Her words stirred up the memories of everyone in the room, especially her parents whom faces turned grim when they finally remembered what had happened in the past. Back then, her family was the poorest branch among the Luo family because her father had failed to finish his education in his childhood and could only earn a meager salary from the his manual labor. They were never offered any help or assistance from the other branches of her family including her own grandfather when they couldn't afford a meal and had to sleep on empty stomaches.
When she was supposed to take the scholarship exams in the city which was far from her hometown, she did not have money to travel to the city neither did she have an accommodation in the city except for the second branch who lived there so she wrote a letter to them requesting to live with them until she finished her exam.
But what did they do?
They actually sent a response to her family, saying that their house was not a hotel so they could not house strangers in it. Faced with no choice, she managed to gather money to travel to the city by working hard and then she slept in the train station over there until she wrote the examination and passed. She and her family had suffered so much in the hands of her own extended family, how could she forget so easily?
"If it's not for the heavens helping my father meet his old classmate who gave him a job like this, would we still be able to survive up to now?" Luo Kexin eyed the shamefaced women who sat before her while she clenched her fists tightly. She could now sense her parents' resentment in the room and that was all that she needed to empower herself against the two ladies. "The countryside is indeed far so we are not heartless people to let you two sleep on the streets. Father, if we give them some money to sleep in a hotel for a night, they will be able to return the next morning."
"No,no..." Aunt Luo shook her head stubbornly when she saw their compliance at their daughter's words. She was about to cause a scene when she felt her own daughter's nails digging in her arms desperately and suddenly remembered the main objective for their trip so she stood up and tried to explain in a pained manner. "What happened back then was not my fault, Senior Brother! You know in the family, I am just a woman who can't speak in the affairs of men. Yes, it was all Father and First Senior Brother's fault! They are the ones who bullied and mistreated you all like this, there was nothing I could do about it. Now that it's all in the past and the heavens have decided to bless you, why are you still remembering all those bad times?"
She shifted her position to reveal Luo Yi quietly sobbing behind her to say. "Even if you want to punish me and the rest of the family for what happened back then, the children are all innocent! Are you really going to let Luo Yi, your niece pass this opportunity and remain in the countryside forever?"
She noticed that they all began to waver at her words and a tiny feeling of elation began to arise within herself, causing her to turn back and share a smile with her daughter who was obviously faking her tears but a tiny but firm voice in front of her dashed all her hopes in a moment. Luo Kexin told the two of them unwaveringly. "Yes, we are. Maybe it's because you two have lived in the countryside for a while and may have forgotten how to understand some words properly so I will only repeat myself twice. Please leave our house."
After all their pleadings and plots to stay in the Luo house failed, a few minutes later, the two women checked into an expensive hotel where they stood cursing out Luo Kexin and her parents at the reception desk as they processed their information. Luo Ying stamped her feet angrily as she stood there waiting fuming with what had just happened earlier. "I can't believe those people dared to kick us out of their house! What is so special with that place either way? Everything would have gone according to plan if Luo Kexin did not oppose us like that...who does she think she is?!"
Her mother looked around worriedly at the price they had paid to stay in this fancy hotel so she told her daughter. "I'm afraid we can only stay in this hotel for the night, my dear and then we would have to move to a cheaper one tomorrow. The reason I wanted us to stay at their house was because everything in the capital is so expensive and we don't have enough money to survive here. But that child, she....urgh!"
"Don't worry, Mother." Luo Ying's eyes turned into a vicious one as she reassured her mother calmly and said. "I, Luo Ying would make sure to return the shame and humiliation she gave us today. I must get into that school no matter what happens. When I achieve my goal, I will make her life in that school an unbearable experience!"
As she stewed over her rage, she suddenly felt a hand tap her twice so she turned around in the same rage to berate the stranger but her words were caught off with the sight of a pretty teenage girl staring at her with a bright smile on her way out of the hotel. "Hello, are you related to a girl called Luo Kexin?"
Luo Ying lowered her gaze to look at the girl's classy pink dress that was obviously from an expensive brand and she immediately returned the smile and said. "Yes, I am her cousin. I can here to visit her but she refused to welcome us and instead kicked us out of her house."
Instead of seeing the sympathetic look that she had been expecting, the other girl's smile remained unbroken as she brought our her card from her pink purse and passed it to Luo Ying, ignoring her mother who frowned at her. She told them. "My name is Niu Ming and I am Luo Kexin's classmate from school so I am indeed intrigued to meet her family. Let's talk in the hotel's restaurant and chat a little, if you don't mind."