Chapter 185 Deadly Strike
Lin Baozhu's rapid-fire questioning was like a knife, each sentence drawing blood! The faces of the Li family's captain and the others turned pale and then red, looking as if they had swallowed flies!
The onlookers erupted in uproar upon hearing this!
"Good heavens! So there's more to this story! Her own aunt sold her niece into a ghost marriage?! Her heart is utterly black! A labor camp sentence would be too lenient!"
"Exactly! They want the person who was almost killed to raise the murderer's child? This captain must have been kicked in the head eight times by a donkey!"
"Yes, yes, yes! It's all over town! That old widower has been sentenced to death! He'll be executed in a couple of days!"
Hearing the overwhelming accusations and scorn around him, the head of the Li family village brigade lost face and roared, his voice trembling with fear, "You're an outsider, it's none of your business to interfere in the affairs of Li family village!"
"She's not an outsider!"
Li Dani suddenly stepped in front of Lin Baozhu, straightened her thin back, and spoke in a voice that was tinged with tears but unusually loud:
"She's my cousin Lin Baozhu! If it weren't for her and my third cousin, I'd be nailed to a coffin and buried alive with the dead! If it weren't for Sister Baozhu giving me money to save my life, Erni and I would have lost our mother long ago!!"
Before she could finish speaking, Li Dani collapsed to her knees with a thud!
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
She kowtowed three times to the brigade leader! Her forehead instantly turned bruised and even bled!
"Captain! Please, have mercy! Don't send Li Yaozu to our family!" She raised her tear-streaked face, her voice piercing:
"He...he's not my brother at all! He's the King of Hell! He beats me and Erni all the time! Just because I was a little late cooking, he poked me with a red-hot stick! Look at that!!"
She suddenly rolled up her sleeves and then her trouser legs!
Her thin, exposed arms and calves were covered with a mix of old and new scars! Burn marks resembled twisted centipedes, while scratches crisscrossed the area! It was a shocking sight!
"Hiss—!" A collective gasp filled the air inside and outside the ward!
"My God! Such a young child, with so many injuries..."
"Poking people with a red-hot stick?! This isn't a child; it's a wolf cub in human skin!"
"Who would dare to raise such a menace? Who knows, one day they might be in a bad mood and send the whole family away with a bag of rat poison!"
If the captain had previously tried to use kinship and blood ties to intimidate people, then Li Dani's tearful accusations and shocking scars were the sharpest and most indefensible weapons! They instantly silenced everyone!
The captain looked at Li Dani, who was kneeling on the ground, covered in wounds and crying her heart out. His lips trembled, and after a long while, he managed to squeeze out a dry sentence:
"He...he is at least..."
Li Dani cried out, "He's not him! He's a death knell! If my sister and I hadn't been lucky, they would have beaten us to death long ago! Please, Captain! Give us a way out!!"
Standing behind Li Dani, Lin Baozhu watched the astonishing courage and wisdom that this frail girl displayed. A trace of pity flashed in her eyes, which then turned into a cold sharpness and... a hint of barely perceptible admiration.
This kneeling, these scars all over his body...
It was a game-winning shot!
This not only completely cut off Li Yaozu's path of parasitizing Li Xiaoxian's family, but also thoroughly humiliated the group of people in Lijiazhuang who were trying to morally blackmail him!
Just as this oppressive silence was about to be broken—
"You worthless wretch! I'll beat you to death!!"
A short figure, like a rabid little dog, suddenly burst out from the crowd, waving its small fists and lunging at Li Dani, who was kneeling on the ground, shouting and cursing.
"Letting my second uncle take care of me is doing them a favor! Don't be ungrateful! Treat me to good food and drink! Otherwise, you'll be sorry!!"
Lin Baozhu reacted swiftly, extending her arm and pincers firmly against Li Yaozu's forehead! No matter how much he flailed and bared his teeth, he couldn't advance an inch! Her icy gaze, like a sharp blade, swept over everyone in Li Family Village:
"Now—do you still want to persuade my aunt and uncle to raise this 'wolf cub'?!"
Captain Li felt as if he had been slapped hard across the face several times, the pain burning! Before coming, he had repeatedly instructed Li Yaozu to act pitiful and gain sympathy! But...
What an idiot! A complete and utterly useless idiot!
After this incident, even if Li Xiaoxian still had a sliver of soft-heartedness, he would never dare to keep this "time bomb" by his side!
"Xiao Xian..."
Suppressing his surging anger, Captain Li's voice was dry and hoarse, his words laced with threat: "Since you're so determined not to raise Yaozu... then this child will have to rely on himself from now on! The village is poor, conditions are bad, if he gets hurt or something happens to him... don't blame us for not taking good care of him!"
When Li Xiaoxian saw the undisguised resentment and hatred in Li Yaozu's eyes, the last bit of family affection in her heart instantly vanished!
He clenched his fists, his voice almost squeezed out between his teeth: "Don't worry, Captain! His life or death has nothing to do with the second branch of the Li family! We won't take a single penny of the rations and work points left by my mother, my elder brother, and my sister-in-law; we'll give them all to Li Yaozu! That's enough for him to live on for several years!"
boom--
These words were like pouring cold water into boiling oil! The eyes of the people from Li Family Village instantly turned into those of hungry wolves seeing blood, their greed practically spitting out!
Li Yaozu is too young to hold onto so much grain! If... we could "take" this child home... not only would we have a young boy to work for free, but all the "family fortune" left by Li Da's family would also become ours!
As for this kid's bad temper? Once he's under our roof, we're not afraid to teach him a lesson. A few good beatings will make even the toughest bone give in! If he still doesn't listen, we'll just tie him up and send him to his parents' farm!
In the end, the people from Lijiazhuang, like defeated roosters, dragged Li Yaozu, who was still cursing and kicking, and slunk away from the ward amidst the scornful boos of the crowd.
The ward finally returned to calm. The crowd of onlookers dispersed, leaving only Lin Baozhu, Li Dani, Li Xiaoxian, and Guo Rongrong on the hospital bed.
Li Xiaoxian rubbed her face vigorously, finally forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace: "Baozhu... your aunt is having surgery tomorrow. Da Ni and Er Ni... I'll have to trouble you to look after them for a few more days, until your aunt is discharged from the hospital..."
"Uncle-in-law, we're family, no need for formalities!"
Lin Baozhu abruptly interrupted him, took a can of malted milk powder from her net bag, and deftly scooped it into an enamel mug: "I came today for two reasons, firstly, to bring some nourishing food for my aunt, and secondly..."
She put down her spoon and looked intently at Li Xiaoxian:
“Don’t you have connections at the supply and marketing cooperative? My mother and Dani made some hair clip samples at home. If you could help us get even a small order from the cooperative, that hair clip business would be great…”
Lin Baozhu leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice, saying, "In our Da Geba Village, your family will have the 'power of speech'! Whether you want to settle down permanently in the village or just settle down temporarily, I guarantee no one will dare to gossip!"
Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoxian's eyes flickered, and his heart pounded. Hair ornaments? He'd seen the hair ornaments sold at the supply and marketing cooperative; they were all pretty much the same… If they weren't made well, even if he knew someone, they might not be willing to buy them…
"Where is the hair accessory...?" he asked hesitantly, his tone tinged with despair.
Upon hearing this, Li Dani immediately opened the cloth bag containing the samples.
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