Yansheng now recalled these things that happened at that time, only to feel that Lichen’s mother did the right thing.
At that time, Lichen made things more serious with his illegitimate half-brother. With his character and his already paranoid mind at the time, if he continued to develop like that, he would probably pull out a knife and stab the illegitimate son one day.
Lichen’s mother’s methods were tough at the time, but she effectively avoided worse things.
Of course, neither Lichen nor she could understand this at that time.
Lichen’s relationship with his mother was very frosty. He felt that her heart was full of money, that she was only vying for property from his father and didn’t care about her son.
But Yansheng now understood the situation of his mother at that time. Her husband betrayed her. The mistress’ son was raised to be so good and Lichen’s father was the one with power in the company. She was thinking about transferring assets little by little, and she had to paralyze him with a smile and act as a loving couple with him outside. How much pressure did she have to bear?
However, her biological son was not only a disappointment but also ignorant.
“Her son is the same age as me, she must be a middle-aged woman, right? What kind of f*cking heroine in a romance novel is she?!” Lichen looked disgusted.
Yansheng shrugged her shoulders. “Mulin is your cheap half-brother. He is a legendary other people’s child. He was recruited by Yinghua Experimental High School after graduating from elementary school. Do you know Yinghua Experimental? They have the two-four school system, the kind that connects from middle school to high school. Your half-brother studies well. If he comes to No.1 High School, he definitely will be admitted to the top class.”
Lichen grunted unhappily.
Yansheng finished it off with, “Your father loves him very much.”
Lichen was furious. “Zhang Yansheng!”
“You can’t accept it?” Yansheng stared at him.
Lichen suppressed his anger and questioned her, “I don’t even know about these things, so how do you know about them?”
“I heard it from rumors.” Yansheng lied without changing her expression. “If you don’t want people to know your wrongdoings, then don’t do it. K City is so big and the entire business district is so big. If you don’t believe it, just ask your father about my father. Even if they haven’t had any business together, they should have heard of each other, maybe they met on some occasion.”
She added quite eloquently, “Anyway, the rumor came and passed onto me, I listened to it with relish. Then one day, I suddenly discovered that the protagonist’s own son was in the same school as me and he was the guy who was cheekily harassing me. Hah!”
Lichen believed her.
Before, he had been surprised how Yansheng knew his private room number in Bao Chi, but later when she blew him up with such a big incident, he forgot about his doubts about it. After all, it was just a trivial matter compared with this matter.
And now, he was not in the mood to deal with Yansheng’s ridicule, his mind was full of chaos.
Yansheng looked at him for a while, watching the expression on his face change, gritting his teeth anxiously and angrily. The piece of paper was crumbled into a ball unconsciously by him in his hand.
She said, “Now that you know everything. What do you want to do next?”
“I…” Lichen only said one word and he couldn’t say anything anymore.
Under such a huge change in the family, what sober and rational measures could you expect from a young man who usually was arrogant?
Yansheng sighed slightly in her heart and said, “According to the rumor I have heard, your mother already knew about this a long time ago.”
In fact, Lichen’s mother should have been quietly transferring assets at this time. But Yansheng couldn’t tell such a secret thing in advance.
She changed her perspective and continued, “Let me remind you, no matter how good your relationship with your father is, you have to be clear-headed. In this matter, you can only and must stand with your mother. I told you the other day, no matter what happened, you are your mother’s only son. She just scolds you and beats you, but you are her only child. On your father’s side, hmm…
“Sooner or later, your father and your mother will tear their faces, but it’s definitely not now. If they could tear their faces now, a strong woman like your mother would have torn him apart a long time ago. She must have a reason why she can’t do this now. So, I suggest that you don’t rush to argue with your father, you have to talk to your mother first.
“I’ve thought about it for a while, your mother now must be in a very difficult situation. Her husband has such a big bastard outside and she doesn’t know how much of their conjugal property has been sent there to be reserved for the illegitimate child. She is injured in both feelings and interests. She can’t tell you about it yet, so she can only grit her teeth and hold on.
“You might as well persuade your mother that there is no way to consider about their feelings anymore, just let them talk about interests and benefits. You and your mother have the same interests. First, think about how you can keep the assets that the two of you deserve.”
Lichen clutched the ball of paper and clenched his fists, the blue veins on the back of his hand bulged. He hadn’t spoken for a long time.
Yansheng waited for a while, but when she didn’t see any reaction from him, she raised her head, “What now? Are you still planning to accept your father’s little white moonlight and your cheap brother? Sure enough, you men think that too many wives and concubines are very good, right?”
Lichen immediately burst out, “That’s bullsh*t!”
He glanced at Yansheng’s beautiful face and the sarcastic smile at the corner of her mouth seemed to be absent. He suppressed his anger and said bitterly, “Yansheng, why do I find your mouth to be so poisonous?”
“It depends on who I am talking to.” Yansheng sneered. “For people who are not clear-headed, just like you, I have to be a little more poisonous. If not, I am afraid that you will not listen. So, did you hear what I just said?”
Lichen wiped his face. “I just want to go and see that bastard now. I’m going to kick his ass!”
“Uh huh~” Yansheng continued, “Then they will call the police and inform your father. Since you acted recklessly and alerted them, this will cause harm to your mother which will bring her down. Anyway, you will not be able to do anything that can help, so you deserve it.”
“You…” Lichen was so angry that he couldn’t speak.
But he also couldn’t refute it. Yansheng’s logic was very clear. If he really did not care and beat the bastard, then that would probably be the result.
“So you’re saying that I just leave him alone?!” he asked with red eyes.
“That’s why I’ve been telling you to clear your mind.” Yansheng looked at him coldly, as if looking at her former self. “If you cut off the water downstream, then there will be an endless supply of water upstream, so what’s the point?
“Who is the root cause of the problem in this matter? Is it the mistress? Is it the illegitimate child? Obviously, it’s your father!
“For you to hate your father’s illegitimate son first, not even his mistress, I bet you think it’s very righteous, right? Do you think you’re on a moral high ground? But what do you really feel in your heart? Do you think I can’t see it?”
Yansheng’s voice became more and more stronger. “You don’t hate your father who let down your mother, not even the mistress who destroyed your family. What you really hate—Hah! This is so ridiculous!—The one you hate is that illegitimate son who took all your father’s love for you. Your first reaction is that you want to beat up the illegitimate son, jump like a dog, jump higher for the owner to see, and let the owner love him a little more… Lichen, look at how you behave!”
Lichen’s face turned into a pig’s liver color.
However, Yansheng’s words were cruel and he was unable to refute them.
The car turned very quiet.
After a long time, Lichen cursed, “D*mn it! So, what should I do now? You tell me!”
Yansheng was so angry that she wanted to hit him. “Are you deaf? I already told you what to do! Go and ask your mother! I’m not your mother!”
She really wanted to knock on this guy’s pig head.
Then, Yansheng opened the door with anger and wanted to get out of the car. When the door opened a gap, she suddenly paused, turned her head, and said, “Forget it! I won’t be angry with a fool!
“Let me tell you something that will make you happy. You hate your bastard half-brother to death, right? Well, let me tell you, he hates you more than you hate him! His mother is a neurotic, and sure enough, the neurotic’s son is also a neurotic. He hates that you are your father’s legitimate child.
“This kind of person has problems with his brain so don’t provoke him. Your mother is not a bully and you have to have some confidence in your mother. Don’t be a drag to your mother.”
Before she finally got out of the car, she added, “Talk to your mother and be patient. It’s not very easy for her.”
After getting out of the car, she slammed the door and turned around. “Mr. Zhou, let’s go home!”
Lichen was left alone in the car.
…
On Tuesday, Yansheng went to their homeroom teacher privately. “…as far as these two subjects—physics and mathematics—are concerned, there are too many points that I want to make up for. Do you think it’s okay?”
She was not good at physics and mathematics, which always pulled down her total score on the exams. There was still half a month left until the final exam and she wanted to find a teacher to make up for it before the exam.
Of course, it would cost her money.
Their homeroom teacher taught physics and Yansheng heard that teachers would also do extra lessons outside to earn extra money. Teachers in their schools were very in demand. Those who had the title of Outstanding Teacher or Special Teacher were even more popular.
However, teachers generally did not do make-up classes for students in their own classes, mainly because it was not good to negotiate about money.
The homeroom teacher said, “I’ll help you look for it.”
Yansheng entrusted this matter to the homeroom teacher.
In the afternoon, the homeroom teacher was able to find teachers for her. “Mr. Xu teaches physics at six hundred yuan per hour and Mr. Ma teaches math, he is a special grade teacher so his rate is eight hundred fifty yuan per hour.” She asked Yansheng if she would accept them.
These were all internal prices for students in their school. If they were from a foreign school, it would be more expensive.
This was why it would cost money to raise a child and it was really expensive. In many families, children were like eating money. Thirty thousand yuan a month wouldn’t be enough to pay for a child’s summer vacation. But for Yansheng, it was just a piece of cake so she agreed.
The homeroom teacher asked, “Have you talked to your parents already?”
Yansheng replied, “No, I can just use my pocket money.”
The homeroom teacher was speechless. She knew some details about Yansheng. This girl’s family spent money to enter the school, but in the end, she worked hard and entered the preparatory class.
The homeroom teacher just heard that teachers like her, who had to work so hard to earn extra money by putting in time and energy, could actually be paid for by children using their pocket money.
This fact kind of made her sad for a while. Then, she confirmed the make-up classes time with Yansheng and arranged them all for her.
Because it was almost the end of the semester, the teachers could not go Yansheng’s house. One make-up class was arranged during lunch break at noon and the other was arranged after school in the evening.
The Ministry of Education in K City stipulated that evening self-study was not allowed in the first year of high school. So, the first-year high school students would leave school early and have time after school. Dinner could also be served in the cafeteria with the second- and third-year students which was very convenient.
And this evening was the start of Yansheng’s first make-up class.
Yansheng called Mr. Zhou and told him the time to pick her up.
When they got home in the evening, Heling and Shuocheng were already playing on the first floor.
The little girl threw away the game console and ran over to ask, “Sister, you came back so late. Have you eaten already?”
She was very caring and considerate of others.
This was so… no wonder it was called a little padded jacket.
Who could resist it?