"What’s wrong with Little Nan? Who bullied her?"

Jim Thorne’s shouts could be heard from a distance as he came running over. He had just gotten out of school and was on his way home when he heard people on the road saying his little sister had been bullied. He’d run straight here without even going home first.

When he saw the marks on Tang Xiao’nan’s face, Jim Thorne’s expression instantly turned cold. "Who did this?" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Felix Thorne said in a deep voice, "I’ve already taught them a lesson. Let’s go home."

"I’ll go find out myself. How dare they hit my sister! I’ll break their hands!"

But Jim Thorne wouldn’t have it. He hadn’t taught them a lesson yet. If Felix Thorne wouldn’t tell him, he’d go ask around himself and beat those sons of bitches to death. With a dark expression, a furious Jim Thorne started running down the mountain, but Felix Thorne grabbed him.

"What’s all this fuss about? Take Little Nan and go home. This matter is over!"

Felix Thorne shot him a fierce glare. Jim Thorne suppressed his anger and nodded, indicating he wouldn’t cause any more trouble. But inwardly, he had other plans. ’This isn’t over. They slapped my sister, so I’ll break both their hands!’

Felix Thorne and Phoebe Huxley still had to hurry to work. If they were delayed for too long, they would lose half their work points, meaning most of the day’s labor would be for nothing. Felix Thorne looked at Adrian Hawthorne. The boy’s face was covered in injuries, and he probably had more on his body. He had taken several blows while protecting Little Nan earlier.

"Farm the land as you please. If anyone comes to cause trouble again, tell them to come find me."

"Thank you, Uncle Felix."

Adrian Hawthorne thanked him gratefully. By teaching Sherman Golding’s family a lesson and making this declaration today, Felix Thorne had essentially taken him and his mother under his wing. Any villager with half a brain would surely no longer discriminate against or humiliate them. It was a far cry from the past four years, when even a three-year-old toddler dared to insult him and his mother.

He was well aware that Felix Thorne’s change in attitude was not because of the five hundred yuan his father had given him, but because of Tang Xiao’nan.

It was also thanks to Fatty Tang that he could go into the city to sell movie stills. Ever since Fatty Tang had unintentionally brought him that first newspaper, everything the chubby girl did, whether intentionally or not, ended up helping him.

Getting into Wraven, clearing the wasteland, protecting his mother, and today, desperately shielding him and prompting Felix Thorne to say those words—it was all thanks to Fatty Tang.

Adrian Hawthorne’s perpetually cold heart thawed a little, and the grim look in his eyes softened. But this was only for the Thorne family, especially Tang Xiao’nan. Even he himself hadn’t noticed that when he looked at the chubby girl, his gaze was exceptionally gentle, having changed without him realizing it.

A slight smile touched the corner of Felix Thorne’s mouth. He then looked at Rosalind Green, who was still sobbing, and his brow furrowed slightly. ’With a mother like her, this kid is really unlucky.’ But he felt Adrian Hawthorne’s father was an even bigger piece of work. A grown man abandoning his young wife and child, disappearing for four years without a single word. If he were dead, that would be one thing, but if he was still alive, he was truly a scumbag.

Worse than an animal!

Phoebe Huxley, however, had a different opinion. She looked at Rosalind Green with contempt and barked fiercely, "What the hell good is crying? You’re the mother! You’re supposed to protect your child with your life! If you can’t even protect your own kid, you should’ve kept your pants on and not had children with a man in the first place!"

’Useless thing. Can’t even protect her own son, and she ended up getting our Little Nan hurt. A good-for-nothing, that’s what she is.’

Rosalind Green’s face went deathly pale, a mixture of shame and guilt. Her tears flowed even more fiercely, like a bursting dam, as she choked out her grievances between sobs. "I... I wanted to hit Mandy York with the hoe, but... I wasn’t strong enough... I’m useless..."

She wanted to protect her son, too, but she was just too useless. She couldn’t even lift a hoe, and she’d dragged her son down with her. If she hadn’t made that promise to her husband, she would have just ended it all to stop being a burden to her son.