Chapter 5: 5. Chapter 5: A mother pretending to be poor, a father who is the richest man, and her miserable life

Chapter 5: A Poor Mother, a Richest Father, and a Miserable Her.

The Wu family was silent.

No one answered her.

Li Sui had an incredibly good relationship with the Wu family—so good, in fact, that after Li Ping had moved in for over a decade, they were practically sworn sisters with Mother Wu. Aside from the time no one could talk Wu Yang out of wanting to marry a rice cooker, Mother Wu would turn to Li Ping for advice on almost anything.

Taking advantage of the moment, Li Sui walked in and saw that the "sister-in-law's" body was still stuffed with steaming hot rice, clearly freshly cooked.

With a heavy heart, Li Sui righted the rice cooker. She spent a long time examining the handle against the opening at the top of the pot. Judging by the wound, it was clearly a large fracture caused by someone slamming it down.

Li Sui sighed. "How can you pick a fight and take it out on sister-in-law? To tell you the truth, she serves you all so hard and without complaint; has she done something wrong?"

Mother and Father Wu's mouths twitched.

Li Sui continued, "You're only bullying her because she can't speak."

Wu Yang walked over with a dark expression. "I dropped it. The rice wasn't cooked properly today, and my dad insisted I married a low-quality knockoff. In a fit of rage, I..."

Li Sui looked at Wu Yang with disapproval. "Big Brother, I'm not trying to lecture you, but what kind of man hits a woman—hits a rice cooker? Even if sister-in-law is a thousand things wrong, you can't take it out on her. It's only been six months; have you already set your eyes on another rice cooker outside?"

Wu Yang: "How could I be that kind of person!"

A hint of shame appeared on his face. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have treated it like that. It was already wronged just by marrying into our family; I couldn't even give it a proper wedding back then."

He walked over and saw the broken handle. "I'll take it to the shop later to get it treated."

To see if it could be fixed.

The eyelids of the Wu parents were practically twitching.

A *proper* wedding?

When they held that wedding at home, the two of them couldn't hold their heads up in the neighborhood for the last six months!

Most importantly, there was Li Sui there, fanning the flames!

Li Sui also looked at Father Wu and said earnestly, "Uncle Wu, although I am an outsider, I'll speak fairly. Sister-in-law married into your family and hasn't enjoyed much fortune, yet she serves you every day. How can you look down on her for having an improper background? Yes, she might not compare to those from prestigious families like Mei Dihen or Dali, but she is still—"

Before she could finish, Father Wu raised his hand to interrupt her, his face expressionless. "Get out!"

Ever since his son started acting abnormal, he had learned to move from initial rage to a state of calm. Today, he was only angry because he hadn't eaten yet. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so harsh on his daughter-in-law—Tch! It was just that this rice cooker was poor quality!

Li Sui left dejectedly.

Back at home, Zhiniang was no longer looking at the tablet. She was standing by the window, gazing at the scenery outside the residential complex, her expression calm, her thoughts unknown.

The Li family lived on the fifth floor; from this window in the living room, one could only see the view of the neighborhood below.

Li Sui was shocked. "You finished reading it?"

How could Zhiniang possibly finish reading so much content?

Zhiniang turned around with a bright smile. "Naturally not. It's just that there was too much of a shock to process all at once, and I didn't know what to do, so I stopped to recover."

That made sense.

The shock caused by the modern world was something an ancient person could never have imagined.

Li Sui wasn't a genius or a powerful being, so she couldn't provide any psychological counseling; she could only let Zhiniang learn to cope on her own.

Li Sui scratched her head. "It's 11:30 now. I'll order takeout."

"Takeout..." Zhiniang murmured. "How is food delivered to the home?"

It seemed the word "takeout" had appeared in the materials she had just seen.

Li Sui nodded. "Yes."

Knowing what Zhiniang liked to eat, she didn't ask and basically ordered a variety of things.

Considering Zhiniang's appetite, even after using various discounts and coupons, it cost over a hundred yuan.

Li Sui grimaced.

She could make this hundred-odd yuan last five days if she was careful.

Since graduating, she hadn't really started a proper job yet, only occasionally taking on childcare jobs in the neighborhood. This was because Li Ping had made her strive for a year first to prepare for the civil service exams.

The end goal for every student was either the civil service exam or postgraduate studies.

Li Sui felt she had no talent; she had no talent for studying, yet Li Ping still held onto the naive expectation that Li Sui could make something of herself through the high-difficulty civil service exams.

Once she failed this year, Li Sui planned to think about how to navigate her future path.

Now that there was an extra person, Zhiniang, she had to first figure out how to settle her.

She certainly couldn't afford to support her. Even after all these years, Li Ping's savings were barely enough to support Li Sui; she had even saved a down payment for Li Sui's future house after paying for her university. Li Sui had always known this; Li Ping never kept it from her.

Aside from that, they truly had no money.

Regardless of whether Li Ping was telling the truth, Li Sui had to find a way.

While waiting for the food, Li Sui suspiciously searched for her supposedly still-living biological father.

The richest man in Bincheng, Wen Haotian.

The name indeed had that arrogant "rich second generation" vibe, and he was quite famous.

He had taken over the family business after his parents passed away over a decade ago, and it had flourished continuously, finally turning the second-richest family in Bincheng left by his parents into the first—because the original number one had been sanctioned by the state due to involvement in illegal industries.

Two years ago, he had just married a young wife twenty years his junior.

Wen Haotian had been married three times in total.

Information on the first marriage was unknown; the media hadn't caught much. If what Li Ping said was true, it was likely her.

In the second marriage, his wife gave him two sons; they later divorced due to differing philosophies, and the sons stayed with him.

The third wife was the current young beauty.

The young wife was a minor celebrity, incredibly beautiful, and had given Wen Haotian a young son after marrying in.

Li Sui realized she didn't look anything like Wen Haotian, but as for the son the young wife had given him—since she was a celebrity, she had posted a photo of him at six months old.

He looked almost exactly like Li Sui did when she was a child.

Li Sui: "..."

She touched her own face.

She couldn't help but let out a: "Shit!"

So Li Ping wasn't bragging after all?

Zhiniang leaned in closer, her voice charming. She pointed at the photo of the infant on the phone and said pointedly, "Cult Leader, this child actually bears a few resemblances to you, doesn't he?"

If he was her half-brother, how could he not look like her?

However, Li Sui remained silent for the time being.

Judging by Li Ping's attitude, she still wanted to visit the Li family side, but Li Ping certainly wouldn't want Li Sui to acknowledge this scumbag father.

Li Sui didn't want to cause trouble; she was just curious and searching for gossip.

Just then, the takeout arrived.

As Li Sui went to open the door to get the food, two WeChat messages popped up on her phone.

[Li Sui, I have a gig, do you want it? Be a martial arts stunt double for the actress Zhou Jiao. It's only three days of filming, paid daily, 1,000 a day.]

[This Zhou Jiao has quite a background. Her sister, Zhou Zhi, married the richest man in Bincheng two years ago, so she's from a genuine wealthy family. She's very generous with money. If we weren't so close, I wouldn't have been able to snag this job for you.]