Chapter 187
That day was sunny and bright, and many people had gathered on the threshing ground. Fang Zichen left no room for nicety or mercy in his words, turning He Huihui and Aunt He into the laughingstock of the village.
Some said they deserved it, while a few others felt what he said was a bit too harsh. No matter how wrong He Huihui and Aunt He were, they were still women. He, a man, spoke so venomously, leaving them not a shred of face—that really shouldn't have been done.
However, Fang Zichen didn't see anything wrong with it.
He considered himself good-tempered and easy to get along with. Aunt He had been spreading rumors about Zhao Ger everywhere before. That he didn't confront her on the spot was already a tacit way of giving her a chance.
If Aunt He had kept her mouth shut, he would have let bygones be bygones.
But if she continued...
If someone stabbed him and he didn't die, he would definitely stab them back twice.
Fang Zichen had originally planned to go to the He family to issue a warning. But just as he reached the threshing ground, he heard Aunt He's words.
At that moment, Fang Zichen couldn't hold back anymore. If he didn't shut Aunt He down right then and there, he would feel unworthy of the two kisses Zhao Ger gave him last night while comforting him.
After Fang Zichen finished speaking, He Huihui covered her face and ran away. Seeing her run towards the river, the situation seemed off, and someone quickly chased after her.
"Oh dear, someone come quick! Huihui has jumped into the river, someone come quick!"
The reason Xiaohe Village was called Xiaohe Village was precisely because it had many rivers. Logically, having grown up in such a place, the villagers should have been excellent swimmers. But oddly, not many people in the village knew how to swim.
[Xiaohe Village (小河村): little river]
In years past, people often drowned in the rivers, so when children were young, adults sternly warned them not to go near the riverbanks.
Generation after generation, as a result, fewer and fewer people knew how to swim.
Someone instinctively called out to Fang Zichen, wanting him to go rescue her. Fang Zichen looked ahead. The river wasn't far from the threshing ground. He Huihui had just stepped into the river when two men pulled her back.
She wouldn't die.
Fang Zichen turned and started to leave. The village chief, seeing He Huihui was safe, had two women help her back home, then caught up, stopped Fang Zichen, and apologized on Aunt He's behalf.
Fang Zichen did not accept. He closed his eyes. The blood vessels all over his body were throbbing, and his head felt like it was about to split open.
He had not been as calm as he appeared from start to finish. On the contrary, he had been restraining himself all along.
Starting from when He Huihui ran over and said 'My mother didn't mean it,' the violent rage rampaging through his blood could no longer be restrained.
If one had to ask what phrase Fang Zichen found most detestable, it was this one: 'didn't mean it.'
Some people seemed to think that by saying this phrase, all the mistakes they had made before, the words they had spoken, the things they had done, could be forgiven.
Fang Zichen had once told Zhao Ger that he used to swagger around his school, saying the reason was that his second brother was a top student. Actually, that wasn't the case.
The reason no one dared to provoke him boiled down to one fact: his surname was Fang.
Grandfather Fang had two sons. Fang's father was in business, and Fang's uncle was in politics. The old master was also a prominent figure in the military. The Fang family's power was immense, and no one dared to cross them.
When Fang's second brother was seven years old, he brought Fang Zichen home from outside. The child wasn't wearing any clothes, his umbilical cord hadn't even been cut, and he was filthy, covered in dust and some bloodstains. In big cities, sanitation was good; even the roads were clean. If one took off their clothes and rolled on the ground there, they would not get dirty. No mud could be found in the city—except perhaps in the suburbs or within greenbelts.
Fang's father and mother were shocked and asked Fang's second brother where the child came from.
Fang's second brother held Fang Zichen tightly. "I picked him out of a garbage bin. This is my brother, your little son!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he got a beating.
Fang's father reported it to the police, and Fang's second brother was taken by two officers to 'identify the scene.'
It was in a small alley not far, about three kilometers from the upscale villa district.
That area was University Road. Nearby were two prestigious universities and a few technical colleges. With many snack stalls and shops around, Fang's second brother would always sneak over there to play under the pretense of an evening run.
Security was good in the villa area. When he went for his evening runs, the nanny at home didn't follow him, so he would run over to University Road to eat and drink.
The nanny always said street food wasn't clean, but street food always smelled the best and tasted the most delicious. Fang's second brother sometimes would also go into small shops to slurp noodles.
Outside the shops, it was lively with neon lights and bustle. Behind the shops were some rental houses, quiet, with a few dim yellow street lamps casting a dead, silent light, as if separated into two worlds by that row of storefronts.
That day, he had eaten too much. The small shop didn't have a toilet, so a server took him to a public toilet in the alley. He always took a long time when using the toilet, so he told the server to go on ahead.
After about ten minutes, he finished, wiped, came out, and passed by a garbage bin. He couldn't help but look. If it had been in the villa area, he might have wanted to rummage through it. But this bin probably hadn't been washed in over a decade. It was black and grimy, and several nearby restaurants often threw rotten vegetables and bones into it. Summer heat caused the rotten vegetables to seep liquid; it stank horribly. Fang's second brother lost interest in rummaging through garbage and was about to turn and leave when a faint cry suddenly came from inside, like the weak mewling of a kitten.
Fang's second brother thought he'd misheard. He listened quietly for a moment, and two more weak cries came from inside. His eyes widened on the spot. Disregarding his disgust, he rushed to the bin, leaned over it, and looked inside. There was an infant lying on a white foam box.
Abandoning a child was illegal.
The police checked nearby surveillance footage and questioned nearby vendors, but found nothing, not even a single clue.
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