ASFTB 40: You Want a Divorce? 1

The others in the office were stunned.

The dwarf child’s mother looked in surprise at Jian Chengxi, who was sitting on the sofa.

Jian Chengxi pulled his child to sit down. Faced with this kind of tense, pressing atmosphere, he neither panicked nor acted overbearing. He even had the leisure to tidy up his child’s messy bowtie.

Li SuiSui said softly, “Daddy, are we waiting for the police here?”

Jian Chengxi nodded. “Yes.”

The dwarf child’s mother, Lita, spoke up. “What’s the point of calling the police? This could be solved with just an apology—why make things so troublesome?”

Jian Chengxi was a little speechless. He looked up at her and asked, “Apologize? Apologize to whom?”

Lita, dressed exquisitely, let out a soft snort and said, “Just handle it according to school rules in front of everyone. According to the rules, stealing means getting your palms caned. Don’t you already know what your son did? How can a child with such bad tendencies be allowed to keep studying alongside my son and nephew? Do you really believe he didn’t take it?!”

Li Chen sat on the sofa. The three-year-old’s figure was a little thin. He sat there quietly, not saying a word—

Perhaps because he knew that even if he did, no one would believe him.

In a situation like this, an ordinary child might burst into tears and complain to their parent.

But he didn’t.

Because his father had repeatedly reminded him to get along well with his classmates at school, yet on the very first day, something like this happened.

Maybe his father would be very disappointed in him.

He had made a classmate cry before, so this time, his father probably wouldn’t believe him either.

“Why wouldn’t I believe him?” Jian Chengxi’s voice came from the side. His gaze toward the woman was firm and unwavering. “It’s true that we’re from the Underground City, and we’re poor but I believe my child wouldn’t take something that isn’t his. If I don’t believe him, am I supposed to believe you instead?”

Li Chen looked at his father in slight surprise.

Jian Chengxi comfortingly patted his hand and said, “Even if we don’t go to this school anymore today, they still have to bring up the surveillance footage.”

Lita hadn’t expected him to be so bold. As a noblewoman, she was refined and well-mannered, but she gave a cold laugh. “Mr. Jian, why deceive yourself like this? My son saw it with his own eyes—doesn’t that count as evidence? It’s fine, really. It’s just a bracelet; if it’s lost, then it’s lost, it’s not worth much anyway. Ah, I almost forgot—I heard your family came from the underground city. Perhaps your child really hasn’t seen something like that before and wanted it. It’s not something I can’t understand.”

As she was speaking, Lita’s gaze fell on the two children, her tone unable to conceal the contempt behind her words. “Why don’t I buy two of them in a few days and give them to the children? They shouldn’t develop bad habits from a young age. The thing may be small, but how one conducts oneself is a big matter.”

Jian Chengxi let out an angry laugh. “You can rest assured. The value of the thing doesn’t matter; what matters is righteousness and morality. If the surveillance really shows that my child stole it, let alone apologizing, I’ll personally return double the amount!” 

Lita was taken aback by his force of presence. She had thought he was merely an ignorant commoner, but hadn’t expected him to be so unyielding.

The class monitor, seeing this scene from the side, felt a bit nervous.

He glanced at Li Chen, who was sitting on the sofa.

The boy who was always quiet and withdrawn was now sitting there silently, and when their eyes met, those dark, deep eyes appeared especially gloomy.

He was like a little vicious wolf lurking in the dark.

The class monitor suddenly felt a chill run down his back for no reason. He spoke up instinctively, “Forget it, Aunt Lita, just let it go. I already found my bracelet.” 

Lita knew this was a way out. She gave a soft snort and said, “Well then, since my nephew says so…”

Jian Chengxi interrupted her. “No.”

Everyone turned to look at him. 

Jian Chengxi held Li Chen and Li Sui­sui by the hand and looked at them. In this room, all those who stood there—not to mention the adults—even the children’s eyes carried disdain and contempt.

Clearly, nothing had been made clear yet. 

Yet every one of them seemed to have already decided it was Li Chen’s fault. 

If they let it go like this today, then what about next time? The root of the problem was never about a bracelet to begin with!

Jian Chengxi spoke up. “Madam also said that the thing may be small, but how one conducts oneself is what matters. This isn’t something that can just be brushed off. If it truly is my child’s fault, of course I’ll teach him properly. Before transferring here, I’d heard that this school has produced many outstanding talents and has a strong faculty. I originally sent my children here because I believed they would receive a good education. But is this really how your esteemed school teaches people to conduct themselves?”

When the teacher heard that, they said helplessly, “Mr. Jian, since you’re unwilling to have your child apologize, then let’s just put this matter to rest.”

Jian Chengxi felt somewhat helpless. “Teacher, I’m not talking about whether to apologize or not right now. If we’re in the wrong, of course we’ll apologize. What I want now is simply to look at the surveillance footage but you just won’t let me see it. Could it be because…”

As he spoke, he turned to look at Lita. “Feeling guilty?”

Lita’s expression changed. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

Jian Chengxi raised an eyebrow. “If you’re not feeling guilty, then why not take a look?”

Lita let out an angry laugh. “There are both witnesses and physical evidence, yet you still refuse to admit your mistake. People from the Underground City really do love to be stubborn.”

Jian Chengxi couldn’t help but give an angry laugh at her constant mention of the Underground City. “Don’t dare, don’t dare. Even with surveillance, you refuse to look—it seems the people of Sky City are the ones who are truly stubborn.”

“You!” Lita looked at him in utter disbelief. She had lived for years under the protection of nobles, and everyone who saw her treated her with the utmost respect. “Do you even know who my husband is? A lowly commoner from the underground city like you dares to speak to me this way…”

“Who is your husband?” 

A deep, powerful male voice cut her off.

The door outside was pushed open.

Everyone turned their heads to look. The afternoon sunlight spilled across the corridor outside the window, and Li Lingfeng’s tall figure stood with the light behind him. He was dressed in a proper, sharply pressed military uniform, which lent him an air of authority and unapproachable majesty. 

Jian Chengxi’s eyes lit up.

Li Sui­sui was the first to run over. “Father!” 

Li Lingfeng bent down and picked the child up into his arms.

Everyone in the room was stunned at the sight of him. They might not personally know the man before them, but they recognized the insignia on his shoulder—it was the ten-rank star, worn only by elite officers.

Jian Chengxi also stood up and said softly, “How come you’re here?”

Li Lingfeng’s voice was calm. “I sent you messages, but you didn’t reply. Most of the students outside have already left, so I came over to check on you.” 

When Jian Chengxi opened his communicator, he realized there were indeed quite a few unread messages.

The teacher, who had been sitting at the desk the whole time, stood up and walked over. “General… Li?”

Li Lingfeng glanced at his son sitting on the sofa and said, “What’s going on?” 

His voice was neither loud nor soft, yet when it fell in the room, it carried weight like a struck stone. A man who had long held a position of power naturally exuded an aura of authority that inspired fear even without anger.

Lita was also stunned. 

She had heard of Li Lingfeng’s military achievements and had also heard that his wife and children were defective products from the Underground City. She understood men well. For someone of Li Lingfeng’s status, how could he possibly care about a wife and children of such lowly, base origins? 

So she hadn’t bothered to spend any effort learning about the transfer student.

She had only heard that the new transfer students this time were mostly children of officers promoted from the Underground City, and she instinctively felt disgust toward them.

But she hadn’t expected to run straight into an iron wall.

Jian Chengxi was just about to speak, “They said…”

Lita cut him off and spoke first, “It’s nothing serious, just some petty squabbles between children.”

The room fell silent. 

Jian Chengxi was a little surprised.

Li Lingfeng held the child in his arms and looked at Lita. The tall, imposing man’s stern face showed no expression, and his voice turned several degrees colder:, “Did I ask you to speak?”

Lita froze where she stood. 

The teacher quickly stepped forward to explain, “It’s like this—there might be some misunderstanding between them, just a small conflict between the children, we just…”

Li Lingfeng, however, didn’t look at her, he only looked at Jian Chengxi, his voice calm and gentle, “You, speak.”

The tension that had been hanging in Jian Chengxi’s heart suddenly eased.

A trace of a smile appeared in his eyes, and he said, “They insisted that Xiao Chen stole that child’s bracelet, saying that another child saw it with their own eyes. I believe my child wouldn’t do something like that, so I asked them to pull up the surveillance footage, but they simply refused.”

Li Lingfeng turned his head toward the teacher, “Bring up the surveillance footage.”

The teacher hesitated for a moment and looked toward Lita, “This… the surveillance system in our school is highly confidential. Without a written order, it can’t be accessed casually.”

Li Lingfeng didn’t waste a single word. He turned toward the soldier standing by the door and ordered, “Go get the head of the inspection office responsible for this school district. Tell him I need to see him.” 

Everyone in the room was startled.

The class monitor and the dwarf child grew even more nervous. They had only wanted to frame Li Chen a little—who would have thought things would turn out like this! 

The child tugged at his mother’s hand.

Lita’s heart was also in chaos. She forced a smile and said, “This is all just something between the children, Your Excellency, the Marshal. Why make such a big deal out of it? I think we might as well just let it go.”

Li Lingfeng glanced at her but said nothing.

The man’s gaze fell on the sofa not far away, his voice deep, “Li Chen.”

Li Chen looked up.

Li Lingfeng asked in a low voice, “Do you want to let it go?”

When it came to the children’s upbringing, Li Lingfeng almost never interfered; even in matters like this, he still left the choice to the child. 

The child on the sofa lifted his head and looked at his father.

Li Lingfeng quietly waited for his decision.

The two of them—one tall, one small—said nothing, yet seemed to share a silent understanding. Li Chen looked toward the class monitor, his voice calm yet carrying an invisible force, “It’s not over.” 

The class monitor, for some reason, felt afraid and stepped back half a pace.

Very soon—

People from the Inspection Office arrived.

The school’s surveillance footage could be accessed through the Inspection Office, and the director led his team to retrieve it, but when they searched the system, they couldn’t find the footage for the afternoon period.

The director said, “I just remembered. It seems the school’s internal network was under maintenance this afternoon, so the entire surveillance system was upgraded.”

There really are coincidences like this in the world. 

Lita and the two children both let out a sigh of relief, and the woman looked at the director with a somewhat satisfied expression.

The director walked up to Li Lingfeng, smiling ingratiatingly as he said, “This matter was just a small dispute between two children, there’s no need for someone like you to trouble yourself over it. I think it’s all just a misunderstanding. In the afternoon, the class monitor wasn’t feeling well and suddenly had a stomachache, so he took off his health wristband and went to the infirmary. He must have left in a hurry and caused a misunderstanding.”

Before Li Lingfeng appeared, everyone had been insisting that Li Chen was the thief.

Because he was a child from the Underground City—

Justice would never come to him.

Yet after Li Lingfeng arrived, it was as if everyone suddenly became understanding and reasonable.

Jian Chengxi listened for a while at the side, then spoke,“Stomach ache?”

The director froze for a moment, then nodded, “Yes…”

Jian Chengxi’s gaze fell on the class monitor. The taller giant child said, “Yeah, I had a stomachache—what about it?”

Normally, no one would question such a thing.

Yet Jian Chengxi walked over, gave the class monitor a glance, and slowly pointed to a spot on his stomach, “Does it hurt here?”

The child’s gaze flickered, and he nodded hastily and vaguely.

The director felt a flicker of regret.

“This part is the intestines, not the stomach,” Jian Chengxi said as he looked up at him, then brushed his fingers across the class monitor’s cheek and pinched off a sugar crystal. “When your stomach hurts, you can’t eat candy—candy increases stomach acid secretion, so you have to avoid sweets. Was eating candy part of the treatment your doctor prescribed for you?”

The class monitor began to panic, taking a few steps back. “I—I don’t know,” he said.

Jian Chengxi looked at him calmly. “You’re lying, aren’t you?”

The class monitor was used to being arrogant and overbearing in kindergarten, but also spoiled at home. Now, flustered, he was on the verge of tears. “I didn’t—I didn’t.”

The others in the room all turned to look. 

Jian Chengxi was about to speak, but the director stepped forward and said, “Mr. Jian, at this point, asking whether the child has a stomachache doesn’t mean much anymore. His wristband was indeed lost, there must just be some misunderstanding here. Since the surveillance footage can’t be checked right now, I think we should just let this matter go…” 

Before the director could even finish his sentence.

Li Chen, who had been sitting on the sofa the whole time, spoke up, “I have the surveillance footage.” 

Everyone turned to look at him. 

This child had always been quiet and taciturn, and when he stayed silent, people tended to overlook his presence.

Li Chen opened the recording playback function on his personal terminal. When he played the recorded video, the footage was from an angle outside the classroom window, and it happened to capture the class monitor slipping the wristband into Li Chen’s desk as he left. 

When the video finished playing, the room fell completely silent. 

Even the teacher and the director looked at the class monitor in shock. Even now, they could hardly believe it was actually a child from Sky City who had tried to frame someone.

The class monitor was stunned as well. He took a half-step back and said in disbelief, “Y-you had already left back then, hadn’t you?” 

Li Chen said, “I didn’t leave.” 

No matter how fierce he usually acted, the class monitor was still only a three-year-old child. His eyes turned red. “Then why didn’t you say anything back then?”

Li Chen said calmly, “I wanted to see what kind of trick you two were trying to play.” 

The giant race had always been simple-minded, and the class monitor felt he had been played with. He pointed at Li Chen with a trembling finger, holding it in for a long while before blurting out, “Y-you’re too mean!” 

But Li Chen looked at him calmly, his childish face composed, his dark eyes steady and serene, and he gave him a faint glance, “So stupid.”

The class monitor: “…” 

Tears spilled from his eyes.

He burst into loud, wailing sobs!

The child’s cries spread throughout the room, and the dwarf child also realized he was in trouble. He glanced at his mother and, frightened, began to wipe away his own tears. 

Lita quickly pulled her child into her arms, saying, “Oh dear, oh dear, why are you crying? It’s all right, it’s all right.” 

Her heart ached for her child, and she couldn’t help herself—she shot Li Chen a sharp glare. “You really are something. Since you saw it, why did you hold it in until now? Weren’t you doing it on purpose?”

Jian Chengxi was just about to speak—

When the little girl in Li Lingfeng’s arms, Li Sui­sui, said, “Auntie, you’re so dumb.”

Lita asked in confusion, “How am I dumb?”

“If he had said it back then,” a look of seriousness appeared on Li Sui­sui’s small face, “then they wouldn’t have been able to frame my brother.” 

Lita was momentarily choked for words and gave an awkward little laugh. ““Kids really can talk nonsense” 

Li Sui­sui’s voice rang out clear and crisp, “No, Auntie, you’re the one who’s saying nonsense.”

Lita: “…”

What a presumptuous child.

Seeing how things were going, the director felt that this was turning bad. He forced a flattering smile toward Li Lingfeng and said, “Sir, you see, it’s all just children’s fooling around. Why don’t we just let it go…”

Li Lingfeng turned his gaze toward him, that cold, blade-like look making the director instinctively fall silent.

The entire office was filled with cries and sobs. 

Anyone with a soft heart would probably have let it go after seeing a child cry like that.

Li Lingfeng spoke coldly, “Handle it according to school regulations.”

The director was stunned.

Jian Chengxi turned to the teacher and asked, “In this kind of situation, what does the school regulation say?”

Seeing the Marshal and the soldiers outside, the teacher didn’t dare to hide anything. “In our kindergarten, stealing almost never happens, but the school rules clearly state that if someone steals, they’re to have their palms smacked. And if someone lies, then…”

Jian Chengxi asked, “Then what?”

The teacher hardened her heart. “They’re to be spanked.”

Jian Chengxi’s eyes widened.

On the other side, the class monitor cried even harder after hearing those words. Though he was tall, he had never been hit before. When he looked toward Li Chen on the opposite sofa, the boy’s gaze also turned to him. For an instant, he seemed to sense an inexplicable, undisguised malice in those calm eyes. A feeling that made his heart panic.

It was as if—

Li Chen had been holding himself back all this time just for this very moment.

The class monitor was genuinely terrified now, crying so hard that his voice broke. “Don’t hit me, don’t hit me. It was Lin Ran’s idea, not mine. I didn’t mean to!”

Everyone was stunned.

The dwarf child stared at the class monitor in disbelief. “Y-you’re talking nonsense.”

“It’s true, it’s true!” the class monitor sobbed, wiping at his tear-streaked face. “It was Lin Qi who said Li Chen was a child from the Underground City—that if we blamed him, no one would believe him. It was all him who told me to do it.”

Lita was completely panicked. “Y-you better stop talking nonsense!”

The class monitor wailed, “I’m not lying. Everything I said is true.”

Lin Qi was shaking with rage—furious and frightened all at once—yet suddenly felt a chill spread down their back.

Li Lingfeng’s gaze was cold as ice. He ordered the director, “Then punish them both.”

The director looked troubled, stammering and hesitating for a long time before finally saying, “General, it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that… Lin Qi’s father is…”

Li Lingfeng: “Is what?”

The director steeled himself and said, “He’s the current Chief Financial Officer, Fuchs.”

Hearing this from behind, Jian Chengxi was also taken aback. Truly, enemies are destined to meet—just that afternoon, Fuchs had come trying to bribe him, and now by evening, he had run into the man’s wife and child.

After hearing this, Li Lingfeng lifted his eyelids and looked at the director. “So what?”

The director was burning with anxiety. After a brief hesitation, he leaned closer and said, “Marshal, I think we’d better let it go. Fuchs’s influence is immense. It wouldn’t be wise to punish his child. If that happens, I won’t be able to keep my post as director. How am I supposed to live then…”

Li Lingfeng looked as if he had just heard a joke. The man’s tall figure stood in the room as he lowered his head to glance at the director. He spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear, his gaze icy. “Do you want to die right now?”

The director’s body stiffened.

He looked up and met a pair of cold, merciless eyes.

For a moment, he even felt that Li Lingfeng wasn’t joking at all. After all, he was the man who had executed Ike in front of a hundred thousand soldiers!

“Handle it according to school regulations!” The director turned to look at the teacher, slightly out of breath. “Both of them are to be hit ten times each. Have the robot carry out the punishment, then announce a public reprimand to the entire school afterward!”

The teacher was momentarily stunned, then quickly nodded. “Yes.”

Since the founding of the school, this was the first time the school rules had ever been enforced.

Lin Qi and the class monitor were both stunned. The two children were so frightened that tears streamed down their faces—they had only meant to play a small prank on Li Chen, never expecting that they would be the ones punished instead.

Lita could no longer hold herself back. She stood up and said, “Marshal, it was just some childish fooling around between two kids. Isn’t it a bit excessive to take it so seriously? Must you really go this far?”

Li Lingfeng hadn’t even spoken yet.

Jian Chengxi stepped forward from behind and said, “Madam, I’m a little confused by what you’re saying. Just earlier, when I was here, weren’t you the one who said that losing a thing was a small matter, but conduct was what truly mattered—and that we should handle things according to school rules?”

Lita choked on his words. “I…”

How would she know she would end up slapping her own face?