Chapter 144 – Business Partnership (2)
“I wasn’t wrong. Tianbao has no dad. That’s why my mom told me. Right, mom?” Yangyang was smacked by his mother.
“He’s just making it up. Why would I say such a thing? Plus, I don’t even know you, why would I talk about you?” said Mother Yangyang as she gave Shu Yan an embarrassed look.
“But you did say it. You and grandma said that Mother Tianbao was kicked out by her husband and that Tianbao is a child with no daddy. I heard it!” And then Yangyang was smacked by his mother again.
Shu Yan gave Mother Yangyang a smile that wasn’t a smile. It was no longer a matter of a fight between two kids. “Kids don’t lie. If your son said you’ve said it, then he must have heard it from you. It’s not good to gossip about others behind their backs. And, I am curious. Where did you hear all those crazy talks from?”
Mother Yangyang sized up Shu Yan. She was unattractive as rumored but not too overly unattractive. Truth was, she knew Shu Yan. She was standing on the side when Shu Yan was talking to Grandma Wu about issues with the kindergarten’s kitchen. She was just never the one to be in the frontline. One way or another, if it wasn’t for Shu Yan, Yangyang would still be eating those awful meals. All in all, she was appreciative of Shu Yan.
“There had been some rumors in the last couple of days. It said that you… had been kicked out because you were licentious, which was why you are here with two children by yourself. That’s really all I said to the kid’s grandmother. I promise I didn’t say that to anyone else. I think my son just happened to have overheard it. Yangyang, go ahead, apologize to Tianbao.” Mother Yangyang pulled Yangyang over to lessen the awkwardness.
She was hesitant when she repeated that. Shu Yan trusted that the original version must have been much worse. She narrowed her eyes. Alright. Which nasty bug was spreading untrue rumors about her behind her back?
“I’d like to know who said that?” asked Shu Yan directly.
“About that…”
“Don’t worry. I won’t say I’ve heard it from you. I just want to know who was spreading rumors about me.” A few names came into Shu Yan’s mind, but none of them made any sense.
“Okay, just don’t say you’ve heard it from me. Do you know Zhu Hung? Her parents live in our small district. When she returned, she told that to her mother. And then… others around them found out about it as well.”
Mother Yangyang inspected her son’s body. After she made sure that he wasn’t hurt and that Shu Yan had instructed Tianbao to apologize, she left with him.
Le was gone and now there was Zhu Hung. The two of them were certainly cut out of the same cloth. So disgusting that it made others want to vomit.
On their way back, Tianbao was very quiet. After they had picked up Ye Jingjing, Tianbao finally asked softly, “Mom, where’s Dad? He hasn’t come and visited me in a long time.”
Kids were forgetful. She had mentioned to him before about the divorce, the separation, and that he would be staying with her. He had forgotten all about those. Even if he had remembered, he wouldn’t have understood the meaning of them.
“Daddy is in City Xi. Later on… when you are older, Mommy will take you to visit him.” Shu Yan didn’t know how to explain to the child, so she just had to stall. When he was older and understood that mommy and daddy had a divorce and were no longer together, he wouldn’t ask for daddy again.
Ye Jingjing, on one side, didn’t say a word. Unlike Tianbao, she remembered a lot and had an idea what a divorce was; it meant that daddy did not want mommy anymore. Not to mention that Ye Zhiqiang was not nice to his daughter at all. She didn’t miss him a bit. Contrarily, she wished she’d never have to see him again.
After Shu Yan had returned home with the children, she pulled out the information that Lao Hu had provided to her previously. She had paid a lot of attention to Le in the past, but never read too much into Zhu Hung’s information. Now it was necessary for her to do so.
