Chapter 26: The Punishment for Si Rong

Si Rong only felt that something was wrong with his brain.

"Why?"

She was somewhat curious about what other unreasonable things Shen Lan could say.

"Just consider it because of me!" Shen Lan lifted his chin slightly.

In his imagination, as soon as he said this, Si Rong would agree to all the demands he proposed.

But she did not.

Si Rong did not even offer him a single word of explanation and went straight to the kitchen.

Shen Lan still thought she had gone to the kitchen to stew pear tea for their daughter.

Their daughter was good in every way, but her health was not very good; every autumn and winter, she would cough until it became an illness.

Under Si Rong's various treatments, she had been better these past two years.

However, he followed her into the kitchen and discovered that Si Rong was brewing rose tea for herself.

Although she was in a kitchen full of the atmosphere of daily life, it did not in the slightest affect the beauty that radiated from her inside and out.

Time truly treats beauties with extra kindness; even though she was nearly forty, Si Rong was still stunningly beautiful.

When Shen Lan thought about how such a good wife of his might be coveted by other men, he felt extremely uncomfortable.

If it were just an ordinary man, that would be one thing, but it happened to be someone who had been superior to him in every way from the past until now.

He was simply feeling insecure inside.

Why couldn't Si Rong just try to understand him?

It was simply handing that Jiang Yu a ready-made handle to mock him.

He hadn't known before that his competitor was actually Jiang Cheng's own younger brother.

He even went around behind his back saying things like how Si Rong must have been blind to choose him, Shen Lan, instead of his older brother.

To tell the truth, Shen Lan didn't like an disobedient Si Rong.

But Wang Ma was also in the kitchen right now, so there were some things he couldn't say out loud.

He didn't like this Wang Ma either; she had been sent over by the Si Family back then.

They said that since the daughter of the Si Family had never learned to cook or do housework since she was young, they let Wang Ma take care of her personally, and even her monthly salary was paid by the Si Family side.

It was just like a dowry maid from ancient times.

She was biased toward Si Rong in every way.

He waited patiently until Si Rong finished her flower tea and returned to the living room before he spoke, still in a doting tone, "Be good, let his daughter go learn dancing somewhere else; we aren't short on money."

Over these years, they had over two hundred thousand in savings alone, enough for an ordinary family to spend for a lifetime.

Thinking of this, Shen Lan felt proud of himself.

He was truly a capable man.

"Why aren't we short on money?" Seeing that his words had led to this, Si Rong said, "Our family's savings are all being used to run the dance studio now, so of course we need to earn more money!"

"Besides, we already signed a contract when collecting the fees; I must teach the child for a full semester."

Actually, Shen Lan didn't hear clearly the things she said afterward; hearing just the first half was enough to strike him like a thunderbolt.

Their savings were used up?

How could this be?

That was a full two hundred thousand! Not two hundred, and not two thousand.

He lost his composure for a moment and grabbed Si Rong's arm, but he was immediately spotted by Wang Ma in the kitchen.

Wang Ma grabbed a kitchen knife and darted into the living room.

"Sir, what are you doing?"

Frightened, Shen Lan hurriedly let go of Si Rong's arm and raised both hands high, "Nothing, I didn't do anything."

Not until Wang Ma took the kitchen knife back to the kitchen did Shen Lan's mind relax.

This woman, she was truly terrifying.

Even though he was furious, he could only remain gentle and refined, "Rongrong, you aren't joking with me, are you? How could opening a dance studio use up all our savings? Didn't I hear that the renovation for the dance studio was all done with the help of your two brothers?"

Those two brothers-in-law of his from the Si Family were blessed by their ancestors and had businesses so large; he didn't believe the two brothers would ask Si Rong for such a small amount of money for renovations.

"Naturally, it wasn't just the renovation fees; there were also promotional fees and rent."

Shen Lan:...

Could Si Yan and Si Han really have the nerve to ask for this money?

Hadn't they always loved their little sister Si Rong the most?

Si Rong only regretted that she hadn't understood him deeply enough before, having been deceived by his gentlemanly surface and ignoring the calculations and baseness in the depths of his eyes.

"It wasn't just those; have you forgotten how you sat in your current position as Deputy County Magistrate?"

Shen Lan:...

Hadn't he sat in it by relying on his own ability?

But because of Si Rong's questioning, he recalled old matters from a few years ago before he ran for Deputy County Magistrate, when his two brothers-in-law had helped him with all their might.

He had also said politely that the two brothers-in-law should go ahead and pull strings, and he would pay for whatever expenses were needed at the time.

He remembered that connection was in the city, a big shot.

Later, the matter of the money just faded away.

Could it be that the two brothers-in-law were about to go bankrupt now?

To actually think of coming to him to ask for that money from so long ago?

But wasn't that all things they should have done as brothers-in-law?

With him becoming Deputy County Magistrate, the Si Family also had glory on their faces.

"So, it's all used up?"

"Yes," Si Rong sneered, "actually, it wasn't quite enough; my two brothers helped cover the rest, so remember to pay them back later."

Shen Lan was completely dumbfounded.

Could it be that they had now become penniless paupers?

It felt as if he had returned to the days back in Ding Family Village, and he couldn't help but start worrying about whether they would be able to afford a meal tomorrow.

This heavy blow also made Shen Lan forget his original purpose of wanting to kick Jiang Cheng's daughter out of the dance club.

Originally, he had his own plans for this money.

A portion was naturally reserved for Shen Chi, as the girlfriend he was currently seeing had a good family background and was also a distant relative of the Si Family.

He had planned to hold a grand wedding when the time came, with an estimated cost of over one hundred thousand.

Then there was Shen Yuan, whose grades were not very good, and he would need to spend extra money to get her into a good school later on.

The final portion was naturally for his only little sister.

Although he often blamed his little sister with his words, no matter what, she still shared the bond of growing up with him since childhood.

Now, however, all of these plans had fallen through.

Suddenly, he began to resent Si Rong in his heart.

He resented her for not knowing how to manage the household and only knowing how to subsidize her maiden family.

That money was what they had saved for nearly eighteen years since they got married!

In the kitchen, Wang Ma was still staring at him with sharp, piercing eyes while she cooked, which made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Shen Lan simply went back to the bedroom.

He had originally intended to skip dinner to give Si Rong a cold shoulder.

He had a stomach ailment, and Si Rong had always worried about him; sometimes when his stomach acted up, she seemed even more distressed than he was.

This could be considered a punishment for Si Rong acting on her own initiative.