Ye Linchen was somewhat stunned by the middle-aged man's sharp gaze and subconsciously turned his head and called out into the house.

"Shen Yanlin, someone is looking for you."

Shen Yanlin, who was engrossed in writing and drawing on the draft paper, raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

Looking for me?

He put down his pen and slowly walked to the door.

When Shen Yanlin saw who was standing outside the door, he was stunned for two seconds.

"dad?"

When Shen Yanlin's father saw that Shen Yanlin was indeed there, still acting nonchalantly, he was immediately enraged and slapped him across the face.

The sharp "snap" sounded particularly jarring in the quiet alley.

Ye Linchen was startled and instinctively took a step back.

Shen Yanlin's head was knocked to one side by the slap, and a clear handprint quickly appeared on his cheek.

He remained in that position without reacting.

After a while, he straightened up and chuckled.

"You traveled all this way back just to beat me up?"

Pointing at Shen Yanlin, Shen's father angrily rebuked, "Shouldn't you have been beaten?! Instead of studying properly, you hang out with shady characters, and you're even arguing and pulling at someone's house late at night! What kind of behavior is this?! Don't you have any shame?!"

Hearing the commotion, Lin Xiaojuan and Feng Linlin rushed out of the house and asked anxiously, "What happened? What's wrong?"

When Shen's father saw that there were two young girls in the room, he was first stunned, then became even angrier.

He pointed at Shen Yanlin and cursed, "Outrageous! He's entangled with three girls!"

Ye Linchen was displeased and, disregarding the fact that he was Shen Yanlin's father, stared directly at him without fear.

"Old comrade, explain yourself clearly! What do you mean by 'neither fish nor fowl'? What do you mean by 'shameless'? We are all students in Class 1, Grade 12 of the steel mill's affiliated school. We study together after class, help each other, and prepare for the college entrance examination. What's the problem?!"

Seeing that Ye Linchen dared to talk back, Shen's father became even more furious. Pointing at her, he shouted, "What kind of studying is he?! The homeroom teacher said he hasn't been to class for several days! Is this how one studies?!"

Ye Linchen wanted to argue, but Shen Yanlin stopped him.

Shen Yanlin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and sneered.

"Yes, I hang out with 'shady' people, and I don't study, so what? Is it any of your business?"

"Aren't you only focused on your work?"

"Why are you pretending to be a strict father in front of me now, showing concern for my studies?"

"I'm telling you, you don't deserve it!"

Speechless with anger, Shen's father turned ashen and remained speechless for a long time. Enraged, he raised his hand to strike Shen Yanlin again.

This time, Shen Yanlin was on guard and grabbed his father's hand. He stiffened his neck and stared at his father without showing any weakness.

"What right do you have to hit me?"

"You've never fulfilled your responsibilities as a father, so what right do you have to exercise fatherly rights?"

"You have no right to tell me what to do!"

Enraged by his missed attack, Shen's father grabbed Shen Yanlin's arm and tried to drag him away.

"Come back with me! We'll talk at home! Let's see if I have the right to hit you! Let's see if I have the right to discipline you!"

Shen Yanlin struggled violently and roared, "Let go of me! You don't deserve to be my father!"

Ye Linchen and the other two saw the two of them wrestling together and didn't know what to do.

During the struggle, Uncle Shen arrived.

Seeing this, he sighed helplessly.

As expected, another fight broke out.

He quickly stepped forward, separated the two, and advised, "Let's talk this out! Don't resort to violence."

He turned to Shen's father and said, "Alright, you don't need to worry about it for now. I'll talk to Xiaoyan. Xiaoyan, let's talk about it when we get home."

Shen Yanlin raised his neck and refused to leave. Uncle Shen glanced at the neighbor who had come out after hearing the noise and whispered to persuade him.

"Xiao Yan, stop making a scene here, it's not a good look."

Shen Yanlin also felt it was inappropriate to make noise here with Ye Linchen, so he forcefully shook off Uncle Shen's hand and said to Ye Linchen and the other two, "I'm leaving first."

After saying that, he left without looking back.

"Xiao Yan, wait for me."

Uncle Shen, disregarding Shen's father, quickly chased after him.

Standing outside the door, Mr. Shen's gaze swept over Ye Linchen, Feng Linlin, and Lin Xiaojuan, his tone stern.

“You’re all girls, so I don’t want to be harsh. I can’t control whether you’re shameless or not, but Shen Yanlin is different from you. He’s going to take the military academy entrance exam and join the army. He’s not on the same level as you. Stay away from Shen Yanlin from now on. If you keep messing around with him, don’t blame me for being impolite!”

His words immediately caused an uproar among Ye Linchen and the other two.

Feng Linlin, being straightforward, was the first to fire.

"What do you mean by 'bad'? What do you mean by 'messing around'? Watch your mouth! Which of the three of us had bad grades? Go ask around, we're all children of steel mill workers, respectable families, what gives you the right to talk to us like that?!"

Lin Xiaojuan blushed with anger and echoed her sentiment.

"Exactly! We get together every night to study and help each other, how does that count as fooling around? Which eye of yours saw us doing anything improper?!"

Ye Linchen retorted without holding back.

"Sir, you are far too arrogant! What have we done wrong to deserve such humiliation? You are dressed like a respectable person, someone who seems reasonable, so how can you say such things?! What makes you think you are superior to us? Let me tell you, all people are born equal, there is no distinction between different classes!"

Lin Xiaojuan immediately chimed in, "We are also our parents' darlings, no less than your son!"

Ye Linchen added, "They look respectable on the surface, but their thoughts are so dirty. Boys and girls getting together is considered fooling around? Then every class in school has both boys and girls, wouldn't that be even more fooling around..."

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!