novelraw Chapter 569 - 560: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone 48
Chapter 569 - 560: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone 48
Anning suddenly turned and walked towards Wang Baozhu.
She took each step in sync with Wang Baozhu’s heartbeat.
"I can let go of others, but I have to settle the score with Wang Baozhu."
Wang Baozhu was already scared and couldn’t help but step back, with a fearful voice, she said, "What, what are you doing? Those photos, it’s not necessarily me who did it."
Anning walked up to Wang Baozhu and looked straight into her evasive eyes: "Not you? Then who could it be? Surely it wasn’t someone else who faked the photos just to give them to you so you could slander me?"
Wang Baozhu didn’t speak.
Anning let out a laugh: "Then you’re truly disgusting. There’s nothing you wouldn’t do. Tell me, who made you frame me? What did they offer you? If you can’t say, then it must have been you."
Wang Baozhu couldn’t just conjure up someone out of thin air.
She took another step back, then looked towards Li Zhifang: "Zhifang, I..."
As she looked at Li Zhifang, tears streamed down her face: "I had no choice. Who told the kids are all thinking about her? My son I borne doesn’t recognize me; he treats me like an enemy when he sees me. My daughter I borne is going to her, I... I’m filled with hate..."
Li Zhifang felt terrible, and hurried over to support Wang Baozhu.
He looked at Anning and pleaded: "That, well, Anning, let’s just forget about this, shall we?"
Anning couldn’t help but burst out laughing: "Li Zhifang, you really are sentimental and protective, aren’t you? How come you didn’t say a word when she was smearing me, and didn’t stand up for me? Now that I’ve simply exposed her true face, you’re feeling sorry for her. How considerate, really. What’s next, are you planning to side with her against me? Well, come on then! I, Geng Anning, am not afraid of trouble. I want to see what the two of you can do to me."
Anning grew angrier as she spoke, pointing at the treacherous pair: "I once felt sorry for you, thinking that Wang Baozhu left you and the kids, and felt you were quite pitiful. I tried my best to be kind to you. In all these years since our marriage, I’ve not slacked off working the fields, I’ve done all the housework, cooked all the meals, and every piece of your clothing was sewn by my own hand. I’ve been filial to the elders for you, raised the children for you. I’ve worked hard just to have a home, but then Wang Baozhu returns and I get tossed aside like an old rag. Now I’ve been branded without doing a thing. Who have I offended? Li Zhifang, pat your chest and ask yourself, when we got married, who was it that proposed first? Wasn’t it you who came looking for me? If you hadn’t said all those sweet promises, that you’d treat me well, that we’d have a good life together, I wouldn’t have brought my children to marry into your family."
Each of these accusations pierced directly into Li Zhifang’s heart, leaving him too ashamed to lift his head.
Anning didn’t cry; she just laughed as she spoke. Even though it was a laugh out of anger, she still smiled brightly: "Fine, you two are the rightful husband and wife, and you have feelings for each other. For that, I blame no one but myself for being blind. I’ll make way for her. I’ll not only move aside, but I’ll also leave the village. I’ll take my child to the Provincial City alone. Fortunately, I have my embroidery skills. I can support my child and myself with my craft. Who have I wronged? And then, a huge bucket of dirty water just gets dumped over my head. If it wasn’t for Liu Qi and Liu Ming getting beaten up over this at school, I wouldn’t even know."
"Anning, Anning."
Zhang Fengfeng was also furious, and she too felt sorry for Anning. Seeing Anning, Zhang Fengfeng was both heartbroken and guilty: "This is Lao Si and Wang Baozhu’s fault, don’t be angry, I’m here, I’ll discipline them for you, let’s not get angry, not angry."
Anning looked at Zhang Fengfeng: "Mother, I’m not angry. I can’t let myself get sick over someone else’s mistake. I’m here to clear things up for myself. Also, I have something to say to Wang Baozhu."
Anning then turned to Wang Baozhu: "Wang Baozhu, today I came here to get things clear. I ask you, have I ever stolen money from your home? Since you and Li Zhifang started seeing each other, have I ever spoken a word to him? As for your daughter running over to my place, I admit she did come over. On a late night, two kids came over, could I not care for them? Shouldn’t I have let the children stay overnight? If you hate me for this, you really don’t have the ground for it. In this matter, you should thank me, at least I didn’t let your daughter go hungry, I didn’t let the children get hurt."
The surrounding villagers nodded one by one: "Yeah, what Anning is saying makes sense. The child went to find her. Not to mention that she has been a mother figure to the child for many years, even we from the same village who know the child couldn’t let them walk around at night; we would have to let the child stay overnight. It’s only human."
Anning chuckled: "See, I haven’t done anything wrong to you. But you? You lived with Li Zhifang without being married, that is cohabitation, not protected by the law. When you ran away initially, morally, you were at fault, but legally you’ve done nothing wrong, it’s just the same as breaking up with a live-in boyfriend. I’m not wrong about this, am I?"
Seventh Uncle Li, as the village chief, knew a little about the law; he nodded: "That’s exactly the case."
Many villagers who didn’t understand the situation suddenly realized: "So that’s the case. Yeah, back then, Wang Baozhu and Li Zhifang were underage and together without marriage registration; they are not considered a legal couple."
Anning looked at Wang Baozhu and said word by word: "And I am officially married to Li Zhifang with a marriage certificate, protected by the law. You, as an ex-girlfriend, came back to try to divorce us. Your behavior is meddling, you are the third party. If we talk about indecency and misconduct, I am leagues away from you. No matter what, you Wang Baozhu have no authority to accuse me. You interfered in my marriage, leading to my divorce, and I haven’t even settled the score with you yet, but here you are, relentless. Alright then, I’ll show you a good time."
After finishing the last word, Anning stepped forward, kicked Li Zhifang aside, grabbed Wang Baozhu’s long hair fiercely, and yanked her to the ground: "For the sake of the children, I have given you face, but you’ve thrown it away. Now I’ll tear up that face of yours."
"You, don’t hit me."
Li Zhifang got up trying to stop it, but ended up being held back by several young men from the same village.
All the villagers just stood there, not moving, no one advised Anning, no one came to break it up, just watching Anning beat Wang Baozhu.
Li Baolai stood there with a very long face.
Zhang Fengfeng was clapping and cheering: "Hit her, hit her hard, shameless woman. She dared to seduce my son. I’m telling you, Wang Baozhu, as long as I’m alive for one day, you’ll never enter the Li family’s house, you might follow Lao Si your entire life, die old, but you’ll never be my daughter-in-law, and you’ll never enter my Li family’s ancestral grave."
Pain was all over Wang Baozhu’s body, and listening to those insults one after another, she hated Anning and Zhang Fengfeng to the core.
Her eyes seemed to be filled with poison, and she was determined that she would get her revenge. Just wait and see, one day she would pay it all back, a thousandfold, for today’s brutal beating. She would remember it.