Chapter 303: I"ll Do It
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Liu Ronghua locked the door. Her eyes had also turned red. "Danchen, I know that this is unfair to you, but… but I"m getting old, and I needed a guarantee. Uncle Shen"s visits are less frequent now. Who knows if he will just cut me off without a word and abandon me entirely? You"ve always known that my biggest dream is to be married into the Shen family, and to get a status in the family, just like a guarantee. All this so that I won"t need to live in fear that one day, he would leave me for someone else."

"Will he marry you if I were to agree with his terms?" Ruan Danchen asked with a pale face.

She was surprised when Liu Ronghua shook her head. "He… he promised to let me move into the Shen family"s home, but he… didn"t mention anything about marrying me."

Ruan Danchen did not know how to describe her feelings anymore. She felt as if she were either disappointed or upset about that.

"He didn"t promise to marry you, but only to let you move into their home. Yet you are willing to let me get in bed with a complete stranger?" Ruan Danchen screamed furiously. Her voice must have penetrated the walls of the room.

"Danchen, please lower your voice. Don"t let Uncle Shen hear this," Liu Ronghua whispered as she grabbed Ruan Danchen"s arm hastily.

Ruan Danchen threw Liu Ronghua"s hand away violently. Her voice broke as she said, "I can"t believe you"re worried about Shen Jialiang hearing us now! Are you really my mother? How can a mother sell out her own daughter for her gain? What are you thinking?!"

"Danchen, I have no other choice!" Liu Ronghua started to bawl too. "I"m already 40. I"m not young anymore. If I can"t find another man who wants me, how am I going to survive in the future?"

"I can take care of you!" Ruan Danchen yelled.

"How are you going to do that? You"re still in school, and you"ve never worked before. Besides, your school fees are all paid by Shen Jialiang. Where are you going to find money to take care of me? Let"s not talk about buying a house because you can"t even afford to pay rent!" Liu Ronghua shrieked.

As she had been with Shen Jialiang for so many years, she had gotten used to a comfortable lifestyle. She did not want to return to the pitiful days where she suffered with Ruan Danchen.

"Can"t I work while I"m studying?" Ruan Danchen cried, "I don"t need you to work. As long as I don"t have to sell my body, I will take care of you even if it means that I don"t have money to feed myself!"

"I"ve had enough of that kind of horrid life! Danchen, you know me, I can"t suffer through that. Besides, all these years, my biggest wish is to be married into the Shen family. It has been my dream for years. How can you tell me to give up on that when I have come so far? I"ll lose everything."

Ruan Danchen was utterly bewildered at the fact that Liu Ronghua could say such things. She was so exasperated that she started to laugh. "Now I know why all those men broke up with you after only a short while. You are a leech. All you know to do is to suck the blood of others. Eventually, you will suck all the blood out of the people that you love if they were to stay by your side."

"Danchen, how could you say that to me?" Liu Ronghua was both angry and distressed. She had taken care of Ruan Danchen for so many years, and yet she condemned her so. "Why don"t you think about how long Uncle Shen had taken care of you too? For all these years, he had paid for your food, clothes, and even your school fees."

"Are you saying I should use my body to repay what I owed him?" Ruan Danchen"s lips trembled furiously. Her chest hurt as if a hammer had struck it. There were no words to describe the sorrow and despair that she felt.

"I know what he thinks of me. Every time I look at him, the words "you owe me" are written all over his face. So, I have made my decision to earn and pay back every penny that he ever spent on me. The truth is, I"ve already found a job, and I"m starting tomorrow. Even though I"m only getting meager pay now, it"ll still be enough for next year"s school fees. I don"t need Shen Jialiang"s money."

"Then, would you do it as a way to repay me?" Liu Ronghua clutched onto Ruan Danchen"s arms as she cried. "I raised you all these years, and it was not easy. Can you do this for me? Just help me this once, please. Danchen, I"m begging you."

"Do you really want to be a part of the Shen family so badly?" Ruan Danchen looked at Liu Ronghua in disbelief. How could she sacrifice her daughter for that?

"Yes, I do." Liu Ronghua nodded as she continued to sob. "Danchen, I"m begging you. I would do anything to be a part of the Shen family. Please, just help me this once! I"ll even kneel! As your mom, I"m kneeling to beg you, so please, Danchen, just this once. You won"t have anything to lose, Danchen, please."

Ruan Danchen was smiling and crying at the same time. She was utterly disappointed. She felt as if her life had ended.

She did not expect that Liu Ronghua would kneel in front of her. When her mother knelt, Ruan Danchen could not take it anymore.

"If I agree to it this once, the two of you will think that you can simply sell my body to anyone. Will you treat me like a prost.i.tute and have me sleep with man after man?" Ruan Danchen asked as she knelt too. Her heart was filled with disgust, and she felt a s.h.i.+ver down her spine.

She pulled away from Liu Ronghua"s clutch and shuffled two steps back. She crossed her arms to hug herself. She felt frigid. She had no idea what would happen to her after that.

The dreadful despair made her s.h.i.+ver uncontrollably.

"We won"t! It"s just this once! I promise!" Liu Ronghua nodded continuously as if to a.s.sure Ruan Danchen. "Truthfully, Uncle Shen had been paying attention to you all these years."

"Stop calling him "Uncle Shen"! Shen Jialiang is a cold-blooded monster!" At that moment, Ruan Danchen despised Shen Jialiang from the depths of her heart.

"He had always paid attention to you," Liu Ronghua continued, "He knows that you are pure and clean. You"re never… never had a man. That"s also one of the reasons he asked for you. He also has his back against the wall. Qi Chenglin is a self-loving man with principles. He had never been a player, and in all these years, there isn"t a single rumor about him. It"s a trend for the youngsters to date celebrities, but he had never done that either. That"s why Shen Jialiang thinks that if… if he thinks that it"s Zhijing"s first time, and in addition to her being from the Shen family, he would take responsibility for it. Coincidentally, you are a—"

"Enough!" Ruan Danchen interrupted, "If I agree to this, do you promise that it will be just this once?"

"I promise!" Liu Ronghua nodded intensely as she smiled and sobbed.

"Come on, stand up. I"ll do it," Ruan Danchen said weakly as she continued to sob.

"Really?" Liu Ronghua smiled with joy. She quickly dried her tears with her hand and then stood up.

Ruan Danchen also stood up slowly. She had no strength to stand, so she leaned against the wall.

She glared at Liu Ronghua scornfully. A sad smile appeared on her pale face. She mocked, "I hope that you won"t get kicked out after you get into the Shen family"s home."

"Rest a.s.sured, Danchen, I won"t let your sacrifice go to waste." Liu Ronghua wiped her tears dry. She abruptly became confident. "Getting into their home is only the first step. As long as I can get in, there"s a chance that I"ll become Mrs. Shen one day. If I can"t even set foot into their home, then how can I become Mrs. Shen?"

"I hope that you can sit firmly on the position that you would have gained with your daughter"s purity," Ruan Danchen uttered coldly. There was not a hint of warmth in her words.

Liu Ronghua was stunned. Her confident expression turned sorrowful again. "Danchen, you hate me, don"t you?"

Ruan Danchen did not answer her. She stood up straight and exited the room immediately.

Shen Jialiang sat in the living room with a dark expression. He heard all the things that Ruan Danchen yelled out as if he was not there.

"I"ll agree to your condition." Ruan Danchen looked at Shen Jialiang coldly. "Nonetheless, even though I have never seen or heard of Qi Chenglin, I know that he"s not that dumb. How would he think that I"m your daughter?"

"You don"t have to worry about that. The only thing that concerns you is climbing into his bed," Shen Jialiang commanded crudely.

Ruan Danchen"s face paled at his vulgar words. She clenched her fists, but yet she did not utter a single word.

Shen Jialiang continued, "If you succeed in doing this, I won"t mistreat you. I know that you are majoring in design, so not only will I continue to pay your school fees, I will negotiate with your school to make you a foreign exchange student. You can study abroad, and I"ll take care of all of your expenses."

"There"s no need for that," Ruan Danchen interrupted him coldly.

Unexpectedly, Shen Jialiang glared at her mockingly. "A youngster like you shouldn"t make decisions based on your instinct. Don"t ruin your future because of your emotions. Take what you should."

Ruan Danchen scowled at him too. "You have spent quite a large amount on my school fees already, so I"ll feel sorry if I were to ask you for more. After I helped you with this, we"ll be even, so stop acting like I owe you anything anymore."

Shen Jialiang scoffed. He looked down at her arrogant att.i.tude with disdain as he thought that it was just a pretentious act.

At that moment, Ruan Danchen felt as if she was a puppet drained of all human emotions. She stared at Shen Jialiang apathetically.

He was a good-looking man. Even though he was already 49 years old, his body was still in good shape, and he had pretty attractive features. It was apparent that he was a handsome man in his younger years.

"Don"t think that I"m pretentious either. Of course, I have conditions of my own before I agree to do this," Ruan Danchen revealed calmly.

Shen Jialiang"s expression was full of contempt as he scoffed. "What conditions?"

"From today onward, I will move out of here. I won"t stay in the house that you, Shen Jialiang, bought. The money that you"ve spent on me previously, I"ll pay you back. If you think that it"s not enough, I will resume payment when I start to earn more in the future. From now on, anything that involves the two of you is none of my concern. When this ends, I won"t be coming back here."

She did not know if Liu Ronghua would ask her to do other things for her if she were to stay with her.

She had already made her sleep with a stranger for her own status; she might make her sleep with another man for Shen Jialiang"s business next.

All of that terrified her!

She felt as if the sole reason that Liu Ronghua raised her was for that day.

However, in truth, Liu Ronghua had not spent much money on her. She had never stopped having boyfriends, so they covered most of her school fees and daily expenses.

If it were not for those men, Ruan Danchen was not even sure if Liu Ronghua would let her continue with her studies.

When she was in school, she never had any tutors. She worked hard, and with each step that she took, she eventually made it into A University.

Ever since she knew how to take care of herself, Liu Ronghua had never given her any care in her life. The sad truth was that Liu Ronghua could barely even take care of herself.

Ruan Danchen ran errands and did ch.o.r.es all by herself. Liu Ronghua was always busy with dates, and she could count the times that she was home with the fingers on just one hand.

Ruan Danchen basically raised herself.

Liu Ronghua did not even know that she had made it into A University. It was not until the day when she said that she would go to school, stay at the hostel, and only return home on the weekends that Liu Ronghua realized that she had already entered university.

It was quite an unbelievable tale. Even Ruan Danchen thought that it was fiction when she thought back on it. Alas, it was what happened to her.

Liu Ronghua came out with tears in her eyes. She stumbled into the living room with a hand on her mouth. "Danchen, how could you… how could you say that?"

"I am really terrified of you. When it comes to these things, once there"s a first time, a second one would follow. I"m still a virgin, and yet you can ask me to do this. Next time, you won"t think that it"s a big deal to ask me to do it again. You even told me that I had nothing to lose. You will ask me to do it for a second time, and then for the third time. Since I have agreed to it once already, you won"t think that it would make a difference if I were to do it again. Eventually, I will only be someone that you can sell to the highest bidder. I will only be your tool." For some reason, Ruan Danchen"s head was clear at that very moment. She could think straight, and she was able to think things through.

Liu Ronghua merely shook her head continuously. She did not dare to admit it, but she was the only one who knew the reason she did not refute Ruan Danchen"s theory.

"Go and find a lawyer on Monday. I need an agreement to make sure that after this, I"ll have no connection with the Shen family whatsoever. No matter what happens, you"re not allowed to make me sell my body again."

Ruan Danchen did not need to hear Shen Jialiang"s reply. She strode past Liu Ronghua, grabbed her bag from the sofa, and then she left.

Only Ruan Danchen knew how feeble she felt when she went past Liu Ronghua. She had the urge to lie down on the floor and cry her heart out, to beg Liu Ronghua not to do that to her. Why could they not have lived just as a mother-daughter duo?

They did not need any luxuries. Why would Liu Ronghua push her onto a stranger"s bed for a man like Shen Jialiang? It was just so that she could move into the Shen family"s home. He did not even promise to marry her.

Just like a prost.i.tute, she felt so dirty and cheap.

They had been together for so many years. If Shen Jialiang had genuinely wanted to marry her, he would have done so a long time ago. How could she not understand that Shen Jialiang had no intention to marry her? When she moved into the Shen family"s home, she might just become a house guest.

Ruan Danchen knew it was impossible for her mother to understand, so she swallowed it all and hid the words in her stomach.

She grabbed her bag and left. The moment she stepped into the elevator, she leaned against the wall weakly. She was completely drained.

She gradually slid down the elevator wall, and then she crouched on the floor. She covered her face with both hands and bawled her eyes out. She did not know how she would continue with her life.

Ruan Danchen moved back into the hostel. On Monday, she received a call from Shen Jialiang"s a.s.sistant, who told her to be at the company to sign the agreement.

They followed Ruan Danchen"s terms and the agreement that neither Shen Jialiang nor Liu Ronghua could make her sell her body again, make any unreasonable requests, or make her do anything against her will.

On Sunday, Shen Jialiang sent a driver to Ruan Danchen"s school quite early in the day. It was as if he was afraid that she would negate on their agreement.

During that week, Shen Jialiang had brought her to the hospital for a check-up to make sure that she was healthy and had no other problems with her body. He even brought her imported medicine, which was one of the best fertility drugs out there.

Shen Jialiang"s eye-catching Bentley was parked in front of the university"s entrance. Many students went in and out of the campus that day, so the car drew quite a lot of attention.

Ruan Danchen noticed that there were many pairs of eyes on her when she entered the car, and she wondered what they thought of her. She had kept a low profile throughout her university life. She never wore branded clothes, and she was also thrifty whenever she had to spend money. Everyone in her hostel even knew that she took a part-time job.

Even though Shen Jialiang gave her a good amount of allowance, she knew that he did so unwillingly. However, she could not drop out of school, so she let Liu Ronghua use the money that Shen Jialiang gave to pay for her school fees. Nevertheless, she had gotten a job to pay back every penny that he had spent on her. Apart from that, she did not use any of Shen Jialiang"s money.

She had to depend on her scholars.h.i.+p money to pay for her daily expenses. A University had many top students from all over the country, and she only got in due to the bonus points that were awarded to local B City students. She was not one of the top achievers in A University, but she still had exceptional grades.

She managed to exceed the requirements of the scholars.h.i.+p each time, but she still did not get much money from that.

The Bentley drove up to the Shen family"s courtyard entrance. Liu Ronghua had also just arrived, and Ruan Danchen ran into her there. She did not know how to face a mother who would push her own daughter onto a stranger"s bed for her own benefit.

Thus, Ruan Danchen merely glimpsed at her for a short while before she turned away. Ruan Danchen did not even greet her.

She walked past Liu Ronghua when she entered through the courtyard door. Then, Liu Ronghua called out from behind her, "Danchen!"

She held back her rage and stopped in her steps. However, before she could turn back, Liu Ronghua seized her arms.

"You hate me, right?" Liu Ronghua asked in distress. "Are you going to deny me as your mother after this?"

"Would you let me leave and not force me into sleeping with that man?" Ruan Danchen questioned her. Her eyes were red, but she regained some hope when she saw Liu Ronghua"s troubled look.

Liu ROnghua"s lips trembled. She mumbled, "It"s just this once. Please do it for your mother"s happiness. If I can become part of the Shen family, you will have a good life too. Wouldn"t that be great?"

Ruan Danchen pulled away from her mother"s grip despondently. Her lips trembled as she opened her mouth and coldly said, "We should head in. Shen Jialiang must be worried."

She did not wait for Liu Ronghua"s reply and entered the courtyard.

That was both Ruan Danchen and Liu Ronghua"s first time visiting the Shen family"s home. The Shen family"s housekeeper, Aunt Li, opened the door for them. Ruan Danchen silently a.s.sessed the luxury of the ma.s.sive mansion. She did not notice that Liu Ronghua, who followed behind her, shook with excitement.

As long as Ruan Danchen got pregnant, she would move into that palace. The mansion was colossal, and they even had maids. The two-bedroom apartment she lived in then was nothing compared to that.

Ruan Danchen entered the living room. Shen Jialiang must have told Aunt Li her role because she instructed, "Miss Ruan, Madam Liu, please come with me. Sir instructed that you must stay in the room first. Don"t show yourself."

Ruan Danchen glared when she heard that he wanted to keep her hidden.

They followed Aunt Li upstairs. Just as they headed toward the guest room at the end of the hallway, a door in the middle opened. A woman in her mid-twenties exited the room. She looked a little older than Ruan Danchen, and she was quite gorgeous.

Ruan Danchen reckoned that the lady was Shen Jialiang. If her memory served her right, Shen Zhijing was 24 years old that year.

Shen Zhijing stood in front of Ruan Danchen and glared at her coldly. She harbored great animosity toward Ruan Danchen, and she examined her from head to toe. When Shen Jialiang first suggested that they find a lady to take her place, Shen Zhijing had fumed with discontent.