Afraid that Xiao Wu would be sad to hear that, Mu Jingzhe quickly turned around to look at Xiao Wu.

  His head was lowered, so no one knew what Xiao Wu was thinking. She couldn’t tell if he was sad or not.

  Shao Qiyun didn’t know that Mu Jingzhe wanted to hit her, but when she saw Mu Jingzhe warily pull Xiao Wu behind her and heard her words, she indeed heaved a sigh of relief. “Yes, I don’t want to acknowledge him. Don’t be nervous. I’m not here to acknowledge him.”

  There was no warmth in Shao Qiyun’s gaze as she looked at Xiao Wu. Other than a hint of complicated feelings, it was basically filled with repulsion and vigilance. She still had to get married. How was she going to get married if people found out she’d had a child out of wedlock? She couldn’t bring a burden with her. Who would be willing to marry a woman with a child?

  She had originally been afraid that Xiao Wu would insist on acknowledging her, but now she relaxed.

  Mu Jingzhe frowned at her. “Then why are you here?”

  “I’m here to clarify the situation. Since we’ve reached a consensus, that’s good.” Shao Qiyun looked at Xiao Wu and said her first sentence to him. “Remember, you’re not allowed to say anything about this in the future.”

  “You should remember this yourself!” Seeing that she still dared to speak to Xiao Wu like this, Mu Jingzhe stood in front of Xiao Wu and waved her hand impatiently. “Get lost.”

  “I’m not done speaking.” Shao Qiyun glanced at Shao Qihai.

  “What else do you want to say?” Shao Qihai was also impatient.

  “Not much. I was just thinking that since we’re talking about this matter anyway, shouldn’t some gesture be made?”

  Mu Jingzhe felt that she could understand every word individually, but she couldn’t understand them when they were linked together. “What gesture? What kind of gesture do you want? Would beating you up do? You also feel that you deserve to be beaten up?”

  “Of course not.” Shao Qiyun was furious. “Who would ask for a beating? What I meant is that it wasn’t easy for me to give birth to him. When I gave birth to him, I almost died. I only managed to give birth to him after losing half my life. It took me a long time to recover. It was fine when Xiao Wu didn’t know about it, but now that he does, he’ll have to repay the kindness I showed him by giving birth to him.”

  \r \r \r

  The room was silent. No one had expected Shao Qiyun to be so shameless. She didn’t want to acknowledge Xiao Wu, but she actually wanted Xiao Wu to repay her kindness.

  Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Shao Qiyun coughed and said, “Mu Jingzhe, you’ve never given birth before. You don’t know how difficult and dangerous it is to give birth to a child. Although I didn’t raise Xiao Wu, he owes me a debt of kindness for giving birth to him. Coincidentally, I’m in a difficult situation now. It’s only right that he helps me.

  “I’m not asking for much. He just has to pay back the debt I owe. That way, we can call it even.”

  Mu Jingzhe scoffed. “I’ve seen shameless people, but I’ve never seen someone as shameless as you.”

  Shao Qihai’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot. “Shao Qiyun, do you have a death wish? Is that why you came here to seek death?”

  “Did I say anything wrong? Am I not the one who gave birth to him?” Shao Qiyun, who was impatient, looked at Mu Jingzhe. “Give me the money Xiao Wu has earned. Not a cent less.”

  “Why should I give it to you? No!” Xiao Wu’s body started trembling when he heard Shao Qiyun ask for money. At that moment, he finally couldn’t help but speak.

  Shao Qiyun spat. “Why? Because I gave birth to you, of course. How dare you speak up? If it weren’t for me, you’d have died long ago. Don’t you go to school every day? Then you should know that children need to be filial to their parents. You ought to know that you should repay my kindness and be filial to me!”

  “It’s already been agreed that you won’t acknowledge each other. Repay you, my *ss!” Shao Xi couldn’t help but curse. “If you say another word, I’ll smash your smelly mouth! Do you believe me?”

  He really felt like he was going to explode and die from anger.

  “How dare you speak to me like this?” Shao Qiyun was also furious. “I knew that none of you had good intentions. You clearly know that I gave birth to him, but in the end, you only wanted me to shoulder the responsibility. You didn’t even think of repaying me. Let me tell you something. That’s impossible. Don’t even think of ruining my marriage prospects!”

  She looked at Xiao Wu, her eyes filled with disgust. “You disgusting, filthy thing. I’m telling you. You can forget about me acknowledging you in this lifetime! That day will never come! I’ll never acknowledge you!”

  How could she acknowledge such a dirty, disgusting thing! Upon thinking of the way he had grown bigger and bigger inside of her back then and how she hadn’t been able to shake him off no matter what, Shao Qiyun wanted to vomit.

  Xiao Wu, who was already pale and trembling, couldn’t help taking a step back when he heard this.

  He didn’t like Shao Qiyun and was afraid that Shao Qiyun would acknowledge him. However, when Shao Qiyun said these words and he saw the way she was looking at him, his heart clenched tightly.

  So he was a disgusting, filthy thing? He…

  Xiao Wu thought in a daze and suddenly felt someone hug him and cover his ears. The world quietened down, and Xiao Wu finally reacted. He looked up and saw Shao Dong looking at him.

  Seeing that he had reacted, Shao Dong removed his hands from his ears. Instead, he grabbed his hand and looked at him seriously. “Don’t think too much. Xiao Wu, don’t listen to her either. She’s crazy. You’re not disgusting or dirty. You’re our darling and you have nothing to do with her. Have you forgotten how much Mommy likes you? Have you forgotten that there are still many people who are fond of you?”

  Indeed, Mommy really liked him. Mommy liked him the most. She liked his hair, his face, his hands, and feet. Mommy would often stroke his hair and comment that it was super-soft. She liked looking at his hands and marveled at how small and adorable they were. Then, she would bite them.

  She even praised his feet for being cute and said that she wanted to eat them too. Xiao Wu would run away and hide when he heard that. She would frequently tickle his feet too.

  Therefore, Mommy liked him the most. She liked him from head to toe. He wasn’t disgusting or dirty.

  Xiao Wu’s face finally turned less pale. Shao Dong heaved a sigh of relief. “Do you remember what Grandma taught us when you heard something you shouldn’t have? You’ll be fine after washing your ears. I’ll wash them for you.”

  Shao Dong rubbed Xiao Wu’s ears. “I’ll help you wash them. Are they clean now?”

  “Yes, they are.”

  It was only after Xiao Wu finished saying that that he realized how noisy it was. He turned around and saw that the courtyard had already become a mess. His eldest brother, Shao Dong, who had been comforting him warmly just now, had also thrown the rock in his hand at Shao Qiyun.

  This was the weapon they had prepared to protect Xiao Wu.

  Before Shao Dong had thrown that rock over, Shao Xi and the rest had already thrown other things at her.

  Little Bei’s heart ached for Xiao Wu. How could that woman treat her younger brother like that! She was so angry that she bit off her already loose tooth. Her mouth hurt, and she spat out her bloody tooth. Little Bei groaned in pain as she threw the tooth over.

  Shao Qiyun was angry at them for making up all sorts of excuses and refusing to give her money, disrupting her plans. In addition, she was afraid that Xiao Wu would acknowledge her, so she’d decided to make him give up on the thought completely. Recalling how she had felt back then, she’d said a few truthful words. Unexpectedly, her words had triggered everyone.

  As soon as she finished speaking, Mu Jingzhe went forward and slapped Shao Qiyun so hard that she made her ears ring. Zhao Lan had long known that this would not end well. She couldn’t care less and quickly went forward to stop them, causing chaos.

  Shao Dong moved to cover Xiao Wu’s ears. Other than wanting him to come back to his senses, the main reason he did this was that Shao Qiyun’s cries of agony were too loud.

  Little Bei and the rest were busy doing their own thing. Despite Zhao Lan’s effort to stop her, Mu Jingzhe grabbed Shao Qiyun’s hair and refused to let go. Shao Qiyun was beaten until she shrieked in pain.