Chapter 33: You Don’t Have That Privilege

“What?!”

As soon as Ruan Cha finished speaking, several shocked voices erupted in the great hall of the old house.

“Ruan Cha, what nonsense are you spouting?” Ruan Yingzhe’s face changed instantly. He strode up to her. “Your grandfather only wanted to add your household registration to the Ruan family out of concern for you, and you refuse? Ruan Cha, I warn you, don’t show us that attitude. You’re in no position to throw a tantrum!”

Ruan Cha listened to Ruan Yingzhe’s words without the slightest ripple of emotion. She simply lifted her eyelids and shot him a cold glance. “I was raised by my mother. Taking the Ruan surname was already my greatest concession; there is absolutely no way I will transfer my registration.”

“Cha-Cha, what are you doing?” Kong Xian feigned persuasion, but her words were laced with malice. “Even if your mother raised you, you’re still a child of the Ruan family. And what child isn’t given their father’s surname at birth? What do you mean by a concession? That’s utter nonsense.”

Ruan Cha let out a cold laugh. “If you’re willing to live your whole life being called Mrs. Ruan, bearing your husband’s name, that’s your choice. I’m not.”

Her words left Kong Xian’s face ashen. “Cha-Cha, how could you say something so hurtful? Ever since you returned home, haven’t I treated you well enough? Even though I know your mother destroyed my family, I’ve still been polite, even prepared a welcome banquet for you with your father. And this is how you speak to me?”

Tears of grievance spilled down her face as she finished speaking.

From the moment the Ruan family learned of the illegitimate daughter’s existence, they had only felt sorry for Kong Xian. She had graciously accepted this child, worried herself sick over her. As a stepmother, she had been more than generous.

And yet—

This Ruan Cha was still so ungrateful, so lacking in manners and upbringing!

The Ruan family now looked at Ruan Cha with even greater contempt.

“You lot—so you went behind my back to let this little wretch acknowledge her ancestry? Am I, the old matriarch, of no consequence to you?!”

Just as the atmosphere grew tense, the Ruan family’s elderly matron was pushed in by a servant, her shrill voice slicing through the hall as she sat in her wheelchair.

“What are you doing out of bed?” The old master’s expression froze at the sight of his wife.

“If I hadn’t come, would you all have just treated me as dead already?”

The old woman’s brow was deeply furrowed, her weathered face marked by a pair of calculating, hostile eyes that swept over Ruan Cha with biting ridicule.

“Mother, how can you say that? We would never—”

“Enough!” The old matron cut him off. “I came here today to make my position clear: as long as I draw breath, she will never be entered into our family registry!”

Her gaze fixed on Ruan Cha’s delicate face. “Her mother was a shameless mistress—how clean could the daughter she bore possibly be? If the Ruan family truly accepts her, won’t we become the laughingstock of high society in Mo City?”

“Mother, you can’t say that. Even if her mother drugged Yingzhe, that has nothing to do with Cha-Cha…” Kong Xian hurried to interject on Ruan Cha’s behalf, though her words only served to remind everyone of the past.

Ruan Cha’s mother had drugged Ruan Yingzhe.

“You heard her,” the old matriarch sneered, her words harsh and undisguised. “Her mother was a despicable woman with dirty tricks—if she hadn’t drugged our Yingzhe, how could she have given birth to a child of the Ruan family?”

Seated quietly and having witnessed the entire scene, Ruan Jie could no longer contain herself. She rose to shield Ruan Cha, meeting the old matriarch’s gaze directly.

“Grandmother, Cha-Cha is just a teenager. Saying such cruel things—don’t you realize how much you’re hurting her?”