Ji Chengyu hurriedly pushed Lin Lu away and demanded sternly, "Where's the card I gave you? Hand it over."
Lin Lu froze, then sobbed so hard she could barely breathe. "Chengyu... do you think it's easy for a weak woman like me to raise a child? You clearly promised to take care of me and my child. How can you go back on your word... you're giving all your money to your wife. Are you trying to drive Guangguang and me to our deaths..."
Guangguang immediately played along, bawling loudly. "Daddy, please don't drive Mommy and me to our deaths. Guangguang won't ask for toys or go to kindergarten anymore. I'll only eat a tiny bit of food every day. Please, Daddy... don't bully Mommy..."
Ji Chengyu looked at Jiang Zhixia awkwardly. "Zhixia, how about... we at least let them have enough to eat? But don't worry, you have the supplementary card. Just say whatever you want to buy."
Jiang Zhixia hardened her heart and turned her face away. "You say you know you were wrong, so show me you've changed. What good are empty words?"
Song Yutang raised her eyebrows slightly, too.
Ji Chengyu hesitated no longer and threatened Lin Lu coldly. "Hand over the card, or don't expect another penny from me."
Lin Lu shuddered in fright and could only reluctantly fish the black card out of her bag.
Ji Chengyu took the card and presented it to Jiang Zhixia with both hands. "Zhixia, from now on, you'll be the only one in charge of my card. Spend it however you like. There'll never be any more nonsense about collecting a living allowance."
At a loss again, Jiang Zhixia looked to Song Yutang for help. "Sister-in-law..."
Song Yutang glanced at Lin Lu, glittering with jewels, then at Jiang Zhixia's dress, washed so often it had faded white. "Since your husband said so, swipe it. Miss Lin's outfit is worth several million at least, while everything you're wearing costs less than a thousand yuan. Anyone can pay lip service to love. I believe in only one thing: where the money is, love is."
As though filled with tremendous courage, Jiang Zhixia slapped the card onto the jewelry counter's glass top and pointed straight at the necklace around Lin Lu's neck. "Give me ten sets of jewelry in the same price range as hers."
"Heh..." Song Yutang finally laughed.
Her sister-in-law might have been timid and weak, but she listened to advice.
Someone like that was worth giving a helping hand.
Growing more enthusiastic, Jiang Zhixia pointed at Guangguang's designer children's clothes. "Ten complete outfits for a little girl, from head to toe. They must cost more than what he's wearing."
The children's clothing salespeople who had been watching the spectacle snapped out of their daze and rushed back to their stores.
Tuantuan bounced with delight and hugged her mother's leg. "Yay! Tuantuan finally gets new dresses! Mommy has to buy some too, so we can wear new clothes together."
Jiang Zhixia straightened her back. "Women's clothes too. They must cost more than Lin Lu's outfit. Ten sets."
The saleswomen from the women's clothing counters hastily agreed and turned to prepare the merchandise.
In less than three minutes, display racks crowded the entrance to the jewelry store.
Song Yutang spotted the saleswomen who had been gossiping about Jiang Zhixia earlier and pointed casually. "Nothing from this store. Butler Wang, make a note of it. From now on, whichever stores these women work at, neither the Jiang Family nor the Ji Family will purchase anything from those brands again."
The store manager's expression changed drastically, and she immediately declared, "Rest assured, Mrs. Jiang. We'll deal with this right away... you're fired. Go to accounting and settle your wages immediately."
The saleswomen went deathly pale and tried to explain, trembling. "W-we didn't know Miss Jiang was the legal wife... every time they came before, Miss Lin ordered her around, hitting and scolding her at the drop of a hat, and said she was spending her child's father's money... we misunderstood too..."
Lin Lu flew into a rage at their words, pointing at them and cursing. "Bullshit! Who hit or scolded her? You snobs see that I've lost my standing, so now you're throwing stones at someone who's fallen down a well, is that it?"
One of the slightly older saleswomen could not help retorting, "On the fifteenth of last month, you slapped Miss Jiang right in front of us and accused her of using your card without permission. And the month before that, you threw hot coffee on her hand and called her a worthless bitch... we saw all of it clearly."
"You're talking nonsense!" Lin Lu shook with fury and tearfully complained, "Chengyu, they're slandering me. You have to stand up for me."
Song Yutang watched the farce coldly. "Enough. Our Jiang Family's young lady didn't marry into your Ji Family to be beaten and cursed at. Mr. Ji, I'm sure the Ji Family isn't short of houses. Have Lin Lu and her son move out within three days. If they haven't moved, we'll take Zhixia home. Whether you want to keep being the sucker raising another man's child or want your own wife and child is your choice."
Ji Chengyu's face turned pale. His lips moved, but in the end, he did not dare speak.
Song Yutang stopped looking at him and personally selected two simple, elegant outfits before telling the manager, "We'll let it go this time. But if it happens again, our Jiang Family doesn't like paying to be mistreated."
The manager bowed repeatedly. "Thank you, Mrs. Jiang. We'll be sure to improve our staff training."
The other salespeople cast grateful looks her way, while their gazes toward Lin Lu grew even more contemptuous.
On the other end of the surveillance feed, Jiang Muyan laughed.
First a slap, then a sweet date-a blend of kindness and authority.
She had not only vented Xiaxia's anger for her but also made the other party deeply grateful.
Impressive.
Jiang Zhixia straightened her back too and, with Song Yutang's encouragement, picked out a huge pile of things.
Once she finished, Song Yutang gestured to the salesperson. "Cut off all the tags."
Her sister-in-law was still too easily swayed.
If Ji Chengyu kept working on her, she might very well return everything.
With all the tags gone, she would not be able to return them even if she wanted to.
Jiang Zhixia's eyes reddened with emotion. She had never expected her sister-in-law not only to accept her, but to stand up for her like this.
Song Yutang gently took her hand. "A daughter is born and raised by her parents too. There's no such thing as a married daughter being water thrown out. Whatever happened before, from now on, as long as I'm here as your sister-in-law, I'll stand up for you. If you run into trouble, come straight back to your parents' home. There will always be a place for you there."
Unable to hold back any longer, Jiang Zhixia hugged Song Yutang tightly as tears streamed down her face. "Sister-in-law... thank you..."
Song Yutang patted her back soothingly, then turned to Ji Chengyu. "I've seen the things people are saying online to insult Zhixia. What exactly happened isn't important. What matters is that our Jiang Family's young lady won't put up with this. That includes what happened today. Zhixia likes peace and quiet, not being picked apart by others. You have three days to clean this up. If you can't handle it properly, have Butler Wang handle it for you."
She had wondered before why her meek, spineless sister-in-law was being vilified online as a scheming gold digger.
Now she knew.
Most likely, Lin Lu had been splashing dirty water on her.
The Ji Family had caused this trouble, so they could resolve it themselves.
Ji Chengyu lowered his head meekly. "Yes, yes, I'll make sure it's handled properly..."
The jewelry and clothes cost over thirty million yuan in total, but he did not dare utter a word about that either.
Compared with the richest family, the Ji Family could only be considered a small company.
Song Yutang even dared to scold the old patriarch. He certainly could not afford to provoke her either.
He had indeed wronged Zhixia and Tuantuan lately, so it was only right to compensate them.
Hopefully, once their anger subsides, they won't make things difficult for Lulu and her son anymore...