Perfect Match, Secret Marriage Chapter 97 Ruthless

Once he arrived, Elder Kang headed straight to his office where he found Secretary Rong who had come back.

Seeing him, Elder Kang had many thing's he wanted to ask about, most of them concerning his wife but realizing the darkness on his secretaries face, Elder Kang furrowed his eyebrows.

"What's wrong?"

Secretary Rong frowned. "Sir…"

It had taken around a week for the new of Qiao Jianhong's heart attack to reach Elder Kang's ears.

Hearing everything Secretary Rong had to say, Elder Kang felt his whole body go weak.

That week had been busy for Elder Kang. He was so busy a.n.a.lyzing Lu AnLing that h had completely forgotten about everything else in the world. Around a week or so ago, he had also been invited to dinner with the man but he had rejected it because he was doing research on her but now, thinking back, that no longer seemed important to him.

Qiao Jianhong was his oldest friend…

And now, the man was in a coma.

Elder Kang felt as if his best friend had already died.

That broke his heart. Feeling intense sorrow, Secretary Rong had convinced the elder to make his way into his bed, to finally get some rest but just as he was about to go to let himself fall into slumber, he received a call from Kang Mu.

Kang Mu had important business to discuss with him that couldn't wait until tomorrow. Feeling the urgency in his son's voice, Elder Kang called Secretary Rong to bring him over there immediately.

At that moment, Elder Kang had completely forgotten the promise he had made Kang Jun…

One that he had promised he would never break.

The promise specified that when Elder Kang left the Kang Manor, Kang Mingyu would either be brought with the elder or that he would come to stay over with Kang Jun or at his villa. The elder was never sure why Kang Jun had requested this arrangement but he allowed it nonetheless.

But today, he had completely forgotten about it and there would be consequences…

Completely ignorant to the situation, Kang Mingyu had been sleeping soundly up until he heard the front door close.

Hearing a loud slam, the boy was violently awoken. Worried, he crawled out of his bed and went to go investigate.

Walking down the stairs, Kang Mingyu did everything so to not wake anyone up. He gripped the rail groggily.

However, once he was down, his lack of sight in the dark caused him to b.u.mp his head hard into a pillar, forcing it to tip side to side.

The porcelain vase that sat on top of it slipped off and plummeted to the ground.

As Kang Mingyu watched, it seemed like everything was happening in slow motion. He could clearly see every motion; from it tipping off the edge to it shattering into a million pieces at his fear.

The crash sounded loud in the house but in Mingyu's ears, he only heard the shattering of his own heart.

Gazing down at the broken vase, his eyes widened and his body froze. His mind was blank like a dark abyss.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard.

They were footsteps he could never forget.

They brought his heart to his stomach where it burned. He could almost feel the physical pain arise from his fear.

Kang Mingyu swallowed hard.

"What have you done?!" Qiao Lan's voice was cold and hollow.

Kang Mingyu felt himself begin to shake.

He knew exactly what was coming to him and it couldn't be avoided. He had made a mistake.

He should have stayed in his room.

Kang Mingyu believed that he only had himself to blame for his predicament.

Right then, an old woman entered the room with a run.

"Miss Qiao, what happened? What are you doing up at this hour?" The woman asked concerned but then, when her eyes fell onto Kang Mingyu, she froze.

Qiao Lan: "Go get the ruler."

"But miss…" The housekeeper started but she spoke no further after seeing Qiao Lan's glare.

"Go!"

The housekeeper ran.

When the woman was out of the room, Qiao Lan grabbed onto Kang Mingyu's hand violently and then dragged him into the dining room. There, no matter what happened, no one in the house would be able to hear it.

As a child raised in a military family, Qiao Lan was ruthless. She had gotten beaten by her mother to be taught discipline as a child, so it would be no different for her children.

Kang Mei Xue almost never needed to be disciplined because she was obedient but Kang Mingyu was different.

Everything he did seemed to contain a mistake. At least that's how it seemed like to Qiao Lan.

And that should have been fine. Kid's usually made mistakes. After all, it was how they learned. Yet an accident was never just an accident to Qiao Lan.

No matter what, she would punish him.

When grandfather was there, she would usually have no choice but to let Kang Mingyu go with a light slap but when he was away, Qiao Lan's ruthlessness towards the boy would resurface in the cruelest of ways.

Maybe it would have been different if he was her child by birth.

Once Kang Jun had seen Qiao Lan hit Kang Mingyu. Because of this Kang Jun had started a fight with her about it. He brought it to Elder Kang's attention, but at that time, she had lashed the boy only once.

Elder Kang had seen how his close friend, Elder Qiao, had been disciplined as a child and then how he, in turn, had disciplined his child, nephews and nieces.

To Elder Kang, at first, it was disgusting but as times went by, he understood that it was just the way the Qiao family worked. The elder was sensible. He understood that discipline was sometimes required, but to a certain extent.

Though, seeing the small mark on Kang Mingyu's arm he had decided to make Qiao Lan promise to not discipline the boy too hard.

When she agreed, he had left it at that, angering Kang Jun to the point of considering cutting ties but Kang Jun couldn't leave the boy in this miserable state.

That was the elder's mistake.

In the dining room, the housekeeper entered the room and handed Qiao Lan the ruler. Once she did, she quickly ran out of the room. She didn't what to see what would happen next.

Having received her ruler, Qiao Lan hit in on her hand creating a piecing 'slap!' sound.

"Arms." Qiao Lan commanded.

Reluctantly the boy did as she said. He outstretched his arms. Qiao Lan lifted his sleeves revealing soft, plump skin. Though, here and there, there were traces of light scarring.

"You made a mistake. Admit that you're wrong." Qiao Lan's voice came down like a gavel in court. Her words weren't an opinion, they were facts At least they were when the woman and the boy were alone.

"I'm sorry. I made a mistake." As soon as the words left his mouth, the ruler had come crashing down onto his bare skin with a piercing 'PAK!' sound.

Kang Mingyu winced.

The place where the ruler had hit instantly turned red. Leaving a stamp on his pure white skin.

"Repeat."

Kang Mingyu hadn't felt that kind of pain in a long while. He had almost forgotten what physical pain felt like.

Qiao Lan continued to hit his upper arms with the ruler, with no remorse.

She'd be applying medicine on it later anyway.

The whole time the boy didn't cry out. He never did… He just held everything in. He would take and take and take the abuse until the pain would feel so unbearable, that his knees would give out and allow his lifeless body to fall to the floor.

Despite his knees painfully landing on the hard floor, Kang Mingyu didn't feel a thing, only the searing pain emanating from his arms.

But he didn't think of that.

The boy's mind was mostly blank, with only one thought that remained.

"I made a mistake. It's my fault."