Zhou Lanhua panicked and hugged Chi Yan. "Yan'er, Mom didn't mean it that way."
Chi Qiang pulled Chi Yan behind him, blocking Zhou Lanhua from touching her, and glared at her. "You did mean it! Stop making excuses! When Chi Yin broke the lard jar as a kid, you didn't even have the heart to say a harsh word to her. But when Yan'er stole some brown sugar, you beat her with a wicker switch until she couldn't sit on a bench for three days! Do you know why I always went against Chi Yin when we were kids? I just couldn't stand the way you never treated us equally! If you didn't want to raise her, you shouldn't have brought her into the family, and once you brought her here, you didn't treat her with sincerity—and you call yourself a veteran teacher! Bah!"
Zhou Lanhua said anxiously, "That lard jar was because your dad didn't set it down properly; Yin'er just brushed past it while walking and it fell to the ground and broke, so it wasn't her fault! As for the time you said Yan'er stole brown sugar, I bought it at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to take to your maternal grandmother. I warned all three of you as soon as I got home. If Yan'er had behaved and not stolen it, would I have been driven to beat her with a switch?"
Chapter 85