TEDWR: Chapter 22

 Glossary

· Zhang Yansheng (张雁声): The female protagonist, the reborn eldest daughter.

· Zhang Huan (张寰): Zhang Yansheng's father.

· Liang Yingying (梁莹莹): Zhang Yansheng's stepmother.

· Zhang Shuocheng (张硕成): Zhang Yansheng's seven-year-old half-brother.

· Zhang Heling (张鹤翎): Zhang Yansheng's nine-year-old half-sister.

· Wang Yi (王姨): The nanny who cares for Zhang Shuocheng. Referred to as Auntie Wang.

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Chapter 22

There was a six-seat dining table in the kitchen where the domestic staff ate their meals.

Auntie Wang arrived late; the others had already started.

"What took you so long?" someone asked.

"Whew!" Auntie Wang sighed with a meaningful look. "The master was in a terrible rage and made the mistress cry. She gathered up a whole pile of clothes to throw out and called me up to help. Seeing it was such a big pile, I thought I'd look to see if there was anything my daughter could wear to work. But when I looked—they were all low-cut, backless, or showed the midriff... completely unsuitable for work."

Everyone snickered.

When Liang Yingying came downstairs for dinner, she was dressed as conservatively as a nun. Her eyes were slightly red, and her face was tense.

Zhang Huan only glanced at her and said, "Dress like this from now on. It's good."

Liang Yingying already knew Zhang Yansheng had snitched on her and was inwardly fuming.

To make matters worse, the foolish daughter she herself had birthed said, "Mom, you look really nice dressed like that."

Rage surged in Liang Yingying. She raised her hand, ready to smack the back of the silly girl's head. A cold, sharp look from Zhang Yansheng severed that intention.

That gaze clearly warned, "Just try hitting her."

Zhang Huan was also frowning at her.

A chill ran through Liang Yingying. Her raised hand stiffly changed course to pat Zhang Heling's head as she said irritably, "Mind your own dinner."

Zhang Huan turned to ask Zhang Shuocheng, "Did Shuoshuo cause any trouble today?"

Zhang Shuocheng announced loudly, "No! I finished my homework in the morning! Big sister said I could play all afternoon! Second sister even lent me her game console, and I said thank you to her!"

Hearing about sibling harmony and his young son's good sense filled Zhang Huan with delight. He opened his mouth to praise Zhang Shuocheng when Liang Yingying abruptly cut in: "What's with all this 'thank you' between real siblings? Lending a game console to your brother and he has to say thank you?"

By the end, she was already glaring at Zhang Heling. Zhang Heling instinctively ducked her head and hunched her shoulders.

The atmosphere of familial harmony was instantly shattered.

Zhang Huan: "..."

Zhang Yansheng felt no responsibility to educate a grown adult. She said nothing, merely letting out a derisive snort.

Zhang Huan felt his face heat up from that laugh. He snapped at Liang Yingying, "Quiet! What kind of nonsense is that? Is that how you teach a child?"

He quickly turned back and patted Zhang Shuocheng's head. "Shuoshuo did the right thing. You must be polite, whether at home or outside."

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Liang Yingying had lost face in front of the children. She felt both angry and bitter, truly not understanding what she had done wrong or why Zhang Huan seemed to find fault with her all day. Hadn't she already promised to change regarding the clothing issue?

Resentfully, she thought, Fine! Tomorrow I'll go buy a whole closet of frumpy old-lady clothes to wear for him!

He's the one who always liked me dressing sexy! Now he's putting on a show of being proper!

Zhang Huan said to Zhang Shuocheng, "How about this? I'll end your punishment early. Have your mom get your game console out for you."

To his surprise, Zhang Shuocheng refused. "I don't want that one. I want the new model. Second sister has the new model."

Liang Yingying asked Zhang Heling in surprise, "Where did you get a new one?"

Zhang Heling swallowed a mouthful of rice. "Sister bought it for me."

She paused, then added, "Sister also opened a bank account for me. I have an allowance now."

Liang Yingying's temper flared instantly. Not daring to curse Zhang Yansheng directly, she vented at Zhang Heling. "What does a little child need an allowance for? Are you lacking food or clothes in this house? How can you be so thoughtless? Do you think money grows on trees? Do you know how hard your father works, huh? You don't understand a thing!"

Zhang Yansheng watched as tears welled up in Zhang Heling's eyes.

Fury also ignited within Zhang Yansheng.

But in the past, her loud arguments with Liang Yingying had achieved little. She took a deep breath, forcing down her anger, reached out, and rubbed Zhang Heling's head, saying softly, "Don't cry."

Before, when Zhang Heling felt wronged, she would simply endure it alone.

But when someone suddenly sees your hurt, is kind to you, and offers comfort, that hurt becomes impossible to bear.

Two tears dropped from Zhang Heling's eyes with a soft plop, plop.

Zhang Huan, who had just begun to find his younger daughter adorable and pleasing, now saw her being scolded to tears. His own anger surged. "Stop shouting! Can we have a peaceful meal or not?" he said angrily. "Look how you've frightened the child."

He then coaxed Zhang Heling, "Hehe, be good. Let's ignore her. Eat, eat." He even kindly picked up a piece of braised pork rib with his chopsticks and placed it in her bowl.

Liang Yingying felt aggrieved. "I'm just upset! A little kid, what does she need an allowance for? Opening an account so casually without even telling me. Does she still consider me her mother?"

The last sentence was clearly a pointed remark aimed elsewhere.

Zhang Huan was no fool; he caught the implication. This matter made him even angrier.

"This was decided by me, and Yanyan went to the trouble of handling it! What's the problem?" Zhang Huan said.

Liang Yingying was stunned,feeling even more wronged. "Why didn't you tell me? I'm Hehe's mother." It shouldn't be up to a mere girl like Zhang Yansheng to manage this.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Zhang Huan retorted sarcastically,"I'd be grateful if you would spare a little more attention for the children. It was Yanyan who remembered this. Yanyan also started managing her own allowance in third grade. Hehe is getting older. Since you don't bother, her older sister does, and you're still unhappy?"

He wanted to tell Liang Yingying to simply leave Zhang Heling alone, lest she corrupt the girl. But those words would be too harsh, and saying them would reflect poorly on him too. He swallowed them back. "Eat!"

Zhang Shuocheng's eyes darted. He declared loudly, "I want an allowance too!"

He usually got whatever he wanted, so he actually had no concept of spending money. He simply couldn't accept that Zhang Heling had something he didn't. Plus, he knew money was useful. He used to take a few red bills from Liang Yingying's purse and give them to Auntie Wang, and she would do his homework for him.

Too bad Auntie Wang wouldn't do it anymore.

Liang Yingying opened her mouth to agree, but Zhang Huan had already said, "You're still too young."

Liang Yingying had to keep quiet.

Zhang Shuocheng wasn't about to give up so easily and started making a fuss.

"Be quiet," Zhang Yansheng suddenly spoke.

She had no intention of managing Liang Yingying, but she had resolved to manage Zhang Shuocheng—not necessarily to make him good, but at least to prevent him from becoming too terrible and harming other people's children in the future.

The moment she spoke, Zhang Shuocheng shrank back.

"You'll get an allowance when you reach third grade, "Zhang Yansheng said meaningfully. "Before that, if I find out you've taken money from adults without asking or given money to others to make them do things for you... watch your backside."

Those who have done wrong feel guilty. Zhang Shuocheng indeed felt guilty.

Zhang Heling knew this referred to Auntie Wang taking money to do his homework. She also glared at him, her eyes warning, "Sister knows all about it!"

Having been beaten by Zhang Yansheng several times now, Zhang Shuocheng was truly afraid. He turtled his neck and didn't dare speak.

Normally, if something didn't go his way, he could lie on the floor and throw a tantrum for half a day. Today was truly strange!

Zhang Huan blinked, watching his eldest daughter control his son with just two sentences. He was utterly astonished.

Liang Yingying was also shocked. She looked at Zhang Huan and saw his astonished, pleased expression. A sense of foreboding stirred within her.

She felt that something subtle had shifted in this household, something slipping from her control.

"Your big sister is right, "Zhang Huan said with a smile. "You should listen to her. Otherwise, if she spanks you, even Dad can't save you."

Mom can't save me either, Zhang Shuocheng had already grasped this point. If Zhang Yansheng decided to hit him, probably only his second sister could plead a little for him.

Children are naturally adept at sensing who is weak and who is strong, who can be bullied and who absolutely cannot be provoked.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

After dinner, they went to the small sitting room. Liang Yingying saw the awards on the wall. Having been rebuked by Zhang Huan several times in a row today, she knew to restrain herself in front of him for now. She asked first, "Why did you take the painting down? It looks so bare now."

Zhang Huan said, "That spot was always for putting up awards." Speaking of it, reminiscing about the past when his first wife was still alive, he felt a pang of melancholy.

Liang Yingying went over to look and saw they were Zhang Heling's awards. Her anger immediately subsided. Since Zhang Huan clearly supported displaying awards here, having her own child's awards up was definitely better than when the wall was covered with Zhang Yansheng's awards back then.

Back in the day, she had secretly torn one of the awards slightly, letting it hang ragged, then used the excuse that it looked terrible to persuade Zhang Huan to allow her to replace them with a painting.

Still, Liang Yingying curled her lip. "What's the point of putting up a little girl's stuff? We'll put up Shuoshuo's awards when he gets some."

Zhang Huan had never held high expectations for Liang Yingying, thinking that as long as she took care of the children's basic needs, that was enough. But hearing this, he was still disappointed.

Although both of them favored sons over daughters, there were some differences.

Liang Yingying's status relied on her son. In her heart, there was only Zhang Shuocheng; she never truly held a place for Zhang Heling.

As for Zhang Huan, when he didn't have a son, of course he wanted one—most men in this country, no matter what they say, secretly desire a son.

But the Zhang family wasn't some poor household that bought new shoes for the son while the daughter had to make do with old ones. Although Zhang Huan did inwardly love his son more, he never thought of shortchanging his daughters.

He certainly never thought that just because they were girls, they should be aimless or not need to study hard.

He was simply unwilling to expend too much energy on it. But if he saw his daughters doing well, putting in effort, excelling, he would definitely be pleased.

In this regard, he was quite different from Liang Yingying.

Liang Yingying gave birth to Zhang Heling but still couldn't enter the Zhang household and replace the legal wife. The disappointment and resentment in her heart fell upon Zhang Heling, making her particularly harsh toward the girl.

Verbally putting her down, materially... well, since the Zhangs were wealthy, the child wasn't starved or left cold, so it wasn't obvious.

But those subtle acts of harshness and neglect undoubtedly existed.

Zhang Heling, young and naive, felt it but couldn't articulate it. Zhang Yansheng, watching coldly, saw it clearly.

Zhang Huan was disappointed in Liang Yingying but didn't voice it. Probably because he knew saying anything would be useless. Liang Yingying's level was what it was; what could one expect?

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

He shook his head, lifted his tablet higher, and chose to look at something else, out of sight, out of mind.

Liang Yingying had something on her mind. She snuggled up to him. "Honey... about that car..."

Zhang Huan had been very angry today, and Liang Yingying was afraid he wouldn't buy her the car after all. The promised Ferrari—she had already bragged about it to her girlfriends. If she didn't get it, it would be too humiliating.

Zhang Huan wasn't too pleased with her at the moment. Indeed, during the day when he was angry, he had thought, Forget buying anything, and considered not getting it for her as punishment.

But tonight, all three children had put him in a good mood.

Hehe's academic excellence was a pleasant surprise.

"Alright, go look for one yourself. Tell me when you've picked it out," he said.

Liang Yingying was overjoyed and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek, saying in a sugary voice, "Thank you, honey!"

Inwardly, however, she sneered, thinking men really needed to be coaxed. See, a little coaxing and everything was fine again.

She didn't know that Zhang Huan's willingness to buy her the Ferrari was entirely because of the children.

Just as she was about to coax Zhang Huan some more, her phone rang. Liang Yingying picked it up, frowned slightly, and answered, "Hello, Mom?"

As she spoke, she walked out of the room.

Liang Yingying had come to K City alone and married into a wealthy family. Her family had visited her before. Liang Yingying gave them money but didn't like them visiting often.

She was still somewhat ashamed of them.

Zhang Huan only glanced her way before looking away. He couldn't be bothered with Liang Yingying's family affairs.

(End of Chapter)

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