Transmigrated as a vicious stepmother, I raised a child who became a heartthrob.

"Hey! You bad dog! My puzzle piece!"

Jiang Ji almost gasped as she dodged the dog, looking sadly at the jigsaw puzzle on the table, which was now a complete mess, scattered everywhere.

Some puzzle pieces even have teeth marks on them, like tiny stamps.

Jiang Zhuhua patted the dog's head: "An'an, are you still going to take him for a bath?"

"wash."

Jiang Ji spoke with such venom that he was practically gritting his teeth.

The situation has been a bit unusual lately, so Jiang Zhuhua went downstairs with him to get the dog washed. At the pet store, they even bought some dog food and a huge doghouse. After all, the dog now lives at home and doesn't go upstairs. They can't let the dog sleep on the floor or a blanket every day.

"How are we going to find Huo Wang? By car or what? Someone from my kindergarten said we'd take a plane, but I've never been on one before. How about we take a plane together?"

While waiting for the dog to finish its bath, Jiang Ji chattered on and on about kindergarten, as if she wanted to share every single thing.

"sure."

Jiang Zhuhua didn't think it was a big deal.

“Then we’ll bring the dog along. It’s probably never been on an airplane or seen the ocean before.”

Jiang Ji leaned on Jiang Zhuhua's lap, her little teeth showing when she laughed.

"Of course you can. You used to hang out with that female classmate, right? Have you been chatting with her lately?"

Jiang Zhuhua hadn't forgotten the original female lead's existence. That little girl.

"We chatted. But for some reason, I felt like I didn't like her."

Speaking of this, Jiang Ji seemed a little dejected, picking at her fingernails.

“It’s not that I dislike her, I just feel sorry for her. She was brought to this city by her parents and separated from her friends. She always says she wants to be good to her parents.”

Jiang Ji didn't know how to describe that strange feeling, so he could only try his best to explain what he was thinking.

"I want to be good to you, I love you very much. But she seems a little different."

Jiang Ji is different now; she's no longer stingy with expressing her affection. As she's grown older, she's become both well-behaved and adorable. She seems to have completely emerged from the shadows of her past.

Jiang Zhuhua was very satisfied with him now. Such a young child should not be full of gloom and pain every day.

“Every time she says she should be nicer to her parents, that it wasn’t easy for them to raise her, but her eyes seem to be raining. She’s the hardest-working child I’ve ever seen. We’re all playing, but she was already learning second-grade elementary school material. She knows so many things, but she always feels like she’s stupid.”

The child might not know how to describe it, but Jiang Zhuhua gradually began to understand.

“Her mother slapped her at the kindergarten gate before. When I asked her about it, she said it was because she made a mistake by being slow to get to school and making her mother angry. But her mother is clearly unreasonable. When I do the same thing, you never scold me.”

Jiang Ji's brows furrowed involuntarily as he recalled what had happened, and he even remembered some unpleasant memories.

"Like Pei Hong."

Jiang Jidao.

The child no longer calls that person "Dad," but instead addresses him by his first name. Jiang Zhuhua once told him that not everyone is suited to be a father, and if he doesn't want to, he can call him by his full name.

Based on the child's words, Jiang Zhuhua sketched out a picture of a girl who was being mentally controlled at home, and that this girl was even suffering from a certain degree of domestic violence, whether it was emotional abuse or physical abuse.

"Does An'an still want to play with her?"

Jiang Zhuhua asked casually. Surely Jiang Ji wouldn't go down the same path as the villain again?

"No. I don't feel comfortable. There are so many children in kindergarten, I can play with many people. Even though some of them are unreasonable, they only let me have one friend."

Jiang Ji started talking about those other unreasonable friends again, saying that you only have one true friend in a lifetime. Jiang Zhuhua had heard of some of these things; it seemed that at some point in a child's life, they firmly believed that they would only have one best friend, and that friend should be the very, very best one.

Interesting.

He said some children had never seen sheep before, so they pointed at the sheep on the grass and said it was like clouds had fallen. Even though Jiang Ji himself had never seen one.

After Tiedan was washed and dried, his fur was exceptionally fluffy. He smelled wonderful and was so soft, sticking out his tongue and grinning like a little angel.

Jiang Ji excitedly darted over and plunged headfirst into the dog's fur. He really loved this Samoyed.

"Mom, I want it to sleep with me tonight."

Jiang Ji was overjoyed. Jiang Zhuhua glanced at the Samoyed wandering on the ground; in no time, the Samoyed's paws were dirty again.

"Remember to wash its paws when you get back."

What could Jiang Zhuhua say? He could only console himself that it was just letting the dog sleep on the bed, and that he had money to hire someone to clean things up.

Thankfully, I didn't have to clean it myself, otherwise my blood pressure would have skyrocketed.

Despite his leg being in a cast, Jiang Zhuhua managed to resolve all the messy issues around him. The pregnant woman was a result of sabotage by a restaurant competitor, and the car accident was kept well under wraps, with only a hint from the police suggesting it might be related to a business partner.

In short, things quickly got back on track, and some procedural issues could be handled by the staff below.

And Jiang Zhuhua?

She brought her child and wheelchair, upholding her belief in overcoming disability, and made it to the seaside. She just didn't expect to run into a familiar face outside the airport.

"Why are you here?"

Jiang Zhuhua felt her gentle face was about to crumble. She hadn't seen Pei Hui for a while. The last time she saw him was when he was in her hospital room looking after her injuries.

How did we end up here? Shouldn't the other person be busy with all sorts of things, running around in a flurry? After all, they've taken on so much responsibility.

"Do you own this place? Why can't I be here?"

Pei Hui stared at Jiang Zhuhua with a cold expression, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth and an exceptionally icy gaze. He gave off the impression that he would bite if Jiang Zhuhua dared to say anything unpleasant.

"It's not my family's business. Since you're already here, could you help me with my suitcase?"

Jiang Zhuhua would never believe that Pei Hui hadn't been tracking and investigating him. He'd barely stepped off the plane before running into someone at the exit, and of all people, it just so happened to be that exit.

Seven or eight exits? What a coincidence! Who are you trying to fool?

However, considering all that Pei Hui had done for her, coupled with his past experiences and other other feelings, Jiang Zhuhua ultimately softened and gave him a way out.

Just think of it as taking care of another child, even though this child is going through an extremely rebellious phase.