Although Xia Mian was not adept at discerning people’s intentions, she knew enough about this vile couple to assume the worst from them, so she was certain they were currently plotting against her.
Ignoring Huang Xiaojuan, she first took Xiao Feng to the bathroom to wash up, only to be reminded by the mirror of her striking red hair. No matter what, she must deal with this damn hair today! She must become a lovely little angel again!
After washing up, Xia Mian headed straight for the refrigerator.
Huang Xiaojuan, who treated them as air, finally spoke up, “What are you doing?”
Xia Mian took all the remaining four eggs and casually replied, “Making breakfast. Is it any of your business?”
Seeing Xia Mian boldly taking so many eggs, Huang Xiaojuan scoffed, “Of course it’s my business! Put those down.”
“Aren’t you going to sue me?” Huang Xiaojuan stood up to seize the eggs, “Since you are so powerful, don’t eat our food then!”
Xia Mian, unfazed, raised her foot in warning, making Huang Xiaojuan reflexively halt and say in anger, “You dare hit me again?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Xia Mian challenged, “Want to try?”
Of course Huang Xiaojuan dared not. Xia Mian impatiently bypassed her and entered the kitchen, “I’m reporting you because child abuse is illegal, what does eating have to do with it? Plus, this house was bought with my sister’s compensation money. How can you be in charge of the house?”
Hearing her mentioning the compensation again, Huang Xiaojuan’s voice rose an octave, “The money was borrowed from my family, it has nothing to do with your sister’s compensation. Don’t get any wild ideas!” She was ready to frame Xia Mian, “So, you want to take over our house? At such a young age, your mind’s already twisted. We’ll send you back in a few days!”
“Whatever.” Xia Mian rolled her eyes. As she passed by the table, she saw a bottle of half-full milk and unceremoniously took it to the kitchen.
“That’s Xuanxuan’s!” Huang Xiaojuan exclaimed, “Are you asking to be kicked out right now?”
Placing the eggs and milk on the chopping board, Xia Mian smirked at Huang Xiaojuan’s frustration, “That’s up to you. If you let me stay here to study peacefully, I won’t sue you for child abuse. But if you kick me out now, since I won’t be able to attend school anyway, I’ll use the tuition money to hire a lawyer. Then it won’t just be about child abuse; I’ll also sue you for my sister’s murder.”
Knowing Huang Xiaojuan was ignorant about the law, Xia Mian continued bluffing confidently, “A case from four years ago might not be easy to investigate, but once became suspects, both you and Zhang Qiming would have to stay behind bars for as long as the investigation lasts…”
“Regarding what I said yesterday, you know it yourself if it’s true or not. Most people might not bother to check, but it’s the police’s job to thoroughly investigate everything about a suspect. By then, even if you are lucky enough to evade jail, your past would be scrutinized to the smallest detail.”
“Including the Huang family’s real situation, of course. Then, pretending ignorance will be utterly impossible.”
Huang Xiaojuan’s expression changed. For a moment, she felt a dread—fearing Xia Mian had seen through their scheme.
Looking at Huang Xiaojuan’s contorted face, Xia Mian knew she had hit a nerve, especially since Huang Xiaojuan seemed so concerned about her family background. “So, are you still kicking me out?” Xia Mian earnestly asked.
Huang Xiaojuan gritted her teeth for a while and finally came up with a counter, “If you sue me, I’ll sue you too. Your assault yesterday could be considered as causing minor injuries. Minors might not go to prison, but they can be sent to juvenile detention!”
Xia Mian scoffed, “Did the police issue you a medical examination slip for your injuries yesterday? Aren’t today’s injuries all from Zhang Qiming? You screamed so loudly yesterday, everyone in the building heard. Don’t slander good people.”
Fuming, Huang Xiaojuan clenched her fists but couldn’t find anything to threaten Xia Mian with, so she angrily dragged Xuanxuan back to their room.
With the noise finally gone, Xia Mian focused on cooking. She mixed milk, eggs, and flour to make a milk egg-flower roll for Xiao Feng. Soon, the rich aroma filled the air, making Xiao Feng unable to resist licking his lips, his stomach rumbling audibly.
Xia Mian carefully tore off a piece and handed it to him, “Be careful, it’s hot. After this piece, you can eat the other half.”
While Xiao Feng was eating, the bedroom door suddenly opened. It turned out that Xuanxuan was attracted by the smell and rushed out. Unlike Xiao Feng, who lived cautiously and was used to being bullied, Xuanxuan went straight for the food, shouting, “Bastard, mine!”
Xia Mian blocked his hand and looked at Huang Xiaojuan, who was watching from the bedroom doorway, “Are you sure you don’t want to discipline your son?”
“Dare you hit him?” Huang Xiaojuan challenged with a raised eyebrow.
After losing the argument earlier, Huang Xiaojuan returned to her room, fuming for a long time. After a while, she recalled her husband’s words last night and regained her confidence. Didn’t Xia Mian like to cause a scene? Then she would let her make one, the bigger the better!
Concerned the effect might not be strong enough, she stepped forward, snatched the egg roll Xia Mian had just made, and gave it to Xuanxuan, “That milk was originally for our Xuanxuan, and the eggs are ours too. Don’t even think about eating a bite!”
After her declaration, Huang Xiaojuan opened the door wide, the latticed security door doing nothing to block the noise from outside. It was the peak time for people leaving for work, and Huang Xiaojuan loudly provoked, “Go ahead, hit me! Bullying a child, how awesome do you think you are?!”
Xia Mian rolled her eyes, too hungry to argue further. She simply picked up Xiao Feng and went straight out.
Huang Xiaojuan was stunned for a moment, confused by Xia Mian’s sudden restraint. Then she saw the girl knocking on Aunt Liu’s door across the corridor. Thinking Xia Mian was going to complain again, Huang Xiaojuan cleared her throat, ready to play the victim.
When Aunt Liu opened the door, Xia Mian showed a helpless expression: “Aunt Liu, do you subscribe to milk delivery for Zhuangzhuang?”
“Yes, why?”
“I’d like to borrow a bottle of milk and two eggs from you. I’ll go out and buy some to replace them this morning,” Xia Mian said, touching Xiao Feng’s head tenderly, “The doctor said yesterday this child is severely malnourished and should eat more eggs and milk.”
Aunt Liu peeked out to see Xuanxuan eating something delicious across the hall, while Xiao Feng’s stomach rumbled loudly. Furious, she shouted out, “Xiao Huang, are you bent on going down this path? The women’s committee from the union was asking about you yesterday. Isn’t your husband in the middle of an evaluation for a promotion?”
Caught off guard by Xia Mian’s move to garner sympathy, Huang Xiaojuan was left speechless. The elaborate plan she had prepared was useless, and she was momentarily stunned.
Seeing Huang Xiaojuan glaring at Xia Mian, Aunt Liu angrily accused, “Xiao Feng is malnourished, and you still won’t let him eat? Are you scared to hit him, so you plan to starve the child to death instead?”
After the events of yesterday, the neighbors in the building were all quite concerned about Xiao Feng. Aunt Liu’s loud voice drew attention, and many people, except those who were in a hurry to go to work, poked their heads out to see what was going on. Even the white-haired Teacher Mi came upstairs asking, “What’s going on?”
Before Xia Mian could say anything, Aunt Liu explained first, “Xiao Feng is hungry. Xia Mian came to borrow milk and eggs from me, but the one across the corridor is eating his fill.”
Reacting quickly, Huang Xiaojuan hurried out, claiming, “I never stopped them from eating. She’s just trying to embarrass me! She’s deliberately picking a fight with me, wanting to use others against me!”
The neighbors hesitated upon hearing this.
Xia Mian sneered, “You never stop us from eating? Then go get something to eat now, go on! If you can produce even a bowl of porridge, I’ll admit I’m doing this on purpose!”
Of course, Huang Xiaojuan couldn’t produce anything. She had planned to teach Xia Mian’s lesson today and leave them without food, so she naturally had made sure not to leave even a bite of leftovers.
Furthermore, Xuanxuan was certainly a ‘good’ assist. Though the boy was too young to understand the situation, he knew to act based on his mother’s attitude. Emerging from under her arm, he flaunted his egg roll at Xiao Feng, “All mine, bastard gets nothing!”
The neighbors’ gaze at Huang Xiaojuan turned into full disgust and disdain. A fifth-grade child handed her egg to Xiao Feng, saying, “Little brother, eat first. My mom says kids shouldn’t go hungry.”
Xiao Feng looked at Xia Mian, who taught him, “Tell this sister thank you!”
“Thank you, sister,” Xiao Feng said sweetly. Now he was clean, he looked very much adorable and lovely. As he was usually famished, even a bland boiled egg looked appealing to him.
The crowd felt sorry for him, with some openly criticizing Huang Xiaojuan, “Have you no shame, Xiao Huang? Not feeding the child is bad enough, but slandering Xia Mian, too? That’s low.”
“Ah, I used to think she was articulate. Now I see, she’s best at twisting the truth.”
Aunt Liu’s daughter-in-law Li Xinmei suggested to Xia Mian, “We’re just eating too. Let Xiao Feng eat with Zhuangzhuang, don’t let the child go hungry.”
At this point, Xia Mian’s stomach suddenly grumbled, making her scratch her head awkwardly, “Go on,” she said to Xiao Feng, “go eat with brother Zhuangzhuang. Auntie will come for you later.”
Aunt Liu felt sorry for Xia Mian, who was still a child herself but always looked after her young nephew while dealing with someone as vile as Huang Xiaojuan. “You eat too. Let’s have breakfast first, we can talk about the rest later,” she said to the girl.
“Ah, not to say,” Sister Wang poked her head from the third floor’s railing and called out to Huang Xiaojuan, “You have a child too. Aren’t you afraid of retribution for doing this?”
“There will definitely be retribution. Xuanxuan is so young, but isn’t it obvious he’s already been spoiled? We should keep our children away from Xuanxuan.”
The neighbors’ increasingly harsh comments made Huang Xiaojuan flustered and furious. But Aunt Liu didn’t care and pointed at her, declaring, “Do you think no one can deal with you? Just wait, I’m going to find the women’s committee director right now!”
“No, no, I really didn’t stop her from eating,” Huang Xiaojuan said anxiously, her thoughts slow in her panic, “She wanted to use four eggs for cooking and drink Xuanxuan’s milk. I just got upset and said something…”
“Oh, Xuanxuan’s milk? You’ve never considered Xiao Feng as part of this family, have you? Xiao Feng can’t even touch the milk at home?”
“What’s wrong with four eggs? The compensation money you and your husband took from her sister was forty to fifty thousand, isn’t enough for the kids to eat some eggs?”
When someone brought up the compensation money, Huang Xiaojuan immediately shrieked in defense, “I’ve said it before, the money was borrowed from my family! There’s no compensation money at all! I told you she’s making things up, why do you believe this troublemaker and not me?!”
Xia Mian spoke up loudly, “Thank you to all the uncles, aunties, and sisters here today. But please, stop blaming her. Let me say something.”
Everyone quieted down.。”
“I don’t want to argue with her anymore. Yesterday, my former brother-in-law also talked to me. He said I’ll have to go to school, so I won’t be around most of the day. If I anger her, Xiao Feng will end up suffering.”
Putting on a helpless look, Xia Mian sighed dramatically, “He even said he would spend money to get me into Huagang First High School, which is close by, so I could go to school and come back every day to take care of Xiao Feng. He asked me not to make things too difficult with Huang Xiaojuan, so I decided not to sue her.”
There was a saying that people grew wiser with age. The more experienced among the crowd, like Aunt Liu and Teacher Mi, immediately saw through the manipulation Zhang Qiming used to fool Xia Mian.
From Zhang Qiming’s perspective, if he didn’t want to divorce Huang Xiaojuan, such actions could be justified, but it still left a chilly feeling to the bystander. Clearly, he had no intention of addressing Huang Xiaojuan’s abuse of Xiao Feng.
Aunt Liu spat out, “Pah, and here I thought Zhang Qiming had taught her a lesson yesterday. How bold she is today, acting as if she has nothing to fear!”
“Well, she was a former mistress after all,” joked a man, “Everyone thought Zhang Qiming was decent, but it turns out he’s not so clear-headed.”
Seeing the conversation shift back to Zhang Qiming, Huang Xiaojuan grew anxious. She could be criticized, but Zhang Qiming’s reputation couldn’t be tarnished.
Some people in the crowd, who joined the crowd just to enjoy the drama, were eager to spice things up. One of them spoke up, “Xia Mian, you are too naïve. Your former brother-in-law is just placating you. If you don’t sue them, they might get even worse. Don’t let these heartless people deceive you…”
Huang Xiaojuan saw Xia Mian’s secretly curled lip towards her and felt a rush of anger. It was Xia Mian who had threatened her with not suing, and now it was twisted as if she was threatening Xia Mian not to sue!
This damn girl was reversing the truth!
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Translator’s note:
This is the last of daily release. Starting next week, TGCF will have the same release date (Monday and Wednesday) as My Son is a Reborn Villain and The Daughter of the Dao and Devil Venerable.
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Thanks for the chapter ❣️
Since we’re about to say good bye to Wenwen in the near future.. it’s good to be accompanied by xiao Feng & Mianmian 🥹🥰
I love how Xia Mian is starting to manipulate people ahead of time to worsen Zhang Qiming’s reputation. Hopefully while he’s out on work travel, his reputation will become the worst and proof of him using the compensation money will come to light.
Thanks for the chapter! 😀