Zhang Yi quickly pieced everything together."So… that's how you see it," he said, lowering his voice, deliberately lacing it with false regret. "But could there be a misunderstanding? I'm actually soft-hearted. I couldn't bear to watch a child die in pain. I sent medicine to your home—you were just too distraught to notice."
Aunt Lin glared at him, eyes blazing. "Lies!"
Zhang Yi smiled faintly and gestured toward Zhou Ke'er. "Ask the doctor. When she arrived, was Xiao Hu still alive?"
Zhou Ke'er stiffened. A chill crawled up her spine, but she nodded anyway, her expression turning cold. "He could have been saved," she said quietly. "But you gave up waiting for Zhang Yi's medicine."
The words struck like a hammer.
Aunt Lin froze. Her face drained of color as her legs buckled beneath her. She collapsed onto the floor, clawing at her hair as she screamed, "No! No! I didn't know! I didn't know!"
Zhang Yi's voice suddenly rose, sharp as a whip. "You call yourself a grandmother? You're the one who killed your own grandson!"
By then, several neighbors had gathered at the stairwell, drawn by the commotion. Murmurs spread through the crowd. Their gazes filled with revulsion as they looked at Aunt Lin, whispering about her "crime."
Aunt Lin let out a broken wail. Despair swallowed her whole. She staggered to her feet and hurled herself toward the wall, trying to smash her head against it.
Zhang Yi stepped forward and kicked her away, his eyes full of contempt. "Don't be so selfish," he sneered. "You only survived because of your grandson. If you die now, how will you face your family in the afterlife?"
Before anyone could react, he pulled out a bottle of alcohol and splashed it over her body. The sharp, suffocating smell filled the stairwell. Then he lit a cigarette, took a slow drag, and flicked it toward her.
Flames roared to life in an instant.
Aunt Lin's shrieks tore through the building, raw and animalistic, echoing endlessly through the concrete corridors.
Zhang Yi didn't even glance back. He turned and walked away, his expression indifferent, as though he were leaving behind nothing more than a pile of trash.
Behind him, the neighbors stood frozen in terror. Whatever lingering doubts they once had were gone.
Their fear of Zhang Yi had become absolute.