The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 597 - 587: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone 75

Because Liu Qi became the top scorer in science and Li Jingyan in arts at the Provincial City, the entrance of First Middle School was decorated with a huge banner, and many reporters began inquiring about Liu Qi’s family background, wanting to interview him and his relatives along the way.

But Anning’s side did not accept any interviews.

Liu Qi also said he would not accept interviews.

With no other options, journalists then went to Li Jiazhuang to interview the villagers there, hoping to get some news.

Upon hearing the news, Seventh Uncle Li quickly found someone to block Li Zhifang and Wang Baozhu at home, preventing them from meeting with reporters.

Those two were quite unpredictable; who knew what they would say upon meeting the reporters.

Liu Qi and Li Jingyan are now the pride of Li Jiazhuang. Since the village’s establishment, there hadn’t been many scholars, let alone top scorers. This was the first in hundreds of years, and the villagers valued it immensely, not allowing anyone to tarnish the reputation of the top scorers.

During this time, Lu Meng was also pregnant.

She hoped every day that the child in her womb was a girl.

Sun Xiumei gave birth to three sons in her life but had no daughters, and she also hoped for a granddaughter.

When reporters came for interviews, it happened that Lu Meng and Sun Xiumei returned to the village for some errands. The villagers told the reporters that the two were Li Jingyan’s aunt and sister-in-law, and they were directly stopped by them.

"Aunt, I would like to ask you both a few things. Could you please elaborate on what Li Jingyan likes to do at home? What books does she enjoy, and what are her hobbies?"

Sun Xiumei thought for a moment: "I don’t really know about that. Jing Yan’s mother took care of her schooling. Later, her mother said that the educational resources here aren’t as good as in the Provincial City, so she took her there to study. Oh right, Li Jingyan’s mother is also Liu Qi’s mother."

The reporter was suddenly thrilled: "Could you elaborate on that? Both Li Jingyan and Liu Qi are provincial top scorers, and they were taught by the same mother, but... why do they have different surnames? Also, does their family have any unique educational methods?"

As soon as the reporter asked this, Sun Xiumei opened up.

"Actually, these two children don’t have a blood relationship. Liu Qi is her biological son, and Liu Qi’s mother is Li Jingyan’s stepmother..."

Sun Xiumei then talked about how Anning brought her three children to marry Li Zhifang, how she disciplined the children, took care of the family, and how she showed respect to her in-laws after getting married: "Anning is truly a good person. She, as a stepmother, has been even better than the real mother."

At this point, Sun Xiumei’s face showed anger: "But some people just don’t appreciate their blessings and abandon such a good woman."

She then recounted how Anning and Li Zhifang divorced, and how Li Zhifang and Wang Baozhu didn’t care about the children at all. Anning, afraid of compromising the children’s future, took the three children to the Provincial City for schooling. Over the years, Anning managed all the education herself, and even talking about the incident when Zhang Fengfeng collapsed in the snow at midnight, it was Anning who braved the snow to find and save Zhang Fengfeng’s life. The more Sun Xiumei spoke, the more agitated she became: "Comrade reporter, I’m telling the absolute truth. Everyone in our village knows about these matters. When they mention Anning, everyone gives a thumbs-up. Anning has raised all six children very well. Liu Qi, Liu Ming, and Li Jingyan have all achieved excellent high school exam results, and although Li Jingyu might not be as outstanding as her sister, she’s also ranked within the top ten of her school. Even the two youngest are now in junior high and also rank first in their exams every time."

The reporter became even more excited as he listened.

He hadn’t expected that aiming to interview about Liu Qi’s background would lead to uncovering so many different matters.

If these stories were reported, they would certainly make the headlines.

The reporter took down everything and rushed overnight to the Provincial City. The next day, the Provincial Evening News extensively reported on Anning, portraying her as a modern female role model.

The newspaper exaggerated quite a bit, showering extreme praise on Anning.

In the end, the newspaper also stated that because Anning was righteous and kind, and inherently very strong, she was able to raise such outstanding children. It mentioned that parents are life coaches for their children, who learn from them, and because Anning’s character was so virtuous, the children she raised could develop so holistically in morals, intelligence, physique, and aesthetics.

Then, that day’s evening newspaper sold extraordinarily well.

Many people read about Anning’s deeds and sighed in their hearts at her immense kindness.

Some women felt that Anning was too kind, noting how much she had sacrificed for the Li family only to be abandoned in the end. They couldn’t believe she didn’t hold grudges and still treated those three children kindly, thinking her too soft.

But the majority of people admired Anning’s character.

It was true that she and Li Zhifang had divorced; indeed, it was Li Zhifang who had wronged her, but these were matters between adults, and shouldn’t involve the children.

Moreover, all three of Li’s children were raised single-handedly by Anning, and she surely had deep feelings for them after so many years.

She wasn’t willing to see the children she had personally nurtured get ruined and tried every means to support them. How could that be wrong?

Anyway, there were major discussions about this in society.

Whether they thought Anning was too kind, or they thought Anning did the right thing, in fact, everyone had a favorable impression of her.

After all, people still prefer to deal with kind-hearted ones.

Who would want to have a utterly wicked person around them?

Anning’s good reputation instantly spread out, and many businesspeople were also willing to deal with Anning. When Anning went out, people greeted her with a kindly smile.

At this time, Anning further took firm control of her own properties.

In the factory, she never allowed substandard goods to be passed as good ones, strictly monitored product quality, and she also emphasized cleanliness, ensuring that the food products from her factory were clean and made from quality materials.

Her supermarkets and stores under her name paid even more attention to quality and customer service.

Thus, the reputation of the businesses under Anning’s name became progressively better.

Anning got busy during this summer break.

After finishing their college entrance exams and having nothing to do at home, Anning gave each of Liu Qi and his siblings some money to go out and have fun.

The three kids discussed it together and went traveling for over a month.

They visited many places and gained a lot of experience in human relationships, making their understanding of the world much clearer.

Afterward, when the three children started school, the house was half empty, making it much quieter for Anning.

Anning saw each of the children off to university until eventually, she was the only one left at home.

By this time, Liu Qi, Liu Ming, and Li Jingyan had graduated from university. They didn’t seek jobs but chose to continue their studies.

Liu Qi studied physics, Liu Ming studied computer science, and Li Jingyan studied literature; they went on to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees and eventually Li Jingyan stayed at the university to teach and began to engage in literary creation.

Meanwhile, Liu Qi joined the Science Academy, and Liu Ming started a business after graduation.

Anning’s businesses kept growing larger, and she needed a successor. Watching Anning work so hard, Liu Yuzhen decided to help by choosing business studies in university.

Li Jingyu attended a teachers’ college, and after graduation, he stayed to teach at a middle school in the Capital.

Li Jinghan studied foreign languages. After getting into university, he was very active on campus and later became the president of the student union; in addition to that, he learned many foreign languages as he planned to become a diplomat.

After all her children entered university, Anning started to put aside her business and began to enjoy life.

At this time, Xiao Yuan’s adopted daughter, Xiao Shiman, also started college.

Xiao Shiman studied medicine.

She had been fond of medicine since she was young, and when she was a teenager, Xiao Yuan acquired some out-of-print medical books, taking them to a highly revered national doctor to ask him to take Xiao Shiman as a disciple.

This national doctor really wanted the medical books Xiao Yuan offered and liked Xiao Shiman, especially since she had significant medical talent.

He tested Xiao Shiman once, saw that the child was smart and hardworking, and accepted her as a closed-door disciple.

After Xiao Shiman started university, Xiao Yuan also put aside his business from time to time and often went traveling with Anning.

They did not intend to be together, just that they were getting older and wanted someone to accompany them on trips.

At this time, the son Li Jindong born later by Li Zhifang and Wang Baozhu was also in his teens, and this child truly was inclined to make mischief, which was quite vexing to others.

Li Jindong was not doing well in school, so Wang Baozhu blamed the poor teaching in the village, and insisted noisily on having Li Jindong switch to a school in the city.

Li Zhifang also pinned his hopes on Li Jindong doing well, so they sold their house and land in the village, and the three of them moved to the city.

In the end, their life became even harder.