Ruined, Ruined, and Half-Ruined

As the sky darkened, Li Dongxu saw the police officers out, and his spirits instantly sank.

From what the police had said, it seemed the things stolen from his home were unlikely to be recovered.

The thought of all that money simply vanishing made Li Dongxu's heart spasm with pain.

When he had reported the theft, he had only mentioned losing twelve hundred yuan, and that alone had shocked the officers. Thinking of the two passbooks with their large balances and the gold bars, Li Dongxu wanted nothing more than to kill the thief.

When he returned home, he found a house with literally nothing but four bare walls. The sight nearly gave Li Dongxu a heart attack.

"Xiao Yao, go borrow some grain from the neighbors. Make a meal first and take it to your eldest brother," Li Dongxu said.

Bai Yao didn't even want to answer. He got up and returned to his room.

Even without a door, he still had to make his attitude clear.

As for whether that would anger Li Dongxu, he couldn't care less.

After all, his reaction showed that what had happened earlier had made him angry and hurt, and that he didn't want to deal with anyone.

Li Dongxu wanted to scold him when he saw this, but his body and heart were both exhausted. In the end, he said nothing and gave the task to Li Meimei instead.

"Meimei, Xiao Yao's tired from looking after your eldest brother. You go instead, and make dinner when you get back. Xiao Yao still has to take it to your eldest brother later."

Li Meimei wanted to refuse, but when she saw Li Dongxu's stern expression, she pursed her lips and went.

Sitting on the floor in his room, Bai Yao heard Li Dongxu but didn't argue.

If he had to go to the hospital, so be it. Once there, he could dump Li Qiang on the floor and have a bed to sleep in for the night. That was much better than sleeping on the floor.

A few minutes later, the sun sank completely, and the room was plunged into darkness.

With his mental power, Bai Yao's "vision" wasn't hindered. He could even see through the wall to Li Meimei cooking, though he didn't know whose house she had borrowed the grain from so quickly.

Compared with the original Bai Yao, though, Li Meimei was truly clumsy in the kitchen.

Fortunately, the girl wasn't stupid. She made cornmeal porridge for dinner.

But she had borrowed only a limited amount of grain, so the porridge was thin and watery.

That was all right, though. Bai Yao would help.

He added the super pig feed a little at a time, and the porridge in the pot quickly grew thick, fragrant, sweet, and tempting.

The tantalizing aroma made Li Meimei, whose stomach had long been growling with hunger, and Li Dabao, who had come to wait with her, swallow their saliva nonstop.

"Sis, how about I have a taste first and see if the porridge is cooked?" Li Dabao said, swallowing his saliva.

Li Meimei hesitated for a second, then readily agreed.

"You have a taste, and I'll have one too."

But what the two called a taste was actually more than half a ladleful each.

Li Dabao saw that his portion seemed a little smaller and immediately grew unhappy. "Sis, you got more. You have to give me another scoop."

"That's all you get. We'll eat the rest when we get back. Besides, I made this porridge, so it's only natural that I get a little more than you." Li Meimei refused and ate her portion in one mouthful.

If she hadn't been afraid of eating too much and getting caught later, she wouldn't have done that.

But this angered Li Dabao. As the most pampered child in the family, he didn't care about any of that. He immediately tried to grab the ladle and serve himself.

He grabbed, she dodged, and the two started scuffling in the tiny kitchen.

In Bai Yao's eyes, this was a golden opportunity delivered right to his door.

He secretly gave them a little assist. As Li Dabao chased her, his foot slipped, and when he fell forward, he sent Li Meimei stumbling back several steps.

Then, by sheer coincidence, she knocked over the enormous pot of boiling, thick porridge.

The hot porridge came pouring down over her, and a piercing scream rang through the entire apartment building.

Downstairs neighbor: I bet it's the Li family again.

Upstairs neighbor: Why are the Lis making a racket again? They haven't stopped from morning till night.

With his mental power spread over the area, Bai Yao heard the neighbors too, but before he could comment, Li Dabao's actions caught his attention.

Faced with the situation, Li Dabao's first reaction wasn't to call for help. Instead, he filled a large bowl with the spilled porridge, then sneaked away.

Li Dongxu and Li Bailian heard the commotion too, but the events of the day had left them mentally and physically exhausted, so neither felt like getting up.

Only when they heard how much noise the neighbors outside were making did the two get up and go over.

When they reached the kitchen, they discovered that Li Meimei was the one who had been hurt. Her own parents were the last to arrive, and by then someone had already rinsed the hot porridge off her with cold water.

Even so, that brief delay had cost her. Li Meimei's pretty face was visibly badly scalded, and anyone with experience could tell at a glance that her face was completely disfigured.

Would anyone ask whether Bai Yao had gone too far?

Bai Yao only wanted to say that, compared with what the original owner had suffered for ten years, this was nothing more than a minor injury.

He gave Li Meimei one glance before Li Dabao drew his attention.

The boy showed no concern at all. He found himself a spot and started eating his porridge.

"System, customize a muting drug and put it in Li Dabao's porridge."

Since the little brat loved running his mouth, Bai Yao would be kind enough to help him shut it for good.

A big bowl filled to the brim with fragrant, piping-hot porridge disappeared into Li Dabao's stomach in no time.

When he came back out after eating his fill, Li Dongxu and his wife had just borrowed money from a neighbor and were preparing to take Li Meimei to the hospital.

When they saw Li Dabao, they hurriedly took him along.

As for Bai Yao, they had forgotten about him for the time being.

Bai Yao had no intention of getting involved either.

The Li household had been lively enough today, and the hospital would surely be even livelier tonight.

Li Qiang, who had woken after sleeping all day to find his bones and balls crushed, and Li Meimei, who had just been scalded, would surely howl in pain all night long.

Add Li Dabao, who would soon go mute, and Li Dongxu and Li Bailian would have more than enough to handle.

As for the excitement, he'd better not go and watch, lest he be unable to stop grinning.

"I'm happy tonight. Time for a feast."

There was chicken, duck, fish, and meat, and he ended up with leftovers of every one of them.

Bai Yao had overestimated his stomach after all.

Once he had eaten and drunk his fill, he went to find somewhere to sleep. With nobody else home, he could sleep however he pleased.

Meanwhile, the frantic group finally arrived at the hospital.

"Doctor! Doctor! Please come save my daughter! She's been scalded!"

As soon as he entered, Li Dongxu shouted at the top of his lungs.

The doctor and nurses on duty were puzzled when they heard him. Surely a minor scald just needed a rinse with cold water.

But the next second, when they saw the state Li Meimei was in, they were all given a fright.

Her face, neck, and arms were only the injuries they could see. There were probably plenty more hidden beneath her thin summer clothes.

One look was enough for them to know that the rest of this young girl's life was ruined.

With that thought in mind, they hurried into action and helped clean her scalds.

After all that busy work, they could only clean the wounds to prevent infection and prescribe some anti-inflammatory medicine.

"Old Li, my condolences. How could your daughter be so careless? Now she's gone and..."

The neighbor who had come to help was cut off before he could finish by Li Meimei's shrill, hate-filled voice.

"Li Dabao!!!"

"What?"

Everyone was stunned. Why was she shouting Li Dabao's name?

At that moment, the grief of knowing she had been disfigured made Li Meimei temporarily forget the pain in her body. She glared viciously at Li Dabao and said:

"Li Dabao pushed me into the hot porridge and knocked it over! That's how I got disfigured!"

Her words left everyone dumbfounded. They looked at Li Dabao in disbelief.

Even Li Dongxu and Li Bailian were no exception.

"Dabao, is what your sister said true?" Li Bailian asked in shock.

Li Dabao felt a little guilty. That was indeed what had happened, but he hadn't done it on purpose.

With that thought, Li Dabao opened his mouth to explain, but all that came out was "Ah... ah... ah..." He couldn't speak at all.

Li Dabao froze, then panic seized him.

He had gone mute?!

"Ahhhhhh..."

As he tried to speak, Li Dabao grew so frantic that tears streamed from his eyes.

His reaction turned everyone's confusion into a fresh wave of astonishment.

No matter how they looked at it, Li Dabao seemed to have gone mute.

"Dabao, Dabao, don't scare Mom! What's wrong? Why can't you talk?"

Tears poured down Li Bailian's face. The terror in her heart had stretched the string called reason to its breaking point.

Li Dongxu still retained some of his reason. He hurriedly said to the doctor, who hadn't left yet, "Doctor, doctor, take a look! Why has my son gone mute? He was fine at home just now."

"He must be pretending," Li Meimei said, her voice full of hatred.

But no one paid her any attention. They could understand her reaction, given her condition.

Several doctors came over and examined Li Dabao carefully. They found nothing wrong with his throat, and it didn't look like he had lost his voice due to inflammation, so one of them asked:

"Young man, I'm going to ask you some questions. Just nod or shake your head to answer, all right?"

Li Dabao nodded.

"Your father said you were talking at home just now, is that right?"

Li Dabao nodded.

"Has your throat felt uncomfortable at all since then?"

Li Dabao shook his head.

"Did you eat anything during that time?"

Li Dabao nodded. Recalling the bowl of fragrant porridge, he couldn't help swallowing his saliva.

Before the doctor could ask anything else, inspiration flashed through Li Dabao's mind.

The only thing he had eaten during that time was that bowl of porridge, so he must have gone mute because it was poisoned. Li Meimei must have put poison in the whole pot.

As for Li Meimei eating it too, she must have added the poison after serving herself.

The evidence?

Li Meimei's cooking had never tasted good before.

That bowl of porridge must have tasted good because it was poisoned!

That was it. Li Dabao understood everything.

The next second, Li Dabao glared viciously at Li Meimei and opened his mouth in a furious roar.

"Ah—!"

Roaring, Li Dabao shoved aside the doctor blocking his way and charged at Li Meimei.

His sudden reaction startled everyone. By the time they came to their senses, Li Dabao had clawed at Li Meimei's injured face.

Her already injured face suffered another injury, and the pain made Li Meimei scream and faint.

Everyone reacted then and hurriedly pulled Li Dabao back.

Furious and unable to break free, Li Dabao wept as he looked at them, going "ah, ah" while gesturing with his hands.

Li Bailian was the first to understand. "Dabao, are you saying you went mute after eating the porridge your sister made?"

Li Dabao nodded frantically. Right now, he hated Li Meimei to death.

Li Bailian and Li Dongxu were furious too. He was their last hope, and now he had been ruined and turned mute.

Just as their anger reached its peak and was about to explode, someone suddenly asked in confusion, "Wait, that's not right. When we got there, hadn't the whole pot of porridge been knocked over onto Li Meimei? Where did Li Dabao get porridge to eat? We didn't see the boy then either, did we?"

The puzzled question was like a basin of cold water, dousing Li Dongxu and Li Bailian's anger.

That was right. Li Meimei had said Li Dabao pushed him, and they hadn't seen Li Dabao at the scene.

So Li Dabao had hurt someone, then gone off to hide and eat by himself?

At that thought, they suddenly felt there was nothing pitiful about the little brat in front of them.

Oh, and there was nothing pitiful about the little girl Li Meimei either. She had put poison in the porridge.

Everyone already believed that guess.

Likewise, with the two children as examples, everyone felt that the two adults in the family were no good either.

After all, like parents, like children.

For a time, the hospital room fell silent.

But soon, a young nurse's voice broke the silence.

"Huh? Aren't you the family of that patient who came in this morning with both arms broken and his balls crushed? You came at just the right time. There's nobody looking after your son. You should hurry over and see him."

Her words made the doctors who hadn't known about him widen their eyes.

Good grief, this family had another patient.

And from the sound of it, his injuries were no lighter than those of the two here.

Tsk, tsk. What sins had they committed?

That was what the doctors, nurses, and neighbors present were all thinking.

"Ahem, we have other patients to see. If anything happens later, the patient's family can come find us."

A doctor took the lead in saying this, and the group hurried away.

That was right, the neighbors who had come along left too. They didn't want to stay and look after a family full of malicious thoughts.

Li Dongxu and Li Bailian saw them go, but neither spoke.

They couldn't help it. Everything they had been through today had exhausted them in body and mind, and they were even imagining that they were dreaming and none of it was real.

Unfortunately, when Li Meimei woke with a howl of pain, the two had no choice but to accept reality.

Their three children really were ruined, ruined, and half-ruined.

Having accepted reality, they naturally had to look after these three "debts of sin."

When it came to looking after people, Li Bailian thought of Bai Yao, and so did Li Dongxu. After all, Bai Yao had done all that sort of waiting on people these past few years.

"Husband, hurry and catch up with them. Tell them to let Bai Yao know he needs to come here at once," Li Bailian said.

Li Dongxu didn't hesitate. He agreed and hurried off after them.

But the neighbors had all intended to avoid them, so once they left the room, they had naturally quickened their pace and hurried away.

So Li Dongxu chased after him, only to find no trace of him. The doctors and nurses all looked busy, too.

Meanwhile, Bai Yao, whom the two had been talking about, was sleeping soundly.

In his dream, he was finding all sorts of ways to land critical hits on all five members of the Li family, knife strike after knife strike.

"You pack of dogs, you had it coming." Bai Yao's murmured sleep talk was filled with unmistakable delight.