Reborn in the 1980s: I became a stepmother in the 1980s Ⅱ

Part 210 White Lies

Si Nian suddenly realized that she had been too naive. Over the past few months, she had thought she had changed the eldest child's personality. Now, she understood that all she had managed to change was his attitude toward her, not the darker aspects of his nature.

If Zhou Tingting had truly stolen the recipe, it shouldn't have led to something so serious. Si Nian suspected that Zhou Tingting must have found a way to involve the two children in helping her. She assumed that kids were easy to manipulate, not realizing that both of these children were "full of tricks," so to speak.

In the end, Zhou Tingting had set a trap for herself.

Si Nian's eyes flickered as she thought about the money the second child used to buy her clothes earlier. Logically speaking, they always gave both children the same amount of money fairly and equally. Their savings should have been identical. Yet, this time, the second child had five yuan more than Zhou Ze Dong.

It was clear that Zhou Tingting had bribed the second child, who was the easiest to manipulate. Unfortunately for her, the eldest had caught on. The eldest wasn't foolish—he knew exactly what Zhou Tingting was up to, trying to steal the recipe.

If things had gone according to the second child's innocent nature, it wouldn't just have been food poisoning—there could have been fatalities. Zhou Tingting probably wasn't foolish enough not to realize this.

But if the eldest child got involved, then things were unpredictable. Zhou Tingting wasn't even as smart as the eldest child. If he tampered with something, she probably wouldn't have noticed. That's likely why Zhou Tingting and her family only suffered mild food poisoning.

The more Si Nian thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed. The eldest child was only ten years old, and he had already orchestrated something like this. Who could outmaneuver him when he grew up?

At this moment, Si Nian felt an overwhelming sense of relief that she had never antagonized this child when she first arrived, nor had she gone out of her way to win his favor. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have earned his trust so quickly.

Zhou Yue Shen, hearing what Si Nian said, glanced at the two children through the rearview mirror. He paused for a moment but said nothing.

Meanwhile, Zhang Qian had originally planned to visit Zhou Tingting to tell her about her brother's new luxury car. However, when she arrived at the Li family's home, she learned that Zhou Tingting's whole family had been hospitalized due to food poisoning from making braised meat.

Though others might not know the full story, Zhang Qian did. She remembered how Zhou Tingting had talked about wanting to learn Si Nian's braised meat recipe when she had visited the Zhou family. At the time, Zhang Qian had even felt envious, hoping that Zhou Tingting would teach her once she learned it.

Zhang Qian hadn't expected that after only a few days, things would go so wrong. Feeling uneasy, she rushed to the hospital, only to see Zhou Tingting and her mother-in-law being beaten by a group of people demanding compensation from the Li family. Startled, Zhang Qian didn't dare approach, afraid she might get caught in the crossfire, so she quickly left.

As she reached the hospital entrance, she spotted Zhou Yue Shen's car. Thinking that since Zhou Tingting had gotten into trouble, her brother would likely be there to visit her, Zhang Qian assumed he was about to head home since it was getting late.

Initially, Zhang Qian had planned to stay the night at Cheng Ge's place and was prepared for it, but upon seeing Zhou Yue Shen, she suddenly regretted that decision. Hastily fixing her hair, she walked over and greeted him, pretending to be familiar.

"Big Brother Zhou, you're here to see Tingting too?"

Zhou Yue Shen turned his head slightly and glanced at her, frowning. "And you are?"