An infamous “tiger mom” was released from prison yesterday after serving six months for brutally beating her adopted son for not completing his homework.

In a remarkable scene outside the prison. Li Zhengqin was greeted by the boy’s biological mother, who knelt down on the pavement and shouted “My cousin, I’m sorry for what you’ve suffered!”

Then, the child ran to Li’s arms. As the two embraced, a tearful Li told her son “My boy, mama is home,” The Beijing Times reports.

The controversial case broke last April after the boy’s teacher posted photos online showing the injuries he had sustained on his back, feet and hands.

The boy was the third child of a rural family in Anhui province. He was adopted by Li in 2013 because his biological parents hoped that he would receive a better education in the city, NetEase reports.

When the pictures went viral, Li was taken into custody and the boy was temporally returned to his biological parents.

Li was sentenced to six months in prison following a medical report which found “minor” wounds covering 10% of the boy’s body.

At trial, Li admitted that she had beaten her son; however, she insisted that she hadn’t “beat him hard” and was therefore innocent of the charges against her.

“I’ve tried in vain for three years to help him stop lying. I was afraid that he might develop other bad habits in the future,” Li protested in court. “I wanted to educate him and didn’t mean to hurt him. I did beat him that night, but I didn’t beat him hard.”

However, the local court in Nanjing ruled that Li had gone “too far” when beating her son for failing to complete his homework, upholding her six-month prison sentence.

Li’s release has sparked a range of discussion on Weibo, with many web users simply saying that the case is “beyond their comprehension.”

One web user @Yico孟 writes: “Please tell me I’m not the only one who can’t figure this out. Why would the biological mom apologize to the adopted mom who mistreated her kid? Why would the kid still want to be held in her arms?”

“The sentence was too light. She should have been given three years in jail in my opinion,” writes @栽梧桐

@whattheffck writes: “Why did you have the kid if you couldn’t afford to raise him on your own. It’s irresponsible for life.”

[Images via The Beijing Times]