Chapter 12 You've seen through Ji Shengzhou, come out here!
Feeling uncomfortable that Ji Wei had exposed his mischievous intentions in front of others, Ji Shengzhou quickly denied it, saying, "Sister, what are you talking about? I don't understand."
"You've already done it, so what are you pretending for now? Get out of my way!" Ji Wei said sternly. She turned to her second brother and cousin, her tone softening considerably: "Second brother, thank you for making this trip today. I'll treat you to dinner after I've settled this matter."
"Weiwei, what did you mean by what you just said?" Second Brother Ji subconsciously denied his guess. After all, they were a real family, and it shouldn't be like that.
"It's just what you think." Ji Wei gave her a desolate smile. Ji's second brother was a smart man and quickly figured out Ji Shengzhou's motives. His eyes were filled with disappointment: "Shengzhou, do your second uncle and aunt know about what you've done?"
"Ji Wei, what are you two still arguing about? Let me tell you, no matter what excuse you have, this matter must be done today." Zhang Qingfang was determined to make things difficult for Ji Wei.
"I didn't say I wasn't going, what's the rush?" Ji Wei glared at her after saying that. This was a psychological battle. If she showed too much concern for Lulu, she would continue to be manipulated by them. Once she got the mediation agreement from Xie Fei's former boss, she wouldn't have to be afraid of them threatening her with Lulu anymore.
"I knew you were heartless! Xiaofei has only been gone for two years, and you remarried, but you even want to send Lulu to the countryside. You're so cruel!" Zhang Qingfang was initially quite satisfied with her daughter-in-law, Ji Wei, after all, her job was very respectable. But she never expected that after marriage, Ji Wei would instigate Xiaofei to separate the family property. Of course, what made her even more dissatisfied was that she couldn't control Ji Wei, and her son even protected her. So, the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law escalated after marriage. Later, when she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, she advised them to register Lulu's household registration with their relatives in the countryside. After Ji Wei refused, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law became even more strained. Then, Xie Fei got into trouble, and for that reward, the mother and daughter were kicked out.
"Yes, I'm heartless, and your Xie family is kind. Then why don't you raise her yourselves? If I hear such slanderous words again, I'll make sure this reputation is established and send Lulu back to the Xie family. I want to see how much better you can do than me!" Ji Wei threatened.
"You dare!" Zhang Qingfang's voice was clearly weak.
"Then go ahead and try it," Ji Wei sneered.
After a while, Ji Wei pretended to be reluctant and followed Zhang Qingfang to Xie Fei's former workplace. Because Xie Laoyao was now working there, Zhang Qingfang was familiar with the place and quickly knocked on the door of the leader's office.
Zhang Qingfang portrayed herself as someone who doted on her granddaughter. Upon hearing this, the leader glanced at Ji Wei. He knew a little about the Xie family's petty lawsuits. Back then, the Xie family had made a huge fuss over that reward. He figured that Ji Wei had also wanted this mediation agreement. So he nodded: "Okay, back then, Xie Fei was the one I favored the most. Although he's gone, I'm willing to make an exception for him since it concerns his only daughter."
"I'm sorry to trouble you, leader. As the saying goes, once you have a stepmother, you'll have a stepfather, and vice versa. It's not that I don't trust Ji Wei, but people's hearts are fickle. I'm just trying to fight for Lulu's sake." Zhang Qingfang expressed her helplessness.
The leader didn't say anything, but started writing the mediation agreement. He was the first to sign it as a witness before handing it to the two of them: "Take a look. If there are no problems, sign it."
The mediation agreement was made in triplicate, with each of them keeping one copy. Looking at the red ink fingerprints pressed on it, Ji Wei let out a long sigh and looked at Zhang Qingfang with a cold face: "Now it's as you wished."
"Ji Wei, let me tell you, Lulu is Xiaofei's only daughter. If you treat her badly, the Xie family will never let you off the hook," Zhang Qingfang said, bluffing.
"You Xie family members are welcome to come and supervise at any time. After all, you haven't seen Lulu in the past two years, which is why she doesn't recognize a single member of the Xie family now." Ji Wei finished speaking with a cold snort, then nodded to the leaders behind her and left.
"Don't listen to Ji Wei's nonsense, it's not true." Xie Laoyao still works at this unit, Zhang Qingfang quickly denied it.
"This is a private matter for your Xie family. I'm only acting as a witness this time because of Xie Fei. I hope there won't be a next time." His words carried a veiled warning.
"Of course." Zhang Qingfang nodded quickly, indicating that this was definitely the last time. With this mediation agreement, Ji Wei must bring her child with her when she remarries; she can forget about abandoning the child in the countryside.
After all that commotion, Ji Wei returned to school just as lunch break was about to end. When she got back to her dorm, Lulu was fast asleep in bed, with Huang Jing watching over her. Hearing her open the door, Huang Jing, who had been dozing on the bed, quickly looked up and asked, "How did things go?"
"It went fairly smoothly, Sister Huang. Thanks to you and Teacher Li for your help today," Ji Wei expressed her gratitude.
"It was nothing. Class is about to start, so hurry up and wash your face and get ready. I'll take care of Lulu here," Huang Jing urged.
"Alright, I can't thank you enough." Words couldn't express my gratitude.
"Okay, I'm waiting for you to show it with your actions," Huang Jing teased with a smile.
When she returned with the water, Lulu had already woken up and was sitting on the bed rubbing her eyes. Upon seeing her, she quickly reached out her hand and said, "Mommy, hug me."
Ji Wei picked up Lulu in one lap, lowered her head to touch Lulu's forehead, and praised her with a smile, "Lulu did a fantastic job today."
"Shall we still play games?" Lulu looked at her with bright, expectant eyes.
"Let's play! The game we're going to play later is called 'Statues.' Whoever walks out of the office first loses, okay?" Ji Wei said, quickly grabbing a comb from the side to brush Lulu's hair. Just as she finished washing Lulu's face, the bell rang, signaling the end of her afternoon nap. There were still fifteen minutes before class.
"Let's hurry to the office now." Lulu became impatient when she heard about the game.
"Okay, let's go now." Ji Wei smiled and ruffled her hair, then pulled her to the office. At this time, the students who were taking a nap in the classroom were washing their faces at the water pipes to wake themselves up. Lulu pointed to the people washing their faces and whispered, "Mom, I saw Brother Chen'an."
"Yes, Mom saw it too. Let's go back to the office first." Ji Wei's gaze swept over Gu Chen'an, intending to persuade him to take a nap at home in the future. The conditions at school are limited, and he can only rest on the table, which is definitely not as good as resting at home.
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Ji Erge, who had just returned from school, kept a cold face. From Ji Wei's words, he understood that he had been used by his second uncle's family.
"Second brother, don't listen to my sister's nonsense. Things aren't as she thinks," Ji Shengzhou tried to explain to him.
“Fine, you say it’s not what Ji Wei said, then tell me what happened. We only found out about Ji Wei’s remarriage today. Before that, only you and the man’s side should have known, right? How did the Xie family find out? And judging from Ji Wei’s attitude just now, she wouldn’t have asked you for help. So how did you know that the Xie family was coming to cause trouble for her and that we just happened to show up?” Second Brother Ji’s questions were clear and logical, making Ji Shengzhou’s face turn red.
"No, second brother, let me explain. It's all my sister's fault. I'm letting the Xie family and the man's side know that she has her family backing her up," Ji Shengzhou tried to explain.
"I heard that Weiwei moved to the school with Lulu a couple of days ago. You two had a conflict, right?" Although it was just a guess, Ji Erge understood everything from Ji Shengzhou's expression. His eyes were full of anger: "Ji Shengzhou, you're really something. You can't stand to see your own sister living a good life, can you?"
"How could that be? She's my own sister, of course I want her to be happy." Ji Shengzhou shook his head in denial.
"It's alright, I'll ask Ji Wei after she handles this. Xiao Hu, let's go back." Second Brother Ji glanced at his cousin beside him and said.
"Oh." Ji Hu was always close to his second brother, so he naturally listened to him.
Watching their departing figures, Ji Shengzhou irritably took the cigarette from behind his ear, lit it, and walked home with a grim expression. He had taken leave early that morning to go to the Xie family's place, but he hadn't expected them to be so impatient. The old woman had come looking for him directly. He had been pleased with their speed, but now he only felt regret, regretting that he hadn't made the plan more discreet and that Ji Wei had discovered it.
"Shengzhou, you're back! How are you? Is your sister so touched?" Zhang Qingfang made a special trip back to tell his family the news when he arrived at school. Then he went to his uncle's house to find his second brother Ji and the others to go to the school to support Ji Wei.
"What's there to be moved about? She immediately assumed that Zhang Qingfang was someone I had called there, and no matter how I explained, she wouldn't listen. My second brother and the others believed her, but not me." Ji Shengzhou's tone became somewhat agitated as he finished speaking.
"How could this happen? What if the second son goes back and tells your uncle and the others?" Zhou Xiuzhen's smile vanished instantly. Although she and her sister-in-law were able to maintain a semblance of harmony, they both secretly wished they were doing better than each other in every way. Now, this had only served as a laughingstock for her sister-in-law.
"In the end, it's all my sister's fault. She knew that my second brother and the others were there, but she still deliberately said those things." Ji Shengzhou shifted the blame to Ji Wei without any sense of guilt.
"Did Old Lady Xie leave in the end?" Zhou Xiuzhen asked.
“We’re gone. We really underestimated my sister before. I think she’s been wanting to move out for a long time. Last time Congcong said Lulu was a burden, it was just a pretext. She was even planning to send Lulu to a kindergarten in the countryside. I’ve figured it out. She thinks she’s found a good family to marry into and wants to cut ties with us. No wonder she’s holding onto that comment.” Ji Shengzhou finished speaking and snorted coldly.
"Impossible, she's turned down so many blind dates in the past two years because of Lulu," Zhou Xiuzhen said, her face flushed.
"Were the men she turned down as good as Gu Zhiyuan? I think Shu Hui was right. It's not that she didn't want to go on blind dates; she just looked down on all those men she'd met before," Ji Shengzhou said fiercely.
"Really?" Zhou Xiuzhen was still skeptical of his words.
"She even inquired with the school director about transferring to Quanshui Village Kindergarten, so it couldn't be fake. It's a pity that old woman Xie came to make trouble, wanting my sister to go with her to Xie Fei's former workplace to ask the leaders to guarantee that she would keep Lulu by her side forever." At this point, Ji Shengzhou's tone carried a hint of regret. After all, if they really sent Lulu away, they could take the opportunity to make some more demands on Gu Zhiyuan.
"If we hadn't gone to the Xie family today, would this matter have been settled?" Zhou Xiuzhen said this with a hint of guilt.
“We can’t be blamed for that. If she had discussed it with us beforehand, this wouldn’t have happened.” Ji Shengzhou didn’t think it was his fault.
Zhou Xiuzhen moved her lips, but in the end she didn't say anything. She felt uneasy.
After school in the afternoon, Ji Wei asked Gu Chen'an to stay and have lunch with them. She cooked noodles with the leftovers from lunch. After they had eaten and drunk their fill, she asked Gu Chen'an to watch over Lulu for her because she needed to go home.
Ji Shengzhou put on such a grand show at noon today, now it's her turn!
The Ji family's dinner tonight was very quiet. Just now, Uncle Ji and his wife came over specifically, especially Aunt Ji, whose words were full of condescension, lecturing them on how to handle the relationship between their children.
No sooner had Uncle Ji and his wife left than Ji Wei stormed into the entrance of the Ji family's convenience store, shouting, "Ji Shengzhou, come out here! What have I ever done to wrong you all these years? Why can't you stand to see me doing well?"
A note from the author:
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