After a Flash Marriage with a Professor - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Blood

Yan Mingshu felt panicked as she walked up the stairs. She instinctively opened her bag, and the moment she saw her and Professor Shen’s marriage certificate, she steadied herself.

With money and a marriage certificate, the problem should be easily solved. No need to worry so much.

Before taking out her key and opening the door, Yan Mingshu took a deep breath. She walked into the cramped rental apartment, where the living room was full of people. Besides her parents and brother, there were two other groups. One group was Boss Huang’s people, three of them, including Boss Huang himself. The other group was the debt collectors, four burly men, with the word “ruthless” tattooed on the leader’s face.

Boss Huang blocked the way, and Yan Mingshu couldn’t go any further. Her brother, who was standing behind her, squeezed past and pulled her arm, asking in a low voice, “Sister, where’s our sister-in-law? Why isn’t she with you?”

“…She had something to do and couldn’t come.”

Boss Huang laughed arrogantly. “Wenxuan, didn’t you say your sister found you a good sister-in-law? Where is your sister-in-law?”

“My sister-in-law has something to do and can’t come right now.”

“Oh, so she can’t come, but can the money come? People without money can’t be your sister-in-law. How about this, you call me brother-in-law quickly, and I won’t hold your previous rudeness against you. I’ll help you pay off the debt and even send you to study abroad.” Boss Huang took out a bulging wallet from his pocket and flicked it with his fat finger.

“Dream on!” Yan Wenxuan shouted. “We have the money to pay you back. We don’t need you!”

“Anyone can talk big. Show me the money,” Boss Huang said with a cunning smile.

“We’ll show you. Who’s afraid of whom!” Yan Wenxuan reached into his pocket and took out his bank card. The debt collectors also took out a prepared POS machine. Yan Wenxuan, as his sister had told him, entered yesterday’s date. The transaction was successful, and the POS machine printed a receipt, which he took.

The man with the “ruthless” tattoo on his face took the money and turned to look at Yan Hongbo. He smiled. “500,000 has been paid off. Come again next time you need to borrow money. We’ll give you a discount on the interest.”

Yan Hongbo was rubbing his waist, still remembering how painful it was to be beaten. He shook his head with a smile and said he wouldn’t gamble anymore.

The tattooed man’s gaze turned back to Mingshu’s face, but he was still talking to Yan Hongbo. “Nine out of ten people who say they won’t gamble can’t quit. But you’re lucky. You have a good daughter.”

Yan Mingshu felt intimidated by his direct stare. Her brother opened his arms and stood in front of her, blocking the man’s view.

Mingshu heard the man let out a laugh. Fearing another conflict, she gently pulled on her brother’s shirt.

“Little brother, see you next time.” The man left with his three debt-collecting lackeys, leaving a provocative remark behind.

Yan Wenxuan’s face was red with anger. Mingshu gently patted his shoulder. “Don’t be angry, Wenxuan. The problem is solved.”

Yan Wenxuan couldn’t not be angry. His sister might not have noticed, but he had clearly heard the man say that 500,000 had been paid off, not a million. Why did their parents say they owed a million, putting a heavier burden on his sister?

Boss Huang, standing to the side, was also unhappy. He said irritably, “Solved my ass! You people have been treating me like a fool all these days.”

Yan Hongbo stepped forward with a fawning smile. “Boss Huang, I’m so sorry. Mingshu has someone else in her heart. You’re a magnanimous person. We didn’t touch most of the things you sent over. Since you’re here today, how about you take them back?”

“Heh, you found a new buyer, so you don’t need me anymore? You want to just get rid of me like this? I’m telling you, no way!” Boss Huang was so angry that his face became hideous. He reached out and flipped the table over.

A palm-sized fruit knife on the table clattered to the ground. A large watermelon was shattered into pieces, its juice flowing all over the floor.

“Dad, calm down,” a young man in his twenties next to Boss Huang said, trying to persuade him. “Take a deep breath. Let me handle this.”

The young man didn’t make a move. He smiled and said, “Uncle and Auntie are really good at business, aren’t you? You only owed 500,000, but you asked my dad for a million yuan in bride price, and you even hoped we could send our brother Wenxuan abroad. Now you don’t need us anymore. You must have found a better buyer who can sell your daughter for a better price, right?”

In a single sentence, the faces of the Yan family all changed.

Yan Mingshu finally heard clearly that her father only owed 500,000. She looked at her parents and asked them in a trembling voice why they had lied to her. Yan Hongbo’s gaze darted away. Qin Shu, on the other hand, didn’t hide at all. She folded her arms and said righteously, “What else could it be for? To find a good future for your brother. Does it not cost money for Wenxuan to study abroad? What’s wrong with you, as an older sister, helping out a little more? Anyway, you’re just getting money from someone else. What’s the big deal about getting a little more? I even think it’s not enough.”

“Mom!”

Yan Wenxuan couldn’t take it anymore. His eyes were about to burst, and his head felt like it was going to explode. He hadn’t realized that he had also unintentionally hurt his sister.

Everyone was startled by Yan Wenxuan’s roar.

Qin Shu didn’t think she had said anything wrong and was about to say more when she saw Wenxuan suddenly crouch down to pick up the palm-wide fruit knife on the floor.

“Wenxuan, what are you doing? Don’t be impulsive!”

Yan Wenxuan felt like he was going crazy. His gambling-addict father, his indifferent mother, and even he was forced to become a leech who hurt his sister.

He closed his eyes, placed his left hand on the floor, extended his pinky finger, and swung the knife with his right hand, chopping down with all his might. In that instant, all his anger turned into a heart-wrenching pain.

The young man’s face lost all color and became ashen. His relatives shrieked. Yan Hongbo and Qin Shu cried out, quickly sliding to the ground on their knees to look at their son’s bloody wound. Yan Hongbo trembled as he picked up the bloody severed finger. His eyes were so wide that red blood vessels appeared at the edges, and two drops of murky tears rolled down.

Mingshu closed her eyes, also feeling a bone-chilling pain in her hand. Her movements were a little slower. When she got to her brother’s side, her mother pushed her away.

Yan Mingshu fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face. “Wenxuan…”

“Sister, don’t cry. From now on… I won’t be a burden to you anymore…” Yan Wenxuan coughed heavily. A faint, relieved smile appeared on his pale face.

Boss Huang, his son, and the driver were also stunned.

“Boss, should we call 120 for help?” the driver asked.

“Call what? Let’s go.” Boss Huang grabbed his son and ran. The driver followed closely behind.

Only the four members of the Yan family were left in the house. Mingshu, crying, finished the 120 emergency call and then ran to the room to find the first-aid kit and get some clean gauze to stop her brother’s bleeding.

But there was too much blood. It wouldn’t stop. The gauze also ran out quickly.

She was actually afraid of blood. In her second year of college, when she went to donate blood, she fainted as soon as the blood was drawn. But she couldn’t fall now. She gritted her teeth and held on. She had to see her brother out of danger with her own eyes.

Mingshu crouched beside her brother, carefully trying to stop the bleeding. The fresh blood stained her white dress, a large patch of red, like a blooming, beautiful flower.

“I’ll never gamble again, never again…” Yan Hongbo’s eyes were vacant as he repeated himself like a ghost.

Qin Shu, on the other hand, kept hitting her daughter’s shoulder. “It’s all your fault, all your fault, all your fault!”

Shen Junlan arrived at the scene at that moment. Shortly after Mingshu and Jiajia left, she received a message from Mingshu’s brother. He called her “sister-in-law” and hoped she could come to their house today to support his sister.

Shen Junlan didn’t know what Mingshu’s brother meant by “support,” but she felt that Mingshu might need her, so she drove over herself. She didn’t expect to run into Jiajia downstairs, who was staring blankly with her finger in her mouth and said that something might have happened in the building. She thought of Mingshu and went up to the address her brother had given her. She never would have expected to see a scene like this.

Gushing blood, a bloody severed finger, beating, and scolding…

The door was not closed. Shen Junlan paused for a second at the entrance and entered with a deep frown.

She saw the blood on Mingshu’s dress and quickly walked over, raising her hand to block a middle-aged woman’s punches beside Mingshu. The punches landed on her arm, and it hurt.

“Mingshu, are you hurt?” Shen Junlan asked with concern.

“No, I’m not. It’s my brother, my brother, he… his finger…” Mingshu cried as she spoke. Her face, like her brother’s, lost all color, making her look even more like a broken porcelain doll.

The sound of an ambulance came from downstairs. Soon, medical staff came up with a stretcher. Yan Hongbo and Qin Shu followed closely. Mingshu also wanted to follow, but her legs were weak and powerless.

Shen Junlan put one arm around Mingshu, gently wiping her tears, but more and more came, like pearls falling from a broken string. Shen Junlan reached out to catch them. They were large and scalding hot, searing her heart.

Mingshu couldn’t hold on any longer and fainted. Shen Junlan held her steadily, her right hand covered in Mingshu’s tears.

This reminded her of the first time she saw Mingshu.

All freshmen at H University had to go through a month of military training. Mingshu was the “department flower” of the foreign language department that year. On the first day of school, her name appeared on the campus confession wall, getting spammed with 1,000 posts, half of which were students expressing their interest in Mingshu. Shen Junlan heard about it during her classes for sophomores, but she didn’t pay it any mind.

Until that morning, Shen Junlan had taught four consecutive English-to-Chinese translation classes. After class, she was surrounded by two female students who asked her questions about certification exams and the future direction of translation. Shen Junlan was happy to give students guidance on their future paths, so she decided to go to the cafeteria with them.

Shen Junlan rarely ate at the cafeteria. The H University cafeteria had a special window for faculty, but Shen Junlan didn’t go. She stood in the student line with her students. They were a bit late, so there weren’t many people in line. They quickly got their food. As they were looking for a table, they heard a commotion from a sea of military green in the seating area. A group of students in military training uniforms were chattering about someone. Shen Junlan got closer and heard clearly.

“What’s Yan Mingshu trying to do, playing hard to get? She intentionally dropped her student ID so that Qiyang would pick it up. Isn’t it just to get with Qiyang?”

“See? She’s so scheming. She’s only been at school for a few days, and she’s already stolen a senior’s boyfriend.”

“That’s not all. Most of the guys with girlfriends also ran over to watch Yan Mingshu’s training yesterday, disrupting the military training discipline.”

“Birds of a feather flock together. I didn’t expect Qiyang to be like this, either. He’s been in a stable relationship with his girlfriend for three years, and something happens as soon as Yan Mingshu arrives.”

“Tsk, tsk. Who knows what Yan Mingshu did in private? She looks like a vixen.”

“Stop talking about Mingshu. I already broke up with my girlfriend to come after Mingshu.” Qiyang put his hands on the edge of Mingshu’s table with a smirk. He didn’t mind at all how the people around them defined his relationship with Mingshu. In fact, he enjoyed it. Mingshu was sitting in her seat, her head lowered. No one could see that her eyes were already red. Her hands, which were resting on her thighs, were tightly clenched into fists. Her voice trembled as she said, “Please… give me back my student ID…”

Qiyang pretended he was hard of hearing. “Mingshu, you spoke too quietly. I didn’t hear you. Did you just say you’re willing to be with me?”

With so many people staring at her, Mingshu couldn’t speak. She reached out to grab it, but Qiyang, in his black T-shirt, jumped away. His friends also joined in the jeering.

“Professor Shen, there are also seats over there. Let’s sit there.” The two female students beside her didn’t want to get involved in the mess and wanted to sit on the other side. As a professor, Shen Junlan didn’t like seeing things like this happen at school.

“There are seats right here,” Shen Junlan said, taking the lead and walking over with her tray. She sat down at a table across the aisle from Mingshu.

As soon as Shen Junlan came over, the students’ chatter immediately subsided. Qiyang and his friends also quieted down. Qiyang had taken her class before. Her teaching style was gentle, but her assessments were quite strict. Qiyang wasn’t a serious student and was a bit afraid of her. He was scheduled to retake her class in a few days.

“Give the student back her student ID,” Shen Junlan said. Qiyang immediately and respectfully handed Mingshu’s student ID to her with both hands and then ran away with his accomplices.

Shen Junlan gently shook her head. The character of a student who gets into a good university isn’t necessarily perfect. She looked around again. The freshmen in military training uniforms quickly lowered their heads to eat, not daring to look openly.

Shen Junlan stood up and walked to Mingshu’s side. Mingshu’s head was lowered, so she couldn’t see her face. She simply reached out and handed her the student ID. “Student, here’s your student ID.”

A single, scalding tear landed squarely in her palm.

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