Ye Chen looked confused. Thinking Yang Qiufang was afraid of He Du, he hurriedly said, "Don't be scared. I've got him pinned down."
He Du sneered shamelessly. "Hmph! Calling the police won't help. This is a family dispute. Even if I beat you badly, I'll only be detained for a few days. Besides, I'm injured too, so this counts as a fight. If they detain anyone, they'll detain you and that money-losing brat as well, and you'll all end up with criminal records. Let's see how she'll go to college, get a good job, or marry into a good family after that. Would she dare call the police? You'd better let me go, hand over the money, and kneel down to apologize..."
"You beast! She's your own daughter. Even a tiger won't eat its cubs. How can you say something like that? Are you even human?" Ye Chen had never seen anyone so shameless.
If murder weren't against the law, Ye Chen would have loved to strangle He Du to death.
He Du looked contemptuous. "Who knows if that money-losing brat is even mine? Besides, I wanted a son. This useless old hag had that brat and can't have any more children. She's nothing but a waste..."
Hearing He Du say that, Yang Qiufang trembled with rage.
His words had crossed her bottom line.
Yang Qiufang had been mindful that He Du was He Qiaoqiao's biological father, and feared calling the police might ruin He Qiaoqiao's future.
She had thought that if she just put up with it and kept her distance, everything would be fine.
She had never imagined He Du thought of her that way. He kept haunting them, trying to drive mother and daughter to their deaths, and even wanted to drag innocent Ye Chen into it.
Yang Qiufang gritted her teeth, summoned her courage, and grabbed the big iron ladle beside her. With bloodshot eyes, she walked toward He Du.
"Bam! Bam!"
Two sharp cracks rang out.
Yang Qiufang raised the iron ladle and brought it down hard on He Du's head twice.
Two huge lumps sprang up on his head, and he passed out.
Yang Qiufang's move startled Ye Chen too. He hurried over to check He Du's breathing. Thankfully, he was still alive.
Yang Qiufang's hands shook as she gripped the ladle. "Xiao Chen, step aside. This is my family matter. Let me handle it myself."
Seeing that He Du was unconscious and unable to fight back, Ye Chen stood up and moved away.
Yang Qiufang needed to let out some of her anger.
The iron ladle in her hands swung rapidly.
Again and again, she beat He Du all over.
"Beast! Family matter, is it? A family dispute, is it? A fight, is it? You beast! If you don't want to stay together, then we'll split up. If you want a divorce, fine! I'll beat you to death, you beast!"
Yang Qiufang seemed to be giving back all the pain and resentment she had suffered over the years.
He Du was beaten awake again. His face twisted with rage as he roared, "You stinking woman, you've gone too far! You dare hit me? I'll kill you!"
He was about to struggle to his feet and strike back.
Ye Chen immediately rushed forward, ready to kick He Du down again.
"Thud!"
A muffled impact rang out.
He Du's eyes rolled back, and he slumped to the ground once more.
It turned out He Qiaoqiao had raised the big iron wok she'd been using to fry noodles and knocked He Du out with it.
Only then did Yang Qiufang come to her senses. She hurried to check whether He Du was dead. Thankfully, he was still breathing.
He Du couldn't die at He Qiaoqiao's hands.
Yang Qiufang breathed a sigh of relief. She no longer had the courage to hit him again, and could only hug He Qiaoqiao and cry.
He Qiaoqiao dropped the wok and burst into tears along with Yang Qiufang.
In the stillness of the night, their sobs sounded especially heartbreaking.
Ye Chen glanced at He Du on the ground, then at Yang Qiufang and He Qiaoqiao, who were clinging to each other and crying.
For a moment, he didn't know what to do.
He could only silently set the overturned table upright and clean up the mess.
Gao Zuo watched the scene from inside the car, feeling disappointed. He hadn't expected that guy to be such a weakling—not only had he failed to land a single blow on Ye Chen, he'd been beaten like a dog and let Ye Chen show off.
Seeing there was no more excitement to watch, Gao Zuo put away his phone and told the driver to head back.
Naturally, Gao Zuo didn't show Chen Lingling, the class beauty, or anyone else the video of Ye Chen being so heroic.
After crying for a while, Yang Qiufang suddenly wiped the tears from her face.
"Xiao Chen, thank you so much for today. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't been here?" Yang Qiufang stood up and thanked Ye Chen.
He Qiaoqiao wiped her tears too. Her big eyes were still glistening as she thanked him. "Thank you, Brother Ye Chen. Are you hurt?"
"Don't mention it. I'm fine. Do you want to go to the hospital and get checked out?" Ye Chen gently patted the top of He Qiaoqiao's head, feeling sorry for her.
"We're fine. We'll go get checked out ourselves in a bit," Yang Qiufang said with a worried look. "You should head back. I can handle things here."
"But what about him?" Ye Chen pointed at the unconscious He Du on the ground.
He didn't know whether He Du would wake up again and do something to hurt Yang Qiufang and He Qiaoqiao.
Afraid Ye Chen might get dragged into it, Yang Qiufang hurriedly replied, "It's fine. You go back first. I can handle it."
"All right, then. Be careful, you two." Ye Chen thought Yang Qiufang had a point. Since it was getting late, he headed back to school.
The video on Ye Chen's phone finished playing, bringing his thoughts back to the present.
He put his phone away.
Ye Chen glanced at Su Ningwei and the three babies, sleeping soundly in the flower room.
Thinking he might be able to get some sleep, he quietly went downstairs and headed to the computer room.
He planned to find out which bastard had posted the video to smear him.
He'd see if there was a full version.
So many years had passed, and there were no surveillance cameras on that stretch of road.
Finding the full video was the easiest way to dispel the rumors.
After that incident, Yang Qiufang and He Qiaoqiao never set up a stall there again.
Ye Chen never saw them again, either.
The matter had simply been left unresolved. He never found out how it had been handled.
He wondered how Yang Qiufang and He Qiaoqiao were doing now.
Had He Du continued to make trouble for them?
Would this incident coming to light have any negative impact on their lives?
Worried, Ye Chen turned on the computer and started working.
He soon traced the video poster's IP address and hacked into their computer and phone.
The system really had seen it coming.
It had given him top-tier hacking skills, and now they'd come in handy.
The first thing Ye Chen did was check the hidden folder H on the other person's computer.
Oh, they'd been careful and encrypted it.
No problem.
He only needed five seconds.
Ye Chen cracked the password and opened the folder.
So many videos?
Ye Chen casually opened one.
Damn!
That was some seriously disturbing stuff.
They were all uncensored, secretly filmed clips. They were painfully explicit.
Ye Chen squinted and fast-forwarded through it. At last, he saw who had filmed the videos.
It was Gao Zuo, that bastard.