Chapter 8: Third-Rater
In the side wing of the household, Bai Yao was arranging flowers inside a room.
When she heard the noise coming from outside, she could not hold back anymore. She pinched the stalk until it bent out of shape before nudging her daughter, who was sitting next to her.
“I really don’t understand what your second aunty and her family were thinking. They already have their hands full with a dimwit, and now they bring an unrelated girl into the Lu Family? What do they think the Lu Family is? A zoo? Do they think every Tom, Dick, and Harry can enter it and become our family?”
Lu Chuwan, who had learned about the adoption yesterday, followed Bai Yao’s gaze and looked downstairs.
As if she was not happy with Fu Zhi’s overly pretty face, wrath and dismay competed on Bai Yao’s face and she added grumpily, “Look at her face, it’s so foxy. I’m sure she is a restless person. There is no way a child that came from the orphanage can be good. She must be full of vices!”
“Mom!” Lu Chuwan frowned and looked at Bai Yao helplessly.
The young girl was wearing a white t-shirt, and a light pink skirt covered her lower body, further accentuating her hips.
She had what people would call a heart-shaped face, which was the most attractive face shape one could have. She was ethereally beautiful, and her voice was soothing.
However, Bai Yao was dissatisfied with the tone of her voice right now.
“Why are you shouting at me? Did I say anything wrong?” Bai Yao snarled as she tossed the bouquet in her hands on the floor. “Your second aunty is really greedy. She already has you as a niece, yet she still thinks it’s not enough. I don’t understand why she had to go so far as to adopt an unknown child from the orphanage. Don’t she know it costs a lot of money to raise a child?”
The stock rights of the Lu Corporation were in Madam Lu’s hands. Both of Lu Jingqing’s sons were letdowns, and his third brother lived with his wife’s family. Therefore, the family’s entire fortune was destined to be passed down to her son and daughter after Madam Lu passed away.
That was why she felt so indignant that Xu Wei would be using the money of her daughter and son to raise Fu Zhi.
Lu Chuwan did not take her mother’s words to heart. Upon seeing her daughter’s impassive reaction, Bai Yao grew even more irritated and barked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m packing some clothes to give them to Fu Zhi.”
“Why would you want to give her clothes? All your clothes are one of a kind. How can you not worry at all when a third-rater like Fu Zhi is going to share everything you have?”
Bai Yao was short-tempered and keen on getting petty advantages. Even though most of the clothes in her daughter’s closet had been given to her by Xu Wei, she still felt a pang of pain shoot through her heart when she heard that Lu Chuwan was going to give them away.
On the other side, Lu Chuwan did not feel too strongly about it. “Aunty Xu Wei has already ordered a whole new batch of clothes for me, and I’m not short of clothes to wear. Besides, all these clothes are off-season clothes that I don’t like. Fu Zhi is a kid from the countryside, so she could use some new clothes to make herself look better. Also, don’t you think that it’ll make the Lu Family look bad if she shows up in public in that tacky attire of hers?”
Bai Yao was still filled with indignation despite the fact that her daughter had given her a good explanation. She still looked a little sulky by the time she went downstairs. “She is a peasant, not to mention that she is an orphan. If it were not for you, there is no way she could have afforded to put on this kind of expensive clothes in her entire life!”
Downstairs, after meeting Fu Zhi, Madam Lu took her second son aside to have a talk with him.
It was considered a big deal to bring an outsider into the Lu Family. Thus, to be on the safe side, Lu Jingqing had given Madam Lu a heads-up about Fu Zhi yesterday.
“Poor places beget terrible people. I heard that most children raised in orphanages are sticky-fingered. There is a lot of valuable stuff in the Lu Household, so make sure you keep an eye on her. What if she steals something from us?” said Madam Lu with a worried frown on her face.
Initially, she had thought having Chuwan in the family was bliss. Both Lu Jingqing and Xu Wei loved their niece very much, and she was happy to see that both of them were willing to maintain a good relationship with her eldest son and his family for the sake of their niece.
However, everything seemed to have developed in another direction now. The Lu Family was a prestigious family, and they had never had a child who not only did badly in school but also had a bad attitude.
She was nothing but a pretty face.
Lu Jingqing frowned at his mother’s comment about Fu Zhi and admonished her firmly, “Mom, Zhizhi is my daughter. She is a well-behaved kid, so I don’t want to hear you say something like that ever again. Everything I have right now will be passed down to her and her brothers!”
Madam Lu froze.
Apparently, her son had already accepted Fu Zhi into his family.
In the past two years, her second son had grown apart from her and his eldest brother. She did not want to hurt their already-strained relationship further, so after some thought, she said slowly, “It’s time for us to have our meal. Call everyone and let’s eat together.”