From Broken Family to Life Winner: A Reborn Mother's Journey

”The Lu Family has gone too far! Beat them up! Smash everything! As long as nobody gets killed, I’ll take responsibility for it!”

Mr. Ling roared and charged straight at Mr. Lu.

With Mr. Ling taking the field, Ling Zhen, Su Li, and Yu Zhengqing stepped back.

That day, the three members of the Lu family were beaten unrecognizable, and their entire house was smashed to pieces! By the time their relatives rushed over, it was all over.

”Mom.” Little Tang Mo, who had been obediently hiding to the side, tugged on Su Li’s hand, his eyes shining brightly.

Looking from her parents to Su Li and Yu Zhengqing beside her, the last traces of pain and regret in Ling Zhen’s eyes vanished into thin air.

’I still have parents like these, and friends like these!’

’Who the hell is Lu Zhijie, anyway!’

On this day, Ling Zhen was truly reborn like a phoenix from the ashes.

Her experience was very similar to her past life: an accident, followed by a broken engagement. The difference was that Su Li had saved her this time, so she didn’t have to suffer the same physical and emotional agony.

Even though Lu Zhijie looked down on her and people were gossiping behind her back, she knew the real story.

’So, this life really is different!’

Mr. Ling hauled out the Lu family’s television and smashed it to the ground, concluding their quest for revenge.

He waved his hand. ”Let’s go! Back to the feast! Today, we’ll just call this a celebration for our family dodging a bullet with those terrible in-laws. Everyone, eat up and let’s keep the party going!”

Ling Zhen gave a grand wave of her own. ”Let’s go! We’re not going home until we’re drunk!”

How could they not celebrate a friendship forged in the fires of revolution?

Amid Little Tang Mo’s worried cries of ”Mom can’t drink, I’ll drink for her!” and Ling Zhen’s roaring laughter, the whole boisterous group took their leave.

They left behind the miserable Lu residence, its very gate torn off and swaying in the wind.

That night, Su Li and Little Tang Mo stayed over at the Ling family’s home.

Overjoyed and unable to refuse, Su Li had a drink and ended up getting drunk.

Thanks to Little Tang Mo’s prior experience, he held onto Su Li the entire time, saving her from making a fool of herself.

Ling Zhen also passed out drunk, and Yu Zhengqing hadn’t held back either.

The drunken Yu Zhengqing, eyes hazy, leaned over the sleeping Ling Zhen. He stared at her face without blinking, a goofy grin on his face as he mumbled nonstop.

”Sister Zhenzhen, you’re so beautiful. Sister Zhenzhen, I want to marry you. I love you.”

Little Tang Mo, the only sober person in the room, facepalmed.

Mr. and Mrs. Ling, who had come to get them to bed and had also had a bit to drink, were rendered speechless.

”Isn’t that the junior colleague Zhenzhen brought with her? He seems to be a few years younger than her, doesn’t he?”

Mr. Ling waved a hand dismissively. ”Who cares if he’s older or younger? As long as our Ling Zhen is popular and has suitors, it’s a good thing. Hmph!”

Happy as they were, and proud as they were, Yu Zhengqing still had to be dragged out of the room.

This, however, took a great deal of effort.

Yu Zhengqing was drunk and possessed surprising strength. He grabbed onto the nightstand and wouldn’t let go, his feet seemingly rooted to the floor. Mr. and Mrs. Ling used every ounce of their strength, but they still couldn’t drag him away.

In the end, with no other options, the couple could only sit down in the room to rest, keeping an eye on Yu Zhengqing to make sure he didn’t get any ideas and try to take advantage of Ling Zhen.

They were worrying for nothing, however. Yu Zhengqing was perfectly well-behaved; all he did was look.

So, with Su Li and Little Tang Mo lying on the bed next to Ling Zhen, Yu Zhengqing slumped over the headboard, and Mr. and Mrs. Ling sitting by the bedside, the packed room spent the night just like that.

「The next day.」

The first thing Ling Zhen saw when she woke up was Yu Zhengqing’s face.

He was so close she could have counted his eyelashes.

Overnight, a faint stubble had appeared on his chin, making him look much more mature in an instant.

Ling Zhen blinked once, then twice, before the scene registered. She barely managed to stifle a scream.

’Why is he sleeping here...?’

She turned her head and saw Su Li and Little Tang Mo sleeping snugly beside her, then looked at her parents dozing haphazardly by the bed. Ling Zhen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Pressing a hand to her throbbing head, Ling Zhen looked completely exasperated, but the corners of her mouth still curled upward.

「An hour later.」

The whole group was gathered around a table, drinking hangover soup.

Mrs. Ling had made the soup; it was sour, refreshing, and delicious. After drinking it, everyone instantly felt revived and clear-headed.

And then, Yu Zhengqing noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Ling were looking at him strangely. Their gazes were a mixture of amusement and scrutiny, with another unidentifiable emotion he couldn’t quite place.

Confused, Yu Zhengqing gave them an awkward smile.

Su Li and Ling Zhen also noticed the odd looks from Mr. and Mrs. Ling, but they were just as confused as Yu Zhengqing.

Only Little Tang Mo’s lips curled up for a fleeting moment.

’Oh, he knew.’

After the meal, Mr. and Mrs. Ling told the younger ones not to move and took care of the cleanup themselves.

”There’s still plenty of food left from yesterday. We should have everyone come over to eat today, too,” Mrs. Ling said in the kitchen.

”Of course. Even though the wedding’s off, everyone knows the score. They’ll come over on their own.”

Mrs. Ling nodded. A moment later, her tears started to fall, splashing into the water in the sink.

Mr. Ling sighed helplessly and glanced toward the living room. ”Stop crying,” he said in a low voice. ”We don’t want the children to hear.”

But as he spoke, his own eyes grew red.

’No matter how satisfying it was to wreck that house yesterday, how could they, as parents, not feel their hearts ache for her?’

’Their precious darling, the daughter they had pampered and spoiled her whole life, had been treated with such contempt. How could they not be devastated?’

His hands were greasy, so he couldn’t wipe his eyes. Mr. Ling leaned his head toward Mrs. Ling’s shoulder and rubbed his tears off on her sleeve.

”Come on, stop crying. The kids could walk in at any second. Let’s be happy, all right? It’s better this way. If they’d gotten married, who knows what kind of life Zhenzhen would have had to endure.”

’The gossip from outsiders, the attitude of the Lu Family...’

”We’ve known them for decades. Who would have thought they’d turn out like this...” Mrs. Ling turned, rested her head against her husband’s chest, and wiped her tears on his shirt.

”I know. Zhijie seemed like such a good kid before. He was always good to Zhenzhen...” Mr. Ling sighed.

”You never see people’s true colors until something bad happens,” Mrs. Ling retorted, clenching her jaw. ”But his mother... I knew from the start she was no good. There was a reason no one wanted to hang around her back in the day.”

Mrs. Ling practically ground her teeth when she spoke of Mrs. Lu. ”When they got engaged, I was hesitant precisely because of his mother. I was so worried Zhenzhen would be mistreated over there, and in the end...”

Noticing her voice was getting louder, Mr. Ling quickly shushed her. ”Calm down, calm down. Better to lose a little face yesterday than have Zhenzhen suffer for the rest of her life.”

Mr. Ling let out a long breath. ”This is good, too. Now we know their true colors. It’s when things go wrong that you find out who’s good and who’s bad.”

He gestured with his chin toward the living room. ”That Su Li and young Yu out there are great kids, aren’t they?”

Mrs. Ling nodded vigorously. ”Aren’t they just? If you didn’t really know Su Li, and just heard she was a young, divorced woman with a child that old, you’d assume there was something wrong with her. But she’s such a wonderful girl.”

”I know, right? And that young Yu. Just think about the way he was beating up that bastard Lu Zhijie yesterday... Hmph. He’s a hell of a lot better than that son of a bitch Lu Zhijie.”

”But isn’t Yu younger than our Zhenzhen? Would that really work?” Mrs. Ling’s eyes lit up as she brought this up.

”It’s too soon to say whether it’ll work or not. Hmph...” Mr. Ling gave a haughty snort. His precious daughter wasn’t going to be snatched away so easily by just anyone.

”Oh, I’ll just go out and ask him in a bit...” Mrs. Ling had just begun to say, when Ling Zhen suddenly walked into the kitchen.

”Mom, where’s the fruit knife?”

Startled, Mrs. Ling hurriedly handed it to her.

Ling Zhen didn’t notice anything was off. Taking the fruit knife, she headed back out, laughing. ”This is a really handy tool. I’m going to carry one with me every day from now on.”