OEBSAS |Chapter 8

Shao Xian took Chen Baizhou, threw the clothes into the drum, and then taught him to press the switch and choose the wash mode.

“Do you do your own laundry at home?” he asked.

Chen Baizhou nodded. Clearly, he did not think there was anything wrong with it. “The teacher said to do your own things yourself.”

“That’s when there aren’t any conditions,” Shao Xian reached out and tapped his forehead. “The Chen family can’t even afford a washing machine?”

Seeing Chen Baizhou wanting to speak but stopping, Shao Xian had no choice but to say, “All right, it’s definitely Chen Yu not letting you use it, right?”

Chen Baizhou did not make a sound.

“It’ll take dozens of minutes for the clothes to finish washing,” Shao Xian called him over. “Tomorrow is school. Let’s review together.”

Although elementary school knowledge was not a difficult matter for him, he still had to get familiar with it again. In particular, the texts that had to be memorized, apart from very famous sentences, he had basically forgotten all of them.

Chen Baizhou sat down at the desk with him.

“A couple of days ago I was knocked out by Chen Yu hitting me with a ball, so I didn’t go to class. Did the teacher assign any homework?” Shao Xian asked.

Chen Baizhou nodded, took out three subject exercise books and three tutoring materials. “The questions the teacher copied on the blackboard are in the exercise book. The Chinese materials need to be written up to page 71, math page 75, and English page 73.”

Quite detailed.

Shao Xian gave him an appreciative look, and Chen Baizhou could not help feeling a little happy as he asked, “Which subject are you writing first?”

“Math, then.”

Shao Xian felt that elementary school math could not stump him.

Chen Baizhou hurriedly opened the math exercise book. On it were several math word problems.

His handwriting was very neat, every stroke and line looking as if it had been printed, very delicate, unlike Shao Xian’s, whose handwriting was also good-looking, but always had a somewhat unrestrained sloppiness.

Shao Xian glanced casually at the first problem. The question was very simple, simple enough that he could calculate it mentally. Then his gaze moved downward, and his brows immediately furrowed.

Chen Baizhou, who had been paying close attention to his expression, pressed his lips together slightly, his gaze somewhat uneasy.

Shao Xian paused for a few seconds, then turned his head and asked gently, “Did you misunderstand the question?”

Before Chen Baizhou could answer, he could not help but flip back and look, and found that this child had never once gotten a hundred points on any homework, basically always staying in the sixties or seventies.

Not good at math? That was not very likely.

Seeing his expression growing darker and darker, Chen Baizhou could not help but explain in a low voice, “I’m pretty stupid. I can’t learn it, and I’m also very careless.”

“It’s fine, I’ll teach you.” Shao Xian did not waste words and directly explained it to him carefully.

After more than ten minutes, Shao Xian asked, “Do you understand all the types of problems like these now?”

Chen Baizhou did not want to disappoint Shao Xian, and even more, he did not want Shao Xian to look down on him, so he honestly nodded. “I do. Thank you.”

The two of them studied in the room for an entire afternoon. Shao Xian not only finished all the homework, he also used Chen Baizhou’s wrong questions to help him consolidate all the knowledge points.

He gained the child’s increasingly grateful gaze.

As it drew near evening, a guest came to the Shao family home, and it was Chen Changjian.

Chen Changjian had been out of town during this period and did not know that so many things had happened at home. If he had not received Chen Yu’s call, he would not have been able to come back directly by plane.

When Shao Xian heard the movement downstairs, he told Chen Baizhou to stay obediently in the room and went downstairs by himself to keep his mother company.

“I missed the Second Young Master’s birthday two days ago. I didn’t make it in time, and I’m truly sorry.” Although Chen Changjian had once been a rough man with little education, after struggling in the business world for so many years, he had become much more proper in speech.

Cai Yalan smiled on the surface. “It was only a child’s birthday. Mr. Chen doesn’t need to be so polite. I wonder what matter brought Mr. Chen here today?”

Chen Changjian looked apologetic. “I heard from Meijuan that our child was being mischievous and damaged your estate’s garden. I came to apologize.”

Chen Yu had called him to complain, mentioning that Chen Baizhou had deliberately told the Shao family and the Qian family’s two young masters that he was suffering abuse in the Chen family, winning Shao Xian and Qian Wenjie’s sympathy, and was now directly living in the Shao family home.

More importantly, Shao Xian and Qian Wenjie had beaten him up for Chen Baizhou!

After Chen Changjian heard this, his first reaction was not to feel heartache for Chen Yu, but to think about whether he could use Chen Baizhou to build a connection with the Shao family.

As for the Qian family, they were just nouveau riche. He did not care.

He knew Chen Baizhou was often bullied, but children, after all, just needed to be coaxed. Besides, Bai Meijuan was on the Chen family’s side.

If Chen Baizhou could become friends with Shao Xian, he would not mind being a little nicer to Chen Baizhou.

When Shao Xian came downstairs, he saw a scheming light flashing in Chen Changjian’s eyes.

He had seen this sort of expression far too many times.

“Mom, who came?” Shao Xian pretended to be arrogant and rude, and sat down beside Cai Yalan.

Cai Yalan could tell from his expression that he was thinking of another bad idea again.

“Why are you being so rude? He’s Xiao Zhou’s father. Call him Uncle Chen,” Cai Yalan deliberately rebuked.

Shao Xian reluctantly gave an “oh.” “Uncle Chen.”

Chen Changjian did not bother with a child. He smiled kindly. “Second Young Master, Xiao Zhou has been troubling you to take care of him.”

“What’s this about taking care of him?” Shao Xian rolled his eyes and said carelessly, “I just saw he can take a beating, so I wanted to find a sparring partner.”

As he spoke, he looked at Cai Yalan. “Mom, didn’t you say you were going to hire a martial arts coach for me? When can you find one?”

Cai Yalan: “…Xianxian, Mom is asking around. If we’re going to find one, we have to find a good one.”

Little brat, when did you want to learn martial arts?

Chen Changjian twitched the corners of his mouth, smiling very uncomfortably. “Learning martial arts is quite good, it strengthens the body. But what does Second Young Master mean by sparring partner?”

Shao Xian leaned back on the sofa, glanced at him, and said without a care, “I originally wanted to find Chen Yu to be my sparring partner, but after beating him up once, I found out he can’t take a beating, so Chen Yu cried and recommended Chen Baizhou to be my punching bag. I had no choice but to reluctantly accept him.”

As he spoke, as if he had thought of something, he looked at Chen Changjian seriously. “Uncle Chen, you’re not reluctant to part with him, are you? Otherwise I’ll just go find Chen Yu. He’s sturdier than Chen Baizhou, more able to…”

“Shao Xian!” Cai Yalan’s brows shot up, clearly angry. “How are you talking?”

She made a move as if to hit Shao Xian.

Chen Changjian hurriedly played peacemaker. “Mrs. Shao, don’t be angry. They’re all children. Being a sparring partner is nothing. If Second Young Master likes it, let Xiao Zhou follow you then.”

“But he’s too thin,” Shao Xian said with obvious disgust. “If I knock him flat with one punch, then what’s the point of fighting? Chen Yu is still better, it’s just that Uncle Chen, you can’t bear to part with him.”

Chen Changjian: The Shao family’s Second Young Master really is a little tyrant, simply spoiled rotten! Does he really think he’s some crown prince?

“Besides, he has quite a few injuries on him. I also don’t want to beat him badly, but learning martial arts can’t be done with hands and feet tied, right?” Shao Xian looked quite irritated. “At first, when I heard Chen Yu say that Chen Baizhou was basically your family’s punching bag, I was still pretty happy. But if he gets beaten badly, then I’ll have to find another one…”

Chen Changjian was afraid he would bring up Chen Yu again, so he hurriedly said, “Second Young Master, don’t worry. Uncle will definitely raise Xiao Zhou to be fair and chubby in the future. Feel free to find him as your sparring partner.”

Shao Xian snorted with a laugh. “Since he’s my sparring partner, then he can only be my sparring partner alone. He can’t let anyone else hit him. I never share one thing with someone else.”

“Of course! Second Young Master, rest assured.”

Chen Changjian thought that as long as he played the punching bag well, he could also get to speak in front of the Shao family’s Second Young Master. Chen Baizhou that brat had always been obedient, and as long as he could help him build a connection with the Shao family, he would naturally treat him well.

“Then thank you, Uncle Chen,” Shao Xian stood up and said disdainfully, “Chen Baizhou still has to stay at my house for two more days. I need to see whether he can take a beating. If he can’t, then he has to be returned.”

Chen Changjian still smiled kindly. “Then I’ll trouble Second Young Master to look after Xiao Zhou for a few more days.”

Shao Xian felt disgusted in his heart and turned around with a cold face to go upstairs.

Whether Chen Changjian knew the truth or not, openly selling off his stepson like this was enough to make people despise him.

Of course, Chen Changjian was a businessman. He could not possibly do losing business, and he could not possibly not care about his own reputation.

Shao Xian treating someone like a punching bag was, in the end, a Shao family upbringing issue. He could shift the blame to the Shao family using their power to pressure others, and the Shao family could not possibly publicize their son’s bad conduct, so the fact that he sold off his stepson would not affect him at all.

Even if Shao Xian was lying to him, only sympathizing with Chen Baizhou, then he could also use Chen Baizhou to build a connection with the Shao family.

So what if Chen Baizhou hated the Chen family? Children, after all, just need to be coaxed. Who doesn’t need motherly love? When he went back, he would educate Bai Meijuan and Chen Yu and tell them not to hit Chen Baizhou anymore, and to let him eat his fill too.

Chen Changjian’s算盘 was well calculated, and Shao Xian knew it clearly, but he also did not plan to manage it.

When Chen Baizhou became Fu Baizhou, how he treated the Chen family, he himself would not care either.

When he returned to the room, the child was still seriously doing the problems, his expression very focused, and when Shao Xian saw this, his gaze softened a little.

When he was within his ability, he would definitely protect Chen Baizhou, until he left the Chen family.

After Chen Changjian left the Shao family and returned home, he saw Chen Yu rushing over anxiously, his somewhat bruised face full of grievance.

“Dad! Did you tell the Shao family to let Chen Baizhou come back?” Chen Yu was unwilling to let the toy he had beaten and scolded at will be protected by someone else, and he was still waiting to exact revenge for Shao Xian and Qian Wenjie beating him up.

Bai Meijuan stood beside the sofa, trembling with fear, not daring to look directly at Chen Changjian.

She and Chen Yu had not dared tell Chen Changjian that Chen Yu had once hit Shao Xian unconscious with a rubber ball, otherwise Chen Changjian would not have been so relaxed today.

“Second Young Master Shao said that from now on Xiao Zhou will be his punching bag,” Chen Changjian said with a smile. “Meijuan, in the future you have to let Xiao Zhou eat his fill, and don’t always hit him. Children can’t take a beating. If you make Second Young Master Shao unhappy, how can our family still cooperate with the Shao family?”

Bai Meijuan: “…” Afraid it would never be possible to cooperate, right? Your son knocked their son unconscious, and they can just let it go lightly?

But she said nothing. In her view, there was no need to say anything at all. She just needed to be her rich wife.

Because of that, Chen Changjian missed his only chance to apologize.

The Shao family on the surface were all smiling and taking harmony as precious, but in reality, deep in their bones, they were extremely protective of their own people. And Shao Xian was the Shao family’s most cherished treasure. Being knocked unconscious on the head was something that could never be turned over.

“Dad!” Chen Yu panicked. How could things be like this? Could it be that from now on he really could no longer beat that bastard Chen Baizhou?

An eleven-year-old child still did not know what it felt like to be oppressed by power.

Bai Meijuan did not care much. She was not a sadist. If it were not for making herself more comfortable, who would be willing to abuse a child?

Chen Changjian’s expression suddenly turned stern, and he looked at Chen Yu seriously. “I don’t care what you used to be like, but starting today, as long as Second Young Master Shao hasn’t gotten tired of playing yet, you need to rein it in.”

After saying that, he went upstairs to the study, not seeing the blazing resentment that appeared in Chen Yu’s eyes.

Bai Meijuan saw it, and her back immediately went cold. She quickly turned and went to the kitchen, not daring to look again.