Chapter Ch71.1 - Warm
“I’m picking you up to go home.” Yan Ting’s eyes swept over Zhu Xia and the others in the room before finally falling on Li Zhao. “Let’s go.”
“How did you know I was here?” Li Zhao smiled and bent over to put on his shoes while Yan Ting stood at the door and watched him. Yan Ting replied, “Sister Xia told me.”
Li Zhao put on his shoes and spoke to Zhang Xiaoyuan on the other end of the phone. “Brother Xiaoyuan, my friend came to pick me up. You don’t need to.”
“I’ll go to your house to find you.” Zhang Xiaoyuan hurriedly hung up the phone.
“So urgent, is there an important cooperation?” Li Zhao turned and said goodbye to his friends. “Then I’ll go back first. Come to my barbecue tomorrow, don’t forget.”
“Okay, okay.” Zhu Xia and the others nodded in agreement.
Once Yan Ting and Li Zhao left, Zhou Ming asked Zhu Xia, “When did you contact Xiao Yan?”
Zhu Xia said nothing.
“Something happened with Zhao Zhao.” Zhu Linlin was holding her phone to return the blessing messages from her friends when a notification jumped out. She clicked in and looked at her before her face became scared.
“What?”
The friends were shocked. Zhao Zhao had just gone out the door. Why had something happened?”
“Zhao Zhao’s previous matter… was dug out by the paparazzi.”
Previous matter? Zhu Xia took the phone from Zhu Linlin and saw a photo that made her heart hurt. There was a photo taken 10 years ago when Li Zhao’s abuse was exposed. Although the eyes were mosaiced, she could recognize it instantly. This was Li Zhao as a child.
The article vividly described Li Zhao’s abuse and even took photos of the old house where Li Zhao had lived before he was 10 years old.
[Old Man Li hasn’t been educated and didn’t know it was illegal to beat his children. After he was put in prison, the poor family lost his strength. His two biological children were also ridiculed because of their father’s imprisonment. They didn’t go to high school and went to work in a big city.]
[This reporter asked Old Man Li if there were any regrets about what happened back then. The old and tired man was silent for a long time before saying that if he knew it would cause so many things, he wouldn’t have picked up the child because of his soft heart…]
“This group of beasts, how could these beasts reverse black and white like this, regardless of right and wrong?”
After reading the article, Zhu Xia was crying angry tears and she shouted, “What will people not do for this lousy traffic?! Why didn’t those bastards die?”
Zhu Xia finished the scolded and covered her mouth. “How sad would Zhao Zhao be if he saw this type of article? These people have no heart, they aren’t human.’
There had been many people on the Internet who discovered the news that a child called Xiao Ming was rescued 10 years ago. Some school teachers and villagers were interviewed. There was also photos of the child being beaten until he was blue and purple all over, his head swollen abnormally and full of injuries.
The Li fans didn’t want to admit that this Xiao Ming was their baby. The couldn’t imagine the baby they held in their heats actually encountered these things as a child. However, they were familiar with Li Zhao and could recognize the child with a mosaic over his eyes instantly. This was a small version of Zhao Zhao.
There were always people in the world who saw others being miserable and couldn’t help spreading the thoughts of the Virgin Mary.
Some people saw that the family who abused Li Zhao had a miserable life. They felt that since the other side had saved Li Zhao’s life and had already been punished, Li Zhao should learn to let go and forgive.
Forgive?! Let it go? A little child almost lost his life from abuse, who did these stupid Virgin Mary want to forgive? This was a human life, a 10 year old child!
The Li fans were so distressed that tears fell down. These people with the Virgin Mary sentiment sympathized with the perpetrators? Zhao Zhao was almost killed while the perpetrator was in jail for one year. Yet the perpetrator was pitiful?
The Li fans, who usually lived like black fans, went completely crazy tonight. Almost the entire army was dispatched. They not only scolded the paparazzi who broke the news but also the Virgin Marys who were generous to others.
They weren’t afraid of what others thought of them. They just couldn’t bear the grievance. Whether it was on the Internet of reality, most of the people had normal three views. Even the passersby netizens couldn’t stand it and thought that Li Zhao’s fans were doing the right thing.
The usually self-deprecating Li fans couldn’t help falling down after watching the paparazzi break the news. They might be fans but they were still human. In particular, there was an interview with a villager. The villager said that Li Zhao was often beaten but also chased and bitten by the dog his brother sent after him. His adoptive father had also kicked him down the dirt slope, broke his leg, etc.
“I couldn’t bear to look anymore. The child was very well-behaved and many people in the village secretly gave him food.”
“Old Man Li was fierce and unreasonable. We couldn’t afford to go against him.”
Some people thought of Seclusion Mountain Forest. Li Zhao once told Zhang Kui that he was chased by a dog when he was a kid and finally won over the dog. At that time, LI Zhao said it was a joke and the audience never took it seriously. They were even amused by Li Zhao’s words.
Looking back now, they were full of heartache. A seven or eight year old child, what type of life had Zhao Zhao led? Who said that his old man saved Li Zhao’s life? This wasn’t the feudal era with bad welfare. If a normal person saw an abandoned child, their first reaction should be to call the police. Why did Old Man Li quietly bring him home?
At first, he said that his wife gave birth to Li Zhao. It was only two years later when his biological child was born that he said he picked up Li Zhao. Some netizens even suspected that Li Zhao was trafficked by Old Man Li.
Li Zhao’s business had overturned the Internet. Meanwhile, the party involved didn’t know anything and was taken by Yan Ting to a lake. Antique lanterns hung on the boat and the lake was lined with brightly lit coffee shops, teahouses or bars. It had a different type of comfort.
Li Zhao yawned as he carefully examined Yan Ting’s face. “Ting Ting, are you in a bad mood?”
Why else would he run here to the middle of the lake?
Yan Ting shook his head. Li Zhao shifted his gaze to the person steering the boat they were on. The other person was sitting at the stern of the boat and not bothering to look up and disturb them. The oars moved through the lake, making a noise. Li Zhao pulled out his phone, wanting to take a photo of the lake’s night scene.
Yan Ting reached out with one hand and took Li Zhao’s phone.
“Ting Ting?” Li Zhao found that Yan Ting was a bit strange tonight. The mobile phone was placed in Yan Ting’s coat pocket. Yan Ting and Li Zhao sat side by side, looking like a father comforting his son who did badly on the university entrance examination.
“Sit with me.” Yan Ting raised the gauze curtain hanging around the boat. The lake was sparkling. It was lively and noisy but this had nothing to do with them.
“What’s wrong?” Li Zhao stared at Yan Ting with concern. “If something made you unhappy then tell me. I’ll coax you to be happy.”
Yan Ting turned to stare at him. After watching him for a long time, Yan Ting suddenly reached out and pulled Li Zhao into his arms. Li Zhao froze as he was inexplicably hugged. Then he reached out and patted Yan Ting’s back. “Don’t be sad. I’ll accompany you if there is anything.”
As a person, there were times when one was vulnerable. Good friends should understand each other. Li Zhao’s body exuded youth and vitality. It was unknown how much pain he had suffered. Those scars, those bruises…
The moment he saw those photos, Yan Ting went crazy. Yan Ting held Li Zhao carefully, reluctant to hurt this person. Why did Li Zhao have to suffer so much?
Zhao Zhao.” Yan Ting wanted to hold him like that but didn’t dare. He was afraid that releasing the inner madman in his heart would add more harm to the child’s life that was already full of suffering.
“Um.” Li Zhao was still for a while and patted Yan Ting’s back,
“No matter your past, your future… will always have me.”
Although this world was noisy and boring, he couldn’t bear to let Zhao Zhao face the world’s maliciousness alone. He wanted to protect Li Zhao, protect his only colour.
“I’ll be with you.” Yan Ting released Li Zhao and stared into Li Zhao’s eyes. “No matter what, I’ll be with you.”
The oars moved through the surface of the lake, shattering the moonlight on the water and scattering a bit of sunlight. Yan Ting’s eyes were beautiful. Li Zhao could see the moonlight and himself in those eyes. He was the moonlight in Yan Ting’s eyes, as if he was wrapped in the gentlest light in the world. The night didn’t invade and the cold wind didn’t enter.
“Is something wrong?”
Yan Ting’s eyelids drooped slightly and he didn’t speak.
Li Zhao laughed. People who couldn’t lie were like this. “Give it here.”
“What?”
“The phone.” Li Zhao reached out his hand. The black-gold phone was put in his palm.
“Not your phone, mine.”
Yan Ting touched Li Zhao’s phone. There was an urge to throw the phone into the lake but looking into Li Zhao’s eyes, he still put the phone in Li Zhao’s hand. He had arranged for people to withdraw the hot search. The key search terms had been blocked and even the major platforms no longer pushed news related to this matter.
However, the matter had spread too widely. Even if Yan Ting blocked the news of various channels, there was no way to prevent it from spreading, now way to prevent others from leaving Li Zhao a message.
The moment Li Zhao opened Weibo, it froze.
“Again?” Li Zhao wondered which artist got married or divorced. After refreshing it two or three times, he successfully entered Weibo. Li Zhao saw countless messages on his Weibo hugging him and comforting him.
He clicked on one of the posts and the smile on his face slowly disappeared. The boat entered a shadowy area and the screen of the phone was still on.
“Zhao Zhao.” Yan Ting reached for Li Zhao’s wrist.
“I’m fine.” Li Zhao put down his phone and smile. “Since it has already happened, I’m not afraid for it to be known. Don’t worry, I’m not sad.”
The boat stopped. Once again, Yan Ting pulled Li Zhao into his arms. “But I’m sad.”
Yan Ting had a very clean and light fragrance and Li Zhao could hear Yan Ting’s heart.
Li Zhao’s mood was surprisingly calm, probably because someone was with him. The old things were like a layer of transparent glass. Although he couldn’t see it clearly, it couldn’t hurt him.