Chapter 112
Jiaojiao had just taken two steps forward with her short legs when she was picked up.
Li Yubai held Jiaojiao in his arms and strode forward. When Zhou Daqiang swung the carrying pole again, he reached out and grabbed it.
Zhou Daqiang, who hadn't heard Jiaojiao's shout before, was startled by the sudden appearance of the hand and then glared at it angrily.
Li Yubai looked straight into his eyes. There was no emotion in his dark and deep eyes, but it inexplicably made Zhou Daqiang want to retreat. His hand holding the carrying pole loosened, and Li Yubai easily pulled the pole out of his hand and threw it aside.
The sound of the carrying pole falling to the ground startled Zhou Daqiang back to his senses. Thinking that he had been scared by such a young man before, he immediately became angry and opened his mouth to curse, but just as he was about to say something, he suddenly thought of something, turned around and strode into the house.
Regarding Zhou Daqiang's sudden action, netizens in the live broadcast room were puzzled and felt that the old man who hit others must have been holding his fart.
Sure enough, not long after Zhou Daqiang went in, he rushed out. When he saw Li Yubai, he raised his finger and pointed at him, his face full of rage, and shouted in a smokey voice: "My money is gone! The 100,000 yuan I left under the table in the living room is gone. Did you take it?"
"Someone's here! Someone from another village is stealing! They snuck into my house while I was away, stole my coffin book, and beat up my grandson!"
"One hundred thousand yuan! That's the hard-earned money of our family of three. You don't want us to live anymore!"
"You black-hearted thief struck by lightning, you shall not die a good death!"
"Someone come quickly! We've caught a thief!"
The heart-wrenching roar echoed far away.
It was around five o'clock, when the villagers were cooking and chatting at home. When they heard the noise, they dropped the spatulas and brooms in their hands and ran over to watch the fun.
After the villagers who were gathered at the door watching the excitement heard Zhou Daqiang's shouts clearly, their surprised and suspicious eyes fell on Li Yubai who was standing in the yard.
Li Yubai ignored Zhou Daqiang's obvious frame-up and the gazes cast at him. He just raised his hand and pressed Jiaojiao's head into his arms, fearing that Zhou Daqiang's ferocious and angry look would scare him.
After hearing his grandfather's words, Zhou Yi got up from the ground and took a step forward anxiously to say something. Unexpectedly, before he opened his mouth, his vision went dark and he fell forward uncontrollably.
Li Yubai noticed his abnormality and quickly reached out to grab the back of his collar, but he didn't expect that Zhou Yi's clothes were too rotten and could not withstand the pulling.
With a "hiss" sound, the clothes on Zhou Yi's back were torn off in one piece, and Zhou Yi himself fell to the ground again with his face on the ground.
Li Yubai: “…”
There was a dead silence at the scene...even the noisy comments in the live broadcast room went blank.
Finally, it was Jiaojiao's tender cry that broke the silence.
"You're talking nonsense! Dad didn't steal your money, and neither did Jiaojiao!"
Zhou Daqiang's voice was so loud that even though Jiaojiao was held in her father's arms, she could still hear his words clearly. She knew inexplicably that stealing was not a good thing, so she retorted angrily.
He was still angry and was shaking his little head, trying to get out of his father's arms and curse the bad guy who beat his brother Zhou Yi and said that his father stole money.
Li Yubai touched the back of his round head and didn't let go to let him out. The injuries on Zhou Yi's body were really too horrific, and he was afraid that Jiaojiao would be scared when she saw them.
Yes...horrifying...
The exposed wounds on Zhou Yi's back and the scars that were still obvious after years of wear and tear were truly horrifying.
Even though the villagers in Changli Village all knew that Zhou Daqiang would take it out on Zhou Yi whenever he was upset, and even though they knew that Zhou Yi was beaten lightly every two days and severely every three days, they still couldn't help but gasp when they suddenly saw the scars on Zhou Yi's body.
This was also the reason for the previous dead silence.
Zhou Yi was very thin, so thin that his bones were clearly visible. The skin and flesh on his bony back were bruised and swollen like a steamed bun. One could even clearly see that the wound, which had not been treated at all, had already shown signs of suppuration.
His back was so swollen that it looked deformed on his extremely thin body.
In addition to those fresh wounds, many scars that had long since healed, leaving only traces, could be seen on the swollen back. Among these scars were knife scars, scars caused by unknown burns, and many fine and dense scars with no apparent cause.
These scars are densely packed together, giving people a shocking feeling.
These are just the scars on his back. It is hard to imagine whether there are more horrifying scars elsewhere on this young man's body.
The scars on his body are no less common than those on prisoners who have been imprisoned and tortured in ancient times.
Zhou Yi fell to the ground and was unconscious for a long time before he came to his senses. When he looked up, he saw the pitying eyes of the people around him. He realized something and raised his hand to touch his back. When he found that his entire back was exposed to everyone's sight, his face immediately felt hot and his whole face was burning.
He bit his lip in embarrassment and covered the wound on his back with his backhand, not caring about the pain when pressing the wound, just trying to cover his exposed back.
Zhou Yi had always hated the pity and sympathy in other people's eyes. These pitying looks seemed to drag out the last bit of self-esteem he had hidden from the depths of his heart and expose it to the sun.
Compared to those sympathies, he hated exposing his injuries in front of others even more, because such an action was like openly begging for sympathy from others, which made him feel extremely embarrassed.
Just when Zhou Yi was feeling embarrassed, a white shirt fell on his back, covering the scar that he didn't want to expose.
"Feel sorry!"
Li Yubai took off his clothes and covered him with them, and his usually emotionless tone now contained a hint of apology.
He didn't expect that his hand would tear Zhou Yi's clothes, and because of his lack of emotion, he didn't react immediately to cover Zhou Yi's embarrassing scars.
"No, it's okay." Zhou Yi lowered his head and tightly grasped his clothes. His eyes were numb and empty. His voice was trembling and very low, like a breath: "It's not your fault, no need to apologize..."
Jiaojiao, who was put down by her father, saw Zhou Yi's appearance and thought he was very cold, so she imitated her father and pulled the hem of her clothes up.
Li Yubai pressed his hand in time and pulled down his lifted clothes to cover his exposed white belly.
Jiaojiao, who was not allowed to take off her clothes by her father, blinked and looked up at him in confusion: "Dad?"
Li Yubai touched his head and said, "Children will get sick if they take off their clothes."
Jiaojiao nodded to show that she understood.
Jiaojiao, who couldn't take off her clothes, looked at Zhou Yi. After thinking for a while, she tilted her head and walked forward with her short legs. She opened her arms as hard as she could and gave Zhou Yi, who was squatting on the ground, an awkward hug: "Brother Zhou Yi, you won't be cold like this."
On the way here, Jiaojiao and Zhou Yi exchanged names, and thus she changed from brother to Zhou Yi's brother.
Zhou Yi, who was hugged by Jiaojiao, was not cold, and he was very dirty, covered with a lot of dust, grass debris and blood. He turned his head to tell Jiaojiao, but when he saw Jiaojiao's bright eyes with a little pride and seeking praise, he swallowed the words for some reason.
A faint warmth came from the small body beside him, and Zhou Yi's heart, which had been feeling cold and uncomfortable, seemed to feel a little better.
Zhou Daqiang, who was standing aside, didn't care about the injuries on Zhou Yi's body. He was still shouting that his money was stolen and asked the villagers to help him. He wanted to call the police, etc. His eyes were full of greed and stupidity.
Li Yubai stood up and took out his phone: "We really need to call the police!"
This man's series of actions and the scars on Zhou Yi's body all show that this was not just routine beating of a child, but abuse, and in serious cases it could even be considered attempted murder.
The carrying pole that just entered the room was obviously aimed at the back of Zhou Yi's head. You know, the back of the head is very fragile. If it really hit the back of the head with such strength, Zhou Yi might have died.
Zhou Daqiang was stunned by Li Yubai's words for a moment. When he found that there was no panic or anxiety on him, he felt a little panicked. Then he thought, this is his home, and he did come in when he was not there. So if something is missing, doesn't it have to be his decision whether he took it or not?
Thinking of this, Zhou Daqiang calmed down again: "Report it if you want. This 100,000 yuan is my hard-earned money. I must make you return it!"
Netizens who saw this scene in the live broadcast room were a little speechless.
"Doesn't this old man know there's a camera?"
"Won't he look up at these two things flying in the sky?"
"I understand. He was so obsessed with money that he couldn't think of anything else..."
"But this old man is really cruel, beating his own grandson like this!"
"This is so vicious! How can there be such a person in the world? I suggest that he be shot!"
"Looking at how good he is to his other grandson, I have a reasonable suspicion that this child is not his biological grandson!"
"Oh my god, the injuries on this child are making my scalp numb!"
'I don't know how he managed to survive!'
"What are the people in this village thinking? They don't do anything about a child being beaten like this!"
"It's normal. People in the countryside are like this. They think beating children is no big deal. There's a saying that goes, 'A good son is made under the stick!'"
"You know what, once Li Yubai takes off his clothes, his figure is so drool-worthy~"
"Slurp... This thin layer of muscle is so explosive! No wonder he was able to subdue three human traffickers on the subway by himself~"
"Pay attention, is this the time to be raving about your figure? Hurry up and start cursing!"
"What's the point of just scolding me? I've already dug his grave and am just waiting for him to lie down!"
"Zhou Daqiang, stop bragging. You are the only one who still has 100,000 yuan?" An old man named Zhou Laifu from the same village couldn't help but say.
As soon as he opened his mouth, the others all said, "Yeah, your family is barely making ends meet, and you're still asking for 100,000 yuan! Don't be ridiculous!"
"You can't blackmail them. We rely on them to help promote the village so we can make more money next year!"
"How could we not know what's going on in your family?"
"You lazy bastard don't make any money. Besides the money from your son's car accident and the money from the hospital he extorted from his daughter-in-law who died giving birth, you barely make ends meet by relying on Xiao Zhouyi to grow vegetables, farm, feed pigs and chickens, and weave bamboo baskets and small items to sell on the street."
"Shame on you, you still owe me 100,000. If you can come up with 1,000, I'll take your surname!"
Amidst the villagers' noisy exposés, Zhou Daqiang's face flushed with anger as he shouted, "None of your business! I say it's there, and it's there. He broke into my house today while I was away and either stole money or something valuable..."
"Grandpa." Zhou Yi stood up and trembled, "Yes, I invited them to come to my house to look after the pigs. They never entered the house..."
Before Zhou Yi could finish his words, Zhou Daqiang picked up the broom at the door and smashed it over, angrily saying, "What are you talking about, you little bastard!"
Li Yubai pulled Jiaojiao and Zhou Yi over and looked at Zhou Daqiang with a bad look.
Zhou Daqiang was furious at the thought of losing 100,000 yuan. He searched around for a while, then walked over to the side, picked up his hoe, and strode over: "You little bastard, you're talking nonsense. I'll beat you to death!"
Faced with the furious Zhou Daqiang, Zhou Yi, who was trembling with fear all over, hurriedly took two steps back and fell to the ground without standing firmly. He almost instinctively hugged his head, arched his back and buried his head between his legs, enduring the subsequent beating in this posture.
However, the pain did not come as expected. Zhou Yi, holding his head, quietly raised his head and found a small figure standing in front of him, with his arms open to protect him behind him. The figure was not even as tall as a human leg.
And in front of that figure, there was a taller figure blocking the small figure.
"I'm beating my own child, why are you, an outsider, interfering?" Zhou Daqiang howled, his face distorted in pain as Li Yubai pinched his wrist.
Li Yubai took the hoe from his hand and threw it aside, saying in a flat tone: "What you are doing is not beating me, this is abuse, which is illegal. As a citizen, I have the obligation to stop this crime!"
"Bad guy!" Jiaojiao, who heard her father's words, poked her little head out from behind her father's legs and said angrily.
Zhou Daqiang glared at her, and Jiaojiao hid behind her father timidly again.
Seeing this, Zhou Daqiang snorted and struggled to pull his hand back. "I, Zhou Daqiang, wasn't scared! What's the point of saying abuse? It's against the law. It's perfectly natural for adults to hit children. Go around the world and you'll see which adults don't hit their children. I advise you to stay out of other people's business!"
Li Yubai looked at him coldly: "Whether it's illegal or not, you'll know when the police come!"
"It's just the police station, it's not like I've been there before. In a few days, I'll come out and beat him to death!"
"According to our country's law on the protection of minors, if the abuse is severe, the guardian's custody rights will be revoked!"
"Who dares?" Zhou Daqiang's eyes flashed with ruthlessness. "If anyone dares to deprive me of my custody rights, I will smash my head against the court door and kill myself. Let the whole world see how you force an old man like me to death!"
Li Yubai looked at his facial features and suddenly said, "Zhou Yi is not your grandson!"
A trace of imperceptible panic flashed across Zhou Daqiang's eyes, and then he loudly retorted: "Zhou Yi is the grandson of my Zhou family. It's an ironclad fact. My eldest son and daughter-in-law were killed by him. What nonsense are you talking about!"
Li Yubai turned his head to look at Zhou Yaozu, who was standing not far away and shouting for Zhou Yi to be killed, then looked back at Zhou Daqiang: "Really? You two both have flat noses, but Zhou Yi's nose is very straight. Also, your eyes are very small, but Zhou Yi's are quite large. Your eyebrows, eyes, mouth, nose, facial features, and even height are not similar at all. It's hard to believe that you are closely related."
The villagers gathered at the door, looking at Zhou Daqiang and Zhou Yi bit by bit as Li Yubai spoke, and discovered that Zhou Yi really didn't look like a member of the Zhou family at all.
The younger ones may not have seen Zhou Daquan and his wife, but the older ones have.
Zhou Daqiang's two sons look very similar to him, with flat noses and small eyes, and not very tall. The wives they married also have flat noses and small eyes. How could such two people give birth to a son with such handsome features as Zhou Yi?
The whispers of the surrounding villagers made Zhou Daqiang's face darken.
Li Yubai reached out and picked up two strands of hair from Zhou Daqiang's shoulder. He said nonchalantly, "Although a paternity test can't be done between a grandfather and his grandson, a paternity test can be done. To prevent you from feeling sad and hurt because Zhou Yi doesn't look like your son, I'll do a rare good deed and pay for a paternity test for you."
As soon as these words were spoken, Zhou Daqiang's face showed obvious panic. He reached out to grab the hair in Li Yubai's hand, but Li Yubai successfully avoided him.
The police who arrived just in time learned about the situation from the villagers, looked at Zhou Yi whose face was covered in blood, walked forward with pity, and a hint of anger flashed in his eyes when he fell on Zhou Daqiang.
A few minutes later, when Zhou Daqiang was taken away by the police, he looked viciously at Jiaojiao behind Li Yubai and warned him in a bad tone, "Boy, you'd better not meddle in other people's business, so as not to bring disaster to your family. Zhou Yi is my grandson, Zhou Daqiang. I saw him born with my own eyes. You are a person with bad intentions and who meddles in other people's business. I curse you to have a rotten heart and lungs, and sores all over your body. Zhou Yi, if you dare to go for any identification, I will beat you to death when I come back..."
Although Jiaojiao, who was hiding behind her father's legs, didn't understand what was being said, she knew that he was scolding her father and brother Zhou Yi.
She immediately grabbed her father's trouser leg and stuck her head out, shouting angrily in a small voice: "Bad guy, Jiaojiao draws a circle to curse you to have bad luck, very bad luck!"
The netizens who saw this scene in the live broadcast room breathed a sigh of relief and laughed uncontrollably, but they didn't know that it was not just a casual remark by an ordinary child.
Li Yubai, who also didn't know what the consequences of Jiaojiao's words would be, took out a wet wipe from Jiaojiao's pocket and wiped her hands repeatedly, then picked Jiaojiao up and said, "Who did you learn that from?"
"I learned it from Sister Yaoyao." Jiaojiao said obediently with her pair of dark eyes open.
Every time Cao Yuhao pulled Lou Yaoyao's hair or teased her, Lou Yaoyao would say this, and Jiaojiao next to her learned it.
Li Yubai touched Jiaojiao's head and looked at Zhou Yi beside him: "I'll take you to the hospital."
Zhou Yi came back to his senses and waved his hands hurriedly: "No, no, I don't need to go to the hospital. These injuries will heal soon."
He didn't want to go to the hospital, not only because he had no money, but he was also afraid of exposing the scars on his body to the doctor.
It was because Zhou Yi was unwilling to expose the scars that the police always thought that Zhou Daqiang just beat the child too frequently.
Li Yubai ignored him and said as he turned and walked out, "I'll pay for it, follow me."
Jiaojiao, lying in her father's arms, saw that Zhou Yi didn't move, so she raised her little paws and waved, her eyes like the starry sky slightly curved: "Brother Zhou Yi, follow me quickly."
That day, perhaps it was because the sunset was too gentle, or perhaps it was because the wind was too alluring, Zhou Yi, who had been clinging to his only remaining self-esteem, took a step forward and followed.
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