Chapter 89: Starting to Coax the Child

“Five…”

An Ling’s voice grew smaller and smaller.

The tears finally could not be held back.

They slid down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor.

It was not only because it hurt.

Alright, it did hurt.

But there was also grievance and shame.

She was a victim too.

The reason she hadn’t told Li Yang was also because she was afraid.

Why did he have to punish her like this?

Why did Li Yang have to be this harsh?

Right now she even felt that letting Li Yang touch her tail and ears wouldn’t be so bad.

“Six… Li Yang, I was wrong…” 

An Ling finally couldn’t help begging, her voice broken by crying.

“Don’t continue… okay…?”

“Wrong where?” Li Yang’s hand stopped in midair.

“Wrong in… wrong in…” An Ling sobbed, her mind a blank.

“Wrong in not telling you…”

“What else?”

“And… and…”

“Seven…”

An Ling hurriedly counted, afraid Li Yang would say she had gotten it wrong.

“Continue. What else?” Li Yang kept asking.

“And… and…” An Ling’s brain was already not working.

The burning sting and the grievance she couldn’t put into words made it impossible to think properly.

On top of that—

Every time An Ling was about to figure out how to answer, Li Yang made her start the sentence over.

“Eight…” She still didn’t dare not count.

She felt Li Yang was really scary right now.

“What else?” Li Yang asked again.

He wanted An Ling to not dare run even if she wanted to next time.

“And… and I shouldn’t have run away alone…”

“Nine…”

An Ling’s voice had already been completely swallowed by crying.

Tears fell drop by drop onto the floor, making tiny sounds in the quiet room.

Her hands covered the top of her head, as if she were afraid of hearing Li Yang’s voice, yet even four channels couldn’t block it.

Her tail hung weakly beside the bed, occasionally trembling a little.

The whole of her looked extremely pitiful.

She didn’t dare run anymore, and didn’t dare resist.

She could only obediently stay where she was.

“What else?” Li Yang’s voice came from above her head.

“And… I shouldn’t…” An Ling’s mind had completely turned into paste.

“Shouldn’t have not trusted you…”

“Eleven…” After An Ling finished counting, her whole body was shaking.

Both hands wanted to cover herself, but Li Yang brushed them aside.

“Li Yang…” She called his name in a small voice, tears already blurring her vision.

“I won’t… won’t ever… dare again.”

“I was wr… ong, I was wrong… okay…?”

An Ling had already cried too hard to speak complete sentences.

She could only beg in broken bits.

Tears fell drop by drop onto the floor, giving off a faint shine under the light.

Li Yang looked at her like this and his heart softened.

He felt the warning had already been delivered.

If he continued any further, she might really become impossible to coax.

Being able to coax her well and make An Ling obedient was his goal.

If he couldn’t coax her, it would be trouble.

He needed her to know what things she could not hide from him.

And after going on like this for so long, even his own patience hurt.

It was easy to imagine how much An Ling hurt.

“That’s enough.” Li Yang stopped.

“The rest we’ll leave owed for now.”

“If you dare hide things from me again later, it doubles.”

An Ling felt as if she had received a great pardon.

She quickly moved away, curled into the corner of the bed, hugged her tail, and bunched her whole body into a ball.

Her face was buried in her knees, her shoulders jerking as she cried.

Li Yang looked at her, sighed, moved over, and reached out wanting to pat her head.

An Ling instinctively wanted to dodge, yet was also afraid, so she could only obediently let Li Yang’s hand land on the top of her head.

She comforted herself that this was still better than being punished.

“Alright, I won’t continue.” 

Li Yang’s hand gently rubbed the top of her head.

“Don’t cry anymore.”

The original grievance completely exploded under that one sentence of comfort.

“You… you punished me…” 

An Ling lifted her head and looked at him with tear-blurred eyes.

Her eye rims were red, and the tip of her nose was red too.

She looked extremely pitiful.

“You actually punished me…”

“Mom and Dad never even punished me…”

“You didn’t listen.”

“A child who doesn’t listen of course has to be punished a little.”

“I did not not listen!” 

An Ling retorted, yet her voice was so soft it had no strength at all.

“Still not?” Li Yang glared at her.

“You hid something this big from me and you still call that listening?”

An Ling was startled again and wilted.

She stopped talking, lowered her head, and continued hugging her tail and sobbing.

Li Yang looked at her, then suddenly reached out and pulled her whole body into his arms.

“What are you doing…” 

An Ling protested in a small voice and instinctively wanted to struggle, but the leftover ache made her suck in a cold breath, and she didn’t dare move around anymore.

Even so, she decided she still had to make her own protest.

She decided she would ignore Li Yang tonight.

No resisting, no running, and also no paying attention to him.

An Ling curled up in Li Yang’s arms.

Her shoulders were still twitching faintly.

Tears had already soaked a patch of Li Yang’s collar.

She had made up her mind to ignore him, yet her body uncooperatively shrank a little further into his arms.

Cold.

She had just cried a whole round and her whole body was chilled.

Li Yang was like a big stove, making her unable to help wanting to get closer.

“Does it hurt?”

An Ling wanted to say wasn’t that nonsense, but she planned to ignore him, so she buried her face even deeper.

Alright.

Li Yang sighed.

He knew An Ling’s reason had come back a little.

Now she was feeling wronged, and it was time to start coaxing the child.

Li Yang held her tighter, his chin gently resting on the top of her head, one hand lightly patting her back.

“Have you cried enough?” he asked, his voice returning to its usual gentleness.

An Ling didn’t answer.

She buried her face against his chest, her shoulders still shaking faintly.

Li Yang reached out, pulled two tissues from the nightstand, and stuffed them into her hands.

“Wipe.”

“Your snot is about to get on my clothes.”

“It is not…” 

An Ling said stuffily, but she still took the tissues and wiped at her face in a mess.