CH 131

Madam Tan was not very satisfied with this explanation. "There is no child who does not fight, it takes two hands to clap [1]!"

Tan Nengwen said angrily, "Shut up!"

The maid was quite eloquent. Hearing what Madam Tan said, she lightly frowned. The maid said aggrievedly, "Ma'am, are you insinuating that this maid is favoring Ruyi? Everyone is a guest, so this maid will not neglect anyone. It is impossible, even if Ruyi is good-looking, polite, and well-educated."

Madam Tan's face turned blue then white.

Tan Lingyin walked to Ruyi's side. She gently supported his shoulder and softly asked, "Ruyi, did he hurt you?"

Ruyi shook his head, his expression relaxed a little. He took a step forward with his hands behind his back and looked at Xiaobao and Tan Nengwen. He opened his mouth and coldly stated, "As the saying goes, 'It is the father's fault if the son is not taught'. Your child is only about my age, but is so untrammeled and rude. This must be the meritorious deed of the parents. Truly eye-opening and admirable." As he spoke, Ruyi calmly cupped his hands in salute.

Tan Nengwen felt humiliated, wishing he could find a crack in the ground and hide in it. Adults couldn’t speak ruthless words, that is to say, it was only a child like Ruyi who spoke so freely. Once they lose their temper, they will say whatever comes to mind. But what Ruyi said was quite reasonable, making it impossible for others to refute. And because such words were spoken from a child’s mouth, it was even more embarrassing.

Tan Nengwen looked at Ruyi and then at his own son. He instantly felt the urge to put Xiaobao back into his mother's belly and have her redeliver another baby. Now that he had made a comparison, Tan Nengwen was truly startled. 

In fact, in the eyes of most parents, their children were always the best-looking, the cutest, the smartest, and most sensible. This was a kind of emotional self-deception caused by blood connection. But now, Tan Nengwen can't even do such an easy self-deception. With Ruyi as a comparison, even a blind person can tell which of these two children was in the sky and which was in the ground; who was the cloud and who was the mud.

Moreover, what Ruyi said just now pierced straight to the core of the problem. Their son was just a child, he didn’t know better. The reason why he was so misbehaved was purely because of his parents; his parents were incompetent!

Tan Nengwen felt as if he had been slapped heavily on the face, he felt hot and uncomfortable. He himself really wanted to slap himself too.

The child Ruyi felt he had done enough scolding the adult. Feeling as if there was no need to stay any longer, he turned around and left.

Tan Lingyin followed and praised Ruyi. "Ruyi, what you said just now was really amazing!" She wanted to bring justice to him, but in the end, this child directly challenged the two adults and won!

Ruyi bowed his head and remained silent.

Tan Lingyin was a little worried, "Did Xiaobao hit you just now? Where did he hurt you? Let me see."

Ruyi suddenly looked up at her, his eyes filled with tears.

Tan Lingyin felt distressed, "What– What's wrong?"

Drip, Drip. Ruyi's crystal-like tears continued to fall.

Tan Lingyin squatted down and wiped his tears. "Don't cry, what's wrong? Let's figure out a solution together. Does it hurt somewhere? Can you tell me?"

Ruyi opened his hand to show Tan Lingyin. There was a little sparrow in his hand, its eyes were open and it was motionless. "Is it dead?" Ruyi’s tears were constantly falling, even while speaking.

Tan Lingyin took the sparrow to have a look. Well, this poor little guy died completely. But she couldn't bear to tell Ruyi, so instead Tan Lingyin said, "Leave it to me. I'll think of a way, maybe I can save him!"

Ruyi nodded. He put her arms around her neck and rested his face on her shoulders; as docile as a little sheep.

Tan Lingyin's heart was about to melt again. She felt that she could do anything for Ruyi.

The sparrow died, so she would definitely not be able to revive  him. Tan Lingyin went to Tang Tianyuan with the dead sparrow. She begged him to help catch an identical one.

Tang Tianyuan couldn't believe it. "How old are you, and you still play with this?" He looked at the corpse, and was a little contemptuous. "I'm not lecturing you on what to do. If you want a bird, get a better breed, such as a laughingthrush or parrot. This... this is a sparrow."

Tan Lingyin clasped her hands together. "I just want this one. Please help me." She didn't have the nerve to tell him that she wanted this to please a child.

Tang Tianyuan held his forehead. "Okay, I'll order someone to catch some birds for you now."

"No, no, no!" Tan Lingyin stopped him, "This matter must be kept secret. No one should know about it. Your qinggong is also good, can you go alone?"

Tang Tianyuan couldn't bear to think about the scene of a County Magistrate secretly climbing trees to flip through bird nests, stealing newly hatched chicks hatched by a mama sparrow’s hard work.

Seeing that he was indifferent, Tan Lingyin put her arms around his waist. She stood on tiptoes and kissed him.

There was no way to compromise with just one kiss. Tang Tianyuan thought to himself, at least give him a few more kisses...

Tan Lingyin kissed his mouth and then followed his lips down and kissed his chin.

Tang Tianyuan swallowed. He stood still, motionless like a tree.

Tan Lingyin was very playful. She slid her lips even lower when she saw his throat moving. She kissed his adam's apple, then lightly covered it in her mouth, and licked it gently.

Tang Tianyuan's whole body felt numb.

"Go go?" Tan Lingyin asked coquettishly.

Go! Go! Even if he needed to climb a mountain of swords and swim in a sea of fire!

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Footnote:

[1] it takes two hands to clap - like the proverb ‘it takes two to tango.’ Madam Tan’s meaning that there must be two people involved for a fight to happen.