Chapter 4

Chapter 4

My gaze darkened slightly, and I signaled for the steward to pull the child away.

Xie Er and his wife immediately went mad, screaming and cursing, viciously wishing me a terrible death while pitifully begging me not to go after their son.

The child’s name was Tiedan, the only son of Xie Er and his wife.

I bent down and looked at Xie Lanting.

“Did he always hit you before?”

“Yes.”

Xie Er’s Wife cried out, “So what if children fight? What child doesn’t fight? Have you ever seen adults get involved? If you can’t stand losing, then don’t play.”

She actually had a point.

I asked Xie Lanting, “Do you want to fight him?”

Xie Lanting’s eyes lit up for a second, but then he glanced at Xie Er and his wife and shook his head.

I encouraged him.

“Go fight him. It doesn’t matter if you lose.”

Xie Lanting hesitated.

I simply looked at him gently.

Xie Er let out a cold laugh.

Xie Er’s Wife looked rather smug.

Tiedan snorted and cursed, “Come at me if you’ve got the guts. See if I don’t beat you to death. Don’t think I won’t dare hit you just because this evil woman is backing you up…”

Xie Lanting flew into a rage. He charged forward and slammed his fist into Tiedan, but his heroic moment lasted less than three seconds before Tiedan pinned him down and started beating him.

I didn’t interfere. I just watched from the side, keeping an eye out in case Tiedan tried anything underhanded.

Tiedan won and was very pleased with himself.

Xie Er’s whole family was also very pleased, with the smugness of people convinced their son was a dragon among men.

I pulled Xie Lanting up. He lowered his head, his face dirty, his eyes red. His gloomy gaze was filled with both anger and shame.

He tried to shake off my hand, but I held on firmly.

After two failed attempts, he obediently stopped moving and let me hold his hand.

I instructed the steward that we would be staying here tonight, then told Xie Er and his wife to go prepare a room.

“Why should we?” Xie Er’s Wife was not happy about it.

I didn’t answer. I lifted the whip and lashed Xie Er once.

Xie Er’s Wife panicked. “If you’ve got the guts, hit me! What kind of ability is it to hit my man?”

This time, I gave Xie Er several more lashes.

Xie Er got anxious. As he dodged, he roared, “Hurry up and go! What’s with all the nonsense?”

Tiedan tried to pounce over again. This time I ignored him and kept whipping.

Xie Er’s Wife immediately grabbed Tiedan and held him tight.

“I’ll go prepare it right now. Right away.”

Xie Lanting and I stayed.

The physician who had come with us examined Xie Lanting’s injuries and sighed again and again. Before he left, he reminded me, “Some of the old wounds look like they’re from four or five years ago.”

I thought about the timing.

Father Xie had probably been conscripted to fight in the war about four years ago. In other words, Xie Lanting had started getting beaten the moment he arrived at Xie Er’s home.

People’s hearts could truly be rotten.

I wiped the grime from Xie Lanting’s face, and he obediently let me fuss over him.

When only the two of us were left, he said quietly, “I embarrassed you today.”

I cupped his little face, squishing it into a plump bun.

I smiled and said, “How did you embarrass me? You made me proud today. You were brave enough to set aside your dignity and take off your clothes in public because you were thinking of me. You treated me as your mother and didn’t want people to misunderstand and think I was using my power to bully others. You didn’t want to fight Tiedan, but the moment he called me an evil woman, you rushed up and punched him. You protected me. I’m happy beyond words. You’d never fought before, but you still dared to charge forward for my sake. Where else could I find such a loyal, righteous, good son who protects his mother? I didn’t even have to give birth to one myself, and I already have one. I’m so lucky.”

“Really…?” Xie Lanting’s eyes sparkled. He didn’t quite dare believe it, yet he desperately wanted my confirmation.

I praised him without holding back.

“Of course! You’re tough and determined. A three-day journey only took us half a day, and you weren’t afraid of hardship at all. When we arrived, your second uncle and aunt secretly glared at you, and Tiedan bullied you too, but you were still so brave. You didn’t get stage fright at all. Having a good son like you must be a blessing I earned in my past life.”

Being poor in my past life and having money to spend in this life counted as a blessing, right?

Xie Lanting smiled bashfully, then said with a lack of confidence, “But I lost.”

“But you took the first step. You have to understand, for someone who’s often bullied, the hardest thing is fighting back for the first time. I was originally planning to spend three days and three nights encouraging you, but you did it all at once today. You’re practically a little genius. You lost only because you’re a good, polite, civilized child who doesn’t like fighting and doesn’t know fighting techniques. But Tiedan is different. He’s used to hitting you, and he knows how to fight. As long as we improve your technique, one day you’ll defeat him. For example, today, when he grabbed your hands and the two of you were very close, your hands and feet couldn’t exert much strength, but you could have driven your knee into his stomach…”

I taught him a few self-defense techniques I had seen in short videos in my previous life.

Back then, when I lived alone, I’d learned them just in case.

But never in a million years did I expect that I wouldn’t run into bad guys. Instead, I ran into a bad boss. Dying suddenly from overtime, my dear friends-I was truly too miserable.