Madam, Please Behave
Chapter 428: Furious Outburst

In the bedroom.

An Yuanyao lay covered by a thin blanket, her eyes tightly closed as she slept soundly.

Beside her on the bed slept two children.

Due to the children frequently being restless at night, both she and her husband hadn't been getting proper rest recently, which was why she had chosen to take a short nap while the children slept.

The window was open, and the room was quiet.

This peaceful state should have continued, but when cries suddenly came from outside the room, An Yuanyao's eyes snapped open. She quickly turned to look at the two children beside her.

Seeing that both siblings were still fast asleep, An Yuanyao gradually emerged from her drowsy state, staring somewhat blankly at the children as if not fully awake yet.

She thought she might be hearing things...

Was someone actually crying?

After sitting frozen for a moment, the noise outside suddenly grew louder, causing An Yuanyao to immediately shift her gaze toward the door.

She listened carefully.

After several seconds, the still-groggy An Yuanyao finally realized the crying belonged to her daughter Liu Xiazhi.

Not knowing what was happening, she immediately rolled out of bed, slipped on her slippers, and hurried out of the room.

When she opened the door and stepped outside, An Yuanyao witnessed something she never expected to see.

A crying Liu Xiazhi was draped over her husband Liu Changqing's lap.

And Liu Changqing was delivering swat after swat.

"Smack, smack!"

"Waaahhh!! Daddy!"

With each smack from Liu Changqing, the firmly restrained Liu Xiazhi would let out another wail.

She kept crying out for her father.

Chen Dafu stood nearby, seemingly wanting to intervene, but Liu Changqing pushed him away with one hand.

Seeing this, An Yuanyao was shocked.

She immediately ran over and tightly grabbed Liu Changqing's arm to stop him from continuing to punish their daughter.

Liu Changqing's face was flushed with anger when he felt someone trying to stop him. Thinking it was Chen Dafu again, he was about to tell them to back off when he turned and saw it was An Yuanyao.

After a brief pause, he released his grip on their daughter.

As soon as Liu Changqing let go, An Yuanyao quickly pulled Liu Xiazhi away and protectively shielded the girl's head.

Then she looked at her husband, her eyes filled with confusion.

She asked,

"Why are you hitting our child?"

"......"

Instead of answering, Liu Changqing took several deep breaths, then picked up the phone he had set aside earlier. He pulled up a chat log and handed the phone to An Yuanyao.

Saying,

"Take a look."

"......"

Puzzled, An Yuanyao hesitated but eventually took the phone while still shielding their daughter, then began scrolling through the messages.

When she saw the chat logs between their child and a stranger...

She understood why her husband was so angry.

Holding the phone, An Yuanyao turned her gaze to Liu Xiazhi, who was clutching her clothes tightly.

Almost whispering to herself, she said,

"Xiazhi, you..."

"Get up from your mother."

Liu Changqing spoke these words sternly.

Staring at his daughter being protected by his wife, his usual gentle expression was gone, replaced only by severity.

"I'll count to three."

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

As soon as "three" left his lips, the sobbing Liu Xiazhi abruptly broke free from her mother's arms, quickly standing up and turning her back to her father.

Seeing this, Liu Changqing remained silent for several seconds before speaking again.

"Turn around and look at me."

"......"

"Liu Xiazhi!"

"......"

Though still not speaking, hearing her full name made Liu Xiazhi obediently turn around.

Head bowed low, she slowly turned.

"Look at me."

At this command, the lowered head lifted.

Meeting her father's gaze.

Liu Xiazhi's face was full of grievance.

Seeing his daughter's tear-streaked, flushed face, Liu Changqing felt a momentary pang of softness.

But he knew well that child-rearing couldn't be all indulgence.

Compared to their sensible son, their five-years-younger daughter was inevitably more childish.

She couldn't properly distinguish right from wrong yet. For her healthy development, as her father, he needed to provide proper discipline when necessary.

His heart hardened again.

Liu Changqing looked at her and asked,

"Do you understand what you did wrong?"

"I..."

As if holding her breath, Liu Xiazhi's eyes brimmed with tears, her speech became broken, and her nose turned red.

She kept sniffling.

Watching his daughter like this, Liu Changqing observed for a while before grabbing some tissues from the coffee table. Folding them, he approached his daughter and wiped her nose.

"Do you understand what you did wrong?"

He asked again.

After having her nose wiped, Liu Xiazhi seemed slightly better. Taking several deep breaths, she finally responded.

"I understand..."

"What exactly did you do wrong?"

"I... I shouldn't have disobeyed..."

"What else?"

"I... I don't know..."

"You shouldn't have acted out of spite! After I repeatedly warned you, why did you still go behind my back to do it?"

"Dad... Daddy..."

"This time you gave your name to a stranger, next time will you give our home address too? Do you understand how dangerous that is? How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers - not in real life, and not online either!"

"......"

"I bought you that phone so we could contact you anytime, not so you could chat randomly with strangers! You can use QQ to chat with Shuyan or classmates - that's your freedom and I won't interfere. But I explicitly forbade chatting with strangers, and you still broke that rule! At your age, you haven't fully developed your values yet. Being exposed to these things too early won't do you any good!"

"Daddy..."

Seeing her father's lecturing demeanor, Liu Xiazhi felt frightened.

Wanting to act cute as usual to defuse the situation.

She reached out to tug her father's sleeve, calling softly.

But this time, Liu Changqing wasn't having it.

He directly pushed her hand away and turned to An Yuanyao, saying,

"For the next week, she's banned from using her phone. No snacks or soda either - not a single bit. This is serious - don't go soft on her."

"Honey..."

"Dafu."

"Yeah!"

Hearing Liu Changqing call him, Chen Dafu immediately responded from where he sat nearby.

Then he saw Liu Changqing stand up from the couch, take the phone back from An Yuanyao, and stride toward the door.

As he walked, he said,

"Come with me."