As soon as Zhang Xiaoling walked into the living room, Shi Wenqian turned her head toward her direction, and let he gaze follow her till she took a seat.
"Xiaoling, you are here?" She said with a smile.
Remembering the gift she had seen in her room, she couldn't help being happy.
"Yes. I thought you would ask about me as soon as you arrived." Zhang Xiaoling replied as she fixed her gaze on her.
Smiling to herself, Shi Wenqian replied, "I'm looking at you now. I saw the gift you got me, thank you. I didn't know you could still do something like that."
"What's there to be surprised about. Anyway, don't think too much about it. I got something for Dad and Mingyu as well."
In order to not let her mother think she only got something for her alone, she mad sit known to her that she got for others as well, just in case she wanted to use this opportunity to get close to her again.
Seeing her daughter still being her usual self, Shi Wenqian seemed more relaxed. 'I almost thought her head got broken.'
Choosing to drop the topic, she gave her permission for them to start their dinner.
"Where is Dad? He is not joining us?" Zhang Mingyu inquired.
"Only if he was back." Shi Wenqian answered in passing, seemingly unbothered at the fact that her husband was snot home yet despite it being dinner time.
As she had decided not to care about his extramarital affairs, she would for now, focus her attention and energy on getting stronger.
While eating, she fixed her gaze on Zhang Xiaoling who looked to not be so into the food. Thinking of something, she didn't fail to mention it.
"You have been coming back a lot frequently. Is everything fine?"
"My mother-in-law is being hectic so I come here sometimes to show her that I have a place to go back to just in case she has forgotten. But if you are bothered about me being in your space, I can find somewhere else to be." Zhang Xiaoling spilled without reservation.
She had purposely exposed her mother-in-law just to get her mother's reaction while knowing deep within herself that her mother would never confront that woman head on.
Listening to her daughter for the first time tell her what he problem was, Shi Wenqian rubbed her fingers together.
"No. You can always come here if you want. You don't have to call me like you did earlier today. You are my daughter and this is your home.
As for your mother-in-law, let her be. She is probably disturbing you because you do not want to give her a grandchild."
Hearing that, Xiaoling's facial expression changed, but she still let her continue instead of stopping her there.
"I would say for you to endure what you can and don't keep quiet on the rest. But for now, don't let your fight with her escalate because Mingyu is getting married in a few weeks.
I wouldn't like the media to catch a glimpse of your ugly relationship with that woman otherwise it would be tiring to explain it to Mrs. Ong who can be a handful at times.
But what I will promise you is that once we secure the bag with Mingyu's wedding, I will persuade your father to let you divorce Enlai and help you get together with Fang Bingwen as you have always wanted."
Listening to all the thrash her mother was spewing, Zhang Xiaoling couldn't control herself and slammed her palm on the table.
"Mum, I will have to stop you there." Almost glaring at her, She continued.
"I don't like Fang Bingwen any more. I am not interested in him."
There was a surprised look on Shi Wenqian's face as she watched her daughter flare up.
"If you don't want Fang Bingwen any more, it's fine, you have made your point, but you should learn to control your temper at the dinner table. Are you sure this is not the reason your mother-in-law doesn't take you serious?"
"What!" Xiaoling exclaimed in shock as she couldn't believe what her ears just heard.
"Mum!" Even Zhang Mingyu was surprised.
Normally, he would just stay put and listen to them fight, but after getting a gift from his sister after so many years, he was fully showing his support.
Seeing the two of them look like they were ready to attack her, Shi Wenqian paused for a while to look between them.
But thinking that she had gone to far, she calmed down a bit. "Alright, I shouldn't have said that. Don't mind me. If you want to get divorced, let me know so I can speak to your father. As for your next marriage, don't think too much about it. I can always help you get the best man out there."
Listening to her mother go on about her getting a divorce, Zhang Xiaoling was tired.
Picking up the table napkin, she wiped the corner of her lips and got up
Seeing that she was going to leave, Shi Wenqian tried to stop her. "Where are you going to? You haven't even touched your food."
"Whose fault is it? I'm leaving first thing tomorrow morning, and you don't have to worry about me coming here again or telling you what my problem is so you can pay attention to me and ask me what I want instead of coming up with a solution all by yourself."
As Zhang Xiaoling said what she had in her heart, she threw the napkin on the table and walked away without looking back.
Watching his sister walk away, Zhang Mingyu felt a bit bad for her, but he couldn't do anything to help as he hadn't finished heling himself first.
"Mum, you really went too far." He said and sat there to continue eating.
Returning her gaze to him, she said instead, "Your sister is the one who went too far. Why do I feel like she has changed. Before she used to be ambitious but now, I don't know what has gotten into her. Her heart is softening."
"Sister Xiaoling did not change rather is you that have changed. Mum, when will you start caring about what we want?" Zhang Mingyu asked using the opportunity to bring up her ways of forcing them into some kind of situations.