Picked up by the Protagonist of a Tormented! MC Novel-Volume 1 Chapter 8

Would Xi Wei agree? Would he drop the little baby in front of this youth?

Xi Wei stops, seeming to consider what Ya Sang has ordered him to do.

Zeno's heart tightens.

Hey protagonist, I won't eat so much, do not give me to this Ya Sang jerk! QAQ

Xi Wei, of course, could not hear the cry of Zeno’s heart, but he can feel the little bundle on his chest shudder. He pats Zeno's back and furrows his brow, coldly whispering, “Don't move.”

Zeno immediately goes silent, stretching his little face to rub it against the protagonist’s face, picking up a few mud stains on his cheeks in the process.

The inspiration behind this move was his young neighbour growing up. Whenever he was in trouble he would run to Zeno's place, and whenever Zeno tried to take him home he would pull that trick. Zeno could only surrender to that cute little devil—even a god cannot stop the Meng.

Xi Wei stares down blankly, overcome with the urge to pinch Zeno's little cheeks after that sudden move of his. If he were looking down from heaven, the protagonist would probably understand that he was dying of meng overload.

When Ya Sang saw Xi Wei stop as he had ordered, he assumes that this idiot does not have the guts to defy him. After waiting while Xi Wei simply stands there, he begins growing impatient. He threw the bread right away, so it should be simple to hand over the child.

“You stupid fool, do I have to come get it myself?” He bellows, and Zeno desperately wishes he could find some way to plug his ears.

Xi Wei remained motionless and calm; his eyes steady as he gazes at the brutish teen. Ya Sang felt like those empty eyes were looking straight into his heart. He experienced a faint flicker of fear followed immediately by shame—how could he be afraid of this fool?

Ya Sang takes two large steps forward, pointing to Zeno, “I did not expect a fool like you could actually find such a cute baby, it must definitely be a girl. I want it, obediently hand it over. ”

Zeno's heart screams, “Cute or not I'm definitely a boy okay! When the protagonist changes my diaper, the truth will definitely come out!

Something seems to be wrong.

# Really want to puke on his nasty face #

While Zeno thinks so, his body acts up independently.

After a small “puff” sound, Ya Sang's face is suddenly sparkling due to saliva, while a little baby was suddenly twisting his head, avoiding looking at him¹.

The corners of Xi Wei's mouth twitched briefly.

Ya Sang immediately lashes out, determined to vent his anger on Xi Wei—the one making him work to get the baby 'girl'. He grabs a wooden stick that he has been carrying around, lifting it above his head and brings it down on Xi Wei's back. The strike tears the thin fabric of his shirt and leaves a red welt blooming on his back.

The impact from this hit causes Xi Wei to stumble. If it were a strong man, determined to stand and fight to protect his dignity, then he may be fine. However, the protagonist is not even at the level of an ordinary person, so he simply collapses.

Despite the fact that his thin body strikes the snow hard enough to make a full body imprint, Xi Wei keeps Zeno safely tucked in his embrace, trying his best to keep him from making any contact with snow.

Zeno was shocked when the protagonist suddenly fell. Unsure of the cause, he suddenly panics and wants to struggle, but finds his arms tightly clamped and completely immobile.

Ya Sang suspects that Xi Wei is trying to play him by suddenly appearing to faint. He comes closer, kicking Xi Wei in the back, while screeching, “Fool, stand up, don't tell me you're trying to stall!”

Xi Wei remains motionless, as if he really has fainted.

Ya Sang frowns deeply. He doesn't really care if Xi Wei is dead or alive; he's just a weak little chicken who is asking to be beaten. He starts using the stick he has in his hands to pry Xi Wei off of the baby.

As Ya Sang bends down, Xi Wei tenses his body, his hand firmly gripping his knife. As long as he is close enough, even this shoddy knife will draw blood.

Before he can convert his tension into action, Xi Wei, who has his ear on the ground, hears footsteps—many, many footsteps. He clenches his knife more tightly, but remains on the ground as he is.

Ya Sang smoothly pulls out Zeno.

Zeno can only feel the protagonist's arms loosen around him. Ya Sang clutches him too tightly, his facial expression ugly. This, coupled with Zeno's concern over the protagonist, drive him to cry out, "Wahhhh!"

Ya Sang sports an irritated look on his face, and shoves a mouldy chunk of bread into Zeno’s mouth. With this all he can let out is a muffled whine.

Zeno still has a low-grade fever, his emotions are running amok, and his mouth is filled with a mouldy bread taste. He is so uncomfortable he almost faints.

Suddenly, the air is filled with the crunching of footsteps near and far. A group of people dressed in warrior regalia appear in the alley, led by a burly man with only one eye. A fearsome scar stretches across his face from the left eye to his right chin, and it seems to be the remnant of the wound that cost him his eye.

This scar did not affect his charm at all, but rather made him appear wild, manly, and cool.

Seeing the situation in from of him, the scar faced man stops along with his crowd of younger brothers, asking with interest, “Robbery?”

Ya Sang stands slack-faced for a few seconds after seeing this man, then quickly moves to flatter him. He dares not draw near and remained standing where he was, greeting him respectfully with a bow, “Mr. Xi Lun², I am honoured to see you.”

The scar faced man laughs, his laughter very deep and mellow. The sound is ten million times nicer than listening to Ya Sang's discordant tone.

“Do you know me?" He asks.

Ya Sang continues to suck up, “This is Fenhong³ Street, how could someone not know you, sir?"

The man, who was called Xi Lun, does not answer the question, and just keeps asking, “Since you know where you are, why are you fighting in the back alley of Fenhong Street?”

Xi Lun asks the question with a wide smile on his face, but the tone of his voice causes Ya Sang to immediately break out in a cold sweat.

He averts his eyes and holds up Zeno in front of the scar-faced man while explaining, “It is not a fight, but that fool on the ground stole my sister, you see, this is the girl in my hand. This young one knows Mr. Xi Lun needs some good stuff, and if my younger sister can follow Mr. Xi Lun, she will surely have a good life in the future."

Zeno whines in protest.

Xi Lun gives Zeno a once over. After seeing his appearance, his eyes flicker with surprise. Even if it is still small, he can see that this child possesses exquisite features. Not even a fool would believe that this child is Ya Sang's little sister. To what extent can genes even mutate ah?

However, Xi Lun still reaches out and takes Zeno into his arms.

Ya Sang puffs up with pride. He knew this girl's looks weren't ordinary; he can certainly sell her for a good price.

He was not able to gloat for long when a wooden stick struck his head, the movement accurate and ruthless. Ya Sang's eyes go slack and he collapses to the ground in silence⁴.

Xi Wei is standing behind him, holding the stick that Ya Sang had just tossed aside.

Xi Lun rested one over Xi Wei's shoulder after slowly clapping his hands a couple times, and praises him, “That was pretty well done.”

Xi Wei says nothing and watches him vigilantly.

Xi Lun glances over his alert figure and chuckles in amusement, “Come on, I know this kid is yours.”

Xi Wei considers for a moment before nodding.

Xi Lun speaks to him again, “Before I hand her back, wash your face.”

Xi Wei does not ask why and quietly squats down, grabs a handful of snow, and rubs it all over his face. The snow is cold and his face is red with the cold, but his proper appearance emerges from the filth.

Xi Lun observes quietly, without questioning, until Xi Wei is clean and stands up. “So, Jasmine’s⁵ son, is this your daughter?”

Xi Wei is a little surprised, “You … know … me?”

Xi Lun, with one hand holding Zeno, and one hand behind his back, answers coolly, “You don't remember me?”

Zeno feels like ten thousand beasts are treading across his heart, can this plot even be saved? Why would this scar-faced man, destined to appear a decade from now, appear at this moment? The rhythm of the plot is completely collapsing.

“Curse” does have a man named Xi Lun, but when he appears in the novel, the protagonist is twenty-one, and in the prime of life. Xi Lun plays the relatively insignificant role of the father of one of the harem members. The one noteworthy detail is the fact that he knew the protagonist’s mother, Jasmine!

This decade younger Xi Lun is a cool guy, and he gives off the heavy aura of a gang boss. Just thinking that in the next decade he will become a middle-aged uncle makes it hard to even look at him.

This also made it hard for Zeno to recognize when he first showed up. The gap is way too large ah!

The Harem father appears!

Will the harem follow close behind?

But the protagonist is only eleven years old!

The premature appearance of the harem makes it useless!

Wake up storyline!

Xi Wei thought for a moment before pointing to Zeno and saying, “Boy.”

Xi Lun looks carefully at Chino’s face and mutters, “It's not a girl?”

If Zeno had teeth, he would jump and bite his nose.

Xi Lun contemplates for a long time, but he knows Xi Wei would not deceive him about something like this, and he continues. “I remember your brother died three years ago and is too old anyways, so is this child your son?”

Xi Wei did not deny his question.

Although this may seem a little weird, it is not impossible for an eleven year old to have a baby. Xi Lun knows that Xi Wei is not the type to tell a lie, and he does not possess the empathy to adopt a child with no blood relation. When you remove the incorrect answers, what remains can only be the truth. (t/n: I wanted to put a Sherlock quote in here so so bad)

Praise this man for his wit!

Xi Lun looked at Zeno emotionally, “I remember when Jasmine told me she was going to have a child, and in a flash her son has a son.”

Zeno finds himself completely thunderstruck by this man's words.

Xi Wei just quietly listens without interjection. The scar-faced man has been talking to himself, “Well, looking closer, this child really looks like you ah, it really is father and son—made from the same mould."

# Does your daughter know you prattle on like this? #

# Does your daughter know how big your brain really is? #

Obviously he just looks like a cool guy…

I am posting this later than intended. I was reading Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil. It's amazing. You'd ignore your responsibilities too. I hope I can do as well as that with this story (quality-wise I mean).

1. The sound effect legit translates as puff. So I'm not sure if he actually barfed on him or just kinda spit? And having had babies of my own, I don't think puff is quite…adequate…as a sound effect. But, there it is.
2. 西伦 - Xi Lun - also, I'm opting to use Mr instead of xianfeng in this fellow's case. Whether I use the appropriate Chinese titles will depend on the story or character…
3. Translates to Pink St. I didn't think it was gangster enough, so I went with the pinyin.
4. There was a reference to Venus that I could not figure out. And when I fine tooth combed every word through MTL it seemed like a legit reference. But no matter how I tried to incorporate it it just sounded weird. 眼前金星乱冒，哼都没哼一声就直挺挺地倒下去了。
5. The pinyin for her name is Moli, and translates to Jasmine, so I decided to go with that for reasons. I also thinks it's a better fit.