"No need, they treated me that way before, so they should be prepared for me to not care about them. I don't want to repay kindness with kindness, because in their hearts, I was never considered their daughter."
Jiang Qingqing was not foolish. She knew exactly how her parents treated her, and there was no way she would indulge them.
This precedent could not be set; once it was, it would be endless.
"Fine, do as you wish. Everything will be according to your thoughts." Zhang Liunian saw that his wife still held resentment towards her parents and said no more. He held her and patted her back to comfort her.
Seeing him care for her so much, Jiang Qingqing was touched. She leaned against her husband, a slight smile on her lips. However, when she thought of Tang Shitong's matter, her happy expression faded.
"There's one more thing I need to tell you. During this time, Tang Shitong has been appearing outside our house, saying he wants me to return his daughter to him.
I had people drive him away, but he would come back and shout.
I'm afraid Huabao will encounter him and hear some inappropriate words, so I haven't let her go out to play. But this isn't a solution. Why don't we let Huabao study here? That way, Tang Shitong won't be able to come."
Tang Shitong worked in the provincial capital. It wouldn't be easy for him to come to Pengcheng to cause trouble.
In any case, Jiang Qingqing absolutely would not let her daughter leave her side. This was her daughter, and no one could snatch her away.
Not even Huabao's biological parents.
Zhang Liunian looked at his wife's anxious and flustered expression in his arms, his large hands gripping her shoulders tightly. He said, "Don't worry, no one can take our Huabao away. She can only be our daughter."
"Mm, no one can take our Huabao away."
When she found Huabao, Jiang Qingqing had already decided that this child was hers, and no one could compete with her for her. "Even if he is Huabao's biological father, he can't take Huabao away. I won't let go."
Zhang Liunian agreed, "That's right, no one can take our Huabao away."
However, as they spoke, they didn't notice a small figure standing just outside the closed room door.
This person was Huabao, who had just come to look for her mother. She hadn't expected to hear her parents discussing her before even knocking.
What did "her biological father" mean?
What did this mean?
Although she was only six years old, she was already quite sensible. In the village before, she had often heard others say she wasn't her father's daughter. At the time, she didn't believe it, and her father said they were all lying.
But she never expected to hear her parents discussing her origins with her own ears.
"Huabao?"
Yi Wanghua, who was with Huabao, rushed out from the adjacent room. She saw Huabao standing blankly outside the neighboring room door, motionless.
Hearing the sound outside the door, Zhang Liunian and Jiang Qingqing separated in extreme panic.
Zhang Liunian quickly opened the door and met Huabao's red eyes.
"Huabao?" Zhang Liunian inwardly cursed, stepping forward and hugging her tightly, his heart filled with anxiety.
"Waa..." Huabao came to her senses, hugged her father's neck, and cried hysterically.
She didn't understand why she felt so bad just now, especially hearing about her "biological parents." She didn't quite understand these words, but she knew it meant she wasn't born to her parents.
But she didn't believe it. How could she not be her parents' daughter? That was absolutely impossible.
"Huabao, don't cry, Daddy will be heartbroken!" Seeing his daughter cry, Zhang Liunian awkwardly held her, cooing and rocking her back and forth.
At the same time, he was cursing himself. If he had known Huabao would overhear, they wouldn't have discussed this topic at this time.
Now that he had hurt his Huabao, he wondered if it would leave any psychological scars.
It was all their carelessness.
Zhang Liunian felt extremely guilty, and Jiang Qingqing was not much better.
Huabao was a daughter she had always treated as her own, and she didn't want her to be sad or hurt at all.
"Wuwu... Daddy..." Hearing this, Huabao felt even more distressed.
Seeing her emotions break down, Zhang Liunian could only keep coaxing her, "It's okay, it's okay, Daddy is always here. Huabao, don't be sad!"
Jiang Qingqing, seeing her daughter crying sadly, handed her son to Yi Wanghua and stepped forward to half-hug her daughter, gently coaxing her. "Huabao just heard wrong. Mommy and Daddy weren't talking about you. It was about a friend of your father's who is also called Huabao, with the same name as you. You are Mommy and Daddy's darling little treasure, and Mommy and Daddy will always love you."
Such a lie might not fool an adult, but it was foolproof for a six-year-old child.
Huabao, who had been overcome with grief, immediately stopped crying upon hearing her mother's words.
She sobbed, her big eyes blinking, looking at her mother in disbelief. When she saw Jiang Qingqing nod seriously, she looked up at her father.
Zhang Liunian met his daughter's gaze and could only go along with his wife's lie, "That's right, the other child Mommy and Daddy were talking about isn't you. Her name just sounds similar to yours. It's Daddy's fault for not giving you a unique name, so there are many children with the same name as you, making our Huabao sad."
As Zhang Liunian spoke, he reached out to wipe his daughter's tears.
Seeing that both her parents said the same thing, Huabao immediately broke into tears of laughter. "So there's someone with the same name as me?"
A child's focus was always something adults couldn't comprehend.
This one excuse immediately shifted Huabao's attention.
At this moment, Huabao had completely forgotten what she had overheard, her mind solely focused on how someone else could also be called Huabao.
This feeling was so strange.
Seeing their daughter no longer sad but with a dazed, cute expression, frowning as if thinking, Zhang Liunian and his wife continued to change the subject.
"Yes, it's such a coincidence, there's really another child with the same name as our Huabao?" Zhang Liunian smiled.
"Mommy also thinks it's amazing." Seeing her daughter's emotions stabilize, Jiang Qingqing hugged her and they went inside to sit down.
Zhang Liunian immediately followed, sitting on Huabao's other side. He kept his eyes fixed on his daughter. Seeing that she had no intention of asking about the matter again and was only thinking about how someone else could also be called Huabao, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Half an hour later, Zhang Liunian had pacified his daughter and took his wife and daughter back to their new home.
This courtyard had also been severely damaged during the battle the previous night, but Uncle Yi had already arranged for people to carry out repairs. The collapsed courtyard walls had already been mostly restored, and it was expected that the work would be completed by evening.
Concurrently, outside the Pengcheng train station, a group of men in black mirror-flower attire appeared. The leader bore a six-tenths resemblance to Zhu Laosan.
If Zhang Liunian were there, he would have immediately recognized him as belonging to the Zhu family.
Unfortunately, he was unaware of this at the moment; he was currently lying in bed with his wife.
They had been apart for one to two months, and Zhang Liunian missed her dearly.
As soon as they lay down, his restless hands began to wander over Jiang Qingqing, igniting sparks.