Lin Jingwen’s words scolded the entire Li family—without a single curse word, yet sharp enough to make everyone’s imagination run wild.
Zhang Lanxiang and Huang Juan’s faces turned ugly, while Li Anping’s expression was especially dark—he wished he could crawl into a hole.
Teacher Wang’s mouth twitched as she forced an awkward smile.
“Yes, yes, it really is messy. After the adoption, you’re all still living under the same roof—haha, that’s rare. No wonder the child is confused about these relationships, and it makes it difficult for you as parents to discipline him.”
“Leaving aside whether I divorce Li Anping or not, I believe this adoptive relationship should be dissolved. Tear up the adoption contract we signed before.”
Lin Jingwen spoke again: “This would be good for Li Dongle too. He’s never liked me. He’s always complained about being unhappy with me, telling me to get lost, saying he wants to stay with his birth mother.”
“Third Sister‑in‑law, you can’t be so heartless!” Huang Juan immediately cried out in alarm.
“How can you do this? First, you adopt him, then you say you won’t raise him anymore! Dongle has called you Mom and Dad for five or six years—was that all for nothing?”
“Ha! For nothing?” Lin Jingwen sneered, then began listing the accounts of those years: “When you were pregnant with Dongle, you slipped and gave birth half a month early. His body was weak, and you didn’t have enough milk, so he had to drink formula. Formula was expensive. You couldn’t afford it, and you couldn’t bear to see the child suffer, so you wanted to adopt him out to me. The whole family pressured me into agreeing! After Dongle was adopted, Li Anping never spent a penny on him, never cared for him. It was me who emptied my savings and wages to buy him formula, to get him the best medicine when he was sick. My monthly salary was sixty‑five yuan, and sixty of it went to Dongle. I never saved a single cent. Go ask around—who else has ever had a child call them ‘Mom’ at such a high price?”
Li Anping had never calculated these expenses, because raising Li Dongle had always been Lin Jingwen’s responsibility—he truly hadn’t spent a cent.
Now, hearing Lin Jingwen’s words, he began to feel regret for all the money she had poured out over the years. After all, her money was also his. If she had saved it instead of spending it, it would have been better.
Honestly, Lin Jingwen had gone too far—he thought—being so willing to spend on a child who wasn’t even her own.
Li Anping glared at her, annoyed that she had been so generous with Li Dongle.
Huang Juan, too, was silenced by Lin Jingwen’s words, her face flushing red. No matter how shameless she was, she couldn’t deny that being called “Mom” had come at a very high price. If word spread, she would have no ground to stand on.
Everyone in the neighborhood knew it was the third daughter‑in‑law who had raised the child. But because his biological mother was still around, it was as if the child had never truly been given away.
In truth, Huang Juan had reaped all the benefits.
Teacher Wang listened, her eyes filling with sympathy as she looked at Lin Jingwen. *Sister, you’ve suffered too much!*
This family was far too cruel.
“Mom, Sister‑in‑law, I think Jingwen is right. Back then, I had no children, and Mom saw that Dongle was hard to raise, while Big Brother and Sister‑in‑law were burdened. So he was adopted to me. Now Dongle has grown, he doesn’t cost much anymore, and his biological parents are right here. He calls us Mom and Dad, but he’s confused himself. While he’s still young and doesn’t fully understand, it’s better to overturn this adoption and act as if it never happened.” Li Anping spoke with a tone that brooked no refusal.
“Oh my, what nonsense! Once you move out, there won’t be any confusion! You’ve already raised Dongle this far—ten years from now, he’ll be earning money to spend on you. Since you don’t have children of your own, wouldn’t it be best if he supported you in old age?”
As Huang Juan spoke, she yanked Li Dongle up from the floor, scolding angrily: “Hurry up and call them Mom and Dad! Say you’ll take care of them when they’re old, earn money for them to spend—otherwise they won’t want you anymore!”
But Li Dongle had just been hit and kicked by Li Anping, and he was still hurting. He wasn’t about to call them anything. And then there was Lin Jingwen—he had asked her for chocolate, she said she didn’t have any, treated him coldly, didn’t even smile, and even said she didn’t want him anymore. That infuriated him!
So his stubborn temper flared, and he shouted loudly: “Fine, if they don’t want me, I don’t want them as my parents either! Mom, you’ve always told me you’re my real mother, that I should take money from my stepmom and give it to you, share the treats with you. In the future, when I earn money, I won’t give it to them—I’ll give it all to you. I’ll stay with you…”
Crying, Li Dongle clung tightly to Huang Juan’s leg.
Huang Juan’s face burned hot, especially when she met Lin Jingwen’s mocking gaze and the scornful looks of the others. Even the little conscience she had left made her want to crawl into a hole.
“I really can’t stand this anymore! Dongle’s biological mother—you’ve gone too far! Lin Jingwen devoted herself to raising him, and instead of teaching him to be filial and close to her, you’ve been secretly teaching him this nonsense…” Teacher Wang was about to explode—she felt her entire worldview being challenged. Unable to hold back, she lashed out at Huang Juan: “You’re corrupting the child, teaching him to be an ungrateful wolf! A child like Dongle should indeed only be raised by you!”
“Big Sister‑in‑law! How could you… you’ve gone too far!” Li Anping also stepped in to criticize Huang Juan.
“No wonder Dongle keeps calling Jingwen ‘stepmom,’ making her so angry she doesn’t even want to come home.” Li Anping was clever—his words shifted all the blame onto Dongle, painting him as the reason Lin Jingwen didn’t return, while absolving himself.
*Smack!* Li Jianguo, furious and humiliated, raised his hand and slapped Huang Juan, cursing: “You wicked woman! Always scheming behind the scenes! Look at what you’ve turned the child into—completely rotten!”
“Oh no, Dongle’s father, you can’t hit people!” Teacher Wang quickly shouted, feeling utterly exhausted and desperate to leave. She thought to herself: *This whole family—except for Lin Jingwen—is insane.*
“Eldest daughter‑in‑law, you’ve taken advantage long enough! Stop trying to push the child away. No matter what, you must raise him—he’s your biological son, and he’s loyal to you!” Zhang Lanxiang added.
“Waaah… now you’re all scolding me! But when I said these things at home before, none of you spoke up!”
Huang Juan burst into tears under the barrage of accusations. She knew she had behaved shamefully, but the others weren’t innocent either.
Now suddenly, everything was being pinned on her alone!
Her mother‑in‑law, Zhang Lanxiang, had also often spoken ill of Lin Jingwen to Dongle, teaching him how to cause trouble for the third daughter‑in‑law, how to call her ‘stepmom.’
“What are you crying for! Shut up! Before, no one said anything because the third daughter‑in‑law herself didn’t object. But now she and the third son are both dissatisfied, which proves you were in the wrong!”
Zhang Lanxiang immediately snapped at Huang Juan, her logic surprisingly clear, while forcefully absolving herself of blame. Finally, she declared: “Enough, enough, stop making a scene! Let’s just treat the adoption as if it never happened. Find the contract and tear it up. Eldest son, eldest daughter‑in‑law, from now on Dongle is your child again, he’ll live with you. Don’t go bothering the third son and his wife about him anymore!”
Huang Juan still wanted to argue, but Li Jianguo had already agreed: “Fine, then the adoption is canceled.”
If the quarrel continued, he would lose all face.
Since they were determined to end the adoption, no amount of fussing would change it.
Seeing her husband speak, Huang Juan could only grit her teeth and agree.
Teacher Wang also felt it was better to cancel the adoption. She sympathized with Lin Jingwen’s grievances and thought that without her as his “mother,” Dongle might cause fewer problems in the future.
“So, where’s the contract? Bring it out now. I’m Dongle’s homeroom teacher, and I’ll serve as a witness.” Teacher Wang spoke again.
Zhang Lanxiang went to look for it, rummaging for a long time but couldn’t find it—she had no idea where it had been thrown, since she hadn’t taken it seriously at the time and never stored it properly.
Seeing the contract couldn’t be found, Huang Juan secretly rejoiced. Didn’t this mean the adoption couldn’t be dissolved?
Lin Jingwen frowned, suspecting Zhang Lanxiang was deliberately pretending not to find it.
“Even if the original adoption contract can’t be found, it doesn’t matter. You can write a new one, stating that the adoptive relationship is dissolved from today onward. The old contract will be void.”
Teacher Wang immediately suggested helpfully: “Bring me some paper and a pen. I’ll draft three copies right now. You can all sign them. If you don’t have a seal pad at home, I’ll come back tomorrow. Everyone can stamp their fingerprints.”
“Thank you so much, Teacher Wang. We do have a seal pad at home. Please wait a moment, I’ll go find it.” Lin Jingwen quickly replied. She entered the room she used to live in and immediately frowned.
The once tidy room was now a mess—clothes thrown everywhere, the quilt on the bed left unfolded, and the air reeking of urine.
Lin Jingwen instantly realized that Li Dongle had wet the bed the previous night. Thinking of Li Anping’s frustration then, she couldn’t help but laugh.
No wonder he was so eager to throw Dongle out—he had suffered and couldn’t handle raising him himself.
Yet Lin Jingwen had endured six whole years of this. Especially during the first year of adoption, when Li Anping was still studying at university and living in the dorms. She had raised Dongle alone in that room—changing diapers, cleaning up messes, barely sleeping two hours a night. She didn’t even know how she had survived it.
Realizing she was dwelling on painful memories again, Lin Jingwen quickly shook her head, found the seal pad in the drawer, and hurried out.
That urine‑stained room felt like a prison to her—stifling, suffocating. She couldn’t bear to stay inside for even a second longer.