Si Nian suddenly felt that she had been too naive.
She had thought, given the changes in the Eldest Child recently, that she had managed to alter this child's personality.
Only now did she realize that what she had changed was merely his attitude towards her, not the darker side of this child's nature.
If Zhou Tingting had simply been stealing the recipe, the situation shouldn't have been this severe.
She guessed that Zhou Tingting must have used some method to get the two children to help her.
However, thinking children were easy to fool, she didn't know these two kids were cunning through and through.
In the end, she ended up harming herself.
Thinking about the money the Second Child had used to buy her clothes today, Si Nian's eyes flickered.
Logically, the money they gave the two children was fair and equal.
Their savings should have been the same.
Yet this time, the Second Child had five yuan more than Zhou Zedong.
It was obvious Zhou Tingting had bribed the most easily fooled Second Child.
She was just unlucky that the Eldest Child found out.
The Eldest Child was no fool; he naturally understood what Zhou Tingting wanted with the stolen recipe.
If things had proceeded according to the Second Child's clueless plan, it might not have been just poisoning—deaths could have occurred.
Zhou Tingting probably wasn't so foolish as to not realize that.
But if the Eldest Child intervened, it was a different story.
Zhou Tingting's intelligence was no match for the Eldest Child's.
If the Eldest Child tampered with things, she likely wouldn't have noticed at all.
That was precisely why Zhou Tingting and the others only suffered mild poisoning.
The more Si Nian thought about it, the more chilling it became.
The Eldest Child was only ten years old, yet he was already capable of planning such a thing.
Once he grew up, who could outsmart him?
At this moment, Si Nian felt immensely grateful that when she first arrived, she hadn't targeted this child or deliberately tried to curry favor with him.
Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have gained this child's trust so quickly.
Zhou Yueshen, hearing Si Nian's words, also glanced at the two children in the rearview mirror. He paused but said nothing.
Zhang Qian had originally intended to find Zhou Tingting and tell her about her brother buying a luxury car.
Who knew that when she went to the Li Family, she found out something had happened to Zhou Tingting's whole family.
Something about food poisoning from making braised meat, and they were sent to the hospital.
Others might not know, but she did.
She had heard Zhou Tingting mention before, when she visited the Zhou Family, that she wanted to learn Si Nian's braised meat recipe.
At the time, Zhang Qian was envious and asked Zhou Tingting to teach her once she learned it.
Who would have thought that in just a few days, such an incident would occur.
Zhang Qian sighed inwardly. As soon as she arrived at the hospital, she saw Zhou Tingting and her mother-in-law surrounded and beaten by a crowd, who were demanding the Li Family pay compensation.
Startled, Zhang Qian didn't dare approach, afraid of getting caught up in it, so she hurriedly left.
Just as she went downstairs to the entrance, she spotted Zhou Yueshen's car.
Thinking that since Zhou Tingting was in trouble, her older brother must be here to visit.
It was getting late, so he was probably heading home.
Originally, Brother Cheng was going to let her stay over tonight, and Zhang Qian had been prepared.
But after seeing Zhou Yueshen, she suddenly regretted it.
She hurriedly smoothed her hair and walked over.
Greeting him familiarly.
"Brother Zhou, you're here to see Tingting too?"
Zhou Yueshen glanced sideways, saw her, and frowned, "You are?"
Zhang Qian's smile froze.
She had been to the Zhou Family several times; Zhou Yueshen couldn't possibly not recognize her.
Could it be that because Si Nian was present, Zhou Yueshen was pretending not to know her?
Thinking this might be the case, Zhang Qian's expression improved slightly.
She said proactively, "Don't you remember me? I'm Tingting's classmate, from the Zhang Family. I'm Zhang Qian, not the older Zhang Qian from the village, the younger one. I even went to your house to play before..."
Before she could finish, she was interrupted. Zhou Yueshen's expression was cool, "Is there something you need?"
Zhang Qian clenched her hands slightly, glanced at Si Nian in the passenger seat, then pretended to peer into the back seat on tiptoe, putting on an apologetic look. "Are you heading back to the village? I came to see Tingting and lost track of time. There probably aren't any buses back to the village now. Brother Zhou, if it's on your way, could you give me a ride?"
Zhou Yueshen directly withdrew his gaze, his voice low and cold. "It's not."
Zhang Qian: "?"
Seeing he was about to leave, Zhang Qian grew anxious. "That's okay, you can just drop me at the village entrance. I don't mind squeezing in. Of course, if Comrade Si Nian has any objections, then I won't trouble you."
After saying this, she timidly glanced at Si Nian, as if it were really Si Nian who didn't want her in the car, and that's why Zhou Yueshen wouldn't let her.
Si Nian, sitting beside her, raised an eyebrow.
What did this have to do with her?
How could this be dragged into her?
This was utterly ridiculous.
Zhou Yueshen glanced at Si Nian, his voice low and cold. "She has no objections."
Zhang Qian's eyes immediately lit up, only to hear him add coldly, "I do."
Zhang Qian: "......."
The Zhou Family drove a beautiful little car back to Xingfu Village, causing quite a stir.
Many people gathered at the gate, looking at the luxury car with amazement and envy.
"The Zhou Family bought another car?"
"Didn't they just buy a motorcycle? How come they bought a car again?"
"Oh my, this car... how much must it cost? Did the Zhou Family strike it rich?"
In these parts, anyone with a motorcycle was considered the village's wealthiest.
Now Zhou Yueshen had driven a luxury car home.
In less than ten minutes, everyone for miles around knew the Zhou Family had a new car.
Many were admiring, but many were also green with envy.
When Zhou Yueshen first started the pig farm, many people didn't think much of it.
In the 1970s, such activities weren't allowed. Some people engaged in speculation and profiteering, raising pigs secretly in the mountains and selling them on the black market at high prices.
But if caught, you could go to jail.
So everyone thought this kind of thing was illegal, and no one dared do it.
Later, more and more individual businesses emerged. To boost economic development, the country opened up comprehensively. More and more people in the cities started businesses, but villagers still mostly chose to farm honestly and steadily.
Only a bold few dared to do such things.
Zhou Yueshen was the first to take the lead.
Back then, no one had high hopes for him.
Who knew his business would suddenly flourish, lifting the entire village's economic level.
But even so, everyone generally believed that since Zhou Yueshen sold things so cheaply, he probably didn't make much money.
Plus, the Zhou Family had always kept a low profile before—never buying cars, never buying various luxuries. Even their children seemed similar to everyone else's kids, so people weren't that envious anymore.
The change in the Zhou Family started after Si Nian married into it.
That's when they realized the Zhou Family wasn't not making money; they were just too low-key.
Fortunately, Da Huang was at the gate, so these people didn't come in, only looked from outside.
Otherwise, who knows how noisy it would have been.
Normally, the Second Child would definitely stand proudly by the car and boast, "This is the car my dad bought!"
But today, he had lied to his mom.
The feeling of lying wasn't good. Mom had been so good to him, yet he had lied. The Second Child felt terrible about it.
He looked listless.
He glanced at his expressionless big brother beside him, feeling envious.
"Big brother, is this really okay? Will Mom hate us?"
Zhou Zedong glanced sideways at him. "Why would Mom hate us?"
Zhou Zehan said, "Because we lied."
Zhou Zedong withdrew his gaze, looking downstairs, his expression cool. "Yes, we lied..."
"But Aunt is a bad person. She bullied Mom and brought people to hit us. So this is her retribution. It's a white lie."
Zhou Zehan: "..."
