Every Villain Has Their Match

Shen Jinyan had barely come downstairs when his younger brother, Shen Shenxing, stopped him.

"You haven't been fooling around with women lately, have you?" Shen Shenxing asked in a low voice.

"Of course not. Do I look like that kind of guy?" Shen Jinyan replied, rolling his eyes.

"You'd better not be. Don't say I didn't warn you-watch out, or you'll end up like Ziyang!"

"What happened to Ziyang?" Shen Jinyan immediately asked, eager for gossip.

He wasn't particularly close to Ziyang, but they sometimes played ball together.

"A woman set him up in a honey trap last night. He fell from a building. Luckily, it was only the second floor, or he'd be dead," Shen Shenxing replied irritably.

Shen Jinyan stared at his younger brother, dumbfounded.

"Have you been caught in one too?" Noticing something off about his expression, Shen Shenxing immediately pressed him.

"Of course not!" Shen Jinyan quickly forced a smile and shook his head in denial, then asked a second later, "Is that story about Ziyang actually true?"

"Would I joke about something like that? If the Zhang Family hadn't paid a fortune to hush it up immediately, it would be all over the gossip news by now.

"You're the biggest player in our family. You'd better watch yourself!" With that, Shen Shenxing walked past Shen Jinyan and into the dining room.

Disturbed, Shen Jinyan left the living room and immediately contacted one of Ziyang's buddies to verify the story.

He learned that Zhang Ziyang and Lisa had hit it off at a bar the night before, then gone to a hotel room.

Halfway through, Lisa's husband had shown up with a group of men to catch them in the act.

Zhang Ziyang had still been drunk and, in his confusion, jumped out the window, nearly falling to his death.

"Fuck, when I first heard about it, I thought you were the guy involved. Isn't Lisa the girlfriend you just started dating?"

"Don't know her! Stop linking every random person to me. I was just asking for the gossip. That's all." Shen Jinyan immediately denied any connection and hung up, already drenched in cold sweat.

If his seventh sister hadn't sneaked into his car the night before and interrupted his fun, he would have been the man in today's gossip headlines.

His seventh sister was incredible. She had actually called it!

At her mother's request, Shen Banxia went upstairs to change. As soon as she came back down, she saw her second brother staring fixedly at her.

"Second Brother, don't I look pretty in this outfit?" Shen Banxia looked down at herself, then raised her head and asked with complete seriousness.

"Ahem-" Only then did Shen Jinyan notice that his seventh sister was no longer wearing that floral padded jacket. But her current outfit was even stranger.

A green jacket paired with a red wool skirt, pink stockings, and white leather shoes-he had no idea where she had found so many eye-searing clothes.

"You're... going to see Grandma dressed like that?"

Wasn't she afraid of being thrown out?

"Grandma will definitely love it, right?" Shen Banxia grew even more excited.

Shen Jinyan was speechless. He really couldn't find anything to say about it, so he replied stiffly,

"As long as you like it!"

Looking embarrassed, he turned and walked away.

When Shen Shuyi saw her daughter's outfit, she too found it hard to put into words. But on second thought, there was no need to go out of their way to please someone like her mother-in-law.

She had been blind before, constantly giving in and accommodating everyone, only to have them use her as a stepping stone and seize her family's wealth.

Now her daughter could simply be herself. If she thought it looked nice, she could wear it without worrying about anyone else's opinion.

The Shen Family could give her that freedom and confidence.

They set off for her mother-in-law's home in a villa complex beside a park.

She had even paid for this villa herself back then.

When she and Xu Junshan had first married, her mother-in-law had wanted to move in with them.

But Xu Junshan had married into her family, so they had continued living at the Shen Family home after the wedding rather than moving out.

Both her parents had still been alive then, which made things rather awkward.

Xu Junshan had finally persuaded his mother to give up the idea by promising to buy her a spacious, detached villa with its own grounds in the city. Only then had she stopped making a fuss.

Thinking back now, her mother-in-law's tantrum hadn't been about moving into the Shen Family home at all. She had wanted Shen Shuyi to buy her a big villa. How had she failed to see it? She really had been blinded.

They had barely entered the house and hadn't even had time to greet her before they heard her mother-in-law complain,

"Why are you so late? I've been waiting forever."

"Sorry, Mom. Junshan got up late today, so we were delayed a little." Shen Shuyi had wanted to snap back, but then thought better of it. The time wasn't right yet; she needed to remain patient. So, just as she always had, she took the initiative to apologize.

"Junshan is so busy every day. Isn't it all to earn money to support your huge family? What's wrong with letting him sleep a little longer?

"As women, we must fulfill our duties, take good care of our husbands, and manage our households."

Following behind Shen Shuyi, Shen Banxia saw Xu Cuilian seated in the place of honor.

Although she was already over seventy, she still dressed herself up garishly. The foundation scraped off her face would probably weigh a pound. Now she wore a stern expression, her narrow, slanting eyes raised as she harshly lectured her daughter-in-law.

This old witch couldn't behave herself as a wife and drove her husband to an early grave, yet she wants to teach her daughter-in-law how to be a good wife. What a joke.

Hearing her daughter's thoughts, Shen Shuyi nearly burst out laughing. She hadn't expected her mother-in-law to be that sort of person, but she couldn't let it show. Suppressing her laughter, she replied,

"You're right, Mom."

"Where's Banxia? Did she come?"

"Grandma, I'm here! Hand over my red envelope!" Without waiting for Shen Shuyi to introduce her, Shen Banxia suddenly sprang in front of Xu Cuie and held out her hand.

Startled, the previously overbearing Xu Cuie recoiled, pointing at Shen Banxia in a panic as she asked,

"Wh-where did this wild girl come from?"

"Mom, she's your granddaughter, Banxia!"

"She's not my granddaughter. How could my granddaughter possibly look like that?" Xu Cuie said, both angry and disgusted, waving one hand vigorously as though shooing away a fly.

With her two braids, her dark, red-tinged face, and her bright red and green clothes, the girl was unsettling to look at.

Of course you don't want me to be your granddaughter, you old witch. My surname is Shen, not Xu. In your mind, that illegitimate daughter Xu Mingyue shares your family's surname, so she's the one who counts as your flesh and blood.

Shen Shuyi glanced at her daughter. She was hanging her head and twisting her fingers, looking as though she had been terribly wronged.

Only she knew how lively her daughter's thoughts really were.

"Mom, Banxia has only just come home. She doesn't know how to dress yet. Please don't speak about her like that. Whatever else, she's still our child."

"She doesn't know, but don't you, as her mother, know any better? You knew you were coming to see me today, yet you dressed her like this. Are you trying to kill me?"

"Grandma, I thought you liked bright red and green clothes best, so I wore these especially for you.

"I went to all this trouble to dress up, and you're still unhappy.

"You don't dislike my clothes. You dislike me.

"I'm going outside to ask the neighbors who's in the right." With that, Shen Banxia turned to go outside and find someone to settle the matter.

"Banxia, don't get upset. Grandma was only joking." Shen Shuyi hurriedly caught hold of her daughter.

"All right, all right. Quiet down. Just don't wear this outfit here again." Xu Cuie felt a headache coming on.

How had Shen Shuyi given birth to such a little freak?

"Then give me a big red envelope, Grandma, so I can buy a new outfit and wear it next time." Shen Banxia held out her hand with a bright smile.

"Hasn't your mother bought you new clothes?"

"She has. But I'm afraid you won't like them when I come next time either, so buying another outfit is safer.

"Besides, Daddy said you'd give me a big red envelope. He wasn't lying to me, was he?"

"I had it ready ages ago. Who asks for a red envelope the way you do?" Xu Cuie glared irritably at Shen Banxia and reluctantly took out the red envelope she had prepared.

A child raised in the countryside really had no manners. Not only did she have no idea how to dress, but every other word out of her mouth was a demand for a red envelope.