Chapter 104 Don't be afraid! Mom will back you up!

Everyone seemed to stop breathing at that moment.

Everyone watched as Qin Weijun, with heavy steps, walked step by step, toward the still-crying baby carriage.

The anger on his face had not completely subsided, and his expression looked somewhat ferocious.

A hint of anticipation even flashed in Song Liyun's and Liu Yan's eyes.

They were hoping the old man would do something outrageous.

In this way, this ignorant and arrogant country woman had absolutely no chance of turning her life around.

Qin Lie's heart was in his throat. He instinctively hugged his daughter tighter, his body tense, ready to rush forward at any moment.

Only Jiang Wu remained standing in the same spot, her face devoid of any emotion.

Qin Weijun walked to the stroller.

He stopped and looked down at his grandson in the car, whose face was red from crying and whose little body was trembling.

The grandfather and grandson were in contrasting states: one was furious, the other felt wronged.

They stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Time seemed to have been paused at that moment.

Just when everyone thought an even bigger storm was about to break.

Qin Weijun, this old general who was decisive on the battlefield and had absolute authority at home, actually...

He bent his straight back, which he had never bent to anyone before.

He extended a calloused, rough finger, hardened from years of handling guns, and carefully, tentatively, gently poked his grandson's chubby little face.

His movements were clumsy and stiff.

In his eyes, there was a hint of confusion and helplessness that even he himself was unaware of.

"Don't...don't cry..."

He squeezed out this dry, stilted sentence through gritted teeth.

The voice no longer held any of the authority or anger it had displayed moments before.

On the contrary, it carried a hint of...

Awkward attempts to please?

"Pfft—"

Someone couldn't help but laugh out loud.

That laugh was like a switch.

The cold atmosphere of the entire restaurant was instantly broken.

Qin Weijun's face flushed red. He straightened up abruptly and glared fiercely in the direction from which the laughter came.

But Qin Zhan in his arms didn't give him any face as his grandfather.

He cried even harder.

It was as if she was accusing this strange old man of daring to poke him with her finger.

"Alright, alright! You old fool, all you do is scare the kids!"

Zhong Tinglan finally couldn't stand it anymore. She took three steps forward and pushed Qin Weijun away.

She deftly picked Qin Zhan up from the stroller, gently rocking him while humming an off-key lullaby.

"Oh, my dear grandson, don't cry, don't be afraid, Grandma is here..."

Amazingly, the little one's crying actually subsided as soon as he was in his grandmother's arms.

He rubbed his little head against Zhong Tinglan's shoulder, sobbed a couple of times, and then slowly quieted down.

Zhong Tinglan, holding her grandson, turned around, and her previously gentle face instantly turned cold.

Her gaze, like a knife, shot straight at Song Liyun and that gossipy aunt.

"What? Has everyone gone mute?"

"Weren't you quite talkative just now?"

"My daughter-in-law just got married, she's exhausted from her long journey, and she has two crying babies to feed. Not only do you not help, but you're also putting on this interrogation show, stabbing her in the heart with every single word!"

"What are you up to?!"

Zhong Tinglan's voice wasn't loud, but every word she spoke was firm and resounding.

Song Liyun and her aunt's faces turned deathly pale instantly.

"Mom, I...we didn't..." Song Liyun tried to argue.

"No?!" Zhong Tinglan sneered. "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking!"

"You look down on Xiao Wu because of her background? You look down on her because she comes from the countryside?"

"I'm telling you!" Zhong Tinglan raised her voice, her gaze sweeping over every member of the Qin family present.

"I don't care what her background is! I don't care where she comes from!"

"All I know is that when my son was about to die, it was her! It was this country woman you all look down on, all by herself, in a boat, who rushed into a typhoon that could tear apart a ten-thousand-ton ship, and pulled my son back from the brink of death!"

"She saved my son's life!"

"She saved the father of my two precious grandsons!"

"She is a great benefactor to our Qin family!"

“In my eyes,” Zhong Ting-Lan said, taking a deep breath and emphasizing each word.

"Don't even mention you, even if you were the daughter of the Heavenly King or a princess from some country, you wouldn't be as precious as a single hair of my daughter-in-law!"

"From now on, if anyone dares to speak ill of her or act sarcasticly in front of her again..."

"Don't blame me, as your mother-in-law, for turning my back on you!"

"Get back to your rooms, all of you!"

Zhong Tinglan's words were like a thunderclap from a clear sky, exploding in everyone's ears.

Everyone was stunned.

They had never seen Zhong Tinglan, who was always gentle and kind, get so angry.

Song Liyun, Liu Yan, and the others were so frightened that their faces turned pale and they didn't dare to breathe.

They knew that Zhong Tinglan's words were not just for their ears.

It was also a declaration to everyone in the family, including Qin Weijun.

Jiang Wu, as the mother-in-law, is saved!

Anyone who dares to touch her is going against her!

"What are you all standing there for? Didn't you hear what I said?!" Zhong Tinglan shouted again.

The relatives, as if waking from a dream, stood up dejectedly and scattered like birds and beasts.

Before leaving, Song Liyun glared at Jiang Wu with resentment.

That look seemed to say: You just wait!

The huge restaurant was soon left with only the Qin family of four and Jiang Wu, who stood to one side looking somewhat at a loss.

Knowing he was in the wrong, and having been rebuked by his wife in front of the whole family, Qin Weijun lost face. He snorted coldly, put his hands behind his back, and went upstairs.

"Xiao Wu, don't be afraid." Zhong Tinglan, holding the child, walked to Jiang Wu's side, took her hand, and gently patted it.

"From now on, Mom will back you up in this family! Nobody will dare to bully you!"

"Thank you, Mom." Jiang Wu's eyes were also a little red, and a warm feeling welled up in her heart.

"Silly child, why are you being so polite with your mother?" Zhong Ting-Lan smiled, as if she had suddenly remembered something.

She took off the jade bracelet on her wrist, which was entirely emerald green and had excellent translucency.

Then, without further ado, it was put on Jiang Wu's wrist.

The bracelet felt warm and smooth to the touch, and its size was just right, neither too big nor too small.

"Mom, this is too precious, I can't accept it..." Jiang Wu quickly tried to take it off.

"Wear it!" Zhong Tinglan pressed her hand down. "This is a family heirloom of our Qin family, passed down only to the eldest daughter-in-law. Your grandmother gave it to me when I married your father."

"I didn't like your older brother's wife, so I didn't give her to him."

"Now, I'm giving it to you. From today onwards, you are the rightful head of the Qin family!"

These words and actions undoubtedly gave Jiang Wu the highest level of recognition.

Jiang Wu wanted to refuse, but when her fingertips accidentally touched the cold jade bracelet, she suddenly stopped.

A storm raged within her.

Because she sensed an extremely faint yet incredibly familiar energy fluctuation emanating from that jade bracelet.

That's not spiritual energy.

Rather, it is a kind of...

A kind of energy that she had only seen in ancient cultivation books, a higher and purer form of energy than spiritual energy.

Ethereal!

This seemingly ordinary family heirloom jade bracelet is actually a...

A magical artifact imbued with celestial energy?!

How is this possible?!

How could such a thing exist in this degenerate age where spiritual energy is depleted?!