CHAPTER 12
The woman stood at the door of the inner room and stopped moving in. Shen Hui stood by his father’s bed and looked at her silently. The seven-year-old child had been separated from his biological mother for more than a year. He stood there and looked at her with a strange look in his eyes.
“You little brat, you don’t even recognize your biological mother now that you have a stepmother? You were born to me, so I am your mother.”
As the woman spoke, her eyes moved back and forth between Li Xia and Shen Hui. It was obvious that she was targeting them. She was angry about her son’s attitude, and she was also dissatisfied with Li Xia’s presence.
“The child is still young, what can he understand? As a mother, you should talk to him nicely.”
Unexpectedly, Li Xia spoke in a teaching tone, and the woman sneered and came directly at her. “Who do you think you are? How can you interfere in our mother-son relationship?”
“I am Shen Hui’s guardian now, and I am responsible for all his affairs.”
Li Xia was very calm, and the years had already worn away her impetuousness. Facing this beautifully dressed woman, she did not have any inferiority or cowardice at all, and spoke calmly and reasonably.
“I’m his biological mother, he…”
She was speechless for a moment, and the uncle shen next to her said, “Li Xia, don’t get involved here. It’s not your place to butt in on the affairs of a mother and her son.”
“That’s not right.” Faced with the two of them squeezing her together, Li Xia was not at all panicked and was not afraid to speak up and argue with them.
“I am Shen Hui’s guardian. Everything about him is related to me. And this is my home. Whatever you want to do when you come to my home, it has to do with me. How can you say it’s not my turn to speak? I am the owner of this house. It’s already very rude for you to come here uninvited as guests. It’s even more unreasonable to talk to the owner like this.”
“We…” The uncle rolled his eyes and pulled Shen Hui to the door. “This is your mother, your biological mother. You can’t have forgotten your biological mother and been fooled by a stepmother all day long.”
The woman immediately put on a friendly look, stretched out her hand and pulled Shen Hui back to the outer living room. “Son, mom is here to pick you up. Mom left in a hurry and didn’t take you with her. Are you angry with mom?”
“Mother,”
The child started to cry, and the woman happily hugged him and kissed him. “You are such a good son. Come on, go home with me, and you won’t have to endure this woman’s anger anymore. No stepmother is good, and she actually asked you to serve that dead man…”
“My father is not dead.”
Suddenly, as if a switch had been triggered, the child threw away her hand and roared at her. His big eyes were full of anger, staring at her like a wounded little animal.
“You little brat, I carried you for ten months, gave birth to you and fed you milk, and this is how you repay me? You keep talking about your dad, your dad. Your dad has become a vegetative, how can he stand up?”
“Go away, go away, my father is not dead, my father will not die.”
The child suddenly became emotional and stretched out his hand to push the woman out. Li Xia was very worried about the child and stretched out her hand to stop her when she saw her uncle trying to pull her away.
“Mind your own business. It has nothing to do with you. Also, why are you here today? You’re just causing more trouble every day.”
“Hey, how come I’m the one causing trouble? It’s obviously you who wanted to monopolize Shen Hui’s money, so you tried to sow discord between the mother and son.”
The woman had been pushed to the door by Shen Hui, and she shouted, “Yes, it’s you. You are such a bad woman. You are trying to sow discord between us and take my son’s money. I tell you, no way.”
Was she tricked by his uncle? No, this uncle wanted to take both the father and the son into his pocket. But this woman also got the news, and of course she would not let go of such a large sum of money. She is Shen Hui’s biological mother, and she has an advantage over him in the custody of Shen Hui. The two of them hit it off and immediately went to the house together to get Shen Hui first, so that they would have more advantages in the lawsuit.
The key to this matter is Shen Hui, who has so much money in his name. Now that his father is like this, if his biological mother gets custody of him, then the money will really go to the woman along with Shen Hui.
“I have filed a lawsuit. I want custody of my son. Don’t try to take advantage of my son, woman. He is mine. He belongs to me.”
Shen Hui was stunned, and Li Xia had nothing to say. If this matter was sued again by the woman, it would be hard to say what the result would be. After all, she was the stepmother and she was the biological mother.
“Let’s go, Huihui, follow mom.”
The woman tried to pull the boy again, but the little guy slipped into his father’s room on the east side. The woman stood at the door and called for a long time, but he didn’t come out. The Uncle Shen signaled her to go in and pull him out, but she shook her head and refused. The Uncle Shen wanted to do it himself, but Li Xia pulled him out.
“You are not involved in this matter, why are you joining in the fun?” Li Xia said as she picked up the door-knocking stick, and the Uncle Shen ran out of the house in fear. Even so, he still did not give up, and was still shouting inside to give advice to Shen Hui’s biological mother.
“Go in, go in and take him with you. He is your own son, and it is only natural that he will listen to you.”
The woman stomped her feet and came out: “Let’s go, I’ll come again tomorrow.” After that, she gritted her teeth at Li Xia and said, “You are trying to sow discord between mother and son. You are such a bad woman. You can do anything for money. You, a woman, will not die well.”
In stark contrast to her anger, Li Xia’s emotions remained calm. “You are talking about yourself.”
“You… Humph, just wait for me. You must not take my son’s things.”
The woman left shouting, and the onlookers were talking about it. How could Li Xia have taken the child’s property? It was obvious that she got the news and came to ask for the property. If she really loved her son, why didn’t she take him with her when she divorced?
Li Xia: No matter what others say, you can’t control others’ mouths. As long as they are true to their conscience, they can say whatever they want. She walked into the house quickly, went to Shen Hui and took the child’s hand.
The little guy was very sad, holding his father’s hand and crying. The old lady said before that he was mostly taken care of by his grandmother since he was born, and after he was weaned at the age of one, he was taken care of by his grandmother day and night. His mother left before, and now she suddenly came back, and she asked for money as soon as she opened her mouth. I don’t know what the little guy is thinking.
“Don’t cry, Dad will be sad if he knows.”
She touched the child’s head and took out a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe his tears. The little guy was still sobbing and twitching. He looked up and asked her with tears in his eyes.
“What about her?”
“She is gone.”
“It was grand uncle who told her about the money, right?”
“maybe.”
Unexpectedly, at such a young age, he was so keenly aware of his mother’s intentions. Li Xia said nothing except silently comforting him. She was in an awkward position, and saying more would seem like provoking him.
After dinner in the evening and sending the two children to bed, she washed Shen Haiyang and massaged his limbs, talking to him while working.
“I was originally planning to buy a house, but now your ex-wife is here. From the sound of her voice, she wants money. If she gets the custody of Huihui, then I really have to give her Huihui’s share of money. I’m a stepmother, ah, really… Is she responsible enough for Huihui? Are you assured of giving Huihui to her? Huihui is still young. If she gets the custody, then all the property under Huihui’s name will be hers to deal with.”
She kept talking but got no response. At night, she lay on my bed and looked out the window, thinking silently. In the previous life, why did Murong Danling and Shen Hui, mother and son, quarrel so fiercely, and then accidentally got killed by him? Was it because of money? Shen Haiyang’s father sent back 50,000 yuan at a time. Is he very rich?
She didn’t care whether the other person had money or not. What she cared about in her new life was changing the miserable life of her previous life. God gave her several decades of foresight, she could earn money by herself and didn’t covet others. But she promised the old lady to take good care of the father and son. Shen Hui was her responsibility and she couldn’t ignore him.
“Money is the root of all trouble. That old saying is so true.”
She was too irritable to sleep, so she just got up and made dumplings. She went to the stall early in the morning, and when she came back she was so tired that she took a nap. She made a simple noodle soup for lunch, and when she was almost done eating, Huihua turned around and saw a little figure at the door. She went out and brought her little brother in.
“What are you doing? Why haven’t you come these past two days? The buns that sister saved for you are about to go bad.”
The little guy had been secretly observing Li Xia’s expression since he was at the door. He pouted timidly at her. Li Xia didn’t say much. She served him a bowl of rice and asked him to sit down to eat. Huihua also brought him the buns that she had specially reserved for him.
The little guy was attracted by the buns, took a bite and put it down as if he remembered something. He looked up at Li Xia and hesitated to speak. He didn’t know when his clear and pure eyes became heavy.
“What’s wrong? What do you want to say?”
“Mother……”
“It’s okay to just say whatever you want to say.”
“Grandma said that if I kept coming to see you every day, I should not go back to that house. So I ran away secretly.”
In divorce, the children are the ones who are hurt the most. In her previous life, her life was ruined, and she lived like she was 70 at the age of 50. She had always disagreed with this statement in her previous life, and felt that divorce would hurt her the most. But at this moment, she realized it. In divorce, except for the scumbag, the three of them were all victims.
In her previous life, she was nagging, sensitive, irritable, aggrieved, and even mean, and the children felt pity, annoyance, and distress for her. In this life, she thought it was good for the child to leave him with his favorite father, but it turned out that he also longed for her as a mother, and looked at her with attachment like a little animal.
“Don’t be afraid, Mom will talk to Dad, and the adults will solve this matter.”
Fang Zhongcheng is so irresponsible. He said he left his son to him to raise, but in fact he pushed everything to his parents and family. You are a father, and you don’t care about your son. Do you know how your mother treats your son?
“So I can still have a mother, right?”
“Yes, you have a mother.”
She invited her son to eat, and after that she asked the two older ones to play with him. In the afternoon, when the children went to school, she took the younger one to find Fang Zhongcheng. When the man came out of the office gate, he saw her leading her son, and immediately looked around. When he found no familiar people, he pointed to a secluded place.
“Why did you bring Yi Yi to see me? Did you encounter any difficulties? I just started working and I can’t help you…”
“Do you know how your mother treats Yi Yi?” Li Xia silently rolled her eyes in her heart, interrupting his self-righteous words. She would not come to him even if she encountered difficulties. Who do you think you are? I can live without you.
“What happened to my mom?”
“What did we say about our divorce? I took care of the Huihua and you took care of Yi Yi. Now, you’ve left the child completely to your parents. Your mother first made trouble for me, then threatened Yi Yi not to come to me after she felt guilty and embarrassed. Tell me, is it too much to ask a child this young to not come to his mother?”
“My mother, my mother…”
His mother had said this to him in person, so he knew she would do this. But the divorce staff had made it clear that parents had visitation rights over each other’s children. He had also visited his daughter when he passed by the school, and now that the two families were so close, how could he not let his son go to his mother?
“When people get old, they become stubborn. Don’t take it seriously.”
“I won’t argue with her. But what about Yi Yi? What should Yi Yi do? You are the child’s guardian. Do you think you have fulfilled your responsibilities as a guardian? Children are not cats or dogs that can be eaten by others. Have you paid attention to his physical and mental health?”
The series of questions made Fang Zhongcheng look at this woman he had always looked down upon with new eyes. He didn’t know that these were all what Li Xia had seen on TV in her previous life. He just thought that she had been reborn in such a short time after entering the city.
“What else can I do? I have to go to work.”
He reached out and picked up his son, speaking helplessly but confidently. Li Xia was very angry about this and rebuked him mercilessly.
“It’s just like who doesn’t have to work. Open your eyes and look at how many women are working and taking care of children at the same time. Family members and parents can only be auxiliary. Is there anyone who would just leave the child to them like you? You are Yi Yi’s guardian, you have to fulfill your guardian responsibilities.”
“Okay, I got it. I’ll pick Yi Yi up after I get off work in the evening.”
He had already promised, and Li Xia didn’t say anything more. She was busy selling buns and taking care of a vegetative person and two school-age children. Now Uncle Shen and Shen Hui’s biological mother were causing trouble again, and she really didn’t have the ability to take care of another one.
If she rashly took him to her side, she would repeat the same mistakes of her previous life. She would be exhausted and have a bad temper, and the children would hide from her and be afraid of her. In the end, their relationship will be deteriorated, and she would be sad and upset, and she would not be able to raise the children well.
“Talk to your mother and don’t impose the grudges of adults on the child. Also, you are the father and you have to take the responsibility of raising and caring for the child. Don’t push it onto your parents.” She didn’t know if she could convince the other party of this truth she had only figured out after starting over in her life.
“I want to find a way to send our child to a nursery so that my mother doesn’t have to take care of him all the time.”
“Okay, then give the child to mom, I have to go back and prepare the buns.”
“Li Xia,” She was about to leave when she heard him calling and immediately turned back. He actually started to persuade her, as if he was doing it for her own good.
“I heard that Shen Haiyang and his company have arranged a job for you. Why don’t you take such a good job? Selling buns every day is embarrassing and tiring, and there is no guarantee for the future. What if Shen Haiyang wakes up and doesn’t want you anymore, you won’t even have a job. Fortunately, you didn’t sell the quota. Maybe it’s not too late to go to the leader now… Hey, Li Xia, I’m speaking from the bottom of my heart.”
Li Xia had already left, and she didn’t want to say anything more about it. She work hard to make money because she know that if you rely on others, they will run away. His worries are unnecessary. She can support herself in this life and in the past life, so you don’t need to worry about me.
If you really want to, just take good care of the child, and stop thinking about exhausting yourself. I have done my share of responsibility, and when the child grows up, you can pick the ready-made ones. As for selling the quota, if there is any trouble, it will implicate Shen Haiyang. If he wakes up in the future, he will have to work. It is not worth it for that little money. I can earn money by myself, and I will not be greedy for this cheapness.
A few days later, Fang Zhongcheng found a nursery for his son and took him to his dormitory at night. Li Xia could no longer see her son every day, but she felt more relieved than when she could see him at his grandparents’ house.
The child was picked up by Fang Zhongcheng. She thought that this man was quite responsible for his son. After she went home and cooked dinner for the children, she asked about the two children’s school situation.
“What did teachers teach in school?”
Shen Hui replied: “Today we were taught to recite “Viewing the Waterfall at Mount Lu”. It was written by Li Bai, a poet from the Tang Dynasty .”
When she heard about this, Huihua was a little nervous, thinking that her mother would ask about the content, but she didn’t memorize it. In the end, she was only concerned about what happened in school. She asked what they played after class and whether anyone bullied them.
“No, we played the game of Drop the Handkerchief, and it was great. Whoever lost got to sing a song. I sang a little tune that mom taught me, and my classmates liked it very much.”
“What’s the tune?”
“Fireflies, red every night, grandma weaves lanterns out of Chinese cabbage…”
“Okay, just be happy.”
After the mother and her two children finished their meal, they went to wash the dishes. Shen Hui was feeding his father through the nasogastric tube. Li Xia came to get something, but the child reached out and grabbed the corner of her clothes. After hesitating for a moment, he asked her.
“Did she come to see you today?”
“No.” It won’t be long. Maybe seeing Shen Hui is unmoved, the other party will directly sue? She has no idea about this. She doesn’t know what Murong Danling’s next move will be.
