Chapter 3

George and William whispered for a while.

Then they hurriedly left the house.

Not long after, they started shouting dramatically in the yard.

"Oh my! Whose child is this?"

My father held the bundle with a pitying look.

"Oh, poor baby! How could you be abandoned here?"

He heard my footsteps and immediately turned to look at me.

His eyes were so "kind" and "righteous" that he looked like a saint incarnate.

"Lucas, come quick and see how pitiful this child is. We can't just stand by and do nothing!"

George rushed over in three quick steps and tried to shove the bundle into my arms, muttering,

"Hurry and take the child to the village clinic."

"I don't know how long this child has been abandoned. I see hoof prints on its body. Quick, go check if there's anything wrong."

I glanced down.

The bastard child born of an affair.

Its face was purple-red, its cries weak, as if it might die at any moment.

I desperately suppressed the cold laughter in my heart.

In my previous life, George had persuaded me with this "saintly" face.

He earnestly persuaded me to give up my chance to return to the city.

To be stuck in this backwater village for a lifetime.

For this bastard child, born of either him or William with some loose woman.

My whole life was ruined!

I suddenly stepped back, avoiding his hand, and spoke calmly.

"Dad, my bones ache all over. I don't want to go out."

George's face immediately changed.

"Lucas! How can you be so heartless?" he said, gritting his teeth and suppressing his anger, as if I were some unfilial son.

"This child will die if no one takes care of it! Can you bear that?"

"How have I taught you all this time? You must have a conscience in everything you do."

"Good deeds will be rewarded, and turning a blind eye to someone in need will have consequences!"

William quickly joined in, pretending to persuade me.

"Brother, don't you always say you're tired? Just bear with it for a bit. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda..."

Ha! So he knew I was exhausted every day from working for him?

I looked at George and William's hypocritical, self-righteous faces and suddenly laughed.

"Brother, you're so kind. Why don't you take the child to the clinic yourself?"

"The money is in the drawer. You can't just stand by and do nothing."

"I'm aching all over from working for you. If I faint while carrying the child and accidentally drop it, now that would really be a sin!"

The cries of the little bastard in the bundle were growing weaker.

My father and brother glared at me.

They looked like they wanted to devour me alive.

My father's face turned iron-gray, his fingers tightly pinching the bundle.

As if he wanted to strangle the child inside.

William panicked too, like a chicken with its throat squeezed.

"Brother! What are you saying! Dad's old, and I've always been weak. How could we handle the back and forth?"

I clenched my fists and leaned against the doorframe, sneering.

"We're all born of the same parents. So I'm the only one with thick skin and a cheap life, is that it?"

"All the dirty and tiring work has always fallen to me."

"You two get to be kind-hearted living Buddhas, while I'm destined to be a beast of burden?"

George trembled with anger.

All traces of kindness and civility had vanished. He looked like he wanted to tear me apart.

"Lucas Young! You ungrateful wretch!"

"Do you think you can start complaining now that you might get to return to the city?"

"If you don't take care of this child today, I'll go around the village shouting, let everyone know you turned a blind eye to someone in need!"

I stared at him and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Do whatever you want."

This life, no one will use "conscience" to pressure me again!