Chapter 135: The Evil Granny
He Jingyao shot to his feet, furious. “What will people think of our family if you go around like this? Anyone who didn’t know better would think I’d taken a bribe! Take it off!”
“And this marriage certificate!”
He flung the certificate at He Yunzhi’s feet. “A certificate obtained on a non-working day isn’t legal! I refuse to recognize it! Go cancel it immediately! If you wait too long, the only thing you’ll be able to get is a divorce certificate. Then you’ll be a divorcee—who would want you after that?”
A mocking smile tugged at the corners of He Yunzhi’s lips. A divorcee, unwanted. Once again, she had been reduced to an object.
A commodity to be appraised and sold, expected to maintain her value.
She had to be pure, have an impeccable past, be obedient, be sensible...
She bent down, picked up the marriage certificate, brushed it clean, and tucked it into her bag. “Whether you acknowledge it or not, I’m already married. I’ve already bought the wedding ring, and I’ve chosen this man. I’m not changing my mind.”
She rose and headed toward her room. “He’ll come to the house tomorrow to pick me up so we can move out together. I’m going to pack my things.”
“You dare!”
He Jingyao chased after her in a fury and grabbed her arm. “Have you lost your mind? You’ve only met him once! How much do you know about him? Do you even know what kind of person he is? Do you know what kind of family he comes from? You’re planning to spend the rest of your life with him?”
She stared steadily at He Jingyao. “Wasn’t it you who told me to meet him? Didn’t you know what his family was like? Who his parents were, and what kind of person he was? Shouldn’t you have investigated all that beforehand? You introduced him to me without knowing anything. So if something goes wrong, it’ll be your responsibility.”
Her gaze pierced He Jingyao’s heart like a knife.
“From now on, if my marriage brings me any unhappiness, it will all be your responsibility.”
Each word was heavy, pounding down on He Jingyao.
“Yunzhi, apologize to your father.”
Weng Meijuan rose from the sofa and looked at her with an intensely oppressive stare. “Apologize to your father. Apologize for being disobedient.”
“I’m sorry.”
He Yunzhi obediently apologized. For a brief second, the couple’s expressions softened—only for her to continue, “I’m sorry I waited so long to stop being obedient. That’s why it’s so hard for you to accept. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
Weng Meijuan’s face darkened to the extreme. “You really intend to marry that Gu... whoever he is?”
He Yunzhi smiled. “It’s not that I intend to. I already married him. Tomorrow, I’m moving in with him.”
“So you’re not going to listen to your mother anymore?”
“Mom, I have a husband now. I’m supposed to listen to my husband, right?”
He Yunzhi smiled at Weng Meijuan. “Wasn’t that what you taught me? That a woman should put her husband first in marriage and obey him? Now that I’m married, I have to listen to him. I can’t listen to you anymore, Mom.”
Weng Meijuan’s face turned livid. “Fine. Have him come here right now. I want to see what kind of man has bewitched my daughter into losing her mind.”
“You’ll see him tomorrow.”
But Weng Meijuan refused to let it go. “Call him over now. What? Does he know he’s done something absurd and doesn’t dare show his face?”
Looking at her parents’ accusatory expressions, He Yunzhi suddenly changed her mind.
She took out her phone and called Gu Jingchen. “My parents want to meet you. Come over to my house.”
After thinking for a moment, she added, “Bring Huanhuan too.”
Since they wanted to meet them, they might as well meet them properly.
Besides, she had supposedly lost her mind, hadn’t she?
Then she would let her outrageous sister-in-law give her old-fashioned parents a truly unforgettable shock.
Gu Jingchen and the others arrived incredibly quickly—so quickly that He Yunzhi wondered whether they had already been waiting downstairs.
Less than ten minutes after she hung up, the doorbell rang.
She went to open the door in surprise. Gu Jingchen stood outside holding two exquisitely decorated gift boxes. “We came on short notice, so I didn’t know what your parents liked. I picked up a couple of things at random. I hope they’re appropriate.”
He was certainly taking the initiative. They hadn’t even met him yet, and he was already calling them Mom and Dad.
He Yunzhi glanced down at the gift boxes. Their value was obvious at a glance.
She shook her head. “They’re perfectly appropriate.”
She stepped aside to let him in, and her parents’ expressions changed almost instantly.
“This is Little Gu?”
Gu Jingchen smiled and strode forward, setting down the gifts. “Mom, Dad, I’m sorry for coming on such short notice. I didn’t know what you liked, so I picked up a couple of things at random. I hope you won’t mind.”
A smile quickly spread across Weng Meijuan’s face. “Oh, you’re such a thoughtful boy. It’s the thought that counts.”
He Jingyao’s attitude softened as well. Smiling, he asked, “Was traffic bad? Come in, come in...”
...
He Yunzhi stood by the doorway, feeling that the whole situation was absurd.
Where had all the interrogation gone? Where were the harsh questions and attempts to make things difficult?
“Sister Yunzhi, why are you standing at the door? Come on in!”
He Huanhuan grabbed her hand and pulled her inside.
The moment they saw He Huanhuan, He Jingyao and Weng Meijuan’s eyes lit up. Their gazes shifted toward her and became impossible to pull away.
Weng Meijuan asked blankly, “And this is?”
Gu Jingchen smiled. “This is my younger sister, Huanhuan.”
Weng Meijuan vaguely remembered something about the Gu family. When Old Liang had introduced He Yunzhi to potential partners, he seemed to have mentioned it in passing.
She didn’t need to guess. This Huanhuan was probably the child who had been switched at birth.
She frowned. “Why is your hair dyed such a bright yellow?”
He Huanhuan grinned. “Auntie, so people can see me! Isn’t yellow an eye-catching color?”
Weng Meijuan’s frown deepened. “What does a young girl need to stand out so much for? Girls should be gentle and refined, not so attention-seeking...”
He Huanhuan looked puzzled. “Auntie, am I not gentle and refined?”
Did being eye-catching and being gentle conflict? Of course not!
She was simply gentle in a very eye-catching way.
Weng Meijuan said, “That still doesn’t mean you should dye your hair such an outrageous color. It makes you look like a bad girl.”
He Huanhuan smiled. “So girls with yellow hair aren’t good girls? What exactly makes someone a good girl? Does black hair automatically make you a good girl? If someone was born with yellow hair and dyed it black, would she still be a good girl?”
Weng Meijuan’s expression shifted. “You—you’re just being argumentative. Dyeing your hair is wrong in the first place...”
He Huanhuan continued smiling sweetly. “I really don’t understand. What about prematurely gray hair? Does that mean someone’s born bad? And if they dye it black, does that make them even worse?”
“You—you...”
Weng Meijuan was rendered speechless by the barrage of questions.
But He Huanhuan had no intention of letting her off. She pressed on, “Then what does it mean when an old lady dyes her hair? An evil old granny? Auntie, will you dye your hair when you’re old? Will you turn into an evil old granny?”
...
“Yunzhi!”
Weng Meijuan shouted at He Yunzhi in exasperation, pointedly ignoring Gu Jingchen.
He Yunzhi smiled unhurriedly. “Mom, does getting married on a whim make someone a bad girl?”
He Huanhuan shook her head. “No, that just makes her an impulsive girl. I’ll take you to dye your hair sometime, and you can be an impulsive bad girl for once.”
He Yunzhi nodded seriously. “All right.”
He Jingyao glared and shot to his feet. “You dare!”
How absurd!
How outrageous!
He had no idea that a rebellious girl like He Huanhuan was completely fearless when challenged. With a whoosh, she pulled eighteen tubes of brightly colored hair dye from her backpack.
“Let’s see whether I dare!”