How to capture the evil villain? I choose to be his mother!

Chapter 403 The Most Disliked Actress's Mother in the Entertainment Industry (15)
At that time, it took Zhu Wen more than half a month to finally get in touch with Zhai Ling's aunt.

She smiled apologetically and asked about Zhai Ling's whereabouts.

The other party simply berated her and told her never to contact them again.

Zhu Wen naturally refused to give up.

She didn't know where they lived in the city and originally wanted to ask someone she knew.

However, these acquaintances seemed to have believed some rumors, thinking that Zhu Wen had abandoned her daughter and run away with a rich man. They only had contempt for her and were unwilling to reveal a single word about her.

Having lost his source of information, Zhu Wen was at a loss. However, he couldn't afford to lose his job in the city, and taking this much leave was already the limit.

Therefore, Zhu Wen had no choice but to return to the factory to continue working and saving money, and he drifted along aimlessly for several years.

Throughout this time, she never gave up contacting Zhai Ling's relatives and acquaintances in the surrounding area.

Finally, someone she knew was moved by her persistence.

Around the time Zhai Ling was in junior high school, Zhu Wen finally found the school Zhai Ling attended.

She couldn't wait to buy a train ticket and return to her hometown to see her daughter...

Upon hearing this, Zhai Ling's eyes suddenly reddened, showing no surprise whatsoever.

“I know! I’ve seen you! You were standing across the street, staring at me like an idiot, weren’t you?”

Zhu Wen was utterly astonished:

"You...you know? You saw me? Then how could you..."

Zhai Ling clenched her fists tightly, almost painfully revealing memories she had never spoken of before:
“I had seen your picture, so I recognized you immediately. I guessed you were coming to find me. Back then, I was still naively longing for maternal love. I felt that as long as you came to find me, all those years you abandoned me wouldn't matter, and I could forgive you... I just wanted to throw a tantrum! To act tough! I pretended not to see you, hoping you would come to me yourself to apologize and repent, to say you missed me... But you didn't! You just glanced at me from afar and left! Why did you leave! You clearly saw me!”

Zhai Ling questioned loudly, her eyes fixed on Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen gave a wry smile:

"Yes, I saw you. I saw you get into your uncle's car and you were even acting cute towards him. You two were like a real father and daughter, smiling so brightly and happily. Suddenly, for a moment, I didn't dare to go over, afraid of disturbing your peaceful life. Because they all told me that you're doing very well and that your relatives are taking good care of you. So I left."

At that time, she still didn't even have a decent place to live.

In the urban village, a room costs 800 yuan a month. You can see the whole thing at a glance. There's no private toilet or kitchen; everything is shared. There's barely enough room for anything except a small bed...

Given this living environment, how could Zhu Wen possibly approach Zhai Ling?

Should Zhai Ling give up her stable life, friendly relatives, and good friends to live with her in the urban village?
So Zhu Wen backed down and turned to leave.

The mother and daughter missed each other just like that.

In the following years, Zhu Wen would take the green train to visit Zhai Ling every now and then.

Seeing that his daughter was happy, Zhu Wen had no other desires.

She also contacted Zhai Ling's relatives and sent them money every month as a way of showing her love as a mother.

But she didn't know that her daughter was actually not doing well, nor did she know that her daughter had known about her existence for a long time.

Their missed connection started out as a coincidence, but later became complicated by Zhai Ling's repeated acts of stubbornness.

Zhai Ling was trying to pretend that she was doing well even without her mother.

Whenever Zhai Ling discovers that Zhu Wen has come to see her, she deliberately displays her happiness, attempting to hurt and retaliate against Zhu Wen in this way.

However, this behavior is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst.

Zhai Ling's resentment accumulated day by day.

Later, her decision to become a star, impulsively signing an unfair contract, was also driven by a desire for revenge. Even seeing Zhu Wen dressed as a cleaner while filming in Hengdian gave Zhai Ling a secret sense of satisfaction, a feeling that she had finally achieved true success and gotten her revenge on Zhu Wen…

After the heated conversation came a long period of emptiness.

Zhu Wen and Zhai Ling both felt lost and didn't know how to summarize the past ten years.

This reminded Zhai Ling of a story—

The demon imprisoned at the bottom of the sea initially hoped someone would release it, offering a hundred gold coins in return. Ten years later, it pleaded desperately, secretly promising a mountain of gold to whoever released it. Fifty years later, filled with despair and resentment, it vowed to kill whoever released it…

This story is quite similar to Zhai Ling's own journey.

As a child, she longed for her mother's return every day, filled with fantasies and affection for her.

As a teenager, she suppressed this longing deep inside, and although she said one thing but meant another, she was still willing to forgive her mother.
As she grew up, she no longer needed her mother's love. She resented and hated the mother who had caused her pain, and only wanted to take revenge on her by any means necessary when she reappeared.

but……

"This is ridiculous."

Zhai Ling slumped to the ground in self-mockery, clutching her hair in anguish.

Zhu Wen grasped her wrist:

"No, it's different."

She met Zhai Ling's tearful eyes and said softly,
"You said you wanted to get revenge on me, but you didn't actually do that, did you? When you were filming in Hengdian, and I was working as a cleaner, you would always treat all the cleaners in the film studio to things like milk tea, lunch boxes, and small fans, under the guise of treating them, didn't you?"

Zhu Wen also came to his senses the moment he learned the truth.

Those scattered memories finally came together at this moment, completing the loop.

Zhai Ling awkwardly turned her face away:
"I...I didn't mean to give it to you..."

His tone was noticeably better than before.

No longer filled with indignation, just a bit awkward and arrogant.

Zhu Wen smiled and patted the top of her head.

Zhai Ling quickly dodged:

"It's so dirty!"

She regretted it as soon as she said it.

How can we explain that she didn't mean she disliked Zhu Wen's hands for being dirty, but rather that her hair was dirty because she hadn't washed it for many days?

Zhai Ling's lips moved several times, but in the end, she didn't say anything.

Zhu Wen, however, saw through her true thoughts at a glance:
"It's not dirty, your hair isn't dirty."

Zhai Ling was somewhat surprised.

After a while, she hummed and buried her face in her knees again.

"They really don't mind anything, they even mind me..."

Zhu Wen vaguely saw the upturned corners of her mouth that she was hiding, and he smiled too.

But Zhu Wen had not forgotten another matter:

"Actually, there's something else I wanted to discuss with you today regarding your lawsuit. I hope I can help you with that."

Zhai Ling looked up in confusion:
"……you?"