With a sly glint in her eyes, Jiang Si feigned confusion, "They were living perfectly fine at your mother's house. Now you're asking us to take them in. What exactly are you scheming?"
"No, no," Su Shanshan hurriedly waved her hands in denial.
She instinctively thought Jiang Si was softening.
She immediately trotted out the prepared excuses she had ready.
These same tired arguments had already been spoken by the children moments before—nothing more than complaints about how her sister-in-law mistreated her and her three children, how she was always unkind to them.
Jiang Si said coolly, "But isn't your mother still there? The old lady dotes on those children quite a bit."
Su Shanshan was momentarily speechless.
She couldn't lie about that, because Su's Mother had indeed been nothing but good to her and the children.
It's just that the palm and the back of the hand are ultimately different. No matter how much the old lady loved these grandchildren, her own grandson would always come first.
Neglect was inevitable at times.
With a hint of resentment, Su Shanshan embellished these incidents as she recounted them.
She had already said all this to Su's Mother over the phone when Huo Tingzhou called, but Su's Mother hadn't believed a single word.
But now... if she hadn't come in person, she simply wouldn't have believed it.
Her own daughter, speaking ill of her behind her back like this.
Upon hearing this, Younger Daughter-in-law Su gave a light laugh, "Mother, you heard it all, right?"
Su's Mother didn't speak, her gaze fixed steadily on Su Shanshan.
Unaware that a storm was about to break, Su Shanshan instead put on an ingratiating smile for Mother Huo.
"Mother, the children have missed you so much. It's all my fault. I was too stubborn back then, stopping them from coming to see you. Mother..."
"Don't call me 'Mother.' Your mother is right behind you."
Su Shanshan didn't understand at first, not until Su's Mother's voice sounded from behind her. "I have no such daughter."
Su's Mother's voice was flat as she said this, her expression eerily calm.
But when Su Shanshan turned around, she felt as if she had plunged into an icy abyss.
Heaven knows the panic that seized her heart the moment she saw Su's Mother.
"Mother..." Su Shanshan shook her head in bewilderment.
She wanted to explain, but with so many people present, changing her story now would be admitting she had lied. What could she, a woman, do?
In her panic, she could only frantically signal Su's Mother with her eyes.
Su's Mother looked at her, the light in her eyes slowly dying out. "You don't need to say anything. I understand everything now."
Su Shanshan visibly relaxed upon hearing this.
She knew it. Their hearts were connected as mother and daughter.
Her mother would understand her, forgive her, and cover for her just like before.
But Su's Mother's next words left Su Shanshan utterly dumbfounded.
"Shanshan," Su's Mother glanced at her, then at the three children, "from now on, I'll act as if I never had you as a daughter. You take care of yourself."
"Mother, what are you saying?"
"I raised you, fulfilled my duty. I have no obligation to raise your children as well. You chose this path. You deal with it."
Having said that, Su's Mother, her face ashen, turned to leave.
"Mother!" Su Shanshan was truly panicked now and hurriedly chased after her. "Mother! That's not what I meant just now, let me explain..."
Before she could finish, Younger Daughter-in-law Su grabbed her wrist.
Su Shanshan winced in pain and turned to glare at her fiercely.
"It was you! You did this, didn't you?"
"You deliberately called Mother here to turn us against each other!"
Younger Daughter-in-law Su offered no explanation. On the contrary, she felt grateful to the Huo family.
If not for their phone call, her mother-in-law might have continued to relent, time and again.
"Yes, so what if I did?" Younger Daughter-in-law Su admitted bluntly. "If you have the guts, stop leeching off your family."
Su Shanshan was livid. "Get out of my way!"
Younger Daughter-in-law Su stood her ground, even throwing a provocative glance at her in front of everyone.
"What's wrong? Hit a nerve? The Su family is cursed for eight generations to have a daughter like you."
Su Shanshan, who had never been insulted like this, immediately pushed her.
"This is a Su family matter. What right does an outsider like you have to interfere?"
"Ah!" Younger Daughter-in-law Su cried out in surprise.
Thus, under the stunned gazes of everyone, she missed her step, and the small of her back slammed heavily onto the curb.
"Blood! She... she's bleeding a lot!" someone suddenly shouted.
Only then did everyone notice the red stain spreading beneath Younger Daughter-in-law Su.
Su Shanshan stared in shock. How could this happen?
In her daze, Su's Mother returned.
"Mother..." She wanted to say she didn't mean it!
But Su's Mother's slap shattered all her illusions.
Soon, Younger Daughter-in-law Su was rushed to the hospital, while Su Shanshan and the children were taken to the police station by officers.
After seeing off Grandmother Huo's family and returning to see the pool of blood on the ground, everyone sighed with pity.
"Will she be able to keep the baby?" Chris asked.
Jiang Si shook her head. "Probably not. To be precise, it likely couldn't have been saved anyway."
"Huh?" Chris was puzzled. "Why do you say that?"
Jiang Si said, "You'll understand when you become a mother someday."
Every mother instinctively protects her unborn child when facing danger.
Younger Daughter-in-law Su had lived under the same roof with Su Shanshan for so long. Could she not understand Su Shanshan's temperament?
No, she knew perfectly well.
Therefore, her act of blocking the way, including the words she said afterward, were clearly deliberate.
She knew her actions would provoke Su Shanshan.
As expected, Su Shanshan lashed out.
Different from their usual squabbles, this push not only cost a child its life but also completely destroyed Su Shanshan's path back to her family.
It might even land her in serious legal trouble.
One could say all her possible paths were now thoroughly blocked.
Of course, Jiang Si wasn't surprised by Younger Daughter-in-law Su's actions.
For a mother, her child is her most vulnerable spot.
From the moment those ungrateful wretches laid hands on her child, an irreconcilable enmity was forged between them.
So this outcome was inevitable.
Jiang Si wasn't surprised, but the incident served as a warning to her.
As the saying goes, "If a child is not taught properly, it is the father's fault."
Hearing this, Huo Tingzhou glanced at her. "That won't happen. There will never be such a day."
Their children wouldn't be spoiled rotten; they would only grow up surrounded by love.
Jiang Si nodded, linking her arm with his. "Let's go home."
The Su family affair was merely an interlude and didn't affect them much.
Back home, the family gathered together to complete the final ritual of the twins' first birthday celebration.
