What did he need Yu Li to slave away for? Being his girlfriend would be more like it.

But this wasn’t the time for such thoughts. Shao Guangrong pulled Yu Li up: “Hurry, help me get your mother into the car. Get some clothes to cover her wound, quick, quick!”

They couldn’t panic – panic would ruin everything. They needed someone to take charge.

Yu Li had lost her ability to think clearly, but she knew Shao Guangrong was a good person who wouldn’t harm her. She followed his every instruction.

Shao Guangrong had already noticed the foul smell. Yu Li’s mother was unclothed; Yu Li wrapped the blanket tightly around her.

As they carried her, they almost tripped. Shao Guangrong paused: “Who’s that – a thief?”

“He’s a beast!”

Yu Li wanted to stab him again.

The neighbors who had been silent before now came to investigate, screaming “murder!” at the sight of all the blood.

Only then did Shao Guangrong realize the fallen man was Yu Li’s stepfather.

In a split second, Shao Guangrong had pieced together most of what happened: Yu Li’s stepfather had beaten her mother for some reason, and Yu Li had snapped and stabbed him twice. Now the man lay in a pool of blood, likely dying.

Ignoring the clamoring neighbors, they placed Yu Li’s mother in the backseat. Then he shouted:

“Never mind all that now – someone helps me get the other injured person into the car. I’ll take them both to the hospital!”

Yu Li turned pale.

No – why save that beast? Let him die! He’d only hurt more people if he lived!

Shao Guangrong seemed to read her mind and lowered his voice: “Don’t be foolish. This was a family dispute, but if you let him die, it becomes intentional murder. Do you want to be a murderer? Think clearly – what matters more than your own life!”

Shao Guangrong was furious too.

Why hadn’t this girl told him about her troubles? What seemed insurmountable to Yu Li was nothing to Shao Guangrong.

But that was only if no one died.

If someone died, not even the Shao family could protect her.

Though the 1983 Strike Hard campaign had ended, its influence remained. If she broke the law, not even someone more powerful than Shao Guangrong could help – hadn’t people been executed immediately during Strike Hard?

Yu Li was stunned by his words.

Shao Guangrong called the neighbors to help carry Yu Li’s stepfather to the car.

The neighbors, still unclear about what happened, didn’t want to let Shao Guangrong leave with both Yu Li’s injured parents.

Shao Guangrong left his work ID as collateral:

“If the street office or police station needs information, they can find me. I have a workplace – I won’t run!”

Indeed he wouldn’t run.

Not only did he have a workplace, but this young man was also a state cadre.

Someone even noted down Shao Guangrong’s license plate as he sped off toward the hospital. Yu Li pressed tightly against her mother’s bloody head wound. Halfway there, she buried her face in her mother’s neck and began crying.

She had tried so hard – why had she still failed?

Though Yu Li had matured early, shaped by her environment to be more mature than her peers, she wasn’t yet 18. After summoning the courage to stab someone, and now facing an uncertain future, she naturally felt scared and lost.

And wronged.

Life had been too hard for her. Even using all her strength to change things, she still couldn’t find a way out of her predicament!

Her crying made Shao Guangrong’s heart tremble.

It wasn’t loud sobbing, but a suppressed weeping.

The car reeked of blood as Shao Guangrong pressed the accelerator. “Yu Li, pull yourself together. You must tell me what happened. I can’t help you if I don’t know the situation.”

They didn’t know if Yu Li’s stepfather would survive.

Regardless of whether he lived or died, Shao Guangrong was determined to protect Yu Li.

Never mind moral judgment now – he didn’t know Yu Li’s stepfather, only cared for Yu Li, so of course he would help her!

Yu Li wiped her tears and briefly explained the situation in a hoarse voice.

Things had gone this far – there was no point worrying about embarrassment now. Yu Li hadn’t been afraid while stabbing him, but now she was terrified.

She knew the principle: a life for a life, prison for assault.

She wasn’t afraid of legal consequences – she feared that if she went to prison or faced execution, no one would care for her mother.

Shao Guangrong’s expression darkened as he listened. He struck the steering wheel hard:

“Damn it!”

He wanted to kick the man out of the passenger seat or stab him a few more times himself.

No wonder a teenage girl like Little Yu wasn’t in school but out trying to hook men.

Good thing she’d met him.

If she’d met someone else, Yu Li would have been used up and discarded long ago.

If only she had trusted him a little, tonight would never have happened.

“You never told anyone else?!”

“…No one believed me. Not the neighbors, not the street office.”

Damn, that beast must have put on a good act.

But maybe not.

Yu Li and her mother were outsiders, while that beast was local – naturally, the neighbors sided with him.

Did those people truly not believe her, or did they just want to avoid trouble and brush her off?

Earlier, with such a commotion at Yu Li’s house – even he had found it by following the noise – yet no neighbors came to check before him… With such coldness, of course, Yu Li’s pleas for help would get nowhere!

Shao Guangrong’s face darkened:

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll handle this!”

Finally reaching the hospital, Shao Guangrong drove straight to the emergency entrance.

“Doctor! Doctor, help!”

Several white-coated doctors on duty ran out, first carrying Yu Li’s mother away, then her stepfather. Yu Li stood guard at the emergency room door, refusing to move. Shao Guangrong himself was covered in blood.

“Stay here and watch. The police might arrive soon – I need to make some calls. Listen: when I return, say only what I tell you to say. Don’t say a single word I haven’t approved, understand?”

Yu Li’s tear-streaked face nodded vigorously.

Shao Guangrong patted her head, “Silly girl when the sky falls, the tall will support it. Put your mind at ease.”

…

Xia Xiaolan learned about Yu Li’s situation two days later.

Ge Jian relayed the news.

Since Yu Li was the secretary Xia Xiaolan had chosen and now couldn’t report to Pengcheng, Ge Jian naturally had to inform her. He wasn’t trying to cause trouble – Ge Jian wondered if they should choose a new secretary, as Yu Li’s problems wouldn’t be resolved anytime soon.

“You’re saying she stabbed her stepfather? And Shao Guangrong was there?!”

What a mess!

A life for a life, prison for assault… Xia Xiaolan wasn’t a judge and couldn’t pass a sentence, but she knew Yu Li wouldn’t stab her stepfather without reason. The girl was smart and hardworking – Xia Xiaolan had always liked her, why else would Yu Li be her first choice for secretary?

Choosing Yu Li as secretary had nothing to do with Shao Guangrong – he was purely presumptuous.

But now, Yu Li’s situation had become entangled with Shao Guangrong, and Xia Xiaolan found herself asking more questions.