"Speak up! Did you sneak out again last night?!"
Li Shanen, who was still sleepy, was pulled up by his ear by Mrs. Li.
Before he could figure out what was going on, Li Shanen apologized and admitted his mistake according to his usual principle: "Sorry, sorry. I won't dare to do it again!"
"You can go out and play if you want! But why did you drag You Ting along? And get involved in those things! Look at You Ting's wound. What if it doesn't heal?"
While Li Shanen was still in a daze, there came a shout for him downstairs.
Was it Zhao Youting?
When he went downstairs and took a look, he was shocked.
Zhao Youting with a bandage on his forehead and a plaster cast on his arm looked really miserable.
"Shanen, let's go. I'll help you pay off the debt." Behind Zhao Youting was the woman he always feared. She still looked cold and elegant, but now there was an extra touch of fierceness.
Li Shanen didn't know what was going on and his mind went blank.
"Hey, boy, answer!"
"Um... um, okay! Auntie!"
Mrs. Li behind him said politely to Zhao Youting's mother: "Hey, I'm sorry to trouble you with this kid's matter. Thank you!"
The beautiful woman didn't have any extra reaction. She just nodded slightly: "Okay."
Then there was no more small talk. She turned around and got into the car that had been waiting for a while.
Zhao Youting followed immediately, and Li Shanen had no choice but to chase after them.
A moment later, the lobby manager, who had been so high - spirited last night, didn't even dare to raise his head.
"Mrs. Zhao, you've got it all wrong. There's no such thing. We've never even seen your young master. How could we have beaten him like this?"
"Oh?" The cold - faced woman sat in the office chair as if she were the owner of this place: "So you mean these wounds were self - inflicted by Youting to frame you?"
Li Shanen silently thought in his heart, You're right, madam...
"This, these wounds really have nothing to do with us. We're wronged."
"Auntie, it was really them. They even have photos of forcing us to sign the IOU at that time!" Li Shanen said with a wronged look on his face, following what Zhao Youting had told him in the car on the way here.
Hearing this, the woman like a queen gave a look: "Really?"
The manager didn't dare to say a word. He just lowered his head and almost wanted to kneel down.
Two tall bodyguards around walked up to him. After searching his phone for a while, they finally handed it over when the manager was almost soaked in cold sweat: "Madam, there really are."
"Humph, then what else do you have to say?"
The man was so scared that he didn't even dare to speak.
But then he heard the woman suddenly burst out laughing: "Hehe, Manager, don't be so nervous. I'm not here for revenge today. I'm just here to pay off the debt. It's quite easy to pay off just one million."
The manager felt a sense of disbelief at this moment, but he was also happy that he had escaped a disaster. He looked up and saw the beautiful, smiling and gentle face.
But she was saying something terrifying word by word: "It's easy to pay off one million. As you know, Youting is the most precious person in our family. You've hurt him, and you have to pay the price too."
Watching the manager's expression change from a little surprise to ashen - faced, the woman got up and walked out of the door satisfactorily, taking the two children with her.
"You shouldn't let the kids see what's left. You know how to handle it, right?"
Although she said so, Li Shanen didn't dare to look back when he heard the manager's screams behind him.
Once again, two fledgling birds with broken wings were on their way back to the cage.
Li Shanen couldn't help but whisper to Zhao Youting: "Youting, aren't you being a bit too extreme? Isn't this a lose - lose situation?"
"No. I just got injured. He's probably half - dead, and that nightclub will be manipulated to go bankrupt soon."
"Alas, did you have this plan last night? It's too cruel. You even hurt yourself..."
"This is the price."
"Huh?"
"The price for those who are not capable enough but still want to break through the cage that protects them. I should remember this."
Li Shanen looked at Zhao Youting seriously saying such a somewhat childish but appropriate thing, and he gave up trying to persuade him for a moment.
"By the way, your mother is really terrifying. How come she seems even more ruthless than your father? Usually she looks a bit cold but quite gentle..."
"Yeah." Zhao Youting didn't reply.
He knew that his mother's anger this time was just because she cared too much about him, just like the "imprisonment" on a daily basis.
After all, he was the only connection between the man he called "father" but who had never appeared in front of him and her.
Or perhaps, it was the motherly love that Zhao Youting wasn't sure if it existed.
After that, without the presence of layers of bodyguards, Zhao Youting's range of activities was only limited to that courtyard.
Occasionally, when Li Shanen came to "visit", he also looked like he didn't want to go out.
It was not until a long time later.
A cage can't hold an eagle, nor can it stop more external forces. Eventually, it collapses.
On Zhao Youting's coming - of - age ceremony, a long - planned kidnapping of Zhao Youting left everyone at a loss.
After calling the police, for the negotiation, Mrs. Zhao voluntarily went alone to pay the ransom.
She came with a group of well - trained bodyguards who were almost as good as an army, and there were also the police ambushed in the dark.
The kidnappers were a bit flustered but didn't dare to act rashly.
Mrs. Zhao chose to take a risky move. She demanded to exchange for the hostage. Although Zhao Youting had been tortured almost blind in order to force him to reveal a series of business secrets at that time.
But the kidnappers thought she was a woman and obviously of a higher status, so she was easier to deal with and more useful. So they agreed.
Just an instant before the moment of arrest, someone among the ambushers fired a shot first. The kidnappers immediately changed their minds. With a gunshot.
The proud and beautiful queen, whom Zhao Youting thought was a stubborn cage and a solid protection, fell.
After that, although the police took action in time and all the kidnappers were either shot dead or arrested on the spot, Mrs. Zhao didn't make it.
After that, Zhao Youting almost lost his mind. He changed his personality greatly for a period of time and hung out with Li Shanen in all kinds of places.
He indulged in pleasure and messed around everywhere.
It was also during that period that he accidentally met that woman by chance. She was so stubborn and decisive that she was completely different from others.
Zhao Youting then made her his fiancée. He always felt that he could see something like hope in her.
Still during that period, Zhao Youting secretly returned to the courtyard that Mrs. Zhao liked the most when he was a child. He planted a whole yard of blue roses one by one, the flower that his mother liked the most, and also the flower that he used to like the most and later hated the most.
It was too special, too stubborn, too eye - catching and nostalgic.