Chapter 439: Hanging Up and Getting Beaten

Si Rong knitted her delicate brows.

Since they were small, she had forbidden her two children from having contact with that Shen Yuan, and the two children were very sensible.

But once they reached puberty, even the most obedient children would inevitably become rebellious.

Si Rong had long been mentally prepared for this.

It was not a bad thing for children to have their own opinions; no matter what, Li Xuan and her daughter Shen Yuan only had some old grudges with her.

Many times, even one's own children could not truly empathize.

Moreover, Si Rong believed in fate; in their past lives, hadn't Bai Mo and her son already been a couple, only for him to end up with Jiang Yue in the end?

Now, they were just going out to play together.

"Li Xuan, do you know what she has been doing all these years?" Ming Zi asked.

"I heard from Lily that she has been running a street stall doing small business; when I saw her two years ago, she felt much older."

"Anyway, a person like her smiles at you to your face, but you never know when she might stab you in the back," Ming Zi advised. "It's better not to let the children get too close to her daughter."

Si Rong nodded. "It's not just one daughter. Do you remember that little boy we saw in Xuyang over a dozen years ago?"

"I remember, Li Xuan's biological son, right?"

"He has transferred to our school now," Si Rong said, not knowing how fate arranged things; it seemed that if one was destined to meet someone in this life, there was simply no way to avoid it. "I saw him when I went to pick up the two children last week."

"Uh, he delivered himself to your doorstep? Are his foster parents out of their minds? They raised him with such hard work only to send him back to Li Xuan?"

Si Rong smiled faintly. "Fate has not been unkind to Li Xuan."

Li Xuan was indeed very happy about the fact that her biological son had returned to Huaiyang.

She was now just an ordinary person struggling to make a living; heaven was unfair and could not give her a life free from worry about food and clothing like Si Rong.

As she grew older, she naturally began to worry about her own retirement.

Shen Yuan was cold and only had her own little schemes, delusional about marrying Si Rong's only son.

She could not count on her for support in her old age at all.

Fortunately, fortunately, heaven had sent her biological son to her.

She had saved up some hard-earned money from the street stall she ran with Shen Yuan over the years; if she used it to support her son, she didn't believe he wouldn't be close to her.

No matter what, the grace of birth was greater than heaven.

Last time, she had only watched her son from afar across the school, but that could not resolve the hardship of her longing for him.

Li Xuan decided she must recognize her son as soon as possible.

Shen Chi walked through the school, feeling very inferior.

Other classmates wore white sneakers and sailor shirts, while only he wore old-fashioned cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles, making him completely out of place with everyone else.

He watched the classmates playing soccer on the field with envy and couldn't help but mimic the shooting motion; if only he could have a pair of sneakers.

Thinking of his parents living in the Pinminku, Shen Chi felt some resentment.

Why were other people's parents so rich, able to let their children wear nice things and eat well?

For example, that Jiang Sinian in school; it was said that the pair of sneakers on his feet could cover the expenses of an ordinary family for a year.

The difference between people was truly too great.

The Shen family had moved to Huaiyang; the house they lived in before was not their own, but belonged to his aunt.

Because of arguments between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and because they had nowhere to go and happened to hit the drought in Xuyang, Shen Dazhuang had dragged his whole family to Huaiyang to rely on an uncle, and then stayed in Huaiyang.

But housing remained tight, and the family of six was squeezed into the Pinminku of Huaiyang.

There was no decent furniture in the shed, let alone water or electricity.

Walking into this place, the sense of inferiority on Shen Chi slowly disappeared.

To the people here, he was a scholar, representing decency.

Unconsciously, he even held his head a little higher.

As soon as he entered the shed, Wang Daniu greeted him. "Son, you're back? You must be exhausted from studying! Sit down and rest quickly!"

She looked into the distance, her tone changing. "Pan Di, you dead girl, hurry up and cook! Didn't you see your brother is back?"

"Xiangdi, go to the street corner and buy a jin of meat; we'll stir-fry meat for dinner!"

"Mom!" Shen Pandi said ingratiatingly. "Let me go with my sister? I know how to bargain!"

Wang Daniu's tone improved as if she were bestowing a favor. "Go, pick the fatty kind; your brother likes to eat it."

"Understood."

On the way to buy meat, Shen Xiangdi was unhappy. "He's like a little emperor; as soon as he comes back, we have to be busy running around."

"What can we do? Who told him to be a boy?" Shen Pandi looked into the distance and suddenly said, "Have you ever thought about leaving this home?"

"Leave?" Xiangdi looked behind her in fear and only breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't see Shen Dazhuang and Wang Daniu. "Don't say such things; if they hear it, we'll get beaten."

"Xiangdi, eldest sister found a job. The money she earns with her own strength—if she didn't give it to Mom and Dad, she could live very well on her own."

"But every month, as soon as her salary is in her hands, Mom and Dad take it away."

"I've thought about it. If we stay in Huaiyang, the three of us sisters won't have a good end; we'll either be worked to death or sold by them for money."

"After we leave, we can eat with our own hands, and no one will ever beat or scold us again."

Xiangdi didn't speak.

After buying the meat and returning home, she told Wang Daniu what her second sister had said.

"Mom, be nicer to us in the future, otherwise I'm afraid second sister..."

She said this just to be able to eat the pork belly stir-fried specifically for her brother on the table.

But she didn't expect it to be met with a heavy slap across the face from Wang Daniu.

Suddenly, Shen Xiangdi felt half of her face go numb.

But compared to her second sister, the beating she received was considered light.

After Wang Daniu found out about Shen Pandi's idea to run away, she told Shen Dazhuang.

In a fit of rage, Shen Dazhuang used a leather belt to hang Shen Pandi from the poplar tree at the doorway.

Then he broke off a willow branch and began to lash Shen Pandi with it.

"I'll teach you to be an ungrateful wretch!"

"I raised you this big, and after you've eaten and drank for free for so many years, you want to run?"

"No wonder people say daughters are money-losing goods! I'll beat you to death, you money-losing good!"

"Money-losing good! Where did your mother and I ever wrong you? You're all a bunch of debt-collecting ghosts!"

Tired from the beating, Shen Dazhuang stopped to catch his breath; when his gaze swept over to Shen Xiangdi, she hurriedly stated, "Dad, I won't run away, I'll be obedient."

She didn't even dare to take a glance at her second sister, and she didn't know if her second sister still had any breath left.

It was all her fault; for the sake of a bite to eat, how could she have told Mom what her second sister said.

Wuwu, if her second sister was beaten to death today, she would feel guilty in her heart for the rest of her life.

By evening, everyone had finished eating and had nothing to do, so when the neighbors saw Shen Dazhuang hanging such a grown girl up to beat her, they hurriedly tried to persuade him.

"Stop hitting her, a daughter is grown now, you can't beat her like this."

"That's right, what is there that can't be discussed properly? Look at how the girl has been beaten."

There were also women watching the show who speculated, "Could it be that the girl went out and stole a man..."