“What did you just call them?” Ning Wanwan’s expression froze.
Her son had a father and a mother—how had he suddenly become a stray child?
The woman didn’t notice Ning Wanwan’s expression; she continued to frown, glaring in the direction of Shen Yan and Jiang Xian. “I wonder whose stray children these are—they have absolutely no manners.”
Ning Wanwan: “They’re mine.”
The woman froze, momentarily unable to process what she’d heard. After a long pause, she looked at Ning Wanwan with a mix of shock and hesitation. “Mrs. Shen, you—what did you just say?”
Had she misheard something?
“Mrs. Zhou, you didn’t mishear. The so-called ill-mannered stray child standing right in front of you is my son.” ” Ning Wanwan’s voice wasn’t loud, but it felt like a sledgehammer striking Mrs. Zhou’s heart with every word.
“How could that be?” Mrs. Zhou couldn’t help but turn pale as her gaze fell on Shen Yan.
She remembered now—the Shen family’s young master hadn’t attended a single social gathering in the past three years. That was why she’d never seen him before.
Ning Wanwan completely ignored the other woman’s awkward and panicked expression: “You just said my child bullied your daughter?”
Mrs. Zhou forced a smile: “A—a misunderstanding. I wasn’t talking about Young Master Shen. Yes, it’s all a misunderstanding. I was referring to that little girl behind him.”
Ning Wanwan: “That’s my child too.”
“How could that be?” Mrs. Zhou exclaimed, her face filled with shock.
Wasn’t it said that the Shen family had only one young master?
“Do you think I’m lying to you, Mrs. Zhou? Or are you saying that just because a child isn’t from the Shen family, it’s okay to insult them at will?” Ning Wanwan’s expression darkened, and an icy aura suddenly emanated from her.
“That’s not what I meant,” Mrs. Zhou hurriedly explained. “It’s just that I’d never heard of a young miss in the Shen family before. I was simply taken aback. Please don’t take offense, Mrs. Shen.”
“Then let’s continue discussing the children.”
Ning Wanwan continued in a detached tone: “Mrs. Zhou, you kept calling them ‘bastards’ and ‘ill-mannered’ just now. I’m curious—what exactly did my children do to make you so furious that you’d disregard your own dignity and hurl insults at them?”
Mrs. Zhou’s palms grew slightly sweaty, and a heavy weight settled in her heart.
The Zhou family had made their fortune in real estate, striking it rich by riding the wave of a booming market. Combined with Zhou Tong’s business acumen, they had managed to scrape their way into Beijing’s high society.
But as a family that had risen to wealth so suddenly, they lacked deep-rooted connections. With the real estate boom now over, the Zhou family needed the support of influential figures to gain a firm foothold in Beijing.
It was only through pulling strings that they’d managed to attend the young master of the Shen family’s birthday party. They’d hoped to use this opportunity to climb aboard the Shen family’s ship, but instead of securing that connection, they’d ended up offending both the president’s wife of the Shen Group and the young master himself.
At this point, Mrs. Zhou couldn’t even manage a smile. She stiffly tugged at the corners of her mouth and said, putting on a brave face, “Well, it’s normal for children to fight and play rough. It’s all my fault for having a loose tongue and not knowing how to speak properly. Mrs. Shen, please don’t hold this against me.”
“Mrs. Zhou, you’re too kind. As a parent myself, I naturally understand the heart of a parent. When a child is bullied, parents are bound to worry. It’s only natural to want to protect your child and stand up for them,” Ning Wanwan said.
Hearing this, Mrs. Zhou couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, thinking Ning Wanwan wasn’t going to hold it against her. She quickly agreed, “Yes, yes, yes. I just spoke without thinking in the heat of the moment…” ”
But then Ning Wanwan changed the subject: “However, we should still get to the bottom of this. After all, every parent cares deeply for their own child. We can’t just blame someone else’s child simply to protect our own, can we, Mrs. Zhou?”
“Yes, yes!” Mrs. Zhou replied, her lips twisting in embarrassment.
Ning Wanwan immediately stepped forward, picked Jiang Xian up from the ground, and asked, “Xianxian, did you hurt yourself when you fell?”
Jiang Xian shook her head. “I’m fine, but my dress is dirty.” The little girl said this, then hung her head sadly.
Ning Wanwan comforted her, “It’s okay. We’ll just wash the dress when we get home.”
“W-will it come clean?” The little girl sniffled and asked through her tears.
Ning Wanwan smiled. “It will. And if it doesn’t come clean, Auntie will buy you a new one.”
“Mrs. Shen, we’ll pay for the dress,” Mrs. Zhou hurriedly interjected.
Ning Wanwan ignored her and turned back to Jiang Xian. “Xianxian, can you tell Auntie what exactly happened just now?”
Jiang Xian looked up at the little girl Mrs. Zhou was holding by the hand, then began to speak. “ “Yan Yan and I were picking out a cake. She suddenly walked over. We’d already picked one out, but she wanted it. We wouldn’t give it to her, so she got angry and pushed me, and then Yan Yan pushed her back.”
The little girl’s soft, sweet voice carried clearly to the ears of everyone nearby.
The crowd’s gaze toward the Zhou family mother and daughter changed instantly.
So it was a case of “the thief crying ‘catch the thief.’”
They were the ones who had done wrong in the first place, yet they were the ones blaming others.
One had tried to snatch something from someone else and, failing, resorted to physical force—and then had the nerve to play the victim; the other had defended her child without a second thought and even hurled insults at others.
These two really were equally unreasonable.
Mrs. Zhou’s face flushed crimson with embarrassment. She nudged the little girl in her arms and said, “ “You little greedy thing! There’s plenty of cake here, yet you had to have what someone else was holding.”
“Mrs. Shen, my daughter was in the wrong this time. I’ll have her apologize to young Master Shen and this little girl.” As she spoke, she urged her daughter, “Hurry up and apologize to young Master Shen.”
“No, I won’t apologize. ” But the little girl beside her suddenly burst into tears and began to throw a tantrum.
“She wouldn’t let me have her cake! I hate her! Mom, hit her for me!” Not only did she refuse to apologize, but she also shouted defiantly—it was clear she had been spoiled rotten at home.
Just then, a man hurried over and scolded Mrs. Zhou: “ “What’s wrong with you? You can’t even raise a child properly.”
He then apologized to Ning Wanwan: “Mrs. Shen, I’m truly sorry. It’s all my fault for not raising my child properly. I’m ashamed to have caused you such embarrassment.”
Finally, he shot a fierce glare at the little girl in Mrs. Zhou’s arms: “Apologize this instant.” All his efforts tonight had been ruined by this pair of idiots—mother and daughter.
“No, I won’t! I refuse to apologize to her!” the little girl cried out loudly while sobbing.
In the past, whenever she cried, her parents would always give in to her.
“Smack—”
Zhou Tong, overcome with frustration, couldn’t help but raise his hand and slap his daughter hard across the face.[1]ok…that was disgusting. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2394884_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2394884_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
The little girl was stunned, then burst into even louder sobs.
“What are you doing, Mr. Zhou? If a child makes a mistake, you should teach them patiently. How can you just resort to violence so casually?” Ning Wanwan’s face darkened, her expression brimming with displeasure.
She knew he’d done it just to show her.
Staging a scene like this at her son’s birthday party was clearly a deliberate attempt to cause trouble.
References[+]