Chapter 213: Chapter 209: What Are You Upset About? (1)
Jin Jumo finished speaking and, without waiting for Tang Ruan to respond, turned and descended the steps.
Tang Ruan’s eyes trembled as she stared at Jin Jumo’s back. Suddenly, she quickened her pace, took two steps forward, and pressed her lips together, saying, "Miss Jin, why don’t we have a meal together?"
Jin Jumo paused, turned her head to look at Tang Ruan, and spoke in a cool tone, "There’s no need for a meal. Miss Tang Ruan, didn’t you come to persuade me to reconcile with Mr. Rong? So, I’m now preparing to find Mr. Rong to talk properly about our reconciliation."
"..." Tang Ruan suddenly clenched her hands tightly, her face turned pale as paper in an instant.
Jin Jumo seemed not to notice, turned her head, and left.
Tang Ruan stared fixedly at Jin Jumo’s back, a fleeting trace of resentment flashed quickly through her eyes.
Watching Jin Jumo get into a taxi and disappear from sight, Tang Ruan slowly closed her eyes, took out her phone from her coat pocket, glanced at the phone screen showing the call that had lasted nearly a quarter of an hour, and narrowed her eyes, pressing the phone against her ear, her gentle voice wrapped in a layer of sarcasm, "You heard everything, right? To retaliate against me, she will get back together with him. To get revenge, she can sacrifice everything, including you. Tell me, what does your four years of daily companionship and deep affection mean then? How can I feel so sympathetic towards you? Ha."
As Tang Ruan finished speaking, the call abruptly ended.
With a cold laugh, Tang Ruan put down her phone, staring into the distance as if through a thick veil, seeing nothing at all.
Jin Jumo did not return to Yu Yang Apartment but went to the house she rented in her residential district.
The bottom cabinet of the bedside table in the bedroom was locked with a slightly used lock, and for four years, it had never been opened.
Jin Jumo, who placed things compulsively in fixed positions due to severe OCD, surprisingly searched from inside to outside of a not-so-big house four or five times just to find a key.
Sitting on the bed, Jin Jumo held the lock with one hand and the key in the other.
Her hand holding the key was trembling faintly.
It took her ten minutes to open a lock that should only take four or five seconds.
The moment the lock was opened, Jin Jumo’s hands trembled even more, with densely packed beads of sweat sliding down her temples.
Closing her eyes, Jin Jumo pressed one hand against the other. After a long while passed, she slowly opened her eyes, lowered her gaze, reached out, and pulled open the cabinet. There wasn’t much inside, only an old-looking photo album and a black camcorder.
Jin Jumo stared at the photo album for a long time before taking it out and placing it on her lap.
Her fingers flipping open the album were as white as transparent.
As her gaze fell on the photo on the first page, Jin Jumo’s eyes suddenly turned crimson.
In the photo, there was a little girl of about five or six years old wearing a pinafore dress and cute little boots, with two thick braids hanging down her chest. Her eyes were spirited yet particularly bewildered, and her thin little face was full of unease and uncertainty.
Beside the little girl was an elderly man with kind eyebrows and good-natured eyes, one hand resting on the little girl’s shoulder, squinting at the camera with a smile.
Jin Jumo pursed her lips, her eyes foggy, gently tracing the elder’s kind features with her fingertips.
Finally stopping at the smiling corner of his eye.
Jin Jumo still thinks this smile is the most beautiful and warm smile in the world.
But such a beautiful smile had been lost by her own hands and can never be regained.
If Jin Jumo from four years ago was strong, brave, inner strong and independent, even though the road she’s taking isn’t bright right now, she firmly believes that brightness is behind the layers of haze, and as long as she works hard, one day she will be able to clear this haze and see the light again.
Yet Jin Jumo from four years later, perhaps still resilient and independent, deep inside her heart, another Jin Jumo has settled in these four years of time shadows.
The cowardly, timid, evasive, self-loathing Jin Jumo.
She clearly knows, she clearly knows that the most important person in her life died unjustly, yet she despicably coward chose self-paralysis. She even wants to forget everything, live secretly in a self-centered way, rather than seeking justice for the elderly man who died unjustly, more important to her than her own life.
Never had Jin Jumo felt so sickened and disgusted by herself, wanting to stab herself!
Five o’clock in the afternoon, at the kindergarten gate.
When Jin Jumo arrived, all the children had left the kindergarten, and Xixi and Hanhan were nowhere to be seen.
Jin Jumo was surprised, hurriedly found the kindergarten principal, "Do you know who picked up Xixi and Hanhan? Was it Master Wang?"
"Don’t worry, Miss Ye, Xixi and Hanhan were picked up by their father," the principal soothed.
Father?
Jin Jumo frowned and was silent for a moment before saying to the principal, "I understand, thank you."
The principal smiled, "Xixi was so happy to see her father that she kept clapping her hands, introducing him to several of her close playmates from the kindergarten.
And Hanhan, Hanhan is more mature and sensible than other children his age, but still, in front of his father, he is just a kid. Though he behaved indifferent and cold, I still saw Hanhan secretly smiling."
"..."
Jin Jumo’s eyes flickered lightly, whispering, "Is that so?"
The principal nodded, "I’ve heard that Xixi’s father’s job nature requires frequent business trips, so for the past year, you have been caring for the two children alone, making you feel too exhausted. Now that Xixi’s father is back, you won’t have to work so hard in the future."
Jin Jumo’s face seemed slightly stiff, pulling her lips with reluctance.
"By the way, Miss Ye, why don’t the two children take their father’s surname but yours?" The principal stared at Jin Jumo with a tone that seemed to have suddenly remembered to ask, yet clearly showing a dense curiosity in her eyes.
Jin Jumo lowered her lashes lightly and said in a gentle tone, "Oh, Xixi’s father is considered a live-in son-in-law. So the children take my surname."
"..." The principal heard this and couldn’t accept it, twitching the corner of his mouth, "Xixi’s father is actually a live-in son-in-law?"
It really doesn’t show!
S City is great in every way, except for its deeply-rooted prejudices against foreign husbands and wives.
Jin Jumo smiled but didn’t say anything.
Bidding farewell to the principal, Jin Jumo hurried back to Yu Yang Apartment.
Just as she reached the door, she heard Xixi’s giggles inside, accompanied by a man’s occasional, magnetic, low laughter.
Clenching her hand, Jin Jumo pulled out the key and opened the door.
As soon as she appeared at the entrance, a chubby little ball rushed towards her.
Jin Jumo quickly dropped the key in her hand, afraid of hurting her, squatted down, opened her arms, and caught the little chubby ball charging toward her.
The impact almost knocked Jin Jumo to the ground.
"Xiao Xiao, you’re back."
Xixi’s large, beautiful eyes curved, treating Jin Jumo’s face like a toy, rubbing it over and over, and said with a giggle.
It took Jin Jumo a while to steady herself, and being rubbed by her little fat hands made three black lines appear on her forehead. She grabbed her mischievous little hands, playfully bit her fingers, and snorted, "You little rascal."
"Hehe."
Xixi lay cheekily in her arms. "Xiao Xiao, did you go to work today?"
"No." Jin Jumo lifted her up, changed shoes, and walked inside.
Hanhan instinctively took the bag from her hand and put it on the sofa, "You didn’t go to work? Then where did you go?"
"Well, there’s this place." Jin Jumo replied dismissively.
Hanhan rolled her eyes and plopped herself onto the soft sofa.
Jin Jumo placed Xixi beside Hanhan, brushed her neat bangs, and said gently, "Mommy is going to make dinner now. Be good, okay, Xixi?"
Xixi playfully widened her eyes, curling her short, chubby fingers to give Jin Jumo an okay gesture.
Jin Jumo squinted her eyes, bent down, and kissed the foreheads of Xixi and Hanhan, then started taking off her overcoat as she walked into the kitchen.
From the moment Jin Jumo entered, she did not look at someone even once.
It was as if that person did not exist at all, utterly ignored!
Yet, someone’s gaze never left Jin Jumo from the moment she appeared.
Watching her walk into the kitchen as if he were invisible, Rong Mochen’s dark eyes narrowed slightly.
In the kitchen, Jin Jumo was washing vegetables when her shoulder was suddenly grasped from behind.
Her hand paused from washing, and Jin Jumo frowned slightly, avoiding it.
But in the next moment, she was suddenly pulled by the waist and spun around to face him.
Jin Jumo’s expression turned icy, her furrowed brows openly showing impatience, staring at him with suppressing eyes, "Mr. Rong, aren’t you being a bit too freewheeling with me?"
Rong Mochen’s brow furrowed slightly as he gazed deeply into her eyes, his voice magnetic and low, "Have you been crying?"
"..."
Jin Jumo’s eyes momentarily contracted, then her brows furrowed tighter. She pursed her lips and turned her face to the side, "What’s that got to do with Mr. Rong?"
How could someone as astute and composed as Rong Mochen not notice something was amiss from the moment Jin Jumo entered.
Pressing his lips together, Rong Mochen looked at her and asked softly, "Are you upset because I took Xixi and Hanhan without letting you know?"
Jin Jumo narrowed her eyes, staring blankly at his handsome face, "Mr. Rong has always been swift and spontaneous in his actions, not needing to consider anyone’s opinions,"
Rong Mochen tightened his brows slightly, "Or is it because of this morning in the café..."
"Please leave, Mr. Rong. I need to prepare dinner for Xixi and Hanhan."
Jin Jumo coldly interrupted him.
Rong Mochen’s jaw tightened as he stared at her, "What exactly is making you unhappy?"
"Mr. Rong, you’re being too meddlesome! Whether I’m happy or unhappy, what does it have to do with Mr. Rong?"
Jin Jumo forcefully pushed away the hand holding her shoulder and turned away, "My affairs don’t require unrelated people to meddle!"
"..."
Jin Jumo’s harsh, unrelenting words, harsher than ever before, surprisingly didn’t anger Rong Mochen. His deep, fathomless black eyes instead showed deep helplessness and a trace of tolerance.
Watching Jin Jumo’s evasive figure, his firm chest leaned slightly forward, standing behind her as if almost touching.