“It’s no surprise that you don’t understand; you’re such a stupid fool, what could you possibly understand!” a young woman’s voice rang out through the garden, Yan Shi glanced in the direction of that voice and saw a beautiful young girl holding onto the hand of a seven or eight year old boy. Trailing behind were two maidservants and two nannies, and they slowly walked in from the entrance of the garden.

This was probably the Kang Le residence’s eldest young miss Hua Lu Yao and the third young master, Hua Wei.

Hua Ling lowered his voice muttered, “Why is younger sister saying this of me.”

“You’ve completely lost face for both aunt and our Kang Le residence; did I say anything wrong?” Hua Lu Yao wore a proud expression. She sauntered over, coming closer to Hua Ling, “And how many times must I say this, don’t call me younger sister. I don’t have an older brother like you.”

Yan Shi frowned, it seems like his little Wangfei’s situation at home was worse than he imagined.

“You stupid fool! Stupid fool! I’ll hit you to death, you stupid fool!” Hua Wei, who was originally standing obediently by Hua Lu Yao’s side suddenly rushed up with his short legs and raised up his fists to hit Hua Ling. Although he was only about seven or eight this year, however he was plump and fat. When his fists struck, it produced peng peng sounds and seemed very painful.

Yan Shi clenched his fists but eventually, he still managed to hold it in.

Hua Ling ducked as he cried out, “Third brother, why are you hitting me!”

“I’ll hit you! I’ll hit you!” Hua Wei had a short stature, so his fists all landed at Hua Ling’s waist area, “Because you’re an idiot!”

“Alright, alright, quickly call your brother back here,” Yang Shi said in pretense.

Hua Lu Yao waved a hand at Hua Wei, “Little brother!”

No matter what Hua Ling was also an adult. Just now he was caught off guard and hence he got hit by Hua Wei a few times, but now he managed to keep a distance between him and Hua Wei. Hua Wei was unable to catch up and he ground his fists in anger, intending to continue hitting Hua Ling. Naturally, he wouldn’t pay attention to his elder sister.

Being unable to catch Hua Ling, Hua Wei began to cry out loud. Seeing that her precious baby was crying, Yang Shi naturally felt her heart ache for him. She shot a glare at the maidservants and they quickly ran over to cradle Hua Wei and brought him to Yang Shi.

Yang Shi embraced Hua Wei in distress and instructed the maidservants to bring a bowl of refreshing melon soup before glaring at Hua Ling who was standing in the distance in dissatisfaction, “Is there an elder brother like you? You’ve only been gone for a few days and you already learned to bully your younger brother!”

“I- I didn’t……” Hua Ling slowly stiffened, “He started hitting me first, I didn’t hit him back.”

“You actually thought of hitting back!” Hua Lu Yao acted as if she had just heard the world’s biggest joke, “Mother, look, this is the kind of good son you’ve raised. What happened to all those principles you were taught in the past? The elder brother accommodating [1] his younger brother is a given. It’s such a hot day and he has chased after you for so long, what if he got a heatstroke? What if he fell sick? And you were the one who made him angry, what if he became ill from anger? He’s still so young, how painful can it be even if he hit you a few times? You’re really not sensible; you’ve already grown so old, but your mentality is not even on par with that of an eight year old child. If you hadn’t made a mistake, would younger brother hit you?”

Yan Shi’s eyes narrowed, this ability to turn black into white was truly amazing. It sounds reasonable on the surface, but anyone who possess a bit of judgment would not be convinced by this fallacy.

But Hua Ling has been listening to this kind of twisted theory since young. Now, not only would he not feel that there wasn’t anything wrong with what Hua Lu Yao is saying, he would also desperately pin all the blame on himself.

As Yan Shi expected, Hua Ling’s face immediately filled with guilt and he slowly walked over, “Then, I’ll let younger brother hit me a few more times to vent his anger.”

Hearing Hua Ling’s words Hua Wei wriggled his body, ready to jump out of Yang Shi’s embrace. Yang Shi naturally wouldn’t not let him go. Hua Wei ran up to Hua Ling and raised his little fists to successively punch his stomach a few times. Hua Ling didn’t move an inch, but Yan Shi saw his wrinkled brows and knew that he must be in pain.

Having finished venting, Hua Wei ran back to Yang Shi’s side, giggling.

“You shouldn’t blame mother and your younger brother and sister,” Yang Shi spoke up, “We’re doing this for your own good. Now that you’re married, it’s not like living in this residence. You must be careful whenever you speak and do things so as to not make others unhappy.”

Hua Ling lowered his head and said respectfully, “I know that all of you are doing this for my sake, I know this in my heart. How could I be mad at you? If I got angry, then I would truly fail to appreciate your kindness and your painstaking efforts.”

Yang Shi smiled with satisfaction, “It’s good that you’re aware.”

Yan Shi laughed coldly. The more he thought that Yang Shi was abominable, the sadder he felt for Hua Ling. A person who struggles to escape the den of the monster but fails repeatedly is not the most piteous. The most pitiful one is he who is unaware that he is trapped within a monster’s lair.

Yan Shi ruminated to himself, back then he should have been kinder to his Wangfei.

“There is one more thing that you didn’t do right,” Yang Shi followed up, “How could you cry loudly, without regard for etiquette, on the day of your marriage?” Yang Shi was referring to the incident in the main hall when Hua Ling was preparing to bid goodbye, but because his birth mother’s tablet was missing, Hua Ling began to cry loudly.

This incident had reached the ears of all the powerful nobles in court. At the moment, many people were pointing fingers and gossiping. Until now, Yang Shi was too afraid to mingle with the other noble ladies.

Naturally, Hua Ling knew which incident Yang Shi was referring to and said, “At that time I was feeling anxious. I’m about to be married but yet my mother was unaware. So… so… Afterward I also thought that at that time I acted too hastily, and indeed wasn’t good enough.”

Yang Shi’s face sunk, letting out a cold hmph, “Then, I’m not your mother?”
Hua Lu Yao added from the side, “Mother, you have raised him for so many years, but listen to what he said just now! How ungrateful, truly the heart of a wolf. You’re not even comparable to a dead person.”

This kind of talk was simply too unreasonable! Yan Shi felt even worse than when Hua Ling was being beaten just now. After all, Hua Ling’s birth mother was the original Lady of the house, even though she has already passed away, her position is still higher than Yang Shi’s. Even Yang Shi had to kneel in front of her tablet and pay her respects when she first entered the residence [2], not to mention during the New Year and on other festivals. She was just a mistress, how dare she speak like that!

Perhaps it was because of the death of his own mother, it made Yan Shi sympathize more with Hua Ling. He wanted to rush out and defend his little Wangfei, but he still loosened his clenched fists. He wanted to see how his little Wangfei would resolve this matter.

As expected, Hua Ling wasn’t a timid as before, but neither did he present an overly tough manner, “Younger sister, how can you say that of my mother? Even mother can’t say that. Your words are very hurtful but if you apologize to me, I’ll forgive you.” The former referred to his birth mother, and the latter referred to Yang Shi.

Hua Lu Yao laughed, “What a joke, why do I have to apologize to you? Have I said something wrong? For the sake of a dead person, you caused everyone in our residence to lose face……”

“Pa!” A sharp sound rang out, interrupting Hua Lu Yao’s speech.
Hua Lu Yao covered her cheek with one hand, staring at Hua Ling in disbelief, “You- You have gone mad! You actually dared to hit me!”

Yang Shi witnessed her own daughter being hit. Hua Ling had moved too quickly, by the time she reacted, Hua Ling had already slapped her.
Yan Shi exhaled in relish.

“Big brother! Big brother! Big brother you’re back!” Their voices had just faded off when a young gentleman rushed through the courtyard doors. This person was about the same age as Hua Ling. This must be the second young master Hua Xu, Yan Shi realized. Now, all of Hua Qian Cheng’s sons and daughters were present here.

“Second brother.” Hua Ling responded dully.

“Big brother! How is it, being married? Is Wangye treating you well? Did you bear any hardship?” Hua Xu turned Hua Ling around in a circle and looked him over, “If he dares to bully you, you can tell me. I’ll help you get revenge.”
Hua Ling’s voice remained dull, “I’m doing fine.”

Yan Shi raised his brows, this second young master seemed different from the rest.

“Second brother!” Seeing that her own brother had arrived, Hua Lu Yao cupped her cheek and walked over, pointing at Hua Ling, “He hit me!”
Hua Xu was surprised, his eldest brother who normally possessed the best temperament [43] among them actually hit someone?

“Second brother, he hit elder sister, it’s him. Quickly, help elder sister get back at him!” Hua Wei tattled as he ran over toward Hua Xu’s side as well, while pointing toward Hua Ling. He wished he could personally hit him, but his fat little body was caught by Hua Xu.

“You must have done something out of line,” Hua Xu said with certainty, “Otherwise big brother wouldn’t hit you. Even if big brother mistakenly hit you, that’s fine as well. Mother once said, your brothers are like your father. If father hit you, would you still hit him back?”

“This……” Hua Lu Yao was left speechless by Hua Xu.

“Where did you go? Why are you only back now?” Yang Shi wanted to change the topic, “I heard that you weren’t at home last night.”

Hua Xu scratched his head, blushing, “I just went out for a few drinks with some friends, then it was too late to return.”

Yang Shi was helpless toward this son. Although she was the one who gave birth to him, he wasn’t like her at all. Hua Lu Yao and Hua Wei both saw and understood her intention in her treatment of Hua Ling, and would act in harmony with her. But Hua Xu was very protective of Hua Ling, it almost seemed as if he and Hua Ling were birthed from the same womb.

Previously, Yang Shi wanted to raise Hua Ling as a useless, incompetent nobleman’s son who only got into all sorts of trouble, but he failed to turn out as she had hoped. Instead, it was her own son who spent his days drinking or with prostitutes, an unaccomplished womanizer. He was already old enough, yet he didn’t want to sit for the imperial examinations to obtain an official title [4], nor was he interested in learning the Hua family’s business. But no matter how much of a scoundrel he was, he was still her son. In the future, he would inherit the duke’s title.

Yang Shi wanted to nag at him a bit more, but Hua Xu looked at Hua Ling and asked, “Big brother, what happened just now? Tell me, I’ll be your judge.”
His big brother’s character was too meek, so he always got bullied. If only he had drank lesser last night, then he could have caught up with him sooner.
Hua Ling sniffled, “Second brother, younger sister insulted my birth mother.”

  

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Translator’s Notes:
[1] Here “accommodating” (迁就; Qian Jiu) also contains the connotation of “yielding” to someone
[2] First entered the residence = when she first got married to the Duke
[3] Hua Ling is usually kind, nice etc. Essentially, he has a good temper, doesn’t get angry easily.
[4] i.e. to become an official in the imperial government (usually all noblemen’s sons would at least try to get a title even if they can’t get into the top three)

  

dreamxx: Hellooooo~ It’s been awhile but I’m glad to be back! Hope you enjoy this chapter 😀 On a side note, lately I’ve been addicted to The Wife is First and Dinghai Fusheng Records; go read them if you haven’t already!!

  

Thank you for your support! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

  

Chapter 9Chapter 11