Chapter 53
He allowed himself to be cursed by the entire world.
He swallowed the grievances brought by his neglectful parents and his non-existent childhood years that made him grow into an adult far too quickly.
He allowed himself to sign a noticeably unfair contract…
Hell, he was silent when his own mother stabbed him because his elder brother had decided to side with him instead of staying their perfect little prince.
However, he was willing to shoulder the accusations, grievances, pain, and attempts on his life as long as they didn't affect anyone else.
But…
Xiao Yi was no saint.
Everyone had a tipping point and Xiao Yi had just reached his. Instead of heading straight to the hospital, he drove to the apartment that V had set up and sent him off before heading to the apartment he shared with Xiao Qiu.
He found it hard to believe that his parents had no knowledge of Xiao Huang's plot. They likely just didn't think it'd end up with Xiao Qiu almost landing in a casket.
Actually, he didn't care if they knew or not. The fact that they dared show up at the hospital without being summoned was already pissing him off. Whether they were innocent in this situation or not, it wouldn't change his plans.
They willingly walked into his crosshairs.
Xiao Yi walked into the apartment building and cursed at the broken elevator, this time, not in maintenance but truly broken as the sign read 'Elevator broken, please use stairs! We are working on getting it fixed as soon as possible.
Indeed, Xiao Yi made the trek up the stairs, and thirty minutes later, news broke of police raids on Xiao Group.
Another thirty minutes later, Xiao Group's files were released by a hacker showcasing the moving of funds from the company accounts to private, overseas accounts that tracked back to the accounts of the company's owners and their nephew.
An hour after those files were leaked, a video was sent out by reporters with the title: This is how they treat their own children, even a tiger won't hurt its cubs!
The video quality was crisp and clear, both Mrs. Xiao's and Mr. Xiao's faces were unhidden as they marched out of the elevator and into the hallway of an apartment complex, determination fueling their steps. They could be seen looking at the door numbers before finding the one they were looking for and banging on it.
No one answered, so the video fast-forwarded until a young boy with a mask on rounded the staircase with his hands in his pockets. He could be seen visibly pausing as the couple turned to him, and shaking his head at a question asked by the couple. Although the surveillance couldn't hear anything, the viewers weren't blind enough not to notice that the young boy was just taking the verbal attacks of the couple, mainly, Mrs. Xiao.
The boy seemed to be patiently waiting for her to finish yelling before approaching or saying anything. When Mrs. Xiao paused to take a few breaths, the boy finally moved to enter his apartment, closing the gap between him and the couple and reaching to unlock his door.
Mrs. Xiao grabbed his arm, pulled him back, and slapped him across the face.
Mr. Xiao stood silently and said nothing.
Then, the boy turned to his door again and successfully opened the apartment but before he could take a step inside, Mrs. Xiao pulled him back again and threw him against the opposite wall. She could be seen barging into the apartment and coming out a minute later, seemingly not finding what she was looking for as she directly landed more attacks on the young boy who only threw up his arms to protect his head, but didn't attack back.
Mr. Xiao was only watching silently, not intervening or pulling her off, silently agreeing with her actions.
She asked another question, to which the boy weakly shook his head.
He pushed himself off the floor and avoided most of her attacks, trying to get back to the apartment to lock himself in a safe space, but she ran in front of him and swiped at him once more.
The surveillance couldn't see the movement due to the camera angle, but they could see the boy fall to the ground and uncover Mrs. Xiao holding a pocket knife in her hand.
Mr. Xiao took action at this, not to reprimand, but to run away. He took the knife from her and put it into his pocket, gave her a handkerchief, and pulled her into the elevator while the boy crouched over in pain.
No one came to help him and the video fast-forwarded once more until viewers could see the boy roll slowly push himself off the floor which had been covered in blood and pull off his shirt to push it against his wound while rushing into his apartment.
The reporters slowed down that moment, zooming into the split second that they could see the boy's wound. It dragged in an almost perfectly straight, jagged diagonal line from chest to hip.
Although the apartment door had closed, the video kept rolling until a team of men in black suits came and cleaned the blood off the wooden floors lining the hallway.
Along with that video, numerous police reports were found outlining complaints made by neighbors with concerns that there might be a young boy being neglected in the Xiao residence. No one was ever dispatched to the address, however, raising more questions.
Xiao Yi sat on the living room couch, scrolling through his phone with a satisfied smile.