When they saw clearly, they found Dad standing sternly beside a middle-aged woman who was already lying on the ground, with a kitchen knife next to her. This frightened both of them.
"I want to kill you all, kill you cold-blooded beasts," suddenly a womanâs voice came closer.
The man on the ground didnât get up, but his mouth was busy, "Lin Guozhi, I want to kill you to avenge my parents."
Liang Hongmei and the children quickly stood beside Lin Guozhi, asking, "Whatâs going on?"
Lin Guozhi looked at the familiar face on the ground, over the years, although the face had aged slowly, he always remembered this person, "Someone from the Li Family."
Liang Hongmei and the children frowned upon hearing this, Lin Yinghui clenched his fist and without hesitation went up to punch that man a few times.
"Today, Iâll avenge my father first, just see if I donât beat you to death."
"Ah Hui, thatâs enough. This kind of person will be punished by the police," Lin Guozhiâs expression was calm, but Lin Wan noticed that Dadâs fist was tightly clenched at that moment.
Lin Wan quickly moved forward, silently grabbing Dadâs hand, Mom did the same.
Lin Guozhi looked at his daughter and then his wife, sighed deeply, and patted their hands, reassuring them. The family had just reached the entrance of the courtyard. Nearby people saw someone holding a knife to chop others. They all gathered around.
Seeing that the person being chopped was still the eldest of the Lin Family, they were all surprised. This Lin Familyâs eldest was now a divisional political commissar. After waking up, within a year, he directly parachuted into the position of a military political commissar.
Seeing that the person on the ground was a woman, of similar age, some started to wildly imagine, could it be that Lin Familyâs eldest secretly had a lover?
Lin Guozhi kicked the knife out of their sight with his foot and asked, "Did you mistake me for someone else? I donât even know you. Bold enough to wield a knife on the street, arenât you?"
"Lin Guozhi, you ruined my family, broke us apart... Unfilial child devoid of conscience... My parents were old and dragged to labor reform by you, they couldnât survive this winter. My good job was destroyed by you all. Now my family canât even afford enough food and is starving to death, itâs all you, you ruined us."
Lin Guozhi frowned upon hearing this.
"Unjust! Everyone come and see! Relying on skills, beating my husband like this, why doesnât heaven take such a person away," the manâs wife cried as she helped the injured man up, wanting to gain everyoneâs sympathy. By her side stood several children of varying ages, crying alongside her.
Among them were two roughly similar in age to their siblings.
"My parents took you in when you were a lost child, painstakingly raised you. Who wouldâve thought youâd be so ungrateful? Back then, the family scrimped to send you to college, but didnât live to see you repay, and you left to live freely without returning home. Now youâve found your biological parents. Forget not caring for your foster parentsâ family, you even harmed them. Saying we kidnapped you, do you have a conscience? How can you say that when your foster parents raised you for over a decade, you just left without a word, now coming back to harm our entire family."
"Comrade, you are the wicked one crying foul, clearly it was you who kidnapped our Guozhi. From childhood on, what life did he lead, should we spell it out?" "Who are you to talk? Didnât we raise him? Let him speak for himself if he has a conscience." "Saying without conscience, who truly knows the heart... Making a six-seven-year-old child do laundry and cook, he was just a child, having him do all the housework alone, not to mention the beatings and scolding, it was an old professor who couldnât stand seeing your parents abuse my Guozhi, making him drop out to serve you. Secretly taught Guozhi some knowledge, then he worked hard to get into college. When he was in university, my man didnât spend a penny of yours. Meanwhile, you stole his work, making him go to the countryside as a replacement for Li Familyâs son to support building efforts. You calling us heartless, did you forget what your Li Family did back then?"
"Oh my, kidnapping someoneâs child, thatâs truly heartless," elderly people within the courtyard knew Lin Familyâs eldest had gone missing. Those years, they saw Lin Familyâs two running across the country for the child, only to hear no news.
Unexpectedly, it turned out they took him, not just took him, let alone how he was beaten and scolded, he also served that family day in and day out as a child.
A good noble son, happiness snatched away by them.
"About Guozhi going missing, the whole courtyard knew. After Guozhi woke up, his family realized it was those ruthless ones who took the child. When Lin Familyâs second son took the police to arrest them, we heard too. Such people should be arrested and educated. Letting them roam free all these years."
"Yes, this family is just inhumane, was it easy for someone to go to college, stole his work, dodged government development and construction of national affairs, vile thinking, such people should have been re-educated long ago."
"Quickly call the police, arrest this vicious woman. Daring to wield a knife to kill at the military district courtyard entrance, if put into society, wouldnât they cause even more harm?"
"Yes, yes, Iâll make the call."
"Thank you, Auntie," Lin Wan looked at the warm-hearted people, quickly thanked them. This increased the goodwill people had towards the Lin Family.
Their words were even more trusted by people around.
"You... Why arrest me, Iâm not wrong, heâs the one at fault, abusing power to ruin my career. Causes my parents to become ill during reform, both die, our family raised him for over a decade, heâs ungrateful and wants to ruin his foster family to destruction."
"Abusing power? Family ruin? Costing you your job? Repeat that?" Lin Guozhi, although not involved, heard roughly some things from his second brother.
"Your parents back then deceived my family, tricked me to take me away, resulting in separation from my family most of my life. They started beating and scolding me since age six in that hellish home for ten years. At the age of five or six, clearly able to remember, yet because of constant beatings my brain was jumbled, unable to recall past events. If I hadnât smartened up later, Iâd have been beaten to death long ago. Now, sparing them from execution, just labor reform is already the greatest mercy for them. They couldnât bear it, not anyone elseâs fault." Lin Guozhi didnât want to bring up the past, especially those years at the Li Family. Those were scars he had, for a long time he desperately wished to escape that family.
No one knew how helpless he felt, a child a few years old, using cold water to wash clothes on a snowy, freezing day.
No one knew how, when he constantly drank water to quell hunger, he longed for someone to take him away.
So much helplessness and grievance, even his Nannan he never mentioned it to, let alone his parents.
Reflecting on the past, Lin Guozhi suddenly felt those two died too easily.
"Li Yongfang, back when I was eleven or twelve, you wanted to kick me out, every day bringing your gang to beat me at the door. Beating me till one time I fainted in a small alley overnight. If my luck wasnât strong, Iâd have been dead long ago. Now youâre telling me about family ruin? Are you worthy?"
"Er Danzi. I was wrong back then, but now arenât you fine? Just some petty squabble between brothers, why hold such a grudge? Canât you talk it out, why imprison the parents? No matter their fault, theyâre still your foster parents. You must be in high position now, found your biological parents, and want to shake off us poor relatives, huh. Unexpectedly, a distinguished military officer like you did such heartless, unrighteous acts. Everyone, donât be deceived by him, when he was little, he had this appearance of good-heartedness, always seeking othersâ sympathy."
Li Yongfangâs wife seeing her husband finish talking sat on the ground, slapping her thighs and crying, "Oh, how cursed our life is. Shameless!"
Among Li Yongfangâs family, a young man looking foolish rushed at Lin Guozhi after seeing Li Yongfangâs wifeâs state, yelling, "Son of a bitch, kid, if youâve got the guts, kill me, kill me already..." Saying so, he bumped against Lin Guozhi.
Lin Guozhi impatiently pushed him away.
Unexpectedly, he pretended to fall heavily to the ground, then he started rolling his eyes and foaming at the mouth.
For a moment, people gathered around were all surprised, stepping forward to check.
Only to see Lin Guozhi protect his wife and daughter with both hands, lift his foot, and stomp hard on the manâs hand.