Xu Wantang was neither crazy nor stupid. Given a second chance, she had no intention of being a free nanny again. She was about to divorce Lu Yunzheng—was she really going to keep trotting around cooking for his family? Only an idiot would do that.
She didn't care about her reputation either. What was a reputation worth? Could it fill her stomach?
In her past life, she'd earned herself a fine reputation in everyone's eyes, but all it got her was anger, exhaustion, a body full of illness, and in the end, not even anyone to collect her corpse. Clearly, reputation was useless—better to get some extra sleep instead.
Xu Wantang glanced at the time. It was only five in the morning, still early. So she bunched up the cotton quilt over her, pulled it entirely over her head, leaving just a small gap to breathe through, and ignored everything Zhang Xiuju was doing.
She was a good sleeper, and soon she drifted back into dreamland.
Unlike the comfortable Xu Wantang inside, Zhang Xiuju had worn herself out banging on the door and shouting. After carrying on for a while, she stopped knocking and stopped cursing, and just leaned against the door, panting heavily.
Even as she panted, she kept intermittently hurling vicious curses at Xu Wantang. But Xu Wantang showed no sign of coming out at all, which only made Zhang Xiuju furious with herself, slapping her own chest over and over.
Zhang Xiuju's racket didn't lure Xu Wantang out, but it did wake Zhao Youyou.
Having cried all night, her eyes were now so swollen they were mere slits, nothing like her usual bright, adorable self.
Hearing the commotion, she sat up in bed and tiptoed toward the door.
She pulled the door open a crack and carefully pressed her swollen, slit-like eyes against the gap to observe what was happening outside, her chubby little lips pressed tightly together. She looked nervous.
She was nervous not only because she was afraid of Zhang Xiuju, but also because of what Father Lu had told her last night.
Before bed last night, Father Lu had come to her room and told her that because the bad woman wanted to divorce him, once divorced he would be single, and a single man no longer qualified to keep raising her.
She didn't understand what "single" or "qualify" meant. Father Lu explained that it meant she couldn't go on living in his home anymore, and would have to be sent back to her birth mother.
Hearing this, Zhao Youyou's first reaction was to cry.
She missed her own mother very much, and often demanded that the bad woman give her mother back—but she didn't want to leave Father Lu's home.
Father Lu's home was warm; even in winter it was never as cold as New Daddy's house. The bad woman cooked delicious food and even gave her precious milk candies. Her mother had told her that life at Father Lu's would be good. She wanted a good life. She wanted to stay at Father Lu's home.
But she had cried and cried, until her head ached, and Father Lu only sighed, tucked in her blanket, and left her room.
Zhao Youyou sniffled, thinking resentfully:
It was all that bad woman's fault! If she hadn't insisted on divorcing Father Lu, he wouldn't be sending her away!
As she cried, her little head kept churning through ways to stay with the Lu family—until she finally cried herself to sleep.
At this moment, her gaze was fixed firmly on Xu Wantang's door, afraid that Xu Wantang might leave. She wanted to go find the bad woman once before Dad Lu got divorced, to tell her not to divorce Dad Lu.
Only after the scary Grandma had stormed out the door, cursing as usual on her way to play mahjong, did she run out of her room and wait in the living room for the bad woman to come out.
Xu Wantang had slept wonderfully. When she opened her eyes again, daylight was already streaming bright. She stretched, got out of bed full of energy.
The noise outside had stopped at some point, and the Lu household was now very quiet. At this hour, Zhang Xiuju had surely gone off to play mahjong. Without Zhang Xiuju's disruptions, Xu Wantang was in an excellent mood. Humming a little tune, she opened her door, planning to go wash up in the bathroom.
The moment she opened the door, a small figure darted quickly up to her.
It was Zhao Youyou.
Zhao Youyou was looking up at her, eyes full of resentment, nothing like the sweet, pitiful child she'd been when Lu Yunzheng came home last night. Right now, Zhao Youyou looked more like a little tyrant, glaring at her viciously as she demanded, "Why are you divorcing Dad Lu?!"
At Zhao Youyou's question, Xu Wantang was briefly puzzled: what did her divorce have to do with Zhao Youyou?
Then it dawned on her. In her previous life, Zhao Youyou had been a textbook case of having it both ways—shamelessly enjoying all the benefits the Lu family and Xu Wantang provided, while inwardly never accepting her as a stepmother.
The reason Zhao Youyou didn't want her to divorce Lu Yunzheng was most likely that she couldn't bear to give up the Lu family's comfortable life.
Xu Wantang glanced around and saw that no one else was home besides her and Zhao Youyou. No wonder Zhao Youyou had dropped the act and shown her true face.
She looked Zhao Youyou up and down, marveling once more at how such a young child could have such deep schemes.
But this time, Zhao Youyou wouldn't get her way like she did in the previous life.
She wanted to see—without the Lu family's privileged life, without her education and the paths she paved—whether Zhao Youyou could still shine as brightly as she had before.
Seeing that Xu Wantang wasn't speaking, Zhao Youonly grew bolder, like an enraged little calf. "Bad woman! I'm talking to you! You're not allowed to divorce Dad Lu, do you hear me?"
Hearing the little tyrant Zhao Youyou's command, Xu Wantang crouched down, gazing at her with icy eyes.
The corners of her mouth curled up into a provocative smile. Tilting her head slightly, she said with mock seriousness, utterly infuriating, "Oh dear, I wasn't all that keen on divorcing before, but now that you've said that, I actually want to divorce even more. Whatever shall I do?"
At Xu Wantang's words, Zhao Youyou's previously arrogant little face instantly turned the color of pig liver. She screamed over and over, "I forbid it! I forbid it!"
Watching Zhao Youyou, driven half-mad with rage, Xu Wantang felt wonderfully refreshed. Unable to hold it in, she burst out laughing.
Seeing the smile on Xu Wantang's face grow even wider, Zhao Youyou got even angrier. She stretched out her little hands, clenched them into tiny fists, and shrieked as she lunged to hit Xu Wantang.
Xu Wantang watched as Zhao Youyou's little face went from pig-liver red to bright red—a truly comical sight.
She wasn't stupid enough to stand there and let Zhao Youyou hit her. Though Zhao Youyou was young, those little fists still hurt when they landed. She wasn't about to suffer for nothing.
Xu Wantang easily dodged Zhao Youyou's attacks, and the more she dodged, the louder Zhao Youyou cried.
Zhao Youyou's little legs were short—no matter how hard she scrambled, she couldn't keep up with Xu Wantang.
Xu Wantang had already slipped into the bathroom and shut the door while Zhao Youyou was still far behind.
Just as Xu Wantang squeezed toothpaste onto her brush, there came a loud smack from the living room, followed by Zhao Youyou's even more piercing wails.
With that much noise, she must have fallen. Xu Wantang had no intention of going to help her up, calmly brushing her teeth instead.
The next second, the sound of the front door opening and closing came from the entryway.
Immediately after, Lu Yunzheng's anxious yet cold voice rang out in accusation, "Xu Wantang! How are you looking after the child?!"