Chapter 874 - 261: [Strange Child]
Chapter Two Hundred Sixty-One [Strange Child] (6200)
This child appeared very frail—Chen Yan had always come across a phrase in books before, "sallow and emaciated".
But in this present era, in the environment of Dragon Country, especially in the cities, it’s rare to see children who, due to difficult living conditions, can’t afford meals and appear sallow and emaciated.
Yet, this child was such that anyone could see the malnutrition at first glance.
With thin arms and legs, and a skinny neck, it seemed like the head was unusually large. The neck was so thin it looked like it couldn’t support the head, appearing as if it might sway any moment.
The clothes on the child, Chen Yan could tell at a glance, were all old clothes, clearly not fitting well, with not only outdated styles but also a serious patchwork feel.
Let’s put it this way, the child’s jacket reminded Chen Yan of a similar one he had in his childhood—the sleeves had already become frayed.
The pants seemed somewhat like a girl’s style, with little pink flowers printed on them.
It looked quite incongruous.
And because the child was already malnourished, with very short hair and clothes that were a mix of male and female styles, Chen Yan couldn’t even tell if this child was a boy or a girl at first glance.
The man Zhao Shanhe was holding was a male, appearing to be in his thirties or forties, looking not particularly wealthy, with a slightly greasy face, thin, his hair messy, and his eyes somewhat dull, with an expression of discontent.
However, the unfriendly gazes gathered around made this man subconsciously less arrogant, yet he still stubbornly glared sideways at Zhao Shanhe.
"What are you doing! Let go! It’s none of your business, why are you butting in! Are you in cahoots with this little beggar, trying to scam me, huh?"
Zhao Shanhe was about to say something, but the assistant next to him shouted loudly: "Don’t falsely accuse us! We saw you were going too far, an adult bullying a child; we couldn’t just sit back and watch!"
Chen Yan glanced at the assistant; this girl had been hypocritical and insincere at the dining table before. He initially thought she would play it safe, but she showed some sense of justice—of course, it’s also possible she misjudged the identities and backgrounds of himself and Zhao Shanhe, and was trying to curry favor. It’s all possible.
However, these aren’t important.
Chen Yan went over and grabbed Zhao Shanhe’s wrist, gently pulling his hand away, while placing his own hand on the man’s shoulder: "What’s with all the shouting? Everyone can see and hear whether you’re in the right or wrong, shouting like this, are you feeling guilty or something?"
Naturally, the man wasn’t alone; there were friends at the table, two men and women came over, they seemed like friends too, dressed quite ordinarily, one of the men appeared embarrassed and didn’t know what to say, but the woman shrieked: "Who’s feeling guilty! You’re the one holding onto us! Looking for trouble, is it?"
"What’s going on?" Chen Yan couldn’t be bothered to deal with that woman, looking at Zhao Shanhe and the assistant.
Zhao Shanhe slowly said: "I just finished using the restroom and came down to buy a pack of cigarettes when I saw this man bullying a child, a grown man like him, pushing the child over and cursing foully, even stepping on the child’s box, breaking it."
Chen Yan raised an eyebrow, surrounding tables of diners were watching the scene unfold, some indifferent, yet there were also people with indignation on their faces, one saying: "That child was here to sell popsicles, selling them to several tables in the shop already, and when they got to this guy, he ate the child’s popsicle and deliberately wouldn’t pay.
Being someone his age and not having a shred of dignity. Eating a child’s popsicle and not paying, is he desperate, or what?"
It was an older sister speaking, from her accent she was likely from the north.
"Who said I didn’t pay!" the man immediately retorted loudly: "A popsicle for a dollar, you think I can’t afford it? I asked for three popsicles, but he only had two left, so there’s one missing!"
As he spoke, he glared venomously at the child squatting on the ground, shouting: "Kid! Tell them, weren’t you missing a popsicle I asked for!"
Chen Yan directly swept the man aside with a palm.
With considerable strength, Chen Yan’s slap sent the man staggering to the side, almost falling upon the table.
Seeing the man’s face flash with rage and shame, about to get up to curse, Chen Yan glared and pointed at him, shouting: "Don’t move if you don’t want a beating!"
Having already shed considerable blood, even though he didn’t want to cause trouble in the real world, the stern shout made the man shiver, showing a face both cowed and angry, yet unable to speak up.
Chen Yan took a breath, walked over and squatted in front of the child, softly asking in a gentle voice: "Little friend, are you hurt anywhere?"
"...No." The child raised their head, eyes dark and large looking at Chen Yan, though the tone wasn’t fearful, vaguely carrying some stubbornness, slowly saying: "I didn’t scam anyone."
"Mm, what exactly happened, tell me... don’t worry, I won’t listen to him, only you!"
Don’t worry, I won’t listen to him, only you—this sentence brought a bit of light into the child’s eyes, which widened as they looked at Chen Yan.
Finally, although the child’s voice wasn’t loud, the tone was stable and firm: "I came here to sell popsicles, we wholesale them from the market by bike, cream old popsicles, sold for one yuan a stick. Mung bean ones, two yuan a stick.