The descent was quick; holding an umbrella in one hand and carrying Anman in the other, Gu Tingxiao brought Anman back to the persimmon tree in no time.
"I'm home."
Gu Tingxiao gently patted the child's thin back, then put her down.
"Thank you for the fruit."
Watching An Man walk away step by step, still glancing back at him, Gu Tingxiao's heart softened. He took out a small green fruit from his pocket and gestured to her, expressing his gratitude for her generosity once again.
An Man blinked her beautiful big eyes again, then turned her head and slowly walked back.
For some reason, looking at the little guy's small back, Gu Tingxiao felt a pang of heartache.
I wonder if that fat woman really won't give her food today.
Before Gu Tingxiao had gone far, the fat woman's sharp and shrill voice came again from the doorway opposite the persimmon tree.
"Are you trying to die? Let me tell you, giving you a bite to eat is the best thing I can do for you, don't be ungrateful!"
"I said you're not allowed to eat today, and you'd rather starve than eat!"
I don't know when, but the neighbor who had built a stone wall next to the persimmon tree came over.
“Dazhuang’s mother, An’an is still young. You can’t hit her like that. What if you hurt her? Your Dazhuang will marry her in the future.”
The first half of the sentence sounded like a well-intentioned remark, but the second half was full of sarcasm.
The only sounds in the room were the fat woman hitting and scolding the child.
Gu Tingxiao's handsome brows furrowed. What did that mean?
The neighbor next door was also a middle-aged woman, and there were guests at her home.
Seeing the guests looking equally curious, he started talking loudly about the gossip surrounding his neighbor.
It turns out the child who was beaten was not the family's biological child.
They have a twelve-year-old mentally challenged son who drools all day long, and they've got this little girl from somewhere and are raising her at home.
He told the public that he had adopted the child out of kindness.
In fact, everyone in the village knew that the lawyer's mother only wanted to raise the child to be her son, Dazhuang, as a child bride because he thought the child was good-looking.
Otherwise, given the state of her son Dazhuang, even if she were to prepare 500,000 yuan to give to the woman later, probably no one would agree.
Because his son, Dazhuang, is not only mentally challenged, but also likes to hit people without restraint. He is also ruthless and can beat his parents when he is unhappy.
Who could bear this? Even if it meant selling their daughter, no one would want to trade their own daughter's life for it.
The neighbors chatted amongst themselves while listening intently to the sounds of Dazhuang and his friends beating the child.
Finally, she added with a touch of pity, "Poor little An'an, I don't even know if she'll survive to adulthood if Da Zhuang's mother continues like this."
This whole family is acting like they're sick.
If you're going to raise a daughter, then raise her well. Sons are no longer a force to be reckoned with. If you have a daughter, raise her as your own. After all, a daughter born of birth is not as close as one raised by her parents. So, how could a daughter mistreat her parents when she grows up?
A perfectly healthy child has been abused to the point that he can no longer speak.
"What did you say?"
Unbeknownst to him, Gu Tingxiao had already reached the stone wall again. When he heard his neighbor say the last sentence, his expression turned quite grim.
Following Dazhuang's mother, the next-door neighbor was also successfully frightened by Gu Tingxiao, but not because she mistook Gu Tingxiao for a ghost messenger, but because of Gu Tingxiao's sudden voice.
"What did the young man ask?"
The neighbor, who had just calmed down and was about to get angry, saw Gu Tingxiao's handsome face and his expensive-looking clothes.
His expression immediately changed.
"You just said that the last thing you said, that the child being beaten wasn't their biological child and had been abused for a long time?"
Gu Tingxiao looks just like those wealthy bosses in TV dramas, and he exudes even more authority when he has a stern face.
This imposing presence made the gossipy neighbor, who had originally intended to exchange a few polite words with Gu Tingxiao, involuntarily swallow hard.
Goodness, that's scary.
Why...why are you asking this?
She was just chatting in her own yard; she didn't cause any trouble, did she?
Gu Tingxiao took out a wallet from his pocket, pulled out a stack of red RMB notes, and placed them on the stone wall.
"Answer my question, and all of this is yours."
Good heavens, I'm rich!
The neighbor never expected to earn such a large sum of money while staying at home on Qingming Festival.
She doesn't even need to lift a finger; she only needs to say a few words.
How could she possibly miss out on such a good opportunity?
Of course, I will speak freely about anything I know.
She rattled off everything she knew.
"...I've said everything I needed to say, about the money..."
The neighbor rubbed his hands together, his eyes practically glued to the stack of money.
"It's yours."
This amount of money was nothing to Gu Tingxiao, but it didn't stop him from spending it to get news that made him extremely uncomfortable.
The neighbor, smugly counting his money, wondered to himself where this rich man came from, while keeping an eye on him out of the corner of his eye.
Then she saw this rich man walk straight to Dazhuang's house.
Dazhuang's mother had already vented her anger, so she had Xiaoxiao Anman stand in the corner holding a bowl while she sat on a stool and drank tea.
The room was cluttered and messy, with junk and dust everywhere.
Gu Tingxiao glanced at it once and then looked away.
He walked straight to the corner of the wall.
He took the bowl that Xiao Anman was holding above his head down and then hugged Xiao Anman directly in his arms.
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