The System Forces Me to Be a Scumbag Male Lead [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 8

Sang Xiaoshi froze, his hand pausing on the door.

The house fell quiet for a moment before Sang Wenxuan’s frail voice drifted out. “He should be on his way back from school.”

The moment she said this, Sang Xiaoshi saw a shadow shift through the crack in the door. As the silhouette came into focus, he saw Luo Qifeng grabbing Sang Wenxuan by the hair, dragging her back violently with a face twisted in rage.

“Sang Wenxuan, you’re lying to me now, are you? Who gave you the guts! You think I don’t know what happens just because I’m not home? Sang Xiaoshi has been hanging out with that Shen kid every day lately, hasn’t he? What did I tell you? Didn’t I tell you a thousand times not to let him go out and make friends?”

With her hair pulled back tightly, Sang Wenxuan’s face turned deathly pale from the pain. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes. She closed them, but still managed to whisper, “Kids make friends at school, I can’t stop that. Letting him, letting him have one friend shouldn’t be a big deal. Ah!”

Luo Qifeng threw her violently to the ground and kicked her.

Before Sang Wenxuan could scream again, Luo Qifeng squatted down and clamped a hand firmly over her mouth. “Shh! I told you, the louder you scream, the harder I hit. Don’t look forward to drawing the neighbors over. If anyone does show up, I’ll make sure to beat you to death before they can step through the door.”

Tears rolled continuously from Sang Wenxuan’s clouded eyes, her gaze gradually turning hollow.

Luo Qifeng seemed satisfied. The fury in his voice subsided a bit. “Why can’t you just understand my good intentions? Who am I doing this for by stopping Sang Xiaoshi from making friends? It’s for the two of us! Only if we do what I say will he be completely devoted to us when he grows up, giving us all his money. Don’t you get it?”

Perhaps sensing that Luo Qifeng’s attitude had softened, Sang Wenxuan slowly opened her eyes again. “If we’re good to him, he will still be dutiful.”

“Fool!” Luo Qifeng dragged her up roughly. “Good to him? So that when he grows up, he can brush us off with a few hundred yuan a month like we’re beggars? Wenxuan, I’ve told you before, you don’t have the brains for this, so stop trying to think. Just listen to me in everything—isn’t that better? Huh?”

Sang Wenxuan stared blankly at him, offering no further response.

Enraged by her lack of reaction, Luo Qifeng kicked her again. With her mouth firmly covered, she could only let out a muffled groan.

That muffled groan reached Sang Xiaoshi’s ears at the doorway. Making up his mind, he turned to look around the neighborhood.

It was dinner time, so there weren’t many people outside, but the streets weren’t entirely empty either. If he could just call someone over, even if it was only two or three people.

Sang Xiaoshi slowed his breathing and took a very light step backward.

Right then, a gust of wind caught the door that had only been cracked open, causing it to creak loudly. Inside, Luo Qifeng instantly snapped to alertness. He shielded Sang Wenxuan with his body and helped her onto the sofa. “Who’s there?”

He was caught.

Sang Xiaoshi made a split-second decision. Pretending he had just gotten home, he stepped forward into the house. Holding the door with one hand, he pushed it open while pulling the key out of the lock, looking at the adults in the room with a dazed expression.

Luo Qifeng didn’t notice anything unusual. “Xiaoshi, just got back?”

Sang Xiaoshi looked at him and nodded gently.

Luo Qifeng put on an amiable smile, striding forward in a couple of steps to pull Sang Xiaoshi inside before closing and locking the door. “I heard from your aunt that you made a very close friend at school recently?”

Sang Xiaoshi didn’t answer. Instead, he scanned his surroundings.

Just like every time Luo Qifeng lost his temper in the past, all the living room windows were locked tight, and the curtains were drawn shut. The only light came from the ceiling fixture.

The moment the door locked, Sang Xiaoshi heard the sound of a belt being unbuckled behind him. He instinctively tried to run forward, but it was already too late.

He was lifted off his feet and slammed violently onto the ground.

Luo Qifeng was clearly in a towering rage today; the force of the throw was exceptionally brutal. Sang Xiaoshi landed flat on his back. Even though his backpack cushioned the impact slightly, the sheer pain still left his entire body numb and his head ringing. He lay there paralyzed for a moment, able only to watch as Luo Qifeng approached step by step, holding the unbuckled leather belt.

Exerting all his strength, Sang Xiaoshi could only manage to crawl a tiny fraction of an inch. With no other options left, he looked toward Sang Wenxuan on the sofa.

Sang Wenxuan was leaning against the cushions, clutching her stomach where Luo Qifeng had kicked her. She was staring back at him. But when their eyes met, tears spilled down her face, and she closed her eyes in sheer agony.

“I’m sorry, Xiaoshi, I’m sorry. Just bear it, bear it and it’ll pass.” Her lips moved, producing fractured, barely audible whispers.

Sang Xiaoshi couldn’t hear the words clearly, but he knew exactly what she was saying. This wasn’t the first time he had heard them.

Bear it.

Why should I bear it?

Because Luo Qifeng wouldn’t actually beat him to death.

Luo Qifeng would only whip the belt across his back where his clothes covered the skin. Once the boy started crying from the unbearable pain, the man would stop, squat in front of him, and speak in a painfully earnest, lecturing tone.

“Xiaoshi, your uncle doesn’t want to hit you, but you made a mistake. When you make a mistake, you have to be disciplined. Why can’t you just be good and obedient like your aunt? If your aunt had been the one to secretly open the window so Ge Jiabao could see and call the police, I would have beaten her to death long ago! I only tolerate you over and over because you’re a child. But why are you still so disobedient? Why do you insist on making completely useless friends? Didn’t you learn your lesson from what happened with Ge Jiabao? Do you really think someone will come save you if they see me disciplining you, instead of just running away out of fear?”

“No, your uncle spoke too hastily. It’s not disciplining, it’s educating. You’re still a child, you don’t understand anything, so you don’t see my good intentions. Everything I do is for your own good. Other people have no relation to you—why would they have any good intentions toward you? We’re different; we’re your aunt and uncle, we share your blood. Scolding you and hitting you is all for your own good, do you understand? Huh?”

The belt lashed down once more. “Do you know what you did wrong?”

It came down again. “Do you know what you did wrong?”

If I bear it, will it really pass?

No. If I bear it, this nightmare will never end.

Deep in the dead of night.

The entire town of Xianxi had drifted into sleep.

Thunderous snoring echoed from the master bedroom, easily masking the faint sound of a door being pushed open. Moonlight spilled into the room, illuminating the rough outlines of the space.

On the large bed against the wall, Luo Qifeng lay spread-eagled alone, his snores shaking the room. Clothes and shoes lay strewn across the floor. Next to the bed stood a trash can, already half-full, mostly containing plastic bags and tissues.

Sang Xiaoshi walked over to the bedside, staring expressionlessly at the man under the moonlight. After a brief moment, he lowered his head, his gaze falling onto the trash can.

He clutched a box of matches tightly in his hand.

He knew that if he just struck a match and threw it into the trash can, the fire would catch the plastic bags, spread to the bedsheets, and ignite Luo Qifeng. Luo Qifeng slept heavily. Once he dropped the match, he could immediately run out and lock the door from the outside.

It would take time for Luo Qifeng to wake up from the fire, try to put it out, and then attempt to break down the door or window. That window of time would be more than enough for him to escape with Sang Wenxuan, who slept in the living room. With Luo Qifeng severely burned, the man wouldn’t be able to come after the two of them anytime soon.

As long as he successfully got his aunt out, everything would be over.

Sang Xiaoshi picked up the matchbox and pulled out a single match.

The first strike didn’t catch. The second strike produced a few sparks.

Just as he was about to strike a third time, a large tear spilled from his eye, landing squarely on the match head.

Once everything was over, would he still be able to have lunch with Shen Siyang?

That was a meal Shen Siyang had earned by doing his family’s laundry for an entire week. They had already made a promise to have a very, very big feast, just the two of them.

Tears fell one after another.

Sang Xiaoshi put the matchbox away. He wanted to wait one more day—at least until he and Shen Siyang finished their lunch tomorrow noon.

Leaving Luo Qifeng’s room, Sang Xiaoshi didn’t go back to his own bedroom. Instead, he went downstairs to the courtyard.

Tonight was completely cloudless. Without much effort, he easily spotted the two brightest stars in the night sky.

He squatted on the courtyard steps, tilting his head back as he reached out, metaphorically scooping the two brightest stars into his palm. Then, with an incredibly gentle and protective motion, he drew his hand back and pressed it slowly against his chest.

“Daddy, Mommy, Xiaoshi m-misses you so much,” he whispered, burying his face in his knees. “When, when can Xiaoshi be like, like you two, and turn into a star in the sky?”

The night was entirely windless. Xianxi Town lay enveloped in darkness and silence.

The quiet didn’t last long, however, before a sudden outburst of shouting pierced Sang Xiaoshi’s ears. At this hour, every household had long turned off their lights. Following the sound, Sang Xiaoshi realized it was coming from Ge Jiabao’s house.

The light on the second floor of Ge Jiabao’s home was wide open.

From Sang Xiaoshi’s position, he could only see a heavily agitated shadow moving beneath the light on the second floor. The broken, frantic shouts echoed directly from up there.

Sang Xiaoshi took a brief look, then buried his head back between his knees, having no intention of interfering.

But a moment later, the screaming suddenly grew clear. It was Ge Jiabao’s voice.

“Mom! Help. Help. What do I do? Someone please save my mom!”

The moment he registered the words, Sang Xiaoshi bolted upright. A tearing pain flared across his back from the sudden movement, but he gritted his teeth, endured it, and sprinted toward Ge Jiabao’s house.

Fortunately, the front door on the first floor wasn’t locked.

Sang Xiaoshi dashed up to the second floor in one breath. In the living room, he found Chen Huiju lying on the floor beside the sofa, her eyes rolled back and her breathing faint. Ge Jiabao was crouching next to her, his face a complete mess of tears and snot, frantically and clumsily pressing buttons on a PHS handset.

Hearing the commotion, he looked up. When he saw it was Sang Xiaoshi, his face filled with utter astonishment.

Ignoring his expression, Sang Xiaoshi stepped forward and asked, “Where is your, your dad?”

“I don’t know, hic. I think he went out, hic, drinking with friends.” Ge Jiabao kept hiccupping from his sobbing, lowering his head to keep fumbling with the phone.

Sang Xiaoshi looked down at him. “Who, who are you calling?”

“I’m looking for my dad’s number, hic. This is my mom’s phone, how the hell did she save my dad’s contact name? Waaah.”

Sang Xiaoshi frowned slightly. “Stop, stop looking. Call 120 first.”

Ge Jiabao froze. “How do I call, hic, 120? What do I say when they pick up? How long will they take to get here, hic? Waaah, I don’t know how, what do I do, what do I do?”

Sang Xiaoshi stepped closer and held out his hand. “Give, give the phone to me.”

Ge Jiabao looked at him with clear skepticism. “Do you even know how, hic? But the way you talk.” His mouth opened and closed, but in the end, he didn’t utter the word ‘stutter.’

Sang Xiaoshi’s expression remained calm and steady. “When my daddy, and, and mommy had the, the car accident, I was, I was the one who called 120.”

Ge Jiabao was stunned, his face instantly turning a deep crimson. He stared at Sang Xiaoshi, a flurry of complex emotions flashing through his tear-blurred eyes. Finally, he wiped his tears away forcefully and handed the phone over.