Chapter 35: Scum

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The little girl spotted Lin Chen at the door, and her eyes suddenly lit up. She quickened her pace and dashed out of the house, then grabbed hold of his clothes and said happily, “Big Brother, did you come to teach Coco martial arts?”

Then she turned toward the house and shouted, “Momo, come out quickly! Big Brother is here to teach us martial arts!”

Before long, another little girl who looked exactly like her, but wore a pink dress, came hurrying out. She was delighted to see Lin Chen, but seemed too shy to grab his clothes herself. Instead, she seized Coco’s clothing and gazed up at him with the same eager expression.

These were the two girls he had met the day before yesterday, Coco and Momo.

Lin Chen felt a headache coming on. How had he ended up being pestered by these two little girls again? Still, looking at their adorable faces, he could not bring himself to dislike them.

He gave an awkward smile. “Coco, Momo, Big Brother didn’t come to teach you martial arts. I came to look for a place to rent. But your mother is only looking for female tenants, so I have to leave now.”

The two girls immediately looked dejected.

Coco turned to the woman and pleaded, “Mommy, let Big Brother live with us. Then he can teach us martial arts. Please?”

“No. Stop fooling around. If you keep it up, I’ll spank you. Now go back to your room,” the woman said firmly.

The two little girls wore mournful expressions. Though unwilling to give up, they could only stare at Lin Chen imploringly.

Lin Chen smiled bitterly. There was nothing he could do. It was not as though he could somehow turn into a woman.

Just then, a domineering voice rang out.

“Zhang Yurong, what the hell do you mean? Didn’t I tell you last night to transfer three thousand yuan to me? I need it urgently. Why haven’t you sent it? Are you looking to die?”

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A man over six feet tall, handsome but deathly pale from obvious overindulgence, strode over and glared angrily at the girls’ mother.

Then he turned toward the two little girls with a simpering smile. “Momo, Coco, did you miss Daddy? Come here and let Daddy give you a hug.”

At the sight of him, however, the girls showed both fear and disgust. Coco led Momo a step backward and shouted, “Momo and I don’t have a father! You’re not our daddy!”

With that, she pulled the frightened Momo behind Lin Chen.

The man’s face darkened when he heard Coco’s words. He ignored the two girls and turned back to the woman, snarling, “Zhang Yurong, tell me—why didn’t you send me the money last night? Damn it, I already told a bunch of my friends I’d treat them to a good meal. We finished eating, and you still hadn’t sent me the money. You made me lose face! Did you do it on purpose just to embarrass me?”

Only then did Lin Chen learn that the woman’s name was Zhang Yurong. The man appeared to be the girls’ father. Although Lin Chen felt disgusted by the foul-mouthed brute, this was a family matter, and it was not his place to interfere.

Zhang Yurong’s face was filled with undisguised revulsion. “Wu Rong, watch your mouth! I’ve sent you money countless times already. You’re a grown man, yet you’re lazy and good for nothing, doing nothing all day but asking me for money. Don’t you have any shame? My sister must have been blind to fall for a man like you. If she hadn’t met a piece of trash like you, she wouldn’t have died so young. At least half of her illness was caused by the anger you gave her!”

Wu Rong impatiently waved a hand. “Enough with all that nonsense. Your sister was simply unlucky and died young. Who’s to blame? Hurry up and give me the money. I have something urgent to do!”

Zhang Yurong shouted furiously, “You can forget about getting another penny from me. I’ve finally seen you for what you are—a bottomless bloodsucker!”

Wu Rong’s expression turned ugly. He sneered, “Are you sure you won’t give me the money? Your sister is dead now. If we went to court, do you think the judge would award custody of the girls to you or to me? I advise you to be sensible. If you don’t want these two little girls to suffer, hand over the money. Three thousand will do. There’s a girl waiting for me at the bar. Hurry up—I don’t want to waste my time talking to you.”

Zhang Yurong trembled with rage. “You bastard! How can you threaten me with your own daughters? Are you even human? You abandon your daughters every day to run around making trouble. You’ve never once thought about Coco and Momo. You’re nothing but scum!”

“Quit your nagging! Heh, you’re not angry because I go out looking for women, are you? You’re even prettier than your dead sister. How about becoming my woman? Then I won’t fool around outside anymore. What do you say?” Wu Rong stared at Zhang Yurong greedily, licking his lips.

“You... you filthy bastard!”

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Zhang Yurong was so furious she was nearly beside herself, yet she did not know what else to call the shameless man. He was like a foul stone in a latrine: no matter how viciously you cursed him, he would never feel the slightest embarrassment.

“A bastard? So what if I am? What can you do about it? I’ll say it one more time: if you don’t want these two little brats to suffer, hand over the money now. If you wear out my patience, don’t blame me for what happens next!”

By then, Lin Chen understood everything. He was also somewhat surprised to learn that the woman was not the girls’ biological mother, but their maternal aunt.

He had wondered why the two little girls called Zhang Yurong “Mommy.” From what this man had said, their birth mother had apparently died. With such a scumbag for a father, Zhang Yurong had probably asked the girls to call her Mommy because she wanted to fulfill a mother’s duties in her sister’s place.

Wu Rong was truly a piece of work. A grown man had come to demand money from his sister-in-law so he could chase after other women, even using his own daughters as leverage. Someone could sink to such depths only rarely.

No wonder the girls had refused to acknowledge him as their father. A man like him did not deserve to be called one.

Wu Rong stood there with an arrogant expression that seemed to say, “Yes, I’m a thug. What are you going to do about it? I won’t leave until I get my money.”

A cold curve touched the corners of Lin Chen’s lips. Other people might have no way to deal with thugs, but he enjoyed playing with them. He was not afraid of a thug; what he feared was an upright, law-abiding citizen, because those were much harder to handle.

Lin Chen sighed, then crouched down and wiped the tears from the two little girls’ faces. Their lips were pursed as they stared at Wu Rong through tear-filled eyes. He gently rubbed their little heads and comforted them.

“Don’t cry. If you cry any more, you’ll look like little kittens, and then you won’t be pretty anymore. Today, Big Brother will teach you a lesson: when you meet a thug who refuses to reason, don’t bother reasoning with him. You only need to be even more unreasonable and even more thuggish than he is.”

With that, he walked toward the man and smiled.

“You think being a thug makes you something special?”