An ugly bride still has to meet her in-laws—this was the original owner’s duty. Now that she had inherited this body, she also had to take on its responsibilities.

When Shu Yan, their mother, appeared, the two children didn’t have particularly strong reactions. Ye Jingjing lowered her head timidly, occasionally sneaking glances at Shu Yan with eyes full of both longing and a trace of fear. Her younger brother was the complete opposite: round-faced and sturdy, he didn’t look happy at all to see Shu Yan, showing none of the joy or affection a child might normally have on meeting their mother.

Of the two children, the older daughter had been raised directly by the original owner. The younger son, however, had been taken away by Old Mrs. Ye soon after he was born. Aside from nursing, he had barely spent any time with his mother, so their bond was naturally weak.

In theory, the original owner should have been more sympathetic to her daughter. After all, she herself had grown up in a family that favored sons over daughters and suffered unfair treatment. One would think she’d want to treat her own daughter better. But instead, she saw her as a burden—a money-losing proposition. As long as the girl had enough to eat and wear, that was good enough. After all, once she was seventeen or eighteen, she’d be married off and become someone else’s responsibility.

From Victim to Perpetrator–Shu Yan couldn’t understand their mindset at all. She herself had suffered from the patriarchy of her original family—shouldn’t that make her want to treat her own daughter even better?

One child had grown up largely ignored, leaving her shy and lacking confidence. The other had been spoiled rotten by his grandparents, getting whatever he wanted and acting like a little tyrant in the house. Influenced by them, Ye Tianbao even showed faint disdain for his own mother.

Was that really how a three-year-old should behave toward his mom? Even though Shu Yan had never raised kids herself, she could see these two were badly spoiled. Luckily, they were still young enough to be corrected.

Her world was already in the information age: you didn’t even need to leave home to know what was happening everywhere. Even without children of her own, she’d been bombarded by so much parenting advice online that she was practically a “half-expert.”

But education wasn’t the most urgent problem right now. The real issue was Ye Zhiqiang. He definitely wouldn’t want to leave with nothing. She just didn’t know what tricks he’d try to pull.

“You’ve had a long day. Go rest first. I’ll have dinner sent to your room. I’ll make sure someone keeps an eye on Ye Zhiqiang,” Shu Jianyang told her at the door before leaving.

As soon as she got back to her room, Ye Tianbao started throwing a fit.

“I want to go home! I want Grandpa and Grandma!”

Suddenly being dragged from everything familiar into a strange place, with no strong bond to his mother to begin with—it made sense he’d throw a tantrum. Shu Yan could understand that much.

“You’ve been in the car for hours. You all stink. Come wash up,” she ordered.

Especially Ye Jingjing—she was filthy, with sweat streaking down her dusty face.

Ye Jingjing obediently came over to her, while Ye Tianbao threw himself on the floor and started rolling around.

“No bath! I’m not taking a bath! I want Grandpa and Grandma! I want Grandma!”

Shu Yan was speechless. It was the first time she’d seen a kid throwing a full-on rolling, screaming tantrum like this. What did those parenting experts say? Right—ignore him. The more you fuss over him, the worse he gets.

So she took Jingjing to the bathroom and left Tianbao to roll on the floor outside.

Realizing no one was paying him any attention, Tianbao’s cries grew louder and louder until he was wailing hoarsely.

“Mom, Brother is crying,” Jingjing said timidly.

She was terrified of hearing her brother cry. Every time she cried, Grandpa and Grandma would scold her.

“Ignore him. He’ll stop on his own.”

As Shu Yan washed Jingjing’s hair, she noticed how dry and tangled it was, with dozens of tiny white specks clinging to the strands. She brushed at them—definitely not dandruff. They had to be scraped downward along the hair to come off. On closer inspection, they were lice eggs.

“When’s the last time you washed your hair?”

Jingjing thought about it and shook her head.

Didn’t even know. Figures. No matter—first priority was getting her clean. As she washed, she found multiple live lice and killed them on the spot with a crisp snap. Then she washed her body. Even a casual scrub released a layer of grime—it looked like she hadn’t bathed in at least ten days or two weeks. And this in the heat of summer! One day without a bath was uncomfortable in this weather. Clearly, the old folks hadn’t bothered at all with their granddaughter.

Halfway through, Tianbao finally quieted down—probably exhausted. Shu Yan peeked her head out to check. But the moment Tianbao saw her, his sobs swelled again into a full-throated wail.

She snapped her head back in. Rookie mistake. Next time she wouldn’t even look.

“Brother is crying again,” Jingjing said anxiously.

“Ignore him. Sit here. I’m going to get you some clothes.”

It took three rounds of soap to get Jingjing truly clean.

When Shu Yan reappeared, Tianbao hesitated, thinking she’d finally come to pay attention to him. But she walked right past him to get clothes from a chair behind him. With a thud, he threw himself back down and resumed rolling around in rage.

Smart little brat—he’d even picked a nice open spot to show off his tantrum. Shu Yan nudged him lightly with her foot.

“Don’t roll in just one place. Go over there too, so it’ll save me some sweeping.”

Ye Tianbao froze.

What was wrong with Mom today?

He suddenly burst into real tears, sobbing loudly while wailing:

“I want to go home! I’m going to tell Grandma… Mom bullied me!”

You’re spoiled? Good. I’ll “bully” you even more from now on.

Just how badly had the Ye family treated Ye Jingjing? You’d think with Ye Zhiqiang making decent money, even if they preferred sons, it wouldn’t be this extreme. But she only had three outfits total—one bought last summer, the other two the cheapest ones her mother picked up at the market.

She searched the original owner’s memories and realized the blame didn’t really lie with the Ye grandparents this time.

Ye Zhiqiang had actually been generous enough with money, handing over five hundred yuan a month. That was a lot in 1992—more than some farming families saved in an entire year. But the original owner had pinched every penny, then funneled the savings back to her own family.

The more Shu Yan learned, the less sympathy she felt. There’s truth in that old saying: pitiful people often have something hateful about them.

She picked out an outfit and dressed Ye Jingjing.

“All right. Let’s go.”

Shu Yan had always loved the idea of having a daughter. She’d dreamed of dressing her up beautifully. Now that dream had come true. Once the divorce went through, she’d make sure to take Jingjing shopping for all the clothes she wanted.

This time when they went out, Ye Tianbao finally stopped crying.

Kids were smart. The more you fussed over them during a tantrum, the more they realized you cared—and the worse they’d act next time. Ignore them, and they’d figure out that the drama got them nowhere.

“Get up,” Shu Yan said, nudging his foot with hers.

“No,” Tianbao pouted, sulking.

Shu Yan didn’t bother reasoning with him. She simply grabbed him and headed straight for the bathroom.

Tianbao kicked and squirmed so hard she nearly lost her grip. A few steps later, she dumped the wriggling little eel onto the bathroom floor, turned on the faucet, and sprayed him down.

“Look at you—so filthy. If you went out like this, people would laugh themselves silly.”

A few scrubs later, Tianbao was finally clean.

She handled Ye Tianbao just like she used to handle the family dog when helping her mom wash it—hauled his naked little butt out and dumped him on the bed.

“Jingjing, watch your brother.”

Then she went to take a lightning-fast shower herself.

While she was rinsing off, Jingjing appeared at the bathroom door and said softly:

“Mom, someone’s knocking.”

Shu Yan had warned her before going in: If someone knocks, don’t open the door. Wait for me.

“Okay,” Shu Yan answered, quickly finishing up. She threw on clothes and went to the door, calling from behind it:

“Who is it?”

She opened it a crack to peek, but all she could see was a blurry shape in uniform.

“I’m hotel staff,” said a man’s unfamiliar voice. “The floor below says there’s a water leak. I’m here to check it out.”

Instantly on alert, Shu Yan pressed, “We didn’t even use the bathroom yet. How could there be a leak?”

“But the guest downstairs reported it,” the “staff” explained patiently. “I just need to come in for a quick check. I won’t take long.”

Shu Yan hesitated briefly.

“It’s not convenient right now. Come back later.”

“Please, can’t you help me out? The guest downstairs is waiting. I’m just a worker—if they complain, I’ll lose my whole month’s pay.”

He sounded pitiful, but it was way too suspicious.

“Then move them to another room and put it on my bill,” Shu Yan snapped. She’d rather pay extra than risk anything.

When things finally went quiet outside, she didn’t open the door to check if he’d left. She’d seen enough movies where curiosity got people killed. She wasn’t about to be one of them.

About ten minutes later, she heard Xiao Fei’s voice in the hall: “Who are you? What are you doing here? Stop right there!”

Shu Yan’s scalp prickled, her heart thumping wildly. So there really was something wrong.

“Mom?” Jingjing clutched her hand, eyes wide with fear at Shu Yan’s pale face.

“It’s okay. Mommy’s fine.”

Shu Yan took a moment to calm herself. When another knock sounded on the door, her whole body tensed again.

“Sister Yan, it’s Xiao Fei. Third Brother asked me to bring your dinner.”

She opened the peephole and finally got a clear look. It was really Xiao Fei. Only then did she unlock and open the door.

“Was there someone outside just now?” she asked, peering into the hall. It was empty.

“Ran off,” Xiao Fei muttered darkly. He hadn’t expected anyone to dare try anything on Third Brother’s turf. “I already sent A-Biao to tell him. Don’t worry—I’ll stay here tonight. You’re safe.”

Shu Yan nodded, still shaken. She forced herself to eat dinner, distracted and on edge.

The kids were worn out after the long trip and fell asleep soon afterward. She tucked them in carefully, then followed Xiao Fei across the hall to see Shu Jianyang.

“Xiao Fei already told me what happened,” Shu Jianyang said grimly. “Looks like Ye Zhiqiang is getting desperate. I don’t think we’ll even need three days. We’ll go find him tomorrow. The sooner we settle this, the better. No sense giving him time to think up more trouble.”

Clearly, Ye Zhiqiang hadn’t done his homework if he thought he could pull something like this on Shu Jianyang’s territory.

Meanwhile, Ye Zhiqiang’s face was thunderous. Not only had he failed to catch Shu Yan, but he’d completely blown the element of surprise.

“Still can’t get Blackie on the phone?”

They did construction work, and it was impossible to avoid dealing with local tough guys. Blackie was one of those connections—someone he’d eaten and drunk with many times.

His underling shook his head.

“We’ve called over ten times. He won’t pick up.”

“Fuck. Calls me ‘brother’ at the table, but vanishes when it matters.”

Just as he finished cursing, his phone rang. His eyes lit up and he answered immediately.

“Ye Zhiqiang,” Shu Yan’s voice was cold and cutting. “I’ve changed my mind. Three days is too long. Tomorrow morning at nine, meet me at the teahouse next to Huayue Gate. If you don’t show, see you in court.”

She hung up with a decisive click.

Enough of this game. Time to end it fast.

=^_^=