After Li Xianglian returned home, the officers could not find any clues for the time being and eventually left. However, Chen Lang’s anger still had not subsided.
He had been running around all day and was already hungry, his stomach faintly aching.
In the past, Li Xianglian would have prepared him a hot meal without fail.
Chen Lang opened the rice jar, casually scooped a large spoonful of rice, and threw it directly into the pot to boil. Soon, the smoke made him cough violently and he stumbled out of the kitchen.
His daughter tugged at his sleeve and cried softly.
“Father, Xuan’er isn’t hungry. Don’t work so hard…”
But Chen Lang looked at her crying face and suddenly slapped her several times.
“Cry, cry, cry! If you’re not hungry, I am! It’s all your fault for accusing your mother and driving her away! Now we don’t even have food!”
Chen Xuan staggered from the blows, covering her face, secretly observing his expression. In a small, pitiful voice she said, “Father, don’t be angry… it’s Xuan’er’s fault… I shouldn’t have made Mother angry…”
Then she added quickly, “But Mother has always been soft-hearted. She used to feel heartache even when Father only frowned. If Father goes to bring her back, she will definitely return!”
Hearing this, Chen Lang’s lips curled into a smile.
Yes.
Li Xianglian was just a foolish woman. If he went to coax her a little, she would come running back.
Thinking this, he picked up his daughter and headed straight to the Li household.
But the moment he entered the courtyard, he saw Li Xianglian sitting in her wheelchair, smiling as she spoke with a strange man.
Chen Lang’s face darkened instantly. “Li Xianglian! How dare you speak to another man?!”
The two in the courtyard stopped smiling and turned toward him.
The “strange man” was none other than the handsome physician who had treated her before—Wen Lezhi.
After setting her bone previously, he had returned to check on her recovery and adjust her treatment. After a few visits, they had become somewhat familiar.
Li Xianglian frowned immediately. Seeing Chen Lang reminded her of her past life, and her tone turned cold.
“What does it have to do with you who I speak to? Doctor Wen is here to treat me. Even an outsider shows me more concern than you. Have you no conscience at all?”
Chen Lang’s anger flared, but upon hearing the man was a doctor, he forced himself to suppress it.
“So it’s a physician. Has the treatment been completed?”
Wen Lezhi raised an eyebrow slightly and nodded. “Madam, take good rest. I will come again next time.”
“Next time?”
Chen Lang’s expression darkened further. The man was clean, refined, and courteous. The more he thought about how happily they had been talking earlier, the more uncomfortable he felt.
Li Xianglian calmly said, “Then I won’t see you off. Doctor, take care.”
Wen Lezhi smiled faintly, glanced at Chen Lang, straightened his posture, and left the courtyard.
Immediately, Li Xianglian’s face turned cold again. “What do you want?”
Only then did Chen Lang remember his purpose.
The child already knew—Li Xianglian loved him deeply. As long as he coaxed her a little, she would obediently return home.
He had even prepared himself on the way here to endure her temper.
“Xianglian, I’m here to bring you home. The children and I cannot live without you…”
His eyes turned red as he spoke. He crouched beside her wheelchair, looking up at her pitifully, and gently placed his hand over hers.
“Come home with me.”
If it had been the old Li Xianglian, she would have softened immediately.
But now—
She had already seen through his betrayal, his lies, and how he and the children had treated her like a servant.
How could she possibly fall for this again?
Disgust rose in her heart.
“Go home?” she sneered. “With my current condition, how would I even take care of you? Or are you planning to take care of me three meals a day?”
She pulled her hand away and looked at his stunned expression.
“Or is it that you only want me back to serve you and the children?”
Chen Lang froze. His thoughts had been exposed exactly.
But he quickly changed his expression. “We are husband and wife! If you don’t return home, are you planning to stay at your parents’ forever? Do you want the whole village to laugh at me?”
Li Xianglian laughed lightly. “So it’s still about your pride.”
“I stay at my parents’ home and at least they take care of me. If I go back with you—am I taking care of you, or are you taking care of me? That’s hard to say.”
At that moment, Li’s father and mother returned from the fields.
Seeing Chen Lang, Li’s father’s smile froze instantly.
Li’s mother said coldly, “You used to rely on my daughter to take care of you. Now that she’s injured and in a wheelchair, you still won’t let her rest? My poor daughter… how did she end up marrying a scoundrel like you?”
Chen Lang could no longer hold back his temper and stood up abruptly.
“Are you coming back with me or not?!”
“And if I refuse?” Li Xianglian asked calmly, lifting her head.
“You!” Chen Lang raised his hand.
Before he could act, Li’s mother grabbed a bamboo stick and struck him hard.
“If you dare touch my daughter, I’ll fight you to the death!”
Li’s father stepped forward protectively. “Chen Lang, you dare act in front of us? Try it if you can. The villagers are all watching outside!”
Chen Lang was merely acting out of rage, not truly intending to hit anyone. Now he was forced to hold back.
Li Xianglian felt a sharp pain in her chest.
This was the man she had once risked everything for.
And now he wanted to hit her.
Her resolve to divorce him became even firmer.
Earlier, her father had already spoken to the clan elders. They had refused immediately—the scholar status made divorce difficult.
But she was not in a hurry.
This was only the beginning.
Why make it easy for Chen Lang and those ungrateful children?
“I didn’t hit anyone,” Chen Lang argued loudly, trying to justify himself. “It was you who started it. Let everyone come and judge!”
He pointed at a bystander at the door.
“You. Come and speak.”