As soon as Shen Mianmian saw the look on Zhou Siyu’s face, she knew what she was thinking. Her gaze fell on the handlebars of Zhou Lanfang’s bicycle, and her lips curled into a slight smirk as she deliberately asked.
"Mom, what are you and Siyu doing in the city too?"
Zhou Lanfang felt a pang of guilt and snapped at her, "Do I now have to report everything I do to you?" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
Shen Mianmian was not afraid of her and deliberately stared at the bag hanging on the handlebars speculating, "Siyu said yesterday that you were going to buy her new clothes, so did you bring her to the city to shop for clothes?"
Before Zhou Lanfang could speak, she continued, "Dad works so hard every day. If he finds out you spent all the money on clothes for Siyu, he’ll definitely be angry, right?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Zhou Lanfang almost wished she could rush up and tear her mouth off if it weren’t for being in the middle of the street and holding onto a bicycle. "This money is from your aunt. Don’t talk nonsense in front of your dad, or else I’ll tear your mouth up."
"Has uncle been making big money recently? You just bought Siyu clothes for the New Year, and now you’re buying more?" Shen Mianmian feigned envy and asked the pointed question.
Zhou Lanfang hadn’t expected Shen Mianmian to have become so sharp-witted, her words so nimble. She threatened, "If you dare speak of this to your dad, I’ll break your legs."
Feeling somewhat guilty, Zhou Lanfang didn’t linger and, huffing, called Zhou Siyu and walked away.
Just moments after they left, Lu Siyuan came back, "I just saw two people standing here who looked a bit like your mom and sister."
Because they looked alike, he knew he shouldn’t meet these two, so he deliberately slowed his pace. He waited for the two to leave before he dared to come over.
Shen Mianmian shrugged her shoulders helplessly, "It’s not just ’looked like’; it was them."
"What did they come to the city for?"
People who don’t run businesses hardly come to the city in years, so why were these two making a pointless trip?
"Siyu was jealous of my new clothes, so Mom brought her here to buy some," Shen Mianmian admitted. Frankly, she was somewhat surprised to see them in the city.
Zhou Lanfang was a penny pincher and never liked to spend a cent more than necessary. The fact that Zhou Siyu managed to coax her into the city to buy clothes was quite a feat.
"Your mom gives all the money to Zhou Siyu, and your dad really has no complaints?" Lu Siyuan frowned.
Not treating his own good daughter well and favoring his niece so much – did Shen Jianhua have a screw loose?
"Every time my mom buys clothes for Siyu, she says it’s money from my aunt or that my aunt bought them." Shen Mianmian sneered, "Actually, my aunt’s household isn’t even as well-off as ours, and they can barely take care of their own kids, let alone have extra money to buy such things for Siyu. My dad knows it all too well, but he just doesn’t burst her bubble."
She had now come to understand things she hadn’t in her previous life.
Shen Jianhua earned quite a bit, yet Zhou Lanfang was always complaining about not having money at home. Mostly, all that money was spent on Zhou Siyu.
His not checking the accounts was merely a tacit approval of the money being spent on Zhou Siyu.
Appearing to believe Zhou Lanfang’s words when in reality he was afraid she’d find out he was biased.
Lu Siyuan was very angry, thinking about a family ganging up on Shen Mianmian like that was just too much.
No wonder Shen Mianmian did poorly in school before.
Even if Shen Mianmian was Shen Jianhua’s illegitimate daughter, she was still his flesh and blood, right?
How could he favor his niece over his own daughter?
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.
"Zhou Siyu couldn’t possibly be the child of your dad and your aunt, could she?"
Such an occurrence wasn’t rare at all; he had heard about such things a few times already.