Chapter 48: Nostalgia
Mr. Bai also felt sorry for Bai Erlang and thought that the two brothers had been beaten again. He had him taken away to be cleaned and examined, while he questioned the servant who brought the child back.
The other two classmates who came back with Bai Jilang were also taken downstairs to take a shower and change clothes.
The servant knelt on the ground, lowered his head and told everything he had seen.
Mr. Bai's face became colder and bluer. Old Mrs. Bai and Mrs. Bai, who had rushed over, didn't know what expression to use to face Liu.
Fortunately, Liu was able to remain calm. She consoled Mr. Bai and his mother, "It's normal for children to be noisy. They are both about the same age. This is normal."
What's normal?
If it was just a normal fight or quarrel it would be fine, but this kid wanted to be put in a sack!
Mr. Bai was very angry and went to his second son's yard in a rage.
Mrs. Bai was frightened when she saw his appearance and quickly supported the old lady.
Mrs. Bai didn't bother to comfort Liu anymore. She immediately chased after him and shouted from behind, "Just give him two gentle pats . Don't hurt the child..."
Liu also hurried to catch up. The three of them were not as fast as Master Bai. From a distance, they could hear Bai Erlang's crying and screaming.
Mrs. Bai was so frightened that she almost fell to the ground. Mrs. Liu didn't care and ran after her, shouting, "Bai Li, if you beat the child to death, we won't be able to live here any longer!"
Mr. Bai, who was holding his son on his lap and spanking him, paused, threw his crying son to the ground, and angrily said, "Cry, if you don't cry to death today, your father will be pissed off to death by you."
Liu quickly pulled the quilt from the bed and wrapped the child up. He was caught by Mr. Bai in the middle of taking a bath, and therefore, the slap mark on his buttocks was particularly obvious, which was estimated to be the most serious injury in his entire body.
Liu hugged Bai Erlang who was crying and cried, and said to Master Bai, "A seven or eight-year-old child is hated by cats and dogs. Were you not naughty when you were a child? Did your mother and I beat you like this? You need to teach your child well. If you beat him like this, you can break any good child!"
"Let him beat her!" Old Mrs. Bai finally helped her daughter-in-law to get there. She held onto the door frame and gasped, angrily saying, "Let him beat her. Beat her to death and that'll be the end of it. Then let him live alone in this house. Old sister, I'll go with you. We won't be a nuisance to him here."
Liu was angry, "My sister, he doesn't know how to teach a child, so you teach him. What's the point of getting angry with him?"
Liu touched Bai Erlang and saw that his buttocks were swollen, but it was not a big problem. She was just worried that the child would be frightened and have a high fever at night, which would be fatal.
Then he told Mrs. Bai, "Stop crying. Your mother-in-law is old. You should take charge of the situation. Ask the servants to get some clothes for the child to change into. Then make a bowl of soothing soup. Don't scare the child."
Old Mrs. Bai raised two children and knew this, so she quickly asked her daughter-in-law to follow Liu's instructions.
Not only them, but Bai Shanbao and the other two children were also given calming soup, and then the children were considerately sent back.
The chaotic Bai residence finally quieted down.
Liu then said tiredly to Master Bai, "We should also send some apology to the Zhou family. I heard that their little girl was also seriously injured."
Mr. Bai nodded repeatedly and turned to instruct the steward.
The two children had been brought together. Bai Erlang had just been beaten, and his eyes were still a little red. Bai Shanbao also knew that he had been beaten, so he pretended to be honest and lowered his head, but he kept glancing at the other person, and gave him a mocking look when the adults were not paying attention.
Bai Erlang was very angry and glared at him when the adults were not paying attention.
But how could adults not notice?
Seeing that the two children still hadn't learned to get along with each other in a friendly manner, the adults were silent.
Liu thought that she had to hurry up and build the house, and it would be best if she moved out before the New Year. A house far away smells better than one near. Maybe if the two children were far away from each other, their relationship would not be so strained.
Mrs. Bai also sighed. After Liu and her daughter-in-law took Bai Shanbao back to rest, she said to her son, "You and Qi'er used to get along very well. You were like brothers, even though they were not real brothers. How come you can't get along with each other like fighting cocks in this generation?"
"When Dalang comes back, let Dalang and Shanbao be together."
Mrs. Bai couldn't help but said, "Da Lang is much older than Shan Bao. The two children won't quarrel. But he is not suitable to study in the school anymore. Didn't the master say that he should find a way to get the child into the county school?"
"That depends on him passing the exam. Mr. Zhuang is from the provincial school. I just want Mr. Zhuang to give Dalang some pointers, right?"
Mrs. Bai actually didn't quite understand why her mother-in-law and husband had to force their children to befriend Bai Shan, as the other party was just a child.
When Mrs. Bai saw her daughter-in-law lowering her eyes and not saying anything, she could guess what she was thinking. In fact, her daughter-in-law had not been very happy since the Liu mother-in-law and daughter-in-law brought Bai Shan to live with them.
Mrs. Bai sighed and said to Mr. Bai, "Your brother Qi is gone, your aunt and her family are orphans and widows, and the clan is bullying them. You are the only one they can turn to. The relationship between our two families is naturally different from that of other families."
Old Lady Bai said these words not only to Mr. Bai, but also to Mrs. Bai. She said, "When your father entered the clan school, he was a country bumpkin. Although he was a member of the Bai family, his blood relationship with the direct branch was long gone. If it weren't for your grandfather's ability, managing the family business well, and donating a lot of money to the clan school, your father wouldn't have been able to go to Longzhou to study."
Mrs. Bai touched her grandson's head and continued to talk to Mr. Bai: "But even so, he was often bullied. It was your fifth cousin who took care of him at that time."
Mr. Bai blushed, knelt on the ground and said, "Don't worry, mother. I will take good care of you and raise Shanbao as if he were my own son."
Old Mrs. Bai pulled him up and said, "That's not what mother meant."
So what do you mean?
Mrs. Bai continued to look at him. "You know the friendship between our two families, but the children may not know. If you don't tell them, they will think that they are your aunt and are here to take advantage of you."
This time, Old Lady Bai finally looked at Madam Bai and her grandson, and said, "Back then, your father-in-law was very close to your fifth uncle, but unfortunately, your father-in-law was not as educated as your fifth uncle, so he only became a county magistrate and had a bad temper. If his superiors scolded him, he would resign and return to his hometown to farm."
Mrs. Bai: …She also knows about this matter. Nowadays, some people in the county town say that her father-in-law is a man of temperament.
