Chapter 3: Scheming, Talking About the Past

Old Lady Shen was left speechless by Yu Meijuan’s words. She looked at Yu Meijuan with her squinty eyes and said, “Don’t think that just because you’ve hidden someone, it’s all over. Once I find that person, just wait and see how I’ll tear your mouth apart.”

She didn’t believe that a living person could just disappear into thin air; she was sure the person was still in the house.

She had arranged everything so meticulously, having seen him enter their courtyard, and she personally put the medicine into the porridge bowl.

How could a living person just vanish? With such high walls, he couldn’t have jumped over, especially since that scumbag was on her side and wouldn’t betray her.

She gave Shen Jianguo a look, and he understood. He quickly opened the doors to all the rooms in the courtyard, then began a thorough search, as if he wouldn’t stop until he found something.

But the result was destined to disappoint him; there was no sign of the scumbag in the house, not even a ghostly shadow.

He had cursed the scumbag in his mind a hundred times, thinking what an unreliable person he was, taking his two dollars for nothing and then abandoning him at a critical moment.

If the scumbag knew what was happening, he would surely cry out in injustice.

After Shen Jianguo finished all this, he whispered something in Old Lady Shen’s ear, and her face immediately changed color.

The onlookers were also curious about what was happening in the Shen family, looking at Shen Jianguo with puzzled expressions.

“Village Secretary, are you putting on a show for everyone?”

“Yeah, who throws dirt on their own wife?”

“Is it trendy these days to actively wear a green hat?”

“Where is the scumbag? How do you know he and Yu Meijuan are messing around?”

“When something like this happens in other families, they try to cover it up. Your family, on the other hand, is making a big fuss and inviting us all to watch.”

“Are you and the scumbag teaming up to bully Yu Meijuan…?”

Hearing the crowd getting closer to the truth, Old Lady Shen couldn’t sit still any longer. She shouted loudly, “What are you all doing here? Don’t you have anything else to do? Get out!”

What was supposed to be a sure thing suddenly took a turn, and she immediately became furious at the onlookers.

“Tch, as if we want to see your family’s mess. Who knows what really happened? You’re the ones making a spectacle of it, and now you want to chase us away. Your family is the village secretary; so what? Tch.”

The crowd grumbled as they left the Shen household. Seeing Old Lady Shen’s sour face, the Shen family members also slipped away.

Shen Jianguo glared fiercely at Yu Meijuan, his gaze like knives cutting into her.

Yu Meijuan raised an eyebrow at Shen Jianguo, her beautiful face filled with provocation, as if to say, “Come on, if you have the guts, let’s fight. I’m just afraid you won’t dare.”

She patted her daughter, and they both stood up, sitting together on the warm kang. Acting was tiring; wasn’t it better to just relax?

Old Lady Shen was now completely focused on the scumbag, having no time to deal with the mother and daughter in front of her. She told Shen Jianguo, “Go over there and see what’s going on.”

Shen Jianguo immediately understood his mother’s meaning. He glanced at the mother and daughter before turning to leave.

Old Lady Shen looked at the two of them, spat a thick phlegm on the ground, and turned to leave.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Shen Zihan closed the door and saw that there was no one left in the courtyard before asking.

Yu Meijuan thought about what she needed to do in the future and decided not to hide it from her daughter.

“Mom was a sent-down youth here. During a dam repair, she was hit on the head by a rock. After that, Mom lost her memory.

A month after the incident, Mom discovered she was pregnant. Because of the amnesia, she didn’t remember whose child was in her belly.”

At that time, my mother was extremely scared. In those days, being unmarried and pregnant was not accepted by society. If people found out about this, the severity was unimaginable. My mother felt she had only one way out: death.

I struggled for two days, but ultimately felt there was no way to live, so one night, in utter despair, I jumped into the river.

By chance, Shen Jianguo saved me. At that time, he was already the captain of our production team.

He said he had liked me for a long time and could marry me immediately.

I thought that my own death was not a big deal, but I didn’t want my child to die without ever seeing the world, so I agreed to his request.

I foresaw that his marrying me was definitely not out of love; there must be some reason behind it. But I never expected he would turn out to be a beast.

On our wedding night, Shen Jianguo’s true colors were revealed. Because I was pregnant, I didn’t want him to touch me, so we ended up fighting. Enraged, Shen Jianguo revealed the reason he married me.

As Yu Meijuan recounted this, her beautiful face was filled with scorn.

What Shen Jianguo said that day stayed with Yu Meijuan for a full sixteen years.

“You filthy bitch, do you think I didn’t know there was a bastard in your belly? I saved you on purpose. You think the world is full of coincidences? It’s all been premeditated.

You piece of trash, getting pregnant by some wild man before marriage, and you still think you’re high and mighty. I don’t even want to touch you, you dirty woman.

Do you think I married you because I wanted to? It was just because I saw the money in your hands. Don’t be so ungrateful; if you want to live here peacefully with you and your bastard, hand over everything you have, or it’s easy to make someone quietly disappear in this village.”

Yu Meijuan looked at her daughter, and the evident hatred on her daughter’s face deeply pierced her heart.

Yu Meijuan was not a weak person, but every time she tried to resist, Shen Jianguo threatened her using her daughter and their identities. She could only endure in frustration, silently protecting her daughter in her own way.

She never expected that this beast would resort to such despicable tactics against her. Perhaps it was fate that she regained her memory; then let the real Yu Meijuan deal with this family of scoundrels.

Yu Meijuan grabbed her daughter’s hand and said, “The suffering I endured is my own fault, but I can’t bear to see my daughter suffer.

So, we need to stay here for a few more days. I want to reclaim everything they took from me. Then we will leave.”

Shen Zihan felt very happy because she learned from her mother that she was not the biological daughter of that man. Now, she could act without any reservations.

Since her mother had shared her story, she felt she should also share her own, so that her mother wouldn’t find her actions strange in the future.

Thus, she told her mother about her rebirth, but she decided to wait for the right moment to discuss the existence of her space, as she felt it wasn’t the right time yet.

She thought her mother would ask a lot of questions. However, her mother only looked at Shen Zihan with tear-filled eyes and said, “Child, you have suffered. It’s all my fault; I’m sorry, I’m truly useless, truly useless.”

Seeing her mother’s pained expression, Shen Zihan did not regret letting her know these things; only by understanding them could her mother comprehend the ugly faces of this family.

“These beasts, I was thinking of taking back my things and leaving, but now I’ve changed my mind. I want to make their lives worse than death, especially that Shen Jianguo and that Li Cuihua’s family.

I thought to myself, since I married this man, I never let him touch me. How could he have behaved himself for so many years? It turns out he already had someone suitable.”

Shen Zihan saw only anger on her mother’s face, not sadness. She felt relieved; her mother had no feelings for this scum.

“Mom, they are all family. I heard Li Limei say that the scumbag is her father. This means the scumbag was already having an affair with Li Cuihua before marrying you. Your accident and marrying him might have been orchestrated by him, all for the sake of your money,” Shen Zihan felt her analysis made perfect sense.

“It must be so,” Yu Meijuan agreed with her daughter’s view.

“Mom, do you believe me?” Shen Zihan looked at her mother expectantly.

“Of course I believe my daughter,” Yu Meijuan answered without hesitation.

“Then let’s team up, and we’ll deal with this family together. After that, I’ll go to university wherever you want me to. Then we can live a blissful life like immortals.”

Shen Zihan believed she could achieve her dreams, so her tone was firm, and her eyes sparkled with hope.

Hearing her daughter’s resolute tone, Yu Meijuan felt a wave of comfort. She could see that her daughter had changed; she was no longer the same as before, now more resolute and wise.

Thinking about it made her heart ache; her daughter had endured so much hardship, and it was no wonder she wasn’t immature.

She looked at her daughter with pity, feeling even more hatred toward the Shen family. She thought that once they dealt with these nuisances, she and her daughter would surely have a happy life. As for men, a handsome face flashed through her mind, but that thought quickly vanished.

The two of them did not do the mountain of household chores as usual. After being treated like servants in this house for so many years without any benefit, they decided that the first step in getting revenge on the Shen family was to stop doing housework.

The anxious Old Lady Shen waited for Shen Jianguo to come home and impatiently asked, “What on earth happened? Did you see Er Laizi?”

Shen Jianguo replied with a gloomy face, “I didn’t see him; there’s no one at home.”

“How could this be? I clearly saw him enter our house; how could he just disappear? What is going on? If we don’t get rid of this jinx, how will my grandchildren come home?” Old Lady Shen said, worried.

“Let’s talk about this later,” Shen Jianguo replied dismissively, as he still had many questions in his mind and needed to confirm things quickly.

Shen Jianguo stopped in front of his house.

Not hearing any noise inside, he pushed the door open and walked in.

As soon as he entered, he saw the mother and daughter leisurely sitting on the warm kang, with no needlework in their hands. This situation had never happened before.

He had rarely seen them like this; they were usually busy with something, so he felt something was off.

Shen Zihan knew her mother was plotting something, so she quietly waited for her mother to make a move.

“Did you really not see Er Laizi today?” Shen Jianguo stared into Yu Meijuan’s eyes.

Yu Meijuan squinted at Shen Jianguo and then smiled brightly, a dazzling smile that could blind him. But the words that followed chilled Shen Jianguo to the bone.

“I’ve seen your tricks of slander and framing before. Do you think you can succeed every time? Don’t forget, the times have changed; it’s no longer an era where you can control everything.” Yu Meijuan’s words held deeper meaning, and Shen Jianguo’s face changed drastically.

“I think you’ve gone mad, to the point of talking nonsense. Don’t speak carelessly. Even if the times have changed, dealing with you and your daughter would be as easy as crushing an ant. If you know what’s good for you, behave yourself,” Shen Jianguo said with a twisted face before slamming the door and leaving.

He could no longer bear to see the look in that woman’s eyes, as if she could see through his thoughts.

He fled in a panic, and the desire to get rid of this mother and daughter duo grew stronger.