Liu Chen quickly took a step forward, feeling as though if someone placed an egg on his face right now, it would be directly fried—it was too hot!
This scene happened too quickly. Besides Liu Chen and Ren Yu, only Mi Zhuzhu, standing beside Liu Chen, saw it.
Perhaps having left the haunted house, Mi Zhuzhu’s emotions were no longer so tense. She hooked her arm through Liu Chen’s and began to whisper in his ear.
“Chen Chen, hehehe…”
Confused by the sudden "hehehe," Liu Chen turned to look at Mi Zhuzhu, asking, “What’s wrong?”
Mi Zhuzhu’s smile at this moment was like a mouse that had stolen sesame oil. Hearing Liu Chen ask her, she stood on tiptoe slightly, cupped her right hand to her mouth, and brought it to Liu Chen’s ear.
“You just took advantage of Brother Ren Yu, hmph hmph.”
His face, which had finally cooled down, began to flush again.
“It was an accident. Didn’t you step on Ren Mo’s foot too?”
“Huh? Oh right, hahahaha~ No wonder I was wondering why he was limping when he came out of the haunted house, hahahaha!”
Distracted, Mi Zhuzhu didn’t notice that Liu Chen’s earlobes were now red as if about to bleed. Indeed, handsome men were a distraction. Liu Chen shook his head and silently recited thirty more vocabulary words.
—
Sunday.
In the past, Hu Qian loved weekends. She could go shopping with her good friends, drink milk tea, and eat out. A whole day wasn’t enough.
Because the school had informed them, they also had to attend classes on Sundays in the latter half of the semester. So, her family hadn’t enrolled her in any cram schools. The day passed at home.
Just as she thought the day would pass like this, she was woken up by a delivery person calling. She asked him to leave it at the security booth, but he said it had to be handed over in person.
Hu Qian found it strange but also a little expectant. After all, her birthday was in a few days, and she usually started receiving birthday gifts around this time. Could it be that those few girls wanted to reconcile with her?
With light steps, Hu Qian walked to the community entrance to wait for her gift. Then, she received a registered letter.
Receiving it with some confusion, Hu Qian walked back, opening the registered letter in her hand.
A lawyer’s letter came into view.
Hu Qian’s heart suddenly beat very fast. She held the lawyer’s letter facing herself and hurried to her grandmother’s house. Recently, Zhang Lili had been staying there day and night.
Knocking on the door, Hu Qian, panting, handed the lawyer’s letter to Zhang Lili.
“Mom, Mom, what do we do?”
When Zhang Lili saw the words “lawyer’s letter,” her pupils contracted sharply. She instinctively thought that her secret transfer of assets behind Hu Xingfa’s back had been discovered.
Clutching the lawyer’s letter, Zhang Lili sat at the dining table and began to read.
Hu Qian stood behind Zhang Lili. As soon as she saw that the letter stated she was suspected of damaging Ms. Liu Chen’s reputation, she was stunned. She swallowed and took half a step back, afraid her mother would hit her…
The lawyer’s letter was not long. Zhang Lili finished reading it in a minute, and then…
“Qian Qian, how could you be so stupid? If you’re going to do something like this, you either don’t do it at all, or you do it carefully. By leaving such direct evidence, no wonder they’ve caught you. So stupid!”
When Hu Qian saw Zhang Lili turn to look at her, she closed her eyes, ready to be hit. But instead, she heard these words and widened her eyes in disbelief.
Zhang Lili placed the lawyer’s letter on the dining table and looked at Hu Qian impatiently with her arms crossed.
“What are you looking at me for? Now you should think about what to do.”
“I, I don’t know…”
“Go apologize to her. Say you were deceived by someone else, that you were jealous of her, and acted foolishly. And from now on, stop bothering her. Be good. Once you get into college, you’ll be in a different world from her. Why are you jealous of her?”
“I’m not jealous of her…”
Zhang Lili looked at her own newly grown, faded fingernails, having not done her nails for a long time, and said, “I don’t care if you’re jealous or not. You need to handle this matter properly, whether it’s a public apology at school or a public apology at her school gate.”
As soon as Hu Qian thought about having to apologize to Liu Chen in front of others, she instinctively retorted, “Why should I!”
Zhang Lili frowned and looked at the daughter she had doted on for so long. For the first time, she realized this child was as stupid as Hu Xingfa…
Taking a deep breath, she managed to suppress the urge to slap her on the spot and sighed.
“Your father has been so busy with business lately that he hasn’t been home. If he finds out about what you’ve done, I won’t be able to stop his rage then.”
Hu Qian thought of the bedroom door that had been kicked open last time and shivered involuntarily.
“Mom… But I don’t want to… Can you think of another way?”
Zhang Lili gritted her teeth, forcing herself to swallow the scolding words. Coaxing and threatening, she finally made Hu Qian agree to apologize herself.
After sending Hu Qian off, Zhang Lili sat back on the sofa, nibbled on sunflower seeds, and watched TV, completely ignoring the calls from the bedroom.
She even turned up the volume of the television.
Luo Meihong lay on the bed, cursing Zhang Lili to come and help her go to the toilet. Her voice grew hoarse from shouting, but Zhang Lili seemed as deaf as a stone.
Just as Luo Meihong was considering whether to use the money her youngest daughter had given her to hire a nanny next time, the bedroom door opened.
“Oh my! Mom, why did you pee on the bed? If you want to go to the toilet, you just need to call me. Oh, Mom, if this gets out, people will laugh old Hu to death! Having such an unhygienic mother!”
Zhang Lili appeared surprised. Although her tone wasn't pleasant, she moved Luo Meihong from the bed to the wheelchair.
“Mom, you watch TV for a while. I’ll tidy up the room, otherwise, it will smell like urine.”
With that, Zhang Lili pushed Luo Meihong out of the bedroom and into the living room.
Returning to the bedroom, Zhang Lili’s expression was frighteningly grim. She opened all the windows and then glanced at the vitamin bottle on the bedside table.
The sleeping pills inside were still full.
She opened her phone and sent a text message.
— “How much longer will it take?”
After a long while, the other side replied.
— “Half a year at the latest. Hang in there, my darling.”
Looking at the text message, Zhang Lili frowned, deleted it, and then looked back at the urine stain on the bed. As if venting, she tore off all the sheets and blankets and threw them into the washing machine.
The washing machine worked all afternoon. During this time, Zhang Lili constantly took the household clothes to the courtyard downstairs to dry.
She met some old ladies with whom Luo Meihong used to get along well and asked them to visit her mother-in-law when they had time.
After Zhang Lili finished hanging the clothes and went upstairs, the old ladies gathered downstairs again.
“Zhang Lili is such a good daughter-in-law. Luo Meihong has such a temper, and she still takes care of her.”
“Exactly. Looking at these sheets she’s drying, Luo Meihong probably peed on them.”
“But didn’t she buy her mother-in-law fake bracelets last time?”
“She said she was deceived. Why can’t you think of people in a better light?”
Hearing these words, Zhang Lili, who had deliberately hidden on the second-floor staircase, smiled silently.