Chapter 134

Wu Meiqiong’s divorce case took an unexpected turn—so wild and out of control that even Wei Sheng hadn’t seen it coming. Like a runaway horse, it galloped straight into the trending headlines.

All because a woman happened to stumble upon the viral video and realized—shockingly—that the father of her unborn child looked suspiciously like the husband of that rural stay-at-home mom.

Who would’ve thought that Liu Gao’an, the man who cried poverty to his wife and claimed he couldn’t even afford meals while working away from home, had secretly started another family with a different woman?

According to the tearful account of the new woman, she had no idea Liu Gao’an already had a wife and two daughters back in his hometown!

“Victim No. 2,” as the internet dubbed her, worked at the same factory as Liu Gao’an. She had divorced her ex-husband because they couldn’t have children, and afterward, she took a job at a luggage factory.

She got involved with Liu Gao’an because he assured her he didn’t mind that she couldn’t have kids. As long as they loved each other, he said, children didn’t matter.

At the time, she was deeply moved. But now? Now she found out Liu Gao’an had a wife back home—and not only that, his wife had already given him two daughters!

Looking back, of course he didn’t care whether she could have kids—he already had them! Whether his girlfriend could get pregnant was irrelevant.

But fate had a wicked sense of irony. The woman who couldn’t conceive with her ex-husband? After less than six months of living with Liu Gao’an, she found out she was four months pregnant.

Overjoyed, she started planning to register their marriage and hold a proper wedding, so they could get a birth certificate for the baby. But Liu Gao’an? He was scared out of his mind.

He’d only moved in with her because he believed she was infertile—perfectly “safe.” All he had to do was whisper a few sweet nothings, and he could enjoy free meals, clean clothes, and a woman’s company without spending a dime. What a deal!

Who could’ve guessed she actually could get pregnant? Turns out, the problem wasn’t her—it was her ex-husband!

Wu Meiqiong had guessed part of it wrong. Liu Gao’an hadn’t come back just for the 200,000 yuan commission. A bigger reason he fled the factory overnight with his things was because he’d gotten another woman pregnant—and had no intention of taking responsibility for her or the baby.

Well, well. Wu Meiqiong’s lawyer had basically won the case without lifting a finger.

It might not be fair to the woman who was tricked into this mess, but the truth was—she and her unborn child were the strongest evidence Wu Meiqiong could ever hope for in her divorce case.

Either Liu Gao’an agreed to the divorce, or they’d sue him for bigamy and send him straight to prison. Take your pick, buddy.

Faced with pressure from both women, Liu Gao’an—who had once strutted around so arrogantly—was now a complete wreck.

Two months later.

Holding the freshly issued divorce certificate in her hands, Wu Meiqiong burst into tears of joy.

The woman who had been pregnant with that scumbag’s child had since gotten an abortion and moved to another city. Before she left, she came to see Wu Meiqiong. Despite being a victim herself, she still felt the need to apologize.

“You don’t need to apologize to me,” Wu Meiqiong shook her head. “This was never your fault. The one who owes us both an apology is that bastard Liu Gao’an.”

“Exactly! And even if he crawls back on his knees begging you for forgiveness, don’t you dare go soft on him again. Men like him can’t be trusted,” the woman said with a laugh. “But I guess I should thank him. At least now I know—I *can* have children.”

“I’m leaving now. Going somewhere new. This time, I’m going to listen to the old folks—dating, engagement, marriage, all in proper order. I’m going to keep my eyes wide open and find a decent man. Bride price, marriage certificate—I won’t skip a single step. Then I’ll have two kids and never again live with someone without a name or a title.”

After the divorce, Wu Meiqiong moved with her two daughters into the house the film crew had rented during shooting.

Earlier, the director had been worried about having enough time to film, and since rent in Huazhi Village was dirt cheap—a whole three-story house for under 5,000 yuan a year—he’d gone ahead and rented it for six months.

Now that the production wrapped early, the house was supposed to be returned to the landlord. But when Wei Sheng learned that Wu Meiqiong and her daughters had nowhere to go, he talked to the director and got the keys for her, letting her stay there temporarily.

What he didn’t expect was that Liu Gaomei also packed her things and moved in.

“This house is huge. I’ll move in and keep Meiqiong company. Saves me from worrying about that shameless cousin of mine coming around to bother her again,” Liu Gaomei said bluntly. “Besides, my mom and my sister-in-law have always looked down on me. My mom keeps nagging me to remarry. Hah! Think I’m an embarrassment for coming home divorced? They seem to forget—when my brother got married and built his house, he used *my* bride price money! I paid for that house, and now I’m not even allowed to live in it?”

And so, two women with nowhere else to go, each with their own children, ended up forming a strange but brand-new family.

Liu Gaomei’s parents and younger brother had always resented her for staying at her parents’ house after her divorce, claiming she was making them the laughingstock of the village.

But now that she’d moved out with her child and was living with Wu Meiqiong, it made them look even worse—like their family couldn’t even take in their own daughter and grandchild.

Suddenly, the villagers stopped mocking them and instead turned into self-righteous busybodies, scolding them with saintly concern: “No matter what, Liu Gaomei is still your daughter. She got divorced and had nowhere to go, so she came home. If you won’t take care of her, fine—but how could you *kick her out*?”

Liu Gaomei’s parents were livid. How was it that no matter what they did, they were always the ones getting blamed?

Let their daughter live at home with her kid? The villagers mocked them behind their backs.

Daughter moves out? The villagers accuse them of being heartless monsters.

Too embarrassed to face their daughter directly, they sent their son to sneak over at night with gifts, trying to persuade Liu Gaomei to move back home. “You’ve got a home—why stay out here?”

Between being laughed at and being condemned, Liu Gaomei’s parents decisively chose the former.

Liu Gaomei had originally planned to give her younger brother a good tongue-lashing to vent her frustration. But then she remembered—wasn’t there something she needed help from her family with right now? What perfect timing.

Since you’ve come knocking yourselves, don’t blame me for taking advantage.

With that thought, Liu Gaomei immediately put on a pitiful act, dabbing at her eyes as she played the victim in front of her brother.

“You think I don’t want to live in my own home? I just didn’t want to cause trouble for you two. You’re not single anymore—you’re married now, you have a wife. Me staying at our parents’ place all the time… even if you and your wife don’t mind, her family’s bound to look down on you for it.”

“Little brother, if you really care about your sister, go talk to Mom and Dad. See if they can ask our uncles to help get us a plot of land for a house. I’m willing to pay market price!”

“But… it’s really hard to get land approved in the countryside these days. What if it doesn’t go through?”

“If it doesn’t, I won’t blame you. There are plenty of empty houses in the village anyway. Worst case, I’ll just keep renting.” Liu Gaomei wiped her tears with a tissue, and seeing her brother’s conflicted expression, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of sympathy for their parents.

They’d spoiled him since he was little, never letting him lift a finger, handling everything for him. They thought they were loving him, but in truth, they’d crippled him.

If her brother had any backbone or sense of responsibility, even if he couldn’t take her in right now, could he really not spare a bit of money for his own sister? Even secretly slipping a couple hundred yuan to his niece would be better than standing here pretending to be all torn up about it. That would at least make him look like a man.

Sure enough, the moment Liu Gaomei mentioned that if the land couldn’t be approved, she’d keep renting in the village, her brother’s face turned sour. After a few awkward pleasantries, he made a quick exit.

A few days later, good news came from her parents’ side—while it was indeed difficult to get a new plot of land approved in the village, they’d heard that a family was planning to sell their old house, along with the land it sat on. The catch? They wanted 120,000 yuan, paid in full.

Old houses in Huazhi Village never used to be worth that much. Clearly, the viral video Xiang Lei had posted had brought a wave of attention to the once-unknown little fishing village, and now it was starting to take off.

Spending 120,000 on a rundown house and a patch of land did seem steep, but then Liu Gaomei remembered what Wei Sheng had said—once tourism in Huazhi Village picked up, property values would soar. Without hesitation, she personally went to the owner, bargained the price down to 110,000, and paid it all in one go.

She didn’t have enough money on her own, so she talked it over with Wu Meiqiong. The two of them brought in a middleman to draft an agreement, each paying half to secure the property.

When Wei Sheng heard they’d bought the land, he was thrilled. He found a lawyer to draft a formal agreement, and once the contracts were signed, the three families’ partnership was officially established.

Meanwhile, Liang Yi had been taking Hu Qianqian out to dinner more and more frequently, or driving her to the pet hospital to get Mantou bathed and vaccinated—his attentiveness was starting to seriously get on Wei Sheng’s nerves. So when the deal for the land in Huazhi Village was finalized, Wei Sheng couldn’t wait to share the good news with Hu Qianqian.

When Hu Qianqian found out her son had quietly prepared such a surprise for her, she lost all interest in running her shop. Wei Sheng seized the moment to play the sympathy card, saying he was swamped with work and didn’t have time to oversee the homestay project. He was worried that Wu Meiqiong and the others wouldn’t be able to manage the construction crew properly, and if the workers cut corners, wouldn’t all their money go to waste?

“You just focus on your work. I’ll go to Huazhi Village and keep an eye on things,” Hu Qianqian said. The very next day, she packed her suitcase and headed straight for the village.

That kind of decisive action—definitely inherited from her son.

On the other side, when Liang Yi heard that Wei Sheng had actually gotten his mom a seaside cottage, he was practically fuming.

Because Hu Qianqian wasn’t planning to remarry anytime soon, he’d been playing the long game—boiling the frog slowly, so to speak—trying to ease her into accepting his presence. He’d just started to make some headway, even convincing her to join him next month on a legal aid trip to a coastal city, with a bit of sightseeing on the side. And now Wei Sheng had pulled the rug out from under him by gifting her a seaside home!

Liang Yi: “…”

He was livid! It’s not like he couldn’t afford a seaside cottage! He could buy ten if he wanted to! The problem was, she wouldn’t accept it!

No wonder people say being a stepfather is the hardest job in the world… Liang Yi was seething inside, but he still had to play nice with Wei Sheng. After all, a “stepson” at Wei Sheng’s age wasn’t someone you could win over with toys or red envelopes anymore.

Truth be told, Liang Yi had plenty of ways to get Wei Sheng to accept his relationship with Hu Qianqian. If he were ruthless, he could easily stir up trouble with her ex-husband—have someone egg him on, saying Hu Qianqian and her son were doing well now. Then, when the Wei family came around to cause problems, Liang Yi could swoop in like a hero to save the day. Even if Wei Sheng didn’t like it, for the sake of getting his mother out of her ex’s clutches once and for all, he’d have no choice but to accept Liang Yi.

As a seasoned lawyer who’d seen the worst of human nature, Liang Yi had a hundred ways to make Wei Sheng hand his mother over willingly.

But he couldn’t bring himself to use even one.

The saying goes, “He who loves first, loses first.” How painfully true.

Just thinking about the name Wei Zhiyong made him feel like it defiled the goddess in his heart. How could he possibly bring himself to let such a filthy man come back and entangle Hu Qianqian again?

So, he had no choice but to keep trying to win over Wei Sheng the hard way.

From that moment on, Gongyi Law Firm became Wei Sheng’s domain.

Even Liang Yi’s business partners knew he was trying to win over Wei Sheng’s mother—and he was going all out to please this “stepson.” When Wei Sheng mentioned he wanted to use the law firm’s office space to shoot a short drama, Liang Yi didn’t even bother asking which room they needed. He simply gave the entire firm a three-day holiday, cleared out the whole place, and let Wei Sheng pick whatever he wanted.

Wei Sheng, for his part, was curious to see just how far Liang Yi would go for his mother. Not only did he borrow the space, he also kept bringing the script over for Liang Yi to help revise.

What he didn’t expect was that the more he acted out, the more delighted the entire Liang family seemed to be.

Grandma Liang, worried her son might take it the wrong way, even pulled him aside to remind him, “The kid’s grown up—if he’s making a fuss, that’s a good thing. What you should be worried about is if he doesn’t make a fuss at all. That means he’s testing you. Don’t lose your patience. If Qianqian finds out you’re treating Wei Sheng badly, I’d like to see how you plan to marry her!”

Of course Liang Yi understood this.

If Wei Sheng really didn’t want him and Hu Qianqian to be together, he wouldn’t be bothering him at all. He’d go straight to Qianqian and say something like, “Lawyers are all schemers—not exactly ideal second-husband material,” or some such thing…

But instead of whispering poison in Hu Qianqian’s ear, Wei Sheng chose to clash with him head-on. Deep down, Liang Yi was actually quite pleased.

What did that mean? It meant that, at the very least, in Wei Sheng’s eyes, Liang Yi was qualified to be his “stepfather.” The kid was only acting out because he didn’t want to ruin the relationship. He was upset, so he needed to vent a little.

Fine, let him vent. Liang Yi would just treat it like dealing with a particularly picky client.

With that mindset, Liang Yi threw himself into the project, investing both money and effort to help Wei Sheng complete the first season of *Legal Education Short Drama*.

Short dramas didn’t face the same strict censorship as primetime TV. Once production wrapped, thanks to Zhou Mingxing’s connections, the series officially launched on a certain video platform just before winter break.

The great lawyer Liang Yi, currently doing everything he could to win over his stepson, immediately switched into his web novelist persona. Dropping his usual aloof demeanor, he uncharacteristically promoted what looked like a rather cheesy online short drama.

His readers were stunned. The comment section exploded:

“Teacher Wang Wu, if you’ve been kidnapped, blink twice! We can crowdfund your ransom—no need to stoop so low and promote some brainless feel-good web drama!”

To this, Wang Wu—cough, Liang Yi—had only one reply: *“Trust me! It’s really good!”*

These days, online short dramas were either mindless power fantasies or over-the-top melodramas that made you question your life choices. What could possibly be “really good” about one?

Still, Wang Wu had only posted a short update today. After catching up, the readers had nothing better to do, and that “Trust me! It’s really good!” line had piqued their curiosity.

The first few episodes were free anyway—why not give it a shot?

If it turned out to be trash, they could always come back and roast him in the comments.

But what left the readers both confused and unsettled was that the moment they clicked on the short drama titled *The Fierce Wife Arrives*, it was like the director had cast a spell on them. One episode turned into two, then three… before they knew it, they’d binged all three episodes released on launch day.

“What do you mean that’s it? Can’t we get early access with a membership? I’d even pay per episode! Why stop here?!”

Just half an hour ago, they were questioning Wang Wu’s sanity. Now, they were flooding the comments, grumbling and begging for more episodes.

(End of Chapter)