Chapter 83 Mistakes and Punishments
The bell for the midterm exam had just rung, and the only sound in the classroom was the scraping of pens across test papers. Sizhui, pen in hand, was concentrating on his last math problem when he felt a gentle bump on his arm.
He turned his head to look and saw Lan Jingyi scratching his head over a word problem, his eyes full of anxiety. Seeing Si Zhui looking at him, he immediately mouthed silently, "Last question, emergency!"
Si Zhui frowned and was about to shake his head when Lan Jingyi took advantage of the invigilator's backseat to snatch away the draft paper next to him - the complete solution steps for the problem were written on it.
"Jingyi!" Sizhui whispered, trying to snatch the paper back, but it was too late. The invigilator heard the noise and turned around, just in time to see Lan Jingyi hurriedly stuffing the draft paper under the table.
"Lan Jingyi, hand it over." The teacher's voice was serious.
Lan Jingyi's face turned pale instantly. He frantically tried to explain, but couldn't utter a complete sentence. Si Zhui looked at his panic and remembered that when he was a child in the Cloud Recesses, Lan Jingyi was always punished by the teacher for not copying carefully, and he always secretly finished it for him.
"Teacher, it's me..." Si Zhui took a deep breath and stood up, "I gave it to him."
Lan Jingyi looked up suddenly: "No! I took it myself!"
"I took the initiative to hand it to him." Si Zhui lowered his eyes, his voice calm but firm, "If you want to punish me, punish me."
The invigilator frowned and looked at the two of them, and finally wrote Sizhui's name in the violation book. Lan Jingyi was so anxious that his eyes were red, but Sizhui stopped him with a look - he knew that making excuses at this moment would only make things worse.
When the news reached the old house, Lan Wangji was reading a document. When he heard his teacher's call, his fingers gripping the pen tightened, his knuckles turning white. He hung up the phone, his face gloomy as if it was about to rain, and the air around him was so low that no one dared to approach him.
Wei Wuxian had just returned from the filming set. He sensed something was amiss the moment he entered. He grabbed Lan Jingyi, who was about to slip away, and asked, "What's wrong? Did you fail the exam?"
Lan Jingyi burst into tears: "Senior Wei, I was wrong! I shouldn't have snatched Sizhui's draft paper, but Sizhui...he admitted it for me!"
Wei Wuxian's heart sank. Just as he was about to go find Sizhui, he saw Lan Wangji walking out of the study, hand in hand with Sizhui. The boy lowered his head, his school uniform collar ripped a bit. His face was expressionless, but one could tell he was forcing himself to be calm.
"Kneel down." Lan Wangji's voice was as cold as ice, and he seemed like two different people compared to his usual voice.
Si Zhui was startled for a moment, then obediently knelt on the futon in the ancestral hall. Wei Wuxian hurried forward, "Lan Zhan, please listen to the children's explanation first..."
"He's already admitted it," Lan Wangji interrupted, his gaze cold as he cast a glance at Yu Sizhui. "How should he be punished for cheating in school according to the house rules?"
Si Zhui's shoulders trembled slightly, and he replied softly, "The punishment is to copy the house rules a hundred times, be grounded for a month, and be caned ten times."
"You're committing this offense knowingly." Lan Wangji's face was stern. He slowly picked up the ruler from the altar. His voice was deep and solemn, like the still water of a deep pool. "Get down."
Wei Wuxian looked at the heavy ruler and recalled the time, long ago in the Cloud Recesses, when Lan Wangji first got angry with Sizhui because he had taken the blame for someone else's crime. Back then, the boy had stubbornly said, "They were friends." Now, having grown up, his temperament hadn't changed at all.
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian tried to pull Si Zhui up, “He was trying to protect Jing Yi!”
"It's not wrong to protect someone, but it's wrong to do it in the wrong way." Lan Wangji's eyes swept over Wei Wuxian with unquestionable determination, "If I don't punish him today, he will cause great disaster in the future."
When the ruler came down, Si Zhui groaned, but managed not to cry out. Wei Wuxian looked at his instantly red buttocks, his eyes reddening with heartache. He tried to stop him but was stopped by Lan Wangji's cold gaze.
Ten blows with the ruler, each one heavier than the last. By the time Lan Wangji put the ruler down, Sizhui's back was swollen and covered with clear red marks.
"During the confinement period, you must copy the family rules twenty times a day, and you are not allowed to go out or contact outsiders." After Lan Wangji finished speaking, he turned and walked out of the ancestral hall without looking at Wei Wuxian again.
Wei Wuxian quickly squatted down to apply the ointment to Sizhui. The moment the ointment touched his skin, the boy winced in pain. "Silly boy, why are you so foolish?" Wei Wuxian's voice choked with sobs, tears falling on the back of Sizhui's hand. "Why did you acknowledge him for him?"
Si Zhui bit his lip and whispered, "Jing Yi didn't mean it, he was just too impatient... Besides, I don't want to see him get punished by his father, and Fourth Uncle Lan said that if he doesn't do well in the exam today, he won't be allowed to play basketball anymore."
Lan Jingyi stood aside, his face covered in tears: "Si Zhui, I'm sorry... It's all my fault..."
Wei Wuxian looked at the two children, feeling angry and sad, but he didn't say anything in the end. He just silently gave Si Zhui some medicine and sent him back to his room to rest.
At dinner that evening, Lan Wangji sat at the head of the table, his expression still unrefreshed. Wei Wuxian brought the food to the table, but didn't set a bowl for him. He didn't sit down either, but simply stood there, staring blankly at Sizhui's empty seat.
"Wei Ying." Lan Wangji said.
Wei Wuxian pretended not to hear anything, turned around and walked into the room, and then with a "bang", the door closed tightly.
Lan Wangji stared at the closed door, a complex emotion flickering in his eyes. He knew Wei Wuxian cared about his child, but there were times when Si Zhui had to shoulder the responsibility for his mistakes—just like when he'd made Si Zhui kneel in the snow in the immortal realm. It wasn't because he didn't love him, but because he knew that indulgence was the most damaging weapon. And in his heart, Si Zhui still believed that he was a good student, so the teacher didn't care.
Late at night, Lan Wangji stood outside the door and could hear suppressed sobbing from inside. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but then put it down. In the end, he just placed a bowl of warm lotus seed soup on the door and turned back to the study.
The audience in the barrage looked at the deadlock and became very anxious:
"Wow, Sizhui is so pitiful! It's obviously not his fault!"
"Is Mr. Lan too harsh this time? The child is doing this for his friends..."
"I understand what Mr. Lan means, but it's normal for Teacher Wei to feel distressed!"
"This is the first time I see them quarreling. It's so heartbreaking!"
"I really understand Mr. Lan. My child's father is taking care of the child, and I'm not at home."
"Ditto, ditto!"
Wei Wuxian lay sprawled on the bed, clutching Sizhui in his arms, his tears soaking the pillowcase. It was not that he didn't understand Lan Wangji's intentions, but when he thought of Sizhui's face, pale with pain, he couldn't help but blame him for being too harsh.
After an unknown amount of time, the door was gently pushed open. Lan Wangji walked in and sat beside the bed. Looking at Wei Wuxian's red eyes, he softened his voice and said, "I went to see Sizhui. He's already asleep."
Wei Wuxian turned his face away and ignored him.
"He admitted his mistake." Lan Wangji reached out to touch his hair, but was dodged.
“Are you so cruel?” Wei WuXian’s voice was tinged with tears. “He’s the child you raised with your own hands!”
Lan Wangji paused, a trace of pain flashing in his eyes. "It's precisely because I raised him that I can't indulge him." He stood up, his tone returning to calm. "If you're angry, then be angry. But you can't break the family rules."
The door closed once more, leaving only Wei Wuxian's sobs in the room. Moonlight streamed in from the window, falling on the empty bed like an invisible wall, separating two people equally distressed yet stubbornly determined.
This was one of the few quarrels they had. There were no harsh words, but it carried a heavy weight - on one side was the father's strictness, on the other side was the mother's tenderness; on one side was the bottom line of rules, on the other side was the boundary of heartache.
And it is unknown how long this deadlock will last.
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