Chapter 135 The Shameless Son (ETL) Part 1
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Chapter 135 How Heavy Are the Shackles of Morality?
Upon hearing Gu Ye’s words, the couple stared in disbelief. The father asked in an agitated tone, “Why do you say our child has been wronged?”
The couple’s eyes were filled with excitement, anticipation, disbelief, and even a hint of fear. Furthermore, they hadn’t yet grasped what had just happened about their inexplicable movement from outside the railing to inside. Their originally pale faces flushed crimson with emotion.
Gu Ye sensed something was wrong with the family. “You were trying to commit suycide, weren’t you? What injustice could make you take a 4 or 5-year-old child with you to your death?”
Hearing that question, the couple’s faces were filled with despair. It could be seen from their expressions that they couldn’t go on living in a situation that was too complicated to describe. Only the child continued playing with his toy airplane, seemingly oblivious to the adults’ conversation, not even looking up.
Gu Ye silently observed the child; something was wrong with him.
Xie Cheng urged, “Tell us what happened. Maybe we can help you. It’s the New Year, don’t try to keel yourself.”
The child’s mother said desperately, “We don’t want to cause any more trouble. Meeting kind people like you lets us know there are still good people in the world, it is enough.”
“No, please.” Gu Ye said earnestly, “I can see your child is burdened with injustice. What is driving you to the brink of despair? I can read fortunes, so tell me. I’ll help if I can, or you guys can seek death later if I can’t. This child is so young, he doesn’t even know what life or death is. Can you bear to ruin his future?”
Hearing this, the child’s mother looked at her child, her eyes reddening. “Who could bear to take their child to die? It’s just that life is truly unbearable.”
After crossing the overpass, there was a row of small shops below. Xie Cheng pulled the couple and their child off the bridge. “Let’s go somewhere where we won’t disturb other pedestrians. Now that we’ve come this far, let’s talk this over properly.”
At the shop downstairs, Gu Ye bought a few bottles of hot drinks and handed one to the child. Unlike most children who would show interest in drinks upon seeing them, the child didn’t even look at them and continued fiddling with his toy airplane.
Puzzled, Gu Ye asked the parent, “This child… ?”
At this point, the child’s parents both sighed. His mother said wearily, “You’ve noticed it too. He’s different from other children. He has autism. He doesn’t like to talk, he doesn’t want to express himself, and he’s always immersed in his own world. A year ago, he threw a wooden building block from our apartment on the 20th floor. That’s considered a high-rise littering. Unfortunately, it hit and killed an old man who was collecting trash below.”
Gu Ye raised an eyebrow; he didn’t see any trace of this karmic connection on the child’s face.
The child’s father continued, “We’re not scoundrels. We’ll definitely compensate for what our child caused. The old man’s son immediately contacted us, wanting to settle privately.”
At this point, Gu Ye and Xie Cheng were quite impressed; the couple had a sense of responsibility.
The child’s father gave a bitter laugh. “I never imagined this compensation would turn into such a never-ending mess. Our child’s illness has cost a fortune each month for treatment. Fortunately, my husband and I have good jobs and earn some money, and our parents also helped us with the down payment on our house. We managed to raise our child and pay the mortgage, and we were still getting by. But for this compensation, we’ve gone bankrupt. We even gave him our house, but it’s still not enough.”
The child’s mother chimed in, “That man is a thug. He comes to us whenever he’s short of money. They have a child too, about the same age as ours. Whenever he comes asking for money, he brings his wife and child with him. They sit in our house and won’t leave, expecting food, drinks, and to be waited on hand and foot, treating me like a maid. My husband and I still need to pay for our child’s medical treatment. We gave them our house, and we still have to rent a place to live. I don’t work; where would we get that much money?”
Xie Cheng frowned and asked, “Logically speaking, the compensation should be more than enough. But you just give it to them whenever they come asking for it?”
The child’s mother said bitterly, “We also don’t want to give it to him, but if we don’t, the man makes a scene. His wife will hold their child and block our way. They will cry and yell at us, saying our child killed her husband’s father. We either pay with our lives or we give money, but no amount of money can compensate for a life.”
“We really have no right to complain because that old man did died because of our child. Our neighbors will point fingers at us and gossip, and we can’t stand that man frequently causing commotion like this. Every time they make a scene, our child sees it. Every time, they point at our child and say he’s the murderer. To stop our child from seeing this, we have to give the money to him. This family of three is making our lives unlivable.”
“What’s even more disheartening is that this incident was shared online. Everyone is saying we have to take responsibility. They said the child will carry the burden of a life lost, and that compensation is the right thing to do. Some even say that if a child commits a crime, it’s because the parents didn’t raise them properly, and they should pay with their lives. It’s not that we didn’t compensate; we did!”
“Our neighbors all look at us strangely. People online say we gave too little; how can a house repay an old man’s life? But we really have nothing left. Even if we did, it wouldn’t be enough, as this family keeps looking for us every day. Before the Lunar New Year, the money they used to celebrate the new year was from us. That money was secretly given to us by my in-laws without my brother-in-law’s knowledge; it was our family’s New Year’s money, and they took it all.”
“To avoid them, we’ve moved three times, but each time our location would be exposed online. People on the internet said we moved to avoid paying money and shirking responsibility. The old man’s son even caused trouble at our workplace, resulting in us losing our jobs. And now, our child’s autism is worse than before; he doesn’t say a word all day. We don’t have money for his medical treatment anymore. We can’t keep asking our parents for money; they’re getting old. We’re ashamed to be a burden on them, so it’s better to end it all, then no one would be a burden.”
“Yesterday, the old man’s son complained that we didn’t give him enough money for the New Year. The whole family came again, this time with reporters.”
The child’s mother’s eyes were red-rimmed, but she couldn’t even cry anymore. She said desperately, “It’s not that we don’t want to compensate, it’s that we have nothing left to compensate. Everyone online is criticizing us. I really wanted to give my life to them in place of my son, to beg them to let him go. But then I thought, what will happen to my child if I die? He can’t even express his own needs.”
“My husband and I thought about it, and since we can’t go on living, we’ll take our child with us and end it all.”
“Yes, we had no other choice but to resort to this drastic measure. Everyone who knows about this matter has placed us under moral shackles, and it is making it hard for us to breathe. Our child has unintentionally harmed someone, and now others can’t even tolerate our existence!”
Xie Cheng couldn’t take it anymore. “Isn’t this moral blackmail? If there had been no compensation, making a scene would have been understandable. But compensation has already been paid, and to this extent, that’s already acceptable. Why force someone to pay with their life?”
“This isn’t just forcing the child to pay with his life; it’s forcing this entire family of three to pay with their lives. No one could endure this kind of moral shackle.”
Gu Ye sighed helplessly. Judging from the couple’s behavior, they were both kind-hearted. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have given their house to the other party as compensation. Setting aside the fact that he didn’t see the karmic link in the child, even if the child really did do it, he was only 4 years old at the time and had a medical condition. Though he accidentally threw something that killed the elderly person, the parents’ compensation to this extent is already very sincere.
This kind of thing isn’t unheard of. Before high-rise littering was a criminal offense, many people would only give a few hundred thousand yuan as compensation, and some didn’t even dare to step forward to take responsibility.
Xie Cheng said irritably, “If it is true that this witless child did accidentally cause the old man’s death and a life must be exchanged for a life, are we really going to keel this four-year-old child?”
Gu Ye doesn’t have anything to say. Everyone had placed a heavy moral burden on this family of three, a burden they couldn’t bear. This wasn’t just about the child paying with his life; it was about the entire family paying with theirs. The old man’s son dared to cause such a scene because he saw the support he received online. The more this happened, the more he dared to cause trouble; the more trouble he caused, the more afraid the family of three became. Moreover, adding the pressure from the online and surrounding public opinion, the family of three had no choice but to give him money. Giving money only emboldened the other party to demand it, creating a vicious cycle.
Gu Ye searched online and found that such a thing did indeed happen. The title of the article was: [Child Throws Object from High-Rise Building, Killing Elderly Person—Whose Fault Is It?]
Taking a glance at the news, Gu Ye confirmed that the elderly man had indeed been killed by the falling object. The incident was still attracting significant attention online, with only a very small minority saying that the compensation was more than enough. But those who said this were mostly criticized by netizens.
The comments were largely like this: [A life for a life. Failing to educate such a young child is the adults’ fault; compensation is justified.]
[What were the parents doing? Why didn’t they install a net at such a height?]
[If you ask me1, it’s all the parents’ fault. The child doesn’t know anything, but how about his parents?]
[The old man was already in a terrible situation, collecting garbage for a living. Now, he’s been crushed to death. Who can he complain to?]
[It’s the parents’ fault. This child will carry the crime of a murderer for the rest of his life! The child is so pitiful, ruined by his parents!]
[The father is to blame for not teaching his son properly; the parents should bear legal responsibility.]
[Previously, throwing objects from high-rise buildings was simply considered a sign of poor manners, lack of upbringing, and a lack of public morality. Now, throwing objects from high-rise buildings is a criminal offense, with the most serious cases prosecuted as intentional homicide. Such a young child can’t take responsibility, so can’t the parents take responsibility? Can compensation really pay for an elderly person’s life? Money is worthless! Arrest his father!]
…
Seeing this, Gu Ye didn’t bother scrolling down further; it was mostly the same story. Gu Ye told the couple, “I’m very sure your child is innocent. He didn’t kill anyone. So stop seeking death.”
The child’s father anxiously asked, “How do you know it wasn’t him?”
Xie Cheng asked, “How are you sure it was your child?”
The child’s mother sighed, “The toy that killed the old man was our child’s. We recognized it.”
Gu Ye frowned and asked, “Who was taking care of the child at the time? Not you two, right?”
“It’s the nanny. We both have to work to earn money and don’t have time to take care of him, so we hired a nanny based on someone’s recommendation.”
“Where is the nanny?”
“That nanny has already left. When we got the call and came back, she was already downstairs with our child. At that time, his condition wasn’t so serious yet. After we confirmed that the toy belonged to our child, we asked him if he had thrown it, and the child nodded in front of everyone.”
“And so, the nanny left the next day due to us being demanded compensation. We cannot afford to hire a nanny anymore. She even asked for 6 months’ extra salary before leaving. She said she knew about the incident and that our sudden dismissal made it difficult for her to find work. If we didn’t pay her, she threatened to expose the matter to reporters. We didn’t want to be bothered by too many people or affect our child, which is why we agreed to settle out of court with that family without calling the police.”
“We planned to move after paying compensation (to the old man’s son) and focus on our child’s treatment. Our child had almost recovered by then. Autism is so difficult to cure, and we didn’t want all our efforts to be in vain. When the nanny demanded money, we signed a contract and gave her hush money to keep quiet. I never imagined it would turn out like this.”
Xie Cheng scoffed, “That nanny is a real piece of work. Didn’t you suspect she did it, and the child took the blame?”
“We considered it, but our child wouldn’t talk, and we had no evidence at all. There were so many people around that he was scared and confessed while crying. When we got back and asked him again, he wouldn’t say a word.”
Looking at the child, he was still playing with his toy airplane. He is having a great time with a smile on his face. He didn’t seem to hear a word the adults were saying.
Seeing his son like this, his father was both anxious and desperate. He angrily shouted, “Tell me, did you throw it? What happened? Who threw it?!”
The child only glanced at his father and continued playing with his toy airplane.
His father could no longer control his emotions and broke down, saying, “Say something! Tell Dad! Our family is going to die! Just say one thing, Dad is begging you!”
Startled by his father’s uncontrollable emotions, the child suddenly burst into tears. He angrily threw his toy airplane on the ground, and then closed his eyes and wailed. Seeing this, the father’s eyes reddened, and he hugged the child without words.
The mother held the child in her arms, patting his back. She comforted him while saying despairingly to Gu Ye and the others, “That’s just how he is, completely absorbed in his own world. If anyone interrupts him, he’ll cry and throw a tantrum. He needs to be hand-fed, and sometimes he doesn’t even tell us when he needs to go to the toilet. No matter how many times we ask, he always reacts the same way.”
Gu Ye nodded and advised, “Alright, don’t make things difficult for the child. He’s sick; nothing you say will help. Let him receive proper treatment.”
Just then, Xie Cheng’s phone rang, and he saw it was someone from the group chat calling. The moment he answered the call, he heard a commotion on the other end.
People in the group were shouting, “Where are you two? Have you disappeared?”
“Gu Ye, you didn’t get kidnapped by an old hag again, did you? Where were you taken? Just say something. Even if it’s the Spider Cave2, we will come and get you!”
“Hurry up! We’re waiting for you two!”
Annoyed by the noise, Xie Cheng held the phone away from his ear and explained, “We ran into some trouble on the way. You guys eat first, we’ll be there in a bit.”
“Waiting for you! Hurry up!”
Xie Cheng looked at Gu Ye, “What do we do?”
Raw word count: 7076 (whole chapter)
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