TEDWR: Chapter 24

 Glossary

· Zhang Yansheng (张雁声): The female protagonist, the reborn eldest daughter.

· Zhang Huan (张寰): Zhang Yansheng's father.

· Liang Yingying (梁莹莹): Zhang Yansheng's stepmother.

· Zhang Shuocheng (张硕成): Zhang Yansheng's seven-year-old half-brother.

· Zhang Heling (张鹤翎): Zhang Yansheng's nine-year-old half-sister.

· Liang Zheng (梁征): Liang Yingying's nephew.

---

Chapter 24

Watching coldly from the side, Zhang Yansheng understood deeply.

Her father actually knew exactly what was going on. Thinking about it, of course he did—he was a shrewd old fox with years of experience.

If he wanted to intervene, if he wanted to manage things, there was truly nothing he couldn't do. After all, he was the one in this house who truly held the power and wealth. What was Liang Yingying in front of him?

It was just that in her past life, he hadn't wanted to stand on her side.

Zhang Yansheng felt a profound sense of pointlessness.

A nanny came over to call everyone. "Dinner is ready."

Zhang Huan stood up first, chuckling. "Come on, let's eat."

The whole family followed him toward the dining room. Zhang Heling turned back and called out, "Sister, time to eat."

Everyone looked back and saw Zhang Yansheng still standing there, her expression inscrutable. It wasn't her usual cold aloofness but carried a bitter, complicated flavor.

"I'm not hungry. You go ahead," she said. Then she turned and walked down the other hallway, heading upstairs.

Liang Yingying was extremely displeased. Her nephew had just arrived, and for this first meal, Zhang Yansheng refused to eat, clearly showing no respect.

Liang Zheng's face also fell.

The promised stay in the mansion had fallen through. A girl in her teens, yet so ill-mannered, not knowing to join the meal with a guest. Everything was unsatisfactory.

This person usually considered himself mature and worldly, but his emotions were all over his face; his dissatisfaction was clearly written there for all to see.

How could Zhang Huan not understand? He felt a flicker of disdain inwardly. Originally, thinking of their familial connection and that he was a young man just graduated, he had intended to take care of him a bit, to give him proper experience and training. That inclination now faded.

Let him be whoever he wants to be. A simple arrangement would suffice.

This kind of poor relative wasn't someone he had invited. Coming to seek his help yet putting on airs? Zhang Huan wasn't a people-pleaser. He was born with a silver spoon, had been fawned over since childhood, and wouldn't tolerate this kind of attitude.

Zhang Huan still remembered to tell Auntie Luo, "Yanyan isn't hungry right now. Remember to make something for her later."

He played the part of a caring father perfectly.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

After dinner, Liang Zheng called his family from the guest room to complain. "They said I could stay at the house, now they're telling me to rent a place outside. What's going on? Why go back on their word?"

He called home, and his family naturally called Liang Yingying.

Liang Yingying was also annoyed. "What's the rush? It's only his first day. He's not being kicked out immediately. Let him stay for now, stay for now. Let's get the job situation settled first."

With lingering dissatisfaction, Liang Zheng settled into the Zhang household. That first night, he took pictures everywhere and posted them on social media, eliciting waves of envy.

[Wow, man, you've made it big? Don't forget your bunkmate from the lower bunk.]

[This is your aunt's place? Damn!]

[Bro, can you help arrange a job for me too? Sigh, it's really hard for college program grads to find work.]

Liang Zheng replied to each one, his ego receiving a massive boost. The earlier dissatisfaction dissipated quite a bit.

The next day was still Sunday. Zhang Huan didn't go to the office; he went to play golf.

Liang Zheng watched as the driver opened the car door for him, then closed it—the epitome of a big boss's style. He was deeply envious, fantasizing about the day he could be like that.

He wandered around the house, holding up his phone to record a video. "This is the main living room, this is the family sitting room, this lounge is my uncle's dedicated space for drinking. Look at this wall of wine! Let me tell you, just this wine, guess how much it's worth? I'm telling you, you wouldn't even be able to guess..."

He went upstairs. "This is my room. Look at this bathroom! Bigger than your bedrooms at home, right? So impressive!"

He stepped out again. "These two rooms over here... this one is my younger cousin's, this one is my older..."

Before the words "female cousin" could leave his mouth, that door suddenly swung open. Liang Zheng saw nothing clearly, just a blur before his eyes, and then his hand was empty!

His phone had been swatted to the floor by Zhang Yansheng!

"What the hell?" Liang Zheng hurriedly bent down to pick it up. "My new phone! My brand-new phone!"

Fortunately, the stairs and hallway were carpeted, so the phone wasn't damaged. He had bought this new phone specifically before coming to K City, afraid the Zhang family would look down on him if he didn't!

Even though it wasn't broken, Liang Zheng was still upset and couldn't hide his displeasure. "What are you doing? Watch where you're swinging!"

"I walked out and someone had their phone pointed at me. I thought it was a pervert secretly filming a girl's bedroom," Zhang Yansheng said.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Liang Zheng was stumped—early in the morning, he had indeed been holding his phone pointed at a girl's bedroom door. He could only say resentfully, "This is your own home. Where would a pervert come from?"

Zhang Yansheng said, "Yes, I find it strange too. There's actually someone sneaking photos inside my own home."

Liang Zheng still wanted to say something, but Zhang Yansheng had already closed her door and gone downstairs.

When Zhang Yansheng came back upstairs, Liang Zheng was no longer on the second floor; he had gone up to the third.

He really wanted to film Zhang Huan's master bedroom. He'd heard that in mansions like this, the master suites were super luxurious—walk-in closets, huge balconies, extravagant bathtubs. He wanted his poor friends to broaden their horizons and envy him.

But Liang Yingying, as usual, wasn't up yet, and the door was tightly shut. So Liang Zheng wandered into Zhang Shuocheng's room.

Zhang Shuocheng was playing with his game console in his room. Hearing the door, he was startled and shoved the console behind his back with a whoosh. Seeing it was Liang Zheng, he heaved a huge sigh of relief and complained, "Oh, it's you. You scared me!"

Liang Zheng laughed. "What are you so afraid of? What are you up to?"

Zhang Shuocheng said, "I thought it was my sister coming to check if I'm studying!"

Liang Zheng found this even funnier. "You're that scared of your sister?"

Zhang Shuocheng said with a grimace, "My big sister makes me finish a whole day's homework before noon every day. My second sister is in charge of checking. She's so annoying; she comes up every hour to see if I'm studying."

Liang Zheng wandered around the room, looking. "Then why haven't you started? What are you doing? Playing what? Whoa! Is this the latest model? The official release?"

Liang Zheng darted over, coveting Zhang Shuocheng's new game console. "Come on, let your cousin play for a bit!"

Zhang Shuocheng had no playmates at home; his two sisters were unlikely to play with him. Suddenly having a same-gender person appear was somewhat novel, so he generously handed it over.

However, after Liang Zheng played one round and died, he didn't return it. Zhang Shuocheng got annoyed. "It's mine!" He reached out to take it back.

Liang Zheng blocked him with his elbow. "Let me play one more round."

Zhang Shuocheng wasn't that patient. The novelty of having a new playmate had worn off, and he was already getting annoyed with this cousin. He grabbed the console back. "Mine!"

Liang Zheng hadn't had enough. His eyes darted, and he started coaxing him. "Look, you have so many toys. Why don't you give this console to your cousin? I'm a guest, you know!"

"No!"

"Such a miser. Your family is so rich; just have your mom buy you another one."

Zhang Shuocheng wasn't one for convoluted thinking; he said what was on his mind. "Have your mom buy one for you!"

Liang Zheng was stung and inwardly cursed, You little brat.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

But he still put on a shameless face. "Then lend it to me for a while longer..."

"No! I want to play!"

Pestered into annoyance, Zhang Shuocheng said, "Go ask my sister to borrow hers! She has one too! Also the latest model!"

"Which sister?"

"My second sister!"

Speak of the devil. Just as they mentioned Zhang Heling, she appeared, scowling. "Why haven't you started your homework yet? Do you want another beating?"

Zhang Shuocheng hurriedly said, "I was just playing for a minute! I'll start right away!"

"Big sister said, 'The plan for the day lies in the morning.' Your mind is clearest when you wake up; that time should be for studying! You're only allowed to play in the afternoon! Hurry up! If you don't start writing, I'm telling big sister!"

Liang Zheng watched as one little kid was managed by another slightly bigger kid. The scene was actually quite comical.

However, although Zhang Shuocheng stood up, ready to start his homework, he put the game console into a box that looked like a pirate's treasure chest and put a plastic lock on it. He put the plastic key into his little pants pocket and gave Liang Zheng a meaningful look.

Liang Zheng: "..."

You little brat!

Zhang Heling looked around. "Where's Auntie Wang?"

"Went downstairs to take the laundry," Zhang Shuocheng said.

"Oh." Zhang Heling didn't want to watch Zhang Shuocheng either; this brother was too annoying. Seeing Liang Zheng there, she said, "Then, cousin, you watch him do his homework."

She was assigning him a task? Liang Zheng found it amusing. "What about you? What will you do?"

Zhang Heling said matter-of-factly, "I have to do my homework too. My sister says we all have to study in the morning. Alright, I'm going down."

Liang Zheng glanced at Zhang Shuocheng, wriggling nonstop at the desk, clearly unable to sit still. Who wanted to supervise this brat's studies!

Liang Zheng stood up and chased after Zhang Heling downstairs. "Hehe, Hehe~"

Zhang Yansheng was carrying a glass of juice upstairs when she heard noises coming from Zhang Heling's room.

"Stop rummaging through my stuff! Don't go through it... Ouch!"

The last sound was clearly one of pain.

Hearing something was wrong, and seeing Zhang Heling's door was slightly ajar, Zhang Yansheng didn't knock. She pushed the door open directly.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Liang Zheng hadn't noticed his elbow had hit Zhang Heling and was still rummaging through her cabinet. "Where did you put it? Hurry up, don't be stingy. We're first cousins!"

Suddenly, a cold voice asked, "What are you doing?"

Liang Zheng turned his head. His older female cousin, Zhang Yansheng, stood at the doorway, her fair face like frost. This cousin might not be pleasant to talk to, but she was really pretty, already giving off the air of a young woman.

"Hah, it's nothing," Liang Zheng said. "I was just asking Hehe to lend me her game console to play with."

Was this "asking to borrow"? It was practically demanding!

Zhang Yansheng's gaze made Liang Zheng feel somewhat embarrassed. He forced an act of familiarity, pinching Zhang Heling's nose. "You little miser! Fine, fine, now I know what you're like!" With that, he walked out.

Zhang Yansheng stepped aside to let him pass and closed the door.

"Where's the game console?" Zhang Yansheng asked.

In her past life, Liang Zheng had stayed at their house for nearly half a year. Some things happened later, and only then did he leave.

Zhang Yansheng found this person utterly disgusting. Firstly, because he was from the Liang family. Secondly, because of the person he was.

In her past life, she had smashed a phone belonging to someone with the surname Liang because that guy had secretly taken pictures of her, which disgusted her immensely. Especially a few pictures where her door wasn't properly closed, and she was in her room wearing only a tank top without a bra, with music on so she didn't hear the noise outside. That creep had taken several private photos of her through the door crack.

That game console was something she had bought for Zhang Heling. If Zhang Heling dared to lend it to that guy with the Liang surname, Zhang Yansheng would smash it on the spot!

But Zhang Heling turned and ran to her bed, pulled open the nightstand drawer, and took out the game console.

So she liked to play for a bit before bed and put it directly into her nightstand drawer after playing. Liang Zheng had come in asking to borrow the game console. She didn't want to lend it. Liang Zheng, shamelessly bullying a child, had rummaged through her cabinets himself but hadn't found it.

"Thank goodness you came," Zhang Heling said, pouting. "He's so annoying, insisting on borrowing my game console. He's an adult! I said no, and he messed up my bookcase."

Zhang Yansheng raised an eyebrow. "You didn't want to lend it to him?"

"No!"

"But he's your cousin."

"I don't like him."

"Why?"

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Zhang Heling couldn't pinpoint a specific reason or incident.

"It's just... last year when my mom took Shuoshuo and me back to her hometown, I found him really annoying then."

Zhang Yansheng understood. The child couldn't articulate why because that dislike came from attitudes in speech and details in actions. Girls were especially sensitive to such things.

Knowing that Zhang Heling also disliked Liang Zheng improved Zhang Yansheng's mood considerably.

She noticed Zhang Heling was talking while frowning and rubbing one side of her chest. "What's wrong?"

Zhang Heling grimaced. "He hit me with his elbow just now. It hurts."

Zhang Yansheng looked at her for a moment and asked, "Are you starting to develop?"

Zhang Heling looked up. Her eyes were dark and large, full of confusion.

(End of Chapter)

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