The woman, her face bruised and swollen, slowly opened her eyes. Upon seeing her daughter, her first reaction was to frantically push her out, "Why did you open it... Get out of here, don't let your dad see..."

Teng Yi asked with a serious face, "Jingjing's mother, was your injury caused by Qian Lao Er?"

A strange man's voice rang out from inside the house. The woman staggered out of the closet and saw a large group of people in the house, and... a pack of dogs?

Her man was awkwardly pinned to the wall.

The woman stood frozen in shock, her split lips trembling, unable to utter a word.

Seeing this, Jingjing, having no other choice, told everything.

“Dad often beats Mom… He scolds her for not being able to conceive my brother, he scolds her for cooking badly… Sometimes he hits her in the face, and he makes Mom ask for leave from the factory, and he locks her in the closet to reflect on her actions…”

He would beat her along with everyone else, blaming her for being a girl, blaming her for having to pay school fees and being a burden on money... When the bruises on her body became too noticeable to cover, he would forbid her from going out for fear that someone would see them...

He only started beating me because he caught me secretly opening the door...

Jingjing grabbed the woman's hand and pleaded tearfully, "Mommy, let's call the police and divorce Daddy..."

Jiang Chi grabbed Qian Lao Er by the collar, pressed him to the ground with one foot, and faced the mother and daughter.

Qian Lao Er knelt down, weeping bitterly, "Ayun, I'm sorry, I was wrong. I shouldn't have treated you like that. I... I will definitely change. Please don't call the police. I promise I won't hit you again, and I will make sure Jingjing studies hard..."

The fathers and Jiang Chi looked on, and couldn't help but frown.

The lines are so fluent that they come out in one breath; you must have recited them countless times.

The woman's face showed a conflicted, contradictory, and painful expression; she was actually wavering.

Jingjing grabbed her hand and pleaded, "Mom, don't listen to him. Dad said the same thing when he beat you so badly you ended up in the hospital..."

Qian Lao Er continued to cry: "A Yun, I promise I'll make this happen with you. Where will you go after the divorce? How will you support Jing Jing on your own? What will people outside think of you and talk about you? What man would dare to want you? I promise I'll never hit you again... Ah!"

Jiang Chi suddenly increased the pressure on his foot, causing Qian Lao Er's back to bend, and a cold, Hades-like voice came from above: "If you can't speak properly, then shut up."

Even though he couldn't see what was happening inside, Leo, who had a considerable amount of internet slang and was sticking to the front lines of surfing with his dad, shouted anxiously from outside the room: "Auntie, don't listen to what he's saying, he's harassing you!"

"It's pua!"

Teng Yi turned around and told the children to wait in the alley and leave it to the adults to handle.

Xiao Qing held Xiao Tian in her arms and stood up for Jing Jing, saying, "That Qian Xiao San is nothing like a father! My dad has never scolded me."

Lei Bao: "I don't think my dad ever hit me... because it was always my mom who did it."

Leo, with the air of a little adult, said solemnly, "No wonder I felt he wasn't a good person the first time I saw him."

Changchang: "..."

Leo, think about it again. Are you sure you don't just think he's honest...?

Lei Bao: "Hey, where's Chao Chao?"

The child looked up and down, and finally spotted the tiny figure inside the house.

Chaochao was squatting in the corner in front of the dog, and she wasn't even as tall as the dog sitting down. Because she was used to being abused by men, the dog shrank back into the corner, its eyes watching her cautiously and warily.

"Can I touch you?"

Chaochao carefully sought its consent.

The system felt a tingling, numb sensation spread throughout the host.

It tastes sour and salty.

It turned out it was crying.

Touching you is not her excuse to come in.

It is what my child truly desires.

The dog tilted its head, seemingly considering whether it could trust the human in front of it. Chaochao thought it would take a long time, but to her surprise, a second later, the dog's head obediently rubbed against the child's soft palm.

With her eyes crinkled into crescents, Chaochao carefully avoided the wounds in the fur with her delicate white fingers and gently stroked the dog's head.

If Qian Lao Er had opened the door then, and the camera had zoomed in, you would have seen that the dog's nails had been pulled out and its teeth worn down, showing that it had no ability to maliciously harm anyone as the man claimed.

It took a lot of effort for Chaochao to untie the iron chain around its neck. He didn't know how long the chain had been on, but the skin around the dog's neck was necrotic and turned a dark purple.

Chaochao untied the pale yellow ribbon from her little bun.

This was styled by the PD after her afternoon nap. She even tied two ribbons on it, and Chaochao really liked it.

but.

The little dumpling loosely tied the yellow ribbon around the dog's neck, covering the scar.

"Now you have a scarf!"

"It's so special!"

The dog whimpered and nuzzled up to lick Chaochao's cheek.

Inside the room.

Hao Guoli sighed: "Girl, if you have any difficulties, you can tell us, and we will do our best to help you."

Jingjing's mother, though only in her thirties, already had prematurely gray hair, a sallow complexion, and deep wrinkles. Old, dark scars clung to her lips and behind her ears. This weary woman took a deep breath and spoke with difficulty:

"You...go ahead, I won't call the police..."

"Women...ultimately, must return to the family...and children cannot be without a father..."

The man on the ground looked pleased.

Jingjing's thin face was deathly pale, and her large, protruding eyes were filled with tears. "Mommy... I don't want to, I don't want to, Daddy will really beat us to death..."

She finally mustered up the courage to say it...

This is her only chance...

Dad will never repent!

Why does Mom still believe him...?

"..."

The people present were at a loss for words. Should they criticize a woman who was born and raised in an ancient mountain village and had toiled for most of her life, saying that her thinking was so ignorant and backward?

Ultimately, they are just passersby in the village. The simple and generous mountains that tourists admire may be a shackle that the people in the mountains can never escape in their entire lives.

A mocking sneer stood out starkly in the silence.

Hearing the voice, Jingjing's mother looked up and saw the most handsome young man in the crowd speak coldly:

"Do you love your daughter more or yourself?"

"Or rather, which is more important, your reputation or your and your daughter's lives?"