Chapter 404: Clearly Her Son Is So Cute

Li Xuan did not miss the look of disdain in Shen Yuan's eyes; for some reason, she sometimes felt that this little one's behavior did not quite resemble a child's.

For instance, the eye-rolling she learned from Ming Zi on a daily basis.

And the look of disdain she had just given her son.

It was as if an adult's soul had taken up residence in a child's body.

This thought instantly made Li Xuan less fond of the girl, completely forgetting how she had felt before.

However, she felt that this little girl Shen Yuan was still problematic; how could she dislike Shen Chi so much the moment they met?

When her son was clearly so cute right now.

Although Li Xuan liked him immensely in her heart, she still hid her emotions well; she was afraid that if this woman of the Shen family discovered it, she wouldn't let her come again.

She had stayed at the Shen house for half a day before the Shen man returned; as soon as he returned, he was barking orders, treating his daughters entirely like servants.

Pouring water for him to drink, bringing a washbasin, and there was even one who brought him his pipe without him having to ask.

It was practiced to the point of being heartbreaking.

Clenching the pipe in his teeth and washing his hands clean, the man then took his son to dote on him.

For some reason, Li Xuan found him looking particularly ridiculous.

Doting so much on a son that wasn't his own—it wasn't certain who he would be close to in the future.

"Where do you live?" the man asked Li Xuan while clenching his pipe.

"I'm not from around here, I'm from over in Huaiyang, here to visit relatives," Li Xuan replied evasively, but she could clearly feel that this man was harder to deal with than his woman.

"What are your relatives' names?" Shen Dazhuang asked, shaking his feet. "Tell me and see if I know them? I, Shen Dazhuang, know quite a few people in the surrounding villages."

Li Xuan smiled. "My eldest cousin, his name is Zhang Wei, do you know him?"

Anyway, there were plenty of people named Zhang Wei.

"Zhang Wei?" Shen Dazhuang tilted his head and began to think, just as expected. "How old is he?"

"I don't know his exact age, he's an eldest cousin from a cousin-aunt's family." Li Xuan sat for a little while longer, then took her leave.

The woman saw her to the door and returned to the courtyard to scold Shen Dazhuang. "You really are something! She felt she got along with me and liked talking to me, that's why she came to sit at the house, and she even brought so many good things. Why were you interrogating her?"

The man kicked her in the backside. "You, you really are a creature with long hair and short insight! Are there really pies falling from the sky? And you just happened to run into one?"

"Let me tell you, our son was hard-won; if there's any mishap, I'll kill you!"

Moreover, the moment he saw that woman, he felt she was no good.

"You mean to say she might have designs on our son?" The woman was also startled in her heart.

That wouldn't do; no one could have designs on her son, or she would fight them to the death.

"Who doesn't want a son?"

Shen Dazhuang retorted.

In these parts, adopting a girl didn't take much effort—at most a handful of millet and a piece of cloth—but adopting a boy was extremely difficult.

Someone else spent countless days and nights to produce a boy, why would they give him to you?

They themselves had spent a large sum of money to buy their son back then.

"Definitely. Didn't you say she can't give birth, which is why she wants to adopt?" The man warned his wife. "Use your brain from now on, you hear me? Don't let her in the door again."

The woman naturally agreed to everything; no matter what, her son was the most important thing to her.

"Pannan, go steam an egg custard for your little brother! If you dare to sneak a bite, I'll peel your skin off!"

The little girl named Pannan nodded timidly; she called her two younger sisters into the kitchen as well.

Her younger sister Xiangnan was sick, but her mother only told her to tough it out, while such precious eggs were given to the useless little brother to eat.

After giving the order, the woman went out.

Pannan seized the time to steam the egg custard, and then, before her mother returned, she fed the egg custard to Xiangnan without a word.

She herself was drooling with craving on the side, but she couldn't bring herself to eat any.

Egg custard must be the most delicious food in the world! Shen Pannan thought.

It was the first time Xiangnan had ever eaten egg custard in her life; after the little brother was born, it was for him to eat.

Before the little brother was born, Dad gave the family's eggs and other good things to his nephew to eat.

In any case, the three sisters didn't even dare to dream of it.

For the last few bites, she insisted on sharing them with her eldest sister and second sister.

After the three sisters finished the egg custard, they began to feel lingering fear. Shen Xiangnan said, "What do we do? They will definitely beat us to death when they come back."

"Don't be afraid," Shen Pannan had already prepared herself to be beaten while she was eating the egg custard. "In a while, you two don't say anything, I'll handle it myself."

After a while, Daniu returned holding her son, sat on a stool, and asked, "Is the egg custard steamed? Hurry up and bring it to my son!"

No one answered. She glared at the eldest girl at the kitchen door. "Hurry up, is your skin itching?"

"I, I finished the egg custard."

Daniu's eyes widened. "What?"

She put her son on the small wooden bed, took off her shoe, and prepared to give this unruly daughter a sound thrashing.

"You ate it? A money-losing girl like you is worthy of eating egg custard?"

Shen Pannan was startled. "I, I was wrong, I was just too hungry."

Daniu grabbed her by the ear. "Hungry! I think you're just greedy and wicked! You dared to eat my son's egg custard! I'll beat you to death, I'll beat you to death!"

Her slaps landed on Shen Pannan's head like sandbags, and hatred began to sprout in the depths of Shen Pannan's heart.

She was still small now, but when she grew up, she would definitely, definitely pay back everything she was suffering now.

As for this little brother, from this day on, inexplicable bruises always appeared on Shen Chi's body, though they were always in hidden places.

Because the child couldn't talk yet, Shen Dazhuang and Daniu didn't notice any problems; they just felt their precious son seemed to have become more prone to crying lately.

Once the Lantern Festival passed, Si Rong and Ming Zi went to Guangzhou again.

This time, they kept the contact information of two proprietresses.

Once the current stock was sold, they could go directly to the bank to wire money to the proprietresses, and the proprietresses would put the goods on the train; they only needed to pick them up at the train station.

There were quite a few more styles of spring clothing this time.

Besides floral shirts and jeans, they also stocked a batch of plaid skirts.

After returning, they hung them directly on the walls of the clothing store.

Every day at eight o'clock when the door opened, customers would arrive; Si Rong usually settled the two little darlings at home, then went over to help after finishing breakfast around nine o'clock.

The spring clothing sold very well, and Ming Zi had even learned to operate a sewing machine, so she could simply help people alter waistlines or pant legs.

Seeing their business so booming, Li Xuan was incredibly jealous.

She urged Shen Lan to hurry up and sell clothing too; this was simply a matter of picking up money.