Yuanyuan rested her little fluffy head against Yu Jinxiao’s neck, her soft hair tickling him. The man, sensing the tense atmosphere had dissipated, grabbed his three sons, apologized once again to Yu Jinxiao and Yuanyuan, and quickly made his exit.

With Yuanyuan in his arms, Yu Jinxiao had no further interest in pursuing the matter. He was about to take the children back for some fruit when suddenly a loud shout pierced the air.

Shen Ji’s uncle was swinging a willow branch, hitting Shen Ji with full force. The thin fabric of Shen Ji’s clothes did nothing to cushion the blows. He stood there, cold and unmoving, his expression calm, as if no amount of pain could bring him down.

The cheerful smile on Yuanyuan’s face faded. Her eyes reddened, and she nearly burst into tears. “Don’t hit brother Shen Ji, please, stop hitting him!” she cried out.

Though Shen Ji seemed indifferent to his own suffering, the sound of Yuanyuan’s pitiful sobs made his eyebrows twitch involuntarily.

To Yu Jinxiao, it didn’t matter much if someone else was being beaten, but seeing his daughter cry so heart-wrenchingly soured his mood. And it wasn’t just him-Yu Mingxi and Yu Yingze were both grimacing as if they were the ones being hit.

Having been pampered their whole lives, they rarely even got scolded, let alone hit with something like a whip. Just watching was enough to make them wince.

“That’s enough,” Yu Jinxiao said, holding Yuanyuan with one arm while his free hand firmly grabbed the branch mid-swing. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Shen Ji’s uncle was aware of Yu Jinxiao’s wealth but had no idea just how powerful he truly was. Coming from completely different worlds, some information simply didn’t reach him.

Not recognizing Yu Jinxiao, the uncle’s deep-rooted resentment towards wealthy people flared up again. He figured his life was already miserable, so he had nothing to lose. “I’m disciplining my kid! What’s it to you?” he snapped, glaring with bloodshot eyes as he tried to yank the branch free.

He pulled once, but it didn’t budge. Furious, he yanked several more times, only for Yu Jinxiao to suddenly let go. The uncle, thrown off balance, tumbled to the ground, rolling several times.

“Is this child even yours?” Yu Jinxiao calmly sized Shen Ji up and down. “Doesn’t seem like it.” His voice dripped with thinly veiled mockery, suggesting the uncle was too ugly to have fathered someone like Shen Ji.

The uncle, flustered, stammered, “I-I’m not his father, but he lives with us. I have every right to discipline him.”

Yu Jinxiao, notorious for his temper, held back out of respect for Yuanyuan’s friendship with Shen Ji. “Oh? And what exactly did he do to deserve this ‘discipline’?”

The uncle stumbled over his words. “He’s been misbehaving!”

“What kind of misbehavior?”

“Getting into fights…”

“But it was clear that it was my son who got into a fight?” Yu Jinxiao’s questions came one after another, leaving the uncle speechless.

“He… he… I’ll hit him if I want to! I provide for him, so why shouldn’t I discipline him?” the uncle blurted out, raising his voice in frustration, trying to sound righteous.

Yu Jinxiao calmly nodded, raising Yuanyuan’s wrist and showing her watch. “Perfect. Everything you just said has been recorded. Hitting a child for no reason qualifies as abuse, and we now have evidence: both audio and video.”

The uncle’s face drained of color as panic set in. “???!!!”