Meng Xia stood up, patted the dirt off her clothes, and gave an awkward smile.
“Doesn’t your Teacher Lin have class this afternoon? I haven’t gone yet. I’ll go now.”
Shen Zhichun still clenched his fists, charging around the courtyard from side to side, occasionally shouting to show just how angry he was.
He was the eldest grandson of the Shen family—chubby and fair. Meng Xia and her husband adored him. They had never really scolded him, which was why he had grown up with such a temper, shouting and cursing whenever he got upset.
Meng Xia had tried to correct it, but every time he became angry, she felt frightened inside, afraid he might collapse again like before when he had gotten so angry he nearly fainted.
As she walked toward the primary school, Meng Xia silently cursed Lin Qiuman in her heart.
At that moment, the school was already quiet. The people who had brought bricks and the students had all left. Only Lin Qiuman remained, tending to the vegetable beds.
“Lin Qiuman, have you no shame? You got a child to come home and make trouble with me—and you call yourself a teacher? Bah!”
Meng Xia was angry, but she also didn’t want to appear weak in front of Lin Qiuman, so she shouted a few insults.
Lin Qiuman slowly turned around, neither angry nor upset.
“So you’re scolding me? If Shen Zhichun finds out that his favorite teacher was scolded by his own mother again…”
“Lin Qiuman! This is a matter between adults. You’re giving a child the cold shoulder just to deal with me. Someone like you—I’m going to report you to the village chief!”
Meng Xia angrily pointed her finger repeatedly at Lin Qiuman but didn’t dare actually strike her.
“Go ahead. If you’re not afraid of your son making a fuss with you, report me wherever you like.”
Lin Qiuman continued watering the vegetable patch with a ladle, completely ignoring Meng Xia’s threat.
“You came here alone after fleeing famine. I felt sorry for you, so I didn’t ask the village chief to drive you away. From now on, you must treat my son better!”
“And why should I?” Lin Qiuman smiled faintly.
“Then why are you so good to Shen Lingkang?”
“Because I want to marry Shen Linghua.”
Lin Qiuman said it bluntly, without the slightest hesitation.
“You keep blocking me and don’t want me to marry Shen Linghua. Why should I treat your son well?”
“He’s my son’s third uncle! When he was little and didn’t get enough milk, it was because I raised Shen Lingkang.”
Meng Xia lifted her chin proudly and snorted.
“Linghua knows how to be grateful. The person he loves most is our Chun Chun. As his eldest sister-in-law, whatever I say goes.”
“I’m not married to Shen Linghua yet. Your family matters have nothing to do with me. But if I became Shen Zhichun’s third aunt, maybe I would treat him better.”
Lin Qiuman didn’t really believe Meng Xia would stop interfering with her and Shen Linghua just for Shen Zhichun.
But since Meng Xia had come to confront her, it was worth trying.
If Meng Xia stopped making trouble, things between her and Shen Linghua would be much easier.
“You really have no shame,” Meng Xia trembled with anger and spat out the insult.
“You can think about it.”
After saying that, Lin Qiuman turned and returned to her dormitory, no longer interested in talking with Meng Xia.
Meng Xia ground her teeth and spat on the ground before leaving angrily.
In the alley, she spotted Shen Lingkang with two classmates, and her anger flared even more.
She rushed forward and grabbed his hair.
“Skipping home after school and running around like crazy? Where have you been?!”
“…”
Shen Lingkang was dragged along by his hair as Meng Xia pulled him home. The whole time he didn’t cry out in pain, as if he were already used to it.
“If I hadn’t fed you milk back then, you’d have died during your first month! And now you still think you get to play around? From now on, after school you’d better go cut pig grass obediently. Stay away from those improper people, hear me?”
The angrier Meng Xia became, the harder she pinched his arms and cheeks.
“…”
Shen Lingkang forced a small grin, lowering his head quietly, not daring to say a word.
As soon as they entered the Shen family courtyard, Meng Xia kicked him hard, sending him tumbling into the muddy ground where she had just poured out dirty laundry water.
…
“Teacher! Teacher! Shen Lingkang’s sister-in-law is beating him—she’s pulling his hair!”
Two little boys who had become friends with Shen Lingkang ran to the school to find Lin Qiuman after seeing him being beaten so badly.
Lin Qiuman had been sitting in her dormitory, sewing together leftover cloth pieces from tailoring clothes, making a backpack for Shen Lingkang.
When she suddenly heard that Shen Lingkang was being beaten, she panicked. The scissors slipped and stabbed into her fingernail, and blood immediately began flowing out.
But she didn’t even feel the pain.
She rushed out the door and sprinted toward the Shen family house.
If she had been reborn only to watch Shen Lingkang continue to be bullied by Meng Xia, then what was the point of her rebirth?
“Meng Xia!”
When Lin Qiuman arrived, she saw Shen Lingkang lying in the mud, expressionless, waiting to be beaten.
The hair she had carefully combed for him earlier had been pulled into a messy tangle.
The face he had washed clean after school was now smeared with mud—and swollen red.
His eyes were filled with hurt… and the fear of resisting.
“Lin Qiuman, you really are a good teacher. I’m disciplining a child—are you going to interfere with that too?”
Meng Xia’s broom was tightly gripped in Lin Qiuman’s hand. Meng Xia snorted, calming down a little.
Just now, in her anger, she hadn’t thought about whether Shen Linghua might be home before beating Shen Lingkang.
If Shen Linghua came back and saw the swelling on his brother’s face, she wouldn’t know how to explain it.
“Disciplining a child? When Shen Zhichun punches and kicks you, why don’t you discipline him? Shen Lingkang is your brother-in-law. He has a father and an older brother—since when is it your place to discipline him?”
Lin Qiuman snatched the broom away and threw it aside.
She bent down and helped Shen Lingkang up, her voice full of concern.
“Kang Kang, don’t be afraid. I’m here. Let’s see who dares bully you.”
“Well, well! Everyone come look!”
Meng Xia shouted loudly as villagers began gathering to watch.
“The Teacher Lin you all admire so much is quite shameless. She keeps sticking her nose into our family’s business and desperately wants to marry our third brother. Her thinking is problematic—she shouldn’t be teaching children at all!”
The commotion at the Shen family house had already drawn many villagers.
When the old village chief heard Lin Qiuman was involved, he hurried over after putting down his work.
“You took your anger out on Kang Kang for no reason. He’s only ten years old—what did he do wrong?”
Lin Qiuman’s voice trembled as she spoke.
“For all these years, you’ve been spending the money Shen Linghua earned through hard labor, yet secretly abusing his younger brother. Where is your conscience?”
Looking at Shen Lingkang standing there in a daze from beginning to end, Lin Qiuman felt her throat tighten.
When he smiled, he was such a bright and handsome boy…
But now he stood there so quietly it was frightening. His resignation made her heart ache.
He was only ten years old—an age when children should still be cuddled by their parents and older brothers.
“Kang Kang, I’m taking him with me.”
“I won’t clean the mud or the injuries on him. I want Shen Linghua to see exactly what you, his sister-in-law, have done to his brother.”
Lin Qiuman glanced toward the shadow standing at the doorway of the north room and gave a cold, mocking snort.
Meng Xia had been beating Kang Kang for so long, and his own father had only stood there behind the curtain watching…