Band members, girls with fermented bean curd, step forward!

Page 38

"what?!"

After being punched to the ground by Chen, Xiang's father regained some of his senses. Due to the alcohol, his steps were unsteady, which is why Chen knocked him to the ground so easily.

He shook his head to clear his mind.

"Ha, Xiangzi, you've really gotten yourself into trouble! You actually found some wild man to help you out!"

Xiangzi outside the door seemed not to hear his scolding, but just stared blankly at the sky outside the corridor.

"Fine, very well, let me meet your wild man and see what he's really capable of!"

Xiang's father swayed as he stood up. Although the alcohol made him less agile, it also suppressed his pain sensation to some extent.

He grabbed the empty beer bottle he had set aside and threw it hard at the kid who had barged into his house and punched him in the face.

Chen dodged the glass bottle he was thrown by sidestepping, and the sound of the bottle shattering clearly reached Xiangzi's ears as he leaned against the door.

She shouted inside, begging the two to stop, but no one responded.

"You scum, it seems I didn't hit you hard enough."

Having dodged the beer bottle, Chen glanced at Xiang's father, who was picking up another empty bottle that had rolled to the ground, and knew that a fierce battle was inevitable today.

He dodged the thrown glass bottle again and charged towards another pile of ammunition.

It felt pretty good; a surge of madness welled up inside him as he got the weapon.

In the original world, he was a model child who had never been involved in a fight.

"Me, a scumbag? Hahahaha, you're right! So what?"

A twisted smile played on Xiang's father's face as he brandished his weapon.

"Xiangzi is my daughter! This is what she should do! As for you, what are you?! Who have the right to interfere in my family affairs!"

The two men faced off, both knowing the fight wouldn't end until one of them fell.

Chen, whose reflexes were slightly quicker than his opponent's, narrowly dodged the bottle Xiang's father swung at him and smashed his own bottle hard over the man's head.

"How was it, Old Deng? Did you enjoy it?" Chen mocked Old Deng, whose head he had just cracked open.

He wiped the blood from his head; the shards of glass still clinging to his scalp caused him excruciating pain.

There weren't many bottles left, so Xiangzi would sell the bottles his father had finished drinking from, leaving both sides with only one ammunition.

Xiang's father rushed over, his arm incredibly strong, and tightly gripped Chen's already injured right hand.

He gripped tightly and launched this sure-fire attack.

What should have been two sounds of bottles shattering rang out almost simultaneously.

They smashed their bottles over each other's heads, neither holding back.

A crimson stain also appeared on Chen's head. He endured the dizziness and delivered the fatal blow to the old man.

"Ow!"

A chilling scream emanated from the small rented room. In the darkness, stood the victor, Chen.

Damn it, that old Deng really went all out.

Feeling the pain in his head, he revealed a cruel smile.

That's right, he attacked Old Deng's lower body.

Old Deng gripped his hand to ensure his attack wouldn't miss.

This allowed Chen to fully anticipate his actions, and so, his calf lashed out like a whip, followed by the bottle he had swung, striking Old Deng in the groin.

Since the fight had escalated to this point, he didn't care about underhanded tactics; his priority was to knock the opponent down first.

He spat on Old Deng's face, then kicked Old Deng, who was lying on the ground, to prevent him from retaliating.

Seeing Old Deng writhing on the ground in pain, unable to get up, Chen walked to the kitchen and picked up a cleaver.

Amidst the pain, a chill ran down Xiang's neck. He forced his eyes open and looked at the boy in front of him.

He was holding a kitchen knife to his neck.

"Hmph, Xiangzi is such a good girl, it's such a waste to have a scoundrel like you."

Hearing the mocking voices above him, he closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate.

"You think I would say that? You coward?"

Xiang's father's eyes snapped open, his gaze turning fierce as he stared at the boy who had uttered those words.

"What? Because you've fallen from grace and see no hope of making a comeback, and your daughter is suffering along with you?"

The boy's voice was low and deep, meticulously analyzing his thoughts, which only fueled his anger.

"So you want to play the role of a scoundrel to make Xiangzi run away from you, so that he will never come back because of his hatred for you, and then you can feel at ease and give up on yourself, right?"

Xiang's father had seen many people's angry eyes, but he had never seen such a hateful expression, such hateful eyes.

"Damn it, you're a cowardly piece of trash who doesn't dare take responsibility. 'Coward' doesn't even begin to describe your behavior. If you were on the battlefield, you'd definitely be the first deserter to be shot by the supervisory team."

Xiang's father wanted to resist, but the increasingly heavy coldness on his neck cleared his muddled mind considerably.

"Alright, in our Eastern Empire, there's a saying by a great man: 'Learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones, cure the disease to save the patient.'"

The boy's voice was cold: "I've already taught you a lesson to prevent future ones. If you weren't Xiangzi's father, I wouldn't have taken this next step."

"Now, let me dig out your rotten heart, wash it, dry it in the sun, and clean it up."

The boy's calm voice told a story. Of course, he didn't lower the kitchen knife held to Xiang's father's neck; otherwise, he'd be caught off guard again and suffer a terrible loss. This is called strategic nuclear deterrence.

"When I was young, my mother and father divorced. They had a bad relationship and often fought."

"Later, a few years later, my mother found a new family to marry into, and the man had a daughter with him."

"My mother spent less and less time with me until finally, she moved away with that man because of a job transfer; they had to go far away."

"I started to hate my mother, but every winter and summer vacation when she came back from faraway places, I didn't want to leave her again."

The boy spoke calmly, as if he were talking about something completely unrelated to himself.

“I was in so much pain because I loved my mother, so every time she left, I was devastated. In the end, I wanted to end it all. When she came back, I started to distance myself from her, make her angry, make her feel guilty, and even started calling her ‘Auntie.’”

“I was severely beaten by my family. They scolded me for being unfilial, but I was really in pain at the time.”

"What I remember most vividly is the way she cried when I called her 'Auntie.' Later I realized that my mother is still my mother, and she still loves me, even though she has a new family."

"Looking back now, I was definitely a jerk. My mother, who had started a new family and could have ignored me, still endured the pressure from her new family and spent two or three months of each year with me."

"How about that, you scumbag? Does this story sound familiar? Because now you're that bastard."

He tore open his own scars and mocked the middle-aged man cruelly.

"After you fell on hard times, you became despondent and felt like you couldn't do anything, but your daughter is still trying so hard to live her life and is still striving for her useless old father."

"So, you want to completely sever your relationship with your daughter, right? Seeing her comfort you and meet your needs, your pride can't take it, can it?"

Xiang's father's eyes widened, his tightly clenched hands forced to clench due to the deadly threat looming over his neck.

"Get the hell up! I'm standing up to talk to you, and you're lying down listening to me. You're having a good time, aren't you!"

Grabbing the dejected man by the collar, Chen stared face-to-face at the middle-aged man with his eyes downcast.

The wound on his right hand, which was gripping the knife, had reopened, and the wound on his head was slowly bleeding. The tiny shards of glass buried in his hair caused him intense pain.

The excruciating pain that tormented his mind returned like a tidal wave after the adrenaline wore off.

"As long as I get rid of her, everything will be fine, right? Once she's gone, I won't feel guilty about my daughter's efforts, and I can just be a scoundrel with a clear conscience."

"Are you still comforting yourself with the idea that you're doing this for her own good? Hmm?! You think your proud daughter will definitely live a better life once she leaves you, that a vast sky awaits her after she gets rid of you, this burden?"

Chen sneered

"Oh, what great fatherly love! All this is for my daughter's good. He acts like some kind of martyr, using high-sounding principles to numb himself, forgetting even what reality is like."

The kitchen knife in Chen's hand finally fell to the ground due to the pain.

Seizing the opportunity, Xiang's father, enduring the pain in his testicles, pinned the brat down, his hands tightly gripping his neck, trying to stop the sharp words from piercing his heart again.

"I'm giving you this chance. Didn't you want to get rid of her? I'll take her away today, and we'll see if you regret it later, you bastard."

Enduring the lack of oxygen, Chen mumbled these words, his legs already poised for another attack. If that didn't work, he would finally free himself from that damned old man, Deng.

The middle-aged man's gaze gradually softened from ruthless to resigned, and the grip on the brat's neck loosened.

With a long, drawn-out breath, he lost all his strength.

Ignoring the messy floor, he plopped down on it.

"Haha, hahahahahaha!" [Qiling Exposes Private VIII Flag Rises]

He laughed silently, tears slowly welling up in his eyes, his expression gradually shifting from madness to relief.

"Fine, you little rascal..."

He looked at Chen, who was struggling to endure the pain; blood slid down Chen's cheek, staining his face.

Chen stared back at the middle-aged man without saying a word, showing no sign of backing down.

"So decisive, so ruthless. If I hadn't let go just now, I probably would have gotten another kick from you down there, right?"

With a twitching smile, Chen tried his best to remain calm and nodded.

"And he understands people so well..." he sighed, as if recalling something.

"If only I had your abilities... then I wouldn't have ended up in this situation."

He sighed helplessly, then solemnly asked the young man...

"what's your name?"

My name is Chen Chen, and I'm from Donghuang.

"Good, what a fine Eastern Huang person!" He felt relieved.

"Xiangzi, my daughter is in your hands now... You're right, I'm a coward, a worthless wretch who can't take responsibility, numbing myself with childish fantasies. And I've hurt my own daughter so badly..."

"I'm not fit to stay by my daughter's side anymore... But you, I'm sure you can protect my daughter."

As if entrusting his orphan to someone, he moved closer to Chen, gripping Chen's right hand tightly. Looking at the blood-stained gauze, he tightened his grip even more.

"I accept you. Xiangzi's life is now in your hands. Remember this pain: you damned son of a bitch, you've taken on the burden of my daughter's life!"

"I may fail, or I may succeed, but in any case, I will not continue like this."

The middle-aged man's tone became firm.

"If I fail, Xiangzi will have found a home, and I'll be at peace. If I succeed, kid, get ready to come to my door and propose marriage! I want to see you kneel before me and call me father-in-law!"

He patted Chen's shoulder forcefully, his whole expression brightening with joy.

"Ha, it's not even certain that Xiangzi will acknowledge you by then, let alone come to your door to propose marriage? I think you're just daydreaming!"

The two men stared at each other, and as Chen burst into laughter at Xiang's father's miscalculated expression, they both joined in. Although they tried to suppress their laughter, their expressions were so exaggerated that no one could recognize them.

"Alright, kid, here's one last gift for you. Treat Xiangzi well; he's my most precious treasure."

The middle-aged man's tone softened, and he released Chen's right hand.

He looked at Chen Wusheng, nodded, and smiled with satisfaction.

He shouted

"Damn it, Xiangzi, you bastard, you like keeping mistresses, don't you? I'll fucking beat him to death! Take your bastard and get out of here! Never come back! I don't have a daughter like you who betrays me!"

Chen stared blankly at her father, who had deliberately incited her daughter's hatred for her to the extreme, lost in thought.

He opened his wallet, handed all the remaining money to his father-in-law, and said to him in a weak voice...

"Old Deng, consider this your bride price. I won't add a single penny when you marry Xiangzi later."

"Criticism as a weapon cannot replace the criticism of weapons. Unless you beat the idiots into submission, they won't listen to you. Remember that, Old Deng."

Looking at the tens of thousands of yen handed to him, Old Deng looked at the young man in surprise, then smiled with relief.

I feel I am truly no match for this young man; his magnanimity is something I can only dream of.

He silently accepted the meager sum of money, and his cursing grew even more vehement.

"To learn from past mistakes and avoid future ones, to cure the disease and save the patient"—what a wonderful phrase! I must find out who the great writer who uttered this phrase was.

Yes, if Chen Chen hadn't been so ruthless, rendering me powerless before I could even listen to his reasoning, would I have been able to listen?