That day, Yao's father and mother were beaten again, their bodies covered in bruises and blood, kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy.
"Brother Li, please don't touch my son! He's an idiot, he doesn't know anything. Please don't hurt him."
Yao Congcong was tied to a chair with a smelly sock stuffed in his mouth. A thug stood next to him, playing with a butterfly knife in his hand.
Li the Cripple stubbed out his cigarette on Yao Dacheng's arm, twitched the corner of his mouth, and the scar on his face writhed menacingly.
"Still not planning to pay back the money today?"
Mr. Yao, on the verge of tears, explained, "No...it's not that I don't want to pay it back, I've said it so many times, the money was..."
Before he could finish speaking, Li the Cripple raised his chin at the thug, and Yao Congcong let out a scream.
One of his fingers was cut off.
"Congcong..." the two roared.
Li the Cripple kicked each of them to the ground: "You took two hundred thousand from me, so I'll chop off twenty of your son's fingers. That's not too much to ask, is it? Hands and feet together are just enough."
Li the Cripple knew that Yao Congcong was the apple of the couple's eye, so he specifically targeted him.
"No, don't..."
Yao's parents tried to rush over to protect their son, but were held down tightly by the two thugs.
They could only watch helplessly as their son's fingers were cut off one by one, blood flowing everywhere.
Yao Congcong fainted from the pain, and then woke up from the pain again.
After cutting off the five fingers of his left hand, the thug was about to continue cutting off his right hand when Li the Cripple stopped him.
Just as Yao's parents breathed a sigh of relief, they saw him take the blood-stained butterfly knife from the thug and place it in Yao Congcong's crotch.
The two men's eyes widened in fury.
Li the Cripple said, "He's an idiot, this thing will probably never be of any use to him in his life, so I'll cut it off for him."
Mr. Yao broke down and cried out, “No…no…please, this is the only son in our Yao family, and we are counting on him to carry on the family line.”
Li the Cripple scoffed, "What nonsense! Does a big idiot give birth to a litter of little idiots? I think your ancestors would have preferred to have no descendants."
Seeing that the incense was about to go out, Yao's father gritted his teeth and roared, "I'll pay you back, double the amount, four hundred thousand!"
Li the Cripple moved the knife aside, his tone surprised: "Four hundred thousand?"
Mr. Yao was determined to go all out, and gritted his teeth.
“We are poor, but our biological daughter is a rich girl who eats delicacies and lives in a big villa. I’m going to ask her for money.”
"What if we don't want it?"
"Then let her be your wife."
Then, Yao's father told Li the Cripple the whole story of how the Yao and Xia families switched babies, emphasizing how rich the Xia family was.
Li the Cripple's eyes kept darting around; he thought, perhaps he could make a big profit.
Even if he doesn't make any money, the rich girls in the city are worth much more than Yao Wangdi. He wouldn't be at a loss if she were his wife.
Anyway, since Yao Dacheng had accepted his betrothal money, his daughter was now Li the Cripple's rightful wife.
Having made up his mind, Li the Cripple said, "Fine, I'll give you one more chance. But I'm going with you, and this idiot has to stay here."
"If you dare to play me for a fool, I'll have him chopped up and fed to the dogs."
Yao's father gritted his teeth and nodded: "Okay."
Since that damned girl isn't leaving them a way out, then they can't blame them for being ruthless.
Yao's father was still unwilling to give up, and he still harbored the idea of relying on Xia Mingyue to swallow up all of the Xia family's property in the future.
But there's no time to worry about that now, since my son is about to die.
Compared to my beloved son and the continuation of the Yao family line, all those things come second.
Li the Cripple instructed his underlings to keep a close eye on Yao Congcong, and then led Yao's parents on a cross-province journey to collect debts, or perhaps to win back his wife.
To verify the authenticity, he even found Xia Congwen's number on the school's official website and called it. He was relieved to hear Xia Congwen confirm his identity.
Xia Congwen was stunned by the word "father-in-law" and thought it was some idiot playing a prank. He cursed him as a lunatic and hung up.
The couple was overwhelmed by the video incident, and to prevent the situation from escalating further, they contacted the school to have the post deleted.
Then, another matter distracted them, causing them to temporarily put aside their thoughts of finding Xia Zhiyang and his sister.
The time has come for the National Youth Ballet Competition that Xia Mingyue has signed up for, and the venue is in this city.
The two put everything else aside and prepared to focus on accompanying her to the competition.
Xia Congwen said, "Let's wait until Mingyue finishes the competition before we talk about anything else. They've been gone for half a month already, so a day or two won't make a difference."
Lin Zhi hesitated for only a second before nodding: "Okay, I hope Mingyue can win the championship this time."
Xia Congwen said, "She definitely will. She has been dancing ballet for so many years, and every teacher says that her talent is unmatched."
The couple were more eager than ever for Xia Mingyue to win the championship in this competition, to show those who criticized them that their choice was right.
Xia Mingyue was determined to win the championship.
Although she successfully drove Xia Zhiyang and Yao Wangdi away, she could clearly sense that her parents were not as attentive to her as before.
My mother, in particular, often stares blankly at her phone, and even prepared a guest room for us.
Xia Mingyue knew that she was waiting for Xia Zhiyang to call and for him to bring Yao Wangdi back.
Xia Mingyue felt extremely resentful.
What's so great about that shameful idiot and that dark-skinned, ugly village girl?
Isn't having such an outstanding daughter enough?
In this ballet competition, she will use the championship trophy to tell them, to tell those who called her a fake—
Only Xia Mingyue is worthy of being the daughter of the Xia family.
No sooner had the Xia family of three left than Yao's parents arrived with Li the Cripple, only to find that they hadn't come to a stop.
After asking the security guard and learning that they had just left, the three of them found a small restaurant outside the community and waited for them to come.
The competition venue.
Xia Mingyue was quite well-known among the contestants and was a favorite to win the championship, so the organizers arranged for her to appear last.
The Xia Congwen couple sat in the audience. Lin Zhi watched the contestants perform one by one with a bored expression, while Xia Congwen looked around absentmindedly.
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened, and he felt that the profile of the boy in the seat to his side looked somewhat familiar.
Somewhat like... Xia Zhiyang?
The boy was dressed in a black tracksuit, his skin was dazzlingly white, and his profile and neck had a handsome and delicate line. He was talking to the beautiful woman next to him.
Xia Congwen dismissed his guess in less than a second, shaking his head self-deprecatingly.
How could Xia Zhiyang possibly come to an art competition like this? He's an idiot, what does he know about art?
He's probably out rummaging through trash cans on some street corner with Yao Wangdi right now!
Let him flip through them for now. Once Mingyue wins the championship, he'll consider whether to bring them back.
Finally, the second-to-last contestant on the list finished performing.
Xia Congwen and Lin Zhi stared intently at the stage; finally, it was Mingyue's turn.
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