Lingdang sniffed, hugged Liang Shi tightly, and refused to get out of her arms. Liang Shi patted her back and patiently coaxed her, "Look how well Rainbow and Sheng Yu are playing together. Why don't you play with them too? They can only flip the cat's cradle three times. Don't you know how to do the rest? Go teach them."
Bell continued to shake her head, "No~"
A child who has been wronged will become extremely clingy, leaving no room for negotiation.
Sheng Yu ran over and pressed herself against Liang Shi's leg, reaching out to tug at Lingdang's leg. "Liang Wenxuan, what's wrong? Crying, so embarrassing."
Rainbow tugged at Sheng Yu, signaling her to stop talking, but Sheng Yu's eyes widened. "Why are you pulling me?"
Rainbow: "..."
Rainbow, a little adult, is feeling very tired.
"Liang Wenxuan, come down and play!" Sheng Yu invited her warmly. "Shall we go build a sandcastle?"
Bell was slightly tempted, but still refused, "No~"
“You’re such a big girl now, my sister can’t carry you,” Sheng Yu said. “You’re so heavy.”
Upon hearing this, Lingdang stretched out her foot to kick her, but Shengyu easily dodged it and continued in a cheeky tone, "By the way, Liang Wenxuan, you call me 'sister' and 'auntie,' so do you have to call me 'auntie' too? Hahaha, I'm older than you!"
Lingdang originally wanted to quietly vent her grievances and complain, but Shengyu angered her, turning around to glare at her fiercely: "Impossible!"
"Why not?" Sheng Yu said proudly, hands on her hips. "If you don't believe me, ask your aunt. She married my sister!"
Lingdang was stunned for two seconds, sniffed and looked at Liang Shi with a blank expression: "Auntie, did you and Auntie get divorced?"
Liang Shi: "?"
She was both amused and exasperated. "No, your aunt is Sheng Yu's older sister."
Lingdang pouted, almost crying again, but Liang Shi patted her head and said, "It's okay, baby, don't cry. Shall we go get something to eat?"
The bell choked, then burped, "I want an ice cream cone."
Liang Shi: "..."
//
In any case, it's a good thing that Lingdang isn't crying.
At times like this, she would even pluck the stars from the sky if she wanted them.
Besides, it's just an ice cream cone.
Sun Meirou sent her family driver home first and sat in Liang Shi's car.
Su Yao originally wanted to take Sheng Yu in her family's car, but Sheng Yu refused no matter what and insisted on playing with the children.
Sun Meirou then suggested that they sit in Su Yao's car, and the three children would sit in the back of Liang Shi's car.
Liang Shi: "..."
For a moment, she felt like she had opened a kindergarten.
Sun Meirou had never met Su Yao before, but she had heard some rumors about the Sheng family, especially about Sheng Qinglin back then.
Although Su Yao is a bit older than Sun Meirou, they both have daughters of similar age and have a lot in common.
Moreover, judging from Liang Shi's words just now, it seems that Xu Qingzhu has recognized her biological mother.
She was always cautious and didn't dare to strike up a conversation after getting on the bus.
Su Yao asked her again, "What's wrong with your daughter? She looks like she's been crying for a long time."
“Sigh.” Sun Meirou could only sigh when this was mentioned. “Last night, my new sister-in-law took her to the supermarket. She wasn’t watching her closely enough, and she pushed a two-year-old boy down. He hit his head on the shopping cart and got a huge bump. His parents were very angry. Lingdang’s aunt made Lingdang apologize, but Lingdang insisted that she didn’t push him or hit him. After checking the mall’s surveillance footage, it was found that she had reached out and pushed the little boy down. She wouldn’t apologize, but her aunt apologized to him. When my mother-in-law found out about this, she scolded Lingdang. Lingdang was so upset and has been crying since last night.”
"Huh?" Su Yao frowned. "Have you checked the surveillance footage?"
"You suspect my sister-in-law is lying?" Sun Meirou sighed. "I watched it too. The bell was definitely not right in that part of the surveillance footage. She pushed the child, who is only two years old. The child was quite badly injured. I even went to the hospital to visit her today."
“That’s impossible,” Su Yao said. “If a child this age does something wrong, he’ll feel guilty as soon as he’s scolded. If he can cry for a whole day and night, it means he’s really wronged.”
Sun Meirou nodded, "That's what I thought too. She cried herself to sleep last night, and her eyes were swollen this morning..."
Sun Meirou was also upset. She hadn't slept all night and wanted to discuss it with Liang Xinhe, but Liang Xinhe had been overwhelmed with work at the company lately and was sleeping in the office at night. She slept with the bell in her arms all night.
Lingdang didn't want to go to school when she woke up in the morning. She wanted Sun Meirou to take her to find that child and ask her what happened.
But that little girl is only two years old, just learning to speak, and can't even speak properly yet, so how can you explain it to her clearly?
If she went there, it would definitely cause another unpleasant incident, so Sun Meirou advised her to go to school, but she ended up lying on the bed crying again.
Unexpectedly, Qiu Zimin came in a while later and asked why she hadn't come downstairs for breakfast yet. Seeing Lingdang crying, she frowned and said, "Why are you crying? It's early in the morning. Wash up, eat breakfast, and go to school."
Lingdang looked at her and said, "Grandma, I really didn't push that child. He fell down on his own."
"It's all on the surveillance footage," Qiu Zimin said seriously. "Lying is not a good habit, and your behavior has also caused inconvenience to your aunt. She has been apologizing to people for your sake. Shouldn't you apologize to your aunt as well?"
Lingdang sobbed and shook her head, "I don't want to! Who wants her to apologize to me?! I didn't do anything wrong!"
Early in the morning, the bell wailed again.
Qiu Zimin was furious. She stepped forward and lectured Lingdang, "Children shouldn't lie. Besides, your aunt helped you, and you didn't thank her or apologize. Why are you throwing a tantrum here? Lingdang, why have you been so naughty lately?"
"Grandma, I really didn't," Lingdang sobbed. "You...you believe me...Auntie saw it, I...I reached out to pull the cart...I didn't push it..."
Qiu Zimin educated her, "Your aunt didn't say anything bad about you, and she even apologized on your behalf. Your aunt was also wronged, so you should thank her and apologize to her."
Bell shook her head, "Waaah~ She's bad, I don't want to talk to her... She's wronging me."
As she spoke, Qiu Zimin's expression changed, and she looked at Sun Meirou with a hostile expression. "How did you raise her? She was such a well-behaved child before, how come she's so unreasonable now? She's being argumentative and illogical, and she refuses to repent even when she's done something wrong... How could she... how could she be like..."
She probably wanted to say the same thing as Liang Shi, but considering that Lingdang was her own granddaughter, she changed her mind and swallowed the words back.
Sun Meirou tried to explain, but she wouldn't listen and just got angry, which also brought her bad reputation.
Qiu Zimin meant that children this age don't understand anything and must have been corrupted by adults.
Therefore, after Sun Meirou painstakingly sent Lingdang to school, she also cried for a while when she got home.
When it was lunchtime, Guo Xinran saw her red and swollen eyes and immediately went up to her to hand her a tissue and apologize, "I'm sorry, Second Sister-in-law, I shouldn't have taken Lingdang out last night. I just thought I'd take her out for some fresh air, I never expected something like this to happen. Please don't cry, I'm really sorry..."
Before Sun Meirou could even wipe her eyes with a tissue, Qiu Zimin came downstairs, her tone tinged with contempt, "It's because you spoil her like this that Lingdang has become increasingly unreasonable. She's such a big child; you need to instill a proper sense of right and wrong in her. Wrong is wrong, why..."
“Mom,” Sun Meirou couldn’t help but speak up for Lingdang, “Lingdang grew up under your nose. Doesn’t it hurt you to see her crying so hard? She’s never lied about anything she’s done wrong since she was little. This time she’s so adamant about not doing it. Don’t you want to investigate?”
“Xinran saw it, and the surveillance footage also showed it. It was her who did it,” Qiu Zimin said. “What else do I need to investigate? Yesterday, Xinran humbled herself to apologize to that person, but instead of being grateful, she tried to hit them. You saw it with your own eyes. If we hadn’t arrived in time, Xinran would have been bullied because of her stubbornness.”
“You’re just spoiling her. She’ll get into trouble sooner or later. I knew she wouldn’t get away with it when she was hanging out with Liang Shi.” Qiu Zimin said angrily, “And don’t forget how your older brother moved out. If it weren’t for Liang Shi, our whole family would be fine.”
“Isn’t Liang Shi the result of your teaching?” Sun Meirou retorted, unusually assertive.
Sun Meirou, who had never argued with anyone since she was a child, felt extremely guilty after saying this, then turned around and went upstairs without even eating lunch.
She was introverted and didn't have many friends. When Su Yao asked her, she couldn't help but spill everything out like beans from a bamboo tube.
After listening, Su Yao shook her head to herself, "Your sister-in-law is quite something."
Sun Meirou took out a tissue to wipe her tears. "I didn't really think anything of it. Living with my in-laws is already troublesome enough. If they like her, they can stay. It's just a matter of having an extra pair of chopsticks. Anyway, I don't have to serve her. But how should I put it? It's just strange. She didn't do anything bad. It's just that with her arrival, our whole family almost fell apart. Before, my sister-in-law and I lived under the same roof for six years and never had a single argument."
Even now, mentioning Yu Wan brings back some memories for Sun Meirou.
After all, they had lived together for six years. Although Yu Wan was aloof, she was always meticulous in her work and had a stronger personality than her, making her more decisive.
When Sun Meirou couldn't make up her mind, she always liked to ask Yu Wan for her opinion, but she didn't expect that on the first day Guo Xinran came back, her older brother and Yu Wan moved out.
The eldest brother was even more ruthless; he stopped going to the company altogether.
Liang Xinhe is so busy these days that he doesn't even have time to go home.
Sun Meirou also wanted to compromise and hoped that Lingdang and Guo Xinran could get along well so that Lingdang wouldn't suffer any grievances.
Oh right, Guo Xinran has changed her name now and is called Liang Xinran.
Before Liang Xinran came back, there was only one child in the family, Lingdang. Even Liang Xinzhou, who was used to being cold-faced, and Yu Wan, who had a cold personality, usually indulged and coaxed her the most.
Everything in the house is geared towards Lingdang, so she inevitably becomes a little spoiled.
But none of it was a big deal; once outside, Lingdang was especially well-behaved.
But now that Liang Xinran has arrived, Lingdang's presence at home has diminished considerably. If Liang Xinran wants to talk to or play with Lingdang, Lingdang has to accompany her, otherwise she will be lectured by Qiu Zimin for being immature.
Bells have never received such treatment before.
Sitting in Su Yao's car, Sun Meirou spat black mud at Su Yao, feeling extremely wronged.
Meanwhile, the three children in the other car were already making a huge fuss in Liang Shi's car.
To be precise, there are two: Sheng Yu and Ling Dang.
Rainbow sat in the middle, covering her ears with her hands, indicating that she didn't want to hear them arguing.
Sheng Yu was lively; as soon as she got in the car, she called out, "Liang Wenxuan, why are you crying like this? You look like a little pig."
Lingdang didn't want to talk to her, but she immediately launched into a bombshell, making Lingdang's eyes widen in anger. "You're the little pighead!"
Sheng Yu chuckled, "I didn't insult you. Have you seen that meme? I saw it on my sister's phone, that one..."
As she spoke, she pushed her nose upwards, saying, "I cried until my face looked like a little pig's."
Bell: "..."
Lingdang, whose voice was almost hoarse from crying, was so angry that she wanted to bite Shengyu, but Rainbow was in the way.
Bell pushed Rainbow: "Get out of my way."
Rainbow made a "shh" gesture to her, "Let's go to sleep quietly."
"You're just protecting her!" Lingdang crossed her arms and snorted, her little voice cute but slightly hoarse: "You two are in the same class, waaaaah..."
“I didn’t,” Rainbow defended herself. “It’s just that you two were arguing too loudly.”
Lingdang & Shengyu: "..."
The two exchanged a glance, and Sheng Yu put her hands on her hips: "Liang Wenxuan, let's shut her up!"
Bell nodded and whispered "Ah~" into Rainbow's ear.
The high-frequency ultrasonic attack was something Rainbow hadn't anticipated.
Rainbow covered her ears and leaned back in the car seat, only to have two people whisper in her ear, each delivering an ultrasonic attack.
Rainbow looked utterly dejected, and Liang Shi promptly called a halt, "Alright, everyone, be quiet."
Sheng Yu shouted until her voice cracked in an attempt to blast Rainbow's ears.
The three of them never had a moment of peace.