Chapter 32: Little grand aunt begins her scheme.

Her husband had escaped as soon as he could, and this left Liwu with time to kill until dinner. She planned to sleep, but Shen Yuening showed up, along with the family albums and stories. Liwu had no idea why she was being treated to a history of the Shen family. But, she listened as the little girl pointed at pictures and shared names.

“This is Shen Fangzhi, the son of my father’s brother. His branch was the second branch of the Shen family. They abandoned the main family under Han Ce’s pressure. When we last heard, his whole family had sought refuge with his wife’s Nan family and changed their surname.”

Liwu nodded.

“Coward.” Majesty chimed in on her behalf.

Reaper did what he had been doing since Liwu returned: snore.

Yuening smiled, approving of the cat’s words. “You are right. Family is supposed to stick together, for better or worse. He pretended that they were moving because their daughter Shen Zhiying got into the Shenzhen University of Science and Technology. But it was a lie. I checked.”

Liwu nodded.

“They started reaching out to us after your wedding to my good nephew, claiming that they want to visit.” Yuening’s small hand slapped the photo album. “They must think I am stupid. Their intentions are very clear, they want to re-join the family now that good days are coming. Hmph! I won’t let them.”

“Reject them, as you should.” Majesty egged her on.

Yuening pointed to a another picture. “This is Shen Manli, the adopted daughter of my dead cousin Shen Lingbao. She is….stupid, if I am direct. She gets along well with Shen Biao and they are both idiots. Avoid Lingbao, and those two annoying brats of hers. They are not real Shen’s anyway.”

“What stupid things has this Manli done?” Majesty done.

Butler Chen approached the bed, cleared his throat and put down a spread of assorted grapes on the duvet. The throat clearing was his way of expressing his dismay over Liwu hosting an elder of the Shen family in her family. Never mind that the elder was only six years old.

Age was not what mattered, the confused hierarchy of the Shen family tree did.

“For one, she must have watched too many dramas where the adopted daughter is loved more than the real one because she has a habit of bullying the real descendants of the Shen family and then pretending to be a white lotus.” Shen Yuening explained, stabbing an cold purple grape with a small two pronged fork. “You should have seen her when Qiaoling became a system host. By then, Lingbao was still alive. Manli threw a tantrum and told her mother to take the system and give it to her.”

Liwu’s mouth gaped slightly. This was one of the most unreasonable requests she had ever had.

“And Lingbao, that idiot, she had Qiaoling kidnapped on her way back from work and the men she hired tried to beat the system out of Qiaoling!!” Shen Yuening finished with an angry hmph!.

“The audacity!” Majesty exclaimed.

Liwu was more surprised than Manli was still a Shen after pulling that stunt. They should have expelled her from the family. “Please tell me you expelled her.”

Yuening snorted. “I was only four at the time, I did not have much control over the family. Most people started being afraid of me after I awakened a ’Muscle Growth System last year. I may not look like it, but I have enough strength to crush big rocks.”

Liwu looked at the little girl with doubt. Her frame was small and her flesh soft, slightly chubby. There was no trace of muscle on her!

Suddenly, Yuening bent the metallic desert fork!

Liwu was taken aback. “Okay, point taken.”

Yuening laughed. “Now, when people don’t listen to me, I do something like that and everything works out magically. Today, I even slapped Biao.”

Liwu gasped. “You slapped Shen Biao!”

“She brought that rotten fish into my house, of course I slapped her.” Yuening replied in a small outraged voice. “I am a child and I understand things better than her. I don’t know how our Shen family ended up with an idiot like her.” She sighed. “I really have my work cut out for me in fixing this family.”

She held up a picture, passing it briefly in front of Liwu’s eyes. It was a picture of Weifeng and Weijun.

Liwu grabbed it. “Wait,” she sat up. “Who are these? Is this Weifeng? Why do they have the same hair?”

Yuening stuffed her mouth with grapes while her maid ’accidentally’ bumped into Butler Chen, who stepped on Reaper’s tail. The dog woke up with angry growl and everyone’s attention was diverted.

The picture was taken back by Yuening and she presented another one smoothly. “Haven’t you noticed that the men in my family have similar appearances. If you have seen one, you have seen them all. Weijun, Weifeng…almost like twins and they liked switching identities as kids.” She laughed. “Look at them as children, your husband is the one in the yellow underpants, standing by the swimming pool.”

Liwu reached for the picture with wide excited eyes, thinking that she had found something else to torment her husband with.

Yuening smiled slyly, knowing that she had succeeded in planting the idea of the brother’s close resemblance to each other in Liwu’s mind. Like a squirrel, she munched on grapes with delight, plotting phase two of the marriage trap in the back of her mind.

As for Reaper, he found another corner and dragged his bed over there, to resume his peaceful sleep.

****

Meanwhile, in Weijun’s office at the City hall, he was astounded to find himself in the company of an unexpected guest: Manman!

More astounding was how willing she was to throw herself into his arms. Unable to restrain old emotions, he embraced her back for a second. Then gently, he pushed her away but she clung to him.

“Weijun, I am sad. Hug me.” She whispered.

Weijun still tried to push her away. If someone like his secretary or a distinguished guest walked in, it would not look good if they were found in such a position.

“I know that I am being unreasonable. I am not Liwu who is sensible, naturally beautiful, wealthy, capable and from such a distinguished background. In every way, she is better than me, the perfect political wife.” She finally dropped her hands because he was determined not keep her within his embrace.

Jealousy filled her heart as she forced herself to praise Liwu generously. But, it was not a side she wanted to show Weijun.

In the meantime, Weijun was thinking of all the praise that Manman had just lavished on Liwu. All of it was true, Liwu was the perfect political wife.

“Now that you say it,” he said replied slowly as he walked back to his chair, “she is not the worst wife for someone in my position. I have been so focused on her bad luck and the animosity I have towards the Bureau that I failed to distinguish between her and those things. Individually, she is truly perfect.”

“What?” Manman asked, blinking like a startled owl.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep