"You wretched girl! What nonsense are you spouting? You've learned to lie now, too? I'll tear your mouth apart!"
Zhou Lanfang went up to hit Shen Mianmian, but luckily she reacted quickly and hurriedly hid behind Zhao Xianlai.
Zhao Xianlai was a bit angry, thinking that if Zhou Lanfang would attempt to strike someone even in his presence, what she might do when he wasn't around was unthinkable. Shen Jianhua's face flushed with embarrassment as he quickly scolded Zhou Lanfang, "What are you doing? Can't we talk things out calmly without resorting to violence?"
Zhou Lanfang, however, spoke righteously, "The child has even started lying now. Can't we do something about it?"
She needed to discipline her own daughter; why should she care about anyone else's opinion?
"I haven't lied." Shen Mianmian bent down and rolled up her pants, revealing more severe bruises from her ankle to her knee, "There are many injuries like this on my body. Whether they are from falling or pinching, dad and Uncle Zhao will be able to tell."
Nobody was a fool.
The blue and purple bruises on her arms and legs—if those were claimed as results from falling, wouldn't that be blatant lying?
Shen Jianhua was shocked; he thought Zhou Lanfang was just giving the child a stern talking-to. He hadn't expected her to be so heavy-handed. When Zhou Lanfang saw his expression, she realized she couldn't deceive him this time and quickly put on an expression of tough love, "I hit her because she was skipping school, wasn't it? The teacher has even visited our home several times, haven't you met him once before?"
Upon further reflection, Shen Jianhua remembered indeed encountering a teacher's visit to their home last year. He had come home right when the teacher left, and Zhou Lanfang told him it was because Shen Mianmian skipped school, and the teacher was there to educate her. Since he had heard her mention Shen Mianmian's skipping on more than one occasion, he hadn't been suspicious.
After all, a child skipping school certainly needed to be educated.
"Spare the rod and spoil the child," was the slogan of the era.
Shen Mianmian, of course, wouldn't let Zhou Lanfang get away with talking nonsense. Her eyes brimming with tears, she explained with a sense of grievance, "I have never skipped school. That time, it was because I had a high fever of forty degrees during class, and the teacher was worried, so they sent me home."
Actually, the teacher had only come that once, when she had a forty-degree fever and was nearly delirious from it.
In the eighties, communication was not very convenient. The teacher, worried about her getting into trouble on her way home, took her back and repeatedly urged Zhou Lanfang to take her to the hospital. However, Zhou Lanfang only gave her some fever-reducing pills.
Luckily, Shen Mianmian had a strong will to live and pulled through.
"Dad, if you don't believe what I say, you can go to the school and ask the teachers."
Upon hearing the suggestion to ask the teachers, Zhou Lanfang immediately became anxious, "Why ask the teachers? It's almost winter vacation, and they are extremely busy. How could they spare time to deal with our trivial family matters?" She said this also for Zhao Xianlai to hear, hinting that he was meddling too much.
At this point, what else did Shen Jianhua fail to understand? Zhou Lanfang was clearly feeling guilty, "How could you be a mother?"
"Having been husband and wife for so many years, don't you know what kind of person I am? You believe everything she says? Oh my... I can't live this life anymore..."
Seeing that her argument was weak, Zhou Lanfang resorted to dramatics, sitting on the ground and starting to cry hysterically—a mix of sobs and tears.
Shen Jianhua was at a loss about what to do with her and, with a face turned iron blue, awkwardly glanced at Zhao Xianlai, "Village Chief, I apologize for making you witness this farce."