Zhao Mingwang saw the scars on Yongzi's arm and was stunned. He didn't take back his hand and patted Yongzi on the shoulder.

"Don't be afraid, brother, since you paid me the protection fee, I will protect you from now on! From today on, you are my little brother!

The elder brother will not hit you. If someone bullies you, just tell me, do you understand?"

Zhao Mingwang tried his best to speak to Yongzi in a cheerful voice, hoping to give this scarred and gloomy little boy a little encouragement.

Yongzi just remained silent.

Zhao Mingwang stretched out his hand to pull him up and asked, "What's your name?"

Yongzi didn't say anything, just looked at him.

After looking at each other in silence for a long time, as if knowing that Zhao Mingwang would not hit him, Yongzi finally said: "Can I leave?"

The voice is subtle and as quiet as a mosquito.

Zhao Mingwang didn't hesitate anymore for a while, and just nodded to him blankly.

Standing there, Zhao Mingwang watched Yongzi's short and thin figure walking further and further away, feeling the uncomfortable touch of the crumpled banknotes on his hand, and couldn't recover for a long time.

That day, Zhao Mingwang showed the 20 cents he collected in protection fees to his "big brothers". The eldest brothers laughed at him in a joking way. Not only did they not take away his 20 cents, they also threw him 20 yuan.

Money, let him buy some milk to drink.

The matter of collecting protection money just dropped, and I don't know if he passed the test.

But that night, Zhao Mingwang, who had been idle and running errands for his elder brothers, suddenly felt something different.

Those different things may be sympathy, protection, or responsibility.

From that day on, Zhao Mingwang went to the elementary school gate to wait for Yongzi every day, waited for him to finish school, and followed him to take him home.

At first, when Yongzi saw him, he was afraid of being beaten by him. If he had any money, he would take the initiative to give it to him.

Later, after getting acquainted with him, he seemed to be sure that Zhao Mingwang would not hit him, so he gradually stopped paying for it.

Zhao Mingwang charged him more than five yuan one after another, all of which were saved from 10 to 20 cents.

To collect protection money, you have to protect others, so when Zhao Mingwang saw other senior students bullying Yongzi, he went up and beat those people away.

"Why don't you resist?"

Zhao Mingwang hated the fact that when Yongzi was bullied, he didn't know how to fight back, so he just held his head and was beaten.

"You are a boy. When you grow up, you will be a man. You must be braver!"

The nickname Yongzi came from here, because Zhao Mingwang wanted him to be braver, so he was called that from now on.

That time, Yongzi was no longer silent.

He said: "You don't understand. If you fight back after being beaten, the subsequent beating will hurt even more."

Zhao Mingwang was stunned again.

He didn't know how many beatings Yongzi had to take before summing up this experience.

After that, Zhao Mingwang, besides hanging out with the big brothers in society, spent the rest of his time looking for Yongzi, squatting in front of Yongzi's elementary school and on the way to and from school, just to protect his younger brother from being bullied as a big brother.

This situation lasted for more than a year.

Over the past year or so, Zhao Mingwang and Yongzi have become familiar with each other.

Zhao Mingwang knew that the protection money that Yongzi handed over to him was all earned by picking up trash. He also knew that Yongzi was often beaten, bullied by senior gangsters, and even beaten by his father when he returned home.

Zhao Mingwang finally solved the problem of the senior students bullying Yongzi. After all, the gangsters in elementary school must be afraid of the gangsters in society.

After Zhao Mingwang found those little gangsters and warned them, no one in the school bullied Yongzi anymore.

But Zhao Mingwang couldn't solve the problem of Yongzi being beaten when he returned home.

At that time, Zhao Mingwang didn't know there was a word called "domestic violence."

Yongzi's father drinks alcohol and gambles.

He lost all his family's money in gambling, owed a lot of debt, and had no money to support his family. He even took Yongzi's money from picking up trash to gamble.

He also suffered from serious alcoholism. He often drank to the point of being extremely drunk and would hit people when he drank too much.

He was in debt and beaten. After being beaten for several years, Yongzi couldn't bear it anymore. Anyway, he ran away without getting a marriage certificate. While he was still young, he went on a blind date again and found a new family.

After his wife ran away, Yongzi's father became even more emotionally unstable. He went from beating someone up when he was drunk to starting a fight at the first sight of disagreement.

Yongzi usually goes to school, but one time the injury left by Yongzi's father beating him was seen by the teacher, and the teacher called the police directly.

Facing the police's questioning, Yongzi's father stiffened his neck and emphasized over and over again: "This is my family's family matter! It's none of your business if I teach my son a lesson!"

The Women's Federation learned about the situation and tried to mediate it, but it was of no use.

After the police left, Yongzi's father beat Yongzi again, with a stick, and almost beat him to death.

"You little brat! What's wrong with learning is to learn to be a complainer, isn't it? As expected of your mother! It's not a good thing!

If you dare to complain next time, I will beat you to death!"

At a young age, Yongzi didn't understand the law or the ways of the world. After the police came and left, he only understood that not to ask for help from outside is to help himself.

Yongzi's father also learned to be more cunning after that time. When he hit Yongzi, he would hit him only on the parts of his body that were blocked by his clothes, or he would find ways to torture him that were very painful but the scars would not be obvious.

Burn cigarette butts, let him eat cigarette ashes, prick him with needles, put ground pebbles in his shoes...

Torturing his own son seemed to bring a strange pleasure to the man whose soul was captured by pornography, gambling and drugs. This pleasure made him more and more immersed, and also made Yongzi sink more and more into the mire, almost suffocating.

Zhao Mingwang originally felt that he was already in a miserable state. He had no parents but no parents. He had to support himself and could not even go to school.

After meeting Yongzi, Zhao Mingwang learned that there were children worse off than him.

Having parents is worse than not having them at all, both body and mind will suffer.

Zhao Mingwang wanted to help Yongzi and free him from his suffering, but there was no good way.

He himself is still a minor, and he can barely support himself, living as a dog for the public. What he can do to help Yongzi is to give him some of his own lunch and dinner, and even a hiding place to prevent him from going home.

Can't find anything at all.

The most important thing is that Yongzi will not try if he is not guaranteed to escape completely.

Otherwise, if you are caught, you may be beaten to death.

Just like that, Yongzi was numb, Zhao Mingwang was anxious, time passed by little by little, and another year passed.

Until one day, Zhao Mingwang went to the school gate to wait for Yongzi after school as usual, but no one was there.
Chapter completed!