TEDWR: Chapter 17

Glossary

· Zhang Yansheng (张雁声): The female protagonist, the reborn eldest daughter.

· Zhang Huan (张寰): Zhang Yansheng's father.

· Liang Yingying (梁莹莹): Zhang Yansheng's stepmother.

· Zhang Shuocheng (张硕成): Zhang Yansheng's seven-year-old half-brother.

· Zhang Heling (张鹤翎): Zhang Yansheng's nine-year-old half-sister. Nickname: Hehe.

· Wang Yi (王姨): The nanny who cares for Zhang Shuocheng. Referred to as Auntie Wang.

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Chapter 17

Zhang Huan actually chuckled. He glanced at Zhang Yansheng and asked Zhang Shuocheng, "Your sister didn't hit you?"

"She did," Zhang Shuocheng said. "It didn't hurt."

Having caught her breath, Liang Yingying, furious, slapped Zhang Shuocheng on the back of his head. "Are you stupid!"

Before she could even pull her hand back, Zhang Yansheng struck her wrist with the ruler, producing a crisp crack!

Liang Yingying let out a yelp.

"She hit me! Zhang Huan! Your daughter hit me!" she shouted, pointing at Zhang Yansheng.

Zhang Yansheng glanced at that finger. Liang Yingying shuddered and whooshed her hand back.

Zhang Yansheng said coldly, "If you have something to say, say it. Why hit the child? Zhang Shuocheng is still young. If he makes a mistake, spank his bottom properly so he knows it's wrong. You can even hit his palm; I'll lend you this disciplinary ruler. But don't hit his head! Is a child's head a place you can just hit at will?"

Liang Yingying fumed, "What's it to you if I hit my own son?"

Zhang Yansheng said, "If you want it to be none of my business, fine. Don't let him use the Zhang surname, don't let him live here, and I definitely won't interfere."

Liang Yingying spat, "Why shouldn't he? He's born from the same father as you, so he has to use the Zhang name and has to live here!"

"Since you know he and I share the same father, why ask if it's any of my business? Unless there are doubts about his parentage? Does he need a paternity test?" Zhang Yansheng asked.

Auntie Wang turned her face away to stifle a laugh.

Seeing the conversation getting more inappropriate, Zhang Huan spoke up, "Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense. Your younger brother and sister are listening."

Zhang Huan was also very displeased with Liang Yingying hitting Zhang Shuocheng on the back of the head earlier. He scolded her, "You're a mother of two children and still don't know how to manage them? You need Yanyan to teach you? Can you hit the back of the head? What if he becomes stupid?"

"I..." Liang Yingying was in the wrong and her voice weakened. "I was just upset in the moment."

Her temper flared again. "It's late at night, Shuoshuo is about to sleep, and she comes up to hit him. Is she in the right?"

In the past, Zhang Heling wouldn't dare interject at such times because if she dared, Liang Yingying would definitely pinch her.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

But Zhang Yansheng had just told her yesterday to speak up boldly when she had something to say. She hesitated for a moment, moved closer to Zhang Yansheng, putting more distance between herself and Liang Yingying, and spoke up to tell Zhang Huan, "Sister told Shuoshuo this morning that he had to finish today's homework before noon. Shuoshuo dragged it out until the afternoon. Sister said for every hour he was late, he'd get one hit on the palm, so she hit him once. But sister didn't use any force at all; it was very light, so Shuoshuo didn't feel any pain."

Zhang Shuocheng also added gleefully, "Right, it didn't hurt at all!"

Liang Yingying was nearly driven to senile dementia by this pair of foolish children.

Zhang Huan, however, laughed and pinched Zhang Shuocheng's nose. "Your sister was just scaring you, huh. Let me tell you, if you dare not listen to your sister again, next time she'll really hit you."

He glanced at Liang Yingying, his gaze meaningful. "Look at Yanyan, concerned about her brother's studies."

Liang Yingying was stumped.

She was busy every day with shopping, playing mahjong, beauty treatments, and meeting with her girlfriends—swamped! How did she have time to manage the children's studies? Besides, what's tuition for if not for teachers to manage them? If their grades aren't good, it's the teachers' responsibility! Otherwise, why send them to school?

Unable to defend herself, she could only glare hatefully at Zhang Heling. This stupid daughter couldn't tell friend from foe! An idiot!

Zhang Heling shrank behind Zhang Yansheng.

Zhang Yansheng said, "Alright, rest early. We're going down now." She looked at Zhang Shuocheng again. "Same rule tomorrow. Today's homework must be finished by twelve noon."

Her tone was ordinary, but her gaze was sharp. Zhang Shuocheng was genuinely a bit afraid of her now and grumbled, "Got it, hmph."

The attitude wasn't great. Zhang Yansheng considered finding time later to "educate" him slowly.

She nudged Zhang Heling's shoulder. Zhang Heling understood, called out, "Goodnight, Mom and Dad!" and turned to leave first.

Zhang Yansheng followed behind her, placing herself between Zhang Heling and Liang Yingying, and they went downstairs together.

Before, Zhang Yansheng wouldn't even acknowledge Zhang Heling. Now, seeing the two sisters getting along so warmly—how wonderful! Zhang Huan thought with satisfaction.

"Time for bed," he said.

Liang Yingying said, "You go ahead. I want to talk to Shuoshuo for a bit."

Zhang Huan said, "Be quick," and went back to their room first.

Once Zhang Huan left, Liang Yingying closed the door and scolded Auntie Wang, "What's wrong with you! I pay your salary, and you can't even watch the child properly, letting Shuoshuo get hit?"

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Auntie Wang felt wronged. "I was just going to the toilet..."

"I'm telling you, from now on, you watch Shuoshuo closely for me!" Liang Yingying said angrily. "If you let Shuoshuo get hit again, don't bother working here anymore!"

Auntie Wang wasn't having it. "And how am I supposed to stop her? I'm just a nanny; I can't hit her. She's the Zhang family's eldest young miss. If I touch her and she says I hit her, what then? The master would fire me all the same! Look how much the master dotes on this daughter—he only scolds you, not her."

This truly hit Liang Yingying's sore spot.

It was baffling these past few days; Zhang Huan had suddenly started protecting Zhang Yansheng.

Liang Yingying was also puzzled. What kind of ill wind was blowing?

She remembered she had just gotten Zhang Huan worked up. She controlled Zhang Huan mainly in the bedroom, and Zhang Huan was still waiting for her.

She hurriedly said, "Anyway, you have to stop her. Even if you can't stop her, you have to try!"

Auntie Wang said, "A sister managing her brother is only right and proper. Look, ever since Miss Yanyan started managing him, Shuoshuo has been doing his homework obediently! If I stop her and Shuoshuo stops doing his homework, and the master blames me later, I'll say it was because you wouldn't let me!"

Liang Yingying was stumped again and said angrily, "Who said I wouldn't let Shuoshuo do his homework!"

"As long as Shuoshuo does his homework properly, his sister won't hit him randomly either," Auntie Wang said. "I think Miss Yanyan isn't an unreasonable person. Teaching her brother is teaching him to be good, not teaching him to be bad."

Auntie Wang had more she didn't say: What boy doesn't get spanked when he's little? Zhang Shuocheng just got spanked too little, that's why he was so lawless. She often felt like hitting him out of frustration, but couldn't.

"You..." Liang Yingying was furious. It was truly bizarre; one after another, they were all taking Zhang Yansheng's side.

But she couldn't refute it for the moment and was also thinking about Zhang Huan waiting for her in the bedroom—the one she absolutely had to keep happy. She huffed and spat out, "Just let Zhang Yansheng wait and see!"

Then she left.

Auntie Wang curled her lip.

She had been with Liang Yingying for many years and knew she had originally been a mistress. Deep down, she didn't think much of her either.

She said to Zhang Shuocheng, "You understand now, right? If you do your homework properly, your sister won't hit you randomly. Look, these past two days she only hit you because you did something bad!"

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

Zhang Shuocheng was very unhappy. "I hate her!"

"Then go tell your mom. Telling me is useless; I'm just a nanny," Auntie Wang said. "If you have the guts, make your mom stay home all day to protect you so your sister can't hit you."

But even Zhang Shuocheng knew that was impossible. His mother was a woman who loved going out intensely; she simply couldn't stay home. Today he told her not to go out, and his bottom got two slaps for it.

And yesterday, when his sister pinned her on the sofa, she couldn't fight back either.

This mother of his... she really couldn't be relied on.

A bratty child dares to be bratty one hundred percent because there's a bratty parent backing him up, protecting him from getting hit, cleaning up his messes.

But now, Liang Yingying was a very unfit, very incompetent bratty parent.

A bratty child without a bratty parent loses his nerve.

Auntie Wang said, "Go to sleep now. Remember to do your homework first thing tomorrow when you get up. If you finish your homework, you can play all you want and your sister won't hit you."

Listlessly, Zhang Shuocheng finally went to sleep.

The next day, of course, he wanted to play first thing after getting up. Children his age are all like that, forgetting what they were told almost immediately.

But Zhang Heling was much better. After breakfast, she said to Zhang Yansheng, "Sister, I'm going to go watch Shuoshuo do his homework!"

Zhang Yansheng said, "Don't neglect your own homework."

Zhang Heling promised, "I won't. I do three days' worth in one day. In a few more days, I'll have finished the entire summer homework set!"

This child was the invisible, unnoticed one at home. No one urged her to study, yet she managed herself quite well.

But Zhang Yansheng really couldn't remember how Zhang Heling's academic performance was. After all, she had never cared about this sister before. In any case, she'd never seen her mother or their shared father praise the little girl for her studies.

Probably average grades, Zhang Yansheng thought.

"Alright, go ahead," Zhang Yansheng said. "If he doesn't listen, just call me."

Zhang Heling thought of her big sister marching upstairs with the disciplinary ruler and felt her eyelids twitch. That short staircase, her sister not saying a word, yet creating a tense feeling of an impending storm.

But it was truly effective on that little brat Zhang Shuocheng.

(read @cherrybombbertranslations.blogspot)

"Okay!" she agreed and skipped upstairs.

Zhang Shuocheng was indeed playing. Zhang Heling threatened him, "Big sister told me to come watch you do your homework. If you don't finish before noon, big sister will come up and hit you."

Zhang Shuocheng hesitated for a moment and glanced towards the door.

Zhang Heling was his biological sister; of course she knew what he was thinking. She immediately said, "Mom isn't up yet! She has terrible morning temper. If you dare disturb her, she'll yell at you and even throw a pillow at you!"

That was true; both siblings had experienced it firsthand.

Zhang Shuocheng, unwilling to give up, retorted stubbornly, "Then I'll lock the door! Then she can't get in!"

Zhang Heling reacted quickly. "Haven't you seen those 'lock-opening' ads pasted on lampposts outside school? Make a call and a locksmith comes, they can open any lock!"

As the siblings bickered, testing each other's wits, Auntie Wang covered her mouth, laughing quietly, and chimed in, "Why not just do it properly? If you don't do it now, you'll have to do it before school starts anyway. No one's going to do it for you!"

Finally resigned to his fate, Zhang Shuocheng sighed and sat down at the desk, spreading out his homework.

(End of Chapter)

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