Siwa said hurriedly, "Shan'er, you know perfectly well that he is not a 'stranger'..."
This implied meaning made Shan'er tremble with anger.
"Please don't get angry at the nanny, she's innocent," Zhang Boxuan immediately stepped forward to explain. "I insisted on staying to wait for you, and the nanny couldn't persuade me otherwise, so she had no choice but to let me act up."
Xuande was also stunned by Shan'er's anger and dared not move.
Shan'er was so angry she didn't know what to say, especially when she saw Xuande and Xuanling so intimately surrounding Zhang Boxuan, she became even more furious.
Could Zhang Boxuan's visit be because he's learned something?
Xuande looks almost exactly like him; did he finally figure it out?
"Xuande, bring Xuanling here!" she scolded the child angrily. "Didn't I tell you? You can't be with strangers!"
"But Uncle Zhang isn't a stranger!" Xuande protested, feeling wronged. "He is..." He quickly swallowed the word "dad" and said, "He's a good uncle!"
"Even uncles can be bad! Don't assume everyone who calls you 'uncle' is a good person!" Shan'er warned angrily. Suddenly, she noticed a large bruise on Xuande's forehead and various abrasions on his body, and panicked instantly—
"Xuande, how did you get hurt?"
At this moment, Zhang Boxuan slowly spoke. "I stayed to explain this to you, but as soon as you came in, you were furious, and I didn't have a chance to explain. It's like this..." He briefly recounted what happened in the park at dusk.
"Anyway, I'm very sorry, it was my carelessness that caused Xuande to get hurt..."
I thought that after explaining the whole story, Shan'er would calm down, but I didn't expect her to be even angrier.
"So, you weren't just stalking me, you were stalking my family too?"
Good heavens! Now her misunderstanding of him has deepened even further; she actually thinks of him as a wicked person with ulterior motives!
"I met the children by chance in the park; there was absolutely no premeditation," Zhang Boxuan said solemnly.
"Your motives are not pure! You follow me wherever I go, what exactly are you trying to do?" she accused loudly.
"I swear, I really didn't mean any harm." Zhang Boxuan was pushed to the limit, so he simply raised his hand and swore an oath.
Xuande also spoke up for Zhang Boxuan. "Uncle is very good to me. I was injured just now, and it was Uncle who carried me back. He also helped me bathe and apply medicine..."
After listening to Xuande's description, Shan'er narrowed her eyes without saying a word.
Zhang Boxuan smiled, patted Xuande's head, and said, "I never thought I would be so suitable to be someone's father."
How dare he say such a thing! The child is hers! He has nothing to do with it!
Shan'er walked up to him with a cold face, and suddenly, with a "slap!" she slapped him hard across the face. Zhang Boxuan was stunned and touched his cheek.
Damn it! This shrewish woman actually dared to hit him!
When Shan'er raised her hand again, Zhang Boxuan angrily grabbed it. A heavy, uneasy atmosphere filled the air. He glared at her and said, "I'm richer than you. Don't worry about me coveting your wealth. Besides, I have plenty of women around me who are sexier and more beautiful than you. Don't think too highly of yourself and that I'd be after your looks!"
The two glared at each other for a long time until Xuanling started crying loudly.
"Please leave." Shan'er glared at him resentfully, her voice high-pitched and weary.
Zhang Boxuan glanced at her, but ultimately said nothing and left in silence.
Siwa also brought Xuande and Xuanling into the room, leaving Shan'er with some space to calm down.
The long-standing worries finally surfaced. Shan'er could no longer help but squat down. For the first time, she felt tired and scared. These two children were her pillars and the meaning of her life. She absolutely could not let "him" take them away!
The night was eerily quiet.
The distant, tranquil Guanyin Mountain is shrouded in a layer of silvery-white mist, appearing dreamlike and somewhat awe-inspiring in the darkness.
Shan'er hid in the study on the top floor, trying to calm her emotions that had been disturbed by Zhang Boxuan.
Don't worry, since he didn't find any resemblance between Xuande and him, there's nothing to worry about!
But... she worried that there was still an unbreakable blood tie between him and his son, and that soon... Xuande would no longer belong to her?!
Perhaps there's something else, a fact she's deliberately ignored deep down: all these years, she's never forgotten him; he's always been a part of her heart. She originally intended to keep it a secret forever, but she forgot that there are no secrets in this world, and wrongdoing has its punishment and retribution!
Siwa quietly entered the study and gently said to Shan'er's stiff back, "Shan'er, are you still blaming me?"
Seeing that Shan'er remained silent, she continued, "I didn't expect Zhang Boxuan to be such an outstanding young man. He has an indomitable spirit and will never give up until he achieves his goal. He said he wanted to see you before leaving, and I thought it would be fine to just chat for a few minutes..."
"I blame no one. As you once said, sin and punishment go hand in hand. So it's only right that the sins I committed make me live in constant fear now!" She sighed, letting her guard down. "What can I do? He's the father of Xuande and Xuanling!"
"Child..." Siwa was speechless.
Alas! Cleverness can backfire. No matter how intelligent a person is, they can still be at a loss when it comes to matters of the heart...
On the same night, Zhang Boxuan was also filled with rage.
He had never been slapped by a woman in his entire life; Kim Sun-ah was the first woman who didn't know what was good for her!
In the middle of the night, still seething with anger, he simply ran to the garden in his pajamas, picked up a baseball bat, and began practicing kendo, something he had neglected for the past six months.
"Slap! Slap! Slap!", "Ya! Ya!", "Eeya! Eeya!", "Tap! Tap! Tap!" Various shouts were even louder in the quiet night, spreading to every corner of the Zhang family's house.
Zhang's mother was the first to wake up. "What was that sound?"
She was so frightened she didn't dare get out of bed and had to wake her husband. "It must be haunted!"
"Don't talk nonsense! There are no ghosts in this world, it's all nonsense!" Zhang Wenhu refused to believe it.
The elderly couple looked out from their balcony toward the garden to find the source of the sound, only to discover their beloved son's unusual and outrageous performance.