"This..." Bai Yanjiao stammered.
"Is the meal ready?" An Shuchao asked again.
"Then go get your mom to get up and eat quickly. After eating, have her accompany me to town to have my leg checked again, to see how it’s healing," An Shuchao repeated, then struggled to get off the kang.
"That... my mom is tired, let her sleep a little longer. You eat first, I’ll go to town with you," Bai Yanjiao tried to cover up for Bai Xue.
But escaping from the monk won’t save you from the temple; you might not see him on the first day, but you are bound to on the fifteenth.
Unless Bai Xue was going to be absent from An Shuchao for half a year or more, this matter was bound to come out.
"What? Playing mahjong all night? Sleeping until the sun is up? What kind of woman does that?" An Ping folded his arms across his chest, a smirk on his face as he watched Bai Yanjiao.
Isn’t it just acting? Who can’t do that?
"Hurry up and call your mom to eat!" An Shuchao said again.
Bai Yanjiao knew the truth would come out sooner or later, so she nodded and turned back to her own room.
It wasn’t long before Bai Xue arrived, with a red kerchief still wrapped around her head. As soon as she entered the room, she saw An Hao and An Ping, brother and sister, sitting beside An Shuchao’s kang.
Flames of fury began to burn furiously in Bai Xue’s heart, but she still had to pretend as if nothing had happened.
"An Hao and An Ping are here too?"
An Hao couldn’t help but want to laugh when she saw the red kerchief on her head, then looking at that face, it was really unbearable to see.
Such a lesson was harsh enough; she hoped Bai Xue would learn to restrain herself from now on!
"Yes. They’re here!" An Ping said with a hint of laughter, feigning surprise, and suddenly exclaimed, "Yikes, what happened to your face? Why is it so swollen? And why are you covering your head with a kerchief inside the house? Isn’t it hot?"
An Shuchao, who was busy fastening his shirt buttons, turned his head to look at Bai Xue upon hearing An Ping’s words. He gasped when he saw her face: "What happened to your face? And your head?"
"My face is swollen," Bai Xue said, partly covering her face with her hand.
"Swollen?" An Shuchao grabbed her hand and moved it away from her face, his gaze landing on the bruise, and he bellowed with clenched teeth, "This is clearly the work of a beating! Xue, who did this to you?"
Glancing at An Hao, Bai Xue clenched her teeth and asked An Shuchao, "Knowing who did it, what can you do? Are you going to beat them up?"
"Yes! I’m determined now! When the time comes, I want to see who dares to bully the An family to this extent!" An Shuchao bellowed, eyes bulging, and reached out to remove the kerchief from Bai Xue’s head, only to see her long hair was gone, leaving only a layer of short stubble growing against her scalp, "Where is your hair? Your hair! What on earth happened last night? Weren’t you out playing mahjong? How did you end up ? Did someone hit you?"
"No," Bai Xue forced a faint smile that looked even uglier than crying, "Old An, I’m really fine, don’t ask anymore."
"Why shouldn’t I ask? I must ask! You must tell me what exactly happened today! Otherwise, we can’t let this matter rest!" An Shuchao was determined.
"Dad, stop asking. If she doesn’t want to say, she must have her reasons!" An Ping said cheerily as he offered a cake to his father, "Eat this cake, these elm seed cakes are delicious! Especially these elm seeds, they were picked right from the elm trees by the Xiaohe!"
As he finished speaking, Bai Xue’s body stiffened.