Chapter 172: If You’re Not Afraid of Being Poisoned, Go Ahead and Scheme
Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao’s first thought was, “So be it.” However, the implications then occurred to her, and she abruptly slapped her thigh. “That’s right. We can’t let her bring them along.”
Now that those burdens had become golden dolls, they couldn’t possibly let Mu Jingzhe take them with her.
Initially, Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao had still been fuming over the possibility of Mu Jingzhe marrying into a good family, but now, she felt that it would be better for her to remarry.
She crept up behind Zhao Lan and headed next door.
Mu Jingzhe was practicing speaking foreign languages with the five kids when she saw Zhao Lan rush in. Zhao Lan pulled her aside and said, “Mu Jingzhe, I don’t object to you getting married, but you can’t bring the children along. They are the children of the Shao Family.”
“What? What did you just say?”
“Stop pretending. Doesn’t Uncle Tang like you? How can you reject such an eligible man?” Zhao Lan gritted her teeth. “If you want to marry, then do it. Go and live your life. That is out of my hands. But since you want to get married, return the children to us first.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to marry him. Besides, we don’t have that kind of relations.h.i.+p,” Mu Jingzhe quickly said. “As for returning the children to you… haven’t you split up the family a.s.sets and said you don’t want them anymore?”
“That’s because you tried to drive a wedge between us in the past. They’re my biological grandchildren. How could I really not want them? If you want to leave, leave now. I’ll take care of the children.”
Zhao Lan sounded righteous, but Mu Jingzhe laughed. “You make it sound good. You just wish to s.n.a.t.c.h them back after seeing them become successful. Stop dreaming. They aren’t money trees, so stop having designs on them.”
“You’re the one who has designs on them. I’m their biological grandmother. What money trees? I think you’re the one who treats them as money trees!”
Mu Jingzhe couldn’t help cracking her knuckles and flexing her wrists. “Zhao Lan, have you forgotten how it feels to be beaten up because it’s been a while? The nerve you must have to call yourself a real grandmother. Let me tell you something… I will never let them fall into your hands!”
Zhao Lan just wanted to leech off the kids. She didn’t see the effort of the children at all, and she wouldn’t think about the children’s future either. She just wanted to take a few bites out of them upon seeing that they had become successful.
“Get out if you don’t want to be beaten up. If you dare have such an idea again, I’ll beat you to death!”
Zhao Lan looked at Mu Jingzhe’s hand in fear. Just as she started feeling troubled, Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao, who had been hiding in the dark, couldn’t help coming out.
“Sister-in-law, why are you still the same? You’re so rude to Mom. I heard everything the two of you said. I think Mom is right. How long have you been raising these children? It’s only been a year or so, whereas Mom raised them for several years. You can’t be so selfish.”
Thrilled at the thought of her Fu, Lu, Shou, and Xǐ eating good food and wearing nice clothes after carrying those golden dolls back, Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao spared no effort to help Zhao Lan.
“Ask anyone in the village. Even if the family a.s.sets have been split up, the fact that blood is thicker than water can’t be changed. Splitting up family a.s.sets doesn’t mean cutting off all ties. Even if you don’t remarry, if we want to raise them again, we have every right to do so regardless of how you look at it.”
Zhao Lan nodded. “That’s right. That’s right. You don’t share any blood with them. Don’t think that just because they called you Mommy a few times, you’re their Mommy. Return the children to me quickly. I can’t let you suck their blood anymore. If you refuse, I’ll look for the village head and the police. Let’s see who they’ll side with.”
“It’s useless even if you call the heavens!” Before Mu Jingzhe could speak, Shao Xi’s voice came from behind her.
Shao Xi walked over. “We’ve already said that we don’t have a grandmother. We only acknowledge Mommy. If you keep causing trouble, you’ll only make yourself look bad.”
“Little Xi, can’t you tell she’s sucking your blood? Look at all the things you’ve been coaxed into buying for her. She’s not even sincere about being nice to you…”
“She’s not sincere? And you are?” Shao Nan added, “You only saw that we can earn money, but you don’t know that the money we earn is nothing compared to what Mommy has spent on us.
“She’s enrolled us in foreign language, dance, and hosting cla.s.ses. She also protects us and guarantees our nutrition, which is why we got where we are today. Without her, we wouldn’t be who we are today. What can you do? You raised us for several years, but the money and energy you spent raising us for several years can’t compare to what Mommy did in half a year.”
Zhao Lan was furious. “You…” She wanted to retort, but she remembered that Mu Jingzhe did seem to send them to learn things every week and kept quiet.
“Little Xi is right. If you insist on taking us back to raise us, you’ll realize that we spend more money than we earn. Don’t be so short-sighted that you only see benefits.”
Shao Dong added, “If you insist on doing this, we’ll fight it out with you.”
Zhao Lan looked at Shao Dong’s icy gaze and couldn’t help but recall the time when he’d smashed a stool. For a moment, she was a little afraid.
Sister-In-Law Shao refused to give up. She thought to herself, These children only have sharp tongues. Once they are in our hands, we will be able to control them like before. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Shao Nan casually utter the most terrifying words with the most beautiful little face.
“Big Brother, there’s no need to fight it out with them. It’s just a simple matter of setting a fire or poisoning them. It doesn’t have to be so complicated. We’re still young anyway, so we don’t need to go to jail. When the time comes, we can just resolve this matter and go back to look for Mommy.”
He rubbed his chin and tilted his head to look at Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao. He blinked and said, “I still remember clearly the way Fu, Lu, Shou, and Xǐ used to bully us. Why don’t we go back with them, Big Brother? We can take this chance to settle the old score.”
Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao suddenly s.h.i.+vered. “Shao Nan, you’re a child. Why are you so scary…”
“I only said that because you insist on taking us back to raise us,” Shao Nan said with an innocent face.
Zhao Lan and Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao had wanted to carry the golden dolls back, but they hadn’t expected to be so frightened that they’d break out in a cold sweat. As they were looking into the children’s eyes, they were afraid. Afraid that they would really do something like that.
“You ingrates! You’ll regret this in the future!”
“It is out of the goodness of my heart that I wanted to bring you five back to raise you. To think you kids wouldn’t want to!”
The two of them reluctantly said these two sentences and left without looking back. Their anxious looks were comparable to their looks when they had come.
After they left, Shao Nan immediately walked up to Mu Jingzhe and apologized. “Mommy, I was just scaring them. I won’t really do that.”
Mu Jingzhe didn’t expect the children to take action themselves.
Seeing Shao Nan’s manner, Mu Jingzhe rubbed his head. “If you dare do it, I’ll break your legs.”
Shao Dong shook his head from side to side. “I didn’t expect them to be so thick-skinned. But Mommy, don’t worry. We can protect ourselves now. We’re not afraid of them anymore. If they dare scheme again, there are plenty of ways to deal with them.”
Compared to a year ago, this was indeed the case now. Mu Jingzhe nodded.
However, after being disgusted once, Shao Xi couldn’t stand it anymore. After this incident, he thought of ways to deal with Fu, Lu, Shou, and Xǐ a few times. Even Zhao Lan and Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao didn’t escape their revenge.
Shao Nan, Little Bei, and Xiao Wu also joined in later on. Zhao Lan and Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao were furious, but there was nothing they could do to them.