Chapter Twenty-Five: Alcohol

Chapter Twenty-Five: Alcohol

"Brother-in-law, what are you talking about? My sister and I haven’t severed ties yet."

Yuan Zili rarely faced setbacks elsewhere, and now his expression was also unpleasant.

Who would have thought that Shen Caisheng’s face was even colder than his, "You brought a bunch of random junk for my wife to eat, thinking I wouldn’t know?"

"Are you even fit to be her family, acting like this?"

Shen Caisheng even suspected that the things that had entangled him with Yuan Lingling in the first place were also given by this family.

"No, Shen Caisheng, you brat, is that how you speak in front of elders? Clearly, you were raised without a mother…"

Grandma Yuan was mid-sentence when Shen Caisheng’s glare shut her up.

"I don’t hit women or the elderly, but if you dare mess with me…" He left the sentence hanging as he looked at Yuan Zili.

Yuan Zili was so scared he backed up, hiding behind Grandma Yuan, "You… what do you want to do?"

"Go ahead, try it." Shen Caisheng said coldly.

At the critical moment, Grandma Yuan spotted Yuan Lingling’s figure, "You think hiding will solve everything, you brat? Now that you’re married, you think you’re all grown up, huh? Don’t listen to your family anymore, is that it?"

Yuan Lingling had just stepped out of the room, not even fully revealing herself, when she was met with a barrage of scolding from Grandma Yuan.

"Quit stalling and get over here!"

She must have been used to controlling the original Yuan Lingling, still treating her as the pushover she used to be, regardless of whether Shen Caisheng was present, after all, Shen Caisheng couldn’t stop her from disciplining her own granddaughter.

As expected, Shen Caisheng stayed silent, but instead looked at Yuan Lingling who was slowly approaching.

Yuan Lingling walked expressionlessly to Shen Caisheng’s side but didn’t go further. Before the other party could continue their accusations, Yuan Lingling spoke first, "If you’re here about the medicine, I haven’t taken it."

Grandma Yuan was about to get angry upon hearing this, but seeing Shen Caisheng beside her, she didn’t dare, only turning red in the face.

However, she then heard Yuan Lingling say, "I’m already pregnant, so are you happy now, grandma?"

"Really?" The old woman’s face changed faster than the weather, and Yuan Zili was the same.

Like most people of this era, they thought that as long as there was a child, the relationship between Yuan Lingling and Shen Caisheng would become unbreakable.

"Oh my, really? Why didn’t you tell us sooner? This is wonderful news!" Grandma Yuan chuckled, even becoming haughty towards Shen Caisheng.

Yuan Lingling couldn’t bear to look, forcing a smile, "It hasn’t been three months yet, and I heard it’s bad luck to talk about it before then."

Hearing this, Shen Caisheng gave her a look and quietly went to feed the chickens.

The hen at home seemed quite happy with her little coop, laying a round egg every day on time. Shen Caisheng walked around and picked up an egg, showing no interest in entertaining Grandma Yuan and her grandson.

Grandma Yuan pursed her lips, clearly annoyed, but she still had to curry favor, forcing a not-so-pleasant smile as she said to Yuan Lingling, "Now that you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t be standing around. Go inside and rest."

Yuan Lingling silently walked into the house, taking the medicine out of the basket and placing it on the table, "Take these back; I don’t need them."

"You…" Grandma Yuan silently cursed Yuan Lingling for not picking up on the mood, but on the surface, she still had to smile, "How’s he treating you? If he’s mistreating you, don’t be scared. The Yuan family has your back."

Yuan Lingling couldn’t believe the hypocrisy in her words, the original Yuan Lingling was the same, managing to keep up such a relationship—truly impressive.

"I’m not feeling well, so I’ll lie down. Make yourselves comfortable." Yuan Lingling was done dealing with the two of them and turned and headed into the room.

"Hey, you ungrateful girl!" Grandma Yuan was about to scold when the door slammed shut with a bang, making her jump. "What an ungrateful child! I really..."

"Anything else?" Shen Caisheng stood at the door, his tall frame practically blocking the doorway from the perspective of the short old lady.

Grandma Yuan patted her chest. At her age, she was most afraid of these fearless young troublemakers. If it weren't for his promising prospects, she would never have let that brat marry him. "N-no, nothing else. We’ll be on our way now. Lingling, come home and visit when you can. Your grandpa misses you so much. It’s been ages..."

"Cough!" Shen Caisheng took a step towards Yuan Zili.

"Grandma, let’s go, let’s go. Sis will visit."

The grandmother and grandson scurried off like mice fleeing a cat, even forgetting the medicine package on the table.

Shen Caisheng watched their hurriedly disappearing figures, his expression was inscrutable.

Seeing that Yuan Lingling didn’t seem to be coming out, Shen Caisheng grabbed the medicine package and left.

In fact, Yuan Lingling hadn’t been asleep in the room. She had heard the sound of Grandma Yuan and the others leaving, as well as Shen Caisheng's departure.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to face Shen Caisheng, she just didn’t know how to face him.

Her mind kept replaying Shen Caisheng’s words like a movie, and she suddenly realized something was off.

Shen Caisheng, it seemed he hadn’t even considered that the child in her belly might be his.

Was that it? If so, he was too calm.

If not, he was still too calm!

What a heartless man.

Yuan Lingling sighed and turned over, unable to sleep, she turned back again.

Maybe it wasn’t entirely his fault. Many childhood scars were permanent, and his current personality was deeply tied to his family background.

Should she come clean with him?

But if she did, Shen Caisheng wouldn’t let her leave, at least he definitely wouldn’t let the child go. Wouldn’t that just be sacrificing herself for his sake? What if they went back to the old ways...

Yuan Lingling sat up and ruffled her hair.

Ugh, what should I do!

She thumped her head against the wall.

"Ouch..."

Forget it.

It's better to just leave. Shen Caisheng, a man who comes and goes mysteriously, and not exactly a decent man, could he really raise a child well?

The child can't be left with him.

Meanwhile, the shady Shen Caisheng took the medicine package to Lao You's house.

Seeing him carrying something, Lao You was startled, "What's wrong? Did something happen to your wife? Why is she taking medicine?"

Shen Caisheng didn’t bother to explain, handing him the package, "Check what's in this and what effects it has."

"Isn't this for your wife?"

Lao You took the medicine package and immediately noticed something was off with Shen Caisheng's expression. He quickly put the package down and asked, "What's wrong? Did your wife give you trouble?"

"You were so eager to get home before, and now that you’ve made it back alive, instead of staying home, you’re here. Looks like there’s some serious tension."

Shen Caisheng didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth and said, "How about a drink?"

It was the first time Lao You had seen Shen Caisheng this down. He stopped joking and said, "Sure, I’ll grab some snacks to go with the drinks." From the looks of it, they were in for a heavy drinking session.

In the past, they’d gotten drunk plenty of times to get the job done, but Lao You could tell that Shen Caisheng wasn't very interested in alcohol, cigarettes, or tea. At most, he’d whip up a couple of good dishes when he felt like it.

Now that he was asking for a drink, Lao You had no choice but to join him.

They drank cup after cup until dusk. Lao You was slumped over the table, barely able to move, while Shen Caisheng stayed stone-faced.

He stood up, feeling a wave of dizziness, but quickly steadied himself.

Sometimes, when you want to get drunk, you just can’t, he thought.

After helping Lao You onto the kang, he started heading home. The frustration he’d felt before leaving the house hadn’t eased after drinking; if anything, it had gotten worse.

As Shen Caisheng walked halfway home, he let out a heavy sigh. He reached out and caught a snowflake, staring at it for a moment before opening his hand. The snowflake was gone, and his heart felt hollow.

"Shen Caisheng."

Someone called out to him.

Shen Caisheng turned around and heard the person ask in a strange tone, "What’re you doing?"

"Xie... Guang... An," Shen Caisheng said, slowly enunciating each word.

"You drunk?"

Xie Guang'an had caught a whiff of alcohol but wasn’t sure until he heard Shen Caisheng’s slurred speech.

He stepped forward to help, but Shen Caisheng shoved him, nearly knocking him over.

Drunk people sure pack a punch.

"Is the child yours?"

Xie Guang'an stood straight and heard Shen Caisheng blurt out this seemingly random question.

"What child?"

Xie Guang'an just thought he was a drunkard and didn't take his words seriously, but then he heard Shen Caisheng say, "Is the baby in Yuan Lingling’s belly yours?"

Hearing this, Xie Guang'an looked up in shock. Seeing Shen Caisheng standing there calmly, he cursed under his breath.

"You’re out of your goddamn mind."

Today, everyone seemed to be calling him crazy. Shen Caisheng's anger flared up, especially knowing that the man in front of him was trying to take his wife. He grabbed Xie Guang'an by the collar.

Xie Guang'an had been hit by him once before, but he wasn't going to let it happen again, especially after being accused of such a thing.

He threw a punch directly.

Even if they weren't completely drunk, the alcohol still affected them, and with someone provoking them, things quickly escalated. The two of them soon got into a fight.

Perhaps the physical activity or the pain from the fight helped, but by the time they were exhausted, Shen Caisheng had sobered up.

He got up from the snowy ground and was about to head home.

"Wait," Xie Guangan called out to him.

Shen Caisheng stopped in his tracks.

"There was never anything like that between her and me. You're already married to her, so you should live a good life with her."

"Do I need you to tell me that?" Shen Caisheng, unusually talkative due to the alcohol, seemed to have more to say, but Xie Guangan didn't appear to want to argue with him.

He said, "Not only did I not have that kind of relationship with her, but Xie Guanglian didn't either. He wouldn't dare. Besides, you can tell she's pregnant now, which means it must have been at least a month ago. Was she even close to us a month ago?"

Even though they were all from the same area, because of Grandma Yuan, Yuan Lingling hardly ever interacted with outsiders, let alone folks from their Hongmin Road.

Shen Caisheng was shocked. If it wasn't theirs, then...

But they only had that one time, just that one time...

"Damn it!"

Shen Caisheng finally understood why Yuan Lingling had been acting so strangely today. Why she was so surprised when he agreed to the divorce, and why she was so angry when he mentioned Xie Guangan.

Yet she was still worried about his injuries. He really was a jerk!

"Thanks, I'll buy you a drink another time."

Without a second thought for Xie Guangan's expression, Shen Caisheng practically ran back to his own yard.

The soft yellow light from the small window made Shen Caisheng's heart leap to his throat.

She was still awake. Was she waiting for him?

In all those days since they got married, had she been waiting for him like this?

Shen Caisheng paused, stopping just as he was about to step into the main room.

But why?

If it was his child, why didn't she tell him?

And why did she want to leave?