Cannon Fodder in an Era Drama — I Survive with Acting-Chapter 121: Too Ruthless

He rushed forward and crouched down to check on Song Qingya, who lay on the floor, anxiously calling out her name.

"Qingya! Qingya! Are you all right? Zhenhai is still young, just a kid who doesn’t know any better. Maybe... maybe he knocked you over by accident. Please don’t blame him!"

"She’s unconscious. How could she possibly be all right?"

He knew Song Qingya’s family situation was bad.

She had suffered a great deal growing up in that kind of environment.

But seeing it with his own eyes still shocked him. He hadn’t expected her family to be so appallingly callous.

Not only did they show no concern for her safety, they actively suppressed her and even schemed to hurt her.

They clearly knew Fei Jin was still in Qi City.

By all rights, they should have been more restrained, yet they had dared to lay a hand on her so brazenly.

"What are you standing there gawking for? Hurry up and call an ambulance!"

He roared from the doorway.

"If anything happens to Qingya, none of you are getting away with this!"

"Oh... oh, oh, oh."

Sun Qiang froze for a second after hearing Fei Jin’s words.

He looked completely dazed for a moment, then snapped out of it and hurriedly said to Yang Yunhua beside him, "Yun Hua, call an ambulance! What are you waiting for? It’ll be too late if we delay any longer!"

Yang Yunhua kept her head down, her hands tightly twisting the hem of her shirt.

She stammered, "Th-this... we don’t have a phone. The only public phone is at the neighborhood office at the end of the street."

"Then what are you waiting for? Go make the call!"

Sun Qiang, now utterly frantic, practically roared, frightening Yang Yunhua so much her face went white.

"How long are you going to stand there like an idiot!"

He was terrified himself. Cold sweat beaded on his back, and his heart was pounding in his throat.

’A wave of regret, self-recrimination, and anger washed over him.’

’It’s all because Yang Yunhua never knew how to raise a child. In the past, it was one thing for the brat to bully Qingya now and then.’

’After all, back then Qingya was just a girl with no family to back her up. What happened behind closed doors stayed behind closed doors.’

’But things were completely different now!’

’Of all the times for this to happen, it had to be while Fei Jin was still in Qi City.’

’His worthless, idiotic son was always causing trouble, sure.’

’But deep down, Sun Qiang didn’t believe the boy had the nerve to do something this terrible.’

But there was no time to dwell on such questions now.

Worst of all, the commotion had attracted a lot of attention.

These old tenement buildings had paper-thin walls, flimsy doors, and shockingly poor soundproofing.

Everyone living upstairs and downstairs had heard everything crystal clear.

Several neighbors, hearing the shouting, had already opened their doors to see what was going on.

Some asked in low voices what was happening, while others offered their help.

When they reached the landing and saw a heavily pregnant woman collapsed on the cold floor, they were horrified.

A babble of discussion immediately broke out among the crowd.

A few kind-hearted neighbors immediately ran back to their homes to grab blankets, sliding them under Song Qingya to protect her from the chill.

Others rushed downstairs to contact a nearby hospital, calling for an ambulance.

"Did she fall, or was she pushed? Goodness, Zhenhai, what’s the matter? You look scared to death."

An older woman from next door peeked in, then squeezed into the apartment.

"Don’t tell me you really pushed her. How could you be so vicious!"

"I’d say it’s ninety percent likely it was him! He’s been mean-spirited since he was little. Bullying his own sister is a habit for him."

"I saw him twisting Qingya’s arm a few times in the past. I even caught him red-handed once and gave him a proper scolding. And you know what? The nerve of that kid! He actually spat at me!"

"This is just disgraceful! His own sister married so well and has such a good life, but he still doesn’t know how to behave. I have no idea what his parents taught him."

Another neighbor shook her head with a cold laugh. "What kind of parenting do you expect from them?" she whispered.

...

The whispers reached the ears of the Sun Family members. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

But no one was more tormented than Sun Zhenhai.

No matter how much he pleaded his case, no one present believed a single word of his defense.

Fei Jin’s recent glare, in particular—a look one would give a criminal—had nearly made his legs buckle in terror.

With no other choice, Sun Zhenhai could only shrink into a corner, not daring to go near the crowd.

He kept muttering to himself, "I really didn’t push her! I didn’t touch her... I swear I never touched her! I didn’t lay a single finger on her. I was just looking for the evidence."

Fei Jin held the unconscious Song Qingya, her face deathly pale in his arms.

His anxious expression froze when he heard that last word.

"Evidence?"

he demanded immediately. "What evidence?"

After a moment’s hesitation, Sun Zhenhai spoke in a low voice. "It’s... something my dad told me to look for..."

Halfway through the sentence, he realized what he was saying and immediately clapped a hand over his mouth, his panicked eyes darting around.

’He knew better than anyone just how dire the consequences would be if he spoke of that thing.’

’If he dared to expose the family’s long-hidden secret in public...’

’...never mind himself, even his father wouldn’t be able to escape Fei Jin’s wrath.’

’His brother-in-law would probably beat his father to death right then and there.’

But his evasive, stammering demeanor only aroused more suspicion.

’He clearly has a guilty conscience!’

Fei Jin’s gaze grew colder.

Just then, his gaze happened to fall on a nearby door, which was open just a crack.

It was Sun Qiang’s room.

Peering through the crack, he saw that the lock on a large chest had been smashed open. The lid was lying tossed to one side.

"What’s in the chest?"

The question stunned Sun Qiang, who hadn’t considered the significance of that detail at all.

But as Fei Jin’s stare grew sharper, he instinctively followed it. One look was all it took for his scalp to prickle and a chill to race down his spine.

"N-nothing... there’s nothing in there,"

Sun Qiang explained hurriedly.

"Ajin, the ambulance might not get here for a while! We can’t afford to wait. We need to get Qingya to the local clinic, quickly!"

"Brother-in-law, I really didn’t push her. It wasn’t me, I swear. You should hurry and take her to the clinic. When she wakes up and sees her same old troublesome little brother, she’ll definitely stick up for me. Brother-in-law, please, just this once, all right?"

By now, Sun Zhenhai had completely lost his nerve, not even daring to raise his voice.

He even changed his form of address. No longer did he dare call Song Qingya by name as he used to; he now called her "Older Sister." His attitude was more submissive than ever before.

All of them were desperately urging Fei Jin to get Song Qingya away from the scene.

Yet the more desperately they tried to cover things up, the more suspicious they became.

Fei Jin’s brow furrowed. When he saw Sun Qiang about to rush into the room, he shot out a hand to block him. "Don’t go in," he commanded in a heavy voice. "No one touches anything in that room. Leave it all exactly as it is. We’ll make a decision after Qingya wakes up and we can find out what really happened."

If Sun Zhenhai really had lashed out on impulse...