Chapter 9: Stirring Up a Big Storm

“Daddy, I heard your boss got transferred, and you want to become the Battalion Commander, right?” Tongtong nestled in her mother’s arms and said softly.

“If people find out you hit Mom, won’t they stop you from getting promoted?” Her milky voice carried a hint of threat.

Lin Zhiguo looked like a chicken with its neck wrung, his face flushed red. In the end, he didn’t dare strike.

With nowhere to vent his pent-up rage, he roughly shook off his hand and gritted his teeth. “Fine! Fine! You won’t leave, is that it? Let’s see how long you can stay here!”

With those words, he stormed out, slamming the door so hard the frame rattled.

Under the ginkgo tree in the family compound,

Si Muchen, who had been silently watching everything, wore a stiff expression, his eyes dark and gloomy.

He had come with the System to steal energy.

As long as he was within a hundred meters of Lin Tongtong, the System could steal it.

[Host, the current energy is enough for you to transfer misfortune once a day. As the energy increases in the future, you’ll be able to transfer more and more! Keep it up!] The System’s cheerful voice rang in his mind.

Si Muchen didn’t speak, his icy gaze fixed on Lin Zhiguo as he protectively led Shen Wei away.

Quietly focusing his thoughts: [Misfortune transfer—target: Shen Wei!]

[Got it, Host! Misfortune transfer activated!]

The System’s light flickered.

Just as Shen Wei, holding Lin Jiaojiao, was about to head back, her foot slipped inexplicably. “Aiyo!” she cried out in surprise, tumbling down hard on her backside with Lin Jiaojiao in her arms!

Right onto a pile of dog poop!

“Ah! It stinks so bad!”

Shen Wei retched uncontrollably from the disgust, while Lin Jiaojiao was flung aside, landing face-first on the ground and wailing in pain.

The neighbors who hadn’t yet dispersed: “…”

They wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, struggling to hold it in!

Tongtong quickly leaned over her balcony to watch the commotion, covering her mouth as she giggled.

She hadn’t even done anything yet, and they were already getting their comeuppance!

Suddenly, she keenly sensed an extremely faint energy fluctuation.

It was minuscule, almost negligible, but she still caught it!

“Huh?” Tongtong curiously looked toward the back of the ginkgo tree but found nothing there.

Si Muchen clutched his pounding heart, feeling terribly guilty.

[That scared the System! That little girl’s perception is so sharp—I was almost discovered!]

Si Muchen pursed his lips, feeling an indescribable discomfort.

Stealing from someone… really wasn’t honorable.

He glanced back in the direction of Tongtong’s home, silently thinking to himself: In the future… I’ll help her a few more times.

…

Lin Zhiguo returned to the guesthouse in a rage.

Seeing that coercion wouldn’t work, Shen Wei came up with an idea: in the city, without money, one couldn’t take a single step. They would impose economic sanctions on Yu Wanqin.

Without food or drink, they would naturally leave.

Lin Zhiguo thought it made sense, so he simply stayed at the guesthouse and refused to return.

He gave not a single cent for living expenses, determined to force them out.

Yu Wanqin went about her days as usual, hiding at home every day to study the medical books Tongtong had given her.

She had to seize every opportunity to learn, quickly pass the medical licensing exam, and establish a foothold in the city with her daughter before she dared to bring up divorce with Lin Zhiguo.

Once Yu Wanqin got serious, she had no time even to eat or drink.

Every night, she studied until dawn.

Whenever she slacked off even slightly, her daughter would tearfully ask if she didn’t want to stay anymore.

Each time, she felt helpless yet tender-hearted.

No matter how difficult it was, she had to persevere!

Seeing that the rice and flour at home were about to run out, the mother and daughter ate from Tongtong’s space, refusing to suffer any hardship.

Tongtong wandered around the compound every day. When others asked, she would say her father didn’t give money to her mother, so she was starving.

Over time, everyone in the compound learned that Lin Zhiguo spent money raising his nephews and nieces while neglecting his own daughter, leaving his wife and child to starve.

Tongtong felt it was about time. A week later, after hearing from Old Ginkgo that the military district leaders were holding a big meeting today, she went to find Commander Gu, deciding to make a big move.

Inside the military district headquarters office building.

Tongtong, bundled up like a little pink dumpling, cried and shouted all the way, finally throwing herself tearfully into the arms of Gu Yanbin, who had just finished the meeting.

“Wahh… Godfather… Tongtong is so hungry… Daddy doesn’t want Tongtong anymore… Tongtong is going to starve to death…”

Her little milky voice sobbed uncontrollably, tears falling like tiny pearls, dampening Commander Gu’s military uniform.

The leaders who had just finished the meeting filed out one after another.

“Old Gu, is this your daughter?”

“Look how pitiful she is, crying until her little voice is hoarse!”

“Little one, tell Uncle what’s wrong. Uncle will stand up for you!”

The leaders were all bursting with curiosity.

Especially since Gu Yanbin was usually a cold-faced executioner, not close even to his own son and nephew.

Yet now he was willing to comfort a little child—how strange!

Gu Yanbin flustered and clumsily wiped her tears, asking with heartache, “Tongtong, be good. Tell Godfather, what exactly happened?”

Tongtong sniffled, her pink little mouth opening and closing.

“It’s Daddy… He doesn’t come home… doesn’t give Mommy money… Mommy has no rice left… can’t find Daddy… Wahh… Does Daddy not want Tongtong anymore… wants to starve me and Mommy to death…”

As she spoke, she pitifully pulled out a shriveled, hard steamed bun from her little cloth bag.

“This… this is Tongtong and Mommy’s last bit of food… Tongtong couldn’t bear to eat it…”

Gu Yanbin’s face darkened repeatedly, a chill swirling in his eyes.

Someone recognized Tongtong as Lin Zhiguo’s daughter.

Several leaders looked at the pitiful cold steamed bun, then at the little girl’s old clothes patched over and over again.

Their faces all fell.

What on earth was Lin Zhiguo doing!

“Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!” An old leader fumed, his beard trembling with anger. “Where is that bastard Lin Zhiguo! Get him here now!”

Si Muchen, who had come to deliver food to Gu Yanbin, stood not far away. Seeing the pitifully crying little girl, his handsome brows furrowed tightly.

Being bullied again?

He hid in a corner, secretly watching.

Lin Zhiguo was urgently summoned to the meeting room by a guard and found all the leaders present.

Tongtong was held in Commander Gu’s arms, crying like a little tearful doll.

Seeing the leaders’ faces as dark as the bottom of a pot, his heart sank, thinking this was bad.

“Chief! Commander! I…” He had just started speaking when he was sharply interrupted.

“Deputy Battalion Commander Lin! Have you no conscience? Is this how you act as a father? Abandoning your wife and child at home without a care—do you have any sense of responsibility as a revolutionary soldier or as a family man?”

The old leader had a fiery temper and berated him head-on.

Gu Yanbin glared fiercely, his eyes carrying a heavy, oppressive force that made Lin Zhiguo’s legs tremble.

“I… I…” Cold sweat poured down his forehead, and he couldn’t utter a complete sentence.

The leaders shook their heads, their eyes filled with disappointment.

Lin Zhiguo grew even more panicked inside: “This is all a misunderstanding! Chief, I… how could I possibly neglect my own wife and children? It’s just that I’ve been too busy lately and haven’t been able to attend to them.”