Chapter 18: A Little Incident

Just as the meal was nearly ready, Zhao Wen came back humming a little tune, his face glowing red.

As soon as he entered, the rich aroma of meat filled the courtyard.

He quickly walked over to the big pot, smiling broadly as he looked at Zhang Xiulian’s face, reaching out to lift the pot lid.
“Mom, what did you make? It smells so good.”

Zhang Xiulian gave him a sharp look, then raised her hand and lightly slapped the back of his hand, her tone heavy.
“Are your hands dirty or what, lifting the lid? You didn’t even help me water the fields. You’ve been gone all day—where the heck were you?”

“I—I went to…” Zhao Wen hesitated, then swallowed his words.

“Mom, I had some things to do outside. Next time—next time I’ll definitely go work with you.”

With that, he turned and headed toward his room.

Zhang Xiulian watched his back and shook her head repeatedly. Zhao Wen was just as selfish as in the past life—never think of helping with chores, but never miss a chance to eat. All he’s good for is eating well.

“Mom, I’m back!”

Just as Zhang Xiulian was about to serve the food, her daughter Zhao Pingping ran in from outside.

“Mom, I scored 100 points! I’m first in our class!”

Zhao Pingping’s big beautiful eyes sparkled, dimples showing as she held up her test paper with both hands, hurrying toward Zhang Xiulian.

Zhang Xiulian quickly put down the plate in her hands, wiped them carefully on her apron twice, and carefully took the test paper from her daughter.

The bright red 100 gleamed on the front page of the paper.

Next to the 100, the teacher had written three words: “First Place.”

“Little sister, you’re amazing!” Zhao Lili leaned on their mother’s shoulder and looked at the paper from behind.

Zhang Xiulian lowered her head to look at the paper, her eyes reddening, tears welling up, voice trembling.
“Your sister’s right—Pingping, you’re simply incredible!”

In her past life, her daughter Zhao Pingping often ranked first in class at this age.

If she had been allowed to continue studying back then, she surely would have gotten into a good university and had a different future.

Unfortunately, back then Zhang Xiulian had focused all her attention on her sons and made her daughter drop out after third grade.

Yet this frail daughter, who had to work to support herself, was the most dutiful.

This life, Zhang Xiulian vowed she would never let her daughter suffer without education again.

Even if it meant selling everything she owned, she would support her to continue studying.

Zhang Xiulian handed the test paper to her eldest daughter, who bent her knees slightly and lifted her high, happily spinning her around the courtyard.

At that moment, Zhao Guang entered with his head down, holding his nearly falling-apart schoolbag in one hand and a test paper in the other.

“Mom, the teacher wants a parent’s signature.”

Seeing he couldn’t avoid it, Zhao Guang proactively pulled out the test paper and handed it to Zhang Xiulian.

Zhang Xiulian put down Zhao Pingping, frowned, glanced at the paper, and almost went black in front of her eyes, nearly falling to the ground.

The score line showed a shocking 39 points, last place in the class.

She grabbed Zhao Guang’s schoolbag strap with her left hand to prevent him from running, and with her right hand yanked his ear hard, pulling him outside.

“Mom, I was wrong, don’t pull my ear! I’ll definitely do better next time. It’s all because Li Dali, who was last, took leave—otherwise I’d have been second to last!”

Zhao Guang’s face was flushed red as he clutched his ear, wailing loudly.

Zhang Xiulian was already upset about his poor score, but when she heard Zhao Guang was proud of being second to last, her blood boiled all the way to her head.

She tightened her grip on his ear until her fingers turned white.
“Zhao Guang, all your brainpower is used up on eating and playing, isn’t it? If you get a score this low again, if I don’t twist your ear off, then I’m not your mother!”

As the saying goes, children learn by watching the grown-ups. Having lived two lifetimes, Zhang Xiulian increasingly believed this.

In her past life, Zhao Guang had always had very poor grades since childhood.

Zhang Xiulian was very indulgent toward her youngest son. In her mindset back then, boys should be pampered so that they could grow up successful.

So even though Zhao Guang’s grades were bad and he was often called to parents’ meetings, Zhang Xiulian never really disciplined him.

This allowed him to develop a careless and overly dependent personality.

Not only did he fail academically, but he also found it difficult to support himself later on.

Eventually, he became a burden on his parents financially.

After spending his mother’s money recklessly, he even went down a path of crime.

What was most ridiculous was that although Zhao Guang was clearly unfilial, he twisted things around and blamed his failures on his mother’s spoiling and indulgence.

“Well, this life, I’m going to set you straight properly.”

“After dinner, copy the wrong questions five times. If you don’t finish, no sleep allowed. If you don’t understand, ask your sister. Got it? Now go help your sister set the table.”

Zhao Guang stared reluctantly at the ants on the ground and muttered, “I got it.”

Zhang Xiulian then turned and left the kitchen to go to her mother-in-law’s room.

Actually, if she shouted in the courtyard, both her mother-in-law and eldest sister-in-law could hear her.

But Zhang Xiulian insisted on personally inviting her eldest sister-in-law.

She had suffered too many losses over small matters like this before.

The eldest sister-in-law always said, “We are family, no need for so much formality.”

But once she stepped out the door, her attitude would change: “Ah, I come back to my maiden home, but they don’t even treat me like family.”

As Zhang Xiulian reached the door, she heard her eldest sister-in-law’s voice in her ear:

“Mom, haven’t seen you in a while — why does Xiulian look like a different person?”

“She’s been acting crazy lately, opposing everyone at home, almost drowned your eldest nephew, beat up your little nephew — I think she’s possessed,” grandmother Liu Dani exaggeratedly said.

The eldest sister-in-law suddenly lowered her voice and whispered, “Could it be she found out about the second son’s matter?”

From inside came Zhao Debao’s angry voice: “Big sister, watch your words! Don’t make trouble for no reason.”

Zhao Debao was basically raised by his eldest sister and felt a stronger bond with her than usual sibling love, so he rarely lost his temper with her.

What could possibly make Zhao Debao so anxious?

Did second son Zhao Wen have something he was hiding?

Zhang Xiulian was puzzled and didn’t understand.

Clearing her throat, she deliberately quickened her steps and knocked on the door before entering.

“Mom, big sister, it’s time to eat.”

“Debao is here too, let’s eat together.”

Zhao Dehua was startled by Zhang Xiulian’s sudden shout.

She touched her chest impatiently and gave her a glance: “Can’t you make some noise beforehand? You scared me.”

Liu Dani unusually scolded Zhao Dehua, “Stop talking and hurry up and eat.”

Zhao Debao looked pale and seemed scared as well.

“If you have a clear conscience, ghosts won’t knock at midnight. Isn’t that right, Debao?”

The words were directed at Zhao Debao, but the gaze was fixed intently on the eldest sister-in-law.

“Eating already? I’ll come along too.”

When they passed by Zhao Wen’s room, Zhao Wen stuck his head out and asked.

Zhao Dehua patted Zhao Wen’s head gently and said softly, “My good eldest nephew, it’s time to eat.”

“Eldest aunt, when did you come? How come I didn’t see you?”

Zhao Wen grabbed her hand and asked.

“I came early. Your grandmother went out. Come on, let’s eat.”

Looking at the aunt and nephew walking side by side, arm in arm,

Zhang Xiulian suddenly understood that she had been mistaken just now.