Wang Pei shook her head and said, “Nothing was found out. The people who went to Xu Zhijun’s hometown said that everyone in the village believed Li Hong and Xu Zhijun’s elder brother grew up together, and their relationship was very good. No one knew these two were having an affair.”
She couldn’t understand why, when she had previously sent people to investigate, everyone in the village said Xu Zhijun had never liked anyone since childhood.
Who would have thought this beast would fancy his own sister-in-law.
[The three of them did indeed grow up together. However, after father’s brother joined the army and became very successful, Li Hong married him. But no one expected that father would later become even more successful, so she came to seduce him.]
[It was when Uncle saw the two embracing that he found out. Later, he received an urgent mission and made a mistake while clearing mines, getting blown up and killed.]
Wang Pei and Lu Jingyi exchanged looks of disbelief.
They had thought Xu Zhijun’s elder brother’s death was an accident.
Never expected…
Wang Pei stood up and said, “Keep eating, I’m going to check on Li Hong.”
Lu Jingyi nodded.
Wang Pei stood up and carefully went downstairs.
She had wondered back then why, since they were sisters-in-law giving birth around the same time, they weren’t staying together.
Now she understood—it was probably because that beast Xu Zhijun was afraid they would find out.
The fact that Li Hong could stay in a private room was likely due to Xu Zhijun’s influence.
Wang Pei quietly approached the hospital room door.
From afar, she could hear a child crying. As she reached the door, she heard Li Hong’s scolding.
“Cry, cry, cry, all you know is crying.”
“Just like your damned mother, both here to collect debts. Completely useless.”
“Li Hong, at least feed her. If the nurse hears and comes to check, and this gets to the military wives’ ears, who knows how they’ll gossip behind our backs.”
Li Hong: “I really owe her.”
Wang Pei trembled all over upon hearing this.
The thought that if she hadn’t swapped the babies back, it would be her Long Bao suffering now.
Just then, a sharp slapping sound came from inside the room.
“You bit me! Like some starving ghost.”
Immediately followed by the child’s crying.
Wang Pei had given birth and raised children herself. Though Li Hong and Xu Zhijun were despicable, the child was ultimately innocent.
She couldn’t bear to listen any longer and turned to leave.
After returning, she told her daughter what she had heard.
Lu Jingyi held Long Bao with lingering fear, “Thank goodness I got my Yunshu back, otherwise it would be my Yunshu suffering now.”
Long Bao woke up to the sound of crying and reached up to wipe the tears from Lu Jingyi’s face.
[Mommy, don’t cry. Does it hurt? Let me blow on it for you.]
Lu Jingyi’s tears fell even harder.
Wang Pei hurried over and said, “You’re still in confinement, you mustn’t cry. It’s bad for your eyes. If you develop chronic problems, that would be terrible.”
Lu Jingyi quickly wiped her tears away.
Her heart aching, she held her daughter tighter.
[Don’t worry, when I was born, a strand of Innate Qi remained in Mommy’s body. It can protect Mommy, so she won’t get sick.]
Lu Jingyi froze, looking at the child in her arms, her maternal instincts surging even stronger.
“My precious baby.”
Just then, the hospital room door was suddenly pushed open.
The voice came through before the person even entered.
“Jingyi, why are you crying? You absolutely must not cry during confinement.”
Wang Pei stood up. Seeing who was at the door, her expression softened slightly.
After so many years of her daughter’s marriage, this mother-in-law had actually been quite good—often bringing local specialties from the countryside for her daughter.
Whenever conflicts arose between her daughter and son-in-law, she frequently sided with her daughter.
“When did you get back, in-law?”
Grandma walked in smiling, her hair tied neatly behind her head, clothes washed to a faded hue, presenting a very efficient appearance overall.
“I rushed over as soon as I received Zhijun’s call. I heard Jingyi gave birth to a daughter—has the name been decided? Let me hold her.”
Lu Jingyi quickly passed the child over. “Mom, Xu Zhijun chose the name—it’s Xu Yunshu.”
“A good name, my precious granddaughter.”
Though she called her “precious granddaughter” aloud, she glanced at the baby only briefly before turning her attention to Lu Jingyi.
“What did the doctor say about your health?”
Lu Jingyi replied, “The delivery went smoothly, and I wasn’t in pain for long.”
Grandma immediately breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Once you’ve recovered, quit your job and then give our Lao Xu family a healthy baby boy.”
Lu Jingyi’s expression instantly froze.
Wang Pei also looked at her in surprise.
Seeing their reactions, Grandma’s smile faded slightly. “What’s wrong? According to the family planning policy, if the first child is a daughter, you’re allowed to have a second.”
Lu Jingyi suddenly felt as if she’d swallowed a fly—a wave of nausea washing over her.
Right now, the thought of Xu Zhijun touching her was repulsive enough, let alone seeing him.
How could she possibly have a second child with him?
If it weren’t for the lack of evidence making divorce impossible, she would have left him long ago.
“Mom, that’s the policy in the villages. Under the current regulations, Xu Zhijun and I can only have one child.”
“Then just pay the fine. It’s not like our families can’t afford it.”
Lu Jingyi narrowed her eyes, suddenly feeling this mother-in-law was a complete stranger.
Compared to the difficult mothers-in-law in other military wives’ families, hers had always treated her exceptionally well—washing clothes and cooking for her all these years without a single complaint.
Of course, she often bought various things for her mother-in-law in return.
Even when her mother-in-law mailed those items back to the village to give away, she never interfered.
But now, before she’d even finished her postpartum recovery, her mother-in-law was pressuring her to have a second child.
After a moment’s thought, Lu Jingyi attributed it to old-fashioned thinking from the older generation.
She patiently explained, “Mom, it’s not about the fine. If I have a second child, Xu Zhijun’s career will be affected too.”
“Impossible. I’ve discussed this with Xu Zhijun, and he agreed—”
“What!”
Realizing she’d slipped up, Grandma scowled and thrust Long Bao back at her. “Anyway, I don’t care—you must have a son.”
Lu Jingyi hurriedly reached out to take the child. Even with the baby safely in her arms, her heart continued racing.
Seeing her mother-in-law’s attitude toward Long Bao, Lu Jingyi’s face darkened. “I will only ever have Yunshu as my daughter.”
“What did you say? You won’t continue our family line?”
“Yunshu is also Xu Zhijun’s daughter. It’s not like the line ends with her.”
“What use is a girl? She’ll marry out eventually. What family doesn’t have a son? They’d be looked down upon otherwise.”
Wang Pei said angrily, “I’d like to see anyone dare look down on my granddaughter.”
“In-law, you can talk big now only because you have a son yourself.”
“I actually wanted a daughter—never expected I’d get a son.”
Grandma muttered under her breath, “Easy for you to say now that you’ve already had a son. You can claim whatever you want.”
Wang Pei widened her eyes in anger. “In-law, my daughter hasn’t even finished her postpartum recovery month, and you’re already pressuring her to have a second child while demanding she quit her job. What kind of logic is that?”
Grandma immediately felt somewhat guilty.
After all, her daughter-in-law’s family was formidable.
Her daughter-in-law’s father was said to be some kind of capitalist who reportedly earned huge sums of money every year.
Her daughter-in-law’s mother was also a pianist—something she didn’t quite understand.
Her daughter-in-law’s brother was another capitalist.
Even her daughter-in-law’s sister-in-law worked for a state-owned institution. This entire family was not to be offended.
Forget it—they were all her family anyway. Her son would still need to rely on his in-laws in the future, and if she did get pregnant, they surely wouldn’t have the heart to terminate it.
Grandma smiled and said, “Hey, I was just casually mentioning it. You’re taking it too seriously.”
Lu Jingyi glared at her furiously.
She was enraged that Xu Zhijun had already discussed having a second child with his mother behind her back.
What did they take her for!
[Don’t you dare listen to her nonsense—she’s still thinking about having a second child.]
[She’s also a bad person. Later, when she clearly knew I had been swapped, she helped those two deceive Mom.]
What!