Shen Jiaojiao glanced at her wrinkled white dress, feeling extremely disgusted. She rummaged through the wardrobe and pulled out a floral dress that was about seventy to eighty percent new. After putting it on and tying her hair into a high ponytail, she instantly looked much more spirited.
Xiao Yueyue was wearing a dull, gray old dress that was both baggy and long, with messy hair. The original owner of this body had almost never paid attention to her daughter, focusing only on dressing herself up.
From the limited selection of clothes, Shen Jiaojiao reluctantly picked out a floral dress that was about fifty to sixty percent new for Xiao Yueyue to change into. She then braided the little girl’s hair into two pretty pigtails.
“So pretty.”
Shen Jiaojiao examined the little girl. Her facial features were delicate, with her mouth and face resembling her mother’s. Only her eyes were different—the corners of her eyes tilted upward, and her eyebrows were dark and thick. She didn’t look like the original owner at all, probably taking after her biological father. Thinking of that biological father who had never shown up, Shen Jiaojiao grew angry again. The father didn’t care, and the mother didn’t bother—what a pair of useless parents.
Xiao Yueyue looked at herself in the mirror with wonder. So she could look this pretty too.
“Mother, will you leave?”
While walking on the road, Xiao Yueyue suddenly asked. She was terrified that her fairy-like mother might disappear one day and turn back into the mother she used to be.
Shen Jiaojiao was taken aback. Would she leave?
She didn’t know either!
She had inexplicably arrived here, and who knew if she might just as inexplicably leave in the future.
But she had read many time-travel novels, and the heroines almost never left. They would live happily ever after in the new world with their domineering CEOs.
A wave of bitterness washed over Shen Jiaojiao. She hadn’t even caught a glimpse of her domineering CEO. Instead, she, a beautiful young woman, had suddenly become a mother, and her daughter was destined to be a future serial killer.
Her starting point was truly… utterly terrible.
“As long as Yueyue is good and listens to Mother, Mother won’t leave,” Shen Jiaojiao said softly.
“Yueyue will listen. Yueyue will always listen to Mother.”
Xiao Yueyue raised her little hand in a promise, speaking so quickly that she almost bit her tongue.
Shen Jiaojiao couldn’t help but laugh, gently patting the little girl’s cheek as she said softly, “Then Mother will always love Yueyue too. You must study hard, stay positive, and don’t be afraid if others bully you. Stand up for yourself bravely. If you can’t fight back, come find Mother. But you mustn’t bully others either. Do you understand what I mean?”
“I understand. I can poke Uncle Wang and Daddy with a needle, but I can’t poke Xiaoming.”
Xiao Yueyue nodded. Xiaoming was her friend and even gave her candy, so she definitely couldn’t bully him.
“That’s right, Yueyue is so smart. But Xi Zihua isn’t your daddy. Don’t call him that anymore,” Shen Jiaojiao corrected.
“Who is my daddy?”
Xiao Yueyue asked curiously. She didn’t like Xi Zihua being her daddy either. She wanted a tall, brave daddy who would protect her and her mother.
“You popped out of a rock, just like Sun Wukong. The sun, moon, and stars in the sky are all your daddies,” Shen Jiaojiao made up on the spot.
That bastard surnamed Xiao must have died long ago. It was better to let the child get used to her new identity sooner.
But Xiao Yueyue was delighted. So her daddy was that amazing, just like Sun Wukong’s daddy.
If her classmates ever said she didn’t have a daddy again, she would make them look at the sun.
Hmph, no one’s daddy was as amazing as hers!
Just outside the alley was a small convenience store selling daily necessities, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, cigarettes, alcohol, and candy. Sitting inside was a woman with a fierce face, triangular eyes, high cheekbones, and thin lips—she looked like trouble at first glance.She was Zhang Jingui, the mother of Xi Zihua, a notorious shrew known far and wide for bullying Shen Jiaojiao and her daughter as a daily routine.
“Dressed so provocatively, going to seduce men again?” Zhang Jingui sneered, her words dripping with vulgarity. “Your collar’s so wide open, afraid men won’t notice?”
Shen Jiaojiao retorted sharply, unafraid of this Old Witch.
Zhang Jingui was short and plump, only in her sixties, but since her forties, she had disliked wearing bras, opting instead for a tank top that couldn’t hold anything in, swaying with every step.
Moreover, Zhang Jingui preferred clothes with low-cut collars because she feared heat—if the collar wasn’t open wide enough, she’d feel suffocated, with no regard for her image.
Zhang Jingui was stunned by Shen Jiaojiao’s sharp tongue, then flew into a rage. How dare this little bean sprout, who had always been oppressed and humiliated, fight back?
How outrageous!
“You little slut, do you have any respect for your elders? How dare you speak to me like that? Dressed so provocatively, who are you trying to seduce? Eating my son’s food, spending my son’s money, yet running around seducing men every day—I spit on you! The Shen family must be a brothel, raising nothing but whores!”
Zhang Jingui stormed out of the small shop, slapping her thigh with each curse, drawing the attention of nearby onlookers.
Everyone looked at Shen Jiaojiao with sympathy. Encountering a vicious mother-in-law like Zhang Jingui, one could only resign themselves to misfortune. After all, Shen Jiaojiao couldn’t bear a son—married for eight years, she had only given birth to a daughter. The Xi Family had a single heir, so Zhang Jingui’s anxiety was understandable.
“Which man have I seduced? Name him! I’ve never seen a mother like you, so eager to put a cuckold’s hat on your son. Fine, I’ll go seduce a dozen or twenty men right now, give your son a dozen or twenty cuckold’s hats. Why don’t you just turn this shop of yours into a cuckold hat store!”
Shen Jiaojiao retorted calmly and unhurriedly. Her refined upbringing from her past life was useless against such a shrew—only violence could counter violence, only shamelessness could counter shamelessness.
The onlookers burst into laughter, looking at Shen Jiaojiao with newfound respect. This young bride of the Xi Family had finally grown a backbone. That’s how it should be. Even though a mother-in-law is an elder, one shouldn’t let her trample all over them.
Shen Jiaojiao continued mockingly, “If the Shen family is a brothel, why did the Xi Family marry me in the first place? As they say, like attracts like—turtles pair with turtles, pheasants with ducks. The Xi Family isn’t any good either. With a son like Xi Zihua, who’s nothing but a teapot spout, I must have been blind to marry him. And you, Zhang Jingui, what are you so proud of? Giving birth to a teapot spout son, and you think you’re something?”
The onlookers gasped in shock. A teapot spout?
What a shocking secret! No wonder Xi Zihua walked with a sway—he must be a Heavenly Eunuch!
“You lying slut, I’ll tear your mouth apart! If my son is a teapot spout, how was Yueyue born?”
Zhang Jingui panicked, lunging forward with claws bared, ready to tear Shen Jiaojiao apart.
She was certain Shen Jiaojiao wouldn’t dare reveal the scandal of her premarital pregnancy, or else public scorn would drown this wretched woman.
“Yueyue isn’t even from the Xi Family’s bloodline. Otherwise, why would she be called Xiao Yueyue, not Xi Yueyue?”
Shen Jiaojiao spoke with righteous confidence. The original owner feared losing face, but she didn’t. So what if she was pregnant before marriage? It was no big deal. She was shameless, uncultured, and unreasonable—who would dare bully her now?The crowd gasped, finally unraveling the mystery of why Xiao Yueyue bore the surname Xiao. Xi Zihua had publicly claimed the child took the surname of her godfather, but this godfather had never appeared—turns out he was the biological father.
Someone in the know recalled the love story of Shen Jiaojiao from years ago, how she had been passionately involved with a small-time hoodlum named Xiao Ke. Perhaps Xiao Yueyue was indeed Xiao Ke’s daughter.
But Xiao Ke had suddenly vanished eight years ago and never resurfaced. He was probably dead, wasn’t he?