The children, sensing their imminent departure, immediately obeyed Di Mingjue's instructions and hurried upstairs.
Echoing his words in her mind, she felt a mix of curiosity about his plans and fear that she wouldn't be able to handle the consequences.
Shen Meixiu unintentionally looked up and her gaze met Di Mingjue's.
"You think I'm afraid of you?" Shen Meixiu stubbornly bit her lip, unwilling to apologize or admit her mistakes.
Ye Ziyu had already been taken away, and they were too busy looking for her to bother with him.
The children came downstairs with small suitcases. Di Mingjue looked back at the sound and walked forward to take the suitcase from Yu Ze's hand.
As he left, he looked at Shen Meixiu, who appeared smug, as if she had won this confrontation. "Whether I'm afraid or not isn't important. What's important is that you have to bear all the consequences for what you've done."
With that, he didn't linger to check Shen Meixiu's expression and left the living room with the children.
Xingxing watched them leave, his eyes filled with envy. If his parents were still alive, would they have protected him like this when he was bullied?
Facing his enemy, Xingxing didn't know why his hatred wasn't as strong as before. Whether it was because of Ye Ziyu or because he had been around them for too long, he felt that Di Mingjue wasn't such a bad person, and his parents' deaths seemed to have little to do with him.
As the thought occupied his mind, Xingxing became flustered. He subconsciously shook his head, trying to drive the thought away.
"Are you mocking me?" Shen Meixiu turned back and saw Xingxing shaking his head.
She couldn't control Di Mingjue and them, but she could still control Xingxing.
Shen Meixiu rushed towards Xingxing like the wind, her slender fingernails pinching his cheeks. "I told you that in this family, you need to be clear about who to please to be useful. Raising an outsider is indeed worse than raising a dog!"
As the words entered his ears, Xingxing felt a strong push, sending him crashing onto the sofa. His lower back was caught by two hands, preventing him from falling.
Xingxing quickly looked up and saw Di Mingjue, who was protecting him.
Why did he come back?
Di Mingjue withdrew his hands after Xingxing steadied himself. He looked at Shen Meixiu, who was unrepentant and still resorting to violence against the child behind his back. "It seems necessary to tell Father Ye about you bullying the children at home."
Tell Ye Qianzhi?
This wouldn't do! If he found out, she would be finished. The feelings she had painstakingly built up would be ruined.
Shen Meixiu was very anxious, but when she spoke, her tone remained strong and carried a hint of threat. "Don't make me laugh. I am the wife of the Ye family, and it's not your place to lecture me or badmouth me behind my back. Do you really think that just because Ye Ziyu is an illegitimate daughter and came to the Ye family, you have any right to speak?"
"Dad, you heard that, right?" Di Mingjue picked up the phone that had been on his leg and asked into the phone, looking at Shen Meixiu's changing expression.
He hadn't intended to get involved in the Ye family's affairs, nor did he plan to seek retribution for Shen Meixiu slapping Xiao Ran at the time. It was all because she hadn't seized the opportunity.
"Let her take the phone!"
Hearing the familiar voice from the phone, Shen Meixiu was too scared to take it.
Di Mingjue had important matters to attend to and didn't have time to waste here. Seeing Shen Meixiu not reaching out, he said into the phone, "Dad, I have to leave for now. If you have anything to say, call her directly, and you can talk at your leisure."
"Alright, go ahead."
After hanging up, before Di Mingjue could put his phone back into his pocket, the landline phone beside the sofa rang.