In the end, Zhao Lan still didn’t think she was wrong, but it occurred to her that there might be something between Shao Qiyang and Mu Jingzhe.

  “Shut up!” Shao Qiyang flung her away. “You’re not fit to even mention her name. You called her shameless? The most shameless people are you two.”

  With such a family, what right did he have to be with Mu Jingzhe?

  Shao Qiyang’s eyes were filled with hatred. “You disgust me.”

  “From now on, I will break all ties with you.” Shao Qiyang turned around and left.

  Zhao Lan was stunned for a moment before she suddenly lashed out. “You ingrate! You unfilial son! Let me tell you something. I don’t have a son like you anymore.”

  Seeing that Shao Qiyang had really left, Zhao Lan slapped her legs in fury.

  “What kind of a life is this? Why is my life so bitter?”

  Zhao Lan cried for a long time, but no one paid her any attention. Shao Qiyun was throwing a tantrum because of the pain on her swollen, red face.

  Since she was young, Zhao Lan had never once hit her. This was the first time Shao Qiyun had been hit.

  Shao Qiyun and Zhao Lan cursed angrily. Eldest Brother Shao stomped his feet in regret. “I said it couldn’t be done.”

  Eldest Sister-In-Law Shao pulled him aside and asked him not to add fuel to the fire. Nobody heard him complaining when they collected the betrothal gifts.

  After Shao Qiyang came out, he was in a daze for a moment before he went to the Mu Residence. He couldn’t let Mu Jingzhe go back like this.

  He went to the Mu Residence, wanting to apologize and beg for forgiveness, wanting to ask Mu Jingzhe to go back.

  However, Mu Teng chased him away before he even got to see Mu Jingzhe’s face.

  “What’s the use of apologizing now? In the future, the entire Shao Family can forget about setting foot on our doorstep!”

  Shao Qiyang stood in the rain, feeling cold all over and almost losing his balance.

  Yes, what right did he have to do this? It was too late.

  He was never around when Mu Jingzhe needed protection the most. He was always one step too late.

  Fate had been messing with him time and again, always making him be one step late.

  Furthermore, the people who had harmed Mu Jingzhe were his biological mother and younger sister. What right did he have to ask her to go back?

  It rained the entire night and it stopped the next morning, but the skies remained cloudy.

  \r \r \r

  Mu Teng gathered some villagers and sent Yang Qing and his two men, as well as Zhao Lan and Shao Qiyun, to the police station.

  Zhao Lan and Shao Qiyun naturally refused to go. They kept crying and making a fuss. Zhao Lan even wanted to hang herself in a bid to force Mu Teng to give up.

  They even found an elder from the Mu Family and persuaded Old Madam Mu to ask Mu Teng to let the matter rest. Their argument was that it wouldn’t do Mu Jingzhe any good if this matter were to spread.

  After all, Mu Jingzhe was going to get married in the future. They were all from the same village and would meet frequently. They shouldn’t be so ruthless.

  However, the more Zhao Lan and the gang acted like this, the more insistent Mu Teng became. He didn’t even listen to Old Madam Mu.

  Before Mu Xue’s birth, Old Madam Mu had actually doted on Mu Teng a lot because Mu Teng had a glib tongue and knew how to coax people.

  Later on, because of their family circumstances, Mu Teng hadn’t disobeyed Old Madam Mu, so the old woman practically had the final say in the family.

  However, this time, Mu Teng didn’t listen because he was different from before.

  Although he and Li Zhaodi didn’t make a lot of money selling buns, thanks to their stable income, they were much more confident now.

  In the past, he had relied on Old Madam Mu to survive, but now that he no longer had to, he insisted on pursuing the matter.

  Old Madam Mu only doted on Mu Xue and didn’t care for Mu Jingzhe. This granddaughter of hers couldn’t gain her favor.

  She didn’t feel pain, but he, as her father, did. If he couldn’t even protect his own daughter properly, what kind of a father would that make him?

  He wanted everyone to see his attitude. He wanted to see who would dare bully Mu Jingzhe in the future.

  After fussing for half a day, it started raining again. However, this still didn’t stop Mu Teng.

  After Tang Moling was done with his work, he waited for Mu Teng.

  He drove Mu Teng back and also used his connections to make sure that Yang Qing, Zhao Lan, and the gang learned from their mistakes, lest such a thing happened again in the future.

  Tang Moling’s status was extraordinary. One word from him was more effective than one hundred from Mu Teng. Mu Teng thanked Tang Moling.

  The two of them hadn’t interacted much in the past. After all, Tang Moling used to hate Mu Xue’s horrible relatives. Mu Jingzhe was number one in line, and right behind her were Mu Teng and Li Zhaodi.

  However, as his impression of Mu Jingzhe improved and he stopped judging her based on prejudice, Tang Moling realized that Mu Teng and Li Zhaodi weren’t that bad after all.

  Perhaps their behavior had indeed been so-so in the past, but their love for their children had never changed.

  Old Madam Mu was surprised that Tang Moling had come to Great Eastern Village again. However, she only thought that Tang Moling was worried about Mu Xue, so she smiled in relief. This way, she needn’t fear Mu Xue would suffer when she married him.

  “Why did you bring so much food again?”

  Tang Moling’s trunk was filled with food, including fresh beef and mutton. Old Madam Mu was grinning from ear to ear.

  “It’s raining, so we should eat some mutton and beef to nourish our bodies.” Tang Moling noticed Mu Jingzhe out of the corner of his eye.

  Mu Jingzhe’s eyes were still a little swollen, but her expression was much calmer. After thanking him, she busied herself around Mu Teng and asked him to change while she went to make brown sugar ginger soup to warm up their bodies.

  “Dad, drink it quickly. You don’t want to catch a cold.”

  As for the remaining soup, Mu Jingzhe hesitated for a moment. Since Tang Moling had helped them, she should probably give it to him to drink, but she was afraid that Mu Xue would misunderstand.

  As she was hesitating, Tang Moling asked, “Is there some more? I’ll have a bowl to ward off the cold too.”

  Mu Xue immediately said, “I’ll make some for you.”

  “No need. There’s enough for another bowl, isn’t there?” Tang Moling raised the bowl and drank it.

  Mu Xue pursed her lips in annoyance.

  The beef and mutton were prepared for dinner, but only in small amounts. Some of the meat was preserved in salt.

  There were many people but only so much meat. Old Madam Mu gave most of the meat to Mu Xue, and the others also got a little bit each. Mu Jingzhe only got two pieces of meat.

  Mu Xue’s bowl was piled up with food. Compared to Mu Jingzhe’s bowl, the contrast was very obvious.

  Li Zhaodi pursed her lips, looking disgruntled. However, she didn’t make a fuss and simply gave her share to Mu Jingzhe.

  Tang Moling looked at his bowl, which was full of meat, and felt a little bad.

  “Grandma, why didn’t you cook all of it? That way, everyone could have eaten their fill.”

  Old Madam Mu merely replied dismissively, “How can meat be filling? Is this not enough for you? If it isn’t, I’ll give you some more.”

  “Enough.” Tang Moling shook his head and lowered his eyes, his gaze a little dark.

  In the beginning, when he had seen that Old Madam Mu treated Mu Xue well, he’d only felt that this old woman had good judgment and was adorable.

  But today, he saw blatant bias.

  No wonder Mu Jingzhe and her parents had kept snatching Mu Xue’s things in the past. It was because if they didn’t, they would end up with nothing.

  The portion that should have belonged to them had been given to Mu Xue instead. They were merely snatching back the portion that should have been theirs.

  However, everyone was used to it and felt that those things rightfully belonged to Mu Xue.

  Initially, he hadn’t noticed it, but upon closer inspection, he realized that Mu Xue was much meatier than Mu Jingzhe.

  Mu Xue might look slim due to her slender bones, but she actually had a lot of meat on her.

  He hadn’t been able to tell in the past, but now that Mu Jingzhe was wearing that red dress, it was obvious that she was much thinner than Mu Xue.

  However, Old Madam Mu only felt heartache for Mu Xue and kept asking her to eat more since she was so thin.

  The dining table was filled with the joyful laughter of Old Madam Mu and Mu Xue, while Mu Jingzhe listened to them, eating in silence. Her voice could not be heard at all.

  Tang Moling held back his anger. He wasn’t even in the mood to eat.