Chapter 91 Corporal Punishment
"As long as it's not your blood."
With her heart at ease, Fang Fang quickly urged Li Shuaishuai to go inside and change his clothes.
Even though it wasn't his own blood, it still looked rather creepy.
"Grandma, why is she here!"
Cui Niang's belly was already swollen high. Li Shuaishuai hated this culprit who caused his parents' divorce, so how could he possibly have a kind expression?
"Handsome." Cui Niang stroked her belly and even greeted him with a smile.
Li Shuaishuai was furious and turned to leave, saying, "I'm going to Nianping's house for dinner."
Fang Fang chased after him to the door, but could only see Li Shuaishuai's back as he quickly rushed into the door next door.
"Get out of here!"
"Mom." Cui Niang frowned and stomped her foot angrily, then turned to Fang Fang and said, "Please don't be angry. Let me say a few heartfelt words before I leave... okay?"
Fang Fang looked at her suspiciously.
Although this courtyard wasn't particularly crowded before, it seemed so deserted since Li Zhong passed away that even your voice would echo.
Another relative lives at the daughter's house and only occasionally returns to Guanming Hutong.
Only the uncle and aunt remained in the courtyard. To avoid suspicion, Li Yi couldn't stay at home all day, so he usually went out with Gao Tiejun in the mornings to find people to play chess and chat.
Fang Fang is the only one in this courtyard right now.
"I don't think Li Shuaishuai is close to you at all. He's still young and he's always running to the neighbor's house... I bet he won't even come home when he gets older!"
Fang Fang: "..."
After leaving Ruanqiu, Li Shuaishuai treated the place next door as his home, while the Li family would only occasionally come back to stay, like in a hotel.
Seeing that Fang Fang did not refute, Cui Niang was overjoyed, knowing that she had found a breakthrough.
“But the one in my belly is different. Huguo said that if we get married, we’ll move back home. After the baby is born, we’ll have to trouble you to take care of it. So I’ll go help out at Huguo’s company… How could your grandson, whom you raised single-handedly, not be close to you?”
"Besides, think about it. You can still move around now, but when you get old, you'll have trouble even washing clothes. You'll still have to rely on Huguo and me to take care of you!"
"Huguo is your only family in this world!"
"mom!"
Perhaps because Fang Fang's interest was too obvious, Cui Niang became even more excited as she spoke.
Chen Yun stood at the courtyard gate and listened for a few minutes before pursing her lips and walking down the steps.
"That's not necessarily true."
The sudden interruption startled the two women, especially Cui Niang, who had been talking animatedly. Upon seeing Chen Yun, the hairs on her neck stood on end in fright.
The memory of being humiliated by my neighbors in the alley is still vivid in my mind.
"Aunt Fang, don't be fooled by some people!" Chen Yun crossed her arms and slowly walked over to Cui Niang: "Her belly is quite big, but whose child is it...who knows!"
The ambiguous look in her eyes startled Cui Niang, who clutched her stomach and took two steps back, exclaiming, "What nonsense are you spouting! The child is Li Huguo's!"
"What! Feeling guilty?" Chen Yun laughed again.
"Why would I be guilty! I'm not afraid of your nonsense!"
“Since you’re not guilty, then listen to me.” Chen Yun smiled and raised his chin, circling Cui Niang halfway around. “I know everything. Your first target wasn’t Li Huguo, but my lover… Unfortunately, no matter how much you tried to seduce him, he never even gave you a second glance. That’s why you turned to seducing Li Huguo.”
Fang Fang's face turned ashen, her gloomy gaze fixed on Cui Niang's belly.
"And you probably don't know this, but I was the one who helped Li Huguo and Ruanqiu get pregnant back then. Do you think I don't know whether Li Huguo can get you pregnant?"
Gao Ming was always oblivious when it came to matters of the heart and didn't realize that Cui Niang had been flirting with him earlier. It was Ma Lao Niang and Yang Ju Hua who noticed the clues.
A few days ago, Old Ma brought Ma Cuifen to our door to deliver a thank-you gift, and Chen Yun overheard her mentioning it.
She immediately replaced Gao Ming after failing to seduce him. No one would believe that she and Li Huguo developed feelings for each other over time, and Fang Fang certainly wouldn't believe it either.
"Xiao Chen, what did you mean by what you just said?"
Fang Fang was more concerned about Chen Yun's later words, so she hurriedly squeezed past Cui Niang to stand in front of her and asked him questions.
Chen Yun smiled at Cui Niang, his gaze falling on her bulky cotton-padded coat: "Auntie, Li Huguo looks healthy, but his sperm quality is actually not good... Ruan Qiu suffered a lot because of her pregnancy!"
Back then, the testing available at the hospital was limited, and Chen Yun always thought that the couple's inability to conceive might be due to genetic rejection.
After the two returned from the provincial capital for their medical check-up, Ruanqiu gave the same answer: both of them were in good health.
In fact, during the trip to the provincial capital, it was discovered that Li Huguo had oligospermia, and the chances of him getting pregnant were extremely slim. Ruanqiu had already prepared herself to never have children for the rest of her life.
Later, whether it was due to the effectiveness of the traditional Chinese medicine prescribed by Chen Yun or she was just lucky, Ruanqiu unexpectedly became pregnant with Li Shuaishuai.
Ruanqiu kept this secret in her heart for nearly ten years until she learned that Cui Niang was pregnant before her divorce from Li Huguo.
"Li Huguo and Cui Niang are indeed destined for each other!"
When Ruanqiu said this with a bitter smile, Chen Yun subconsciously didn't believe it... If it were really that easy, why hadn't she been able to conceive a second child for more than ten years?
Reasonable doubt...
Even if she is really pregnant, Chen Yun will not let her enter the Li family so easily.
I feel indignant for Ruanqiu... and even more so for that boy Shuaishuai.
"Tell me! Whose bastard is in your belly?!" Fang Fang angrily grabbed Cui Niang's arm and shook it.
Chen Yun looked at Cui Niang's belly again, and suddenly his gaze sharpened.
Autumn had just passed when Cui Niang put on a thick cotton-padded coat, making her look particularly bulky, so Chen Yun didn't have any other thoughts when they first met.
However, Fang Fang's tug just now unintentionally lifted the old cotton-padded jacket up a bit, revealing the sharp edges under the fleece.
Cui Niang hurriedly pulled down her clothes, pleading with tears welling up in her eyes, "Mom! Don't listen to her stirring up trouble. Doesn't Li Huguo know whether the child in my belly is his or hers?"
“Li Huguo has no idea he has a health problem,” Chen Yun chimed in, seizing the opportunity. “Auntie, don’t forget I’m also an obstetrician and gynecologist, besides…”
Cui Niang was furious. She grabbed Chen Yun's collar with her backhand, and just then... the cotton-padded coat that she had just pulled down was ripped open by someone.
Several buttons popped off instantly, leaving only the two on the collar intact.
But enough to reveal the entire belly filled with two horns.
Chen Yun never expected to witness a novel plot where a pillow is used to represent pregnancy, and that she would expose it herself.
"You old slut!" Fang Fang could see right through her, and with a loud yell, she rushed towards Cui Niang's stomach, quickly pulling out a gray cotton pillow from under her woolen coat.
"Ouch—" Chen Yun suddenly turned to look at the door, taking the opportunity to pull her collar back from Cui Niang's grasp and take two steps back.
Li Huguo was dressed smartly, carrying gifts in both hands... clearly looking like he was "returning home in glory".
Gao Nian'an peeked out from behind him, and it was obvious where the other two were.
"Mom!" Li Huguo called out.
Fang Fang's aura intensified instantly. Grabbing a pillow with one hand and pulling on Cui Niang with the other, she said, "Come and see for yourself what this lowly concubine has done. This is your child!"
After saying that, he threw the pillow hard in front of Li Huguo.
After pulling on the pillow, Cui Niang's belly became completely flat. Li Huguo followed Fang Fang's finger and looked down, his expression instantly turning terribly gloomy.
"Mom." Gao Nianping groped her way to Chen Yun's side, looked up and whispered, "I saw that Shuai Shuai had a wound on his leg while he was taking a shower."
"Hmm?" Chen Yun looked down.
"It's here and here..." Li Shuaishuai gestured to the back of his thighs and calves: "There are lines all over them, they look scary!"
"One by one!"
Chen Yun's heart skipped a beat, her first thought being that the child had some kind of skin disease.
At this moment, Chen Yun didn't care about whether the pregnancy was real or fake. She hurriedly waved to Li Shuaishuai, who was hiding by the door, and said, "Come here and let me see."
“Aunt Chen…” Li Shuaishuai clung to the door frame, looking troubled, without moving.
“If you don’t come over, I’ll go over to you,” Chen Yun said again, then patted Gao Nian’an on the shoulder: “You and your brother go and drag Li Shuaishuai out.”
If you can hold down a pig, what's a little catching of Li Shuaishuai?
"Huguo, please let me explain! I really am pregnant, I'm not lying to you!"
"You're still trying to lie to me!"
"I suddenly miscarried when I was only two months pregnant. I don't know why I would miscarry out of the blue..."
"Why didn't you tell me you had a miscarriage? You're trying to use the child to blackmail me into marrying you!"
The argument over there had turned into a fight between Li Huguo and Cui Niang. Chen Yun didn't have time to listen to what they were saying and hurriedly pulled up Li Shuaishuai's trouser leg.
Several bruises crisscrossed his calf, some of which had turned grayish-brown.
Who hit him?
It's not a skin disease, but rather caused by being whipped with some kind of strip-shaped object. Judging from the varying shades of color, it must have been whipped many times.
Li Shuaishuai lowered his head and stood motionless.
Gao Nianping exclaimed "Ah!" and then suddenly shouted, "It must be the handsome homeroom teacher!"
"..."
Fang Fang quickly noticed the doorway. Chen Yun nodded with a gloomy face, then suddenly grabbed Li Shuaishuai's waistband and pulled his pants down to his thighs.
"Aunt Chen!" Li Shuaishuai said shyly, immediately pulling up his pants.
The ten-year-old boy already had a sense of gender; after pulling up his pants, he quickly ran back two steps like a startled rabbit.
But this did not prevent Chen Yun and Li Huguo from seeing the bruise on his thigh.
The injury on his thigh was more serious than that on his calf. Based on his experience, Chen Yun judged that it was a blow, either a kick or a hand strike.
"So handsome."
Li Huguo strode over, grabbed Li Shuaishuai with one arm, pulled down his pants, and then quickly pulled them up again.
"Tell Dad, who hit him?"
Li Shuaishuai stared indifferently, the figure reflected in his eyes so unfamiliar, and he couldn't see even the slightest emotion in Li Huguo's eyes.
Chen Yun sneered twice and pulled the person to his side.
"Now you care about the child? What were you doing before... If you had paid more attention to Shuai Shuai's studies, this wouldn't have happened."
In this situation, Li Huguo's concern seemed all the more hypocritical.
With her lover's unborn child gone, Li Shuaishuai, standing before her, suddenly became her only blood relative, and even her concern for him seemed tinged with insincerity.
Even adults can see it clearly, and Li Shuaishuai is certainly aware of it as well.
Li Huguo pursed his lips and lowered his hand with an unpleasant expression.
Last year, his life underwent a dramatic change, and in the blink of an eye, even his own son looked at him like a stranger.
As he pondered, a layer of frost suddenly appeared in Li Huguo's eyes, and the next second he glared fiercely at Cui Niang.
Divorce, being expelled from the family genealogy, breaking with his best brother, and later his father's death.
If she had resisted the temptation back then, she would still be living a good life with Ruanqiu now, receiving a substantial share of the profits without having to travel around.
If he hadn't been so blinded by greed, he wouldn't have been expelled from the family register. On the day he visited, he would have driven his whole family there and gotten his father to the hospital as quickly as possible... Wouldn't everything have been different?
"Tell Aunt Chen, was it your homeroom teacher who hit you?" Chen Yun asked.
No matter how much Li Huguo regretted it, Chen Yun was filled with self-reproach at this moment.
“My grades dropped…” Li Shuaishuai scratched his cheek, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes: “Teacher Chen got angry and hit me.”
The teacher who shares the same surname as Chen Yun is a male teacher in his forties.
Li Shuaishuai and Gao Nianping were assigned to Class 2 and Class 3 respectively, without any distinction between good and bad; it was all decided by a lottery before the start of the semester.
When Chen Yun and Ruan Qiu went to the parent-teacher conference together, they saw a figure from afar. He was very short and seemed to have a receding hairline.
I never expected that she would be a teacher who used corporal punishment.
Chen Yun snorted coldly: "Li Shuaishuai, no matter which student is at the bottom of the class in the exam, the teacher can't hit them. Think about it, has your mother ever hit you when you failed a test?"
"No."
"None of your family members have ever hit you, so why should the teacher hit you?"
Li Shuaishuai fell silent.
Chen Yun added, "In short, hitting someone is wrong. Aunt Chen will take you to the hospital for a check-up later, and tomorrow we'll go to the school to confront him!"
"Aunt Chen," Li Shuaishuai stammered, scratching his head, "Could you please not tell my mom? I don't want her to worry."
Corporal punishment of students by the homeroom teacher, such as making them stand as punishment for being late to class, is only the lightest punishment.
If students don't finish their homework one day, the teacher will make them throw their schoolbags off the fourth floor and get a few slaps on the palms of their hands.
Li Shuaishuai always thought that every teacher hit students.
So when the teacher physically punished him for his declining grades, Li Shuaishuai didn't realize that being hit was abnormal... until Chen Yun just reminded him.
"Then you need to tell me in detail how the teacher hit you? Did she hit other people too?"
“Okay,” Li Shuaishuai replied.
"Shuai Shuai, let's go back inside and Grandma will put some medicine on you." Fang Fang was so heartbroken that she almost cried, and at the same time, she felt very guilty for neglecting her child because of her husband's passing.
Chen Yun raised her hand to stop her: "Preserve the evidence first before applying the medicine."
"Okay." Fang Fang lowered her head and wiped away her tears, but she listened to Chen Yun's words.
"I'll handle this!" Li Huguo suddenly spoke, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "I'll make him pay."
Chen Yun gave him a cold look.
But he didn't speak up to stop it anymore. After all, Li Huguo was Li Shuaishuai's guardian. If he, as the father, didn't stand up for his son who was being bullied, who else could he rely on?
"I'll take the child to the hospital; the rest is up to you."
Chen Yun had no doubt about how Li Huguo would resolve the matter.
"Yes!" Li Huguo nodded.
"Protect the nation..."
Cui Niang's mournful cries, which had been forgotten for a moment, finally brought everyone back to their senses.
"You still have the nerve to call me that!" Fang Fang exploded instantly, transferring all her anger from Li Shuaishuai's injury onto Cui Niang: "Today I'll see just how you, you vixen, seduce people!"
"Save me, protect the country..." Cui Niang cried out in anguish, covering her head.
At this moment, she couldn't care less about flirting anymore; with large clumps of her hair pulled out, her cries had changed tone.
Chen Yun glanced back and said, "Let's go to the hospital first." Then she put her arms around the two children and left the Li family's house.
How will Li Huguo and Cui Niang continue their argument?
She didn't care at all...
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