Chapter 10: Down and Out

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Mommy, I’m hungry.”

In the room, the mother and son snuggled up to each other. Ling Lin held his stomach and looked at Pei Xin with an aggrieved expression.

No matter how sensible Ling Lin was, he was just a five-year-old child. He couldn’t bear the hunger at all.

Pei Xin rubbed his belly. She was often bullied and starved in prison, so she was already used to starving herself. However, she had forgotten that Ling Lin had not eaten for a long time.

“Ling Lin, you held on long enough. Wait for me here. I’ll go out and find something for you to eat, okay?”

“I want to go with you.” Ling Lin knew that there were many bad people here. He was a man. He wanted to protect his mother and not let her be bullied.

Pei Xin smiled in relief. “Stay here. I’ll be back soon. Nothing will happen. Look, you haven’t grown tall yet. You can’t walk fast. If we go out together, it might cause some delays.”

Hearing this, Ling Lin looked down at his short legs and said unhappily, “Alright, then you have to come back as soon as possible, okay?”

Pei Xin nodded and slowly walked out of the room.

Although she did not go to the Lu family often in the past, she was still familiar with the layout. Relying on her memory, she went to the front hall and was about to go to the kitchen to look for food… However, she hesitated when she stood in front of the front door.

She looked at the magnificent door, then at her old clothes and sloppy appearance. Comparing the two, she subconsciously wanted to turn around and leave.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” The nanny in the afternoon saw Pei Xin hesitating in the distance and scolded her.

“Hello, I just wanted to ask if there’s anything to eat.” Pei Xin heaved a sigh of relief. Someone had come. Although this person did not say anything good to her, she still had orders to follow.

“Food?” The nanny seemed to have heard a joke. “What are you expecting? Look at the time, lady. It’s already dark. There’s nothing to eat. Don’t tell me you’re expecting us to cook for you or something.”

The nanny’s words were still sharp and mean.

Pei Xin hurriedly waved her hand. “That’s not what I meant. Leftovers or biscuits are fine too.”

“There are leftovers!”

Pei Xin’s face revealed a happy expression, but the nanny changed the topic. “But they’ve all been fed to the dogs at home. Why don’t I go and see if they’ve finished eating?”

“No, there’s no need.”

Pei Xin knew that this was another insult to her. She didn’t have time to deal with them, and Ling Lin was still hungry and waiting for her to go back.

“Ms. Pei, you won’t mind, right? I’m sure there’s enough to go around!” The nanny shouted loudly behind Pei Xin. She had promised Ms. Ling to chase Pei Xin out of the Lu family at all costs.

If Pei Xin did not want to leave, she would be more than happy to do so for her. However, seeing that the woman would not leave without that little b*stard, the nanny could not help but feel defeated.

Pei Xin knew that no one would give her food here. She could only leave the Lu family and hope to find something along the way.

In fact, she knew that the chances were slim, but she was penniless and could not afford to buy food for her son at all. She was an adult, and it was not a problem for her to starve a few times, but she could not let Ling Lin starve too.

As she thought about it, tears flowed out of her eyes. She failed at being a mother. She gave birth to her child and did not give him a day of love before leaving him. Now, she was making him suffer with her.

She was like a ghost, wandering aimlessly in this wealthy district.

As she walked, she suddenly bumped into someone. The woman’s sharp voice broke the silence of the night. “Watch where you’re walking! Are you blind?!”

“Hey, isn’t this the supposed eldest daughter of the Pei family?” Another woman sized up Pei Xin and sneered.

“It really is her! It’s Pei Xin. If it wasn’t for Gu Su, I really wouldn’t have recognized you. How did our school belle turn into… this…” Wu Ling’s hand was pointing at Pei Xin’s body. She ignored the latter’s resistance and forcefully raised her face.

“Yeah, there were a lot of people chasing you back then. Do you think they’d regret it once they see you like this?” Gu Su echoed.

Pei Xin was often bullied by these two people when she was in school. They were all children from upper-class families, and Pei Xin was an exemplary child in the eyes of her teachers and parents. She was good-looking and many boys liked her. Therefore, most of the girls in school did not like her, and these two people usually were the ones that led the bullying.

She still remembered that the two of them had locked her up in the gym. If Lu Li hadn’t kicked the door open and found her, she would have to survive the cold dark night alone.