HBWnovel Chapter 39 Kneeling as punishment
Chapter 39 Kneeling as punishment
Ning Yuechen felt the piercing pain in his knees, but he remained kneeling straight even though his body was already shaking.
Today is the third day. If she can hold on for a few more hours, she will have fulfilled her promise, and Aunt Shi can rest assured and recuperate.
As I was thinking about this, I felt a cool breeze coming from behind me, accompanied by the rustling of leaves coming from somewhere.
It was five o'clock in the afternoon. The days in October were still long, and the sky was clear and bright without a single cloud.
But this long-abandoned ancestral hall is filled with a strange and gloomy atmosphere, and even in the daytime when the weather is very good, its chilly breath cannot be blocked.
Ning Yuechen has lived in this manor villa for eleven years and has never heard that the Bai family has such a place, let alone come here.
In fact, she grew up here, and she had only seen half of this manor villa, which was so large that it could be compared with an AAAAA-level scenic spot.
She raised her head slightly and looked at the dusty Guanyin statue in the ancestral hall. Aunt Qian told her that the statue was a fake. The buyer at the time had specially selected such a statue with such fine workmanship that it could be mistaken for the real thing in order to earn huge profits.
However, he did not expect that it would be exposed by the newly appointed manager soon after he bought it.
Because of this, the elders of the Bai family who believed in various gods felt that it was unlucky, and immediately selected a better feng shui site in the back mountain, built a new ancestral hall, and moved the original Buddha statues to the new location with an extremely grand ceremony.
Only this fake one was abandoned here, and this piece of land was also forgotten because of disgust.
Ning Yuechen continued to stare at the Buddha statue, her eyes gradually becoming distracted. In fact, when she learned the reason why the Buddha statue was left here, she instantly understood Bai Yi's intention.
The fake Buddha statue is a subtle satire on this fake daughter of hers, and this messy and dilapidated ancestral hall also represents her identity, or her future life.
But she never cared about these things. Apart from the people she cared about here, she actually longed for life after leaving the Bai family.
The sky gradually darkened and the chilliness of the surroundings intensified.
Ning Yuechen closed his eyes, hugged himself tightly with his arms, and silently recited the twenty-four words of the core socialist values in his mind.
When Bai Songan hurried back, he heard the child mumbling with his eyes closed: prosperity, democracy, civilization, harmony, freedom...
He couldn't help but feel distressed and amused, so he strode over and pulled the man up, hugging him in his arms. But it was this action that frightened the man who was reverently chanting the sutras and almost scared him to death.
Ning Yuechen finally saw the person clearly after a while of dizziness. His heart instantly relaxed and he said, "Brother, you scared me."
Bai Songan was annoyed and angry: "Aren't you usually quite smart? Why do you do whatever others say? You kneel here without food or water for three days. Are you planning to starve yourself to death?! You are taking advantage of your youth to play with your body like this. I tell you, when you are old, your body will come to you to pay you back, and by then it will be too late for you to regret."
Their research institute has recently taken on a new secret mission. All participants are not allowed to leave within the specified time. Today is finally the most critical confidentiality period. As soon as I got home, I heard Aunt Qian talk about what happened in the past few days, so I rushed over in a hurry.
Seeing him so angry, Ning Yuechen could only flatter him and act like a spoiled brat: "It's a good opportunity to lose weight. I gained weight recently."
Bai Songan didn't fall for it this time. He said with a straight face, "I can't let Yiyi bully you like this anymore. I'm going to take you to argue with her now. She's really going too far."
Ning Yuechen hurriedly held him back: "Brother, I really don't blame her. From her perspective, because of my arrival, she was sent abroad by her biological mother to study when she was a teenager. She is obviously the eldest daughter of this family, but I have been reaping the benefits for so many years. And those bad comments from the outside world about her, these are not what she should have to endure."
Bai Songan sighed, "You are right. From my sister's perspective, she has indeed suffered a lot of grievances. But these are all grudges caused by adults, and you have to bear the consequences. But no matter what, she should not choose to retaliate against you in this way."
"I volunteered, it has nothing to do with her, really. I hope Aunt Shi gets better soon, so I came to pray to the Bodhisattva to bless her to recover soon."
"Pray for protection from a fake Guanyin?"
"Sincerity leads to spiritual success."
Bai Songan saw that she looked pale and weak, but she was still smiling and talking nonsense. He felt helpless and pity for her. He could only pick her up and said, "I won't go looking for Yiyi. After all, the more other people get involved in the matter between you two, it will only backfire."
Seeing that he no longer insisted, Ning Yuechen breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, brother. Let's go back. I'm really hungry now and I want to have a big meal."
"Now you know you're hungry, but didn't you just say you wanted to lose weight?"
"Brother~"
When Bai Yi got out of the car, he saw his brother coming towards him holding Ning Yuechen, so he stopped and waited for them to come closer.
Then he said: "Brother, it turns out that you have such a compassionate side."
Her words were full of sarcasm. Hearing Bai Songan's unhappy expression, Ning Yuechen was even more at a loss. He quickly struggled to get down from his eldest brother's arms, but his knees hurt due to kneeling for a long time. He almost fell down due to an unstable posture and was supported by Bai Songan in time.
"Be careful. Why are you in such a hurry? You might fall again."
"Brother, I'm fine."
Bai Yi looked at Ning Yuechen, who was acting pretentiously throughout the whole process, and then looked at his brother, whose face was full of concern and love. His eyes moved between the two of them, his mind was in turmoil, and he didn't want to stay even for a second longer, so he turned around and left.
She walked into the restaurant and had just sat down when she heard footsteps, and then Bai Songan and Ning Yuechen walked in.
As soon as he saw her, the smile on Ning Yuechen's face immediately faded, and he hesitated and did not dare to step forward.
Bai Songan, who was standing by, immediately took her hand and walked in, but chose a seat farther away from Bai Yi and sat down.
Fortunately, their dining room is big enough and the dining table is long enough, otherwise the child would definitely be scared and would not dare to eat.
After the servants brought the food, he finally realized something was wrong. Along the way, he seemed to see only unfamiliar faces, and even tonight's food was a little different from before.
So I asked, "Aunt Qian, have you hired a new group of staff at home?"
No one answered, so he turned around curiously and realized that the person standing at the main table serving was not Aunt Qian, but was wearing the work uniform of Aunt Qian's position and looked about the same age as Aunt Qian, which made him even more confused.
Then I heard this person say, "Master, my name is Zhou Fangyan, and I am the new housekeeper hired by Mr. Bai. You can just call me Aunt Zhou. From now on, I will be responsible for all the daily affairs of the family."
Bai Songan looked at his sister, guessed something, and asked, "What about Aunt Qian?"
Bai Yi said lightly: "Aunt Qian is Shi Yu's mother, so naturally she should just focus on taking care of her."
Bai Songan frowned slightly. This was not the first time she had called her mother by her name. Since returning to China, her sister had never called her "Mom". As the eldest brother, he could understand the resentment in his sister's heart, but it was precisely because of this resentment that the entire Bai family was in turmoil.
Ning Yuechen listened quietly to the conversation between the brother and sister. Even though he was extremely sad and reluctant, he just pretended to eat as if nothing had happened.
Bai Songan turned around and saw that she looked like she was chewing wax. He also knew that none of the bland health food on the table was what she liked, so he said, "Yuchen, if you really don't like it, don't eat it. I'll order takeout for you. Didn't you say last time that the barbecue restaurant that just opened outside the manor tastes good? I'll order it for you."
"Brother, no, it's just right for me to eat something light now." Ning Yuechen was afraid of causing Bai Yi's dissatisfaction again, so he quickly refused.
The next second, the eldest brother said, "Yes, you haven't eaten for three days. You should eat something light first."
Bai Yi finally looked at them and asked casually, "Brother, are you blaming me?"
Bai Songan took a deep breath and tried to keep a calm tone: "No, this is a matter between you two, I won't ask about it."
His original intention was to say something good about his youngest sister in front of his second sister, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Bai Yi felt even more bored. He put down his chopsticks, said "I'm done eating", and got up to leave the restaurant.