The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 573 - 572: Reap What You Sow

Chapter 573: Chapter 572: Reap What You Sow

When Zhao Yun returned home dejected, he found his old man had already gotten back, sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, looking somewhat stern.

"Have you seen your mom?"

"How did you know?"

Zhao Yun was at first startled, then became tense, "Did she go to find you? Did you meet her?"

"Not yet, Zhou Hui told me through Secretary Ren."

Zhao Yun let out a long sigh of relief and quickly told Zhao Dafa about He Liyi’s tuberculosis, "... You mustn’t go looking for her, nor see her, lest you get infected by her."

After he had finished, seeing Zhao Dafa’s worried expression, he hastily added, "As soon as I knew about her illness, I went to the hospital for a checkup right away, and I’m fine."

Zhao Dafa, uncharacteristically stern, said, "Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?"

Feeling guilty, Zhao Yun tossed the document bag he was holding to Zhao Dafa, "I was just about to tell you when you found out first. How did Aunt Hui even know about it?"

Zhao Dafa caught the document bag and flipped his wallet to him.

"You have the nerve to ask, what good deeds have you been doing behind my back?"

Zhao Yun opened the wallet, took out a photo from the compartment, and asked, "What about it, you don’t like the photo I chose?"

Zhao Dafa glared at him and began to look through the documents taken out of the bag.

He might not be well educated, but he had attended a few years of primary school and could recognize the basic Chinese characters.

After reading through He Liyi’s information, Zhao Dafa’s face showed less anger.

He lit a cigarette, squinted his eyes, and asked his son, "Did you have someone dig up all this information?"

"Ziheng asked Uncle Shi to hire a Private investigator to look into it, spending quite a bit of money, so you will have to reimburse us."

Zhao Dafa shook off some ash from his cigarette with a touch of disdain, "As if you had the ability to do that."

Zhao Yun replied, "Haven’t you heard the saying, ’Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, but a rat’s son can only make holes’?"

The barb hit Zhao Dafa right in the chest, and he had to silently tell himself "This is my own son" three times to suppress the urge to lash out.

The atmosphere fell silent.

Father and son each sat at one end of the sofa, one smoking, the other lost in thought.

After a while, Zhao Dafa turned his head to ask his son, "What do you really think about all this?"

Zhao Yun said indifferently, "What’s there to think about? Let her go back to where she came from. The family in Wencheng is her treasure. To her eyes, we’re just suckers with more money than sense."

Zhao Dafa put out his cigarette, moved closer, and put his arm around his son’s shoulder, huffing, "Well, she’s miscalculated then. We indeed have money, but we’re not fools. You study hard with Ziheng, and aim for a good university. I will work hard to grow the business bigger and stronger. We, father and son, must show her how wrong she was to abandon us back then."

Zhao Yun pursed his lips, his eyes reddening, and nodded vigorously.

Zhao Dafa tousled his head, "When you turn eighteen, I’ll get you a sports car."

Zhao Yun was stunned for a moment, then incredulous, "Fuck! Really?"

A smack landed on the back of his head, "Watch your language! Who are you cursing at?"

Zhao Yun, holding his head, said , "I want a Ferrari!"

"That’s all the ambition you have!"

"I don’t care, it’s settled."

"Okay, I’ll get you a Ferrari."

Zhao Yun jumped for joy, and inadvertently caught Zhao Dafa’s affectionate gaze, which unexpectedly made his emotions settle down.

"Boss Zhao, don’t look at me like that, it’s kind of scary."

Zhao Dafa gestured for him to sit down and slowly opened his mouth, "Actually, I knew about your mom in Wencheng long ago."

Zhao Yun’s lips quivered, "Then why didn’t you tell me?"

Zhao Dafa didn’t answer but continued to talk about the past, "Actually, when I first came to the city, on one hand, I wanted to earn money to support you, and on the other hand, it was to find her."

"I searched for a long time, and finally found out her whereabouts. But when I followed the address, I discovered she had already started a new family."

"It was then I realized that she had completely abandoned us from the start. Since then, I let go of her and planned to find you a stepmother."

"Choosing Aunt Zhou Hui was also because she had children of her own and should have more experience in taking care of people, but it turned out that I really have no eye for women."

Zhao Yun snorted lightly, "That’s for sure, even I am better than you."

Zhao Dafa smiled in agreement, "Indeed, Aunt Hongmei is much better than both of them."

"Since you think she’s good, then put in more effort and marry her soon. Don’t regret it when someone else snatches her away."

Zhao Dafa looked at him, "Aunt Hongmei is still very young and hasn’t had children. If she and I really get together, we’ll definitely have a second child. Are you okay with that?"

Zhao Yun rolled his eyes, "Why wouldn’t I be? I’m not the one raising them, you could have ten or eight for all I care, as long as you can manage."

Zhao Dafa went on, "Xiaoyun, no matter if I have other children in the future, the Zhao Family and the company will be yours. How much you want to share with your brothers and sisters is up to you to decide. That’s my promise to you."

Zhao Yun looked at his old man, somewhat bewildered by the reality and complexity of the adult world.

...

He Liyi looked at Ren Yan outside the door, her heart pounding, yet she feigned confusion on her face.

"And you are?"

Ren Yan smiled slightly, "Ms. He, after secretly following President Zhao for so many days, you shouldn’t fail to recognize me, right?"

Caught without mercy, He Liyi’s face stiffened.

The detective hired by Shi Yizheng was professional enough to not only thoroughly investigate He Liyi in Wencheng but also clearly track every move of hers in Fengcheng.

Perhaps to better manipulate the father and son, while deceiving Zhao Yun, He Liyi would often follow Zhao Dafa, observing his every move and interactions with people.

Ren Yan got straight to the point, taking out ten thousand yuan in cash, as well as a child custody relinquishment agreement.

"Ms. He, President Zhao hopes you’ll sign this agreement. As for the ten thousand yuan, consider it compensation for the hardship of bearing young master Xiaoyun."

He Liyi’s face filled with humiliated anger, "Pass on a message to your President Zhao, I indeed haven’t fulfilled my motherly duties all these years, I’m the one who let their father and son down. But Xiaoyun is my biological son, he’ll never be able to use money to sever the bond between Xiaoyun and me!"

Ren Yan responded with a smile, "Since Ms. He values the mother-son relationship so much, President Zhao is also willing to be kind. He’ll bring over all three of your children in Wencheng so you can live together as a reunited family."

"It’s just that I wonder if your three children will be as lucky as young master Xiaoyun, not catching tuberculosis."

He Liyi’s face went pale, aware that her intentions and secrets had been exposed.

But she was still reluctant, "Let Zhao Dafa come and talk to me."

"If President Zhao wanted to see you, he wouldn’t have sent me. Sign today, and you can still take ten thousand; next time, you might not get a single cent. Even if it goes to court, you’ll have no chance of winning custody over young master Xiaoyun."

After a mix of carrot and stick, He Liyi had no choice but to compromise and sign the agreement.

...

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Zhou Hui looked at her daughter, who couldn’t stop coughing, with deep concern, "The injections are given, and the medication taken, but why isn’t it working at all? Coughing like this every day, her lungs will be ruined."

Liang Xiaowen caught her breath and said gloomily, "My classmates won’t play with me anymore, they say I have tuberculosis and that I’ll infect them."

"Nonsense, don’t listen to their nonsense, you just have a cold."