Rong Lan turned her head and glanced. Seeing the blank look of bewilderment on her brother's face, she couldn't help bursting out laughing. "Chen Hong also said that every time you went to pay homage to your biological mother, you would take Xie Xinxin with you. But you never took me there after we got married. So she insisted that you must like Xie Xinxin."
She never doubted him on this matter because on their wedding day, he had already explained to her. He lost his mother at a young age and always liked to go to the cemetery. One night, he had a dream. In the dream, his mother scolded him and told him not to go to the cemetery all day long to bother her. She also needed some private time as a ghost. He promised his mother in the dream that he would only go to pay homage on the New Year and the anniversary of her death and would never bother her on ordinary days. So he wanted to wait until the New Year to take her to meet his biological mother.
It was that simple. But Chen Hong made it sound as if the relationship between her and Chu Hengyuan was so fragile.
Chu Hengyuan sighed. "I once told my friends that my mother didn't like to be bothered on ordinary days. And the spread of words in this circle is extremely fast. So those who go to pay homage to her will all gather on the anniversary of her death. That's all. I've never deliberately taken anyone with me."
He didn't want to show his vulnerable side in front of his friends at all, so he went there alone every year.
Only his close friends would make an appointment to go and pay homage together, and they often ran into each other. And since the Chu family's and the Xie family's houses were on the same route, he would give Xie Xinxin a ride on his way home. Could this really lead to such a big misunderstanding from Chen Hong?
Suddenly, he felt that what he had said to the director of the mental hospital wasn't harsh enough.
Chen Hong had attempted to attack his little girl. He would let it go considering that Rong Lan wasn't injured. But Chen Hong even used such cheap tricks to sow discord.
Seeing Chu Hengyuan's confused look, Rong Lan really wanted to touch his head. But they were outside, so for his sake, she gave up. "You don't actually need to explain this to me. I wouldn't misunderstand you because of such a trivial matter."
"That won't do. I still need to explain. Otherwise, trivial matters may easily turn into big ones over time." Chu Hengyuan smiled. "After you left with Chen Hong, I went to find the director of the mental hospital."
"Hmm?" Rong Lan quickened her steps and stopped beside the passenger seat of their car.
Chu Hengyuan reached out to open the passenger - side door and used his other hand to protect his little girl's forehead. After Rong Lan got in, he closed the door, walked around to the driver's seat and got in the car. "You gave me some pocket money before, and I still had about 80,000 yuan left. I transferred 50,000 yuan to the director and asked him to take good care of the newly - arrived Ms. Chen Hong."
Rong Lan could hear the emphasis Chu Hengyuan put on the words "take good care". She suddenly burst out laughing. "Brother is so smart."
She hadn't thought of this aspect because from her perspective, she thought Chen Hong would have a hard time once she entered the mental hospital.
"I saw the head of the Xie family talking to the doctor. I guess he wanted to ask the assigned attending doctor to take good care of Chen Hong. You can't really say that the head of the Xie family is heartless. Although he sent Chen Hong in, at least he talked to the attending doctor. He should have given some extra money to ask the doctor to take better care of her. But he wasn't very meticulous. He thought of telling the attending doctor but didn't go to find the director? He just left an opening for me."
"What she did before was so excessive. It would be really bad if she could still live a life of a noble lady in the mental hospital. So I went to bribe the director." As he said, he turned the steering wheel.
Rong Lan's eyes curved with laughter. "It's worth spending this money."
As long as Chen Hong couldn't live a good life, the 50,000 yuan spent was worth it.
There was also a smile on Chu Hengyuan's face. "Yes..." However, there was a little lie in what he had just said. He spent more than 50,000 yuan. He transferred 500,000 yuan to the director and specifically "asked" the director to "take good care" of Chen Hong, preferably to "take care" of her until she became a real madwoman.
"By the way, we need to go to the Chu family's old house for dinner tomorrow. If nothing unexpected happens, we may also stay there for one night. You need to be mentally prepared, Lanlan."
Be mentally prepared? Rong Lan blinked her innocent eyes. "Does being mentally prepared mean that we may meet someone we don't want to see?"
If it was just a simple dinner and an overnight stay, there was no need to be mentally prepared. Chu Hengyuan's father and mother didn't seem like the kind of people who would deliberately make things difficult for them. And the older elders of the Chu family had gone traveling collectively. They probably wouldn't be seen until the New Year.
Chu Hengyuan nodded with a smile. "Yes, we may meet someone neither of us wants to see very much."
His hint was so obvious that Rong Lan immediately understood. "Why would they invite him to the Chu family's old house for dinner? Although he has the surname Chu, he's not really a member of the Chu family."
Could it be that Chu Chuan managed to get on the Chu family's genealogy by his own means?
But if Chu Chuan really got written on the Chu family's genealogy, her younger sister Ranran, who was far away abroad, wouldn't miss the chance to send her a message to show off.
There was still a smile on Chu Hengyuan's face, which covered up the gloom in his eyes. "Father likes him very much and has always wanted my current mother to agree to let him enter the Chu family's genealogy. So he invites him to the Chu family for dinner every once in a while, hoping that he can perform well in front of mother and win her favor."
It was a pity that his mother hated Chu Chuan so much that she didn't even want to take an extra look at him.
He never missed these dinner - gathering activities of the Chu family because it was really fun to watch Chu Chuan almost go crazy with anger but still pretend to be obedient in front of his mother. He would always watch the show while munching on sunflower seeds.
"Oh—" While Chu Hengyuan was mostly focused on the road conditions, Rong Lan reached out and stroked the fur of the fox - ear headband. "He really has a lot of free time."
The more free time Chu Chuan had, the more his true nature as a scumbag would be revealed.
Her younger sister Ranran was all alone abroad, pregnant.
However—if Chu Chuan was there tomorrow, it seemed that she could extort some money from Bai Rongran again.
"Uh - huh." Chu Hengyuan didn't deny the little girl's words. "Do you want to go back to your workplace now or go straight home?"
Rong Lan took out her phone to check the time, then opened the app to check the balance of her bank card. The promised 200,000 yuan still hadn't arrived. "Let's go straight home. It's almost time to get off work."
As she was talking, she tapped on the phone screen to send a message to Si Mo, telling him about Chen Hong and that the money still hadn't arrived. She would go straight home later and asked him to lock the fortune - telling shop when he got off work.
Chu Hengyuan replied, "Okay."
That night, Rong Lan discussed with her little ragdoll cat for half an hour. Then she tied a small amulet, which Si Mo had taught her to enhance with magic, around its neck.
The next day, when she and Chu Hengyuan set off for the Chu family, she carried the little ragdoll with her.