Imagine for a moment. If I endured and stayed silent about both these things, it would be good people like Mr. Li who would probably suffer the injustice.
However, in the afternoon, the nursing home was visited by an unwelcome group, shattering the rare half-day of peace.
"Li Weiguo, where's Li Weiguo? We're looking for Li Weiguo!"
Three men, accompanied by three teenagers about fourteen or fifteen years old, pushed past the security guards. Shouting all the way, they barged into the nursing home and found Li Weiguo, who was playing chess with Qin Mu.
THUD!
The three men, as if by prior agreement, immediately knelt before Li Weiguo.
"You... what are you doing?"
Li Weiguo was also startled by this sudden display.
"Mr. Li, please, we beg you, save us! The court has seized our houses and frozen our bank accounts. We really can't go on living."
"The kids' mother has gone to prison again, and our household suddenly has no source of income. Please, help us..."
"Yes, we've made the kids kneel for you."
Saying this, the men pulled the teenagers beside them, forcing them to kneel to Li Weiguo.
"Quick, kowtow to Grandpa Li and beg him to help us!"
The three children seemed a bit scared of these men and obediently knelt as well.
"What... what are you trying to do..."
Li Weiguo hurriedly put down the chess piece in his hand and tried to help them up. But he lacked the strength, and the three men, all in their prime, stubbornly remained kneeling, refusing to get up.
"Mr. Li, if you don't help us, we won't get up!" their attitude was resolute.
Li Weiguo's face turned crimson under pressure. He could only look to Qin Mu, casting a plea for help, "Xiao Qin, look at this..."
Qin Mu frowned, also setting down his chess piece, and looked at the three men kneeling on the ground.
From their earlier descriptions, he had already guessed their identities. They were likely the husbands from the three families Mr. Li had sponsored—the husbands of Yang Minghui and her two companions. Shen Dao had only called him this morning, and now these people had rushed over to the nursing home in the afternoon, putting on such a desperate act. Moreover, one of these three men was holding a selfie stick with a phone mounted on it, which was clearly recording.
"Are you livestreaming?" Qin Mu asked, looking at the man with the selfie stick.
The man glanced at Qin Mu, then snorted. "What? Can't I livestream myself?"
His name was Sun Chenglin, Yang Minghui's husband. That morning, the court had seized assets from all three families, freezing all their properties and bank accounts. At their wits' end, they had followed the advice of a supposed "expert" from their village to livestream themselves seeking out Li Weiguo again.
However, having learned from their wives' previous disastrous attempt, they were exceedingly respectful this time. There was no causing a scene or acting unruly. They planned to elicit pity by playing the victim, hoping to win the sympathy of online viewers and get them to help persuade Li Weiguo.
"Mr. Li, our three families are penniless now, and the children still need to eat. Can you help us..."
Sun Chenglin forced out a few tears. He held the phone for the livestream with one hand while looking at Li Weiguo.
"We realize our mistake now. Without an education, there's no future; we'll definitely send the kids to school from now on."
"Mr. Li, can you be magnanimous and give us one more chance?"
"The kids' mother is already in prison, but the children are innocent. Please, just help us this one more time..."
No matter how Li Weiguo tugged at them, they remained kneeling, continuously lamenting their current plight to arouse his sympathy.
And Li Weiguo, already 77 years old, witnessed their misery firsthand. With the three children kneeling before him, he couldn't help but soften.
With a conflicted expression, he asked, "What… do you want me to do to help you?"
Sun Chenglin's face lit up instantly. Wiping away the tears he had squeezed from his eyes, he quickly said, "Could you… first give us one hundred thousand yuan?"
Then, realizing he had been a bit too direct, he added, "Mr. Li, rest assured, we will definitely raise the children well, send them to school, and not waste a single yuan of it! I can guarantee that to the audience watching!"
As he spoke, he glanced again at the livestream camera he was holding.
This livestream account was actually borrowed and had a good number of followers. Since the broadcast began, thousands of viewers had already gathered in the stream. This audience was their leverage to pressure Li Weiguo.
In fact, he had originally wanted to get one or two reporters from small tabloids to come, but they couldn't afford them now. They had to settle for the next best thing: using a livestream to add to their leverage.
"One hundred thousand?"
Li Weiguo's eyes bulged after hearing this. He had thought Sun Chenglin was just asking for a few thousand yuan to help out. He hadn't expected such an outrageous demand—another one hundred thousand! Moreover, the word Sun Chenglin used was "give," not "borrow"!
"The one hundred thousand is for our three families, Mr. Li. We can assure you, we won't waste it!" Sun Chenglin nodded eagerly.
Then he quickly added, "Also… the children haven't seen their mother for two days and are very scared. Could we trouble you to issue a letter of criminal leniency? I've asked around; if you provide it, her sentence can be reduced by 40%, and the children will be able to see their mother sooner. The children are so young to be without their mother's care; it's just too pitiful…"
As he spoke, he turned to the camera again, putting on a pitiable act.
Li Weiguo looked at the three kneeling men and the three children, his expression wavering, clearly conflicted. Sun Chenglin and the others' actions had put him in an incredibly awkward position; helping felt wrong, but so did not helping.
HEH—
While Li Weiguo hesitated, Qin Mu, standing to the side, let out a short, exasperated laugh at their begging.
That's right. In his eyes, Sun Chenglin and his companions were simply here to beg. The moment they arrived, they knelt before Li Weiguo, without a shred of self-respect as men. Not only that, but they had come as a group, bringing their children to kneel with them, completely lacking the responsibility a father should have. Furthermore, one of them was holding a phone, continuously livestreaming, playing the victim the entire time, attempting to use public opinion to pressure and blackmail Mr. Li. The moment they opened their mouths, it was to demand money. This behavior... was worse than that of actual beggars. At least beggars asked for alms forthrightly, dependent on the charity of others.
"It's true what they say, 'Like attracts like,'" Qin Mu mused, looking at the three men. He had just ensured Yang Minghui and her two companions were imprisoned, and now Sun Chenglin and his group were eagerly lining up to follow in their footsteps.