After Transmigrating As The Mother Of The Pitiful Female Supporting Character in a Campus Novel - Chapter 9

Qin Wang stood by the entrance of the police station, waiting for Xia Shibai and her daughter. The tall man’s police uniform was rumpled, purple bruises marred his face, and his expression was grim—he looked like he had a bone to pick with the world.

Xia Yaozhou was frightened. She hid in Xia Shibai’s arms, wordlessly waving a tiny hand at Qin Wang as a greeting before quickly turning away, not daring to meet his eyes.

Compared to Yaozhou’s fear, Xia Shibai was much more composed. Even with Qin Wang’s fierce expression, she remained calm. After all, when she was pummeling Auntie Lin with a golf club, it was Qin Wang’s mediation that ensured she only walked away with a verbal warning rather than a charge for assault.

“What happened to your face, Officer Qin?” Xia Shibai noted the injuries, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me it happened when you rushed back that night.”

“…” Qin Wang was momentarily speechless. “Since you’ve already guessed, why are you still standing outside? Come in, submit the remaining evidence, and finalize your statement.”

As they entered, Qin Wang noticed the scrawny little girl squinting at him, pretending to look elsewhere while clearly watching him—a classic “idiot-style” disguise. Thinking of the pampered, chubby grandson sitting in the office whose clothes could barely contain his belly fat, Qin Wang’s subjective disgust for Auntie Lin intensified.

He gave a slight nod toward Xia Yaozhou. “A colleague specializing in psychological intervention happens to be in today. You can drop the little one off to chat with her.”

Lowering his voice, he added, “When you go in for your statement, regulations say she has to stay outside. And outside… that family’s daughter-in-law and grandson are still there.”

Xia Shibai understood immediately. “Then I’ll leave her in the hands of your colleague.”

“Mhm. Walk on my left. I’ll take you to her first.” Qin Wang twitched his mouth; the bruises on his face stung with the movement. He wondered what Auntie Lin’s son had been raised on—the man was built like a tank and had the strength of an ox. It had taken three grown men and a face full of pepper spray to subdue him.

Due to the assault on an officer, Qin Wang’s mentor had applied for the combined use of electronic shackles and handcuffs. They were genuinely worried that if the man recovered and lashed out again, the eight officers at the station might not be enough to handle him. As for the daughter-in-law and the chubby kid sitting outside, they had been wailing and making a scene all night, giving Qin Wang a splitting headache.

Even Liu Tong, usually a “nice guy,” had slammed the table in frustration. “What kind of people are these?!” The whole family was rotten to the core. Being entangled with such a family was truly a curse.

As they walked through the hall, Qin Wang instinctively shielded the mother and daughter, worried the pair on the bench might charge them. Fortunately, they weren’t that stupid. Xia Yaozhou was successfully dropped off at the office without incident.

Xia Shibai gave Yaozhou a few reassuring words, pointing toward the interrogation room. “Mommy will be right there. I’ll be back soon. The police sister will stay with you, so don’t be afraid.”

Yaozhou, wearing her light-up shoes with wings, nodded and obediently took the officer’s hand.

Once the door closed, Xia Shibai slowly turned her gaze toward the mother and son sitting nearby.

The woman did not look kind. Her narrow eyes glittered with greed. She was dressed decently and wore a gold bracelet, but Xia Shibai felt the woman looked “messy” in spirit.

“Tch.” Xia Shibai frowned. Both mother and son gave her a bad vibe; their mental states seemed… off. They were the kind of people you’d cross the street to avoid for fear they might snap.

The woman stared back at Xia Shibai with sheer malice. Her thin lips moved silently, cursing Xia Shibai to death. In her mind, if Xia Shibai had just ignored the girl as Auntie Lin said she would—or better yet, just died—their family could have moved into that villa and used the brat as a servant. A girl born to a “shameless woman” was useless anyway, except for fetching a dowry.

Xia Shibai’s smile vanished. She wasn’t stupid; the woman was repeating a single phrase over and over. By matching the mouth movements, it wasn’t hard to find the answer hidden in the vulgarity:

“The brat born of a shameless woman, it would be better if both were dead.”

Qin Wang was halfway down the hall when he realized he’d forgotten his pen. Just as he was about to tell Xia Shibai to go into the room while he grabbed one, a figure blurred past him. The next second, Xia Shibai had the woman by her hair and was swinging.

Her strikes were fast and brutal, leaving no room for a counter. Xia Shibai was using the same “orphanage brawling” techniques she’d used as a kid. She pinned the woman to the ground, sitting on her. “Since your mouth is foul and your hands are dirty, and your parents failed to educate you, I’ll do it for them.”

Xia Shibai’s face was cold. She showed a modicum of restraint by not raining continuous punches, but every time the woman opened her mouth to curse, a slap followed.

The chubby kid, seeing his mom losing, tried to use his bulk to ram Xia Shibai. Luckily, she was quick; she grabbed his arm and shoved him aside. Getting hit by that mass would have definitely hurt.

“I originally just wanted your mother in jail and for you to return what you stole,” Xia Shibai said, pinning the struggling woman’s hand. She pulled her up, shoved her back, and feinted a kick that made the woman gasp but stopped her from cursing. “But it seems I was being too sentimental. You’re all going to prison. And before that, you will apologize to my daughter. The damage you did to her can never be erased.”

Looking at the fuming, red-eyed boy who still wanted to use violence, she said coldly, “Since you value your son so much… I will personally send his father, mother, and grandmother to prison. And you? I’ll treat you exactly how your family treated my daughter.”

“As long as I’m around, your family will never have a single comfortable day again.”

Xia Shibai walked up to the woman, who was now slumped on the floor with red marks on her face. She gently straightened the woman’s disheveled hair and whispered in her ear: “Unless you want no one to know, do not do it. I am not a ‘nice’ person. Sending you in legally is my duty as a citizen. But finding people to ‘teach you a lesson’ in private… that is the bite of a mother protecting her daughter.”

“Please, don’t stop. Keep cursing me,” Xia Shibai patted the dust off her clothes. “The harder you curse, the more it shows how much you hate me. And the more you hate me, the harder I’ll know I need to retaliate.”

Only after the sudden chaos stopped did Qin Wang rush in to pull Xia Shibai away, while other officers separated the groups. Qin Wang’s expression was complicated. “I didn’t expect Miss Xia to be so… ‘down-to-earth’ in a fight.”

Given her social status, car, and background, he hadn’t expected a high-society lady to resort to street-style brawling. Xia Shibai raised an eyebrow; she wasn’t the original owner, after all. She was a commoner at heart and simply lost her temper at the sheer audacity of these people.

“Officer Qin didn’t step in to stop me either, did he?”

“…” Qin Wang rubbed his nose and gestured for her to enter the interrogation room. Once the door was shut, he muttered, “If I weren’t wearing this uniform, I would have dragged her husband into an alley and thrashed him last night.”

He’d seen unreasonable people, but never someone who assaulted an officer and went for his face while acting like the world revolved around him. He’d booked the husband for assaulting an officer; once the three of them got their medical reports from the hospital, the case would be handed over.

Inside the room, Xia Shibai asked directly, “Three men couldn’t hold her husband? Is he that fat?”

“Not fat. He looks a bit… slow, but his strength is insane. One punch and I felt my molars loosen.” Qin Wang probed his teeth with his tongue, wincing. “I think you should investigate. I suspect the husband isn’t… ‘normal’.”

As she was about to hand over her phone, Liu Tong entered. He looked worse for wear, clutching his stomach and struggling to stand straight. As an officer, he had to maintain decorum, but the moment he sat down, he let out a pained breath.

Xia Shibai wanted this settled quickly. Every moment the family was out was a moment Yaozhou wasn’t safe. “I’m here to provide the rest of the evidence. Auntie Lin and her daughter-in-law stole valuables worth 20 million yuan from my home. They also embezzled 2.3 million yuan of my daughter’s living expenses. Here are the transfer records and bank statements from my assistant.”

“Also, she abused my daughter, taking her to scavenge in dumpsters and keeping all the money. I can’t prove the latter easily, but the property management can testify to the former,” Xia Shibai’s expression was grim. “I hired her to care for my daughter—to play with her, cook for her, and provide emotional value. I didn’t hire her to act like the master of my house and bully my child.”

“I will sue them. Auntie Lin and her daughter-in-law must go to prison.”

Liu Tong was in too much pain to take notes, so the task fell to Qin Wang. Fortunately, the case was clear-cut. As Qin Wang organized the new evidence, he recalled what Xia Shibai had said about the husband and felt suspicious himself.

“Go wait in the meeting room for a bit. Don’t leave yet,” Qin Wang said, thinking of the mother and son treating the station like a hotel. He wanted to avoid another brawl.

As for Liu Tong, Qin Wang helped him up. “If it really hurts, come to the hospital with me when we clock out. I’ll drive you.” Liu Tong tried to hold it together, but his stomach turned; he ran to the sink in the back to retch. The sound alone made Qin Wang wince.

On the other side, the officer named Xiao Nuo was playing with blocks with Xia Yaozhou. She noticed that Yaozhou didn’t speak much, preferring to use expressions.

When Xiao Nuo tried to intervene in the block-building, Yaozhou showed a passive-aggressive resistance. If a block was meddled with, she would simply move on to a different pile, ignoring the “tainted” area. After three tests, Xiao Nuo saw the girl’s furrowed brow and pulled her hand back, letting Yaozhou play alone.

Yaozhou sat at an angle, her body language screaming her distrust of strangers. This lasted twenty minutes until a block fell to the floor. Yaozhou went rigid, watching Xiao Nuo warily. When the officer simply picked it up and placed it on the table, the tension eased slightly.

“You can call me Xiao Nuo. What should I call you?”

“…” Yaozhou bit her lip, staring at the blocks. After a long wait, her tiny hand crept across the table toward a lonely block. She snatched it up and pulled back. “Zhou… Zhouzhou.”

“Zhouzhou, is it? Nice to meet you. Can I play with you?” Xiao Nuo smiled. “It’s just the two of us here. If you don’t play with me, I’ll be all alone.”

Xiao Nuo watched for a reaction. The child’s expressions were vivid; when she mentioned being “all alone,” Yaozhou’s reaction was particularly strong. So, when Yaozhou pushed a block toward her, Xiao Nuo wasn’t surprised.

“O-okay. This is a toy for you. But don’t build on my side. Build here.” Yaozhou gestured to the spot Xiao Nuo had touched earlier, then drew an imaginary line in the air. “Don’t cross the line. Or… or I won’t play with you.”

Then, as if struggling with herself, she added, “I won’t play with blocks either. I’ll just sit with you.”

“So you won’t be alone.”