NOVPUB
Chapter 546: Chapter 536 You Can’t Leave
Shen Yunfang didn’t even glance at the few people squeezed at the door, she walked right past them, intending to do something meaningful. She had already wasted over an hour with these people, Teacher Cai shouldn’t blame her, right? Shen Yunfang thought uncertainly.
"My child, what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare mom, tell me what happened, mom will stand up for you," Qiu Shuping was the first to rush to her son’s side, checking him over from top to bottom, left and right.
"Hongqi, where does it hurt? Make a sound, mom. Let’s take Hongqi to the hospital, staying like this, I’m afraid..." Zheng Guilin also rushed over, crying incessantly.
Li Hongqi squinted his eyes, bracing himself waiting for the pain in his lower abdomen to pass while also enduring the harassment from his mother and wife. But when he saw Shen Yunfang passing by, he couldn’t worry about anything else and squeezed out a sentence through his clenched teeth, "Don’t let her leave."
Among those present, only Zheng Guilin and he were on the same page. Hearing his words, she immediately understood his meaning. No longer caring that she was still lying on the ground, she dashed out from the house, grabbing Shen Yunfang’s arm, "Sister-in-law, you cannot leave."
Shen Yunfang was quite unhappy at being suddenly grabbed, and with a shrug, she freed her arm, "Who are you? What do you want?"
Zheng Guilin rubbed her hands, somewhat at a loss on how to introduce herself, but no matter how difficult it was, she had to speak up now, "Sister-in-law, I am Hongqi’s mother-in-law. If you look at it, we’re relatives. You can just call me ’auntie’."
Shen Yunfang frowned in irritation. With the state things were with the Li Family, why was this ’auntie’ still trying to claim kin? She certainly had some ulterior motive.
"Given the current state of things, we don’t have to climb on the kinship bandwagon. If you have something to say, just say it," said Shen Yunfang, her tone clearly not the kindest. There was probably no need to be polite with anyone connected to Li Hongqi.
Zheng Guilin’s expression almost failed to hold, but considering everyone’s situation, she still tried to muster a smile and said, "Sister-in-law, it’s all a misunderstanding. Now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, it’s all settled. Hongqi has also apologized to you..."
"Get to the point," Shen Yunfang frowned, becoming impatient.
Zheng Guilin, fired up by Shen Yunfang’s impatience, felt a surge of anger. After all, she was also a government official’s wife and here she was being treated like this by a young girl—it was impossible for her face to look good. But she was different from Qiu Shuping; she was someone who had weathered storms and had seen the world, "We came here because your mother-in-law said that Hongqi and our Xiaolan were married, and we hadn’t yet seen Hongqi’s brother and sister-in-law. So we came together to the Capital to meet the relatives, not expecting to encounter such a misunderstanding as soon as we arrived. Don’t be mad, sister-in-law. You’ve hit someone, and you’ve received an apology. Let’s call it even, we’re all family after all." The implication was that she should stop putting on aires or else things could turn ugly if faces were lost.
"What are you trying to say exactly? If you’re trying to play peacemaker and hope to reconcile us, here’s my advice to you: don’t be a busybody, none of your business. This is the Li Family’s affair." The meaning was clear: you’re an outsider and these matters aren’t your concern. Anyway, Shen Yunfang had no intention of reconciling with her in-laws, so she spoke quite freely, not bothering about anyone’s face anymore.
"You..." Zheng Guilin was so angered her chest throbbed.
"If you have anything else, I’m sorry but I cannot keep you company. I really don’t recognize who you are," Shen Yunfang said, and turned to continue on her way.
At this point, anyone with a shred of dignity would no longer persist.
But she had encountered a shameless person.
Although Zheng’s mother was angry, seeing that this person was about to leave again, she hastily forgot her anger and leaped in front of Shen Yunfang with agile strides, blocking her way.
Shen Yunfang was very unhappy to be blocked again, her eyebrows tightly furrowed.
"Sister-in-law, you can’t go now, you really can’t leave..."
"Right, you can’t leave, you’ve hurt my son like this, you must take him to the hospital," Qiu Shuping said, supporting her younger son as she walked out from the house. She overheard what the in-law had said and instinctively chimed in.
"Mom, don’t be like this, it’s not sister-in-law’s fault," Li Hongqi gasped out, truly feeling out of breath.
It wasn’t an act this time; he was genuinely in pain. Shen Yunfang hadn’t just kicked hard, but she’d also hit the same spot again. Although he had somewhat recovered, the injuries on his body were still present, and now, with the injuries compounded, it wasn’t just a brief moment of pain.
"Blame her if not you? How could you possibly be so badly injured if it weren’t for her?" Zheng Guilin said, grudgingly staring at Shen Yunfang. It was this woman who had repeatedly injured her man, how could she, as a wife, not feel resentment?
"Xiaolan, don’t be like this," Li Hongqi turned to console his wife.
"Xiaolan, come over here. This is the Li Family’s business. As a daughter-in-law, you should just listen and watch, don’t butt in," Zheng’s mother, perceptive as she was, pulled her own daughter to the side and whispered a command to not meddle.
"Mom, how can that be okay? I’m also a daughter-in-law of the Li Family. I can’t just watch her bully Hongqi like this," Zheng Guilin retorted, somewhat defiantly.
"Are you foolish? Didn’t you see how fierce your sister-in-law is? What would you do if something went wrong and she hit you? Better just to stay quiet with mom here and watch. After the Li Family sorts this out, we can have our say," Zheng’s mother had faced Shen Yunfang just a moment ago and felt that this woman was not easy to deal with. Her naive daughter simply couldn’t be used by others.
With Zheng Guilin out of the mix, Li Hongqi was able to free a hand and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead in front of Shen Yunfang before saying, "Sister-in-law, you’ve already hit and scolded, so you should have let off some steam by now. Our mom took a whole day’s train ride yesterday and didn’t sleep all night. Don’t you think we should first go back home so we can rest and recuperate, and then we’ll talk about other matters?" The train tickets for this trip had been taken from his wife, and his mother-in-law didn’t even know it. They could honestly say they didn’t have much money on them right now. If sister-in-law left, who would take care of the daily necessities for the four of them?
Shen Yunfang looked at him, amused, "What now, you want to act like nothing’s happened after beating me, and expect me to continue to host you with good food and good treatment? Are you treating me as a fool or as someone with a screw loose in her head?"
"It’s not like that, sister-in-law. We may fight but, at the end of the day, we are still family. Big brother is still my mom’s son," Li Hongqi squinted as he spoke.
"Right, as long as you are still with my son, you can’t disown your mother here. If you dare leave us behind, I will, I will go to your school principal and speak out. I will make sure you can’t continue your university study," Qiu Shuping followed up on her son’s words.
