Rebirth in the 90s: Her Counterattack and Redemption

Chapter 1286: Chapter 770: Heredity (2)

“If you want others to respect you, first you must respect yourself. Dignity is something you earn, not something you force others to give you. Understand?”

“Sister Ye’er…” Dongdong hesitated, unsure of how to continue.

Luo Ye smiled, “Are you thinking that since you’re sharing a dorm room, if you don’t do this, you’ll be ostracized?”

“There’s that worry…” Dongdong nodded honestly, “Moreover, if it weren’t for Sister Ye’er, I might have dropped out of school by now.

I feel that there’s no difference between me and them, Sister Ye’er. I really think so, otherwise, I’d feel like I’m exploiting others’ power for my own gain.”

“You’re quite good at using idioms…” Luo Ye laughed angrily, “Who said you were exploiting others’ power? I’m just telling you not to skimp on food just to fit in with the guys in your dorm.

Sister Li has been worried sick about this. If I hadn’t felt something was off with her emotions yesterday and pressed her to tell me, I wouldn’t have known your thoughts were so extreme.

Does eating well make you someone exploiting others’ power? If your dorm buddies don’t have good living conditions, as long as they have a positive attitude, they could be just as successful as anyone in the future.

If they don’t want to associate with you just because your living standards are higher than theirs, then they’ll have psychological barriers when they enter society.

In terms of class distinctions, some reasons are man-made, and some are inherent. As long as you maintain a balanced attitude, you won’t care what class others belong to because you’ll be socializing with people, not their status, which naturally reduces unnecessary issues.

You’re at an age for growth; how can you survive on instant noodles from meal to meal?” Luo Ye took out two thousand yuan and gave it to him, “Only with a strong body can you get into a military academy, become my junior, and possibly help me in the future. Understand?”

“I still have money.” Dongdong pulled his hand back, “Sister Ye’er, don’t worry; I won’t eat instant noodles every day anymore. Actually, I haven’t been pretending to be poor all the time. At the end of each month, I use the remaining money to improve everyone’s meals.

Also, I’ve always been exercising, and I’m certain I can get into a military academy and help Sister Ye’er.”

“Dongdong, your kindness and sense of responsibility are admired by Sister Ye’er. But remember, you can’t always adapt to everyone and consider everyone else’s thoughts—it will hold back your progress. Understand?”

Dongdong looked at Luo Ye, conflicted: “Sister Ye’er, if I eat particularly well every day in front of them, I feel uncomfortable.”

“No one’s asking you to eat alone…” Luo Ye patted him helplessly, “Forget it, it might be hard to change you immediately, take it slow.”

She also hopes that Sister Li’s worries can be eased, so she came to persuade Dongdong. Of course, bringing him to reason was intentional. After this incident, it’s believed that Dongdong will find it difficult to save quite like before.

That’s how people are; when those around you know your real situation, pretending to be otherwise is pointless, so people naturally stop the pretense.

Over the years spent living with the Luo Family, Dongdong’s environment was different from before, but due to his past situation, he was overly cautious about others’ opinions.

Everything has a limit; once exceeded, things turn sour.

Of course, trying to explain this reasoning now is difficult, which is why Luo Ye used the most direct method and combined it with persuasion, believing it will eventually work.

The day Luo Ye first returned to Ludong, Sister Li seemed a bit off; later, she diverted the topic citing family relationship troubles.

However, by evening, Luo Ye noticed her mood was still off, so she deliberately chatted with her alone, only to find out that Dongdong’s frugality was causing her concern.

Dongdong’s father was surnamed Yin, his Grandpa was surnamed Li, but Dongdong carries the surname Tao, actually taking after his Grandma’s surname.

The reason being, after her divorce from Yin Dejiu, he didn’t care about the child at all, so Sister Li didn’t want her child to have the surname Yin. Originally, she wanted Dongdong to take her own maiden name, but Elder Li was unwilling.

The reason was that the sister-in-law created trouble, fearing Dongdong might end up dividing the inheritances.

So, reluctantly, Sister Li had her son take his Grandma’s surname, fittingly, Grandma’s family had no male descendants, so Sister Li’s mother was delighted with Dongdong taking the surname Tao.

Regardless of the surname, for these years, Sister Li has always been worried about one particular issue.

Dongdong was a premature baby, not very robust, and the Yin Family had a hereditary disease affecting the heart; Yin Dejiu and his father both had weak hearts.

Currently, Dongdong has no issues.

However, the Yin Family’s condition is peculiar, passing from male to male, with symptoms typically emerging at sixteen or seventeen years old.

With Dongdong turning fourteen, Sister Li’s anxiety naturally grew.

Noticing her son was getting thinner, she thought it was due to the disease, so they went to the hospital under the guise of a check-up. The doctor said Dongdong’s heart was fine, and the thinness was due to inadequate nutrition—it’s precisely during his growth phase, so lacking nutrition results in weight loss.

No issues at the moment don’t guarantee no issues in the future. Hence, Sister Li’s concern didn’t ease with a clean bill of health—she had encouraged her son to eat better on several occasions, only to be refused in the name of avoiding special treatment.

This only deepened her worry.

Other children can rectify nutritional deficiencies later; hers cannot. If things go awry, it could ruin his entire life.

Yet, she’s afraid to talk to Dongdong about this to avoid frightening him.

So, she’s been quietly worried these days. Wen Xin asked her a few times, but she brushed it off with arguments about not getting along with her maternal family.

If Luo Ye hadn’t threatened her with sending her back to Island City unless she spoke the truth, she probably wouldn’t have confessed.

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Special thanks for the reward from Cat, special thanks to several guys for the pink support, and special thanks to everyone who’s continually supported Nu’an. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to come to Qidian () to vote with your Recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, your support is my greatest motivation.)