“Wait a couple of days? I bet she’ll be back any moment! She’s just too embarrassed to say it outright!”
Zhang Lanxiang immediately chimed in, “There’s no place more comfortable than home!”
The others all agreed, looking pleased.
As long as Lin Jingwen came back, they wouldn’t have to do the household chores themselves.
Seeing how happy they were, Li Anping suddenly felt a heavy pressure. If Lin Jingwen didn’t return in a few days, wouldn’t that make him look bad?
They had never seemed so fond of her before, but now they were eagerly waiting for her return, as if they couldn’t live without her.
“Third Uncle, Dongle’s homeroom teacher is coming for a home visit later,” Li Chunqing spoke up at that moment.
Li Anping’s eyes widened, his face darkening as he demanded to know what had happened. Before Li Dongle could speak, Li Chunqing rattled off the whole story.
After hearing it, Li Anping also felt that Li Dongle’s morals and behavior were a serious problem. Furious, he lifted his foot and kicked him hard on the backside.
“Grandma, protect me! He’s hitting me again! Waaa, I don’t want to be his son anymore!” Li Dongle clutched his bottom, crying as he quickly hid behind Huang Juan.
“Fine! You don’t want to be my son? I don’t want you either! Big Brother, Sister‑in‑law, Li Dongle is your biological son, after all. He belongs with you. He’s grown now, doesn’t need constant care anymore. You should raise him yourselves…”
Li Anping declared firmly. He already had his own biological son, so naturally, he didn’t want Li Dongle anymore.
This thought had been in his mind ever since Zhou Xinping brought back his son.
Before, when Lin Jingwen was taking care of Li Dongle, it hardly bothered him. For the sake of appearances, he only thought about it but never truly considered returning Li Dongle to his birth family.
But now, with Lin Jingwen gone these past two days, and after Li Dongle wet the bed last night—causing him to lose sleep—his desire to get rid of the boy grew stronger.
And today, with this new incident, it was clear that Li Dongle was selfish, ungrateful, and disobedient. He truly didn’t want him anymore.
So, in the heat of the moment, Li Anping spoke it aloud—and felt relieved afterward.
“That won’t do!” Huang Juan immediately shouted. She had no desire to raise him!
“You said he was adopted as your son, and now you say you don’t want him? What do you take the child for, some stray cat or dog?” Li Jianguo frowned.
They already had three children of their own, and could barely afford to raise them—school, clothes, food, everything cost money. Adding Li Dongle into the mix would make life even tighter.
Living under the same roof, Li Jianguo had seen how well the third daughter‑in‑law treated Li Dongle. With her, the boy lived comfortably.
Besides, Li Anping was a university lecturer, well‑connected and respectable.
For Dongle to call him “Dad” was far better than calling him “Third Uncle.” In the future, whether it was work or marriage, Li Anping would have to take responsibility. But if Dongle returned to their household, it would be completely different!
In an instant, the household erupted into chaos—children crying, adults shouting, the whole place in turmoil.
At that moment, Teacher Wang, the homeroom teacher, arrived. And not only her—Lin Jingwen had come along too!
Teacher Wang had called Lin Jingwen over.
That afternoon, while Qin Xuemei was dropping her children off at school, Teacher Wang had asked her about Li Dongle’s parents and learned where Lin Jingwen worked.
Being warm‑hearted and responsible, and knowing that today’s chocolate incident had started because of Lin Jingwen, Teacher Wang made a special trip to the state‑run restaurant to invite her to come along.
Lin Jingwen never imagined that the chocolate she casually gave to her master would end up sparking such a “bloody incident,” even leading to her master’s twin grandsons being beaten. She felt deeply guilty, furious at Li Dongle’s violent behavior, though not at all surprised he had done it.
Under her indulgence, combined with the ideas instilled in him by his biological mother and Zhang Lanxiang, Li Dongle had become a selfish, spoiled child—thinking everyone should revolve around him, that all good things belonged to him.
In her nightmare, even after she divorced, she had never been able to truly let go of Li Dongle. After all, she had raised him for so many years, and there was genuine affection. She had brought him up since he was little. Because of the hurt he caused her, she sometimes wanted to give up on him, to stop caring. But then, whenever he called her “Mom,” her heart would soften. Whenever he said, “Mom, I was wrong, I’ll be good to you from now on,” she would hold out hope again.
Yet every time she turned back, accepted him again, spent money on him, treated him well—after a while, his true nature would resurface. He would stop pretending to be obedient and once more lash out at her with cruel words. Later, when she developed breast cancer, she had painstakingly saved money for her treatment. But Li Dongle stole her life‑saving money.
She knew he had taken it and went to demand it back. Although he admitted it, he not only refused to return the money but even spat at her, telling her to hurry up and die, leaving the money for him. In despair and fury, she finally jumped into the river!
Recalling everything from that nightmare, Lin Jingwen felt only disgust—even hatred—toward Li Dongle. She had poured her heart into raising an ungrateful wolf.
Now, with this new incident, Lin Jingwen thought it over carefully and decided to go back with Teacher Wang as a witness. She wanted to dissolve this adoptive mother‑son relationship once and for all. From now on, she didn’t want to be dragged into his problems. She no longer wanted to be Li Dongle’s mother—he would drain her dry.
It was with this determination to sever ties, and with Teacher Wang accompanying her, that Lin Jingwen returned.
When Zhang Lanxiang saw Lin Jingwen come back, her eyes lit up.
Just moments ago, they had said she wouldn’t return for a couple of days, and yet here she was. Clearly, her son had a way of bringing Lin Jingwen back under control.
Relieved, Zhang Lanxiang immediately put on the face of a domineering mother‑in‑law, cursing and scolding: “What did I say? You’re spineless—you came back on your own in just two days! What were you pretending for? Now that you’re back, hurry up and wash the pile of dirty clothes in my room. They’ve been sitting there for days. And also—”
Lin Jingwen gave a mocking laugh, saying nothing more. She truly couldn’t be bothered to argue and honestly found it ridiculous.
Li Anping, seeing her return, was even more delighted than the others. What a coincidence—his earlier words wouldn’t be exposed now. So when he heard his mother speaking harshly, he immediately grew anxious.
“Mom! What are you saying! Jingwen just got back—why should she be doing chores right away? Can’t you say something kinder?”
Li Anping’s face darkened as he quickly shouted, silencing Zhang Lanxiang and glaring at her reproachfully. Did she even know how to speak properly?
It was obvious Lin Jingwen had come back because of Li Dongle, and it wasn’t certain she would stay. And besides, it wasn’t just Lin Jingwen here—there was someone else present too!
After being scolded by her son, Zhang Lanxiang felt uncomfortable, but with Li Dongle’s teacher standing nearby, she held her tongue.
Teacher Wang was stunned by Zhang Lanxiang’s words. Looking at her, she wanted to say something but stopped herself. Inwardly, she felt a bit relieved—thank goodness her own mother‑in‑law wasn’t so difficult and sharp‑tongued.
“Hello, I’m Li Dongle’s homeroom teacher, my surname is Wang. You must have heard about the incident today where Li Dongle hit someone at school. To better understand the situation, I made a special trip to the state‑run restaurant to bring his mother back as well…”
Teacher Wang explained her purpose to Li Anping and Zhang Lanxiang.
“Teacher Wang, welcome, welcome,” Li Anping said quickly, politely. “Please sit, please sit. It’s such trouble for you, making a special trip.”
“Jingwen, why are you just standing there? Hurry up and pour tea for Teacher Wang!”
Lin Jingwen rolled her eyes at him, making Li Anping’s face darken even more with anger. There was an outsider present—how could she act so disrespectfully, not even giving him face? Infuriating!
“No need, no need,” Teacher Wang quickly waved her hand, seeing the situation. She didn’t sit down, but instead said while standing: “I’ll just say a few words and then leave. Your family matters aren’t for me to interfere with—you’ll have to resolve them yourselves. As Dongle’s homeroom teacher, I only want to offer a suggestion. No matter how adults quarrel, try not to let it affect the child. And you must pay more attention to his moral education…”
Li Anping listened, nodding repeatedly, saying “Yes, yes, yes.”
But on the other side, Li Dongle suddenly disrupted everything. He ran up to Lin Jingwen, stretched out his hand, and demanded: “Give me chocolate! Chocolate, I want chocolate!”
“I don’t have any,” Lin Jingwen replied coldly, her face expressionless.
The moment he heard “no,” Li Dongle’s emotions exploded. At only six years old, self‑centered and spoiled, even if he sometimes schemed, when throwing a tantrum, he couldn’t hide it.
He immediately shouted: “How can you not have chocolate! You gave it to others but not to me! I don’t want you as my stepmom anymore! You’re vicious, you’re bad, you deserve to have no son…”
“Li Dongle!” Teacher Wang couldn’t hold back any longer, shouting angrily,
“How can you yell at your mother like that, saying such cruel things? That’s completely disrespectful and outrageous!”
“Exactly! Teacher Wang is right. Hurry up and apologize to your mom—say you’re sorry!” Li Anping, furious, also shouted at Li Dongle.
One after another, they all left him no way to save face.
“No need. I only came today out of respect for Teacher Wang, not wanting to cause her trouble. I also wanted her to understand the complicated situation here.” Lin Jingwen coldly interrupted Li Anping, turning to Teacher Wang: “Li Dongle is the biological son of Li Anping’s elder brother and sister‑in‑law, but he was adopted by me and Li Anping, and I personally raised him. But as you can see, Teacher, the child still seeks out his birth mother. After all, he lives with her every day. I’ve been nothing more than a nanny who spends money and effort, yet I end up with the reputation of being a vicious stepmother. This family’s relationships are indeed messy. The child calls me stepmom, calls Li Anping dad, and also calls his sister‑in‑law mom. Anyone who doesn’t know the situation would have no idea how to make sense of it…”