Chapter 78 Better to Have Given Birth to a Char Siu Bun Than to Her

“You don’t want anything to happen to Mom either, right?”

Ru Anzhi twitched at the corner of his mouth. “I was just saying.”

Is it really necessary to be this scared?

Xu Chengyan: “An eight-legged gu worm—who wouldn’t be scared? You’re the only one bold enough to provoke her!”

Ru Anzhi: “You think I wanted to provoke her?”

Xu Chengyan: “But you did!”

Ru Anzhi: “That was part of the mission!”

Xu Chengyan: “I don’t care. You still provoked her.”

Ru Anzhi: “So annoying. I really want to hit someone!”

Xu Chengyan: “…What, can’t win the argument so you’re resorting to violence? I’m telling Mom! Mom, your son—”

Ru Anzhi grew even more irritable. “Scram!”

The sudden downfall of the Ran family completely caught Xie Zining off guard.

She hadn’t even figured out what was going on before the entire Ran family was taken in.

“Your father-in-law and your husband’s older brother committed crimes. Your mother-in-law’s situation isn’t too serious, but she did cover for her husband and son…”

Xie Zining calmly sipped her milk. Right now, her only task was to take good care of the baby in her belly and give birth safely.

“You guys did this?” she asked.

Ruan Yaoyao looked innocent. “We didn’t force them to break the law. I only leaked a little information. Who knew some anonymous hero would step in and drag your whole in-laws’ family down? Honestly, this works out for you—you don’t have to worry about the Ran family taking revenge anymore. But your sister-in-law… you’d better watch out. She’s too scheming—you won’t be able to beat her.”

Xie Zining was certain this had to be the Xu family’s doing.

Even if she didn’t know how they pulled it off, she had heard of Xu Lianghan’s reputation, as well as the story of Xu Chengyan successfully starting a business at a young age. Even the son Ruan Yaoyao later acknowledged didn’t seem like a simple figure.

In short, aside from the two youngest naïve ones, the Xu family’s older members were all highly capable.

She guessed it might have been the three of them working together.

Meanwhile, the scapegoats—Xu Lianghan, Xu Chengyan, and Ru Anzhi—sneezed simultaneously, all suspecting someone was cursing them.

Hmm, who could it be?

Most likely their mom. After all, no one else would curse them for no reason.

“Fine, if you say it wasn’t you, then it wasn’t. Anyway, whatever happens to the Ran family has nothing to do with me.”

Ever since confirming her pregnancy, Xie Zining had already begun transferring her assets.

Although she and Ran Hao were married, they didn’t really share property. Besides, he was the one who committed the crimes, not her—she wouldn’t be implicated.

In other words, she was completely unaffected.

Of course, she was still summoned back home by her father, Xie Hongda, for questioning.

But what did she know? When he asked, she knew nothing.

“Dad, are you joking? You know what kind of person Ran Hao is,” Xie Zining said with a sneer. “With his useless nature, would his father and brother ever let him get involved in company affairs? If he doesn’t know anything, what could I possibly know?”

Xie Hongda frowned.

He realized he had been grasping at straws. His daughter had been spoiled useless just like the youngest son of the Ran family—how could she know anything?

“Stay home and don’t run around.”

Xie Zining glanced sideways at Wan Yuegui and Xie Ziyi. “What? Not afraid I’ll seduce my brother-in-law while I’m at home?”

“You child, isn’t that matter already in the past?”

“Not necessarily. Now that Ran Hao is in jail, I’m practically husbandless. With such a big man walking around in front of me all day, I can’t guarantee I won’t have any thoughts.”

Xie Ziyi’s expression instantly turned tense as she looked pitifully at Xie Hongda.

His head started to ache.

Ever since the Ran family fell, all companies associated with them panicked—investigating the situation while conducting internal audits, afraid of being targeted by the authorities.

Xie Hongda was no exception. With no biological son, he had to rely on his adopted son and son-in-law. That was why Xie Zining made such remarks—because Xie Ziyi and her husband had been staying at the Xie household recently.

“How can you say something like that?”

“What’s wrong with me saying it? I said it before—I liked He Tao. I wanted to marry him. But you ignored me and insisted on marrying him to that woman instead, while sending your only biological daughter to a useless rich second-generation. What could I do? Could I resist? The moment I resisted, you locked me up and cut off my allowance. Go ahead—do it now! The husband you picked for me is already in jail. Who knows when he’ll come out. Go on, punish me!”

Xie Hongda looked at her anger and hatred, his lips trembling, unable to say a word.

What could he say?

He was the one who chose her husband.

He had simply thought she was too spoiled to manage a business, so marrying her into a wealthy family as a pampered wife would be best.

Ran Hao might have been useless, but his parents doted on him, and his brother was willing to support him for life. If his brother could support him forever, wouldn’t that mean supporting Xie Zining as well?

But no matter how much he calculated, he never expected Ran Hao to be so incompetent as to land himself in jail.

He felt he had wronged his daughter, yet couldn’t bring himself to apologize.

Seeing Xie Hongda hurt, Wan Yuegui tried to step in, but Xie Zining snapped at her.

“Do you even have the right to speak here? You’re just a stepmother—have some self-awareness.”

Wan Yuegui’s face darkened.

She felt utterly humiliated. Honestly, giving birth to Xie Zining was worse than giving birth to a char siu bun.

It wasn’t her fault she favored the elder child—Xie Zining had never respected her since childhood.

After venting her anger, Xie Zining grabbed her bag and left, impossible to stop.

Xie Ziyi breathed a small sigh of relief.

After all, no one would want to live under the same roof as a woman trying to steal her husband.

She was only a stepdaughter—no matter how much her stepfather cared for her, he would never truly side with her.

What Xie Zining didn’t realize was that everything Xie Ziyi had today came from her obedience and docility.

Unlike Xie Zining—no matter how willful or reckless she was, no matter what trouble she caused, her father would always cover for her.

Just like this time—Xie Ziyi had caught her red-handed in bed with her husband, yet her father simply gave her money to settle the matter.

Xie Ziyi lowered her gaze, resentment burning in her heart.

And yet… there was also a hint of satisfaction.

Serves her right for being unlucky. The worse Xie Zining’s situation got, the better she felt.

With the Ran family gone, Xie Hongda was overwhelmed. Both his adopted son, Xie Cunzhou, and his son-in-law, He Tao, gained increasing importance.

Seeing her husband becoming more influential within the Xie Group, Xie Ziyi felt secretly pleased.

Because she knew—the more important her husband was, the more inheritance she would receive.

She even began to harbor ambitions—if her husband could push Xie Cunzhou out, then the entire company would belong to him.

And if it belonged to him, it belonged to her.

What she didn’t notice was that He Tao had been getting busier and busier—so busy that he sometimes didn’t even come home, staying overnight at the company.

At this moment, Xie Cunzhou found her, looking at her with a mocking expression.

“You don’t actually think your husband is always at the company, do you?”

“How would I know what men do?”

“Heh. You’re really something. Just to stay in the Xie family, you’d even hand your husband over to your sister.”

Xie Ziyi’s expression changed instantly. “What nonsense are you talking about? What do you mean, handing my husband over to my sister?”