Chapter 96: Shovel Them All to Death

“Oh, my precious baby, what happened to you?”

“Damn it! You little bastards, how dare you gang up on my son! I’ll fight you all!”

A hefty woman, easily weighing over 180 pounds, came charging over, eyes blazing. When she saw the chubby boy lying on the ground, she rolled up her sleeves and lunged at Gu Cheng and the others.

The chubby boy, face bruised and swollen, lay on the ground sniffling and crying.

“Mom, they bullied me! They all bullied me! Kill them, kill them all!”

“Don’t worry, baby. Mommy’s going to get revenge for you.”

“Kill them, Mom! Use a shovel! Shovel them all to death!” the chubby boy shouted with growing excitement.

“Shovel? I don’t need a shovel. My palm is enough to slap them dead.”

With that, the woman’s face darkened and she swung a slap at Gu Cheng, who was standing in front.

Gu Cheng quickly dodged.

Missing her target, the woman grew even more furious and aimed a slap at Zhou Yang, who was behind him.

Zhou Yang had been nervously checking his wounds when Wang Zhiyu’s voice suddenly rang in his ear.

“Quick! Lie down and cry your heart out!”

Without hesitation, Zhou Yang dropped to the ground, clutching his injured arm and wailing in fake tears.

But his performance was so exaggerated that Wang Zhiyu frowned slightly.

“You little brat, trying to fake an injury?”

“I didn’t even touch you, and you’re already falling over?”

The woman glared suspiciously at her own palm, then turned to Zhou Yang and started cursing.

“Auntie, I saw it. You hit his injured arm.”

“Boohoo, my poor Zhou Yang! You were already hurt by her son’s shovel, and now she slapped the same spot.”

“So much blood… it’s terrifying. Zhou Yang, is your arm ruined?”

“If it is, you’ll never be able to wield a sword and become a great hero again!”

As Wang Zhiyu spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

She had the kind of delicate, pitiful look that made people instinctively want to protect her. With tears streaming down her face, she looked heartbreakingly fragile.

Wu Feng, standing nearby, chimed in with concern.

“Zhou Yang, try moving your arm. Can you still move it? Is it broken?”

“Waaah! My arm is broken! I… I can’t be a hero anymore! Waaah!” This time, Zhou Yang was crying for real.

His sobs were raw and heartfelt, filled with despair.

“My poor Zhou Yang! You won’t even be able to hold chopsticks and eat Grandpa Zhao’s food in the canteen anymore.”

“And it’s your right hand too!”

“You won’t be able to write, and you won’t get those little red flower rewards from Teacher Yuan.”

“Oh, my poor Zhou Yang, this is just too tragic!” Wu Feng burst into tears as well.

“Waaah! I don’t want to live anymore! Waaah!”

Hearing that he wouldn’t be able to feed himself, Zhou Yang cried even harder. His wails were filled with sorrow and grievance, so pitiful it was almost unbearable.

Xu Wei quickly stepped forward to comfort him.

“Don’t be scared. We’ll all take care of you from now on.”

“We’ll feed you, give you water, and help pull your sleeves out.”

Back at the orphanage, they had been poor. Everyone wore secondhand clothes. In winter, it was freezing, and the kids grew fast, changing sizes almost daily.

Sometimes, the sleeves of their undershirts would ride up inside their sweaters, which felt awful. So they’d help each other tug the sleeves back out.

Xu Wei brought this up because the last time she helped someone with that, it had been Zhou Yang. She tugged so hard that the sleeve tore off, and she fell on her butt.

Everyone had laughed at the time, and Zhou Yang had been teased for days.

After comforting Zhou Yang, Xu Wei turned to the woman.

“Auntie, hitting people is wrong.”

“Our teacher said that in situations like this, we should call the police and have them arrest you.”

“So, maybe you could apologize to us first?”

“Apologize, my ass!”

“You little brats, did you all eat shit or something? You’re so damn annoying!”

“You bullied my son, and now you’re trying to flip the blame on me? Don’t you have any manners?”

“Crying? What are you crying for? Are your parents all dead?”

“Are you mourning at their graves?”

“Auntie, please don’t curse. Our teacher said cursing is wrong,” Xu Wei said timidly, taking a step back.

“Besides, your son really was the one who started it.”

“And who the hell are you to tell me what to do? My son couldn’t possibly be in the wrong. It’s obviously you lot!”

“Enough talk. I’m going to teach you little bastards a lesson today!”

With that, the woman picked up a shovel lying nearby and stormed toward them.

Doctor Feng and Master Zhao, who had just rushed over, looked on with alarm.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Put down that shovel!”

“You’re a grown woman trying to beat up children? Have you no shame?” Master Zhao shouted angrily.

“Who has no shame? It’s these little punks who have no shame!”

“You’re their guardians, right?”

“Look what your kids did to my son! Beat him half to death!”

“Pay up! This won’t end without at least 100,000 yuan!”

“100,000? Who are you trying to scam?”

“My kid’s injuries are worse. Why aren’t you talking about compensation for him?”

Doctor Feng, who was crouched down examining Zhou Yang’s arm, couldn’t help but glare at her.

By now, Lu Qingqiang, Yuan Yuan, and the others had arrived as well.

“Hello, ma’am. I’m the person in charge here. If there’s an issue, you can talk to me,” Lu Qingqiang said, stepping forward.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you. Pay up. 100,000 yuan.”

“I still need to know what happened first, don’t I?” Lu Qingqiang raised an eyebrow and continued.

“Gu Cheng, come here. Tell me exactly what happened.”

“Well, it went like this…”

Just as Gu Cheng was finishing his account, Lu Qingqiang’s phone buzzed.

She glanced at it calmly, then tucked it away and continued listening quietly.

“My son is so handsome and cute. What’s wrong with him wanting to play with her?”

“Why is she so ungrateful?”

“Even if my son did push her or bump into her first, so what? She’s fine, isn’t she?”

“Did she lose a chunk of flesh?”

“She’s not missing an arm or a leg.”

“So why did all of you gang up and beat my son?”

“You’re clearly bullying him with numbers!”

“That 100,000 I mentioned earlier? That was too little. There are seventeen of you. Each of you owes me 10,000. I want 170,000!”

As the woman ranted and raved, Lu Qingqiang looked around at the gathered crowd and spoke.