Chapter 241: Chapter 241 Domestic Violence
The sounds of smashing still hadn’t stopped.
Jiang Nanshu, wearing a long-sleeve nightgown, walked to the front gate of the neighboring villa, feeling somewhat cold as the late-night wind blew over.
At this time, the mansion gate of the neighboring villa was open, with a black luxury car parked outside, its doors open and headlights on.
There was no one inside or outside the car, so Jiang Nanshu entered without any hindrance.
“Wuwuwu, I don’t want to, I want my mom, I don’t want to go, wuwuwu,” the child’s crying and shouting was loud.
A black-clad bodyguard was dragging him, holding the struggling child who couldn’t break free.
Because their attention was divided, they bumped into Jiang Nanshu.
Jiang Nanshu stepped back to stabilize her staggered figure.
The bodyguard was shocked, nearly scared to death.
At this hour, how could anyone possibly be wandering around in this mansion.
He looked up and saw a young girl.
Dressed in a white nightgown, her slightly curly black hair like seaweed spread down to her waist, the incandescent streetlight beside the road made her face so pale it glowed, her face expressionless, her dark almond eyes full of irritation.
He thought to scold her, but then noticed the large wrench in her hand, and his heart, which had just calmed, leapt up again.
“Who are you? Trespassing is illegal, you know, now get out.”
Jiang Nanshu’s eyelashes fluttered lightly, she lifted her eyes to look steadily at the black-clad bodyguard and the child in his arms, who had stopped crying.
The child struggled free from the bodyguard and clung to Jiang Nanshu’s thigh, crying sadly, “Wuwuwu, Auntie, they’re bullying me, hit them.”
This child was Shang Xu.
His grape-like eyes were swollen from crying.
There was a bright red handprint on his face, making him look pitiful.
Jiang Nanshu lightly blinked, “Xuxu?”
It turned out that the neighboring villa was Shang Xu’s home.
Shang Xu, finding his backup, glared fiercely at the black-clad bodyguard with his grape-like eyes, his voice whiny, “Bad man, I don’t want to go with you.”
The bodyguard, in a moment of urgency, tried to grab Shang Xu, “Young master, staying here will only cause trouble, just listen to President Shang, he is your father, he won’t harm you.”
“And you, please leave immediately, or I’ll have to get rough,” the bodyguard threatened.
Jiang Nanshu chuckled softly, reached out and grabbed the approaching bodyguard, executed a neat over-the-shoulder throw on him, and kicked him in the shoulder area, snapping a bone out of place with a “crack.”
The bodyguard hadn’t even had time to resist before he was flattened.
Pain caused cold sweat to stream down his forehead.
Inside the villa, the sounds of smashing continued, the woman’s crying gradually weakened.
Shang Xu clutched tightly at Jiang Nanshu’s skirt, unable to hold back his sobs, “Mommy, I want mommy … wuwuwu, mommy, daddy is bad, he hit mommy, I hate him.”
He wiped his tears with the back of his hand, looking very sad.
Jiang Nanshu looked down at him.
A four-year-old child already harboring such hatred—normally, children living in such wealthy families would be expected to lead happy lives.
How similar to her own miserable childhood.
“So noisy.”
Hearing Jiang Nanshu’s voice, Shang Xu bit his lip desperately, trying to stop crying, his teary red eyes cautiously watching her, afraid that he had annoyed Jiang Nanshu. He covered his mouth with both hands, crying with hiccups, “Xuxu isn’t noisy, Auntie, don’t hate Xuxu.”
She was talking about the inside.
The noise was keeping her from sleeping and making her irritable.
Some unpleasant memories surfaced.
She hated domestic violence, hated the pain of fists and feet upon her body.
From her earliest memories until she was eight years old,
she had lived in such an environment.
Starving, freezing, being treated like an ox or horse, if she didn’t perform her tasks perfectly, fists would land on her body.
She gently touched Shang Xu’s head and went inside with a wrench in her hand.
Frightened of being taken away, Shang Xu trotted behind Jiang Nanshu.
The front door was open, and the living room was a mess.
Jiang Nanshu slowly captured the scene with her video recorder before focusing on Lu Junqin by the stair railing, battered and bruised.
A gash on her forehead bled profusely onto half of her face, which was pale and grey as if she was on the brink of death.
The abusive man, red-eyed, didn’t even notice Lu Junqin’s condition.
Jiang Nanshu turned off the camera, handed the phone to Shang Xu, and softened her voice a little, “Hold this for me, hide in the small room and don’t peek. I need to have a word with your dad.”
Obediently nodding, Shang Xu spoke softly, “Mm, Xuxu promises not to peek. Auntie, I want to be with mom.”
“Alright, I’ll bring your mom out.”
Assured, Shang Xu happily hid in the small room and covered his ears to avoid overhearing the adults’ conversation, silently counting numbers in his head, waiting for Jiang Nanshu to call him.
Shang Chi adjusted his tie, his shirt disheveled, and cursed, “I’m doing this for Shang Xu’s good, you dare to stop me? My aunt just wants to nurture him into a worthy successor for the Shang Family. Without strictness, the Shang Family will eventually be ruined. You poisonous woman, even dare to contradict my aunt’s words, I’ll beat you to death, you wretch.”
Tears overflowed from the corners of Lu Junqin’s eyes, she truly wished to kill herself—anything seemed better than living in this hell.
But closing her eyes, she could see Shang Xu’s smiling, soft little face. What would happen to her son if she died?
This thought kept her going; if she divorced Shang Chi, Shang Xu would live in hell. Her own child, still so small, had such a long future ahead.
Back then, the Lu Qingyan incident had spread among the Lu Family.
She remembered Lu Qingyan being very frail when brought back to the old house, his beautiful dark eyes dead, unlike other children, devoid of any sparkle.
This was the supposed talent produced by closed high education.
Lu Qingyan had managed to walk out of those ten years calmly.
But what about her Xuxu?
Would he possess a will as strong as Lu Qingyan’s?
Would he keep his sanity in a dark, dungeon-like place?
Lu Junqin couldn’t bear to think about it.
All she could do was endure and find an opportunity to take Shang Xu away from the carnivorous Shang Family.
Her body hurt so much she felt numb; she seemed close to her breaking point.
“Bang.”
The sound of something falling stopped Shang Chi from hitting Lu Junqin on the back of her head with a vase.
Startled, he looked towards the sound; the object that had fallen was a surveillance camera from the villa.
The person responsible was a teenage girl.
She held a wrench, quickly dismantling the villa’s surveillance cameras.
But what Shang Chi wanted to say was that the surveillance had been turned off before he began his abuse; he didn’t want to leave any evidence behind.
Annoyed, he glared at Jiang Nanshu, “Who are you?”
Jiang Nanshu stepped closer, not answering him but instead, she slapped him, toppling the large man and making him fall sitting on the stairs.
Looking down at him from above, she said, “Your domestic abuse was disturbing my sleep, and also, just hitting women and children, what kind of man are you?”
When had Shang Chi ever been treated like this?
He stood up, ready to retaliate, “Looking for trouble? How is disciplining my own woman any of your business?”
Jiang Nanshu’s gaze hardened, “I told you, you were disturbing me.”