Chapter 260: 253 She Wants a Younger Brother

Ren Li finally let go of her hand, “I’ve noticed you’ve taken a liking to me.”

“So…” Tang Yuxin raised an eyebrow, “Are you going to take me in as your goddaughter, or as a sister?”

“No,” Ren Li shook her head, speaking earnestly, “I want to be your stepmother.”

Tang Yuxin was taken aback. She hadn’t expected the straightforwardness from Ren Li, and was left speechless.

“My name is Ren Li,” she repeated her name, “My real name.” She emphasized, “I have a reputable background, divorced and childless. My husband left for another woman he had been seeing. I couldn’t cope, so I ran off to this small place.” She stood up, leaned against the window, and felt the cool wind blowing from outside, making her feel more awake.

“Sometimes people get stubborn about the wrong things. I, Ren Li, have always been a proud woman. I’ve never failed so miserably before. Could it be that a decade spent with my husband, filled with loyalty, companionship, and mutual support, can’t compete with the lingering mark another woman left in his heart? That woman abandoned him when he was at his lowest. I was the one who stayed by his side each day, accompanying him through his most helpless years. I stood by him through thick and thin, returned home with him, married him, and cared for his parents. I also did the housework that I once despised.”

“But in the end, guess what I got in return? His abandonment.”

“I guess…” Ren Li sneered, “My whole life must be a joke. I’ve wasted half of my life, only to lose to men in the end.”

“So you thought of ending your life?”

Tang Yuxin didn’t know how to feel after hearing her story. Such incidents were far too common. She herself had once been such a naive woman, and in the end, they all ended up abandoned.

“Right, it’s wretched, isn’t it?” Ren Li said self-deprecatingly, “I tortured myself ’til I was half-dead. I learned to drink, smoke, and even thought of drinking myself to death.”

“Better dead than living such a miserable, disgraceful life.”

“Good thing I didn’t succeed.” She pressed her mouth to hide her laughter, then burst into tears, “If I had died, they would’ve been overjoyed. With me out of the picture—no longer an obstacle in their lives—they would have jeered at me. Even in death, I cannot rest; I must live on, and live well at that.”

“So…” She turned her face and pinched Tang Yuxin’s cheek, “I quite like you.”

“I’m not into women,” Tang Yuxin brushed off her hand, “And my dad is not your tool for revenge.” She wouldn’t allow it.

“Rest assured, that’s not my intention.”

Ren Li wiped away her tears, “Truthfully, when I woke up, I really wanted to kill your dad for stripping me naked.”

She gritted her teeth at the memory, “He saw me naked; who else could I marry? Besides, I quite like my current life. Your dad treats me well. Good men like him are hard to find; I ought to seize this chance.”

“Then why are you telling me all this?”

Tang Yuxin sat up straight, staring intently into Ren Li’s eyes. Right now, there was no falsehood in either of their eyes. Yuxin would be able to tell if Ren Li was lying or giving her a runaround.

Ren Li sighed, “Your dad values you greatly. Every other sentence is ‘my Yuxin this,’ ‘my Yuxin that.’ If you don’t agree to him remarrying, no matter how hard I try, he would never agree.”

Ren Li anxiously looked at Tang Yuxin. Her hands tightly clutched each other, palms moist with sweat. Would she agree? Could she share her father’s love with this pitiful woman?

She longed for a home. She had been living alone for over three years, and had experienced all kinds of people and situations. The chilling indifference of the world was a bitter lesson she had learned.

Tang Zhinian was a good man; that she knew.

And Ren Li had always been this way.

She would seize any opportunity before her, hesitating for no man.

Tang Yuxin was thinking, battling with herself.

She had thought about her father having someone else in his life. After all, he had spent his past life alone, and now, although things would be different in this one, having a spouse was different from having children.

An old partner, companionship in old age… Children could not possibly accompany their parents forever; only their lifelong partners could truly stay by their side.

Even though she didn’t want to share her dad with anyone else.

Because her dad belonged to her alone.

And now there was this strange woman trying to steal her father, and she didn’t have a reason to stop her.

Her expression softened.

“After you marry my dad, will I become a insignificant figure?”

She stuck out her lower lip, “Everyone says that if you get a stepmother, you’ll get a stepfather.”

Ren Li was briefly startled, then laughed out loud, “You little devil! Just don’t let anyone else get ahead of you, and no one will cast you aside, okay?”

“Will you give me a brother then?” Tang Yuxin asked next.

Ren Li blinked, “I thought you didn’t want to be rendered insignificant?”

“Of course,” Tang Yuxin bowed her head, her long eyelashes creating veil of mystery.

“If you are going to be with my dad, I won’t object. But you have to give me a brother.”

“I’d like to,” Ren Li laughed bitterly, “But I’m already 35 years old, and in ten years of marriage, we didn’t have any children. What if I can’t have any?”

“You can,” Tang Yuxin confidently said, “Even if you can’t, I’ll make sure you do. And don’t worry, I won’t ask you to sacrifice too much.”

Tang Yuxin was confident in her medical skills. Ren Li had no health issues. As for not being able to conceive a child in ten years, it wasn’t solely the woman’s fault; men can have issues too. Back in ancient times, or even currently, society tends to blame the woman, not realizing that infertility is a shared problem.

But most of the time, it is the woman who has problems, and that’s normal, but it’s not absolute.

She had taken Ren Li’s pulse before; her fertility wasn’t an issue.