Liu Chang'an suggested that, while the supermarket was still open, they buy some meat and fruit for a late-night snack. Zhou Shuling agreed, especially since at this hour, fresh meat and prepared foods would all be discounted, while their quality and taste would remain largely unaffected.
With both of them going to the supermarket, leaving Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong behind was worrying enough. Song Taozi being there made it even worse—once Zhou Dongdong came up with some foolish idea, Shangguan Dandan would encourage her to put it into practice.
Liu Chang'an glanced at the three of them. Zhou Dongdong was standing atop the slide, swinging her arms back and forth and stretching her head forward. It looked like she was preparing to slide down headfirst on her stomach. Shangguan Dandan dug Song Taozi out of the pile of plastic balls, where only her head had been visible, and moved her beneath the slide to catch Zhou Dongdong.
That little old lady never did anything decent all day long.
Yet Liu Chang'an suddenly realized that although he had never believed Shangguan Dandan's claims of "I have no strength," "I'm so weak," or "I can only survive if others take care of me," her tender, fragile appearance had inevitably lulled him into complacency after seeing it so often.
Now that he secretly observed her and thought about the things she often did—using her "daughters-in-law" as bait, teasing Zhou Dongdong, scheming against and setting traps for Liu Chang'an, and never holding back when violence or threats were called for—Liu Chang'an suddenly felt that, while she might not have been the culprit or mastermind behind many of the events at Everlasting Palace back then, she had definitely been lurking to the side, firing arrows from the shadows, fanning the flames, and reaping benefits