Finally, in the summer of ’06, Wen Shufei gave birth to a daughter via C-section at the hospital. Although Mrs. Jing was somewhat disappointed, she still breathed a sigh of relief.
But Mrs. Jing breathed her sigh of relief too soon. Wen Shufei still had to go through the postpartum period. Being the way she was, even after having a daughter, she did not restrain herself much.
On the contrary, because Mrs. Jing paused her chores, Wen Shufei felt that the Jing Family scorned her daughter, that the Jing Family preferred sons to daughters, and she felt aggrieved during her confinement.
Mrs. Jing was almost worn out of temper, but of course not, she was incredibly angry and still had to put up with her daughter-in-law.
It wasn’t until after Wen Shufei’s confinement ended that Mrs. Jing decided to stay with Feiling for a few days. Wen Shufei, because of her postpartum figure changes and having eaten too much during pregnancy, had become very overweight.
That year, Mrs. Jing also had enough of Wen Shufei’s attitude, thinking of the grandson in Wen Shufei’s belly, considering the current momentum of the Wen Family, Mrs. Jing endured Wen Shufei. But when she couldn’t bear it any longer, she would escape.
With Father Jing in the Military Commission and Jing Hao busy with work, the only ones at home were Mrs. Jing and Wen Shufei, so conflict was inevitable.
Feiling only visited during holidays, so being ’out of sight, out of mind,’ Mrs. Jing underwent a significant change.
If she ever scorned Feiling and favored Wen Shufei in the past, now the situation was reversed.
Now, Mrs. Jing felt that compared to Wen Shufei, Feiling was such a relief, practically a godsend.
And Mrs. Jing felt wronged. Who else’s mother-in-law was as henpecked by her daughter-in-law as she was, laboring thanklessly?
Mrs. Jing often complained to her daughter, Jing Xin, and Feiling. The most speechless was Feiling, who used to think Mrs. Jing was a dominant mother-in-law, only to find out she was a pushover in front of Wen Shufei.
Unlike Wen Shufei, Jing Xin had a son, which made Mrs. Jing very happy for her daughter. To Wen Shufei, this only confirmed Mrs. Jing’s preference for boys, and with Jing Hao busy and unable to be by her side all the time, Wen Shufei felt more aggrieved.
Mrs. Jing also considered her eldest son’s busyness and sympathized with Wen Shufei’s pregnancy and childbirth struggles, hence she was always compliant. But in the end, she couldn’t bear it any longer.
Feiling felt it was somewhat disrespectful, but regarding Mrs. Jing and Wen Shufei, it seemed a case of ’meet one’s match.’
It was just Wen Shufei, but had it been Feiling, Mrs. Jing certainly wouldn’t have been trodden on. In the end, it came down to Wen Shufei’s status.
The Wen Family was indeed on the rise, stepping higher and higher, with Mr. Wen having squeezed into the central circle. If they progressed even further in the future, Wen Shufei probably would become even more assertive.
Despite her frequent complaints to Feiling, she didn’t garner any sympathy from her. Feiling just listened and let it be. Moreover, when she heard Mrs. Jing complaining about all the things Wen Jingfei did wrong, Feiling couldn’t help but wonder if Mrs. Jing also spoke ill of her to Wen Shufei.
Whether it was true or not, Feiling just listened silently. She never expressed opinions on Mrs. Jing and Wen Shufei’s matters and did not wish to get involved. At such times, Feiling somewhat felt relieved that she lived further away; otherwise, if she lived closer, she would be overwhelmed by the troubles.
Afterward, the conflicts between Mrs. Jing and Wen Shufei kept escalating, even leading to arguments. Whenever this happened, Mrs. Jing would stay with Feiling for a while but couldn’t resist returning.
She always worried that Wen Shufei wouldn’t take proper care of her granddaughter and feared her granddaughter would be mistreated. So Mrs. Jing couldn’t stay at Feiling’s home for many days.
On Wen Shufei’s side, because she had given birth to a daughter, she was somewhat disappointed and thus less attentive to her.
Even when she saw Mrs. Jing doting on her daughter, Wen Shufei deliberately neglected the child. So in the end, it was Mrs. Jing who ended up taking care of her granddaughter.
Wen Shufei stopped breastfeeding and returned to her job three months later.
Mrs. Jing expressed some disapproval, but Wen Shufei didn’t pay much attention to it. Not long after she returned to work, Wen Shufei applied for a busier position and threw all her passion into her job.
As a result, Wen Shufei was successful in her career, but she had neglected her family and child.
But with every gain comes a loss, it all depends on personal choice.
Filled with determination, Wen Shufei wanted to prove that she was no less capable than anyone else. Usually when Jing Hao came home, he only saw Mrs. Jing and his daughter.
Jing Hao didn’t stay long either and left again soon after. Wen Shufei, having missed seeing Jing Hao this time, wasn’t too pleased.
All Mrs. Jing could do was sigh while holding her granddaughter, realizing that the family was indeed in a sorry state. However, she felt helpless and didn’t know how to advise her eldest son and daughter-in-law.
The frustrated Mrs. Jing began visiting Feiling’s home frequently, sometimes staying for ten days to half a month without returning.
Feiling had gotten used to it. Whenever Mrs. Jing came with her niece, Feiling would entertain them well, knowing that Mrs. Jing wouldn’t stay too long, typically returning after a fortnight.
Now that Feiling’s children were all in kindergarten, she had more free time. She only occasionally acted in films and rarely attended events. Tianyu International was managed by Yan Liren, and Jing Yao was busy preparing for his photography exhibition.
At the beginning of 2007, six-year-old Shitou had already advanced to the Genius Class, and as a child prodigy, Shitou naturally attracted a lot of attention from the educational sector.
Moreover, each year, Shitou swept all the awards, seeming as if he could win whenever he wanted.
Since Shitou had never encountered setbacks and his every move was closely watched due to his prodigious talents, people speculated and predicted his future.
Whether he would succeed or fail, all sorts of guesses were made.
Nevertheless, Shitou ignored all the external speculations; he was very purposeful. He had his own goals and knew what he wanted to do and what he desired.
Nowadays, Shitou was either at school or with Xia Xiao at the research institute. Xia Xiao’s research team was conveniently located at Technology University, and even Professor Yang was involved in the research, making things much easier for Shitou.
One day at the university, Shitou saw a little girl with two pigtails eating spicy strips and recognized her as the daughter of a doctoral student.
Suddenly, Shitou craved a pack of spicy strips. The convenience store was near the school’s main gate, and Xia Xiao wouldn’t let Shitou eat such snacks.
Shitou, now accompanied by a bodyguard, said to him, "Can you buy me a pack of spicy strips across the street?"
The bodyguard: ...
"Forget it, I’ll go buy it myself." Shitou, with his little backpack ready to go, was stopped by the bodyguard who said, "The convenience store is already closed."
"You’re lying to me," Shitou replied, skeptical.
The bodyguard said, "I also wanted to eat a pack of spicy strips earlier, but it’s really closed."
Shitou looked at the bodyguard doubtfully, "You guys like eating spicy strips too? So you’ve been eating them behind my back all this time." That was really disloyal of them; they knew he loved them so much, yet they secretly hid and ate them without sharing.