Becoming a Scum A in an Old-School Melodramatic Novel - Chapter 2

When the kindergarten teacher, Ms. Zhao, heard that Shen Xian was Shen Tian’s mommy, she finally allowed her to take the child.

Shen Xian quickly walked toward the convenience store with Shen Tian in her arms, thinking that her top priorities right now were to raise her favorability score and make money. At the moment, she didn’t fully understand this world. Relying solely on the descriptions from the original book wasn’t enough to help her integrate quickly. She needed to spend a few days adapting first.

As she was thinking this, the big one and the little one had already walked into the store. A tall woman was also there, shopping with her child.

“Tian Tian, who’s holding you?” that child asked.

Shen Tian’s eyes lit up when she saw the child. That was her best friend in kindergarten, Li Mengmeng. There were a few kids at school who always called her a “wild child without a mommy.” Only Mengmeng was willing to play with her. Shen Tian had never told Lin Qinghan about these things.

Now that the person holding her was her mommy, Shen Tian revealed a sweet smile and said, “Mengmeng, this is my mommy! I have a mommy.” As if trying to prove she wasn’t lying, Shen Tian straightened her tiny back proudly.

“Mm-hmm. Hello, Auntie, I understand, Tian Tian,” Li Mengmeng also gave Shen Tian a big smile.

Li Mengmeng’s mommy finished paying and politely said to Shen Xian, “Tian Tian’s mommy, we’ll head out first. Mengmeng, say goodbye.”

Seeing Shen Tian being held in Shen Xian’s arms, Li Mengmeng also reached out to be picked up by her own mommy, then waved her hand and said, “Bye-bye, Tian Tian! Bye-bye, Auntie!”

“Mm-hmm! Bye-bye, Mengmeng! Bye-bye, Auntie!” Shen Tian obediently replied.

Shen Xian smiled at Shen Tian and felt relieved. She carried Shen Tian to the counter and let her choose some snacks she liked. Shen Tian nervously clenched her little hands and didn’t say a word, just looking around with pursed lips.

With no other choice, Shen Xian picked out some snacks for her. They weren’t expensive, and Shen Xian filled Shen Tian’s little backpack with them. She still had {over 60 yuan} left, so she placed a 50 yuan bill into the inner pocket of Shen Tian’s bag.

Shen Tian looked at her, confused. “Is this for Tian Tian?”

Shen Xian nodded. “Didn’t mommy borrow 10 yuan from you yesterday? This is to pay you back. The rest is your allowance.”

Shen Tian still hesitated. She looked at Shen Xian with pursed lips and said, “But… Mom said I can’t take things from others.”

“Mommy’s not ‘others,’ okay? Take it. Alright, let’s head back and wait for your mom.”

Shen Xian smiled and patted Shen Tian’s little ponytail. It was quite cute.

Just as the two of them walked out of the store, a red-eyed woman blocked their path. Choking back tears, the woman grabbed the child from Shen Xian’s arms.

“Shen Xian, what exactly are you trying to do? I already told you, I don’t have any more money to give you. I still have to save for the next semester’s tuition. Can you stop coming to us? Or do you want to sell Tian Tian too?!”

The woman was a bit shorter than Shen Xian. Her features were gentle, with soft curls resting on her shoulders. Her fair skin and reddened eyes made her look even more delicate. Shen Xian immediately recognized her — it was her ex-wife.

Watching the number above Lin Qinghan’s head drop straight from [‘-130′] to [“-150″], Shen Xian felt cold all over. If it dropped any further, she’d be dead for sure. She quickly explained, “I really didn’t mean any harm. I just brought Tian Tian to buy some snacks. Really. We were going to head back and find you when you showed up.”

Lin Qinghan didn’t believe a word. She turned to look at Shen Tian in her arms. Shen Tian nodded and spoke weakly, “Mommy is telling the truth.” As she spoke, she unzipped her little backpack and showed Lin Qinghan.

“Tian Tian, did you forget what Mom told you? Don’t take things from others. And in the future, if Mom’s not with you, you’re not allowed to go with your mommy, understand?”

Lin Qinghan’s voice was a little stern. Shen Tian couldn’t hold it in anymore — her tears fell in big drops.

“Wuwuwu, Tian Tian was wrong, Mom don’t be mad…”

Seeing her daughter crying, Lin Qinghan sighed and coaxed her. “Mom isn’t blaming Tian Tian. I’m just worried something might happen to you. Be good, don’t cry. From now on, if there’s anything you want, tell Mom. Mom will buy it for you.”

While crying, Shen Tian sobbed out in her cute little voice, “Wuwuwu, Tian Tian doesn’t want snacks anymore… I don’t want Mom to work so hard…”

“Mom isn’t working too hard. Tian Tian doesn’t need to worry about that. Grown-ups handle that stuff. Mom was just too harsh earlier.” Lin Qinghan comforted her for a while until Shen Tian’s crying finally stopped. Reluctantly, she handed her little backpack back to Shen Xian. Mom said she shouldn’t take it, so she wouldn’t. She didn’t want to make her mom upset.

Lin Qinghan stuffed the bag back into Shen Tian’s arms and told her to go wait with Ms. Zhao for a bit. Then she turned to Shen Xian and said, “I already told you, I really don’t have any more money to give you. You just saw it too — how careful Tian Tian is with everything. It breaks my heart. Other kids at her age shouldn’t have to worry about money. Shen Xian, if you still have a shred of conscience, I beg you to leave us alone.”

As she spoke, Lin Qinghan wiped the tears from her cheek and pulled out her phone. Even just opening WeChat took a while — it was clear the phone was pretty worn out. She opened the chat with Shen Xian and said while clicking, “Tian Tian and I still need some money to live on… otherwise we won’t make it through the month. I’ll transfer another 200 yuan to you. Please, just stop coming to find Tian Tian. She’s just a child.”

Shen Xian sighed. The original Shen Xian really was garbage. Because of all her past actions, no one would believe anything she said now. This story was starting in the worst possible place — she’d have to take it one step at a time.

“You really don’t need to give me any money. I didn’t come to ask you for money. I genuinely just wanted to see the child for a bit, that’s all. Don’t worry — if I ever want to take the child out to play, I’ll definitely let you know in advance. I’m sorry about earlier, for making you so anxious.”

Lin Qinghan didn’t care about anything she said — she sent over 200 yuan and went to pick up Shen Tian. Shen Xian glanced at the red packet on her phone and sighed before turning to walk back.

Right now, she had nowhere to go. Even if she had great skills in her past life, now she was like a clever woman who couldn’t cook without rice. ‘Two of her four mission targets‘ had already seen her just now, and neither had a single positive favorability rating toward her. She might as well go home and see the original body’s parents. Things really were a complete mess right now.

As she thought this, Shen Xian pulled up the original scenes from the book that described how the original owner hurt her parents. The damage she had done to her parents and family had started back in middle school. Scheming with classmates to run “xianren tiao” scams (a kind of honeytrap con) to cheat money out of her family was a regular occurrence. She even stole money from relatives several times when visiting them. Later on, it got worse — she used the money she tricked out of her parents and relatives to treat others to meals and show off, acting high and mighty. Eventually, she learned how to gamble, and she burned through money like water. The original owner was like a bottomless pit — whenever her parents paid off her debts, she would quickly rack up new ones.

The most she owed at one point was | nearly a million yuan |. Debt collectors brought several people to their home to demand payment. Her father, Shen Wenkang, who had lived a decent and honest life all his years, was so angered by this that he suffered a stroke. He used to be such a strong and spirited man, but now he couldn’t even walk without someone helping him. Her mother, after selling the house to repay the debt, maybe felt life was too hopeless — she took a whole bottle of pills. If it hadn’t been for the timely arrival of the original owner’s third aunt and uncle, her mother wouldn’t have made it.

Shen Xian was furious. How could someone who had their parents’ love not know how to cherish it? In her past life, she often thought how amazing it would be if she had parents — she would definitely take care of them well and make sure they lived a carefree life forever.

She sighed. Since she’d ended up in this body, she’d take responsibility and care for the original owner’s parents. Gritting her teeth, she still didn’t know how she was going to face them. Twenty thousand yuan might have been nothing to her in the past, but to an average person, that was several months’ worth of wages.

Forget it. One step at a time.

As she thought this, Shen Xian headed toward the house. Before long, she reached the door. She stood there, took a few deep breaths, and lightly pressed the doorbell. It seemed someone had opened the door inside. Just as she thought she’d be shut out, the security door swung open, revealing the face of a middle-aged woman who looked to be in her fifties. Her face was tired. She glanced at Shen Xian, said nothing, and turned to go back into the house. But she didn’t close the security door.

Shen Xian felt a bit sour inside. Even after all the terrible things the original owner had done, her parents still wouldn’t truly shut her out. She felt ashamed on behalf of the original owner.

After a moment of hesitation, Shen Xian stepped inside and changed into house slippers. In the living room, her father was sitting on the sofa watching TV. Because of his limited mobility, there was a small walker in front of him. Shen Xian walked over and, after hesitating for a long time, finally called out, “Dad.”

It was the first time in her whole life she had ever said “Dad.”

She looked at the aged man before her — and above his head, a line of transparent numbers floated. To her surprise, the number was 50. Shen Xian’s eyes immediately turned red. Even after everything the original owner had done to him, her father still didn’t truly hate her.

She then looked at her mother, who was busy in the kitchen. Above her head floated a number as well — 40. The original owner really had no idea how lucky she was.

It seemed Fang Jinglan didn’t want to talk to the original owner much. At that moment, the mechanical voice of the system sounded in Shen Xian’s mind:

“Host, please clean and mop the floor thoroughly. <Task completion reward: ‘200 yuan’>”

This kind of task wasn’t difficult for Shen Xian. Even though she hadn’t needed to do this kind of thing in her last life later on, the habits she developed as a child were still there. She immediately found a broom and dustpan and started cleaning.

The floor wasn’t very clean. Her father couldn’t even walk steadily, so of course he couldn’t do housework. As for the original owner — don’t even think about it. When she had money, she partied all day and barely came home. Only when she ran out of money did she remember she had a home and parents.

So everything in the household was handled by her mother alone. She also had to worry every day that the original owner would rack up more debt or get into trouble outside. It made Shen Xian’s heart ache just thinking about it.