Chapter 43: The Rescue Farce (2)

"Huh?"Everyone was shocked.

"What? Child abuse?" He Junhao stared in disbelief. "Who?"

Xiao He put away his phone, slowly raised his eyes to look at the woman before him, adjusted his glasses, and said calmly: "Naturally, her—"

All eyes turned to the middle-aged woman.

The woman's expression twisted for a moment before she tried to lunge at Xiao He: "What nonsense are you spouting? You bastard—"

The woman moved so fast the nearby firefighters couldn't react in time, but Xiao He simply sidestepped with agile grace, subtly hooking her foot as he moved.

The next moment, the woman crashed heavily onto the ground.

"Oww!"

The woman let out a pig-slaughtering scream as she hit the floor.

"You did that on purpose!"

Xiao He looked utterly innocent: "Is it wrong to dodge?"

His every movement had been flawless. To bystanders, it appeared the woman had recklessly lunged at Xiao He to scratch his face but tripped over her own momentum.

"I'll call the police on you! Oww! It hurts so much!"

As the woman wailed dramatically, Xiao He just shrugged: "Accuse me all you want. Everyone here saw what really happened and can vouch for me."

True enough, the crowd nodded in agreement.

He Junhao seized the moment to add sarcastically: "How hilarious. First you tried to extort us, now you're not even pretending—just straight up faking injuries. Ridiculous."

Yu Minzhen trembled with anger: "Mom! What are you trying to do? Do you actually want to harm Xiao Xuan?"

Faced with this situation where her mother-in-law showed no concern for the child, only shifting blame and slandering their savior, Yu Minzhen felt both humiliated and furious. That thought she'd suppressed earlier resurfaced uncontrollably—

Perhaps she really should get divorced.

Though her husband was usually decent... marriage wasn't just about two people.

Meaningless persistence would only lead to a life of chaos...

Soon, police cars arrived.

Since it was a different jurisdiction, Xiao He didn't recognize any of the officers.

Not that it mattered.

Xiao He went straight to the point with one officer: "Hello, I'm the one who called."

Seeing Xiao He, the lead officer, Officer Yan, frowned briefly before relaxing: "We've received the relevant calls. So you're the young man they said rescued the child?"

En route, they'd learned some details—especially about the rescuer who'd reportedly climbed five stories outside the apartment building barehanded. The officers had been curious about this legendary figure.

Now seeing him, he was indeed a remarkable young man.

"That's me." Xiao He nodded. "Officer, after rescuing the child, she vomited from severe coughing. In her vomit, we found undigested white pills. Combined with her current lethargic state, I suspect she may have been given sleeping pills or similar medication!"

"What?"

"That's bullshit!"

Yu Minzhen and the old woman shouted simultaneously.

Yu Minzhen looked horrified at the listless child curled in her arms, then glared at her mother-in-law: "Xiao Xuan hasn't been sick recently—why would she have pills in her stomach? Weren't those sleeping pills you bought for your insomnia? Have you been drugging my daughter?"

The woman immediately deflected: "I—I didn't! This boy's lying! Those were vitamins! How'd it become sleeping pills? He's spouting nonsense!"

Yu Minzhen scoffed: "You hoarded all those vitamins for yourself before. Since when would you share them with my daughter?"

She had bought vitamins before, but the old woman took them all. When Yu Minzhen confronted her, she'd claimed giving them to Xiao Xuan was wasteful, calling her extravagant, saying children didn't need vitamins to grow up fine. So Yu Minzhen stopped buying them.

Now suddenly the old woman was playing the generous grandmother.

Officer Yan studied their expressions and reached his own conclusions before telling Xiao He: "You're quite observant."

Xiao He smiled modestly: "I'm not familiar with medications. A neighbor who's a nurse noticed the pills."

During the rescue, Xiao He had found the child oddly unresponsive and sluggish. He'd assumed she had mental disabilities until the nurse neighbor spotted the pills in the vomit, revealing the child was drugged, not intellectually challenged.

Initially, Xiao He hadn't thought much of it—adults giving children medicine wasn't unusual. But the old woman's behavior raised suspicions.

As the saying goes: A villain's elaborate schemes can't compare to a fool's sudden inspiration.

Xiao He even suspected the woman might have intentionally brought the battery home to commit murder! To kill the child in the fire!

Though given how she'd lamented the house damage, probably not...

This reminded Xiao He of a news story about nannies giving children sedatives to keep them docile and sleepy, saving on meals since drugged children wouldn't complain. Parents often didn't notice for a long time.

But... this was her own granddaughter. That level of cruelty was unimaginable...

Xiao He's reasoning was sound, and the woman's reactions were telling. The police grew alert while Yu Minzhen insisted on uncovering the truth.

However, with Xiao Xuan unable to speak and her sign language impaired by previous burns, the police could only have Yu Minzhen care for her at the hospital while they collected vomit samples and investigated the burned apartment...

Later developments came from He Junhao.

Because their property management's security had delayed the ambulance, the company compensated residents. Outraged homeowners successfully replaced the management company, finally allowing food delivery to their doors.

Investigations confirmed the old woman hadn't intended to kill Xiao Xuan, but the abuse was undeniable. She'd regularly starved the child at lunchtime, administered her own sleeping pills daily, then sneaked out to play mahjong with friends. Bringing the battery home was pure stupidity that nearly killed her granddaughter.

Upon learning the truth, Yu Minzhen immediately filed for divorce. Her husband failed to dissuade her and reluctantly agreed. Xiao Xuan would live with Yu Minzhen.

As for the grandmother, she faced combined charges of child abuse and arson, carrying one to three years imprisonment.

Hearing this outcome, Xiao He could only say: "Serves her right."