diskusbooks Chapter 417 Unnamed Draft
Chapter 417 Unnamed Draft
Song Yanming was not in the car at the moment, and the driver got out of the car early and walked around the front and back of the car to leave some space for the people in the car to be alone.
After she had no more worries, Song Panpan just opened her mouth and the rest of the words came out continuously as if they had been held back in her heart for a long time, like pouring out her grievances.
"I know that I have become a laughing stock since I tried to stand out in the circle and make others think that I am a rich lady like you, and even dreamed of being related to you.
You all laughed at me behind my back, saying that I was delusional, that I had no shame, that an illegitimate daughter like me was not worthy of breathing the same air with you. You had guessed it a long time ago, but you waited until today, until our family completely collapsed, to stand up and laugh at me, spit on me, and curse me..."
Listening to Song Panpan's words, Bai Yuan's expression did not change. He just put the tissue he took out between the two seats and listened silently to the person on the verge of collapse venting the emotions that had been suppressed for a long time.
Song Panpan was right. This was indeed a common phenomenon in the circle today. Even though she had expressed that she did not like such negative rumors, this kind of thing could be said to be a century-old problem and it was never something that could be controlled by anyone.
Others have mouths on their bodies, they can say whatever they want, and no one can stop them. At most, they won't talk about it in front of her, or flatter her and drag her into talking when she is around. But it's impossible to stop talking about it in private.
Bai Yuan also did not feel that he was responsible for not being able to change or intervene to stop the incident.
In her opinion, this was certainly Song Panpan reaping what she sowed.
Although she did not do anything extremely evil and there were indeed reasons for what happened at the time, the biggest problem has never been what she did.
The biggest problem is that she is an illegitimate child.
Her father had an affair and kept a mistress who gave birth to her.
Her mother was the third person.
Their very existence is a mistake.
The purpose of their birth is to divide up the property and inheritance rights that belong to legitimate children.
What's more, she did use this identity to live a life of luxury for nearly twenty years, during which time she enjoyed the wealth that did not originally belong to her.
As long as she is still an illegitimate daughter and carries such an identity, the rumors about her and the contemptuous and disgusted looks from others will never stop.
Even breathing is wrong for illegitimate children.
This mistake spread through the blood, sweeping across the country like a plague, causing everyone to stay away while inevitably infecting a small number of people, making the mistake deeply rooted like a stubborn disease and allowing it to continue.
Song Panpan's life was a dead end from the very beginning and was rotten to the extreme. The best case scenario was that her mother could kill the original wife and take her place. Although she would still be despised by people in the circle, at least her future life would be guaranteed.
The worst case scenario is like Song Panpan, whose family suffered a misfortune and fell into a quagmire, losing both her life and her wealth. Her father's family collapsed even earlier than her parents' relationship, and in the end she had no one to turn to.
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Get full attendance and replace later.
I will write a little bit of this chapter tonight, and make up the rest tomorrow. It's almost the New Year and I have a lot of things to do at home, so I'll get back to it in a few days.
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01.
She opened her mouth, bit off the hard bread, and began to swallow mechanically.
It's not a question of whether the food tastes good or not. Most of the time, she has no time to care whether the food she eats has gone bad. She is not picky after being hungry for a long time. She can only soothe the stomach cramps by swallowing everything she can.
Gotham is always damp and cold. Fish will not dehydrate here, and people's clothes are shrouded in lingering cold moisture. When it sticks to the body, it is even colder than under the bridge, and this cold can never be warmed by body temperature. It may even take away the little remaining warmth like a plague.
She survived alone on the streets of Gotham for ten days, which was almost impossible for a four-year-old child to survive hiding in a hill of garbage. If she had survived, it would have been a rebirth. Gotham always gives generous gifts to the dying. Either they live towards death, or they die of hunger and cold.
Suddenly, she stopped swallowing, biting half of the bread and huddled behind the trash can. The person who gave her the bread once warned her that if she didn't want to be caught by drug dealers and gangs, she must always be alert and cautious. Hiding is always the first choice when she can't run fast. The dark bats always come and go silently, and if they are discovered they will only be thrown into a shitty foster care system. If she escaped from it, she should know what this means.
The messy footsteps passed quickly, but she didn't plan to come out from behind the trash can so soon. Sometimes they would ambush at the exit like hunting wild dogs. When you thought it was safe and stuck your head out to look, the chain that fell from the sky would tightly strangle your neck, and the person would be stuffed into a cage like an animal and transported to the slaughterhouse, disappearing forever from the streets of Gotham.
When the light came on, it was not the alternating red and blue light of a police car. It was the bright green color reflected on her cobalt blue pupils. It was the brightest and purest color she had ever seen. She stared blankly at the dazzling green light, swallowed the sourness in her throat, slowly moved her body to avoid the empty wine bottles and plastic bags on the ground, and tried her best to stick half of her face out from behind the trash can without making any sound to peek at the light source.
She wondered what was glowing.
WTF?! Can you pick up kids anywhere in Gotham???
It was not until he walked out of the adoption center and stared into the eyes of the timid and anxious child huddled behind him that Hal Jordan realized what he had done in the heat of the moment.
He adopted a—Hal Jordan, the best test pilot in America, one of the founders of the Justice League, the greatest Green Lantern in the universe, just bought a kid in fucking Gotham ten minutes ago for three hundred bucks! Carol was going to kill him! Fucking Batman, fucking Gotham, this city is fucking toxic!
Noticing that the child had begun to shiver in the cold wind, his tender face had turned red from the cold, and his cobalt blue eyes were like dusty sapphires, faintly glowing under the light of the street lamps. Hal was touched by this scene, and his heart became soft and fluffy again. He scratched his brown hair to shake off the voices and distracting thoughts in his head.
"Come on, kid, if you don't want to get sick, we'll go to a hotel, have some hot meals, take a hot bath, and have a comfortable sleep, ok?" Hal winked at her, took out his cell phone and started searching for the nearest motel location.
The child didn't say anything, but just looked at him blankly, as if she was frozen stupid. It was not until Hal put away his phone and reached out to her, his fingers almost touching her head, that she reacted violently and took several steps back, shrinking her neck and shaking constantly, her blue eyes full of fear and anxiety.
Seeing the child shivering, the answer was obvious considering the cold, damp weather in Gotham and the thin clothing she was wearing.
Hal took off his flight jacket and wrapped it around the child, hoping the residual warmth would give her some comfort. "Wrap it up tight."
After giving the instructions, he hugged the child tightly in his arms. The child was shaking like a shuttle, constantly reminding him to take big steps and try to get to the nearest motel as soon as possible.
When wrapped in the warm jacket, all she could feel was the fear of her feet leaving the ground. The last bit of blood on the child's face disappeared, and she curled up in the man's arms with a stiff back. Time and space were infinitely stretched at this moment. They became slow and quiet. Countless scenes passed by her eyes and then quickly retreated. People kept passing by her, stretching out their hands, waving their arms, and screaming, like devils crawling out of hell. The ground was burning under her feet.
"Oh, poor child, listen to me, you—"
Get the fuck out of my house! Now! Right now!
"Follow me, inhale - exhale - repeat, one, two..."
What do you want from me? You greedy disgusting little bitch, you're worthless! I won't pay you a penny!
Her cobalt blue pupils were slowly dilating, and she was breathing instinctively following the sound in her ears. Time had no meaning at this moment. She only felt dizzy and her limbs were stiff and numb. The images and sounds around her slowed down and gradually became clear. Through her tear-soaked eyes, she saw the man in front of her kneeling on the ground at her eye level, his brown eyes full of worry.
"Kid, are you okay?" Hal wanted to reach out and touch the child's head to comfort her, but he suppressed his words in order not to further irritate her. "You're hyperventilating."
The child took another big breath of air into her lungs, and a few seconds later exhaled heavily with a heavy sob. Her breathing then turned from rapid to steady.
"Listen, little one, there's no need to be nervous." Hal gave her verbal support without touching her as much as possible. "If you don't want to be touched, I won't do this, but Gotham is dark and dangerous at night. I don't want to get separated from you, so you'd better hold my hand and let me hold your hand for a walk, okay?"
The child looked at the hand spread out in front of her, nodded slowly and dully, raised her arm and stretched it out tentatively, but soon she found that her hands were covered in dirt. She was dirty, and he would not like her doing this. She really didn't want to be hated. When she thought of the disgust and loathing that fell on her, she felt like she couldn't breathe. Despair and pain surrounded her, slowly draining away the oxygen between her and the outside world.
But the other person's voice was full of calming power, and the hand extended to her looked solid and reliable. She rubbed her fingertips nervously, hesitating whether to put her hand on him and risk the other person's rage.
Hal thought she was just shy, so he winked at her, raised the corners of his mouth and urged her with a smile: "Come on, be a brave girl."
Like a deer caught in headlights, the child froze in place for the umpteenth time that night. Her wide-open eyes instantly filled with moisture and tears as big as beans welled up in her eyes again, leaving two crystal tear marks along her frozen cheeks. She looked so fragile and helpless that it was heartbreaking.
Damn it! Damn it—
Looking at the child who was collapsing again, Hal felt a long-lost warmth rising in his chest. His heart started beating violently, continuously pumping boiling blood to his brain.
This is definitely not normal! It's not even the common post-traumatic stress disorder. He knows that people who are usually hurt will show some mental breakdown, but this child is obviously well-trained. Even he can see that this must be a conditioned reflex caused by long-term repression. Hal is a green light. His greatest enemy uses fear as a weapon. He recognizes the color of fear.
What was the source of her fear? Was it the man who had just taken the three hundred dollars from him? He had abused and beaten her before? The bruises on the corners of the child's mouth had not healed yet, and combined with her flinching at the movement of raising her hand, this was the reason why she ran away from the foster home? That scumbag, he actually let him go like this and gave him three hundred dollars. He should beat him up and hang him on the Wayne Tower to blow the cold wind all night.
Hal began to revisit the moment he saw the child.
Her hair was cut messily and short, and her face was covered with a mixture of mud and garbage, so she couldn't tell what she looked like originally. She was hunched over, curled up like a frightened cat, and her dirty clothes full of threads and holes were wet and stuck to her body. In her mouth, she held half a piece of bread that was too hard to bite. When Hal met her eyes, she was so startled that she accidentally dropped it on the ground, and it was covered with water and muddy matter from the mud pit, but she still reached out to pick it up, and put it back into her mouth under Hal's gaze...
"No, no, no, kid, the bread is dirty, it can't be eaten anymore, it will make you sick--" Hal opened his eyes wide in shock, obviously deeply shocked by this scene.
But the child didn't listen to him and stuffed the bread into his mouth almost randomly, as if it would be snatched away if he was a step later.
Hal felt something blocking his throat, something burning in his stomach, and his heart was squeezed into a ball, forcing him to rush over to grab the dirty bread and throw it into the trash can. When he looked down again, the child was already far away from him, clinging to the wall, closing his eyes and raising his hands to protect his head, curling up like a clam. This was a conditioned reflex when dealing with a blow.
It was only then that Hal noticed the cracked corners of the child's mouth and the bruises that were beginning to turn dark from a lack of vitamins.
This kid must have had a hard time.
Hal fumbled around in his pockets nervously, and finally pulled out two pieces of gum and a crushed energy bar from his flight jacket. This was originally prepared for the Flash. He put the latter on the ground and rolled it towards the child from a distance.
"Go on, kid, that's all I have."
The child watched warily for a long while before quickly grabbing the energy bar, clumsily tearing open the package, and eagerly dipping his fingers into the powder to eat it.
His eyes fell on the half-empty bottle of clean water at her feet, and Hal heard his own hoarse voice, "If you want more, I'll go to the hot dog stand and see if I can get one..."
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Get full attendance and replace later.
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