Chapter 578 — Tang Yun's Tangled Thoughts: Who Knew Her Daughter Would End Up Disfigured Too! Mother Tang Only Wanted Her Daughter to Try — At Least There Would Be Something to Hold On To, Wouldn't There?

"So you're going to force me into it? When I was still pretty, I never went begging to him. Now that my face is ruined, how am I supposed to go beg him? You want me to beg him to take me as his mistress? I'm not that shameless — I couldn't bring myself to do it!" With a temper like Tang Yun's, how could she ever do such a thing?

If this had been before, with her mother pushing her to be a mistress, Tang Yun might have gritted her teeth and accepted it. After all, she could not let go of this relationship either. If she swallowed her pride a little, and Wei Zhao apologized to her, she might well have softened.

But now her face was ruined, and she was still supposed to go beg to be someone's mistress? How humiliating was that? What would Wei Zhao think of her? Tang Yun would have none of it.

Hearing this, Mother Tang could not help but fall silent. She was indeed a snob — vain, and hungry for show — but Tang Yun was, after all, her own daughter.

So when Young Master Bing had taken a fancy to Tang Yun, she had left the choice to Tang Yun herself, and when Tang Yun refused, she naturally did not press her. But Wei Zhao was different. Her daughter truly liked Wei Zhao — Mother Tang could see that plainly — so in her eyes, sending her daughter to Wei Zhao was only right.

Her daughter was not without feeling for Wei Zhao. Even if she was not good enough for him, even if she could not match the family background of the girlfriend he had now, surely she was pretty enough? To be a lover, or a concubine — a little humiliating, perhaps — but if her daughter was willing, Mother Tang would say nothing.

Love and bread rarely came together. She had toiled for most of her life, chasing a love that was nothing but mist and shadow, and she had seen enough of the world's fickleness and the coldness of human hearts. She was truly weary and worn out. She did not want her daughter to walk the same road she had.

When she looked at classmates her own age, some of them kept themselves up so well they still looked about thirty, and Mother Tang secretly envied them. She had been the school beauty once, the girl all the boys fought to court — and now? At class reunions, no one even bothered to say a few extra words to her.

Mother Tang knew her own life was settled. Marrying Old Tang had been her own choice; later Tang Yun came, and divorce was no longer possible — besides, she and Tang Jucheng did have feelings for each other.

But Tang Yun was different. Her daughter was only eighteen, in the very bloom of youth. If she could find a rich man she liked, that would be a decent way out. Otherwise, what could sheer hard work ever get her? How would she ever live a good life?

True, there were those who changed their lives through their own efforts, but there were also plenty of poor girls who, after graduation, could not find work, or could not find good work, and under the many pressures of society took the wrong path. They became bar girls, or someone's mistress, or else slept with their superiors and clients for promotions and money... Such things were not rare.

So Mother Tang felt her daughter would not come off badly with Wei Zhao. That was why she kept trying to push Tang Yun toward him.

Now, though, she had calmed down. Her daughter was right — with her face ruined, would Wei Zhao still want her? And if he refused, how mortifying would that be? With her daughter's fiery temper, she might even take her own life.

At that thought, Mother Tang no longer dared press her. "How about I make the call? I'll risk my old face. I've taken plenty of scorn in my life anyway — the worst that happens is Wei Zhao gives me a dressing-down, and what of it?"

"Mom, don't call..." Hearing those words, Tang Yun's heart quivered faintly, and all her earlier resentment toward her mother melted away in that instant. Her mother did love her after all. Yes — her mother had suffered for most of her life, and everything she schemed was for her daughter's sake, so that she would not live in poverty later. Her mother's ways might be a little extreme, but in this moment, Tang Yun understood her.

Yes — only moments before, watching the bulldozer push into their courtyard, watching the excavator smash their roof down, Tang Yun had felt so helpless, so utterly powerless. She wanted to fight fate, but she could not. Before those powerful villains, she truly had no strength to resist.

She understood her mother now. She knew why her mother had become so snobbish. Reality was like that — how could her mother not be snobbish? If she believed Wei Zhao was still her boyfriend, could he have stood by and let their home be torn down?

Zou Ruoming had tried to assault her, and after Wei Zhao taught him a lesson, the whole Zou family trembled before her like frightened grandsons. And they were one of the towering magnates of Songshan City! Before her, they did not dare even to breathe too loudly...

"Yun'er, your mother has no other way... I don't want to see you suffer!" Mother Tang sighed.

"Mom..." Tang Yun wept — wept so bitterly, so desolately. "I know you mean well by me, but I don't want to be so spineless. Wei Zhao doesn't want me anymore — how can we bring ourselves to go to him? If I hadn't ended up like this, it would be one thing; debts can always be repaid somehow, and if you truly can't repay them — well, isn't there a saying? A debt of favors is repaid in kind..."

Looking at Tang Yun, Mother Tang and Liu Xinwen both ached for her, and yet there was nothing they could do to help.

"Auntie, how about I go talk to Wei Zhao? I'm an outsider here — I don't care about saving face, and if he turns me down, it's no great matter." Liu Xinwen thought it over. She was the right one to make this call.

"That would be wonderful, Xinwen. I'll leave it to you!" When Mother Tang heard that Liu Xinwen was willing to make the call, she was delighted. It might not work, but trying was better than nothing, wasn't it? Surely Wei Zhao, remembering how Tang Yun had been with him, would not simply wash his hands of it?

Tang Yun bit her lip, wanting to stop her, but then sighed. At this moment, if not Wei Zhao, she truly did not know who else to turn to...

In just those few short minutes, something in Tang Yun's heart had suddenly come clear. The house was gone, her father's leg was broken, her face was ruined — the whole family could not be more miserable. To put it in the popular phrase: could it possibly get any worse?

In truth, deep down, Tang Yun also wanted to see whether Wei Zhao still cared about her. Faintly, she was still hoping. A young girl's thoughts were always hard to fathom — and a girl in love, even more so.

Watching Liu Xinwen pick up the phone and dial that familiar number, Tang Yun's heart suddenly tightened, and her breathing turned uneven. Abruptly she said, "Wait..."

"What is it, Yunyun?" Liu Xinwen set down the phone and looked at Tang Yun strangely. "Yunyun, you should let him come..."

"Mm." Tang Yun hesitated, then said with resolve, "Tell him I've been disfigured, that my face is ruined, that I'm not pretty anymore... If he won't come, don't force him."

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