Gu Xingyu had been watching her every move.
After all, she was just a five-year-old child. When he saw her pick up the knife and stand up again, a flicker of despair crossed his eyes.
Could it be that this bad woman wasn't planning on letting him and his older brother go today?
He absolutely couldn't let her touch his older brother!
Gu Xingyu puffed out his small chest and stood in front of the wardrobe, his lips tightly pressed together, mentally preparing to die with the bad woman.
Shen Lu, worried about hurting the child, placed the kitchen knife behind her back.
"Xiao Yu, get up. Mom is saving your older brother."
When Gu Xingyu heard the word "Mom," his whole body trembled. He had never heard those words from this bad woman before.
He only remembered that when he was very young, he was punished by not being allowed to eat dinner just for calling Shen Lu "Mom."
In the instant Gu Xingyu was stunned, Shen Lu had already reached the wardrobe.
She took a deep breath and swung the kitchen knife at the wardrobe.
Although her body was plump, she was very weak due to her lack of exercise over the years.
The recoil from chopping the door made her tiger's mouth go numb.
Shen Lu endured the pain and chopped at the lock, one blow after another.
With a "clang," the lock on the wardrobe door fell off.
Shen Lu opened the cabinet door, and Gu Xingze's small figure was curled up in the corner of the wardrobe, his little face, similar to Gu Xingyu's, flushed abnormally.
Shen Lu quickly dropped the kitchen knife and bent down to pick up Gu Xingze from inside. The child in her arms weighed less than a cat.
The excessively high temperature burned Shen Lu's heart for a moment. She tightly pursed her lips and ran towards the door.
Gu Xingyu, afraid that his older brother would be sold by this bad woman, quickly followed with his small legs.
Relying on her memory, Shen Lu ran towards the military region hospital not far from the family courtyard.
Her weight of 180 jin made her movements difficult. Her vision went black intermittently due to blood loss from the back of her head. She bit her tongue fiercely to stay conscious.
Finally, one second before her strength gave out, she rushed the child to the emergency room and felt relieved only after handing the child over to the doctor with her own hands.
At this point, Shen Lu was completely exhausted, slumping onto a stool outside the emergency room door, gasping for breath, her body soaked in sweat.
Doctors inside the emergency room were performing emergency measures on Gu Xingze.
Shen Lu lowered her head, trying to calm the blackness that kept flashing before her eyes.
Before she could rest, footsteps could be heard from not far away, followed by a sharp, aged voice.
"You beast, how could you treat two children like this? Are you even human?"
The old woman spoke as she raised her cane and jabbed it fiercely towards Shen Lu's stomach.
She used all her strength. With this blow, even Shen Lu's ample fat wouldn't be able to prevent her from doubling over in pain.
This pain was enough to suppress Shen Lu's spirit, making it impossible for her to argue her case even if she were in the right.
However, the old woman didn't expect that Shen Lu, who had always been submissive, would actually grab the cane firmly with her own hand.
Shen Lu slowly raised her head, her face dark.
She saw two women in front of her.
It was the original owner's sister-in-law and mother-in-law.
Although the original owner acted imperiously in front of the two children, she was actually a paper tiger who was easily swayed. She had already resigned herself to living with Gu Xiao.
But her mother-in-law and sister-in-law kept brainwashing her, telling her she was born to pursue freedom, not to revolve around men.
The two of them colluded to "teach" the original owner how to discipline her children, sowing discord in the mother-son relationship, and creating an irreconcilable rift between the original owner and her children.
In secret, they acted as kind people, gaining the children's trust and making the children closer to the in-laws' family.
Therefore, the mother-in-law and sister-in-law were the real culprits.
Mother Gu looked at Shen Lu in disbelief. This little slut dared to resist. Had she hit her head?
"You slut, why aren't you letting go!"
Mother Gu gritted her teeth and said, trying with all her might to snatch back the cane.
Shen Lu heard this and obediently, abruptly let go.
Mother Gu's momentum couldn't be stopped, and she stumbled backward, falling onto the ground with a plop. She clutched her tailbone, letting out groans of pain.
Mother Gu's fingers trembled with anger as she pointed at Shen Lu in exasperation.
Shen Lu spread her hands, looking innocent.
"You told me to let go."
Mother Gu was so angry she couldn't speak, and she almost fainted from a lack of breath.
Mother Gu's eldest daughter-in-law, Fan Cuiying, was very petite, with shrewd eyes.
She was very observant and immediately went to help her mother-in-law, patting her chest to calm her down, while shouting at Shen Lu.
"You've gone too far, you bitch. I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of Mother today."
In normal times, Shen Lu would have been so scared she wouldn't dare to make a sound, her fat jiggling.
But today, Shen Lu's expression was calm, and her plump body supported her powerful aura.
Fan Cuiying walked up to Shen Lu and raised her palm, but stopped when she saw Shen Lu's clear, bright eyes.
Shen Lu's gaze was completely different from before. Fan Cuiying seemed to see Gu Xiao through those eyes.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she swallowed. She was successfully intimidated by Shen Lu's gaze.
Shen Lu had held a high position in her previous world for so many years that intimidating them with her gaze was not difficult.
However, this could only deal with the current situation. This family was likely difficult to handle, Shen Lu secretly prepared herself.
As Shen Lu's mother-in-law, Mother Gu didn't want to let it go, but Shen Lu didn't even spare her a glance.
This left Mother Gu unable to back down, and they remained in a stalemate.
It was Fan Cuiying who stepped forward to help Mother Gu up, giving her an out.
"Forget it, Mother, we'll..."
Hearing the word "tomorrow," Mother Gu's expression finally recovered somewhat. She glanced sideways at Gu Xingyu, who was hugging his knees in the corner.
Then she went forward and linked arms with Fan Cuiying.
"Hmph, let's go."
Mother Gu glared at Shen Lu with eyes as venomous as poison.
This little slut, who knew what she ate wrong today.
But just wait until tomorrow, and see how arrogant she is!
Shen Lu glared back fiercely, without any fear.
In her past life, as an orphan, her own mother had never been filial to her for a single day. What respect for elders and love for the young could she show this old witch?
As for tomorrow, she would face whatever came her way.
If this old woman and her dog-like daughter-in-law didn't come to her, she would go find them!
Just now, while reviewing the original owner's memories, Shen Lu discovered that the household expenses sent by the children's father had been largely given to Mother Gu by the original owner.
Every time she brought a large sum of money to her in-laws' house and returned with a bag of nutritionally worthless corn and rotten potatoes, she thought Mother Gu was treating her well!
Tomorrow, she would make Mother Gu spit out the money she had eaten.
"Where is the child's family?" The door of the examination room opened from the inside, and a young nurse came out and inquired.
Shen Lu immediately snapped back to attention and stepped forward, anxiously saying, "Hello, I am the child's mother. How is my child?"
"Due to catching a cold and a high fever with convulsions, he has already been given an injection, and the doctor is working on lowering his temperature. What's wrong with you parents? A child this young with such a high fever is life-threatening. Fortunately, you came in time."
The nurse said this while giving Shen Lu a strange look.
Such a slovenly and unkempt mother, and such a young child suffering.
Hearing that they had arrived in time, Shen Lu finally breathed a sigh of relief. A tragedy had almost occurred.
In her previous life, Shen Lu, an orphan, had dedicated herself entirely to her work, leading to infertility due to high-intensity work pressure. She never had her own blood relatives until the day she died.
Now, upon opening her eyes, with two living biological children in front of her, how could Shen Lu give them up?
These were the blood relatives she had sought her entire life in her previous existence.
Due to the confrontation just now and the immense emotional fluctuation, a dull pain pulsed from the back of Shen Lu's head.
All her strength seemed to have drained away. Shen Lu's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground with a "thud," unconscious.
Hearing the loud noise, the nurse rushed over and discovered that blood was dripping from the back of Shen Lu's head.
She immediately called for help, and together they carried Shen Lu into a hospital room.
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