Who Wouldn't Want to Be a Wealthy Stepparent? - Chapter 9

Hearing Cheng Leyan say this, Mrs. Rong froze for a moment before responding, “Auntie Zhang? That’s impossible. Cheng Leyan, you don’t understand—Wangzhi was raised by Auntie Zhang. She was exceptionally good to him. Once, during an earthquake, she had already made it outside but specifically ran back into the building to grab him. How could she possibly do something like this? I still think it was Butler Li.”

In Cheng Leyan’s arms, Zhuozhuo blinked his red, swollen eyes.

He felt hesitant.

He wondered what would happen if Grandma didn’t believe him. What if everyone thought he was lying? What if Auntie Zhang found out and smashed him, beat him, drowned him, or threw him off the balcony?

He thought it over and over, finally remembering what his step-father had said while holding him.

He said, “Daddy will protect you.”

He said, “You’re safe.”

Should he… believe him?

Zhuozhuo’s hand gripped the Pikachu plush in his pocket again.

Finally, he made a resolute decision.

I am a tin man; I should be brave.

He reached out tremblingly, gently grasped Mrs. Rong’s arm, and gave it a small tug.

Ever since the master of divination had calculated their horoscopes and declared that Mrs. Rong’s birth chart clashed with Zhuozhuo’s, she hadn’t held the boy for nearly a year.

Seeing the toddler’s tiny hand tugging at her, Mrs. Rong’s nose stung, and she nearly burst into tears again.

Then she saw Zhuozhuo point at her phone.

Mrs. Rong used Face ID to unlock it and handed it to the boy. Zhuozhuo pulled up the Notes app.

He began to type with extreme seriousness.

The first line: Butler Li is a good person.

The second line: Grandma Zhang is a bad person. She hits me and scolds me.

The third line: She said if I dared to tell you, she would kill me.

The toddler pushed the phone back toward her, his movements cautious and filled with unease as he watched her.

Then, he instinctively shrank back into Cheng Leyan’s embrace.

He was like a young cub who had finally dared to poke its head out once, only to retreat back into the nest at the slightest sound.

Grandma… will she believe me? Zhuozhuo thought with fear and anxiety.

Mrs. Rong read those three lines.

She read them several times.

Her throat felt constricted, and she could barely breathe.

The final thing she did was turn her back to Zhuozhuo and slap herself across the face twice.

What had she… what had she done!

She was the one who had brought Auntie Zhang in to care for Zhuozhuo. What on earth had the boy endured this past year?

What kind of life had he been living?

If Zhuozhuo hadn’t told her this time, how much longer would it have taken for her to find out?!

Zhuozhuo was only three years old!!

Colossal regret and sorrow swept over her.

But now was not the time for that.

Terrified of scaring the boy, she used every ounce of strength to adjust her emotions in the shortest possible time. Then, acting as if nothing had happened, she turned around and spoke to Zhuozhuo with the utmost gentleness and warmth: “Zhuozhuo, Grandma believes you. Grandma will never let Auntie Zhang come near you again! Zhuozhuo, you… you are safe now.”

By the end, her voice was thick with emotion.

Zhuozhuo finally let out a soft sigh of relief.

Great, Grandma believes me. That’s great.

His reaction sent another pang through Mrs. Rong’s heart. She quickly wiped away her tears and handed the phone to the police: “Officers, our nanny’s name is Zhang Lihong. We now suspect that she was the one who planned this kidnapping.”

Remembering something else, she added, “By the way, three months ago Zhang Lihong asked to borrow one million yuan, saying she wanted to buy a house for her son. I gave her 50,000 as a red envelope and told her she didn’t need to pay it back, but I didn’t lend her the rest. Officers, please check her husband and son. I suspect someone in her family has a gambling problem for her to suddenly need that much money.”

Cheng Leyan also spoke up: “Auntie Zhang asked to borrow 300,000 from me yesterday, but I refused. This morning, we went to Atlantic Department Store specifically because one of Zhuozhuo’s toys was broken and we wanted to buy a replacement—Auntie Zhang must have broken it on purpose.”

The officer nodded and stood up. “Understood. We will investigate immediately.”

Mrs. Rong’s group decided to wait at the police station.

By the afternoon, the police brought the latest news. They had discovered that Auntie Zhang’s son had accumulated massive gambling debts and debt collectors frequently visited their home; their house had already been mortgaged.

Additionally, Auntie Zhang’s husband had withdrawn 50,000 in cash from the bank a week ago, and a neighbor of one of the suspects identified the husband as having appeared near the suspect’s house.

Butler Li also pulled up surveillance footage showing that Auntie Zhang had indeed intentionally broken the tin man.

The evidence was sufficient. The police took Auntie Zhang away for interrogation. In her room, they found a spare cell phone with many of her records still intact. The police were now moving swiftly to crack the case.

It had been morning when Cheng Leyan took Zhuozhuo out; by the time they finally returned home, it was night.

As Cheng Leyan led Zhuozhuo out of the car, Mrs. Rong followed. She hesitated, wanting to say something, and after much inner conflict, she finally knelt down in front of Zhuozhuo.

She looked the toddler in the eye and said, “Zhuozhuo, Grandma apologizes to you. Grandma didn’t notice that Zhang Lihong was that kind of person, and I allowed you to be in a dangerous situation. I’m sorry, Zhuozhuo. It was Grandma’s negligence; it was Grandma’s fault. But that doesn’t mean Grandma doesn’t love you. Grandma loves you very much, so much. Can you… can you forgive Grandma?”

By the end, the woman in her fifties was sobbing once again.

Zhuozhuo blinked. Then, he reached out, handed Mrs. Rong a tissue, smiled, and gave a clumsy yet firm nod, followed by a shake of his head.

He didn’t say a word, but Mrs. Rong understood.

Zhuozhuo was saying: I forgive you—no, wait, I never blamed you in the first place.

On the drive back, Mrs. Rong performed a solo act of explosive sobbing in the back of her car.

Zhuozhuo is an angel. He really is an angel.

She had originally intended to go back to the ancestral home, but halfway there, she changed her mind and had the driver go to Rong Wangzhi’s hospital instead.

In the private ward, her son was still lying quietly on the bed, but the pink “pouty lips” from yesterday had vanished. It seemed the caregiver had removed the makeup.

Ah, wait. Why is it so weird when the words ‘son’ and ‘makeup removal’ are linked together?

Mrs. Rong had been feeling miserable, but thinking of this, her painful emotions were somewhat diluted.

She sat by Rong Wangzhi’s bed, looking at his face. Finally, she sniffled and began to recount the day’s events as if talking to herself: “Wangzhi, for the first time, I am so glad I listened to Master Liu and let Cheng Leyan marry into our family.”

“Sigh, if you wake up and find out I found a man to ‘bring luck’ to you, you’ll probably be annoyed to death. At the time, I was indeed desperate. Master Liu said a person with that specific birth chart would be your lucky star, giving you the chance to wake up and even rule over your future destiny, so I believed him. But he’s been ‘bringing luck’ for a year and you haven’t woken up; it’s been a waste of effort. But today, I truly feel that thank goodness for Cheng Leyan. Thank goodness for him.”

What she didn’t know was that the moment she mentioned “Cheng Leyan,” Rong Wangzhi regained consciousness.

Still unable to move, unable to control his body, and lacking much sensation, Rong Wangzhi only seemed able to hear external sounds but couldn’t offer any response.

As he listened to his mother’s words, a thought suddenly struck him: the last time he was conscious, Cheng Leyan happened to be speaking. This time he was awake again because his mother mentioned Cheng Leyan.

Is it possible that Master Liu isn’t a charlatan and Cheng Leyan really is a ‘lucky star’ who can ‘bring luck’?

Impossible. Rong Wangzhi was never superstitious; he only believed in science.

Perhaps because his thinking was a bit slow, it turned into language and was captured by the system.

250 said gloomily: Are you sure? Is this system ‘science’ as well?

Rong Wangzhi: Mm.

He definitely wasn’t going to say “Ah” again.

Mrs. Rong continued: “Wangzhi, there’s one more thing I want to tell you. Zhuozhuo… Zhuozhuo was kidnapped today.”

Rong Wangzhi’s heart hammered violently, nearly leaping out of his chest.

Mrs. Rong: “But the kidnapping wasn’t successful.”

Rong Wangzhi’s heart settled back down.

Mrs. Rong: “We had a mole in the house who planned the kidnapping.”

Rong Wangzhi’s heart hammered again.

Mrs. Rong: “But they’ve already been caught.”

Rong Wangzhi’s heart settled back down.

Mrs. Rong: “It’s my fault for being useless. It turns out Zhuozhuo’s life has been filled with fear and pain, and he didn’t even have anyone to lean on.”

Rong Wangzhi’s heart hammered once more.

Mrs. Rong: “But he does now.”

Rong Wangzhi: …Mom, can you please speak a little faster.

Mrs. Rong: “He’s very dependent on Cheng Leyan now.”

Rong Wangzhi: Huh?

Do you mean the smooth-tongued, lying, two-faced, hypocritical, malicious, ruthless, greedy, cunning, honey-tongued but cold-hearted, and deeply calculating Cheng Leyan?

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