Chapter 30 Third Brother Gets Beaten Again
Lou Hongjian ran ahead, clutching his head, but the numerous pieces of furniture blocked his escape, and he ended up with bumps all over his head.
Old Madam Lou's cane followed behind, landing mercilessly on his back: "Freedom, I'll give you freedom! I've long disagreed with you going to study in France, and what useless art you've learned! Now even your heart has become wild, what kind of filthy things have you learned from those foreigners!"
Old Madam Lou was exhausted from the chase and stood there panting heavily, leaning on her cane. A few strands of her neatly tied hair had fallen out during the chase.
Old Madam Lou's aged eyes were filled with rage: "Freedom! Good, freedom! It's freedom to mingle with those dancers, it's freedom to indulge in pleasure, it's freedom to degenerate! You worthless thing, that's what you've learned!"
Lou Hongjian howled as he was beaten. Just as he was about to retort, he was hit again with a stick, and his vision blurred with stars. His words of rebuttal were also knocked back.
Old Mrs. Lou is quite old, with half-white hair, and she usually walks slowly. But now, in order to beat her grandson, she is wielding her cane fiercely, attacking indiscriminately, and no one can stop her no matter how hard they try.
"Grandma, Grandma, I was wrong!" Lou Hongjian covered his head and ran away, wailing, "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me... Ouch!"
The first wife paced anxiously to the side: "Mom, stop hitting her, sit down and talk this out... sigh!"
Old Madam Lou: "If I don't discipline him properly today, he'll dare to commit murder and arson tomorrow!"
Lou Hongjian: "I won't... Ouch! Grandma, that hurts!"
Second concubine: "Madam, slow down, slow down... be careful not to strain your back!"
Mao Mao's fingers were clenched wide, and her mouth was agape as she stared at the chaos before her. As Old Madam Lou's cane fell, Lou Hongjian let out a wail, her body trembling.
Suddenly, a pair of warm hands reached out and covered her two little ears.
It blocked out the third brother's pleas for mercy and cries of pain.
Mao Mao looked up and saw her fourth brother pushing her wheelchair beside her. Lou Yansui didn't go over to break up the fight. Of course, he was unable to move around easily, so he could only sit and watch with his little sister.
"Don't listen, don't look, Mao Mao," Lou Yansui said. "Don't learn from Third Brother, he's too stupid."
Mao Mao's ears were covered, so she couldn't hear anything.
But she watched the whole thing with great interest.
Finally, the farce ended when Old Madam Lou, exhausted and unable to lift her cane, stopped panting heavily. Lou Hongjian seized the opportunity and dashed out.
The eldest wife helped the old lady of the house to the sofa, patted her back, and poured her tea: "Mom, calm down, it's not worth getting angry over Ah Hong."
Old Madam Lou angrily rebuked, "He's really gone too far! Spending so much time with foreigners has made him forget his place! I never agreed to let him study abroad in the first place, and look at him now, he even dares to talk back to me, where is his manners at all!"
"Yes, yes, Mom, you're right."
While comforting the old lady, the first wife gave the maid a meaningful look.
She was to go find the third young master and tell him it was best not to come home tonight, but to wait until the old lady's anger subsided. Oh, and the third concubine, who had gone out for social occasions, was to make sure to avoid the old lady when she returned, lest she incur her wrath.
The old lady was already in a bad mood during the day, and now she was angered by her grandson. Her anger was so intense that it seemed like every wrinkle on her face was filled with gunpowder. She found everything unpleasant, and even the tea that was usually to her liking became scalding hot.
Mao Mao grabbed her little ears and tiptoed after her fourth brother as they fled the battlefield.
However, Lou Hongjian did not manage to escape this ordeal.
General Lou was a filial son. When he returned home, he learned that his elderly mother had been so angry with him that she was hitting him with her cane. Upon hearing that Lou Hongjian had drunk himself into a stupor and was behaving inconsiderately towards his grandmother, General Lou glared at him and gave an order. The guards then arrested the runaway Third Young Master.
Commander Lou pulled out his whip and gave his son another beating without any hesitation.
"You've got some nerve, daring to disrespect your grandmother!"
Lou Hongjian was beaten and howled. Unlike the last time he was beaten, this time he was full of rebellious spirit.
"I refuse to accept this!" he shouted. "So what if I went abroad to study art? I studied abroad for several years and didn't neglect my studies at all. I even received scholarships, and those foreigners were scrambling to buy my paintings! Grandma forbids me from painting, but is Grandma completely without fault?"
Commander Lou glared menacingly: "You dare talk back?!"
The first wife sighed from the side, "Ah Hong, just say less."
"I'm going to say it anyway!"
Lou Hongjian stood up, his legs trembling as if they were two noodles, barely able to stand. He still spoke defiantly: "This is a new era. The emperor is gone. Grandma's thinking is still stuck in the past. She's too traditional, too rigid. We must accept progress and new ideas! We must learn from the barbarians to control them. Clinging to our own ways is a mistake! We must learn the good things from the Westerners!"
General Lou looked over sternly: "The good stuff from foreigners? It's you going to nightclubs to drink and dance, and fooling around with those singers?"
Lou Hongjian: "..."
Commander Lou: "Heh."
The eldest wife looked to her eldest son for help: "Fengju, say something."
Lou Hongjian also looked to his elder brother for help.
Lou Fengju lifted the brim of his military cap, revealing a pair of eyes watching the show from behind.
He had heard the whole story, witnessed his father disciplining his younger brother, and of course, heard his brother's protest declaration.
“Dad, he never learns his lesson. No matter how many beatings you give him, it won’t help.” Lou Fengju pulled a pistol from its holster and handed it to him respectfully, saying, “Use this.”
Lou Hongjian: "...Brother! I'm your own brother!"
Upstairs, Mao Mao scratched her little ear.
Hearing the commotion downstairs, the third concubine, still shaken, closed the door and said, "The third young master is too audacious. He dared to talk back to the old lady and even dared to talk back to the commander-in-chief."
Xia Xiaoxiang chuckled: "Don't you have any guts?"
Third concubine: "..."
With the Third Young Master drawing attention from below, the Third Concubine, who had returned from her social outing, had removed her makeup and high heels. Now she was wearing an old-fashioned jacket and skirt again, keeping a low profile and starting afresh.
“But what the Third Young Master said isn’t wrong either,” the Third Concubine retorted stubbornly. “It was the Old Madam who was in the wrong.”
Who is right and who is wrong is not important in this family.
Even though the emperor has stepped down, the old lady's words are still an imperial edict.
Xia Xiaoxiang looked at her strangely: "What are you doing here?"
In this family, the third concubine was the one she didn't get along with the most, and they could barely exchange a few words with each other.
The third concubine snorted: "I'm not here to see you, I'm here to see Mao Mao."
Xia Xiaoxiang: "Looking for Mao Mao?"
Mao Mao tilted her head: "Mao Mao?"
The third concubine bent down, looking at the little girl sitting in front of her, so tiny and chubby. She clasped her hands together, as if praying to Buddha or Guanyin, and made a wish to the little bundle of flesh in front of her with a devout expression: "Mao Mao, do you have any ideas?"
Mao Mao: "Huh?"
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