Fall in love with your enemy

Continuing from the last time, I came out of my second grandmother’s room, and after thinking about it, I finally felt sad. I can feel pity for everyone. I have had too many good lives and forgot how they treated me.

After I figured it out, I sighed and returned to the courtyard. It was almost time. I took a short rest, asked Zhizhi to call the children back and gave them a few words, and then prepared to go to the ancestral hall. I took some medicine from the drawer and just as I moved it to my mouth, I smelled the smell and it reminded me again.

I have been taking the medicine given by Xiangyang all these years, but I also kept the medicine given to me by the second house, and checked it again and again. I did hope that one day my second uncle would let me go and stop giving me poison. It's a pity that in all these years, there was only that period of time when he was kind enough to give me a lot of tonics when I was breastfeeding Zhouyi.

Now that Zhou Yi is gone, the poison was quickly replaced. There is really no mercy at all for me and my child. Even though I am still raising Zhou Zhi for him, the result is the same because my flesh and blood no longer needs to be eaten by his descendants.

I still took the medicine obediently, washed up simply, and put on the knee brace again.

My grandfather's death anniversary is just a few days away from old Fu's. According to the rules of the old house, as the founder of the Fu family's prosperous days, for the thirty years after my grandfather's death, on his death anniversary every year, we, as the younger generations, have to burn incense in the ancestral hall at noon, and then kneel until dinner. His elders or people over 70 years old do not need to go, and children under 12 years old just need to kowtow. The ones who suffer the most are the middle group. The head of the family or the direct descendants can go later, burn incense at the end, and kneel for a shorter time, but it is at least four hours.

The key point is that if I had only suffered this little, it would not be a big deal. But in three or four days it will be Mr. Fu’s death anniversary. His whole family does not have to kneel down to keep vigil, but his children still have to stay with him for three hours.

When I think of this, I feel that God is playing tricks on me. I have to kneel for seven hours every few days. Even the ancient emperors did not punish people so harshly. And my birthday falls between the death anniversaries of these two people. I cannot be happy and have to accept other people's flattery. My legs are going to be broken.

Zhizhi brought Lingling and Yunyun back after a while. I should have known that the two cubs would not be able to stay still. I thought the clothes they had just changed in the morning were black and dirt-resistant, which could keep out dust. But the two cubs got into a mud puddle. And because they were twins, everything had to be exactly the same, so they had the same number of mud spots on their bodies.

Lingling reached out and rubbed some on my face, and Yunyun followed closely behind, with an absolutely perfect symmetrical aesthetic.

"You two little rascals! Didn't mommy tell you to be good for a day?" I tickled the two kids, but they just giggled and even turned around to ask their uncle for help! Am I such an easy mommy to hide from? I immediately reached out and hugged them, but they were better than their parents. They had a good grasp of the ways of the world, and the moment they got into my arms, they kissed me one by one.

"Mommy looks even prettier today. Mommy looks better without makeup."

"Whether my mom wears makeup or not, she is always the most beautiful mom. Don't you think so, uncle?"

After hearing this, Zhizhi shook her head helplessly at me, leaned over and whispered, "I still think you look better with makeup."

I said: "Although you are telling the truth, I still want to beat you up. Why can't you be as sweet as my daughter?"

"I'm neither your daughter nor your son-in-law. Why should I coax you?" Zhizhi said with a strange look on his face, in a sarcastic tone.

Lingling was very excited: "Mommy, so uncle is going to become dad? Brother Zhouzhi and the others all have dads but I don't. It turns out that uncle can be dad!"

"Mommy, I like Zhizhi's uncle. Can he be our father? Do you like your uncle?" Yunyun followed closely behind, and within a few words she almost made Feng Shizhi feel so elated that he flew to the sky.

"Oh, is this true? Did you two just throw the ball at me?" Zhizhi said as he was about to pick up one of the kids: "Then call me daddy first."

Seeing that both the cub and the "father" were reaching out their hands, ready for a two-way affection, I stepped back and let them miss me. I looked them up and down, and I couldn't hide my "disdain" at all: "Are you taking advantage of me here? When did you change your habit of liking married women? You're so perverted. Tianjin is almost in autumn, so you'd better wait until next spring for your little thoughts to blossom."

Zhizhi stretched out his tone: "Who are you calling a pervert? You are the weird one, okay? You don't understand what people are saying when they are talking to you seriously."

"Don't listen to what the bastard is saying..." I covered my ears with my two kids and ran away from him. While running, I spoke clearly to them, "Don't talk nonsense. How can your uncle become your father? It's impossible."

As for what the two children said to me, I didn't hear clearly. I asked the aunt to take them to take a bath and change clothes. I went to the gate of the courtyard and watched the beautiful women who I invited to manage the courtyard were busy. I peeked and Chengcheng came over without knowing when. She also leaned her head to look outside beside me. When she didn't understand, she poked my shoulder and said, "What are you doing? You look like a thief."

"Look at them, aren't they beautiful?" I was very puzzled.

Cheng Cheng glanced at her and turned back inexplicably: "Not as pretty as you."

"Tsk - stop talking nonsense. Your sister's appearance is generally recognized to be average. You are just putting a filter on me." I rolled my eyes.

"Praising you is not enough..." Cheng Cheng was even more helpless. He smiled and pulled me back to sit. He waited for Auntie to put down the lunch dishes before he figured it out. While eating, he suddenly looked at me and smiled: "Are Lingling and Yunyun actively looking for a father for themselves again? Did they choose Feng Shizhi?"

"It's obvious." I put my hand on my temple and wanted to cry. "You said he has seen too few women in the past few years? Why is he still pestering me? I'm giving him more options. Is it too late to use them?"

Cheng Cheng smiled bitterly and sighed: "My sister, if he doesn't like you, who can he like? Have you forgotten the rules? If you don't have a place to go, he can't get married even if he likes someone else. You might as well accept your fate and be honest. His eyes are on you."

I paused, then gritted my teeth and denied, "Nonsense, before I got married, Liang Sen and Ke Ke were also a couple, and no one said anything to him."

"Oh my god, let's not talk about whether Dad knows that he is our brother. Even if he knew, he would not consider a son-in-law who is nine years older than you, right? He is too old. Besides, you didn't get married at that time because you were not old enough. Aren't you engaged anyway?" Cheng Cheng said, and suddenly thought of something and smiled evilly. He picked up a chopstick of meat and stuffed it into my mouth and moved closer to me: "Besides, Feng Shizhi is not blind in the past one or two years. It can only be said that your super insensitivity is beyond my imagination!"

I narrowed my eyes to show my disdain, tilted my little face up, swung my pigtails, crossed my legs, and acted proudly: "Who taught you to be bad? What do you mean by insensitivity? I am so charming without knowing it. After all, the people chasing after me are lined up from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench. How can I know what everyone is thinking? I am too busy to handle it."

Before Cheng Cheng could reply, he was taken away from her sight by the person behind him. He waved in a friendly and funny way: "Hurry up and finish your meal, we have to go to the ancestral hall. Where have you been? It took you so long."

"Waiting in line at the Mariana Trench—" Zhizhi's voice dragged out. He was generous and sat over with a stern face. I covered my face and turned my head away. He even pulled my hand down and raised his chin towards the table of food: "Eat quickly, it will get cold soon."

I had no choice but to lift my bangs and pick up the chopsticks. I kept grabbing Cheng Cheng and making small talk: "Hey, who called you this morning? So, so early..."

"What? What phone call?" Cheng Cheng was stunned: "Oh, you mean at the ancestral hall, Lulu asked me if I had arrived at Jinhai, and then she was in a bad mood, and asked me to go back early to accompany her after I was done with my work."

"You were in a bad mood, so you hung up on her at first? Aren't you afraid of being called a single guy?" I pursed my lips.

Cheng Cheng shrugged, "How dare I? The first call was from Wei Defu. You know he's always annoying me. Haven't we been working on the commercial street in Nanbei District these days? He made trouble for me and wanted to see you again. He said he wanted to thank you for opening the waterway from Jinhai to him, saving him a lot of shipping costs. He prepared a special gift for you. I said I could pass it on, but he insisted on giving it to you in person. He asked me for an invitation to your birthday and will be here in two days."

"What is this? It's so mysterious." I shrank back.

Cheng Cheng shook his head to indicate that he didn't understand.

"Okay then, there's nothing wrong with meeting once, so I'll find an excuse to go down the mountain for a walk. You don't know, but these kids have become shrewd recently. They come to ask me about my schedule every day. If I don't have work, they will never let me have some free time. They are only happy if I play with them, otherwise they won't be able to eat dinner." I took a deep breath, and at that moment I could only hear the sounds of children crying, which was terrible.

After dinner, everyone went to the ancestral hall. My second uncle and my younger uncle had already returned. I greeted them one by one and stood behind them. I was relatively late when I looked back. The descendants and students from the collateral branches were already kneeling. The people were feeling a little dizzy from the smoke of the incense, so I asked people to open the windows as wide as possible for ventilation. Unfortunately, it was originally quiet and nice. I coaxed the children to kowtow quietly and prepare to leave, but I had just met my second grandmother and someone had just said that they would punish the people from the second house for me. In the afternoon, I didn't know where Bu Yincong was transferred to. The person who took his place to preside over today's ancestor worship was a manager from the eldest house. When he saw me, he bypassed my second uncle and my younger uncle and handed me the incense first.

I didn't even raise my eyes when the incense was already in my hand. Just as I was about to step forward, I was very "happy" to find that the elder and Chengcheng still had nothing in their hands. They turned back and looked at me with smiles. The manager didn't realize anything was wrong and followed the old rules to make me, the only legitimate daughter, superior to everyone else. My friend really only cares about his reputation and doesn't care about my life or death.

I smiled and looked up to signal him that I had already put the signs of the second and third rooms back to their original places. The man trembled suddenly and wanted to take my incense back and hand it to my second uncle. However, I said I wanted to give it back, but not to this extent. I turned around and handed the incense to Chengcheng and pushed him over.

Second Uncle’s expression wasn’t that bad. He just waited quietly, but he just stopped smiling. If he had to give an explanation, he would probably have to say that he couldn’t smile in front of the pile of tablets in his own home.

After Chengcheng finished bowing, he waved for Lingling and Yunyun to come over. After bowing, he went to his seat and asked the nanny to take the children out. My second uncle and younger uncle followed. When it was my brother and I's turn, he was asked to go first. Everything was done according to the rules, without bias. I thought my second uncle would not have anything to say, and it was indeed the case. I knelt in a daze for the whole afternoon. It was difficult for me to stand up. Zhizhi, Chengcheng and I limped back together. Auntie quickly got us medicine and rubbed our legs. During this time, Chengcheng could not help but complain.

"It's rubbish, pure rubbish. Why can't I reach the level to destroy this thing?" Cheng Cheng cried and leaned on my shoulder.

"Ancestor, you already know it's rubbish, can you please stop putting pressure on me? Your sister is not a backrest!" I pushed the man's head back, not daring to touch my legs. Looking back, I saw Zhizhi was still very calm. I couldn't help but touch his swollen knee. Unexpectedly, I heard a sound like a screaming chicken the next second.

"pain--"

"It hurts, but you're pretending to be so calm. Are you trying to be cool?" Cheng Cheng was frightened by his roar and she opened her eyes wide and laughed.

"You didn't have to kneel with us. Why bother? Can't you find an excuse to go see the kids?" I was upset. I couldn't say I felt heartbroken, but I wasn't indifferent either.

Zhizhi was so considerate of me that he squinted his eyes, took a deep breath, and gave me a perfect reason: "Compared to watching those monkeys in Mount Emei, I would rather suffer a little!"

It seems...also?

Yes, that's reasonable, as long as it's not for me.

Unfortunately, before I could breathe a sigh of relief, he turned his head and looked at me with a teasing expression: "What? Are you feeling sorry for me? Then rub it for me."

"No." I refused decisively and lowered my head to think about my bruises.

Cheng Cheng leaned forward in confusion: "Dude, I'm still here."

"Why are you still here? Go home and find your wife. Why do you stick to your sister every day at such an old age?" Zhizhi rolled his eyes.

Cheng Cheng was not willing to be outdone, he grabbed me and dragged me into his arms: "You still know that she is my sister! Why don't you go home and find your sister! You can't snatch her from me just because you don't have a sister, I only have one!"

I was so angry that I laughed. I pinched the kid's face and put ice packs on his legs.

Aunt Liu had gone to the pharmacy to get medicine. I thought she would be fine for a while, but she came back in less than ten minutes. She rushed to me in a hurry and said, "Miss, there's someone outside asking you to come down the mountain. I didn't understand anything else, but she said that Mr. Wei was here to give some gifts and had already booked a hotel."

I was stunned for a moment and glanced at Cheng Cheng: "So soon? Didn't he come just to celebrate my birthday?"

Cheng Cheng was also very confused and shrugged.

"Miss, would you like me to save some food for you?" Aunt Liu asked.

I thought about it and waved my hand: "I can't walk with my legs. You can ask someone to go out and tell him to do it another day. I'll contact him. We all make a living in Linjiang. It's too polite to say no to gifts."

"Oh."

Aunt Liu agreed and was about to leave, but at this moment I heard the sound of children playing outside. It would have been fine if they were just playing by themselves, but I accurately caught the voices of at least three children calling me "Mom", "Auntie" and "Sister". Unfortunately, these three unlucky names all belonged to me. My hair stood on end, I rolled up my trouser legs, grabbed Zhizhi next to me and ran away.

"Aunt Liu, there's no need to leave any food for us. Let's run away first...Ah, we're not going to work! Run, run..."