Jiang Si looked up and saw that the person shouting was a young mother.
It was unclear what had happened, but she was standing there with her willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed in anger, pointing at three children in front of her, calling them ungrateful brats with every word.
The three boys stood with their hands behind their backs. Although their expressions couldn't be seen, their slouching, nonchalant postures made it clear they weren't the least bit afraid of the woman before them.
"I'm talking to you! Are you all mute?" The young woman was infuriated by their utterly indifferent attitude.
However, before the boys could speak, a piercing wail suddenly rang out.
It was only then that Jiang Si noticed the woman was holding a child in her arms.
Perhaps because he was unwell, the child started retching between sobs.
"Smack!"
Enraged, the woman swung her hand from left to right, slapping each of them in turn.
This scene was witnessed by an elderly woman who had hurried over.
Seeing the old woman, the three boys immediately rushed over with tears in their eyes, "Grandma!"
"Don't cry, don't cry, let Grandma have a look."
Seeing the red, swollen marks on the right side of each boy's face, the old woman's heart ached sharply. "Little Lan, they're still young. Couldn't you have talked to them properly? Why resort to hitting them? Look how you've hurt them!"
The woman named Little Lan let out a cold laugh, her voice full of disappointment and anger. "Mom, you just keep spoiling them! If I hadn't discovered it today, your own grandson would have been killed by them!"
The old woman was bewildered. "What... what do you mean?"
"What do I mean? See for yourself!" Wei Xiaolan pointed at the large piece of candied hawthorn on the ground, her voice trembling. "I just went to the restroom for a minute, guess what they did?"
"They fed Little Baby a candied hawthorn!"
"Little Baby is just over a year old, with barely any teeth. We usually only dare to feed him a tiny spoonful of fruit puree, but these little beasts stuffed almost a whole piece into his mouth!"
"Thank goodness the square was crowded today, and two nurses from the hospital saw something was wrong and managed to slap it out of his throat."
"If they had been half a minute later, Little Baby would have choked to death!"
The old woman was so frightened by these words she became incoherent, staring intently at her three grandsons. "You... you really fed him that?"
Before the children could answer, several concerned women nearby stepped forward to corroborate. "Yes, we all saw it."
"We told them while they were doing it that the baby was too young, he couldn't eat that!"
"But these kids just rolled their eyes at us!"
Hearing the women's accounts, the old woman understood everything.
She immediately gave the children a few light smacks on their bottoms. "You troublemakers! Apologize to your aunt right now!"
"Don't bother, I can't bear their apologies." Wei Xiaolan hugged her child tighter, her tone now laced with self-reproach. "Mom, they haven't been bullying Little Baby for just a day or two. And I was the fool for ever thinking they were pitiful!"
They say if the upper beam is crooked, the lower ones will be too. Their grandfather, their father—none of them are any good. What good seed could they possibly be?
And now, see what's happened? Raising them has only bred resentment!
"Mom, I'm putting my foot down today. In this house, it's either them or me. If you don't send them away, I'll take Little Baby back to my parents' home. I simply can't live like this anymore."
"Grandma, please don't abandon us!" The three boys pitifully tugged at the old woman's hands.
On one side were her grandsons, on the other her own grandson.
The old woman was caught in the middle, torn and indecisive.
"Little Lan, they... they surely didn't mean it. Can't you give them one more chance..."
"It's not like I haven't given them chances!"
Wei Xiaolan cut off the old woman, pouring out all the grievances and bitterness she had accumulated over the past year.
"When Little Baby was first born, they would shake his cradle violently. If I hadn't kept a close watch, they would have tipped it over. Back then, you said they were young and didn't know any better. I endured it!"
"Later, when Dou Dou had just learned to walk, they took him downstairs. If it weren't for Aunt Wang next door seeing them and scolding them, Little Baby might have fallen down the stairs right then!"
"And just recently, they actually took Little Baby to play near the train station without telling anyone!"
"What, are they planning to follow in their scoundrel father's footsteps and give my son to kidnappers?"
A collective gasp of shock rippled through the crowd.
"Oh my heavens, that's truly wicked!"
"Exactly. This old lady is so misguided, neglecting her own grandson to favor these three grandsons. No wonder her daughter-in-law is furious enough to go back to her parents."
Xu Mingjuan sighed with feeling, "That child is really lucky to be alive."
"It's not about luck; it's about some people being dangerously careless!" Hu Meili remarked.
Jiang Si remained silent, her gaze sweeping over the old woman.
No wonder she looked familiar—it was Su's Mother.
Then these children must be the three sons born to Yang Tingtao and Su Shanshan.
Speak of the devil.
Just as Jiang Si was thinking this, another voice chimed in.
"Sister-in-law, can you really not tolerate us, a mother and her children?"
Looking closely, it was indeed Su Shanshan.
Two years ago, she and Dong Lihua had been sentenced to a year of re-education through labor.
Unexpectedly, after her release, she had returned to her parents' home with her children.
"I can't tolerate you?" Wei Xiaolan sounded as if she'd heard something hilarious. "Su Shanshan, search your conscience! If I truly couldn't tolerate you, I should have kicked these three ungrateful brats out the year you were sentenced! Would I have let them live and eat for free at the Su family's expense until now?"
"What? That woman has done labor reform?" The crowd, already having a poor impression of the children, now looked at Su Shanshan with clear disdain upon hearing their mother had a criminal record.
"You..." Su Shanshan hadn't expected her usually meek and quiet sister-in-law, who rarely spoke, to expose her past in front of so many people.
Especially in front of her current suitor.
Yes, Su Shanshan hadn't come alone.
After her release from labor reform, her original job was gone, and her file now bore a stain.
To give her a chance at a livelihood, Grandpa Su and his wife swallowed their pride and spent a large sum of money.
They managed to buy her a temporary worker position at a chemical factory on the outskirts of Beijing.
The three children naturally stayed with the Su family.
After more than a year of maneuvering, she and Yang Tingtao finally divorced, and she gradually emerged from the shadows.
Last month, introduced by the head of her unit's labor union, she had met several times with a clerk from the factory office.
She was quite satisfied with his conditions. They had agreed to get married by the end of the year.
Of course, this marriage came with conditions.
She could not bring any of the three children; they were all to remain with her parents.
Furthermore, there would be no bride price.
On the contrary, Su Shanshan was expected to bring a substantial dowry.
Otherwise, why would an unmarried young man like him marry a woman like her—divorced, having undergone reform through labor, and dragging along three burdensome children?
But right now, Su's daughter-in-law was trying to throw her and her three children out on the street right in front of all these people.
And looking at Su's Mother's expression of utter helplessness...
The man immediately said with a cold face, "Comrade Su Shanshan, I have some matters to attend to at home, so I'll be leaving now."
"Wait a moment..." Su Shanshan tried to stop him.
But the man didn't give her a chance to say anything more. Having said his piece, he turned and left without a backward glance.
