In front of Tang Lian stood a tall, imposing and extravagant mansion. To outsiders, it was like a dream home and seemed perfect for someone of high society. For Tang Lian, it was the place she had grown up in for the past nineteen years.
It may have been rich and luxurious; however, it was actually a prison. This was the place that she grew up, under the strict supervision of her parents who never found anything she did good enough.
This was the place that she would constantly be compared to her deceased sister, who was perfect in everything despite passing away years ago. She shuddered at the memory of her sister. Older, prettier, everything that her parents wanted their heiress to be. However, her fate was quite cruel and ended her life at the tender age of eighteen. If she was alive, she would've been twenty-four this year.
Her death threw Tang Lian in the fire, and her relationship with her parents had never been the same ever since. Even when her sister was alive, they had been moderate and didn't annoy her as much as they did after her death. In her first life, she had taken the risk to do art like she always loved, causing them to disown her. Expecting for her to come back after a month, they were surprised to find her living her life, albeit with multiple jobs to sustain it. In this life, however, it had only been two months and she called them.
Tang Lian remembered the smug sound of her mother when she had spoken to her, not surprised that their daughter was useless enough to come back crawling to luxury after only two months.
Of course, if she really cared, her sliver of pride as a young miss of a rich household would've been hurt. In reality, she didn't care about how petty her parents were. Her pride was lost the moment that she lost to the brothers, lost her life and her blood to revive their sister. As for her parents, she needed their connections to get her revenge.
Tang Lian didn't care that her eyes were clouded by vengeance, she just yearned to make them feel the same pain that she did. She wasn't saintly nor did she feel sympathetic towards anybody, she was selfish and she was fine with being selfish. Her last bit of humanity was crushed along with her heart in her last life.
Tang Lian raised her hand and lightly pressed the doorbell, already envisioning the loud sound it would ring among the mansion as it did the thousands of times when she lived there. Her face was expressionless as she knew that her parents, especially her mother, was probably looking through the camera. She didn't want to show any sign of weakness nor needed her mother to pity her either.
Slowly, the gates opened and she walked inside. Her eyes didn't wander around and were looking straight ahead until they met a pair of dark eyes that belonged to a woman who looked like an older version of her. The woman was very elegant, in her forties and Tang Lian was nearly a carbon copy had it not been for her green eyes inherited from her father. Tang Lian was also a little more beautiful, as she had a foreign aspect to her beauty despite the obvious Asian features, incomparable to the fully oriental woman in front of her.
"Mother..." Tang Lian said, her face still expressionless. The woman's blank face shifted into humor. Her lips tilted upwards, clearly amused at seeing her daughter.
"Hmm, look who decided to visit."
"I told you over the phone—"
"Of course... Xiao Lian, I'm just a little surprised, that's all. I would've assumed you'd be a little more stubborn, considering your fiery words when you declared you'd rather do art than the family business. I guess that little passion of yours died out quickly during these two months." The more her mother spoke, the more Tang Lian clenched her fists. She told herself that she wasn't going to get affected, especially by the person she hadn't seen for four years, but hearing those words from her own mother...it did sting a bit.
"Mother, I was childish. Please..." Tang Lian took a deep breath, forcing the next words out of her mouth. "Please forgive me for thinking something so childish was my future."
Her mother stared at her in silence. Finally, she mused, "Alright, alright. No need to be so glum. I already predicted this. You were never stubborn about anything you did, so I didn't expect you to be stubborn about this either. Come in, your father will be home in a few hours. You have to tell me everything you did." Tang Lian followed her mother inside, not forgetting the indication that her mother's words gave.
Stubborn?
Who else but her sister was stubborn? Tang Lian smiled sardonically as she followed her mother. If only her mother really knew how stubborn she really was. Her sister was stubborn about minor things, yet here she was, stubborn enough to walk over her pride in order to achieve revenge. Revenge against people that didn't even do anything in this life yet.
Her mother didn't notice anything amiss and they continued to walk until they sat on the sofas in the living room, where tea was already prepared. Hmm, so much for being surprised. Clearly she knew that Tang Lian was coming, but acted surprised to embarrass her daughter even further. It looked like Tang Lian leaving two months ago had wounded her pride even more than she would've admitted. Even if she said two months was too little, it was actually too much.
Tang Lian was sure that her parents kept tab on her and knew about her jobs. She was sure that they couldn't believe that their failure of a daughter was actually managing well, albeit poor.
"Xiao Lian?" Tang Lian's train of thoughts were interrupted by her mother, who had already poured her some tea. "Tell me how the last two months had been."
As much as she wanted to tell them that she was fine and didn't want to be here, she needed to invoke pity. Hence, she opened her mouth and began speaking words that were foreign in her memories, but gullible enough to kindle emotion...