“You probably didn’t know this yet, but they just installed cameras in the children’s play area! I just went to check the footage and saw the whole thing from start to finish. You’re still delusional enough to distort the facts here!”
“How? How did they end up installing cameras?” Yi Tinglan muttered under her breath.
The murmurs among the neighbors grew louder, gathering an even larger crowd.
Lin Zhixun held Lin Ze in his arms, glared fiercely at her, and stepped closer and closer. “If you don’t apologize to my child, even if it means getting dragged to the police station today, I’ll send you to the hospital first, understand?!”
Hearing Lin Zhixun raise his voice, Lin Ze couldn’t help feeling a bit scared.
His chubby little hands tightly gripped Lin Zhixun’s collar, and his round little head rubbed against Lin Zhixun’s shoulder as he murmured, “Daddy…”
“H-How dare you…”
Yi Tinglan was terrified. Looking at Lin Zhixun’s fierce expression, he didn’t look like he was joking at all.
It was her son who had provoked them in the first place, meaning she lacked the ground to argue any further. Seeing Lin Zhixun stand his ground and go toe-to-toe with her, she couldn’t help feeling a wave of fear.
Lin Zhixun might be an honest man, but he had his limits. He worked hard and lived an honest life, all so his child could live happily and joyfully.
Yet even such a simple, modest wish was something others couldn’t stand, prompting them to challenge him again and again!
Yi Tinglan carried her child out from the house and snapped, “Apologize to them!”
“I won’t! Mom, didn’t you say we shouldn’t admit we’re wrong no matter what? How can we apologize to that kind of low-class laborer?” Yin Yin puffed out his cheeks and turned his head away.
Lin Zhixun’s expression grew even gloomier.
Yi Tinglan panicked. Terrified of getting hit, she slapped her child across the backside. “What nonsense are you saying? When did Mom ever say that?! Hurry up and apologize to them!”
Yin Yin cried with utmost grievance. “S-Sorry.”
Seeing that her son had finished apologizing, Yi Tinglan glared at Lin Zhixun and fired back defensively, “There, you heard it! You can leave our house now!”
“Not yet.” Lin Zhixun’s voice remained flat, revealing neither joy nor anger. “You failed to discipline your own child, allowing him to hurt my son. So you need to apologize to Zeze too!”
“Honey…” Xiao Qingyao tugged at the corner of Lin Zhixun’s coat, wanting him not to blow the matter out of proportion.
As someone who cared so much about her pride, how could Yi Tinglan ever lower herself to apologize so easily to the family she looked down on the most?!
“Wife, stay out of this for a second, I know what I’m doing.” Lin Zhixun comforted Xiao Qingyao.
Hearing Lin Zhixun’s unreasonable demand, Yi Tinglan instantly raised her voice.
“What?!”
Her temper flared up, and just as she was about to let loose with a torrent of abuse, a single look from Lin Zhixun suppressed her.
“Fine. I’m sorry.” She gritted her teeth and forced the words out.
Lin Zhixun carried Lin Ze back home, his eyes filled with guilt toward the boy. “Zeze, when you encounter a grievance like this, we don’t have to endure it, okay?
If anything terrible like this happens in the future, you must, must tell Mom and Dad. No matter what it takes, Mom and Dad will get justice for you.”
“Okay!” Little Lin Ze nodded heavily, understanding part of it.
“Good boy.” Lin Zhixun patted Lin Ze’s head. “Daddy promises you, I’ll work really hard to give Zeze a better environment in the future.
When that time comes, Daddy is going to open a company, work hard to make money, and give all the earnings to you and Mom, alright?”
“Alright.” Lin Ze’s little hand touched the corner of Lin Zhixun’s eye. “Then Daddy shouldn’t cry anymore.”
End of flashback.
“Dad, compared to the better conditions you wanted to create for us, I want you even more to live happily and carelessly, living the life you truly want.”
Looking at his father lying on the bed still motionless,
a salty droplet slipped from the corner of his eye and rolled straight down to the corner of his lips.
He tasted it.
It was very bitter.
Even more bitter than the bitter melon he hated eating the most.