The Beautiful Stepmother from the Eighties: Marrying a Factory Director to Raise Kids

Chapter 469

Chen Haoran followed behind, pointing angrily at Zhang Xue and shouting loudly, "Officer, it's her!"The male police officer, who was not much older than Chen Haoran, was speechless.

Chen Haoran was furious. He never expected Zhang Xue to be so shameless as to tell outsiders that they were dating.

He had lost all his dignity that evening.

Looking back, he wanted to kill her.

So when Si Nian suggested that he better call the police, he didn't hesitate at all and immediately reported it.

Seeing Chen Haoran with his face still wrapped in gauze, Zhang Xue was instantly stunned.

Liu Nana also ran over. Seeing the police, she was equally confused and asked, "What exactly is going on? Even if she bought fake goods, it shouldn't warrant the police showing up at her door, right?"

After all, they were childhood friends, and her eyes were full of worry at this moment.

They had played together since childhood, made wishes together, and worked hard together.

They had finally gone through all the hardships to reach their dream university.

But it was only their first year, and so many things had already happened.

Liu Nana stood frozen, not quite understanding why things had turned out this way.

"Buying fake goods? So you borrowed from loan sharks just to buy those skincare products?"

The police officers immediately exchanged a look. When they received Chen Haoran's report, they only heard him say that a student had borrowed from loan sharks and lied about him being her boyfriend, causing him to be harassed by the loan sharks.

So they only thought this girl had borrowed money from loan sharks, not knowing the reason why.

But hearing Liu Nana mention it now, they immediately connected it to the recent string of cases involving female students being scammed into buying fake goods.

The culprit had not yet been found.

They didn't expect that someone from a prestigious school like Jingda University could also be scammed.

It was truly surprising.

Zhang Xue's face flushed bright red, but in front of Chen Haoran, she still refused to admit that she had done something so stupid. She argued, "I wasn't scammed. The person who introduced me is my friend. We've known each other for almost a year; he wouldn't lie to me."

When Zhang Xue was feeling emotionally vulnerable because of Chen Haoran, it was this person who stepped up to comfort and help her.

He liked her unconditionally.

If it weren't for the fact that his family background and looks were not as good as Chen Haoran's, perhaps they would have been together by now.

Actually, Zhang Xue had a good impression of him, but having seen someone better, she felt he was lacking in comparison and could never quite get past that hurdle in her heart.

Because of this, she felt very guilty towards that boy and refused to believe he would deceive her.

Even if it was a scam, it must have been someone else who tricked him.

There was no way he would deceive her!

The police officers exchanged glances, having never seen a victim defend their scammer before. They said solemnly, "All the students scammed in this case were tricked by their own friends."

"The perpetrators approach you as friends, gain your trust over time, and then slowly lure you into these schemes. Most of these girls unknowingly showed signs of needing money. In other words, you were targeted by this group from the very beginning."

Zhang Xue's face instantly turned deathly pale.

It was true. During that time, in order to show off in front of Chen Haoran, she spent a lot of money and overdrew her funds. She didn't even have money to eat at the cafeteria and often went hungry or ate very little.

That was when he noticed her, and they slowly got to know each other.

Hearing this, Chen Haoran was utterly speechless.

He couldn't care less why Zhang Xue was scammed.

All he knew was that he had been beaten up for no reason by a group of people who not only tried to steal his motorcycle but also almost stripped him of his clothes.

"Let's go down to the station. I want to see how you explain this."

Ultimately, Zhang Xue was taken away for investigation.

Because she had dragged Chen Haoran into this, she was required to compensate him and apologize.

Chen Haoran didn't intend to send her to jail over this, but she had to learn her lesson. He had made it clear before; aside from a brief initial attraction and helping her out, he had never done anything to cause misunderstandings. They had barely interacted in the past six months, yet who knew Zhang Xue would go around spouting such nonsense.

If he didn't force her to give up, he might be dragged down again in the future.

Besides, Zhang Xue's outcome was already miserable enough.

Soon, the news of Zhang Xue's arrest became widely known.

Those who had been coaxed into spending money because of her couldn't get their money back. Once they confirmed Zhang Xue had been peddling fake goods, their parents all rushed to report her for fraud.

Due to the severity of the situation, the school ordered Zhang Xue to pay compensation, apologize, and recorded a major demerit on her file.

This meant she might not graduate smoothly, and even if she did, her future prospects would be severely impacted, to the point where she might not even find a job.

However, this wasn't the worst part. Because the matter had blown up, Zhang Xue's family found out and scolded her harshly, telling her she was better off dead.

They stopped answering her phone calls.

As a student unable to produce the money, she had lost all face at school and lived in constant fear of being taken away by loan sharks.

Under such extreme mental pressure and dual blows, Zhang Xue actually chose to commit suicide.

Although she was saved, she was sent home by the school due to her unstable emotional state.

It seemed as though the incident had suddenly come to an end.

People at school stopped bringing it up, and Liu Nana became withdrawn.

When Chen Haoran heard the news, he also felt a lot of psychological pressure.

Although he believed he hadn't done anything wrong, he still felt regret.

He regretted getting involved with Zhang Xue in the first place, because if it weren't for him, she might not have ended up like this.

By the time Si Nian heard about the incident, quite some time had passed.

She remained silent for a long time after hearing it, not expecting things to turn out this way.

In the future, there would actually be many students like Zhang Xue who went astray due to vanity.

But Si Nian didn't feel sorry for Zhang Xue, because when she had tried to warn her earlier, Zhang Xue thought she was just jealous of her success.

One could only say that pitiful people often have their own hateful traits.

Si Nian stopped paying attention to the matter.

Chen Haoran, on the other hand, became much more mature and steady, and no longer liked to flirt with girls.

It seemed the incident had cast a considerable shadow over him, turning the prodigal son around.

Given his track record of getting poisoned by wild mushrooms one moment and getting beaten up the next.

Chen Nan planned to send him to learn some martial arts from Zhou Yueshen.

He knew that Zhou Yueshen used to be able to take down a whole regiment in the army with just his fists.

He was practically invincible throughout the army.

Hearing that his son also practiced martial arts every day, he immediately introduced his own son to him.

It just so happened that Zhou Yueshen's wife was about to give birth, so he gave him some time off, doing him a favor.

Zhou Yueshen didn't have any objections. Second Child was practicing alone without a companion anyway, so it was fine if he came.

In front of him, Chen Haoran was like a mouse meeting a cat, meek and submissive.

He had seen it with his own eyes that day; this Uncle Zhou had easily sent that group of armed thugs flying with just a few moves.

At that time, he was completely dumbfounded. As someone who previously thought he was a fierce fighter, witnessing the other party's skills made him realize his own martial arts were merely amateurish.

Just thinking back on it was enough to make him blush.

So much so that his form of address for Si Nian went from Sister to Auntie and finally to Master's Wife.

He even became Second Child's junior martial brother.

Hey, hey, hey, can you still hold on? It's only been ten minutes and you already can't hold your squat. Don't make me look down on you.

Early this morning, Chen Haoran came over to exercise and was told by Zhou Yueshen to practice the horse stance in the courtyard.

After squatting for about ten minutes, this guy's legs were shaking like a sieve.

Si Nian sat on a chair to the side cracking melon seeds like it was none of her business, casually supervising the training of the adult and the child.

This had already become her favorite way to pass the time during her pregnancy.

Just watching Chen Haoran, a big 1.8-meter-tall man, keeping his head down and squatting in a horse stance next to Second Child to train his lower body foundation every day, she couldn't help but find it hilarious.

Today was Sunday, and on Sundays, his and Second Child's training would be doubled.

Because Second Child was still young, he couldn't be over-trained for fear it would stunt his growth, so his training intensity was not very high.

But Chen Haoran was different. He was already an adult, so naturally, he had to be trained ruthlessly. Otherwise, with a training intensity like Second Child's, it probably wouldn't yield any results for three to five years.

Yaoyao, the Little Tuanzi, was quietly and obediently playing with the small shovel and chili seeds Si Nian had bought for her yesterday.

They didn't actually learn much at her kindergarten usually; it was mostly just for play. Occasionally, the teacher would assign a task, and this time the task was for the parents to help them plant vegetables. If they successfully grew them, they would get a little red flower.

Yaoyao told Si Nian about this as soon as she got home. In her limited memories, she knew that both her eldest and second brothers really liked little red flowers, and they could get little red flowers both at school and at home.

Little red flowers could be exchanged for gifts.

However, Yaoyao had only ever received little red flowers at home, never from a teacher.

So as soon as she got home, she pulled Si Nian along, wanting to plant little vegetables.

She had planted vegetables with Si Nian before, so she still had some impression of how to do it.

Right now, she was busy sorting her seeds, occasionally looking up at the adult and child in the courtyard before retracting her gaze to continue her work.

Early this morning, Zhou Yueshen had been sent out by Si Nian to dig up some mud for their daughter.

Chen Haoran held it in, his face flushed red.

He had never exercised growing up, and he was actually quite a restless person with little patience.

Running was alright, but making him do push-ups and horse stances was asking for his life.

He wanted to stand up and take a rest, but he was afraid Si Nian would tattle on him.

He knew very well that this woman had been treating him as her source of entertainment these past few days.

As soon as Master Zhou returned, she would eagerly go over and tattle, saying he was slacking off.

It left him trembling with fear.

Right now, he naturally knew that Si Nian was just waiting to see him get taught a lesson.

He didn't know what he had done to offend her.

Chen Haoran gritted his teeth, holding on entirely out of sheer stubbornness.

The stubbornness of absolutely not letting Si Nian enjoy a good show!

Si Nian truly hadn't expected Chen Haoran to actually persevere. By the time the session ended, he hadn't slacked off at all. When it was over, he immediately collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air, tired as a dog.

She yawned in disappointment, stood up, and just as she was about to go into the house to get something to eat, she heard Yaoyao speak up in confusion, Mommy, pants are wet.

She froze for a moment, glanced down, and immediately stopped in her tracks, her expression turning slightly stiff.

Was she about to give birth?

But wasn't it not yet her due date?

Since getting pregnant, Si Nian hadn't felt any major discomfort.

The only major change was feeling that her belly had grown bigger.

Her physical constitution was good, and with Zhou Yueshen taking care of her, her pregnancy had been a breeze.

So she didn't have a very real sense of it.

This was the first time she stood stiffly in place for a long time, until even Chen Haoran noticed something was wrong.

What are you standing there blankly for? Holy crap! What happened?

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw that Si Nian's pants were wet.

He was startled and rushed over, ignoring his weak legs.

He wasn't a fool; he knew that in this situation, Si Nian was definitely about to give birth.

He heard her due date was next week, so his dad had even specially given Master Zhou time off.

The price was taking him on as an apprentice.

What do we do? What do we do? I don't know how, I don't know how to deliver a baby...

Before Si Nian could even speak, Chen Haoran had already lost his head.

Black lines formed on Si Nian's forehead. Who wants you to deliver my baby? Take me to the hospital.

She frowned. Zhou Yueshen hadn't been gone for long, and there was no soil nearby, so she didn't know where he had gone to dig.

She couldn't wait for him right now.

Even though she was the one who sent him out, not having her man by her side at such an important moment actually made her feel a bit upset and aggrieved.

We have a car at home. The car keys are on the table in the house. You should know how to drive, right?

Xiao Han, go inside and help Mommy get her bag. Everything we need is in there.

Si Nian admired herself; at this moment, her mind was quite calm. Even though she had a due date, Zhou Yueshen had packed everything in advance out of fear of unexpected situations.

Just in case of an emergency.

Now it was finally coming in handy.

Second Child stood there blankly for a long time before realizing that his mother was about to give birth to a younger brother or sister. He was stunned for a moment before snapping back to reality and sprinting into the house.

He nearly tripped over the threshold.

Si Nian turned to look at her daughter, who was staring at her in bewilderment, still clutching her little shovel. Yaoyao, you and your second brother stay home and be good. Later, when Daddy comes back, tell him we went to the hospital and have him go to the hospital to find Mommy, okay?

Your eldest brother isn't home, so you and your second brother shouldn't run around.

Zhou Zedong had carried his schoolbag and gone to the library to read early in the morning.

He basically spent all his days off immersed in the library.

Because it wasn't very convenient to borrow books and bring them home to read.

Si Nian hadn't expected that at this critical moment, the two most reliable males in the family would both be absent.

Yaoyao nodded hurriedly, gripping her little shovel tightly. Mommy, I'll wait for Daddy!

Second Child had already run back carrying Si Nian's bag. Chen Haoran supported Si Nian as she got into the car. As soon as Si Nian bent over, she could feel discomfort and a cramping pain.

However, Chen Haoran was panicking. He usually loved riding motorcycles and rarely drove cars; he had only driven his dad's car out of curiosity when he was younger.

His driving skills were not good at all.

Now that he was in the car, he was completely bewildered and didn't know what to do.

Si Nian hissed in pain several times. Seeing him sitting there blankly, too nervous to tell anything apart.

He was just a reckless kid after all. She gritted her teeth and said, Alright, get out. I'll drive.

It was only a five-minute drive from here.

She had never been in a car driven by Chen Haoran, and to be honest, Si Nian was a bit worried.

To prevent any accidents, she hurriedly supported herself and got out of the car.

Sure enough, at crucial moments, she could only rely on herself.

Chen Haoran got out looking crestfallen and worried to death. What do we do, what do we do? Can you drive? Are you in a lot of pain...

His incessant chattering was too annoying. Si Nian scolded, Shut up and get in the car quickly.

She could feel her own condition; it wasn't too intense yet, and she knew she could still hold on, but if they delayed any further, she wouldn't be sure if she could make it.

Si Nian had secretly driven Zhou Yueshen's car before, so naturally, she knew how to drive.

After all, she was someone who had lived through two lifetimes; her mentality was far more mature than that of her peers.

She got into the car, stepped on the clutch, and shifted gears in one seamless motion, leaving Chen Haoran completely dumbfounded in the passenger seat.

He had never imagined that a woman who was about to go into labor could drive with such calm precision.

The car quickly arrived at the hospital entrance.

Perhaps he was simply too nervous, but Chen Haoran fell flat on his face as he stumbled out of the car.

When he turned around, he saw Si Nian turn off the ignition and brace herself as she stepped out, staring at him with a look of utter disdain.

Chen Haoran's face flushed a deep, embarrassed red.

He then watched as Si Nian found a doctor and calmly announced that she was going into labor. The doctor took one quick look and urgently ordered, Her water broke! Hurry, bring a gurney over!

As Si Nian was helped onto the bed, she didn't forget to hand her bag to the doctor, mentioning that her money and identification were inside so they could help process her admission paperwork.

Clearly, she had realized that a guy like Chen Haoran was completely useless to rely on.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yueshen had just returned home carrying a woven sack of dirt when the two children rushed over, grabbing him and dragging him back out toward the hospital.

They shouted in a panic, Dad, hurry to the hospital and check on Mom! Mom is having the baby!

Zhou Yueshen's hand trembled, and the heavy sack dropped to the ground with a thud.