Chapter 175 Brother Yunzhou, I want to talk to you alone.

Two basins of ice-cold water were poured over the couple from head to toe. They shuddered but did not wake up; they were still pretending to be unconscious.

It seemed the salt concentration in the cold water was too low, so Lu Yunzhou had two bags of salt poured directly onto the wounds of the two men.

They couldn't take it anymore and cried out in pain.

"Are you going to talk or not?" Lu Yunzhou exhaled a puff of smoke. "You have one minute. Whoever talks first, I'll put them down. Whoever doesn't talk, I'll chop off their toe. If no one talks, then we'll chop them all off."

"Timer begins, sixty, fifty-nine..."

The couple were covered in sweat. With thirty seconds left on the countdown, the man spoke first, "I'll talk, I'll talk. A woman came to us and asked us to bring Di'er home."

The woman began to struggle, "How could you say that? What will happen to our son? He'll die."

"If we don't tell, we'll both die here, and our son won't survive either," the man pleaded.

Lu Yunzhou was very satisfied. He moved his finger, and his men went over and took off the woman's shoes and socks.

"What are you trying to do?" The woman tried to pull her foot back, but it was held firmly and she couldn't move an inch. "We've already told you everything, what more do you want?"

“You didn’t understand what I said. I said whoever speaks first will be put down, and whoever doesn’t speak will have their toes chopped off,” Lu Yunzhou said, gesturing with his fingers again. “Put the man down.”

The man was put down, but his hands and feet were still restrained, and his face was directly facing the woman's feet.

Before he could react, a spurt of blood sprayed onto his face, followed by a woman's painful scream. When he looked again, he saw that his wife's little toe was gone.

The man was so frightened that he wet his pants.

Lu Yunzhou frowned and continued to ask, "What does that woman look like? Do you know her name? The rules are the same as before, start answering quickly."

The woman was still in pain and didn't hear what Lu Yunzhou said, but the man spoke up, "I said, that woman looks to be in her thirties, very beautiful, with big wavy hair, and I heard someone next to her call her 'Sister Wan'."

Sister Wan? Meng Xiuwan? This result did not surprise Lu Yunzhou. He nodded, "Very good, chop off another toe of the woman."

Another face covered in blood, another scream from the woman. The man trembled all over, secretly relieved that he had spoken quickly.

"Get ready for the next question," Lu Yunzhou threw his cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it with his leather shoes, "Who is this 'Laidi' you're talking about?"

“We bought this child eighteen years ago,” the woman answered before Lu Yunzhou could even call for the start. She endured the pain and said, “We’ve been married for several years without children. There’s a saying where we’re from that area: if you don’t have children of your own, you can adopt one, and maybe that will bring you a child of your own.”

“Someone brought a baby girl to our village and asked if anyone wanted her. I thought she was pretty, so I spent 10,000 yuan to keep her.”

After the woman finished speaking, the man was already trembling like a leaf.

He didn't disappoint the woman, but he also lost a toe.

Lu Yunzhou continued, "So how did you treat this baby girl?"

The man quickly replied, "We treat that baby girl very well, otherwise she wouldn't have grown up. We order fresh goat milk for her every day; we ourselves can't bear to drink it."

"But later my wife got pregnant and gave birth to a son, and we had our own child. We neglected Lai Di'er a bit, but we still took care of her. I just don't know why she ran away."

The woman next to him was furious. She hated the man so much that he was going to make her lose another toe. "What is it all because of? It's because you always lay hands on her and had bad intentions."

“Nonsense, I didn’t do that,” the man shouted. “You’re the one who beats and scolds her all the time. She’s covered in bruises. I was just trying to help her apply medicine because I felt sorry for the child.”

“I hit her upper body and her legs, but I didn’t hit her butt,” the woman spat. “Why are you pulling down the child’s pants? Don’t think I didn’t see it, your thing is sticking up really high.”

“I was just looking,” the man said, his face turning bright red. “What are you going to say if you sell her to an old bachelor in the village? That old bachelor is much more perverted than me.”

The two of them went back and forth, recounting all the bad things they had done to each other, arguing quite animatedly.

Lu Yunzhou became increasingly distraught as he listened. He wished he could tear them both apart with his own hands, but he couldn't let them die now.

"Cut off the women's hands and feet, and castrate the men. Don't let them die."

...

Lin Xi lay in the hospital bed, receiving treatment from a psychologist, while Song Xu sat beside her.

Outside the consultation room, Song Chen and the others were all present.

Lu Yunzhou returned, glanced at Zhou Jingming before looking away, and walked up to Song Chen. "How is Xixi?"

Song Chen's face was grim. "He suffered a great shock and is undergoing psychological treatment. What about the other two?"

"They asked me some questions and then locked me up." Lu Yunzhou remained outwardly calm.

"What did you find out?" Song Chen asked.

Zhou Jingming also looked over.

Lu Yunzhou took a deep breath. "You'd better not listen to this."

"Who are they?" Song Chen's heart sank.

“Xi Xi’s original adoptive parents,” Lu Yunzhou said, “said they bought Xi Xi for ten thousand yuan.”

"They really aren't Xixi's biological parents." Bai Tiantian's face was devoid of its usual smile; her eyes were filled with sorrow as she worried about Lin Xi.

Jiang Yan stood beside Zhou Jingming with her eyes downcast. She also wished she wasn't her mother's biological daughter, but she looked so much like her mother that they were obviously mother and daughter, which dispelled that thought.

"Did they abuse Xixi?" Song Chen asked coldly.

Lu Yunzhou nodded, not wanting to say anything.

At this moment, Song Chen felt powerless as a lawyer. The charges of bribing the child and abusing the adopted daughter would only result in a few years in prison, and the time was too long ago, so the evidence was insufficient.

If it happened to someone else, he could handle it calmly and accept all kinds of punishment with equanimity. But only when it happens to himself or a loved one does he realize how unwilling he is to accept such a punishment.

Lin Xi and Song Xu walked out of the consultation room.

Everyone gathered around. Lin Xi had calmed down. She looked up and saw faces full of concern for her. Her heart warmed. Unconsciously, she had gotten to know so many people who cared about her.

Lin Xi smiled at them and said, "I'm much better now, thank you."

"Xi Xi." Bai Tiantian hugged Lin Xi. She was also frightened today. If Lu Yunzhou and Zhou Jingming hadn't arrived in time, she and Xi Xi would have been dragged away together. That couple was really too strong.

Lin Xi patted Bai Tiantian on the back, "Luckily you were here today. I owe you a huge favor, but only my brother can repay it for me. He has to be good to you for the rest of his life."

Song Chen hugged Lin Xi and Bai Tiantian in his arms at the same time, "It's settled then."

Lin Xi shifted her gaze to Lu Yunzhou, "Brother Yunzhou, I'd like to talk to you alone."