Just as Ling Qi was about to compromise, the little child who had been thrown to the ground managed to crawl back up.
The child was wearing a mecha suit, which provided an extra layer of protection, so the kick didn’t directly hit him. However, he was kicked quite far, so he still felt a bit uncomfortable.
“Uncle Ling Qi, don’t go!”
Shaking his head inside the mecha suit, the little child charged forward again. This time, he grabbed onto Ling Qi’s leg. With his own weight combined with the weight of the mecha suit, he exerted considerable force.
But Ling Qi didn’t expect the child to actually make him stay.
He struggled to control his emotions, making his voice sound as calm as possible.
“Ningning, listen to me.”
Ling Qi comforted the child. He had his arms restrained and was in a miserable and humiliating position, but his tone with the child was gentle. “Uncle is just stepping out for a moment and will come back soon.”
“You stay at home and wait for Daddy. If Daddy doesn’t come back, you can call your brother and ask him to come pick you up.”
Ling Qi tried to gently persuade the young child, attempting to get him to let go of his leg.
But the stubborn child held onto his leg and refused to let go no matter what.
“Uncle Ling Qi, don’t go.”
The child almost exerted all his strength. Even though he was small, he could sense the adults’ emotions very well. He could tell that Uncle Ling Qi was clearly scared right now.
Although the young child was also afraid, he was now a little warrior of the Empire in his mecha suit!
He couldn’t let the frightened Uncle Ling Qi be taken away.
The young child’s obstruction made the adult holding onto Ling Qi lose patience.
With the man’s silent permission, the child, along with his mecha suit, was lifted up.
“What an annoying kid.”
It was a completely new experience for the child, who was always praised for his cuteness, to encounter such malicious words spoken by a stranger. “If you don’t stop being insolent, you will end up lying in the trash can.”
After the stranger finished speaking, he threw the little child out again.
The rainbow mini mecha crashed to the ground, making a “screech” sound of friction.
The little child didn’t care if he was hurt or not. He charged forward again.
Thrown and hit time after time, soon the rainbow mini mecha started showing cracks.
The little child knew that his mecha was expensive, so he was always careful when wearing it. He had been taking mecha lessons for so long and had never damaged his mini mecha.
Every time he finished using the mecha, he would come back and, together with his dad, apply oil to it.
Now, looking at the cracked mini mecha, the child was stunned.
“Ningning’s... mecha.”
The beloved mecha of the child was broken, and his favorite Uncle Ling Qi was going to be taken away.
This enormous blow made the child, who had never experienced such a setback since birth, completely unable to hold back.
His mecha’s head was split open, and his chubby face was partially exposed.
Ling Qi saw his chubby face, the chubby face blushing, tears welling up in his eyes, but his expression showed no sign of retreat.
“Ningning will fight against all of you!”
Transformed into a little bull calf, the child charged at the man and used both his hands and feet to entangle him, then began punching and kicking.
However, the strength of a young child and an adult was vastly different.
It didn’t take too long.
Ling Qi was quickly shoved into the car, and the group got in and left.
As for the child lying on the ground, his mecha was in tatters, with cuts on his hands and knees. Pieces of mecha debris accidentally scratched his eye, leaving a bloodstain beneath his eyelid.
Just a bit more distance, and one of his eye would have been scratched.
The little child watched the direction the car was leaving in and wanted to crawl up and chase after it. But by the time he managed to get up, the car had already disappeared.
Unable to protect Uncle Ling Qi, the little child hobbled forward for two steps and then burst into tears with a “wah.”
He continued to run and chase until the neighbor he passed by noticed him and stopped him.
“Ningning, what’s wrong with you?!”
The neighbor grandfather was shocked to see the pitiful little child. He asked in surprise, “Where is your father?”
After Zhan Xi and Ningning, the father and son, moved to this street, the neighbors didn’t pay much attention to them initially.
But the little child had a very enthusiastic personality. He used to go door to door and give them steamed buns. The little guy was cute and spoke well, so the neighbors had a decent impression of their family.
They knew the family’s financial situation wasn’t great, but Zhan Xi, the father, was a hardworking person. Not only did he keep the little child clean, but he also taught him manners and made him likable.
Now, the neighbor grandfather looked at the pitiful little child and didn’t know how to approach him.
He walked up, disregarding his old arms and legs, and carefully picked up the young child.
“Come, let’s go inside and find your father.”
“Wuwuwu, Dad’s not home.”
When Dad left, he took the star device with him.
There were two star devices in their home, one belonging to Ling Qi and the other to Dad. Usually, if Dad took the star device, he would play with Uncle Ling Qi’s.
The neighbor grandfather couldn’t find Zhan Xi in the yard. He thought for a moment, then went back home and brought his own old-age phone.
“Ningning, do you know your father’s star device number?”
The neighbor grandfather handed the star device to the little child, wanting him to dial his father’s number.
The little child, with his messy curly hair, had a sharp mind.
He raised the back of his hand and wiped away his tears. Instead of calling his father first, he dialed Uncle Lulu’s number.
Uncle Lulu was the emperor of the Empire, and when he held the little child in his arms and comforted him, he instructed him that if he was ever bullied, he should find Uncle Lulu.
When the little child called, Ludwig’s family of three happened to be having dinner. Upon hearing the crying of the little child and the repeated mention of “Uncle Ling Qi has been taken away,” Ludwig, who hadn’t finished his meal, immediately stood up.
Ai Wei couldn’t go out, so she could only watch her husband and son leave at the same time.
She was extremely worried and urged the father and son from behind, “Check if Ningning is injured. I’ll call Dr. Jean in advance.”
As the father and son left in the car, in the courtyard, after the little child finished his call with Uncle Lulu, he called his father.
Meanwhile.
Sitting in the car, Ling Qi recalled the scene of the little child being beaten just now, and his fingernails almost pierced his palms. “Coleridge, do you know who the little child you bullied just now is?”
Coleridge was the man who had taken the lead just now, and at the same time, he was Ling Qi’s father.
Upon hearing Ling Qi’s question, Coleridge chuckled lightly.
There was disdain in his eyes as he responded to Ling Qi’s words, “I’ve seen that little child before, picking up trash on the side of the road with a bag. So, what? Are you trying to tell me that I can’t even handle a child who picks up trash?”
Coleridge’s sarcastic words fell into Ling Qi’s ears, making him smile instead of getting angry.
He stared directly at Coleridge, enunciating each word, “Coleridge, you better remember what you just said.”
That little child, who sometimes picked up trash, was someone no one in the entire empire could afford to provoke.
Ling Qi looked at Coleridge, and in his mind, he could already imagine the outcome for this man.
If Coleridge had only harmed him today, with Coleridge’s noble status, he probably wouldn’t face any consequences.
However, he should never have done what he just did. He hurt the little child cherished by the imperial family.
On a narrow road.
Ludwig and Huo Lin had already arrived. They hastily got out of the car, and what caught their eyes upon arrival was the wreckage of mechas at the entrance.
There were even a few drops of blood on the ground, mixed with dust. It was difficult to notice them casually, but with just a glance, they clearly captured these traces.
The broken mechas and blood drops were particularly glaring in the eyes of Ludwig and his son.
Huo Lin clenched his fist and rushed into the house.
The lonely little child was sitting on a stone in the courtyard at this moment. Fatty, who had just seen the child’s condition, was both angry and anxious, circling around the child.
The child held a star machine in one hand and clenched the other hand into a chubby little fist, wiping away tears.
But there were wounds on the back of his hand and under his eyes. The moist tears made the wounds sting, and the child’s sobbing became even more pitiful.
Huo Lin, who witnessed this scene, felt his heart ache.
He walked a few steps over and squatted in front of the child.
“Ningning, what happened?”
The neighbor grandpa went to get medicine for the child and is not here at the moment. The child, still wearing tattered mechas, immediately found a reliance when he saw his brother.
He threw himself into his brother’s arms and tightly hugged his brother’s neck. In his brother’s embrace, the little child burst into tears.
When Ludwig walked in, although he was mentally prepared, he still didn’t expect the child to look like this now—
His curly hair was messy, and his fair and soft bun face was stained with dirt, making him look dirty. There was a small wound under his eye, and his hand, holding onto his brother, had wounds on the back.
While crying, the little child intermittently said, “Ningning is stupid and couldn’t protect Uncle Ling Qi!”
“Teacher Rick taught me. But Ningning still couldn’t beat the bad guys.”
“Wuwuwu, the bad person lifted Ningning up and beat him, it hurts so much.”
Every sentence from the little child caused the anger of the Imperial Emperor and the Crown Prince to soar.
Huo Lin didn’t know how many injuries the little child had. He suppressed his emotions and used all his restraint to comfort the little child, saying, “Ningning, be good, stop crying, let’s go back to the palace.”
“Uncle Ling Qi, I want Uncle Ling Qi.”
“I will send someone to find Uncle Ling Qi.”
Huo Lin reassured him in a low voice, “Don’t worry, Uncle Ling Qi will definitely come back.”
Huo Lin softly pacified the young child. After calming the child’s emotions, he looked at his approaching father, hesitated for a few seconds, and handed the child to his father.
Ludwig calmly took the young child into his arms, but the veins on the back of his hand bulged.
He didn’t have the slightest repulsion towards the dirty little child; instead, he kissed his dirty little face.
“Alright, with Uncle Lulu here, you don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
The little child was taken to the palace, and the neighbor grandfather who came to deliver medicine felt relieved when he saw someone picking up the child.
But when he thought about the figure he saw outside the window just now, he felt that the other looked somewhat familiar.
“Ah, I’m getting old. My eyesight is getting worse.”
The neighbor grandfather slightly bent his body and returned to his own home.
In the car heading towards the palace.
Ludwig originally wanted to remove the mecha from the child, but the space in the car was small, and the mecha’s shell was hard, making it difficult for him to operate.
There was no choice but to wait until they returned to take off the child’s mecha.
Arriving at the palace.
Ai Wei and the butler, seeing such a pitiful little child, were both anxious and furious.
Andrei, the usually good-tempered butler, couldn’t help but say, while watching the emperor remove the tattered mecha armor from the child, “This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!”
Ai Wei was also infuriated. She pressed her temples and asked, “Ludwig, did you send someone to investigate? Find out who did this.”
Ludwig responded with a grunt, “Yes, I’ve already sent someone to investigate.”
He was also eager to know who had the audacity to make their child look like this.
In the palace, comforted by Uncle Lulu and Aunt Ai Wei themselves, and having been given a bottle of milk by his older brother, the little child slowly emerged from the previous distress.
The child had already been weaned for a long time, but today he looked so pitiful that everyone in the palace urgently found milk powder for him to prepare a bottle and calm him down.
“Uncle Jean, is Ningning going to become handicapped?”
The child in his brother’s arms, holding a bottle of milk, leaned against his brother’s chest, sniffled, and asked Dr. Jean, who was examining him.
