Chapter 44
Chapter 44
“Well, I’m sorry for embarrassing you,” Pei Xiaobei said coldly.
The moment the words left her mouth, a sharp slap landed on her left cheek without warning.
The force turned Pei Xiaobei’s face to the side, a red mark blooming on her fair skin. From Lu Zixuan’s angle, the finger imprints were clearly visible. The person hadn’t held back at all; it was a solid slap. He couldn’t imagine how much it must hurt.
Even though he was currently quite intimidated by Pei Yuming, he steeled himself to step forward and intervene. But as soon as he did, Pei Yuming kicked him to the ground.
“Get lost! Don’t make me beat you now! Your account will be settled when I find your parents!”
When Pei Xiaobei saw Lu Zixuan fall, her first instinct was to help him up, but the quick-handed Pei Yuming yanked her back.
“You stay away from him! Aren’t you ashamed enough?” Pei Yuming was furious to see his daughter still daring to have anything to do with Lu Zixuan right in front of him. “What did I tell you before? I told you to stay away from that Lu man. But no, you went ahead and threw yourself at him, causing all this trouble. How did I end up with a child who can’t understand human speech?!”
“Then don’t give birth to me!” Pei Xiaobei glared at her father, a reckless expression on her face. “You think I wanted to be your daughter? You think I wanted to be born?”
“What… did you say?” Pei Yuming’s face was full of disbelief. He never imagined that his daughter, who had always been obedient in front of him, would defy him repeatedly. He stepped forward, grabbed her collar, and roared, “Say that again!”
Despite her lips trembling from fear, she stiffened her neck and repeated, “If I had a choice, I would never choose to be your daughter. You’ve never treated me as an independent person. Since I was little, every conversation with you has been a command. When you told me to go east, I could never go west. Yes, you cared about my grades, but only my grades. To you, if my grades were good, I was a good daughter. If they dropped, I had gone bad. You never cared about how I was doing at school, if anyone bullied me, or if the teachers were good. You only cared about my test scores. You never once asked if I was happy or if I faced any difficulties. Even right now, what you care about most is that I embarrassed you. You haven’t asked a single time about my health or if I’m scared. Deep down, you think my pregnancy is wrong, that I’ve caused trouble. But do you think I wanted this?”
Pei Yuming was completely stunned by his daughter’s rapid-fire accusations. He subconsciously released his grip, not even daring to look into her tear-reddened eyes. He involuntarily stepped back.
“You’ve never tried to understand me, yet you expect me to understand you at every turn. Actually, you adults are far more selfish than us. You only ever demand things from me based on your own perspective. Just because I’m your daughter, I have to satisfy all your need for control, right?”
Pei Yuming stared at his daughter in shock, as if he had never imagined that she would one day say such things to him.
But for so many years, as a father with absolute authority, Pei Yuming had long been accustomed to communicating with his daughter in a crude and simple manner. Even though he now wanted to say something to comfort her, he couldn’t bring himself to swallow his pride and speak.
He moved his lips but ultimately said nothing.
Pei Xiaobei seemed to have expected her father to react like this. She gave a mocking smile. “I wasn’t going to tell you originally, but now that things have come to this, I have nothing to fear. You probably don’t know this, but I changed my college application major. I changed it to Music Performance, the major you look down on the most. Because I don’t like studying medicine, and I hate the idea of becoming a doctor. I don’t want to live my whole life under your shadow.”
“Y-you…” Pei Yuming never expected something this big waiting for him. His rage was so overwhelming it left him numb; it felt like a boulder sat on his chest, and no matter how he breathed, he couldn’t find relief.
While both father and daughter were seething, Pei Xiaobei was entirely consumed by the thrill of successful revenge, completely oblivious to her father’s expression.
But Lu Zixuan, who had already stood up waiting nearby, noticed something was wrong. He quickly went over to support Pei Yuming and asked worriedly, “Uncle Pei, are you okay?”
Pei Yuming completely ignored Lu Zixuan’s concerned face, convinced that he was only coming over to mock him. First Lu Dong, now his son-the father and son duo seemed to have conspired to take turns infuriating him to death.
“Get away from me!” Though weak all over, Pei Yuming mustered all his strength to shove Lu Zixuan, then staggered against the wall, pointing a finger and cursing, “Tell me, did you put her up to this swap? I knew it-every last one of you father and son pair is up to no good, scheming to tear my family apart.”
Seeing her father redirect his anger, Pei Xiaobei immediately stepped in front of Lu Zixuan. “Don’t yell at him! I swapped it myself; it has nothing to do with Brother Zixuan!”
“You… you wretched girl!” Pei Yuming was so furious he was spouting nonsense. He pointed at Lu Zixuan and bellowed, “If you’re a man, don’t hide behind a woman! Can’t own up to what you do-just like your father, a spineless coward!”
Lu Zixuan had been trying his best to mediate between the sharp-tongued father and daughter, but he didn’t expect Pei Yuming to suddenly turn the conversation and drag his father into it again, cursing so nastily. His temper flared.
Gently pushing Pei Xiaobei aside, he faced Pei Yuming with a cold expression and said, “You dare say that again!”
Pei Yuming, itching for a fight, saw that Zixuan had come to him himself. Without caring that he was an elder, he immediately threw a punch.
Lu Zixuan had been expecting him to attack, and seeing how he had no regard for face, he didn’t hold back either. The two started trading punches and kicks.
The fierce fight quickly drew a crowd of onlookers, but seeing the desperate way they were going at it, no one dared intervene. In the end, security guards came to separate them.
Pei Yuming saw the multi-layered crowd surrounding them, many filming with their phones. He knew he had utterly shamed himself today. However, before he could even catch his breath, the police arrived.
At the police station, Pei Yuming and Lu Zixuan, both bruised, sat face to face. Lu Dong and Su Jin also sat opposite, all with grim expressions.
Bai Xue was sitting nearby with her daughter, not far from Pei Yuming, diagonally across from the Lu family of three.
The mediating officer only just learned they knew each other. Once everyone had calmed down, he earnestly advised, “Since you all know each other, why can’t you talk things through properly instead of resorting to violence?”
Pei Yuming behaved himself in front of the police, though his tone remained hostile. He pointed at Lu Zixuan across from him. “Ask him, ask him what he did! My daughter is so young-how could he bring himself to do it?”