Ch 47: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

As soon as Ruan Zhengfei got in the car, he noticed Ruan Cha happily taking photos of a small, exquisite gold medal, about the size of a ping-pong ball. Curious, he waited for her to finish and then picked up the medal to examine it. “Basketball championship prize? Cha Cha, since when did your basketball skills get good enough to win first place?”

“How bad must the school’s basketball standards be for that to happen?”

Ruan Cha puffed her cheeks and snatched the medal back. “You’re underestimating me again! Besides, with my standing-still shooting skills, how could I possibly win first place? It was Fu Chen who won first place in the grade-wide basketball tournament. He gave me the medal and said it’s for our study group mascot.”

“Mascot?”

Ruan Zhengfei frowned, thinking back to Fu Chen’s father’s unusually warm behavior earlier. The thought hit him hard—could it be that Fu Chen’s father was eyeing his daughter as a potential match?

Whose family do you think you’re marrying into?

You already tried playing in-laws with the Liang family for over a decade, and now you want your son to marry into mine?

Ruan Zhengfei watched his oblivious daughter snapping pictures of the medal and felt conflicted. Should he warn her, risking awakening her awareness to such things, or say nothing and risk his little “precious piglet” being stolen away?

Luckily, Ruan Cha didn’t give him much time to spiral into his thoughts. She quickly tucked the medal into her schoolbag, turned to him with an earnest expression, and said, half-jokingly and half-seriously, “Dad, let me tell you something. That guy sitting behind you? He’s a big name in psychology. I heard from his… son that he’s been doing hypnosis research for a long time. If you ever run into him again, be careful not to get hypnotized.”

After a moment of thought, she added, “And just now, I saw him talking to Auntie Liang. Think about her usual behavior. What if she’s already been hypnotized by him?”

After all, Yu Zheng is a bad guy anyway—might as well blame everything on him.

Ruan Zhengfei: “…”

Cha Cha must really feel wronged. Why else would she come up with all these conspiracy theories just a few months after moving to Nan City?

Meeting his daughter’s bright, glimmering black eyes, Ruan Zhengfei sighed and pinched her cheek gently. “Alright, alright. Maybe your Auntie Liang was hypnotized by him. I’ll be careful. I won’t let him pull any tricks on me.”

Conspiracy theory or not, what choice do I have but to play along?

The driver silently sighed to himself: Ah, parents who spoil their kids…

After Ruan Zhengfei made his promise, he noticed Ruan Cha visibly relax as she opened a book to read. Shaking his head, he recalled how just last Saturday, when Cha Cha mentioned hypnosis at home, he and Wei Jiao had stayed up until midnight researching it, worried that their daughter’s unusual behavior might somehow be related.

In the end, their research yielded a conclusion that wasn’t exactly reassuring but wasn’t entirely discouraging either. Hypnosis couldn’t implant thoughts or emotions out of thin air—it could only amplify what was already there. For example, if Liang Qianling harbored some mild dislike for them, hypnosis might push that to an extreme, but it wouldn’t create hostility out of nowhere.

Even so, Ruan Zhengfei and Wei Jiao hadn’t shared their findings with the rest of the Liang family. Watching Liang Lao and Liang Zongqi so diligently investigating, they felt it wasn’t the right time to say anything. After all, who wants to believe their own family might have malicious intentions, even if those intentions are mild?

Still, stepping outside their usual ways of thinking and considering the possibility of hypnosis, Ruan Zhengfei and Wei Jiao couldn’t entirely dismiss the idea.

Living with the Liang family for a few months had left a strong impression on them. The family had a deeply ingrained culture of integrity. Even if they might produce the occasional frivolous offspring, it was hard to imagine the Liang family raising someone who outright resented their own kin.

When Ruan Cha and Ruan Zhengfei arrived home, it was just six in the evening. Except for Liang Zongqi, who was still at the company, and Liang Cunjin, who had just returned from shooting an ad half an hour ago, the house felt empty, with most people upstairs.

In the living room, only Liang Cunjin was lounging on the couch, playing a game. Seeing the security camera at the door tilt slightly in her direction, Ruan Cha waved cheerfully, “Hello again to the brothers and sisters in the monitoring room. Good evening!”

In the control room, a few staff members munching on snacks waved back at the screen, responding enthusiastically, “Good evening, Cha Cha~”

Although Ruan Cha had only participated in one episode of recording, her straightforward personality, fierce protectiveness of her family, and her mix of maturity with a touch of playful self-admiration had won over the staff and viewers alike. She was refreshingly authentic and utterly adorable.

Her antics had even popularized a set of reaction memes. Thanks to Liang Cunjin’s frequent use of them in the celebrity circle, the “[Ruan Cha: Reaction Pack]” had quietly become a trendy staple in the group chats of various stars.

Most importantly—
The staff glanced at the array of fruit baskets around them, silently wiping their eyes. The fruit gifts from Ruan Cha’s parents were so delicious they were practically moved to tears. Bowing to such delectable offerings? No problem.

Seeing her come in, Liang Cunjin turned off his game and waved her over. Shifting aside, he revealed a large box behind him with a grin. “Come and check out the gift your second brother prepared for you! Congratulations on taking first place for the entire grade at midterms!”

At this, Ruan Zhengfei patted Ruan Cha’s shoulder, signaling for her to go ahead, before heading upstairs to find Wei Jiao. There were some things he needed to discuss with her.

This is all our fault. We’ve been too much of slackers!

When Ruan Cha approached and saw the person-sized pink box, she was a bit taken aback. “A gift? Didn’t you already give me one last time?”

At her words, Liang Cunjin thought back to how frugal and meticulous she’d been about budgeting her game expenses. Though still young, she was surprisingly responsible and thrifty. Laughing, he pulled her over to open the box. “This is different! Last time was for ranking sixth. This time it’s for first. When you ace finals, I’ll get you another big box.”

In the past, whenever Mengyu’s grades improved, he and their eldest brother would always buy her gifts. But now that relations with the Song family had soured, and with Mengyu’s incident involving that moisturizer during the variety show, Liang Cunjin felt a lingering sense of unease. So, he decided against buying her anything this time.

When Ruan Cha opened the box and saw various figurines of characters from her favorite game, her fair face visibly froze, eyes widening as she stared. “Second Brother—”

“Hehe, you love it, don’t you?” Liang Cunjin reached out to ruffle her hair, looking smug. “I’m not like Big Brother, who only buys impractical princess dresses. I noticed you’re into this game, so I got you figurines of all the characters you play as. When new ones come out, we’ll get those too!”

A brilliant smile spread across Ruan Cha’s face as she hugged Liang Cunjin tightly, clinging to him like a lazy little koala. “Thank you, Second Brother, I love it! I’ll bring all the ones I have back at the old house here so the family members can reunite!”

Haha, one of these is even a limited edition! I could never get my hands on it before!

Just as Liang Cunjin was about to bask in his own glory and praise himself further, he suddenly paused, frowning in confusion. “Family members? You’ve already bought figurines before?”

He usually collected sneakers and knew little about figurines. When he arranged to purchase some recently, he was shocked to realize that collecting figurines was no cheaper than his sneaker hobby.

This single box alone had cost tens of thousands of yuan.

But wasn’t Cha Cha supposed to be so thrifty that she lived on just a couple hundred yuan of monthly allowance?

Ruan Cha nodded, her eyes sparkling like stars as she talked about her favorite figurines. “Of course, I’ve bought them! Every year! Usually, Mom and Dad oversee the purchases because we’re too slow to grab the limited editions. So, we just collect the anniversary classics. We’ve filled up a whole room! One day, I’ll show you everything, Second Brother. I keep them meticulously clean.”

Liang Cunjin: “…”

Anniversary classics? Each one costs several thousand, and she calls them some?

For a moment, Liang Cunjin was filled with complex emotions. He might have seriously underestimated the financial standing of Cha Cha’s family.

In the control room, the staff quietly set down their fried chicken, exchanging puzzled looks.
“Who was spreading rumors that Cha Cha’s family is poor?”

Poor enough to buy an entire room full of figurines, each worth thousands?

Ruan Cha finished speaking without realizing anything was odd. Her mom often said, “It’s just a figurine—selling a few cabbages will cover it.” Instead of saying they’d hoarded figurines, it was more accurate to say they’d hoarded cabbages.

Figurines = cabbages. Makes perfect sense!

---

When Ruan Zhengfei went upstairs, Wei Jiao was in their room sorting through a recently delivered batch of little dresses, humming cheerfully. These were custom-made by a friend and guaranteed to make Cha Cha the cutest and most beautiful child at the event.

“Jiao Jiao.”

Wei Jiao turned around and saw Ruan Zhengfei looking dejected, his shoulders slumped. She quickly walked over, full of concern. “Fei Fei, what’s wrong? You don’t look good. Did someone at the parent-teacher meeting upset you? Was it your second sister? Tell me, and I’ll go sort them out!”

Back at the orphanage, Wei Jiao had always been protected by Ruan Zhengfei. But ever since becoming a mom, her hidden genes for fierceness had emerged. In their small town, no one dared mess with her.

Ruan Zhengfei sighed and recounted what had happened at the meeting. “They were all talking about art exhibitions, auctions, projects, and stocks—every other word was about their companies. Then they asked about me, and all I could say was that our family collects rent.”

He paused, his tone tinged with grievance. “We have over a hundred buildings, but it’s still not good enough. They look down on us.”

Hearing this, Wei Jiao felt equally deflated. She closed the door and shared her own story from the art festival. “Those moms were all talking about jewelry and fine wines. I couldn’t join in, so I said I grow vegetables. I even offered discounts, but no one wanted to buy.”

She huffed. “What’s the point of selling cabbages for 1,000 yuan each if you’re still out of place?”

The couple finished their mutual venting, looked at each other, and sat down simultaneously. “Living in a big city is so hard.”

No proper jobs, no fancy hobbies—they were the odd ones out among the parents. And because of them, their precious Cha Cha must have been suffering in school.

Ruan Zhengfei, stuck on this thought, sighed. “Jiao Jiao, think about it. At school, the other kids talk about their family’s wine collections and companies. Our Cha Cha—”

Wei Jiao finished for him. “Our Cha Cha can only say, ‘My mom grows vegetables, and my dad collects rent.’ It’s obvious she’s different.”

Back in the small town, everyone grew vegetables, collected rent, or dabbled in jade, erhu, or textiles. None of them ran companies, and they never thought anything was odd about it. But now, the differences were glaring.

Ruan Zhengfei gripped Wei Jiao’s hand tightly. “We need to work hard!”

Wei Jiao held his hand back. “We must work hard!”

Then they looked at each other again and, after a pause, said in unison, “Let’s rest for a bit before working hard?”

Ruan Zhengfei & Wei Jiao: “…”

Turning over a salted fish takes more effort than expected.