Shi Ke looked at her expressionlessly, "Why wouldn’t I avoid? If I wasn’t going to read, should I just take your slap for nothing?"
"Shi Ke, I am your mother," said Nie Yuexiang, infuriated by her stubbornness. "What’s wrong with me hitting you? Can’t a mother discipline her own daughter?"
"Heh, is that so? If you hadn’t said you were my real mother, I might have thought I was picked up from the streets, given that you treat your stepdaughter a hundred times better than you treat me, your own daughter."
"What nonsense are you talking about? And why don’t you understand why I treat Le Jia well? If I, as a stepmother, didn’t treat her a bit better... then others would criticize me behind my back... Besides, how good is Le Jia? She’s pretty, does well in school, and she’s also obedient and sensible. Can’t you learn from her? Look at yourself now... Who knows who you take after with such a bad temper; who would dare to marry you in the future?"
"Who marries me is none of your concern. No matter what, it’ll definitely be better than the hellhole you’d pick. You might as well worry about your precious stepdaughter!" Shi Ke now felt nothing for her.
Moreover, she wasn’t afraid of her making a scene at school, because she now had a whole set of ways to deal with her.
If she dared to make a scene, then she would just make a scene at her man’s workplace.
Who’s afraid of whom!
These years, life had taught her one thing: as long as you’re thick-skinned, there’s nothing in this world you need to fear.
As long as your face is thick enough, those who want to control you... can just forget it.
Nie Yuexiang was furious, "I should never have had you. If I hadn’t had you, you wouldn’t be angering me now."
Shi Ke immediately retorted: "When you had me, you didn’t have my consent either! If I had known I’d have a mother like you, I would definitely not have wanted to be born by you. After all, I would have wanted a gentle mother who cared only for me!"
This time, Nie Yuexiang was truly enraged and reached out her hand again.
Unfortunately for her, Shi Ke was well-prepared and dodged once more as she reached out.
"If you hit me again, then I’ll retaliate by hitting your cherished stepdaughter and your beloved baby boy."
Her voice was ice-cold.
"How dare you!" Nie Yuexiang was livid.
Protecting her stepdaughter was to make her man treat her better, and her son... he was her life, her support for the latter part of her years.
Hitting her son... that was as severe as taking her life.
"You know, I wouldn’t have dared before, but now... I am very daring. So, it would be best for you to leave right now."
Shi Ke was still hungry, having been busy all day and tired.
Moreover, she still had to clean the house later, as she would get busy once school officially started tomorrow.
Since she was a local and lived close by, she didn’t stay at the school.
The main reason was, if she didn’t stay in this house, this so-called mother of hers would surely find ways to take it from her... after all, she wanted to leave it for her precious son.
But why? This house was left to her by her own father, Le Jun belonged to the Le Family, what did it have to do with her?
She had to guard the house.
Seeing her unmoved attitude, Nie Yuexiang was truly angry.
"I’m asking you, why did you help an outsider harm Le Jia today? Can’t you get along well with her?"
"That’s her own business, what does it have to do with me?" Shi Ke was so annoyed, "I’ve already stopped going to the Le Family, can’t you just live your own life and stay away from me?"
Nie Yuexiang: "You are my daughter."
"You remarried; I’m still part of the Shi Family. So, from now on you better take care of your stepdaughter, and stop bothering me."
It was just one day after another of not getting any peace.
"Well, you are also my daughter, and I ask you, where does that Rong Yan live?"
Shi Ke couldn’t believe what she was hearing and her eyes widened in disbelief. "My God, you’re asking for her address? Are you actually thinking of going to her door?" Get full chapters from novel(ꜰ)ire.net
"Le Jia was bullied today. Shouldn’t I, as her mother, go to their door and ask what happened? I’m giving you two choices: either tell me where her family lives, or come back with me to the Le Family and properly apologize to Le Jia. Then, we can consider the matter closed."
I should have just closed the door earlier without wasting words with her.
"Don’t even think about it. I’m saying it again, if you stand here making a scene, I will go beat up your son."
Just then, an aging voice rose from behind her, "Nie Yuexiang, are you here to trouble my granddaughter again?"
Upon hearing this voice, Nie Yuexiang stiffened and turned around, "...Mother..."
"Who’s your mother? The Le Family and you have long since had nothing to do with each other. Don’t try to latch onto our relations; get out now. If you keep pestering my granddaughter here, believe me or not, I’ll beat you up?" Granny Shi was extremely angry upon seeing her.
Back when her own son died, if it hadn’t been for her taking her granddaughter away, her granddaughter wouldn’t have had to suffer so much.
Now that her granddaughter was back with the Le Family, this woman was still entangling herself... Where’s that stick?
"Mother, it’s Shi Ke who did wrong. I’m making her go apologize to Le Jia..."
Elderly Mrs. Shi rushed into her house, and when she came out, she had a rolling pin in her hand.
Nie Yuexiang’s pupils shrunk at the sight of the rolling pin and she quickly turned to run, for she knew this old witch would really hit her with the rolling pin...
What a coward—she even runs faster than a rabbit.
Turning her head to her granddaughter, "Keke, what’s all this about? Why is she here again?"
"It’s nothing serious. It’s just that her stepdaughter at school... she saw me getting close with a junior sister and went to bother her..."
Shi Ke briefly explained the situation.
This made Granny Shi so angry she could barely stand it.
"What nonsense... I shouldn’t have let her run off just now."
Seeing her angry, Shi Ke hurriedly tried to calm her down, "Granny, don’t be angry, come on, I’ll cook noodles for you tonight..."
"That’s alright, I won’t eat. I’ll eat at your little uncle’s house. Oh, right, this is what your little uncle gave you, take it." Granny Shi took out fifty yuan from her pocket.
Shi Ke, upon seeing the money, quickly pushed it back.
"I don’t want it, I have financial aid from the school... I’m not short of money..."
Granny Shi shoved the money right into her palm.
"Take it when it’s given to you, you always been this stubborn since you were little, and besides, your little aunt has agreed too. You don’t have much money right now, so hold on to it. Having some money in hand can give a girl some confidence. When you make your own money later, you can pay it back to your little uncle and them."
Shi Ke’s eyes warmed up a little; this was what family felt like...
Meanwhile, Qin Yu and Qin Mei, the siblings, had also returned home from school.
When they heard that their older brother, sister-in-law, and aunt had all visited the university and taken lots of pictures, both of them regretted it immensely. If only they had known, they wouldn’t have gone to their own schools in the afternoon.
They also wanted to see their sister-in-law off to university...