Ch17 – Paternity Test

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The next day was a Wednesday.
Shu Ning arrived at school at 7:10 AM.
When he got there, he discovered that the little villain, who usually arrived later, was already sitting in the last row by the window.
He had his head down and was looking for something in his desk.
He still had that blinding purple wig on his head.

The villain arrived early today. 

Shu Ning said hello to a couple of classmates sitting in the last row and headed towards his seat.
When he sat down, the little villain had already brought out his milk and bread and set them on his desk.
He ripped open the plastic wrapper and stuck the straw into his milk carton.

As soon as he looked up, Shu Ning saw the bruises on his fair face.

 

 

The villain’s skin was very pale, so the bruises were very conspicuous.

Shu Ning hesitated for a moment.
Since the relationship between the two of them had gotten better lately, he carefully asked, “Yin Mingzheng, what happened to your face?” 

Yin Mingzheng turned his head and blinked.
“Huh?”

 

Shu Ning pointed at his own cheek.

Yin Mingzheng smiled and didn’t answer.

This meant that he didn’t want to tell him.

 

Shu Ning understood what he was like.
He was the type to stay silent about everything.

He had never told anyone at school about his family situation.  Even if Yin Qiang beat him into the ground, he wouldn’t say a word.
He would rather be misunderstood than to tell others about his home life.

This personality of his…

 

Shu Ning sighed. 

Shu Ning didn’t ask any more questions.
After putting his things away, he silently ate his breakfast.
It just so happened that the English class representative was collecting homework.
The classroom was very noisy.
Shu Ning handed his homework to the class representative.
Then, he turned to look at the villain, who hadn’t moved.

The English class representative asked, “Yin Mingzheng, where’s your English homework?”

“I didn’t do it,” Yin Mingzheng replied indifferently.

The class representative rolled his eyes and stopped asking.
He seemed to be very used to this and left. 

It was normal for the little villain to not do his homework.
It was practically inevitable for the bad students sitting in the last row to not do their homework.

Shu Ning frowned.

In first period, they went over the math tests from yesterday.
The villain scored a 35 and successfully clinched the last place in the class.

Plus, the 35 he got on the math test was the highest out of all his exams. 

Naturally, the math teacher called him out and scolded him a bit.
The little villain stood there inattentively.
His attitude seemed to say, “What are you gonna do about it?” It made the math teacher so angry, he almost suffered hypertension.

Shu Ning frowned even more.

 

Ever since primary school, the little villain’s education had been falling behind, and, now, he was at the very bottom of the whole grade.
What would his future be like if he kept this up? It was true that, if he inherited the Wei family, his future would be set.
He wouldn’t have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of his life.

However, the Wei family valued education and upbringing.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have hesitated between the real young master and the fake young master.
If the villain’s academic performance was too poor, would he be looked down upon by the Wei family? 

Shu Ning’s fatherly heart was worried to shreds.

On the one hand, he was worried about the villain’s injuries.
On the other hand, he was worried about the villain’s studies.

After class, Wang Shenshen turned around to chat with Shu Ning.
When he saw the bruises on Yin Mingzheng’s face, he asked curiously, “Gege, who did you get into a fight with this time?”

Yin Mingzheng ignored him. 

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Wang Shenshen was bold and mischievous.
He continued to ask, “Gege, don’t be mysterious.
Just say it! Who are you fighting with all the time?”

Yin Mingzheng kicked Wang Shenshen’s chair impatiently and said, “You talk too much! How come you’re only paying attention to my face? Pay attention to my shoes!”

Wang Shenshen looked down in a hurry and glanced at his shoes.
Then, he played along and flattered him, “Wow, new Nikes!”

Yin Mingzheng revealed a bit of a smile and confidently said, “They’re knock-offs.” 

Shu Ning looked down at his shoes.

When Yin Mingzheng saw him looking at his shoes, he proudly raised an eyebrow and propped up his leg.
He showed off his blue sneakers and said, “Look, fake Nikes, 20 yuan a pair.”

Several classmates started cheering, “Yooo, gege, you’re so cool.”

Some of their classmates rolled their eyes.
“What’s he showing off for? They’re just knock-offs.” 

Yin Mingzheng asked Shu Ning, “Does it look good?”

Shu Ning nodded.
“It looks good.”

These were the shoes he had carefully selected.
How could they not look good?

Baby was handsome, so he looked good in anything. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Zs wbw ybeuta la,” atf ilaaif nliijlc rjlv rweuis.

Snfgsbcf firf lc atf mijrr mtbxfv.
Pa rffwfv atja tf kjrc’a rtbklcu boo atf rtbfr, yea gjatfg atf ojma atja tlr wbw ybeuta tlw rtbfr.

 

Ktf raevfcar lc atf mijrr ujnf fjmt batfg j ibbx.
Qjrc’a fnfgsbcf’r mibatfr ybeuta obg atfw ys atflg qjgfcar?

“She also bought me pants.” The villain folded up the pant leg of his school uniform and revealed the black sweatpants underneath. 

Everyone played along and said, “They’re nice.”

Wang Shenshen looked at his shoes for a moment.
Then, he raised his doubts, “Gege, your shoes don’t look like knock-offs.”

“They’re knock-offs.” The little villain smoothed down his pant leg and waved his hand.
He was in high spirits and said, “From now on, don’t look at my face.
Look at my shoes and pants, got it?”

Wang Shenshen said, “Yes, yes, yes.” 

Shu Ning waited for a while.
Finally, he couldn’t help but ask, “What about clothes?”

The little villain turned his head and gave him a puzzled look.

Shu Ning continued, “Did she only buy shoes and pants? No clothes?”

He had also bought a down jacket.
It was super light and fluffy, and it had cost the most out of everything! It was 750 yuan! 

The little villain scoffed, “I don’t need clothes.”

Shu Ning’s face sank.
The little villain wore the shoes and pants, and he even showed them off in front of everyone.
There wasn’t any reason for him not to wear the down jacket.

Something must’ve gone wrong.

When it was time for lunch, Shu Ning realized that the villain hadn’t moved.
He called out to him, “Yin Mingzheng, let’s go eat lunch.” 

The villain ignored him.

Shu Ning didn’t force him.
He headed to the cafeteria with Long Qiao and Wang Shenshen.
While he was eating, he subconsciously started to look for the villain’s figure, but he didn’t see him.

He rushed back to the classroom after shoveling all his food into his mouth and found the villain sitting in the exact same spot.
He had a small bread roll in his hand, nibbling on it as he played with his phone.
He seemed perfectly content.

Shu Ning walked over and asked, “Did you not eat lunch?” 

“I’m not hungry.” The little villain didn’t look up.

Not hungry?

 

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There’s no way that’s true!

He usually eats fine, so why is he suddenly not hungry? 

The look on Shu Ning’s face became darker.
He walked out of the classroom and went to the stairwell to call Zhou Juan.

It was very noisy over on Zhou Juan’s side.
It sounded like a supermarket.

“What’s up with the injury on Yin Mingzheng’s face? Did he fight with Yin Qiang again last night?”

Zhou Juan seemed to be walking.
Very quickly, the noise disappeared.
It seemed that she had found a secluded spot. 

“Yes, they fought,” Zhou Juan replied.

Shu Ning wasn’t surprised.
He continued to ask, “Today, Yin Mingzheng only wore the shoes and pants, but he didn’t wear the jacket.
When I asked him, he said he didn’t get a jacket.
Care to explain?”

Zhou Juan: “…”

Shu Ning pressed on.
“He also didn’t eat lunch today.
Didn’t I just give you the lunch money yesterday?” 

Zhou Juan: “…”

Shu Ning prodded, “Explain?”

After a while, Zhou Juan awkwardly said, “Shu Ning, I was just about to inform you of this.
Yin Qiang took the money you gave me yesterday.
Mingzheng asked him to give it back, but he refused.
So, the two of them ended up fighting.
In the end, Yin Qiang didn’t give back the money, and my money is also with Yin Qiang…”

Shu Ning hadn’t expected such a thing to happen at all.
He tightened his grip on his phone and spat, “You gave Yin Qiang the money?” 

No wonder the villain didn’t eat lunch!

Zhou Juan rushed to defend herself, “Yin Qiang stole it! I asked him to give it back, but he wouldn’t! You know what Yin Qiang’s like.
How could I have possibly gotten the money back?”

“Didn’t I tell you to keep that money in a separate place? I told you to give that money to Yin Mingzheng as soon as you got home! You’re not supposed to let Yin Qiang find out about it!” Shu Ning was so angry that his hair almost stood on end.

“…” Zhou Juan was silent for a moment.
Then, she said, “I was careless last night.” 

Shu Ning was truly speechless.
He asked, “What about the down jacket?”

Zhou Juan sighed, “The down jacket was also taken by Yin Qiang.
He couldn’t fit into the shoes and pants, so he gave it to Yin Mingzheng.
Otherwise, Yin Mingzheng wouldn’t have been able to get anything.”

 

Shu Ning hadn’t even gotten angry yet when Zhou Juan started to cry.
She weeped, “I’m sorry.
It’s all my fault.
My poor Mingzheng…”

Shu Ning was stunned.
He took a deep breath and asked, “What should we do now?” 

He didn’t want to continue investigating the cause of all of this.
The most important thing right now was to solve the problem.

Zhou Juan stopped crying and said quietly, “I don’t know either.
You know what Yin Qiang is like.
There’s no way we’ll get the money back…I really didn’t take the money for myself.
There’s really nothing I can do.”

“Is there really nothing you can do?” Shu Ning asked, “Would you rather your child starve? You really can’t pull out a single cent? He’s only fourteen years old.
He’s in his growing period.
If he keeps starving like this every day, he might end up with health problems in the future.”

Zhou Juan was silent for a moment.
Then, she asked, “Could you please do us a favor, Shu Ning? Can you…” 

She seemed to struggle to make this request.
“Can you give me another two hundred yuan?”

Shu Ning clenched his fists.
Did this woman think he was an ATM?

Bah!

Shu Ning’s heart had gone cold.
He shouldn’t have wasted his time with this woman. 

He knew that this woman wouldn’t actually try to solve the problem at hand, but he couldn’t believe that she wouldn’t even bother to pretend.

Shu Ning said coldly, “Do you really have to stay with Yin Qiang?”

Zhou Juan let out an “Ah” and seemed very bewildered.

“He has hands and feet, but he doesn’t work.
He relies on you for everything.
Do you really want to stay with him? If you ask me, you could definitely find someone better than him if you put in a little effort.
Does it really have to be him?” 

Zhou Juan was taken aback.
“You want me to get a divorce? Absolutely not!”

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“Why not?”

There was silence for a moment.
Then, she spoke quietly, “Mingzheng can’t be without a father.”

Shu Ning almost started swearing.
He was starting to understand why the villain swore so often.
If you had parents like these, it would be weirder if you didn’t curse.
“Mrs.
Zhou, take a moment to think before answering my question.
Is it really for Yin Mingzheng’s sake?” 

Zhou Juan said, “Of course.
What else could it be for?”

Who the fuck knows?

 

If he hadn’t known that Yin Mingzheng wasn’t her biological son, maybe he would have believed her!

“Okay, I got it.
I’ll come make a visit tonight.
Make sure you bring Yin Qiang along.” 

“H-he doesn’t listen to me.”

Shu Ning suppressed his anger.
“Tell him there’s someone who wants to give him some alcohol.”

Then, he hung up the phone.
Shu Ning took several deep breaths.

If he had kept talking to her, he might’ve really ended up spitting up blood on the spot. 

Before, he wanted to improve Yin Mingzheng’s family environment.
From there, Yin Mingzheng could slowly get into contact with the Wei family and have the Wei family pick him up.
However, now, Shu Ning was starting to discover that Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang really weren’t human!

If Yin Mingzheng continued to stay in such an environment, Shu Ning didn’t even want to imagine it.

He made a bold decision.
He decided to reveal the truth to Yin Mingzheng and have him leave that house.
Then, he would find another place for Yin Mingzheng to stay.
That way, he wouldn’t get agitated by those two pieces of trash.

A long time ago, he had considered telling Yin Mingzheng the truth.
However, he was worried that Yin Mingzheng might not be able to accept it, so he gave up on that.
He was planning on waiting for the Wei family to reveal the truth, but now…he couldn’t wait any longer. 

He also wasn’t super clear about what was going on with the Wei family.
He didn’t know when exactly they would come to pick Yin Mingzheng up.

Shu Ning made this decision, but he also had no idea how the villain would react or what would happen in the future.

Shu Ning returned to the classroom with these complicated thoughts.
He looked at Yin Mingzheng hesitantly.

Yin Mingzheng felt unsettled by the way he was looking at him.
“What are you looking at?” 

“Nothing.” Shu Ning looked away.

Yin Mingzheng looked at him suspiciously before turning his head back.

Shu Ning tried to hold himself back, but he finally couldn’t take it any longer.
After the second to last class, Shu Ning made a decision and asked the villain, “Mingzheng, did your hair grow longer?”

Yin Mingzheng raised his head and asked with his eyes: What’s wrong with you? 

“Let me see.” Shu Ning walked over with a smile and carefully reached out to pull off his wig.

As he reached out his hand, he kept observing the villain’s reaction, as if he were trying to touch the tail of a tiger.

 

The little villain didn’t move.
He just gave Shu Ning a weird look.
Shu Ning had been acting strange all day.
He kept peeking at him with a weird look in his eyes.
It gave him the chills.

Shu Ning was super afraid that he would beat him up the same way he beat up the man last time.
His heart was beating a mile a minute. 

After what felt like an eternity, he finally touched the little villain’s wig and gently pulled it off.

The little villain didn’t brandish his claws and beat him into the ground.
He simply wore a look that seemed to say, “Are you out of your mind?”

Shu Ning almost burst into tears.
The little wolf cub he was raising was finally willing to let him touch it.

He deliberately stared at Yin Mingzheng’s hair and said, “I think you have a white hair.” 

The little villain didn’t know what he was saying this for.
He raised his eyebrow and said, “So what?”

“I’ll pull it out for you.” Shu Ning reached out and pulled his hair.

“You’re fucking crazy!” Yin Mingzheng couldn’t take it anymore and stood up, his beautiful features furrowed into a frown.
He snatched his wig from Shu Ning and put it back onto his head.

This guy was insane! 

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First, he was looking at him weird, and now he wants to touch his hair!

Shu Ning shrugged and sat back down, holding a few strands of hair in his hands.

After a while, Shu Ning asked, “Yin Mingzheng, there’s something I want to ask you.”

The little villain held back his anger and huffed. 

This meant he was willing to listen.

Shu Ning asked, “Who do you think is the nicest person in the world to you?”

“My mom.” The little villain didn’t hesitate.

His mom… 

Shu Ning sighed.

Shu Ning thought about it for a moment.
Then, he spoke again, “I’m gonna say something that’s gonna piss you off.
I think the way Mrs.
Zhou handles a lot of things isn’t very appropriate…”

 

“That’s none of your business.” The little villain couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Do you have nothing better to do than to worry about my mom?”

Shu Ning wanted to say something, but, in the end, he just sighed. 

In the villain’s point of view, Zhou Juan would probably be the best, most trustworthy person to him, right?

Besides, what child wouldn’t trust their mother?

That evening, Shu Ning waited on the bench by the fountain.

At about ten o’clock, Mrs.
Cai called to ask him where he was.
Shu Ning managed to wheedle his way out of her questions by saying some nice-sounding words.
Finally, Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang slowly started to arrive. 

Yin Qiang was foul-mouthed and unhappy, cursing Zhou Juan as he walked.

Zhou Juan was stepping on glass around him and kept trying to explain herself to him.

Seeing the way they interacted, Shu Ning suspected that Zhou Juan had Stockholm Syndrome.
For some reason, she was dead set on this guy who didn’t have a job, who beat her up everyday, who never gave her a single good word.

“Are you looking for me?” Yin Qiang asked doubtfully when he saw Shu Ning. 

Shu Ning stood up, brought out a bottle of red wine, and handed it to Yin Qiang.
He said with a smile, “Someone asked me to give this to you.”

Yin Qiang borrowed the light of the streetlamp to take a look at the wine bottle.
He was a drunkard.
He knew a bit about alcohol, and he could tell that this was a rather expensive bottle of red wine.
His unhappy expression immediately disappeared.
He kept excitedly turning the bottle around and looking at the text printed on the side.

After reading all the text on the bottle, he suspiciously asked Shu Ning, “Who sent it?”

Shu Ning shook his head, “I don’t know…does uncle know how to drink red wine?” 

“Of course I do!” Yin Qiang became enthusiastic as soon as the topic turned toward wine.
He showed Shu Ning the text on the bottle, “First, you decant the wine.
After you decant it…”

Shu Ning interjected, “Uncle, there’s something on your head.”

He stretched out his hand and yanked some hair from Yin Qiang’s head.

Yin Qiang was very amiable with the person who gave him the wine.
He didn’t get angry.
Instead, he continued to share his knowledge on wine with him. 

Shu Ning’s phone rang.
It was Mrs.
Cai calling again.

Shu Ning said to Yin Qiang and Zhou Juan, “My mom’s calling me.
You guys should go home too.”

 

“Thank you for the wine.” Yin Qiang waved the wine bottle in his hand.

Through the light of the streetlamp, Shu Ning discovered that Yin Qiang was actually rather handsome.
Despite his rotten personality, his looks weren’t bad.
Maybe this was the reason Zhou Juan couldn’t leave him? 

After successfully acquiring both of their hair, Shu Ning went home.
He ignored Mrs.
Cai’s thundering tirade, ran into his room, and sealed the hair in a plastic bag.
The next day, he pretended to have a stomach ache and ran out of the school building.
Then, he grabbed a taxi and headed to the nearest DNA testing center.

Half an hour later, he stood in front of a gray building and looked at the large words on the sign: “Paternity Testing”.
He hesitated for a moment before finally walking in.