Upon hearing this, Wu Danning glanced at Deng Liyun coldly.

Deng Liyun's face turned red and then pale. She threw her chopsticks on the table and said angrily, "You stupid girl! I should have doubted whether you were my child!"

Xu Liwen smiled and said, "The answer is obvious. My father only married you, right?"

"So you always have to go against me?"

"I'm not that bored. I just can't stand your words and actions, so I can't help but remind you - you can ignore your image and identity, and you don't have to think about your daughter. At least ask your precious son next to you if he can afford to lose face by following you?!"

"You..." Deng Liyun was so angry that she almost fainted.

Xu Hengrui, who was standing next to him, was called. For some reason, he looked at Meng Tao first. Meng Tao happened to be looking over here as well. When their eyes met, Xu Hengrui's face turned red instantly.

In fact, since he was a child, he has seen and been accustomed to all kinds of confrontations between his mother and sister, but that was all in front of their family. Now it is different. There is a new sister-in-law at the table, and the mother and daughter are quarreling like this. He still knows that family disgrace should not be made public, so he felt very embarrassed. He called her mother in a low voice, and looked at Xu Liwen pleadingly, hoping that she would give way to her mother and stop talking.

Grandma Xu frowned and scolded a few words, first blaming Xu Liwen for disrespecting elders, and then blaming Deng Liyun, saying that she acted without thinking and did not behave like an elder. Deng Liyun was scolded in front of the younger generations, and she was furious but had to endure it. She glared at Xu Liwen fiercely, as if she wanted to hit her.

Wu Daning asked Xu Liwen to apologize to her mother. Xu Liwen said sorry insincerely. Deng Liyun turned her face away abruptly, becoming even more angry.

Meng Tao felt sympathy for Xu Liwen. Shen Yu once told her, and she had seen and heard it herself these days, that there didn't seem to be any major problems with the interpersonal relationships in the Xu family, but there were quite a lot of minor problems. For example, the two aunts and the sisters-in-law were not very harmonious, and the second aunt Deng Liyun always liked to compete with the eldest aunt Wu Daning.

The reason is that Wu Daning is more fertile than Deng Liyun and has more children than Deng Liyun, with two sons. Therefore, she is more loved and valued by her parents-in-law. There are seven grandchildren in the family. Xu Aoxue, Xu Yingshuang, Xu Hengkai and Xu Hengze were born to Wu Daning, while Deng Liyun gave birth to Xu Liwen, Xu Mingni and Xu Hengrui.

Xu Liwen and Xu Mingni had no feelings for Deng Liyun. Whenever they had a dispute, they would not care about the mother-daughter relationship at all, and would not listen to her, because Deng Liyun had never taken care of the sisters. She threw them to the nanny when they were born. Not to mention breastfeeding, she never even looked after them. She was only focused on taking care of her health and trying to have a son.

Wu Daning felt so sorry for the two little sisters crying and looking for their mother. Since she had two daughters of her own, she simply took over the care of them and raised all four girls together. When Xu Liwen and Xu Mingni were young, they called their aunt "Mom". People who didn't know would think they were born to their aunt's mother.

It was not until Deng Liyun finally gave birth to a boy as she wished that she was satisfied and felt she had a solid foundation. Only then did she turn around and try to coax her two daughters back. By this time, Xu Liwen and Xu Mingni had grown up and were sensible. They had their own independent thoughts and ignored Deng Liyun, but listened to Wu Daning very much.

This made Deng Liyun even more dissatisfied with Wu Danning. She thought that Wu Danning deliberately used tricks to snatch her daughter away and please her parents-in-law in order to suppress their second wife. For this reason, Deng Liyun fabricated an incident in which Mao Dun quarreled with Wu Danning, causing unrest in the family. Grandma Xu could not tolerate such a mess in the house, so she gave her a severe rectification. Deng Liyun did not dare to do that anymore, and the sisters-in-law have been able to maintain a superficial peace over the years.

But when it comes to Xu Liwen and Xu Mingni, Deng Liyun often punishes them with her motherly authority. There are constant conflicts between mother and daughter, and their relationship is always cold.

Meng Tao felt that Deng Liyun was mostly responsible for the situation between mother and daughter. She was an incompetent mother who could make her two daughters so estranged from their biological mother that they no longer recognized her and called their aunt "mother".

Everyone sat in the living room for a while. Grandma Xu asked Meng Tao to eat two apples to help digestion before going back to take a nap. Deng Liyun seemed to have forgotten the unpleasantness at the dinner table just now and became gentle and amiable again. She swiftly took the hot tea and fruit plate brought by the nanny and placed them on the coffee table. She served tea to everyone and specially brought a cup of hot water to Meng Tao. She smiled and said, "Come here, drink boiled water. Remember what your aunt said, you can't drink tea when you are pregnant. The climate is dry in autumn and winter, so you should drink more water, which is good for your health."

Meng Tao hurriedly said thank you and tried to stand up to take it, but Grandma Xu held her down and said, "You are a big baby now, there is no need to be particular. Your two aunts have experience, and they should take care of you."

"That's right. Yu'er has grown up by my side since he was a child. He is no different from my own son. Taotao, you are my biological son's daughter-in-law. I am your aunt and mother-in-law. I will take good care of you."

Deng Liyun's words were sincere and heartfelt, Meng Tao just listened for the time being. On the other side of the sofa, Xu Yingshuang and Xu Liwen were used to Deng Liyun's pretentiousness, but they still couldn't help but get goose bumps. They couldn't stand it anymore and stood up to leave. Xu Liwen wanted to pull Meng Tao to go with her, but Deng Liyun slapped her hand away: "You guys go, Taotao and grandma need to eat some fruit and take a nap, we don't have the energy to go out and have fun with you guys."

Xu Liwen: "We just sent her back to her room to rest."

"No, Hengrui will take her back."

Seeing that grandma seemed to have the same idea, Xu Yingshuang and Xu Liwen took their leave and left.

Xu Hengrui also wanted to leave, but after hearing what his mother said, he had to sit down again.

Grandma Xu took the fruits that her eldest daughter-in-law had skewered with bamboo sticks and handed them to Meng Tao. She had a smile on her face, but she felt a little sad inside: her second daughter-in-law had just mentioned Taotao's mother-in-law, which made her miss her daughter again.

Grandma Xu was in a low mood, but when she heard what Deng Liyun said, she became focused again. Deng Liyun said Taotao was pregnant in a good way, her belly was not noticeable, and it was 100% a boy.

Grandma Xu was very happy, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law talked enthusiastically about Meng Tao's belly.

Xu Hengrui was sitting in the corner reading a newspaper. Meng Tao was quite bored. No matter whether it was a boy or a girl, she would give her all her love to them.

Meng Tao told her grandmother that she was sleepy, so Deng Liyun asked Xu Hengrui to send her sister-in-law off. Grandma Xu also asked Aunt Ma to go with them, because Meng Tao and Shen Yu insisted on putting Xiao Wangcai in the yard. Grandma Xu was worried and Shen Yu was not at home, so she had to ask people to go and check on the dog several times, for fear that the dog would suddenly go crazy and Meng Tao would not be able to control it.

When she walked out of the living room, Meng Tao heard Deng Liyun mention Deng Linlin and Wu Hong to Grandma Xu, and finally understood Deng Liyun's painstaking efforts: to make Grandma Xu happy so that she could ask Deng Linlin and Wu Hong to live back in the Xu Mansion.

(End of this chapter)