“…No, deep down, do you really think I don’t know right from wrong? Me, your father?” Leng Jinpeng was furious.
Leng Qirui curled his lips. “More or less!”
“Rascal, do you wanna get beaten up?”
After shouting that, Leng Jinpeng was about to throw a punch at Leng Qirui when Leng Qirui cried out and immediately fled with his hands wrapped around his head.
It was already bad enough that he was bullied by that Tyrannosaurus all the time. If he had to suffer from his father’s punches, how pitiful could he be?
Hence, the father-and-son duo started chasing after each other outside the police station.
Although Leng Jinpeng kept shouting and threatening to beat Leng Qirui up, the relationship between the father and son was drawn significantly closer.
Leng Qirui was worried that Leng Jinpeng would exhaust himself. After all, he was not in good health. Therefore, Leng Qirui let Leng Jinpeng catch up to him after running for a while. Leng Jinpeng’s fists that landed on Leng Qirui’s body eventually transformed into a series of rubbing on Leng Qirui’s head. Their playfighting ended with Leng Jinpeng scolding him for being a rude brat.
It was only when Leng Qirui sat in Leng Jinpeng’s car that he asked, “Dad, haven’t you always liked Ye Hai before? Why did you send him to the police station when you clearly knew it wasn’t his fault and that I framed him?”
“He tried to kill you again and again. How can I let someone like that be? What, you’ve truly believed that I’m your stepfather?”
To be honest, Leng Jinpeng really regretted taking Ye Hai in at that time.
As the saying goes, ‘Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, while the offsprings of rats scuttle around in ditches[1].’
In spite of that, it was not a given that the children would always take after their parents. There were so many officers in the military base who sacrificed their lives to serve the country. Only Ye Hai’s father betrayed the country by becoming a traitor.
After discovering that her husband was a traitor, not only did his wife not show any remorse or regrets, she cried, threw a tantrum, and finally hung herself. She did all that just to ask for compensation from the military base.
What kind of compensation would there be for a traitor who betrayed his country? It was nice enough for the families of the martyrs who were killed by her husband to not stir up trouble!
Therefore, after all her failed attempts, Ye Hai’s mother decided to gather the villagers by the river bank to watch the show. She wanted to blow the matter up and throw herself into the river as a threat to the military base.
In the end, as those from the military base rushed over—before she could say anything—a rat fell from a large pagoda tree above her head and into her clothes. The shock disoriented her. She lost her balance and fell into the river, losing her life.
At that time, Ye Hai was already eight years old. Eight years old. He would probably have developed his sense of right and wrong by then.
Therefore, Leng Jinpeng should not have expected too highly of a child from such a family to uphold good morals.
Yet, at that time, his heart softened when he realized how sensible Ye Hai was.
The boy did not cry or make a fuss. His eyes were filled with anticipation as he asked Leng Jinpeng if his father died valiantly on the battlefield.
Leng Jinpeng could not bear to tell him the cruel truth, so he nodded.
Unexpectedly, Ye Hai did not cry. Instead, he smiled and told Leng Jinpeng that he would not cry. He wanted to learn from his father and become an outstanding soldier.
When Leng Jinpeng recalled how Ye Hai’s father returned to his senses before he died and even took a bullet for him, Leng Jinpeng’s heart softened. He decided to raise Ye Hai into adulthood and an outstanding soldier.
Moreover, Ye Hai was indeed very sensible since he was young and spent a lot of time with Leng Jinpeng at the military base. Leng Qirui, on the other hand, disliked the military base since young. His only love was to play all sorts of games and fight with other children outside. When Leng Qirui got into trouble, his grandparents would even cover for him.
Therefore, his instincts gave him the idea that Leng Qirui and Ye Hai were utterly incomparable to each other.
It was only when he saw Ye Hai’s evil smile in the video today that he suddenly woke up.
[1] This is the equivalent of ‘an apple does not fall far from the tree’!
