It seemed the commotion outside had also been heard, as the door opened not long after.
Chen Zhi stood in the doorway, holding a boy of four or five. She was in her forties, not tall, and a bit stout, looking older than her actual age.
Seeing her, Xia Wei Liang caught a glimpse of Zhao Cheng's mother. Though she had never met her, complex emotions instantly allowed her to empathize with Zhao Cheng's mother.
"Auntie, we're here to..."
As Shen Xia Shu began to speak, Chen Zhi turned her face away. "Don't point that thing at me."
She was referring to the camera.
"Huh?"
Shen Xia Shu looked at Xia Wei Liang and Shang Rong Rong. He had taken over Xiao Shuai's work and dared not be careless.
"Put it down," Shang Rong Rong said.
At her current status, she didn't need to film variety shows for more exposure. Compared to that, she hoped to solve the problem.
An idol's words had to be obeyed. Shen Xia Shu put down the camera and stood to the side, accompanying them.
Only then did Chen Zhi turn back and lift her head. The child in her arms had also been watching them curiously.
"What do you want from me?" she asked curtly, then glared at Shen Xia Shu. "Didn't I already tell the village chief? I don't accept interviews, and there's nothing to say."
She then complained discontentedly, "My family's affairs are known to everyone. Everyone, acquaintances and strangers alike, is gossiping behind my back! I'm living my own life, have I bothered anyone?"
Shen Xia Shu kept wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Auntie, these are all big stars, and it's a very professional production crew..."
Chen Zhi couldn't be bothered to listen. She impatiently interrupted him. "So what if they're big stars? Do big stars care how many people are in my family? Don't think I don't know, you just want to use my family matters to create... create..."
Shen Xia Shu quickly interjected, "Buzz!"
"Yes, to create a buzz! When they become famous, I'll be painted as the bad guy!" The more she spoke, the angrier she became. "I just don't understand, if they're so loving, why don't they take the child away? Why don't they spend money to raise her? They carry that thing around, film a whole lot, and then leave, saying I don't seem like a mother? Who knows the suffering I've endured?!"
As she spoke, she sniffled and wiped away tears.
Seeing her cry, the little boy also started crying, "Mama, Mama..."
Chen Zhi hugged her son. "You're also fated to suffer. It's my fault for dragging you down, but what did you do wrong?"
Xia Wei Liang frowned, her emotions towards Chen Zhi indescribable.
After all, with Zhao Cheng around, she knew that without a mother's companionship, the child was essentially an orphan. That feeling of loneliness would follow a child throughout their life!
But Xia Wei Liang also understood Chen Zhi's words. How difficult was it for a woman to support herself after a divorce?
Especially in a rural place like this, where men were mostly the labor force and women managed the household and chores. Her choice of lifestyle wasn't wrong.
But what about Mei Mei?
No one was wrong, so who was at fault? Why should such a young child have to pay the price?
Before Xia Wei Liang could speak, Shang Rong Rong spoke first, "You are indeed working very hard, but as human beings, isn't everyone's life difficult and arduous?"
Chen Zhi looked up at her, and a hint of mockery appeared in her eyes. "You look like a celebrity, right? Heh, you seem to be doing so well. You must be living comfortably, right? Do you know what it's like to live on just a few hundred yuan a month? Perhaps that amount isn't enough for you to eat one meal. You're lecturing me? Don't you find it ridiculous?"
Xia Wei Liang looked at Shang Rong Rong. In her impression, Shang Rong Rong was proud and everyone doted on her. When had she ever been criticized like this?
But to everyone's surprise, Shang Rong Rong was very calm and wasn't displeased by her words. "You're right, I really don't have the right to dictate your life. I came here precisely to speak up for your daughter, to say what she wants to say."
Xia Wei Liang was taken aback and looked at Shang Rong Rong in surprise, not expecting her to have such a side.
Shen Xia Shu also looked on with admiration. She was truly the idol he had always liked!
"My daughter and I, our affairs are my family matters. It's not your place, outsiders, to interfere!"
Chen Zhi didn't want to listen anymore and was about to close the door.
*Slap—*
Shang Rong Rong stepped forward and placed her hand flat on the door, propping it open.
"What do you want? I've already said, I don't want to listen to your nonsense here! Hurry up and move, I still have to go home and cook!"
Shang Rong Rong raised her eyebrows. "Then, if you don't have to cook, you'll be willing to listen to us speak properly for a while?"
"Don't have me cook?" Chen Zhi scoffed. "If you don't have me cook, then you cook for me?"
Unexpectedly, Shang Rong Rong nodded. "Roughly."
Not long after, a fire was lit on the stove in the kitchen.
Shen Xia Shu, wearing an apron, sighed as he started the fire to prepare the meal.
Was it easy for him?
Holding multiple positions in the village, he now even had to be a cook!
With his excellence, why was he still without a wife?
Where was the justice!
In the yard, Chen Zhi's son was playing. She sat expressionlessly, not even looking at the people opposite her.
To ease the atmosphere, Xia Wei Liang smiled and said, "Your son is very cute. What's his name?"
Only when her son was mentioned did Chen Zhi's expression soften slightly. "His name is Zhuang Zhuang, he's over five years old. He's usually quite mischievous."
Shang Rong Rong noticed that Chen Zhi's attitude was drastically different when she spoke of her son and her daughter.
Xia Wei Liang also heard it, and she deliberately smiled and said, "He must have a great relationship with Mei Mei, right? When I was little, I really wished I had an older sister. She would have taken special care of me, so I envied families with older sisters."
Upon hearing that they had steered the conversation back to her daughter, Chen Zhi instinctively became wary. "If you have something to say, hurry up and say it. My mother-in-law and them will be back soon."
Shang Rong Rong cut to the chase. "Leaving a twelve-year-old girl to live alone is abandonment, and it carries legal responsibility."
Chen Zhi sneered dismissively. "More than one person has told me that before. The people who came with a camera last time also said it, that I was breaking the law and would go to jail."
Xia Wei Liang also looked at her with a frown. She figured that after coming this far, even if Chen Zhi had some inner reluctance, she couldn't withstand the constant criticism from those around her. Over time, it would breed defiance, and then she would become like this, giving up.
"Fine, arrest me and send me to jail! Then, not only my daughter, but you'll have to take care of my son too!"
Chen Zhi no longer cared. "Don't try to scare me with the law. When I couldn't feed my daughter, where was the law to save me? Da Sheng gave me food, gave me money to spend, I bore him a son and lived with him, was that wrong?"
"Why didn't you bring Mei Mei along?" The question came from Xia Wei Liang, who gazed at her without blinking, her eyes shimmering with a bright light.