698: The Lan Family's Past (Part 2)

The two stumbled home.

A Man did not scold the Child.

With pale lips, he seemed to have no strength left to scold.

"Father, I'll apply the medicine for you." The boy's regretful tears fell patter-patter.

"Why are you crying? This little bit of spanking isn't even enough to scratch an itch. Don't blame others either. We are all part of one Gaopeng Family. It's right to be punished for doing something wrong. Otherwise, how could our Lan family Family become a great Gaopeng Family?" A Man wiped away the tears from the Child's Face with his hand.

As his sleeve was pulled, the boy suddenly saw a bright red wound appear on his arm.

"What is there to look at? I just got scratched by a branch on my hand." A Man noticed the Child's gaze and frowned.

The Child remained silent.

That was clearly a whip mark...

Some time passed again.

The boy was called over by the Young Master again.

On his Face, which had been scratched until the skin broke, was applied precious ointment that Father's month's wages couldn't even afford.

And the servant attending beside the Young Master at this moment... was his Father!

"Now your Father doesn't acknowledge you as his son anymore, he told me himself!" The Young Master looked proudly at the Child in front of him.

"Father?" Xiao Bao looked at A Man in front of him, his voice filled with confusion.

"Who's your Father?!" A Man looked furious: "I'm not your Father, go home!"

"Hahaha, did you hear that? You don't have a mother, and you don't have a Father. Wasn't I right?" The Young Master looked smug.

"Father?" Xiao Bao was only eight or nine years old. Even though he was very sensible, his voice still trembled upon hearing his Father's reprimand towards him.

"Lan family Tian, I want to play on the swing, carry me over!" The Young Master looked at Xiao Bao's Father behind him and ordered.

"Alright, Master." A Man carried the richly dressed boy to the swing with a fawning expression.

And Xiao Bao, standing rooted to the spot, stared blankly at his Father playing with the Young Master.

"Why aren't you going home yet? I told you I'm not your Father!" A Man looked at Xiao Bao, his tone stern.

"That's right! Xiao Bao has no Father and no mother!" The Young Master laughed merrily.

"You are my Father!" Xiao Bao's tone was firm, his expression stubborn: "Why? Why do you have to be so humble? Aren't we all people of the same Gaopeng Family? The Lan family Family Head said that every one of us is the same, we are all equal!"

"Didn't the Lan family Family Head say that the existence of the Gaopeng Family is to make our lives better? Why haven't I seen it at all? To what extent do we need to be subservient to have a better life? If we're living like this, what's the point of the Gaopeng Family's existence?!"

The Child's voice was hysterical.

A Man listened, his expression moved.

However, the trembling emotion was replaced by a firm and decisive voice: "Do you know what you're saying? Where did you learn such nonsensical reasoning? I don't have a son like you!"

The boy listened to his Father's words, wiped away his tears, and walked towards home, not daring to cry out loud.

"Lan family Tian, the Lan family Family Head sees you've performed well and has decided to give you the Immortal Pill, but there's one final condition, and that's whether you can grasp it."

A servant brought the message and conveyed it to A Man who was standing beside the Young Master, humbly accompanying him in play.

And upon hearing this news, A Man's Face was immediately filled with a surge of ecstasy!

Sunset.

As usual.

In the dilapidated shack, Xiao Bao, with red-rimmed eyes, saw his Father walking slowly from a distance.

After seeing him, the boy immediately ran back into the house without saying a word.

Seeing the Child's action, Lan family Tian gave a bitter smile, looked at the two bags in his hand, took a deep breath, and struggled with some difficulty to reach the doorstep.

Sitting on the doorstep, A Man no longer had the strength to move.

Home, after arriving, he just wanted to settle down.

"Hey, I bought hawthorns and sugar for you. Do you want to make and eat candied hawthorns?" A Man rested for a while, then turned his head and shouted into the house.

After a long while.

Only then did the Child in the room hesitantly walk out.

A Man saw him, smiled, pulled the boy into his arms, and vigorously rubbed the Child's head: "You little rascal, you can actually say such profound words, you're really capable!"

After his emotions calmed down somewhat, A Man took a deep breath, unsure if it was due to emotion or pain: "It's Father's fault, Father overestimated himself by bringing you into this world, making you suffer with Father since you were young."

After speaking, A Man put the two packages beside him into the boy's hands, his tone much lighter: "Here, tell your grandma to make candied hawthorns. It's enough to satisfy your craving."

He paused, then carefully took out a small box from his person: "This thing is the Immortal Pill that our Lan family merchant caravan sought from overseas Immortals. Take it and give it to your grandma to eat. After eating it, her illness will be cured."

"Father, aren't you giving it to Grandma? You obtained this."

When the Child saw the small box in A Man's hand, a hint of joy also appeared in his eyes.

This meant that if she ate this, Grandma's illness would get better.

They wouldn't have to suffer anymore!

"I..." A Man's lips were pale, and he smiled: "Father is a bit tired, I want to rest for a bit."

The boy took the box containing the Immortal Pill and nodded slightly.

He returned inside the house.

"Grandma, Father bought hawthorns and sugar, we can make candied hawthorns now!" Xiao Bao said happily.

"Oh, so many hawthorns? And sugar!" Grandma, lying on the bed, saw the Child holding two oil-paper packages and happily got up.

"Also, Grandma, look, this is an Immortal Pill!" Xiao Bao carefully gave the pill to the Old Man's hand.

"Immortal Pill..." Seeing this thing, the Old Man's expression was complex.

"If I eat this Immortal Pill, I'll have to lie in bed for quite a while before waking up, right? I'll make candied hawthorns for our Xiao Bao first!"

After a while.

Three candied hawthorns, coated in sugar syrup and glistening, were placed in front of the drooling Xiao Bao.

"You still have to wait a bit, wait until the sugar dries, that's when it's the most delicious." Grandma stroked the Child's head.

"Okay! Grandma, you go eat the Immortal Pill. When the sugar dries later, I'll call you and Father to eat together!" Xiao Bao said with a silly smile.

Compared to tasting, sharing seemed more important.

The sunset on the horizon became increasingly brilliant.

Quietly looking at the three candied hawthorns on the table, Xiao Bao's mind was filled with thoughts of how to divide and eat them later...

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Xiao Bao picked up a candied hawthorn from the board.

The solidified, firm brittle sugar cracked, and the candied hawthorn was so dazzling under the sunset, like a work of art.

"Father, Father!" Looking at what he considered the best candied hawthorn, Xiao Bao ran with it outside the door.

"Father?"

After arriving here, the boy's repeated calls did not elicit any response from A Man sitting on the doorstep, leaning against the wooden door.

He walked closer, feeling confused.

But he saw his Father with his eyes closed, as if enjoying the warmth of the setting sun.

"Do you think he's just asleep? Actually, he's already dead!" These words appeared in the ears of who knows how many people in the Ning family shrouded in Darkness!

It was also after these words spread.

In the people's illusionary visions, their own Father slowly fell to the ground!

"No!!"

One by one, the people who were completely drawn into the illusion cried out in surprise.

"And the Old Man in the room, is her illness cured? What she ate... was it really an Immortal Pill?"

The demon's voice, like falling sand, rubbed against people's ear canals over and over again!

"Boom!"

Pitch-black airflow surged from inside the house.

Accompanying it was the Old Man's suffocating cries!

There was no Immortal Pill, that was a demon core. The Lan family Family Head was just looking for test subjects.

"Child, your Father and grandma are both dead. We deeply empathize with what you've gone through."

"You also shouldn't resent the Lan family Family Head. There was only one Immortal Pill, who knew eating it would result in this outcome? And your Father voluntarily endured those whips. Getting beaten could earn money, this job was already quite good. It's also because we belong to the same Gaopeng Family, otherwise outsiders wouldn't even have this opportunity to earn money. This is the Gaopeng Family!"

"Let me say it again, regarding what you've gone through, Child, we deeply empathize, truly deeply empathize!"

In front of the boy, the Middle-aged Butler comforted him with a look of shame.

And beside him, the Butler's son covered his belly and laughed: "Father, stop fooling this Child."

"There's no such thing as empathy in this world."

"That's right, there's no such thing as empathy in this world." The boy said hoarsely.

"So... you are not me!" Suddenly, the boy turned his head, his eyes directly crossing the illusion, pointing straight at everyone trapped within it!

And these people's gazes also suddenly shifted.

"Hahaha, hit him, beat him to death!"

"You have no Father and no mother, that's a fact!"

"We are all equal, the entire Gaopeng Family will get better and better!"

After the voices spread, many people's eyes revealed horror.

They themselves became the abusers in the boy's memory!

"What is the meaning of the Gaopeng Family's existence?"

"Didn't you say that the meaning of the Gaopeng Family's existence is to make everyone in the entire Gaopeng Family live better lives?"

"Why is there still so much suffering left behind? If that's the case? Does the Gaopeng Family still have meaning in its existence? Do you still have meaning in your existence?!"

"You should commit suicide!" As the words fell, A Man at the doorway slowly, slowly reached out his hand.

Under the invisible manipulation, waves of anger, fear, hatred, and various other mixed emotions rose in people's hearts!

In fear, people picked up everything around them that could end their lives.

Watching the knives in their hands get closer and closer to their necks or chests, people's hearts were already filled with fear!

They didn't want to die!

But, they were the abusers! They actually did such unforgivable things, they should die!

But Bao Xingchao's head shook like a rattle drum. He had done many guilty things, but he didn't want to die!

"Pat~" Suddenly, a hand directly landed on the shoulder of A Man, who was disheveled and like a beggar: "I've finished listening to your story, it's very touching, after all, I wrote it."

"But there's a banquet being held at my place right now, could you give me some Face and perform later?"