“I don’t know.” The response to Shu Zhishan came in a middle-aged woman’s voice, arrogant and slightly rising in tone. Shu Qianzhi recognized it as her stepmother, Xia Pei.
Xia Pei was the biological mother of Shu Zhishan and Shu Mingkai, and had always treated Shu Qianzhi harshly. Even in her previous life, Shu Qianzhi knew that Xia Pei never showed her any kindness, fearing she would compete for the family fortune. Shu Zhishan’s false friendship with her was also orchestrated by Xia Pei.
However, at this point in her previous life, Shu Qianzhi still foolishly believed Shu Zhishan genuinely cared for her, unaware she was falling into their trap.
“What’s all that noise outside? What is Shu Mingkai crying and fussing about now?”
Shu Zhishan’s voice carried clear frustration, mirroring Xia Pei’s arrogance but with an added layer of sarcasm.
She didn’t think much of her own brother either, largely because she knew of Shu Mingkai’s fondness for Shu Qianzhi and thus rarely gave him a proper glance.
“Him? He says he saw that illegitimate daughter.” When mentioning “illegitimate daughter,” Xia Pei’s tone dripped with disgust, as if referring to something utterly vile.
Hidden inside the bathroom, Shu Qianzhi licked her lips, her expression calm as she continued eavesdropping.
“Illegitimate daughter” was what Xia Pei and everyone in the Shu Family, including the servants, called her. In the Shu household, she never had a name of her own.
She was long used to it.
“Who knows what kind of spell that person has cast on Xiao Kai? No amount of scolding or beating gets through to him. It’s truly annoying.”
Xia Pei spoke bluntly, but her words consistently placed all the blame on Shu Qianzhi.
Precisely because she could see Shu Mingkai’s sincere affection for Shu Qianzhi, she held a deep-seated disappointment in her son, convinced he was only bewitched by that illegitimate daughter’s influence.
Upon hearing this, Shu Zhishan’s voice took on a gleeful tone. She chuckled lightly, “Mom, you better watch out for Shu Mingkai. It seems his whole heart is with that person. Don’t let him turn on you.”
“What are you saying?Xia Pei’s voice followed immediately, tinged with questioning and displeasure. “He’s your brother, my own son. He would never side with an outsider. He’s just young; he’ll understand my efforts when he’s older.”
The conversation stopped there, with no further argument. Shu Qianzhi remained seated on the toilet, unable to see their expressions or movements outside but judging by their voices that they hadn’t left yet.
And she wasn’t done listening; indeed, as people reach a certain age, they develop a particular fondness for gossip about internal conflicts.
She even mentally urged: Fight, fight!
As if answering her wish, after a brief silence, Shu Zhishan’s voice emerged slowly, carrying a hint of ingratiation, “But Mom, do you think Shu Mingkai really saw Shu Qianzhi? She’s still missing, no one knows where she went.”
“Probably not.” Xia Pei clearly didn’t take the episode seriously. “That illegitimate daughter is so greedy for money. If she were still alive, she’d come crawling back to the Shu Family, just like her madwoman of a mother.”
Inside the stall, Shu Qianzhi sat casually, her expression largely unchanged from start to finish, maintaining a look of enjoying the drama.
Outside, Shu Zhishan’s voice noticeably relaxed upon hearing this. “It’s good if she’s dead then. Dad has only just accepted the fact. She better not show up now and ruin things.”
“Exactly.” Xia Pei snorted lightly. “Let’s take another detour before heading back. Don’t let Mingkai say anything careless. I finally managed to persuade your father to stop searching for that illegitimate daughter. We mustn’t give him renewed hope because of these matters.”
“Alright.” Shu Zhishan chuckled softly. “Everything’s finally settled now. With Shu Qianzhi gone, her madwoman of a mother probably won’t last long either. Mother, your two thorns in the heart have finally been pulled out.”
Outside, the click-clack of high heels faded into the distance, and all discussion completely ceased. The spacious restroom fell into dead silence, the atmosphere growing increasingly oppressive.
Shu Qianzhi remained seated on the toilet, lightly pinching her fingertips. Her expression was dazed as she stared blankly at the stall door for a long moment.
Shu Zhishan and Xia Pei’s conversation had actually reminded her of something.
In her previous life, her biological mother had taken her own life after hearing news of her death. What about this lifetime?
In the Shu Family’s eyes, she was already dead. But if they relayed this news to her mother, her mother likely wouldn’t be able to bear it either.
She didn’t dare trust the extent of Shu Zhishan and Xia Pei’s scheming. She would have to find an opportunity herself to get word to her mother, to at least reassure her.
Shu Qianzhi’s thick, long eyelashes fluttered slightly, swaying with various emotions.
She suddenly felt some regret over her foolishness in her previous life.
Aside from Shu Mingkai, no one in the Shu Family had wished her well—including her own biological father. He claimed to acknowledge her as his daughter, yet when his daughter went missing, he listened to his second wife and agreed to abandon the search without hesitation.
Fine. She thought it was just perfect.
She and her mother had lived kind lives, never expecting to be brought to such an end by a family of villains. How unjust.
After sighing with emotion for a while, Shu Qianzhi suddenly realized she had another, more pressing problem at the moment…
Having disappeared for so long, how was she going to explain this to Ji Zechen?!