Du Zhao's arrival did not bring much change to Xu Shichu's life. After all, most of the time Du Zhao was taken care of by servants, and Xu Shichu only teased him and played with him occasionally.
It is impossible for Xu Shichu to treat Du Zhao as her own child all of a sudden. After all, there was no affection between them before. Moreover, Xu Shichu is a beast in her soul. It would be strange if she could immediately feel maternal love for a human cub.
So Xu Shichu treated Du Zhao as a relative's child at first. He would tease him when he was happy and let the servants take care of him when he was unhappy. However, Du Zhao was a likable child. Except for the first few days when he would cry because he missed his parents, he gradually became lively and cute.
After he recovered from his illness, he was well fed and became plump. He was cute and adorable. He staggered around the yard with his three-headed body, playing hide-and-seek with the maids. He was laughing every day and loved to smile. He was really likable, so Xu Shichu gradually fell in love with him and took him everywhere.
Luo Yaqing's wedding day soon arrived. Xu Shichu was not very busy. After all, she did not need to take care of the wedding matters. She only needed to show up on necessary occasions.
The Prime Minister's Mansion was very lively on the wedding day. Prime Minister Luo was marrying his daughter, and people from all the famous families in the capital came. As the nominal Prime Minister's wife, Xu Shichu naturally had to come out and socialize with the other ladies.
Du Zhao was young, and Xu Shichu was worried that everyone in the mansion would be busy with the wedding and ignore him, so he brought him with him. Of course, this was also because he was well-behaved and did not cry or make a fuss when meeting many strangers.
"Oh, whose family is this child from? He is so good-looking." Mrs. Li, the Minister of Rites, who could be considered a close friend of Xu Shichu, asked.
"He is my distant nephew and a relative from my mother's side of the family. There is no one left in his family, so he follows me now." Xu Shichu took this opportunity to reveal Du Zhao's identity to avoid causing other unnecessary inquiries.
"What a poor little thing! But fortunately, Madam Xu is kind and compassionate. It can be considered a blessing in disguise that this child can stay with you." Madam Li said, touching Du Zhao's little head.
Du Zhao raised his fair and tender little face and looked at the beautiful woman, pouting his little mouth, raised his little hand to push her hand away, but did not cry or resist.
Mrs. Li couldn't help laughing when she saw his cute little appearance.
The other ladies also praised Young Master Du for his extraordinary bearing, steadiness and cleverness at such a young age... Xu Shichu's mouth twitched when he heard these exaggerated words. Du Zhao was only two years old, and it was a relief that they could say such words without blushing or breathing heavily.
Xu Shichu still had to socialize with other ladies, so he apologized to Madam Li and the others and left temporarily. However, he didn't expect that he was grabbed by the arm before he had gone far.
"Chu girl, now that you've become the wife of a high and mighty prime minister, you've really forgotten your roots and don't even recognize your natal family! We've been here for so long, and you didn't even come to say hello. If I didn't come to find you, would you just pretend you didn't know us?" The eldest aunt's sarcastic words rang in Xu Shichu's ears like a string of pearls.
Xu Shichu used some clever strength to free his arm from his great aunt's hand, then looked at her.
I haven't seen my aunt Zhou for almost a year. She looks older and more haggard. Her face is covered with wrinkles, her eye bags are almost hanging down to her chin, her eyes are cloudy, and her nasolabial folds are deep. Her expression makes her look so fierce that she can scare a child to tears.
Appearance reflects the heart. My aunt is getting old so fast. I guess she hasn't had an easy year.
Yes, whether she wanted to let her granddaughter enter the prime minister's mansion to hook up with the prime minister's son, or wanted to plot against Xu Shichu to reopen the prosperous Zui Xiang Pavilion and Hou Ji Book House, she did not succeed. Instead, Xu Shichu fought back so hard that even the last profitable shop in Ning Yuanbo's mansion suffered a slump in business.
Life in the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion became even more difficult because of this. It would be strange if the aunt did not look haggard and old. Unfortunately, she had no chance to seek revenge on Xu Shichu. Today, she finally had the chance to come to the Prime Minister's Mansion to find Xu Shichu openly, and naturally she would not let him go easily.
"Aunt, you are joking. I pretended not to know you, but you still came to me. I don't dare to be accused of forgetting my roots. After all, it was not me who ruined the property in the mansion." Xu Shichu said with a smile.
"I wonder if our ancestors would be so angry that they would crawl out of their graves if they knew that all the wealth in the mansion was almost squandered by you unworthy descendants?"
When the aunt heard her sarcasm, she gnashed her teeth and said, "How dare you say that? If it weren't for you, how could our store be so bad that it's almost closed down? It's all your fault!"
"I don't deserve it. I'm just returning fire with an eye for an eye. Who told you to attack my shop first? You plotted against me and you didn't allow me to fight back? If you want to be a thief, you must be prepared to be beaten. I have shown mercy because you are my family, otherwise I can make you suffer even more." Xu Shichu said the harsh words with a smile.
"Also, before I got married, the Bo family was already running out of money. Don't put the blame for the family's failure on me. I won't take it!"
Xu Shichu said another sentence mercilessly, which made the aunt so angry that her face turned blue and she almost fainted.
“You, you…” The aunt pointed at Xu Shichu with trembling fingers and wanted to curse at him, but because this was the prime minister’s residence and a wedding banquet was being held there, she did not dare to make a scene, so she almost rolled her eyes.
The eldest aunt paused, but Xu Shichu's stepmother Li came to the eldest aunt's side for some reason. She supported the eldest sister-in-law who was about to faint, and then put on a fake smile and said:
"Since you know that your mother's family is struggling to make ends meet, as a daughter of the Xu family, you should contribute to the family. No matter what happened to us in the past, we raised you. Shouldn't you repay us for our kindness?"
After hearing this, Xu Shichu couldn't help but look his stepmother Li up and down. It was true that one should look at a man with new eyes after three days of absence. In the past, when Li saw Xu Shichu, she would only scold and humiliate her fiercely. How could she ever smile at her
But now, not only did she smile, she also knew how to calmly use the grace of raising her to morally blackmail her!
Unfortunately, is Xu Shichu someone who will be kidnapped by her morality? Not to mention that Ningyuan Bofu didn't treat the original owner as a human being before, even if Bofu really raised the original owner well, Xu Shichu would not harm his own interests and repay evil with kindness to support the bunch of cowards in Ningyuan Bofu.
"The grace of raising me? Are you talking about the grace of raising me like a rat in a gutter? Do you want me to repay you for such a grace? I will still find someone to insult, beat and abuse you. This is the grace of raising me that I should repay."
Xu Shichu sneered and said, "If I didn't do some embroidery and secretly go out to sell some money to buy steamed buns, I would have starved to death long ago. How could you come to my house today and ask me to repay you for raising me?!"