Chapter Ninety-Six: What Kind of Skill Is It to Roar Here?

A hard knot formed between Zhu Yan’s brows as she stared fixedly at the doorway, a faint foreboding rising in her heart.

The moment Li Yong came storming to the door, Xia Yan had guessed roughly why he was here. She patted Zhu Yan’s back and said, “It’s all right. With me here, he won’t dare do anything.”

By then, the two boys who had gone back inside to do their homework had come out of their room.

Lin Hongzhuo looked at Xia Yan as she headed for the doorway, his expression displeased. “Auntie Zhu, who is that outside? He’s going to knock our door down.”

“Xiao Zhe, take your little brother back inside. No matter what happens out there later, don’t come out. Do you hear me?”

Zhu Yan did not want the children frightened by Li Yong. She hurriedly stood, pushed them back into the room, and repeatedly told them not to come out.

Lin Hongzhe seemed to sense that something was wrong and asked uneasily, “Auntie Zhu, should I go next door and call Uncle Ruan over?”

Zhu Yan shook her head. With such a racket from Li Yong, Ruan Xiaotian had surely already heard it.

Sure enough, just as Xia Yan reached the door, Ruan Xiaotian appeared at his own doorway as well.

“Li Yong, what are you doing?”

Ruan Xiaotian drew his coat tighter around himself, his face full of confusion.

Li Yong had no mind to answer him. He shoved past Xia Yan and rushed into the house, shouting, “Zhu Yan, get your ass out here!”

Xia Yan was knocked so hard by his shove that she fell flat onto the floor, and the pain in her backside made her brow twist in an instant.

“Sister, are you all right?” Ruan Xiaotian hurried over to help her up.

“Brother Ruan, go in and stop Li Yong. Don’t let anything happen,” Xia Yan said through gritted teeth.

“Are you really all right?” Ruan Xiaotian still looked worried.

“I’m fine. Brother Ruan, stop dawdling...” Xia Yan urged him on.

From where she was, she could see Li Yong gripping Zhu Yan by both shoulders and shaking her violently, his face ferocious. At that moment, she cared only for Zhu Yan’s safety.

Ruan Xiaotian no longer hesitated and ran into the house.

Inside, Li Yong was clutching Zhu Yan like a madman. “Zhu Yan, what the hell did I ever do to you? Why didn’t you tell me? At a time like this, you’re still helping that slut. If I hadn’t found out myself, were you planning to hide it from me until I died?”

The miscarriage had left Yuan Xiangqin a source of deep self-reproach for Li Yong. He had specifically taken half a month’s leave from the army, thinking he would stay home and take good care of her.

That very noon, Zhu Yan had brought the newly arrived doctor around to familiarize him with the medical clinic. While making her rounds of the ward, she had gone out to answer a phone call. When the doctor examined Yuan Xiangqin, he casually said, “More than three months. What a pity.”

At the time, Li Yong had not thought anything was wrong. But later, while he was at home making soup, the thought kept gnawing at him: three months? Three months ago, he had been on a mission in the mountains and had stayed there for nearly a month.

No matter how he calculated it, the timing was off. When Zhu Yan was not around, he went to find that doctor again to confirm the time of conception. Unexpectedly, the doctor even mocked him: “As her husband, don’t you know when you’ve done such things?”

Right then and there, Li Yong became certain the child was not his.

After returning to the ward, he forced down his rage and questioned Yuan Xiangqin about the baby. But she hemmed and hawed, avoiding the issue and speaking around it, which only confirmed his suspicions further. Yet he did not blow up on the spot. Instead, he searched the entire base for Zhu Yan.

At that moment, Zhu Yan kept her head bowed and said nothing.

Ruan Xiaotian rushed in and wrapped both arms around the crazed Li Yong, dragging him back. “Li Yong, calm down.”

“Calm down? Brother Ruan, my woman is carrying another man’s child. How the hell do you expect me to calm down?” Li Yong turned to stare at him, his eyes bloodshot.

Ruan Xiaotian froze. He had not expected such a thing to have happened, and for a moment he did not know how to persuade Li Yong.

Just then, Xia Yan limped inside, clutching her sore backside. Seeing that Zhu Yan was unharmed, she let out a breath of relief. “Commander Li, sit down and talk. You can’t blame Zhu Yan for this either... She meant well...”

Li Yong only grew angrier at her words. “Meant well? Xia Yan, don’t stand here preaching to me. I know you’ve had your differences with Xiangqin. You must be pleased beyond words right now.”

Her backside was already throbbing, and hearing him say that only made Xia Yan even more furious. “Li Yong, I know you’re the victim here too, but don’t think the whole world is as narrow-minded as you are! I do have issues with Yuan Xiangqin, but she was the one who came looking for trouble with me when we were still at school. Later, when she spread those rumors about me and Zhang Jun, I never went after her!”

“Hmph. You’d be that kind?”

“You...” Xia Yan snapped, then said in exasperation, “A man like Zhang Jun is only worth Yuan Xiangqin’s admiration anyway!”

“Zhang Jun? So you knew about this all along, didn’t you!”

Li Yong had been guessing which man it was all this time, and Xia Yan had just given him the answer. What he had never imagined was that even Xia Yan knew about it while he himself had not.

“Yes, I knew a long time ago!”

Xia Yan nodded and admitted it.

Hearing this, Li Yong did not erupt as Xia Yan had expected. Instead, he seemed to deflate all at once, sinking into a crouch on the floor and bawling his eyes out. “You all knew, and I was the only one in the dark. Why!”

Zhu Yan finally spoke. “Li Yong, I’m sorry. I handled this badly.”

Li Yong seemed not to hear her. He stayed crouched there, crying on and on like a child.

Ruan Xiaotian patted his back and said a few words to comfort him.

It took quite a while before he finally calmed down.

Xia Yan brought over two more cups and poured wine into them.

Without a word, Li Yong picked up the cup and drank it down in one gulp. Then he snatched the bottle and drank five cups in a row before stopping. With a savage look, he said, “That bastard Zhang Jun, I’m not letting him get away with this.”

“Zhang Jun disappeared long ago. What are you planning to do now?”

Xia Yan came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of peanuts and set it in front of Li Yong.

“What else can I do? Before this gets out, I’ll divorce her at once, then send Yuan Xiangqin back to her parents’ home. I, Li Yong, can’t afford to lose this face!” He poured himself another cup. “Zhu Yan, I know you and Yuan Xiangqin are friends, but you’re a doctor too! Did you really take me for a fool?”

Zhu Yan sighed. “I handled this badly. I wanted to tell you, but every time I saw Xiangqin, I held myself back.”

“You held yourself back, yes. But do you know how much damage this did to me?!”

Li Yong sprang to his feet in agitation and pointed at Zhu Yan. If Zhu Yan had been a man, he would already have struck out.

Xia Yan moved protectively in front of Zhu Yan. “Don’t take your anger out on Zhu Yan. If you want to rage, go rage at Yuan Xiangqin! What kind of skill is it to roar here?”

“You...” Li Yong glared at her, then swallowed the insult that was about to burst from his mouth.