Chapter 143: The Past Incident

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: The Past Incident

Ji Liansong’s words were practically a roar.

He shouted until veins bulged on his face, scaring the wits out of Granny Kang.

"You... you..." Granny Kang clutched her chest, stunned speechless.

Grief-stricken and furious, Ji Liansong cut her off before she could start cursing.

"Mingfang is your grandson! He’s not a useless cripple! He wasn’t born with a limp! Don’t you know why he ended up this way, Mother? Tell me, how could you pretend like nothing happened all these years? Every time you curse Mingfang, it’s like stabbing a knife into his heart, over and over again! And I just watched... I was afraid of upsetting you, so I even made Mingfang apologize to you! I..."

Ji Liansong’s frenzied expression was a mixture of resentment for Granny Kang and the others, and of profound self-loathing.

Granny Kang was truly frightened.

It wasn’t just that a mild-mannered person suddenly erupting in anger was terrifying; it was because he had brought up the past.

’How does he know?’

Even at a time like this, Granny Kang didn’t forget to shoot a vicious glare at Yang.

Yang’s face went pale. She stammered and waved her hands, uncertain whether she meant to deny it or explain.

Ji Liansong advanced step by step, his legs feeling as heavy as lead.

"Mother, in front of everyone here, why don’t you say it? Tell me, how did Mingfang’s leg get this way? Who did this to him!"

With the secret she had so desperately hidden now exposed, and overwhelmed by her eldest son’s sudden outburst, Granny Kang’s conscience pricked her. Realizing she couldn’t counter him, she turned to her husband for help.

But to her surprise, Ji Qingshan was also staring at her, his expression grim.

"Why is our eldest son saying someone is to blame for Mingfang’s leg? What really happened?"

"I... how would I know! No one’s to blame, he was just playing around and fell..."

Granny Kang stammered, her eyes darting about.

She didn’t dare meet Ji Qingshan’s gaze and turned to glare at her eldest son instead.

"Eldest Son, Xuelan is my granddaughter. Would I really force her to her death? I told her to go back for her own good. If she’s sent back by her husband’s family, how will she survive for the rest of her life? If you really want her to stay, then fine, let her stay. We won’t try to stop you. But why must you bring up such baseless things and slander your own mother! Eldest Son, you truly disappoint me..."

Granny Kang dropped the subject of sending Ji Xuelan away and softened her stance, tacitly agreeing to let her stay.

Anyone could see she had a guilty conscience.

In this family, had Granny Kang ever backed down for anyone but the fourth son? Who else could make her so obviously in the wrong?

Even the third branch of the family, who were just watching from the sidelines, could tell something was terribly wrong.

Mrs. Zhu swallowed hard, her eyes darting back and forth.

She had been visiting her parents’ home when Ji Mingfang injured his leg, so she didn’t know many of the details.

’Good heavens, don’t tell me it was really a family member who hurt him!’

’That’s... that’s horrible...’

She yanked Ji Mingmao behind her, terrified that he’d be the next to be harmed if she let her guard down.

Granny Kang kept changing the subject, refusing to answer the question directly.

That in itself spoke volumes.

Ji Liansong swayed, as if unable to withstand the devastating blow. ’So it was true... It was really true...’

Fearing he would say something else he shouldn’t, Granny Kang decided to get nasty.

"Eldest Son, stop this foolishness! Do you really want to split the family? If you split off, how will your family survive? When you two get old, relying on Mingfang..."

Granny Kang subconsciously started to use Ji Mingfang’s leg as a weapon but thankfully stopped herself in time.

Ji Liansong couldn’t believe it. Even now, Granny Kang’s first thought wasn’t to admit she was wrong, but to resort to threats.

And she was still using Mingfang to do it!

"Enough!"

Before Ji Liansong could say something that would make the situation unsalvageable, the previously silent Ji Qingshan suddenly flipped the table.

With a tremendous CRASH and CLATTER, cups, plates, and bowls shattered across the floor.

It had been years since Ji Qingshan had been this furious.

Everyone in the room, aside from the eldest son’s family, was scared into silence.

He pointed at Granny Kang, his voice harsh. "If you refuse to tell the truth, believe me, I will divorce you!"

Granny Kang was completely stunned.

’After all their years together, her husband was actually threatening to divorce her in front of all their children and grandchildren?’

’She had just said her granddaughter deserved to be sent back. How could she ever show her face again!’

Seeing that Granny Kang was about to resort to her signature move of throwing a hysterical fit, Ji Qingshan said with a livid face, "Think carefully before you speak! Don’t make me say it a second time!"

Granny Kang’s words caught in her throat.

Having shared a bed for so many years, she knew her husband was not making an empty threat this time.

Fear crept in. But how could she possibly bring herself to confess?

"I’ll tell the story."

Ji Mingfang took a step forward and said calmly.

Ironically, throughout this entire farce, as everyone’s emotions swung between agitation and indignation, the calmest person in the room was him—the one at the very center of it all.

The injustice he had suppressed for over a decade... He had to be the one to tell his own story.

"Grandpa, do you remember? When I was little, I wanted to go to school with Fourth Uncle, but Grandma said the family could only afford to send one..."

Even though he wasn’t much younger than Ji Liantang, Ji Liantang was the one who got to go to school, while he could only watch with envy.

Once, when Ji Liantang brought a book back from the village school, he just reached out and touched it. Ji Liantang immediately started screaming that he had ruined it. Then, without hearing a word of explanation, Granny Kang viciously whipped him with a rattan cane.

Ji Liantang’s school was in the neighboring village, separated from Dafeng Village by a small hill. So, he started herding his cow there, just so he could sneak over and crouch beneath the window to listen to the lessons.

When school let out, kids his age would burst out in a swarm, a noisy crowd of laughing and shouting.

He would silently lead his cow home, getting mocked for being a "cowherd."

He turned a deaf ear, muttering to himself, reciting everything the teacher had just taught.

Come wind or rain, about half a year passed like this.

One time, the sky was overcast and threatened rain.

Afraid Ji Liantang would get soaked, Granny Kang made him take an umbrella to the village school. She warned him to bring Fourth Uncle back early, or else he’d be in for it.

He crouched outside the school, watching the students inside with envy as they listened to the lesson, and waited for Ji Liantang.

At that moment, the teacher was quizzing them on a text he had taught just the day before.

Not a single person had memorized it.

The students who were called upon stood dejectedly in punishment.

The teacher was very angry and said no one was leaving until it was recited. It would only take one person reciting it correctly for them all to go home.

The sky slowly darkened, but no one volunteered.

Worried he’d be scolded for getting home late, he cautiously approached the doorway, raised his hand, and said he could recite it.

The room filled with the sound of muffled snickers.

The teacher knew he wasn’t a student there, and he also knew the boy often eavesdropped from outside.

But he nodded anyway.

He didn’t just recite it; he did so word for word, without a single mistake.

The teacher praised him, but this only angered Ji Liantang.

Ji Liantang had only managed to recall two lines and was among those being punished.

Ji Liantang returned home with a sullen face, and of course, he immediately tattled.

Because of this, he received the most severe beating of his life.

Granny Kang hated him for stealing her youngest son’s thunder. She cursed him for being restless and scheming, told him not to try and curry favor with his grandfather by memorizing a couple of texts, and ordered him to give up any hope of ever going to school.

From that day on, he was forbidden from ever herding the cow on that hill again.

He thought that was the extent of the punishment Ji Liantang had devised for him. He had no idea it was far, far from over.