Chapter 137 - 136: The Young Lady
At five years old, Lele was allowed to leave the rental apartment.
Her mother would occasionally take her out to eat. Everything outside felt new and exciting to her.
Skyscrapers, dense crowds, wide lawns, flowing streams.
Only then did she realize that the world wasn’t just the tiny sliver visible from her window. It was so vast...
Her mother, in a sudden change of habit, began taking her to meet many people and visit lavish, opulent places.
She would also dress Lele up to look like a perfect, precious doll.
These men and women, old and young, would always be surprised to see her. They’d ask her mother when she’d had a daughter and why she’d kept it a secret.
When anyone asked for the child’s name, her mother would simply say, "Her surname is Xu."
’So my surname is Xu...’ Lele thought.
Upon hearing this, their eyes would fill with a complex, unreadable mix of emotions.
Shock, disdain, contempt...
But her mother remained tireless, taking her from one place to another, over and over again.
And as she was shown off more and more, scrutinized by an ever-increasing number of shocked gazes...
Their financial situation at home seemed to gradually improve, and the people her mother associated with grew more and more influential.
Lele didn’t understand, but she was happy. She felt that by getting all dressed up every day, she was helping her mother.
When she was six, Ye Qingyao, dressed to the nines, brought Lele to a luxurious hotel. Lele herself wore her prettiest little dress, looking just like a princess.
But the two of them were stopped at the entrance by a doorman.
"Ms. Ye, you are not on the guest list. Please leave."
Ye Qingyao yanked her daughter in front of her. "The young miss of the Xu Family wants to see her grandmother. Are you still going to stop her?"
The doorman looked troubled and hesitant...
Lele clutched her pretty little dress, her small palms turning white from the tension.
Just then, a suave-looking man who was heading inside glanced over. After a long moment of thought, he sighed. "Don’t frighten the child. Let’s talk this over calmly."
That was the first time Lele had ever seen Chen Beiwang.
The man looked at her with a complicated expression, then turned to her mother. "I’ve long heard the rumors you’ve been spreading everywhere—that you have a daughter with Xu Cheng..."
"You should know, it’s the old matriarch’s birthday today. A scene like this will be humiliating for her."
Ye Qingyao sneered. "No one would be humiliated if no one was stopping me."
Chen Beiwang glanced at Lele and refrained from saying anything harsher.
With Chen Beiwang’s help, Lele was finally able to follow her mother inside. But they were quickly separated.
There were fierce arguments, even pushing and shoving. Finally, a middle-aged man simply raised his hand, and her mother froze, as if bound by an invisible Power.
Terrified, Lele was led into a large, lavishly decorated room where seven or eight people were seated.
There was an old grandmother, a woman about her mother’s age, Chen Beiwang from before, and several other strangers.
The pressure from each person was immense. They possessed an aura her mother had always tried, and failed, to imitate.
They were all scrutinizing her.
Lele hesitated, but remembering her mother’s instructions, she summoned her courage, walked up to the old woman, and said in a clear, high-pitched voice, "Are you... my grandmother?"
The old woman clutched her chest, breathing deeply for a long time.
The other woman, the one who was about her mother’s age, asked coldly, "What’s your name?"
"My name is Lele."
"I mean your full name."
"I... I don’t know... I only know that my surname is Xu."
Remembering her mother’s instructions, Lele looked at the old grandmother and said hesitantly,
"Grandmother... Mother said you were the one to give me my name... C-could you give me a name?"
Everyone’s expression changed instantly. They all understood the subtext that the child herself did not.
...
After that, these strange family members asked Lele many questions.
They asked where she grew up, if she attended school, and if she remembered her early childhood.
Lele answered truthfully. She felt that this old woman wasn’t her grandmother, and these people weren’t her family.
She was just taking a test.
But she held fast to her mother’s instructions.
If anyone asked if she was willing to go live with the Xu Family...
...she had to insist on bringing her mother with her.
She had to be firm, resolute, even if it meant throwing a full-blown tantrum... She had to stress that she would only go to the Xu Family with her mother, that she couldn’t be separated from her.
The looks everyone gave her, which had started with warmth, gradually shifted to pity.
And finally, to annoyance... and indifference.
As she was leaving, she overheard someone say...
"What a vicious scheme. Hiding her for six whole years! Waiting until the child is old enough to remember, until her personality is set, before revealing her! Who knows what ideas have been drilled into her head! This child is probably ruined."
The young aunt crushed the wine glass in her hand:
"I will never agree to this! This is a stain on Big Brother’s reputation! That mother and daughter won’t set one foot in this house!"
...
Lele left the room and saw her mother again.
Her mother looked disheveled. Her carefully chosen outfit was untouched, but the makeup around her eyes was smudged.
It looked as though she had been through a fierce, emotional argument.
The first thing Ye Qingyao asked was, "Did you see your grandmother? Did you say everything I taught you to say?"
Lele looked up at her. "Yes... I said it all..."
"Then... did your grandmother give you a name?"
"No... I think Grandmother wasn’t feeling well. She didn’t say much... she just kept clutching her chest..."
Ye Qingyao couldn’t hide her disappointment. Realizing today was a lost cause, she grabbed Lele’s hand and hurried away.
Lele was dragged along by her mother, her small legs struggling to keep up. She was old enough to understand some things now and didn’t want to see her mother sad, so she said,
"Mom, we don’t have to be part of their family... They don’t like us."
"We can have a good life, just the two of us... I’ll try really hard to keep the house clean, and we’ll have our own home! I could take your surname, Ye, too..."
SLAP!!
Lele was struck across the face. Her fair cheek swelled, turning bright red, and she froze in place.
Ye Qingyao snarled, "Shut your mouth! You can only be a Xu! Otherwise, why would I have bothered giving birth to you?!"
...
Three months later, her mother grew more and more irritable, frequently going out to meet with people.
She was hysterical every time, and every time she returned in defeat.
They discussed things Lele couldn’t understand.
Some advised her mother to give up. Others threatened her, telling her to be careful or she might lose her life.
They said that if it weren’t for the old matriarch’s poor health—and the Xu Family’s reluctance to upset her—Ye Qingyao would have met a terrible fate long ago.
At times like these, her mother would hold Lele and say coolly, "I am Lele’s mother. No one can change that... And she’s old enough to remember things now."
"You want to threaten me? Curry favor with the Xu Family? If I die, Lele’s life will be hell."
"Do you dare bet she won’t be accepted into the Xu Family when she’s older? That she won’t come looking to settle the score with you?"
The prolonged lack of results made her mother even more anxious.
So her mother took her to a police station in a remote area. There, she pulled some strings and went through a great deal of paperwork. And so, at six years old, Lele finally had a name.
"Xu Bamboo."
"Lele, the women of the Xu Family all have names related to ’wood.’ From now on, your name is Xu Bamboo."
Lele nodded, committing the strange new name to memory.
Now that she had a name, Lele was paraded around even more frequently, but Ye Qingyao’s situation only seemed to worsen.
Something must have happened within the Xu Family. Everyone connected to them was on edge, and no one had time to bother with the mother and daughter.
Until one day, Lele was taken to an enormous estate.
A funeral seemed to be in progress at the estate. A constant stream of luxury cars drove in, and all the guests wore black.
Across the street, Ye Qingyao knelt down and said to Lele, "Xu Bamboo, you stand right here."
Lele asked blankly, "Mom... what am I supposed to do?"
"Cry! Think of the saddest things you can. If anyone asks, you tell them your grandmother passed away and you’re heartbroken!"
"I’ll be watching you from a distance. You can cry, you can scream, but you cannot leave this spot, no matter how long it takes. If the police show up, you tell them the same thing—that you’re a child of this family, your name is Xu Bamboo, and you want them to help you get inside!"
And so, Ye Qingyao left Lele standing all alone across from the estate’s main gate.
She was dazed, timid, and utterly lost...
But the tears wouldn’t come.
The wealthy and powerful guests occasionally glanced her way as they passed, their expressions puzzled.
Others looked on thoughtfully.
Someone came out of the estate to question her, and Lele could only robotically repeat her mother’s instructions.
After a while, a police car pulled up in front of Lele. She was so frightened, she began to tremble.
An officer got out to question her, and again, Lele repeated her mother’s instructions.
Finally, the young aunt she’d met at the hotel came out. The police officer seemed to hold her in high regard; after a brief exchange, he left.
The young aunt’s eyes were red-rimmed. She glanced at Lele from a distance, her grief twisting into fury.
Her mother had said that woman was likely her paternal aunt.
The aunt gave an order, and soon, some people brought out four large screens.
As Lele watched blankly, they used the large screens to completely box her in.
It cut her off entirely from view.
Her vast world shrank to a tiny, confined space.
No one came to question her anymore. No one could even see her anymore.
Lele didn’t know how much longer she had to stand there, nor could she see any sign of her mother.
And so Lele stood, walled in by the four screens... from noon until dusk...
Her tender legs began to ache... but still, the tears wouldn’t come.
She felt... as if she were back in the old days.
In a tiny room, unable to see the sky outside...
Finally...
...the tears came.