Chapter 119: Whose Child Is It, Anyway?

Chapter 119: Chapter 119: Whose Child Is It, Anyway?

Shen Jiajia advanced half a step, her voice so deep it could have cracked the floor.

"Shen Shuangshuang, just whose child is she?"

Yao Yuzhen’s feet slipped, and she staggered backward.

Then she sucked in a sharp breath and lifted her chin.

"What do you mean by that?"

"What, you want to run to your brother and tattle on me? Tell him I had Shuangshuang with some other man?"

She let out a cold laugh, her tone actually relaxing.

’Even though, deep down, she couldn’t stand Shen Zhenwu, she hadn’t done a single thing to wrong him all these years.’

"Oh, right! You always loved to pull this crap, slinging mud at me every chance you got. Back when I was pregnant with Rong Dan, didn’t you shout in front of the whole family that I was fooling around with some man?"

"So what now? Suddenly Shuangshuang is my biological child too?"

Before she even finished speaking, she grabbed Shen Jiajia’s wrist.

"Let’s go! We’re settling this today! We’ll go to the hospital for a DNA test! Let the doctor tell us to our faces whether Shuangshuang came out of my stomach! Let’s go!"

Shen Jiajia violently yanked her hand back, flinging her away.

"I didn’t say she was yours! I’m just asking one thing: who is this child’s father?"

But Yao Yuzhen acted as if her fuse had been lit. Any trace of decency on her face vanished as she grinned wildly.

"Heh... Ha... Who’s her father?"

"You just want to crucify me, saying I’m an adulteress who had a baby, and on top of that, that I brought home a bastard."

"Shen Jiajia, you wish I were dead! You always have, and you still do!"

"What did you say back then? That I was seducing other men. That I intentionally missed a step on the stairs while I was pregnant, trying to get rid of the baby in my belly!"

"I can’t believe it. After all these years, your mouth is still just as foul, always throwing the filthiest words you can find at my head!"

"Oh, look who’s here with her backup?"

She snapped her head around, her finger jabbing toward Shen Songyao’s face.

"See? Was I right or was I right? A child you didn’t raise with your own two hands will never be close to you, not down to their bones!"

"Even a dog has more loyalty than her!"

"I’m your mother, and she’s driving me crazy! And you can just cozy up to her, all smiles and laughter?"

"What do you call that? An ungrateful wretch!"

"Are you two putting on a show together? Do you think I’m blind?"

Then she turned and roared at Shen Jiajia again.

"Shen Jiajia, why don’t you tell us why you had to move out of Beijing back then? Have you forgotten?"

That year, it was Shen Zhenwu himself who had arranged the transfer.

He had packed both Shen Jiajia’s and Shen Jiayue’s husbands off to the north.

Back then, Shen Jiajia had a fiery temper. The mere sight of Yao Yuzhen would set her off, and she’d start arguing at the drop of a hat.

Whenever Yao Yuzhen got angry, she would go on a hunger strike, becoming as thin as a piece of paper.

Shen Zhenwu couldn’t bear to watch it anymore. Gritting his teeth, he simply had both of his brothers-in-law transferred away.

Now that this old score was being brought up again, Shen Jiajia didn’t blame her brother.

But when Shen Zhenwu heard this, his heart sank, and a tightness spread across his chest.

He suddenly felt that he owed his two sisters far too much.

"Enough!"

The word froze Yao Yuzhen in place.

She blinked, staring blankly at Shen Zhenwu, her eyes filled with confusion.

Even when he had pushed her earlier today, she had thought he had just lost control in a fit of anger.

But for him to yell at her and humiliate her in public like this—she truly hadn’t expected it.

’Why did she bring up the past?’

’Wasn’t it just to make Shen Zhenwu see what his own sister was really like?’

’But...’

Yao Yuzhen blinked, her eyes darting around nervously, afraid to settle on anything.

She instinctively reached back and grabbed Shen Shuangshuang’s wrist.

Before she could get a word out, Shen Zhenwu was already staring daggers at her.

"Shuangshuang, apologize to Song Yao right now!"

Yao Yuzhen snapped her head up, her voice trembling.

"And if... I refuse?"

"It’s not up for discussion."

Shen Zhenwu’s reply was crisp and final.

He shifted his gaze, and it landed steadily on Shen Shuangshuang’s face.

"You call me ’Dad,’ so it’s my duty to teach you what rules are, and what boundaries are."

"You’re twenty-three years old, not a baby who’s just been weaned. Can’t tell right from wrong? Fine. As for what happened today, you’d better think it over carefully."

Shen Shuangshuang shrank back, her eyes darting to the floor, refusing to utter a single word.

Shen Zhenwu didn’t even lift an eyelid.

"You call me ’Dad,’ but Song Yao is my biological daughter. I couldn’t protect her when she was little. For these past twenty years, I’ve owed her."

"Now that she’s back, not even the Jade Emperor himself could let her suffer the slightest grievance under my watch."

"So, for what happened with the storage room, you will apologize to her face."

Shen Shuangshuang gritted her teeth and refused to make a sound.

Yao Yuzhen immediately grabbed her arm and started to head upstairs.

’This trick always worked before: ignore them, turn your back, shut the door, and give them the cold shoulder.’

’Whoever bowed their head first, lost.’

But her left foot had barely left the ground when Shen Zhenwu’s cold, hard voice struck the back of her head.

"Stop."

"If Shuangshuang is dead set on not apologizing today, then we’ll just have to ask her to move out. My responsibilities to her have long been fulfilled."

Yao Yuzhen’s hand trembled. She spun back around, glaring at him.

"You just try it!"

Shen Shuangshuang let out a WAAAH and burst into tears, her face a mess of snot and tears.

Shen Songyao tilted her head, watching for a moment. Then she suddenly smiled and asked in a soft, gentle voice,

"Sister Shuangshuang, are you crying so hard because you’re worried you’ll really have to pack your things and sleep in our little storage room later?"

"Don’t be scared. As long as you sincerely say you’re sorry to me, I’ll forgive you right away."

"I may be the Shen Family’s biological daughter, but you’re the daughter Mom raised with her own two hands!"

To Yao Yuzhen’s ears, those words were like rubbing salt in a wound.

She instantly straightened her back, lifted her chin, and sneered.

"Shen Zhenwu, do you really want to make Shuangshuang bow her head?"

Shen Zhenwu didn’t beat around the bush. Just one word.

"Yes."

Yao Yuzhen’s lips twitched into a sneer, her voice cold and crisp.

"Fine. We’ll leave on our own."

She grabbed Shen Shuangshuang’s hand.

"We’ll pack our things right now and get the hell out. This house doesn’t want us? Fine! It’s not like we want to stay in it!"

’Ooh, putting on quite a show, are we?’

’Leaving just like that?’

Shen Songyao held back a laugh.

’Alright, can’t break character.’

’She was the Shen Family’s sweet, precious daughter, not some jealous shrew who ran around the courtyard cracking a whip.’

’If she were to call their bluff right here and now, it would only play into their hands.’

This time, Shen Zhenwu didn’t stop them.

Even when Yang Wanqing opened her mouth to speak, he just raised a hand to stop her.

"Her mind is made up. Let her be."

Shen Songyao immediately chimed in, her voice soft.

"Dad... why don’t I just move back into the storage room? It’s actually pretty bright in there. I can just put down a mat to sleep on. It’s much better than the drafty room with cracked mud walls I had at the Song Family’s house when I was a kid."

"When my adoptive father was alive, the three of us were squeezed in next to the kitchen. Later, living with Liu Yumin, my bed was just a few wooden planks nailed together. And before that, at the Song Family house, rainwater and mud would seep in and pool right next to my pillow on rainy days. Tell me, how is a storage room with a window, a light, and a door not good enough for me?"

"At least no one will let a chicken in at midnight to lay eggs on my pillow."

Shen Zhenwu’s eyes reddened. The stuffy, bitter feeling that had been clogging his heart dispersed, leaving behind a churning mix of pain and sorrow.

’This child... how could she chew up all her bitterness and spit it out with a smile?’

Yang Wanqing felt a sting in her nose and grabbed Shen Songyao’s wrist.

"Oh, my dear Songyao... the grievances you’ve had to swallow all these years are more numerous than the grains of rice in our family’s rice jar!"

"Don’t you worry!"

Shen Jiajia slapped her thigh.

"The second those two are out the door, I’ll charge upstairs and have a brand new bedroom fixed up for you in two hours! You just bring yourself over, don’t worry about a single other thing!"