After the fight, Hongfei and Hongyu stood tall, looking down contemptuously at the group of brats lying on the ground. They exchanged a glance, shared a smug look, high-fived each other, and then turned to see Xing Zhaozhao getting off the Tractor, holding a small swaddling clothes. Their eyes immediately lit up, and they ran over: “Mom, you’re back! Where’s our sister? Let us see her quickly.”
Xing Zhaozhao smiled, bent down, and carefully lifted a corner of the small swaddling clothes to give them a peek.
Xiao Hongling was sleeping, and afraid of waking their sister, the two little ones lowered their voices.
“Our sister is so tiny.”
“Our sister is so pretty, just like me.”
“Mom, can I touch our sister?”
Xing Zhaozhao didn’t agree: “You just finished fighting and are all dirty. No one is allowed to touch your sister until we get home and you wash your hands.”
When Xing Zhaozhao mentioned the fight, the two little ones grew uneasy: “Mom, we’re sorry, we got into another fight.” Mom had never liked it when they fought.
To their surprise, their mother didn’t scold them outright.
“Tell me, why did you fight this time?” Xing Zhaozhao looked at them seriously and asked.
The two little ones puffed up with anger.
“They said Dad is a traitor, and that we’re the sons of a traitor,” Hongfei said with a grim expression.
Hearing this, Xing Zhaozhao’s face darkened as well.
Little kids wouldn’t understand such things—they must have overheard adults gossiping in private and picked it up. They don’t even know what kind of talk is acceptable and what isn’t.
Hongyu clenched his fists, his small face full of anger: “Dad is not a traitor, and we are not the sons of a traitor. I told them not to say it, but they kept going, so I had to hit them. I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t apologize this time.”
Xing Zhaozhao smiled and patted Hongyu’s little head: “Well, our little feather did the right thing this time. You didn’t do anything wrong, and there’s no need to apologize.”
Hongyu’s face flushed bright red as he looked at Xing Zhaozhao, utterly thrilled: “Really, Mom?”
Xing Zhaozhao nodded with a smile: “Of course. Mom always keeps her word.”
“Great!” Hongyu jumped for joy.
Hongfei, being slightly more composed, was also flushed with excitement.
Looking at her two sons, Xing Zhaozhao felt a pang of sorrow.
In her previous life, this had happened too, and she had forced the children to apologize.
After apologizing, it was as if their backbones had been ripped out—they became completely dispirited.
Tears welled in Xing Zhaozhao’s eyes as she gently stroked the children’s heads and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
The two children looked up at her in unison: “Mom, what did you say?”
Xing Zhaozhao shook her head lightly and took their hands: “Come on, let’s go home.”
The two children exchanged a glance but hesitated.
“What’s wrong?” Xing Zhaozhao asked, puzzled.
“Mom, Grandpa and Grandma kicked us out of the house. We’ve been staying at Granny Hao’s place these past few days. We don’t have a home here anymore,” Hongfei said, his eyes red as he looked at Xing Zhaozhao.
Those two shameless old things.
Xing Zhaozhao cursed them inwardly but showed no sign of it on her face. She smiled dismissively and said, “It’s fine. Then we’ll just find another home.”
The two little ones broke into smiles.
“Really? Where?”
“Can we live at Granny Hao’s? I like it there.”
“That probably won’t work. Granny Hao’s house can’t accommodate all of us.”
The mother and her two children chatted and laughed as they walked into the village.
Aunt Hao looked at the children lying injured on the ground nearby and couldn’t help worrying: “So many children are injured. Their families probably won’t let this go easily.”
The smiles froze on the two little ones’ faces as they looked at Xing Zhaozhao with unease.
Xing Zhaozhao remained unconcerned: “It’s fine. Let them come find me when the time comes.”
At the Gao residence.
Everyone else had gone to work, leaving only Gao Old Lady and several children at home.
As mealtime approached, a rich aroma of meat wafted from the kitchen, making the children crowd around the kitchen door. They stared eagerly at Gao Old Lady bustling inside, swallowing their saliva.
Gao Old Lady turned and glared at them, scolding irritably: “You little debt-collectors! Must’ve owed you from my past life.”
Despite her scolding, she still beckoned the children inside.
The two precious golden grandsons from the eldest son’s family, Jiabao and Jiabei, each got a piece.
The granddaughter from the eldest son’s family, Meimei, who looked most like her, got a piece.
The youngest from the third son’s family, Guier, not yet two years old with incomplete teeth, couldn’t eat a whole piece. He could just taste the flavor and smack his lips.
As for the three daughters from the third son’s family – worthless girls who’d cost the family money – they didn’t deserve any. Nothing for them.
What? Say she’s biased? Human hearts are naturally biased to begin with – why shouldn’t she show favoritism?
“Bang, bang.”
Someone suddenly knocked on the gate outside.
Gao Old Lady quickly scooped all the braised pork from the pot and hid it.
Some inconsiderate fool must have smelled the food and deliberately came at mealtime trying to scrounge a meal from her, Liu Cuihua. Not a chance!
“Meimei, go see who’s outside. Be smart about it – if it’s someone looking for a free meal, don’t let them in,” Gao Old Lady instructed Gao Meimei.
These days, no family was well-off.
If the second son’s wife – no, the Traitor’s Wife – hadn’t gone to the hospital to give birth recently and been absent, allowing her to pry open her cabinet and take her money, ration coupons, and various rare items, she wouldn’t have dared to eat meat several days in a row.
“Alright.” Gao Meimei, still savoring the rich taste of braised pork in her mouth, obediently responded and quickly ran out.
Gao Old Lady ladled water into the pot, preparing to clean it.
“Grandma!”
A frightened scream suddenly came from outside.
Startled, Gao Old Lady rushed out: “What? What happened?”
Gao Meimei ran up to her, little face full of panic, pointing at the tightly closed main gate: “It’s terrible, Grandma! Second Aunt – no, the Traitor’s Wife – is back.”
Gao Old Lady’s eyebrows shot up: “What? She dares to come back?”
With that, Gao Old Lady stormed toward the main gate in anger, but after two steps, she suddenly stopped. Thinking better of it, she turned back to the kitchen, grabbed a firewood stick, then rushed toward the main gate again.
Without opening the door, Gao Old Lady stood behind it and shouted irritably at the outside: “What do you want?”
“Mom, I’m back. Please open the door,” Xing Zhaozhao first said politely from outside.
“Get lost! I’m not your mom. I have no son who’s a traitor, so naturally I have no daughter-in-law like you,” Gao Old Lady stated.
Xing Zhaozhao couldn’t be more pleased.
“Oh, I see. Then can you let me in to get my things? After all, we have nothing to do with each other now, and it’s not convenient for my things to stay at your place,” Xing Zhaozhao said.
Gao Old Lady was unwilling. Not to mention the things in her room—anything that could be taken had already been divided between her and her two other daughters-in-law. Even if there were things left, she absolutely wouldn’t allow it. She had taken all the good stuff.
“Take what? Things in my house are mine. If you want to take them, don’t even think about it,” Gao Old Lady said.
Xing Zhaozhao raised an eyebrow slightly: “So you don’t want to return them?”
“They were mine to begin with. What’s there to return?” Gao Old Lady insisted on her twisted logic.
Xing Zhaozhao let out a light laugh: “You’d better open the door now. If you don’t, I might just…”
Before Xing Zhaozhao could finish, Gao Old Lady snorted disdainfully and interrupted, “Might just what? Call for help? Go ahead and call. Even if you call the heavens themselves, the things in my house are mine. Don’t even think about taking them away.”
“…kick the door down,” Xing Zhaozhao finished.
Gao Old Lady froze: “…What did you say?”
Xing Zhaozhao didn’t answer. Instead, her response came in the form of a loud crash: “Bang…”