Chapter 666 - 574
Chapter 666: Chapter 574
In the main hall, Gu Shaoling learned that her father had humiliated her mother on the spot, dragging her away like a dead dog in front of everyone. She instantly panicked. Knowing the current situation between her parents, she was worried Tian Xueqin would get the worst of it and hurried out. Before leaving, she shot Wu Xiangyun a vicious glare, a hateful look that could have killed the "main culprit" on the spot!
Xiao Man pulled Wu Xiangyun down to sit on the sofa and comforted her in a low voice, "Don’t worry about them, and don’t pay any mind to Tian Xueqin’s nasty words. You’re still in school, so it’s not the right time to have children anyway. Just focus on taking your Chinese medicine to regulate your body. In two or three years, after you graduate, you can have a baby. The timing will be perfect."
Wu Xiangyun smiled through her tears and nodded. "I know. Shaofeng even said it doesn’t matter whether we have children or not, as long as we’re happy together. But I have to try my best to have our baby! I’m not just sad for myself; I also feel it’s so unfair to Shaofeng. He’s such a good person—how could he have a mother like that?"
Xiao Man was speechless.
’She didn’t know the answer to that, either. After all, she herself had a pair of "birth parents" like that.’
Grandpa Tang and the other old men were having a long after-dinner tea chat. The two little babies at home were quite a handful, so Grandma Tang, worried that her daughter-in-law and the nanny couldn’t handle them, decided to leave first and take Xiao Man with her in Tang Qingyun’s car. On the way, Grandma Tang held Xiao Man and sighed repeatedly:
"Seeing your Granny Gu today was heartbreaking. She was so formidable when she was young; she would never have admitted to being wrong! Her daughters-in-law were all completely obedient. But now that she’s old, she’s constantly worried about this and that. Aih! Who says more children bring more blessings? Children are nothing but debts! My poor granddaughter... When you get married, you’ll have to deal with that chaotic big family... If you ever run into someone like Tian Xueqin, you can’t be soft-hearted, you hear me? Just slap her right across the face. Don’t care if she’s an elder or not. You absolutely cannot let yourself be wronged!"
"I know. My Old Buddha is so powerful, who would dare to wrong me? My Old Buddha would just charge right over. Let’s see if they’d be scared then!"
Xiao Man cuddled up to her grandmother, acting cute. Grandma Tang lovingly ran her fingers through her granddaughter’s long, soft hair and laughed. "That’s right! If I find out some blind fool is giving my precious granddaughter a hard time, see if I don’t go and teach them a lesson immediately!"
The grandmother and granddaughter chatted happily in the back seat, and Tang Qingyun, who was driving, couldn’t help but smile. ’His daughter had been switched at birth and suffered a tragic fate. It was the parents’ sin of carelessness. The past couldn’t be changed, and he could only spend his entire life atoning for it. Fortunately, his daughter hadn’t become dark and cold because of it; she had a wonderful personality, like a little sun radiating a warm halo.’ Besides his guilt, Tang Qingyun felt incredibly lucky and joyful. ’She really is my biological daughter, with an inherently upright and excellent character. Look at that Wu Qin. For more than a decade, she usurped all the love and careful nurturing that belonged to my own daughter, but it still couldn’t change her fundamental nature. The moment her life and circumstances became less than ideal, all of her vile traits were exposed!’
Thinking of Wu Qin and Wu Xiaowen, the smile on Tang Qingyun’s face vanished. He was once again filled with regret. ’Just how stupid, deaf, and blind had I been? To be fooled by that fake mother-daughter pair and lose my own daughter!’
’Looking back, divorcing Wu Xiaowen had been inevitable. It didn’t matter if she had done something wrong, nor was it about whether the Tang family could tolerate her. Even Hao Hao had calmly accepted the truth. His son had only asked me to take care of his mother until he returned from abroad, without saying a single extra word. But Wu Xiaowen was worse than a child, clinging to me like a vengeful spirit and demanding to remarry me and return to the Tang family. Every time, she would scream like a madwoman that she had the right to do so because she had borne children for the Tang family! Now, I can’t even stand the sight of Wu Xiaowen. I get a headache and feel nauseous as a conditioned reflex. I can’t believe I lived with this woman for over a decade. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl.’
The new semester started, and Xiao Man reluctantly moved back into her school dormitory. The two little treasures were certainly adorable, but she couldn’t focus on her studies at home, so she could only come back on weekends to see them.
Tang Qingyun was also staying on campus. As a result, both Wu Xiaowen, who used to wait at the intersection, and the female military officer, Fan, who often came to visit, disappeared at the same time. When Xiao Man came home on the weekend and didn’t see them, she didn’t find it strange. It was as if a random guardrail on the side of the road had simply been removed.
The weather gradually warmed, and soon it was the Qingming Festival. It fell on a Sunday, so Mr. Tang took the time to return to Beijing. After arranging the ancestral worship rites for his own family, he went with Hao Wenli, Xiao Man, and the two little treasures to visit her family. Together with their grandmother, Hao Hueling, they went to sweep the graves of their great-grandparents. Hao Hueling was overjoyed, wishing she could carry both of her precious grandsons on her back and in her arms at the same time. But her grandsons were both chubby little things. Having a rare chance to take a trip out of the city and see a real mountain range, set against a backdrop of blue skies, white clouds, green trees, and red flowers, with hawks gliding in the sky and butterflies and dragonflies dancing before their eyes, the two little brothers had their eyes opened. They were so excited they couldn’t stop dancing with joy. Forget Hao Hueling—even Hao Wenli couldn’t hold onto them. It was all up to Mr. Tang and Xiao Man to carry the two chubby boys up to the cemetery on the mountainside. Along the way, the younger twin babbled and shrieked nonstop with all his might, getting the older one to start shouting and yelling along with him, and no one could stop them. Xiao Man was so amused by the two of them that an irrepressible smile spread across her face. The trip to sweep the graves, which should have been a somber occasion, had turned into a cheerful spring outing.
Hao Hueling was in a wonderful mood, grinning from ear to ear. She praised her grandsons for being so clever, lively, and adorable, saying they knew their great-grandfather and great-grandmother loved cheerful, talkative children the most, so they were making the journey lively just to make them happy!
Hao Wenli, carrying a small backpack and two bouquets of fresh flowers, was panting like a bellows by the time she climbed up. When she heard her mother’s words, she couldn’t help but stop, put her hands on her hips, and burst out laughing.
After giving birth, Hao Wenli was determined to lose weight. Xiao Man had her practice Sun-style Tai Chi with Grandma Tang, and she had indeed slimmed down a bit. But since she was breastfeeding, she couldn’t reduce her food intake and still needed extra nutrients, so her figure remained plump.
Hao Wenli was very confident about losing the weight, believing that as long as she persisted, she would succeed in becoming slim!
Yes, Ai Wenli had changed her surname. She was now Hao Wenli.
She had never thought about changing her name before. First, because her loving maternal grandfather had given her the name; ever since she was a child, her maternal grandfather and grandmother had called her "Ai’er," a memory that always filled her heart with warmth. Second, before she got married and had children, the harassment from Ai Baoguo’s side, while annoying, wasn’t too frequent. Now, however, their behavior had become outrageous and excessive. Old Mrs. Ai repeatedly used the fact that Wenli’s surname was Ai as an excuse to cause trouble, even clamoring that it was only right for one of the twin boys to be given the Ai surname! Hao Hueling was once again floored by their shamelessness, and Hao Wenli couldn’t tolerate it any longer.
It’s just as the saying goes: what you dread most is what you get. After all the effort of climbing up the mountain and reaching the spot, they saw someone standing in front of Old Mr. Hao and Mrs. Hao’s graves. It was Ai Baoguo!
He had the decency not to bring that string of women and children from his family with him. He only had a single guard by his side.
Even so, Hao Hueling was so furious she felt the blood rush to her head. Her good mood was completely shattered by the man’s sudden appearance. Her face turned a dark purple, and her body trembled with rage.