Others might not know what was going on, but Wang Chunyan certainly did.
Her eyes flickered, and when she spoke again, her voice was trembling. “How is that hooligan doing?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that he was getting beaten when I left. With that many people there, each throwing a punch, they could probably beat him to death.” Lin Wanqing’s voice was calm and indifferent.
Wang Chunyan’s heart tightened again—this could end in a death!
“Serves him right if he gets beaten to death for harassing women like that.” Shen Yunfeng let out a cold snort. Remembering what his father had told him about Wang Chunyan’s nephew harassing his sister-in-law and his wife, he seized the opportunity to bring it up. “And as for that nephew of yours, you bring him to me tomorrow. If I don’t beat him half to death, I’ll take his surname from now on!”
Song Huixin exchanged a knowing glance with Lin Wanqing, thinking to herself: Shen Yunfeng is actually quite upright, unlike Wang Chunyan.
Wang Chunyan’s face turned bitter. Xiangdong didn’t even know what kind of beating he’d already taken—there was no need for Shen Yunfeng to lay a hand on him.
What she hadn’t expected was that word had spread so quickly. He already knew about it.
“In my opinion, it takes two to tango. It can’t be all Xiangdong’s fault.” Wang Chunyan spoke tentatively, then shot a glare at Lin Wanqing, who was standing there looking as if nothing had happened. “I heard it was you who seduced Xiangdong. Men and women are different—you should have been more proper when you’re out and about. Why would Xiangdong not take a liking to anyone else, but only to you? That just goes to show the problem is with you!”
“Bang—!” Elder Shen slammed his hand heavily on the table, his face twisted with fury. Utter nonsense!
Shen Yunfeng instinctively pointed at Wang Chunyan’s nose and told her to shut up! “Stop defending your nephew here. I know exactly what kind of person he is. No wonder you’ve been attending to him at the hospital every day these past few days—turns out it’s because he did something wrong.”
By this point, Song Huixin was already starving, her stomach growling loudly.
Lin Wanqing was sitting closest to her, and a hint of fondness flickered in her eyes.
“Grandfather, Uncle, let’s eat first. Whatever it is, we can discuss it after the meal.”
“Alright, let’s eat first.” Elder Shen listened to his granddaughter-in-law. The accounts could be settled slowly, but he absolutely would not let his younger daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law go hungry.
Wang Chunyan suddenly lost her appetite. She could see clearly now—the old man was determined to protect the two of them. If she didn’t give them a satisfactory explanation for this matter, the consequences would be severe.
As she thought about it, she couldn’t help but feel some resentment toward her nephew. Of all the people he could have provoked, why did he have to provoke those two?
Shen Yunfeng shot Wang Chunyan a hateful glare. She had lived for decades and still wasn’t even as sensible as his daughter-in-law.
If this had happened to anyone else, they wouldn’t rest until they’d turned the whole house upside down. Wanqing and Huixin were both dignified people who knew that family scandals shouldn’t be aired in public.
After the meal, they returned to their room and closed the door. Song Huixin immediately asked Lin Wanqing what had happened.
Lin Wanqing recounted the events in a calm, unhurried tone.
After hearing it, Song Huixin couldn’t help but curse under her breath. “What does Wang Chunyan want? If she doesn’t like you as her daughter-in-law, why did she even agree to the marriage in the first place! Why not just call off the engagement? Instead, she insists on making things difficult for people here!”
“Can’t you see? She has no say whatsoever in this family.” Lin Wanqing analyzed seriously. “Wang Chunyan thought that by marrying off her son, her status would improve. But in the old man’s eyes, she’s still the one with the least standing in this household.
Besides, Wang Chunyan is bound to side with her own nephew. No matter what, he’s family on her side. To her, I as her daughter-in-law am nowhere near as close as her nephew.”
Song Huixin nodded slightly. “What’s that saying again? Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law really are natural enemies! But don’t worry—the two of us working together can definitely handle Wang Chunyan. Since she doesn’t want to live in peace, nobody’s going to have an easy time.”
One Wang Chunyan wasn’t hard to deal with.
Lin Wanqing didn’t even consider her a threat.
The men had been away for so long, and the household was full of constant conflict—it made it seem like they were off somewhere enjoying peace and quiet.
What Lin Wanqing cared about most was still her upcoming college entrance examination.
“Ugh—”
Suddenly, a wave of nausea rose in her chest. Lin Wanqing instinctively bent forward and dry-heaved.
“What’s wrong? Stomach upset or…” Song Huixin’s words trailed off mid-sentence. She reached out and gently patted Lin Wanqing’s back. “Pregnant?”
Lin Wanqing looked helpless. “There’s no way I’m pregnant!” Even if she were, it couldn’t happen this fast! What was she talking about?
It was probably just her body adjusting to the new environment.
“I actually hope you are pregnant.” Song Huixin chuckled. “Give us a little one connected by blood. Then we won’t feel so bored in this godforsaken place~”
Song Huixin herself had no plans of getting pregnant.
Pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period all came with the risk of ruining one’s figure.
She was going to continue acting in the future, so she needed to eliminate any “unknown risks” that could affect her career.
“Besides, now isn’t a good time to get pregnant. Neither of us has settled down yet—what would we use to raise a child?”
Lin Wanqing had seriously considered Song Huixin’s suggestion.
“Fend off the soldiers with weapons, stop the flood with earth—there’s no way now, but a way will naturally present itself when the time comes.” Song Huixin raised an eyebrow. “Hey? Are you okay? How about we go to the hospital for a check-up? You can’t just be throwing up out of nowhere like this.”
“I’m fine,” Lin Wanqing said with a faint smile at the corner of her lips. “Have you forgotten that I’m a doctor too?”
“I’m just worried about you.”
Seeing that she was fine, Song Huixin felt relieved.
…
Wang Xiangdong was beaten to the ground and couldn’t get up. Fortunately, he was already at the hospital—his injuries were only superficial, nothing too serious.
While the nurse applied medicine, he winced in pain, his face contorted. If she weren’t a woman, he would have cursed her out just to distract himself from the agony.
His entire face was swollen like a pig’s head. When Wang Xiangdong went home looking like this, the household immediately fell into chaos—
Annoyed and irritated by the noise, he snapped at them all to shut up!
“Dongdong, what happened to you? Did you fall by accident or something?”
“…It wasn’t a fall.” Wang Xiangdong replied impatiently. “Stop asking.”
“…” The Wang family dared not speak another word, afraid of provoking Wang Xiangdong’s anger. He had a bad temper, and now with injuries like this, it was truly worrying.
“Is Xiangdong back?”
Just as they were talking, Wang Chunyan arrived.
She rarely visited her parents’ home, and with Wang Xiangdong injured like this and her suddenly showing up, it was hard not to connect the two events.
“Chunyan, what happened to Xiangdong!” Old Madam Wang pointed at her precious grandson and demanded an answer from her daughter Chunyan. “Do you know?”
Wang Chunyan looked at Wang Xiangdong with complicated eyes. She had almost failed to recognize him just now—how had he been beaten to such a state?!
“Aunt, is there something you need from me?”
Wang Xiangdong felt a deep sense of defeat inside. If he hadn’t succeeded this time, there would be a next time. He would learn from this mistake and not fail again.
“Tomorrow—no, let’s make it the day after. Go to the family compound.”