Children’s skin is naturally delicate, and the bruises stood out glaringly on her flesh.
“Li Hong!”
The quilt trembled violently.
Xu Zhijun stared in disbelief at the bruises on the child, then glanced at Li Hong, who was pretending to be dead under the covers.
How… how could she be so cruel?
The next moment, the child was shoved into his arms.
Grandma, enraged, lunged toward the bed. She yanked the quilt away and began slapping Li Hong across the face.
“You heartless woman! That’s your own child! How could you bear to hit her like this?”
“No wonder the child has been crying so much—it turns out you’ve been pinching her!”
“Li Hong! That’s my eldest son’s only daughter! How dare you bully her like this? Aren’t you afraid he’ll come for you at night?”
Li Hong cried out in pain from the blows.
She was still in her postpartum confinement and had little strength.
She was no match for Grandma.
All she could do was cover her face and scream, “Zhijun, save me!”
Everything happened so quickly. Before Xu Zhijun could react, his mother was already on top of Li Hong, beating her.
Xu Zhijun quickly set the child aside and rushed over to pull them apart.
“Mom, the neighbors are right outside. What if someone sees? Wouldn’t that give them something to laugh about?”
Even as he pulled her away, Grandma was still fuming.
“Li Hong, I’ll beat you to death, you heartless wretch!”
Li Hong knew she was in the wrong. Covering her face, she sobbed without saying a word.
She absolutely couldn’t let Mom find out that Xiao Tao was the child she had swapped.
Nor could she reveal that Yunshu wasn’t hers and Zhijie’s child, but Zhijun’s.
If this got out, she wouldn’t be able to go on living.
Just then, a voice suddenly came from outside the window.
“Auntie, Comrade Li, what’s going on in your house?”
“Do you need any help?”
Hearing the voices of outsiders, Xu Zhijun’s scalp prickled with anxiety. He hurried outside.
He saw three neighbor women standing outside the window.
When they saw it was Xu Zhijun who came out, the three women were taken aback.
“Comrade Xu? What are you doing here?”
Xu Zhijun: “I just finished eating and had nothing to do, so I went for a stroll. My wife asked me to bring some things to my sister-in-law.”
“Oh, I see. What’s going on inside? I thought I heard Auntie’s voice.”
Realizing they hadn’t overheard what happened, Xu Zhijun breathed a sigh of relief.
“A rat just ran into the room and scared my sister-in-law. My mom’s chasing it out.”
“A rat?”
“Comrade Xu, you’d better be careful. When rats get hungry, they might even bite children. Tell Auntie and your sister-in-law to watch out.”
“Yes, yes, thank you for your concern.”
The three women didn’t feel it was appropriate to enter, so they left together.
Xu Zhijun finally relaxed.
He hurried back into the room.
After all the commotion, the two women inside had calmed down somewhat.
Xu Zhijun felt utterly overwhelmed.
No. He couldn’t leave these two alone together anymore.
If they fought again when he wasn’t around and someone overheard, he would be implicated too.
Xu Zhijun: “Mom, let’s talk things out calmly. The neighbors are everywhere. If word gets out, how will my sister-in-law continue living here?”
“Li Hong has done something like this. If she has no shame, then I don’t care about my reputation either.”
“Mom, why don’t you go take care of Lu Jingyi instead?”
Grandma put her hands on her hips and said irritably, “With your mother-in-law here, how could an old woman like me take charge? Besides, if I go over, what about your sister-in-law?”
“Then let Sister-in-law come to my place. Taking care of one more person makes no difference anyway.”
Grandma’s eyes lit up.
Li Hong’s sobbing abruptly stopped.
If she could move in with Lu Jingyi, wouldn’t she get to share whatever Lu Jingyi ate and used?
Li Hong lowered her head to wipe her tears and said, “But would your wife disagree?”
“She won’t. She has the kindest heart. I’ll talk to her when I get back later.”
The corners of Li Hong’s lips curled up.
She turned her head and glanced at the child in her mother-in-law’s arms.
What’s the point of bullying Lu Jingyi’s daughter behind her back? She wanted to do it right in front of Lu Jingyi.
When Lu Jingyi eventually learned the truth, she would surely be filled with regret.
Meanwhile.
The three sisters-in-law had already arrived in front of Lu Jingyi’s house.
“I rarely see a child as adorable as Long Bao. Old Zhao and I want a child too. Why don’t we go take a look? Consider it soaking up some baby luck.”
“Let’s go, I want to go in too.”
“But doesn’t Lu Jingyi always bully Li Hong? She’s a Capitalist roader. What if she looks down on us?”
The three sisters-in-law hesitated at the door.
First, they weren’t familiar with Lu Jingyi and had barely spoken to her before.
Second, they were empty-handed, and it felt inappropriate to visit someone’s home unannounced.
Third, they had heard from Li Hong that Lu Jingyi wasn’t known for having a good temper.
But Long Bao was just too adorable.
Just as the three sisters-in-law were hesitating, Wang Pei opened the door to pour out some water and happened to see them standing outside.
Wang Pei said, “You’re here to see Long Bao, right? Why are you standing outside? Come in and have some tea.”
The three exchanged glances and stepped inside with trepidation.
As soon as they entered, they found the room exceptionally warm.
A child’s laughter could be heard from inside the room.
“Long Bao can laugh at such a young age?”
Wang Pei replied, “Of course! This child is clever as can be. Come in and sit. There’s candy inside. I’ll go make you some tea.”
“Auntie, don’t trouble yourself.”
Wang Pei led them into the room and offered them candy.
Encouraged by Wang Pei’s warm hospitality, each of them took two pieces of candy.
“Long Bao, what are you playing with?” One of the sisters-in-law widened her eyes upon seeing what the child was holding. “Comrade Lu, are you giving gold to a child as a toy?”
Lu Jingyi replied, “My brother gave it to her.”
Seeing the disbelief on the three sisters-in-law’s faces, Lu Jingyi quickly added, “It’s fake, not real gold.”
Hearing it wasn’t gold, the three sisters-in-law immediately relaxed.
Who in the world would give their child gold as a toy?
“Comrade Lu, do you have any secrets? How do you raise such a healthy child?”
Lu Jingyi reached out and gently tapped Long Bao’s nose.
Her tone was indescribably doting.
“What secrets could there be? Long Bao is a treasure heaven sent to me.”
Just then, Wang Pei came in with tea and handed a cup to each of the three sisters-in-law.
“Auntie, Comrade Lu, you’re so generous. You’re this kind even to outsiders, no wonder you take such good care of Li Hong.”
“Yes, Li Hong always used to say you were stingy and that you bullied her…”
Before the sister-in-law could finish her sentence, another one nudged her.
Lu Jingyi froze. “Li Hong said I’m stingy and that I bully her?”
She couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
When she first learned that Li Hong was also pregnant, she felt sorry for the widow and orphan left behind after her husband’s elder brother passed away, so she often had her husband bring over some food.
Li Hong ate the food she provided while secretly speaking ill of her behind her back.
Excellent!
Truly an ungrateful wretch who can never be tamed.