviousness, but at the same time, she secretly pulled out her mental notebook and jotted down a key point: No matter how brutal the battlefield, it has nothing to do with me—because I’m just a heartless little player.

More than once, she had suspected that maybe her mom never intended to have her at all. Maybe she was just an accident—an accident even her mom didn’t know who caused.

While Tang Shiyu and Nan Xu were facing off, Mi Rou pushed the door open and walked in, with Lu Ling following behind her. The moment Tang Yu saw Lu Ling, she jumped off her chair in delight. “Aunt Lu!”

She immediately threw herself into Lu Ling’s arms. Tang Shiyu and Nan Xu both fell silent, their emotions complicated as they looked at the child clinging to Lu Ling like a koala. Lu Ling smiled and hugged her. “Yuyu, have you been naughty again? Did you cause trouble at school?”

Tang Yu blinked. “Aunt Lu, I didn’t. I listened to you and was very well-behaved. I even get first place all the time. None of the other kids in kindergarten are as obedient as me.”

Lu Ling noticed Nan Xu and greeted her with a smile before continuing, “Then why did your teacher call me and say they needed to speak with your guardian?”

“Speak with my guardian?” Tang Yu repeated softly, then asked in confusion, “The teacher wants to call Mama? Which mama is she planning to call?”

“I have four mamas, you know!”

“Aunt Lu, did the teacher say what it was about? I need to think about which mama would be best to send.” Tang Yu started counting on her fingers, seriously contemplating. “Each of my mamas has a different superpower.”

Nan Xu hadn’t seen this kind of situation in a long time. So when she saw Tang Yu’s conflicted little face, she couldn’t help but take a deep breath in disbelief. “?”

Translator’s Notes