Meanwhile, in the car on the way home.
For once, Ji Chengyu held Tuantuan on his lap, tapping his daughter's little nose with a fingertip to make her laugh. His other hand quietly covered the back of Jiang Zhixia's hand. "Xiaxia, everything today was my fault. But with Lin Lu's illness... you know too, getting upset makes her worse. That's why I went along with her. I wasn't deliberately trying to make things difficult for you."
Jiang Zhixia's fingers curled slightly as countless fragments of their past flashed through her mind.
The way he had confessed his feelings so cautiously, the way he had held her and cried when he first stood up, the way he had kissed her forehead with reddened eyes when Tuantuan was born...
In the end, her heart softened a little.
After they got home, Ji Chengyu went straight into the kitchen.
During that time, Lin Lu frantically called dozens of times, but he answered none of them. Finally, thoroughly irritated, he roared into the phone, "I was foolish before. From now on, I'm spending my time and energy on my own wife and child. You can live in the house, and I'll transfer your living expenses on time. If you have problems, go to the butler. Stop bothering me."
Tuantuan's eyes instantly shone like stars. She timidly shrank back a little. "Daddy... can you come with me to the next parent-child activity at kindergarten? The other children all say... big brother is your real child, and I'm a stray..."
Ji Chengyu felt as though a needle had pricked his heart. He swept her soft little body into his arms. "Nonsense. Tuantuan is Daddy's precious little princess."
Jiang Zhixia set down her chopsticks, her voice as light as a feather. "In that case, will you come pick Tuantuan up from school with me tomorrow? That way, everyone will know..."
Ji Chengyu's face darkened instantly. "You're taking children's gossip seriously?"
"But Tuantuan will be upset..."
Ji Chengyu's brows drew even tighter. "Tuantuan has a father and a mother, but Guangguang has already lost his father. Tuantuan has everything. Why does she have to compete with Guangguang over even this little thing?"
"I..."
"Zhixia, you've changed." Ji Chengyu's voice was thick with disappointment. "You used to be so kind. Even when Lulu hit you, you could endure it without hitting back. And now? You can't even tolerate a child?"
"That's not..."
"Guangguang is my own brother's son. That makes him as good as half my son. My brother is gone, and as my wife, you actually can't tolerate him?" Ji Chengyu stood up, his tone growing colder. "Xiaxia, you've disappointed me so much. Think it over yourself."
He grabbed his jacket and walked out without looking back.
Jiang Zhixia stared blankly at the empty doorway, utterly at a loss.
Was she really being petty?
Toward Lin Lu and her son...
Was it really just familial affection?
They had depended on each other to survive and made it through the hardest times.
Yet over the past year, she had truly found him harder and harder to understand...
Outside, Ji Chengyu dialed a number the moment he got into the car.
Lin Lu answered quickly, her broken sobs coming through the receiver. "Ayu, I understand... it isn't easy for you either. From now on... don't worry about us anymore. I've lost my husband, and Guangguang has lost his father anyway. If people bully us, that's just our fate..."
Her crying made Ji Chengyu's heart soften and ache. He hurriedly started the car. "Don't talk nonsense. I'm coming over to keep you both company right now. I've told you, I'm your husband, and I'm Guangguang's father. As long as I'm here, I'll never let either of you suffer. Don't worry about Zhixia. She loves me so much that she'll forgive me no matter what I do. If Song Yutang hadn't been fanning the flames today... things would never have turned out like this..."
When Song Yutang returned home, dinner had just been set on the table.
Chen Ruyin and the others were still learning the rules in the small dining room. Only Jiang Guoqiang, his son, and the old master were in the main dining room.
The moment the old master saw her enter, his face lengthened. "You certainly have no trouble putting the Jiang Family's people to work. Last time, it was tearing down the Song Family's front gate. This time, it was buying burial plots for the Ji Family. Butler Wang and my bodyguard team are practically your people now."
Song Yutang took her seat without a trace of unease. "Naturally, your people are all excellent, Grandpa. Ultimately, they're willing to follow my arrangements because they all hold you in their hearts."
The old master was left speechless.
Instead, Chen Ruyin walked gracefully in, wearing an elegant, appropriate qipao. "Yutang, a married daughter is water poured away. Zhixia belongs to the Ji Family now. What business does an outsider like you have meddling in another couple's disputes? After what you did today, people outside will probably say our family throws its weight around to bully others. This isn't how the mistress of a household should behave."
Song Yutang finally understood why the old master had been giving her dirty looks.
So this old mistress had been stirring things up behind her back.
Smack-
Song Yutang slapped her across the face with the back of her hand. "Since you know I'm the mistress of this household, why is an old mistress like you interrupting when I'm speaking to the old master?"
Chen Ruyin covered her cheek, her face full of disbelief. "You..."
Before, she had at least laid some groundwork before hitting anyone. Now she wasn't even pretending?
Song Yutang advanced step by step, her gaze sharp as a blade. "Only the two of us, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and the old master's bodyguard team knew about this. How did you find out? Well, well. You actually dared to plant spies around the old master. Just what are you plotting?"
Whether she had actually done it wasn't important.
What mattered was planting a seed of suspicion in the old master's heart.
Sowing discord?
As if she were the only one who knew how.
Sure enough, the old master's gaze abruptly sharpened, though he had still been feeling somewhat sorry for Chen Ruyin a moment earlier.
Chen Ruyin's heart lurched, and she hastily explained, "My old friends told me. They happened to be at that mall too..."
Song Yutang sneered. "Since even your friends care so much about our family's affairs, how is it someone else's business in your eyes when the old master's own granddaughter, his flesh and blood, is bullied like this? Sure enough, only those of the same bloodline are family whose sinews remain joined even when their bones are broken. Outsiders are outsiders in the end. No matter how sweet their words sound, their hearts are still cruel."
Chen Ruyin reacted swiftly, immediately covering her face and sobbing. "Yutang, how could you say that about me? I was only offering a well-meant reminder, and you're ostracizing me like this..."
Song Yutang frowned in irritation. "Someone, take the old mistress out. A mistress is a mistress, unfit to be seen in respectable company. The family's own eldest young lady was bullied, and instead of defending her, you stood here making snide remarks. You undermine family unity and make a disgraceful spectacle of yourself. Take away her dinner tonight. Let her go hungry for a few meals and reflect on her behavior."
"Yutang..." The old master's lips moved as he tried to plead for her.
Song Yutang abruptly turned toward him, her voice rising eight octaves. "**Just look at you! You behave without the dignity of your years, favoring your mistress over your wife, and your descendants follow your example. Even your grandson-in-law has an improper relationship with his widowed sister-in-law. When the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams go awry. That's why this household is so full of foul smoke and miasma.
A mistress is a mistress. She has neither a proper title nor any descendants bearing the Jiang name. Naturally, she has no place in her heart for our Jiang Family. Grandpa, at your age, you're still listening to pillow talk and letting her stir you up. You're truly muddleheaded.**"
The old master guiltily shrank back, not daring to utter a word.
Seeing this, Butler Wang immediately stepped forward and "escorted" Chen Ruyin away.
The old master's lips moved a few times, but in the end, he did not dare make a sound.
Li Xiulan and Jiang Guoqiang exchanged a glance, then silently lowered their heads and dug into their food.
With their daughter-in-law displaying such imposing force, they could hardly talk her down.
Only then did Song Yutang pick up her chopsticks again. She placed a piece of spare rib in the old master's bowl, her tone softening somewhat:
"Grandpa, eat. You're the mighty sea-calming pillar of this family. Listening to less idle gossip and thinking more about how to make the Jiang Family flourish with spreading branches and lasting prosperity is what you should be doing."
The old master kept his head ducked.
This girl... she really was formidable.
But every word she said made sense.
Thinking about it, even if Zhixia had married out, she was still his own flesh and blood.
If her husband's family bullied her and her birth family completely ignored it, wouldn't that be far too cold-blooded?
Perhaps...
Yutang was right. Without a proper title or any descendants bearing the Jiang name, how could she genuinely have the Jiang Family's best interests at heart?
He silently picked up the spare rib and took a bite.
Mm, his eldest son's cooking had improved again.
However useless Jiang Guoqiang was, knowing nothing but cooking, he was still his only surviving biological son.
It was just a pity about Muyan. He had clearly been the most promising, yet now he had ended up like this.
If he could have a child with Song Yutang, the genes should be excellent too.
So the old master cautiously raised his head. "Yutang, when are you and Muyan planning to have a child? If it really won't work... how about trying IVF?"