Dong Family.
Early morning, a little after seven.
The air in the living room suddenly grew tense.
Dong Xuebin hurried over and cradled Xu Yan's head, lowering his gaze to inspect the corner of her mouth. Sure enough, she had been hit. He had thought something was off—if it were just inflammation, how could it be swollen and red to such an extent? He gently used his fingers to pull apart the corner of Big Sister Xu's mouth and looked inside. There was obvious bruising along the inner lining of her mouth, far worse than the outside. Her gums were red as well, and a small patch beneath her canine tooth had even turned purple. Dong Xuebin's expression changed. Anyone could tell how hard that punch had been!
"Did he hit you often?"
"Just this once."
"What about when you were still married?"
"At most, he'd grab Big Sister's collar. He never hit me."
"Grab your collar? Wasn't that already laying hands on you?"
"That's why Big Sister divorced him. Whenever work didn't go well, his temper got worse and worse, and he took it all out on me. Heh, why am I telling you this? It was all years ago. Let's not bring it up."
Suddenly, Dong Xuebin remembered.
Why had Big Sister Xu insisted that he turn off the lights when they took off their clothes yesterday?
Big Sister Xu had never been like that before. Xu Yan had always been far less easily embarrassed than Dong Xuebin.
Dong Xuebin immediately reached out to undo Xu Yan's buttons. The one at her collar was already undone.
"What are you doing?" Xu Yan looked at him and raised a hand to block him. "Enough, stop fooling around. Eat properly. Big Sister's hungry."
"Let me see."
"Don't look. It's nothing."