Chapter 113: 113 Shameless Woman

“How could I not be welcoming? I’m so happy you could come,” Liu Yujuan forced a reluctant smile on her face.

Xu Yang and Zhao Yuxin’s arrival had completely disrupted her plans.

Originally, she had intended to reminisce about the good old days of her romance with Zhao Hai, and then gradually steer the conversation toward reconciliation.

But with Xu Yang and Zhao Yuxin there, it became awkward to bring up her past romance with Zhao Hai.

Her mind raced as she thought of other tactics.

“Glad to hear that. Have you ordered yet? If not, let’s hurry up and order. I’ve been working all day; I didn’t have a good lunch and I’m starving,” Zhao Yuxin said as she pulled Xu Yang to sit down, with Zhao Hai next to Xu Yang.

A few seats away from Liu Yujuan.

“Not yet, you order,” Liu Yujuan responded.

“Then I’ll do it.” Zhao Yuxin picked up the menu and ordered seven or eight dishes, all the most expensive ones. “Oh, and you did say you were treating my dad to dinner, right? You’ll include Xu Yang and me in that as well? It would be awkward if after we’ve eaten you suggest going Dutch,” she added.

“Yuxin, what are you saying? Are you implying that I can’t even afford to treat you to a meal?” Liu Yujuan’s face took on an ugly expression.

Actually, she hadn’t planned on spending any money.

After all, if she invited Zhao Hai to dinner, surely a grown man like him wouldn’t expect her to pay, right?

But now that Xu Yang and Zhao Yuxin were there, it was different.

And obviously, Zhao Yuxin’s move was designed to corner her into committing to pay for the meal.

In this situation, she had no choice but to begrudgingly agree.

It didn’t matter. Once she and Zhao Hai got back together, spending Xu Yang, her future son-in-law’s money, would be as easy as asking how much she wanted.

“As long as you can afford it, I just think it’s better to be clear about these things upfront to avoid any unpleasantness later,” Zhao Yuxin said.

What followed was silence.

Zhao Hai hadn’t figured out how to address the matter with Zhao Hai.

Zhao Hai didn’t want to be the first to speak. If Liu Yujuan wanted to talk, fine, if not, so be it.

The dishes were swiftly served.

As the four of them started eating, neither Liu Yujuan nor Zhao Hai spoke.

Only Xu Yang and Zhao Yuxin, the young couple, exchanged words.

They chat about work and daily life.

And they mentioned that the food tasted great, worthy of being a restaurant that “Brother Yi” had recommended.

The meal was soon drawing to a close.

Liu Yujuan found herself forced to speak up.

“Zhao Hai, I asked you out today because I have something to tell you.”

She had eaten her meal absentmindedly, her mind occupied with how to approach the subject with Zhao Hai.

“I’m almost full, I was starting to think you wouldn’t bring it up,” Zhao Hai said as he put down his chopsticks, took a sip of tea, and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Zhao Hai, what if—I mean just if—I divorced Yang Tiancheng, would you remarry me?” Liu Yujuan, unable to think of any sort of preamble, just blurted out her question.

Xu Yang and Zhao Yuxin exchanged a glance that suggested ‘just as expected’.

Zhao Hai had suspected as much.

Now it seemed Zhao Hai had guessed right.

Zhao Hai had insisted Zhao Yuxin accompany him specifically to avoid misunderstandings about their meeting.

To prevent rumors of their meeting reaching Yang Tiancheng’s ears and causing a misinterpretation, which would be problematic.

He absolutely wouldn’t meet Liu Yujuan alone.

Zhao Yuxin certainly didn’t want her father to get back together with Liu Yujuan.

In Zhao Yuxin’s view, a woman like Liu Yujuan didn’t deserve her father at all.

Even though Liu Yujuan was her biological mother.

But Zhao Yuxin had the utmost contempt for Liu Yujuan’s character.

“Liu Yujuan, don’t you find it laughable to ask such a question?” Zhao Hai scoffed.

“What’s so laughable about it? You and I have two daughters, Yu Xin and Yu Lu. Isn’t reconciliation perfectly normal?” Liu Yujuan asserted as if it were a matter of course.

“To you, it might seem normal, but to me, it’s not,” Zhao Hai said. “I can tell you unequivocally that I will not reconcile with you. You should just give up on that idea.”

“Zhao Hai, how can you be so heartless? Even if you don’t consider me, you should think about Yu Lu. Yu Lu has never really had any happy times growing up in the Yang household.”

“You know what kind of person Yang Tiancheng is. He has never treated Yu Lu as his daughter. In his eyes, there’s only his good-for-nothing son.”

“Our life at the Yang’s hasn’t been easy, and the only reason I chose to reconcile with you was to improve Yu Lu’s future,” she said.

“You’re her biological father; it’s your responsibility and duty to take care of her. You can’t just care for Yu Xin and ignore Yu Lu.”

Liu Yujuan brought up Zhao Yuxin to make her point.

“Liu Yujuan, you really are shameless!” Zhao Yuxin couldn’t help but speak out.

“Zhao Yuxin, I’m your mother. Watch the way you speak!” Liu Yujuan’s face turned livid with anger.

“I’ve said it before; I’ve never considered you my mother, so don’t always bring up that relationship to make a point,” Zhao Yuxin retorted.

“Let me tell you, even if my dad had agreed to reconcile with you, I would never consent.”

“In my eyes, a woman like you is absolutely unworthy of my dad!”

“You have the nerve to say that Dad has a responsibility to take care of my sister and then accuse him of neglecting her?”

“You need to understand that it was you who took my sister away from Dad of your own accord, not Dad who neglected her.”

“If you hadn’t taken her away, I’m sure Dad would have been more than happy to raise both of us together,” she said.

“Now that you see Dad’s life has improved, you want to come back to him, and you’ve come up with such a high-sounding excuse—no, not a high-sounding excuse, but a shameless one.”

“Thinking about it, only a woman like you could do something like this. You’re shameless to begin with,” Zhao Yuxin continued her tirade of criticism against Liu Yujuan.

Zhao Yuxin’s barrage left Liu Yujuan with a face alternating between shades of green and white.

“You…” Liu Yujuan was so furious she couldn’t find the words to speak.

“My dad and I have made our stance clear. You can give up on any hope of reconciling with him. Let’s go, Dad.” Zhao Yuxin said as she pulled Xu Yang and prepared to leave, with Zhao Hai standing up to follow.

“Bastards!”

Liu Yujuan was so angry that her face turned the color of iron, and she smashed a teacup onto the floor.

Her well-laid plans had been foiled by Zhao Yuxin.

The situation, as it turned out, was not to her advantage.

This significantly increased the difficulty of reconciling with Zhao Hai.

But with Zhao Yuxin interfering, she truly was out of options.

Zhao Yuxin had always been prejudiced against her, never having a good word to say upon meeting.

Indeed, in her view, she was not in the wrong; it was Zhao Yuxin who was biased against her.

From Zhao Yuxin’s perspective, it was different.

She held no prejudices against Liu Yujuan; she was simply stating the blatant truth.

“Waiter, the bill, please!” Liu Yujuan called out.

The server approached swiftly.

“Good evening, ma’am. The total comes to 23,263 yuan, but we can round down the amount. It will be just 23,000 yuan,” the server said with a smile, placing a bill in front of Liu Yujuan.

“What did you say? 23,000 yuan?” Liu Yujuan stood up abruptly.

“Yes, madam, that’s the discounted price,” the server replied with a smile.

“That’s impossible. This is just an ordinary restaurant, not some fancy establishment. The dishes didn’t seem that special. How could it be so expensive?” Liu Yujuan’s face turned an ugly shade at the cost.

She had been preoccupied with her thoughts and hadn’t paid any attention to whether the food was particularly good or not.