Settled.
No one present had expected Lu Sheng to say such a thing.
The young girl appeared aloof and distant. No one had imagined that she had been keeping her mother’s sins in her heart all along, even though those were not her burdens to bear.
No wonder, when she first arrived at the Shi Family, even as Shi Chengyun pointed at her nose and cursed her, she did not refute.
"Shengsheng..." Shi Mingxiu’s heart ached terribly.
On her first night at her grandfather’s house, she had nearly been killed in her sleep.
After learning the truth just now, Shi Mingxiu had already made up his mind: if Lu Sheng said she could not forgive Lin Fangling, no matter what his eldest son said, he would personally send Lin Fangling to the police station—to give his granddaughter justice.
But unexpectedly, Lu Sheng said she could let it go.
She would treat it as a life for a life, repaying her mother’s debts to Shi Chengyun from twenty years ago.
Yet the origin of those sins from two decades ago, if examined closely, stemmed from him.
Tears shimmered in Shi Mingxiu’s eyes. Such an understanding girl—it rendered him guilty and filled his heart with pain.
"You..." Shi Chengyun was momentarily speechless upon hearing Lu Sheng’s words.
Tonight, his wife and son had indeed almost killed Lu Sheng. If he refused to agree to Lu Sheng’s terms of settling it, she might report Lin Fangling to the police.
That absolutely could not happen!
Shi Chengyun took a sharp breath and gritted his teeth, "...Settled it is. From now on, I won’t bring up your mother’s past, and you won’t mention what happened tonight with Fang Ling either!"
As he spoke, he immediately helped Lin Fangling up from the ground, shot Lu Sheng a glare, and turned away. "Fang Ling, call Chenchen. We’re going back to the room."
So relieved—no prison sentence.
"Got it, Chengyun."
Lin Fangling finally exhaled in relief,
while wiping her tears, she beckoned to Shi Luochen, who was leaning against the wall, saying casually, "Chenchen, come over. Mommy will take you back."
Chenchen always listened to his mother.
He didn’t understand what had happened tonight, but he could sense that he had done something wrong, which made the adults furious.
Yet he didn’t know what he had done wrong.
Seeing his mother beckon to him, Chenchen’s expression was blank as he walked toward Lin Fangling.
But as he passed by Lu Sheng, the girl reached out and stopped him.
Chenchen was confused, those big innocent eyes staring dumbly at Lu Sheng. Yet obediently, he let her hold his hand.
Lu Sheng, however, turned her gaze to Shi Mingxiu and said seriously, "Grandfather, my Aunt used Chenchen, a little child, to try to kill me."
"If Chenchen had truly driven that knife into my chest earlier, with blood spraying everywhere, how could he not be terrified? How could he not develop lasting psychological trauma?"
"For someone who can do such a thing, letting Chenchen stay by his mother’s side puts his growth at risk. I’m very worried."
Lin Fangling panicked upon hearing this: "Lu Sheng, what do you mean? Chenchen is my own..."
"Enough!"
Before Lin Fangling could finish her words, Shi Mingxiu stomped his cane heavily on the floor, his commanding presence brooking no argument, his expression furious as he glared at her.
"Lin Fangling, you tried to kill my own granddaughter, and you used my own grandson to do it. If Shengsheng weren’t willing to let it go, I, as her grandfather, absolutely wouldn’t spare you."
"The police may not come for you, but you must accept family punishment. Starting tomorrow, you will only have one meal a day, and you will kneel in the shrine for three hours a day, reflecting on your sins for half a month."
"During this period, Xiao Yu and Chenchen will stay with Erya. You are not permitted to go near them."
The atmosphere was still a bit tense.
Nominally, they were siblings, but tonight was their first meeting and they weren’t familiar with each other.
However, Shi Muchuan’s opening words instantly closed the distance between them, his voice deep: "Didn’t you already call me brother?"
Lu Sheng paused, momentarily stunned. Shi Muchuan remained composed, walking to one side of the room toward a cabinet.
The long legs clad in dark-colored trousers knelt slightly as he rummaged through a drawer. After about ten seconds, he stood up with something in his hand. "Found it. Thankfully, no one moved it."
Lu Sheng looked up at the item in Shi Muchuan’s hand and asked, "This is..."
"A first aid kit," Shi Muchuan replied. "When the old mansion was renovated half a year ago, every occupied room was equipped with one. Thankfully, this room still has one."
Shi Muchuan brought the first aid kit over.
His handsome face and steady voice seemed to have a calming power: "Take a seat. I’ll help you handle the wound on your neck."
Instinctively, Lu Sheng reached to touch the scratch on her neck, "I can manage it myself..."
"Don’t touch it. It will get infected." Before she could finish, Shi Muchuan grabbed her wrist and moved her hand away.
"..."
Seeing how insistent Shi Muchuan was, Lu Sheng complied and sat down in the chair.
Shi Muchuan sat across from her, lowering his head to pull out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the kit. He expertly unscrewed the cap, dipped a cotton swab in it, and pressed it on Lu Sheng’s wound, disinfecting it.
He worked quietly, and Lu Sheng didn’t speak either. But a few seconds later, they both opened their mouths simultaneously:
"I’m sorry..."
"Actually, I..."
Both stopped, then, as if in perfect synchronization, spoke again: "——You go first."
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