The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 534: Chapter 525: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone 13

Li Zhifang has been quite busy recently, working with Anning on setting up the greenhouse, and after setting it up, planting vegetables and growing seedlings, etc.

It was only after all the vegetables were planted that he, fearing a failure that might cost him money, stayed daily in the greenhouse watching over the seeds sprouting and the tiny vegetables growing, before he could finally feel relieved.

This day, as Li Zhifang was walking home with a hoe on his back, he happened to encounter a few idlers sunbathing and chatting in Xiangyang.

Seeing Li Zhifang coming, they called out to him.

Li Zhifang walked over with a smile.

One of them asked Li Zhifang, ”I’m asking you, Lao Si, just how much is a few thousand bucks? Must be quite the pile if laid out, huh?”

”Not that much.”

Li Zhifang answered vaguely.

”You really got guts, Lao Si. Never noticed such courage in you before. What if you can’t pay back the borrowed money, won’t you be jailed?”

”It must be that Geng lady who told you to borrow the money, you’re so naive. When Geng runs away with the money, you’ll be left shouldering the debts...”

Initially smiling, Li Zhifang’s face suddenly turned stern: ”What does my family’s matters have to do with you guys? Just big men gossiping behind backs. Besides, I know my wife better than you do; she would never do such a thing.”

The group laughed, ”Haha, don’t joke around. If you were good at judging people, how could you have married Wang Baozhu and let her run away?”

Enraged, Li Zhifang put down his hoe ready to strike.

Seeing this, the group didn’t want to be at a disadvantage and started beating up Li Zhifang.

When Li Zhifang said he wanted to go home, Anning was still working near the greenhouse. She asked him to go ahead, and after he left, Anning set up a formation to make the vegetables in the greenhouse grow faster and better.

As she was walking back after setting up the formation, she saw people fighting. Taking a closer look, she noticed Li Zhifang was at a disadvantage.

”What’s going on here?”

Anning shouted while simultaneously picking up a brick and smacking it down on the tall man who was beating Li Zhifang.

Quick-handed, Anning’s brick strike knocked the man to the ground.

Seeing their companion down and Anning fiercely glaring at them, the rest scattered in fright.

Anning looked at Li Zhifang lying on the ground and kicked him, ”Can you get up?”

Li Zhifang wiped his face and struggled to his feet.

Anning helped him up and picked up the hoe, ”Let’s go, let’s head home.”

Because Anning helped Li Zhifang save face and even helped him out of the encirclement, he felt grateful towards her.

Back home, Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan saw that Li Zhifang was injured and quickly gathered around him, concerned.

Liu Qi also brought Liu Ming over, ”Uncle, who beat you up, tell me, and I and Aming will bag the guy to set things straight for you.”

Though Liu Qi spoke fiercely, Li Zhifang felt warmed by it: ”It’s nothing, just tussling with some idlers. Besides, your mother already beat them up, let’s drop the matter.”

Hearing that Anning had beaten up those who attacked her father, Li Jingyan immediately felt deeply grateful to Anning and quickly thanked her.

Anning waved it off, ”What are you thanking me for? In terms of closeness, I’m no more distant from your dad than you are. I’m his wife; if I don’t help him, who will? True, you are his biological daughters, but eventually, you’ll marry and leave. When we get old, it’s good enough if you kids can stop by from time to time. We’ve got to look after each other.”

What Anning said was an unvarnished truth. Although it wasn’t sugar-coated, it deeply warmed Li Zhifang.

Anning had Li Zhifang change his clothes, then joined Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan in cooking dinner.

After entering the kitchen, Li Jingyu glanced at Li Jingyan and then squeezed the hem of his clothes, quietly calling out to Anning, ”Mom, I... I now think that what you said before was all right. From today onwards, Yan and I will call you Mom. You are just like our birth mother to us.”

Anning stroked Li Jingyu’s head, ”You can call me whatever you like, as long as our hearts are in the same place and we put our efforts together, it doesn’t matter even if you always call me Aunt.”

To tell the truth, Anning actually thought the Li Family was really quite good when Wang Baozhu wasn’t around; it wasn’t that extreme.

It was just that Li Zhifang was basically a kind and honest man.

But once Wang Baozhu came back, they all seemed brainless, starting to demean others so much.

Anning thought back to the time the original person was especially good to the three children of Li Jingyu, afraid of people saying stepmothers were no good, even treating them better than her own child, never letting the three of them do any work, prioritizing them when there was good food, and making new clothes for them first.

The original person was kind and not fond of talking much, and even though she treated them well, she didn’t say much about it.

Perhaps because of this, although the people of Li Jiazhuang knew the original person was decent, they didn’t think she treated the three stepchildren that well.

Maybe everyone had a fixed mindset, thinking how good a stepmother could really be to her stepchildren was just superficial.

But after Anning arrived, she actually wasn’t as genuinely devoted to Li Jingyu’s three as the original, and of course, she didn’t mistreat the children, but she talked more and did less. Yet surprisingly, the three grew especially close to her.

Human nature is really inscrutable.

Anning flashed through many thoughts in an instant, then asked Li Jingyan to start the fire, and Li Jingyu to help with picking vegetables and cooking.

While cooking, Li Jingyu hesitated for a while before saying to Anning, ”Mom, my study isn’t too good, I just can’t seem to learn, Liu Qi and Yan both learn better than me.”

Anning’s hands paused while cooking: ”It’s okay, we just need to try our best to learn, learning however much we can is enough.”

Li Jingyan, while tending the fire, laughed and said, ”Brother learns better than us, he is really clever, he has already mastered a lot of the second-grade books. If not, let brother teach sister.”

”That works.”

Anning smiled, ”How about this, bring your books to me, I’ve also attended literacy classes before, I know a few characters, I’ll start by learning myself, and once I have learned, I’ll teach you.”

The original person was an uneducated peasant woman who barely knew a few characters.

Even if Anning had all kinds of skills, under such a persona, she couldn’t do much but honestly farm in the village.

Could it be said to let a peasant woman known by everyone to have never attended school or read books to write papers for publication? Or to suddenly have superior medical skills? Or to get into a prestigious university?

If she really dared do that, she’d probably have been reported and maybe already locked up by now.

Anning didn’t want to always be an ignorant village woman; she needed to change little by little now.

She could start reading under the pretext of teaching the children, and of course, being clever, the setting of working hard to teach the children and learning quite a bit of knowledge herself is feasible.

Anning could spend a few years studying with the children, and once she had mastered the basics, she could begin to spread her wings slowly.

After dinner, Anning asked Li Jingyu to bring out the books for her to see.

When Liu Qi heard Anning wanted to study, he also joined in, and the children gathered around Anning to study.

Liu Ming and Li Jingyan discussed their homework at another table while writing, while Liu Qi patiently taught Anning and Li Jingyu literacy and arithmetic.

Li Zhifang walked into the house and saw this warm scene, he watched for a while, his eyes moistening as he left.

He felt somewhat upset inside, his emotions particularly complex.

He was grateful to Anning, yet he also felt guilty towards her, and then he felt especially lucky for his children.

With things weighing on his mind, Li Zhifang didn’t stay at home, and went over to Li Baolai’s place.