Chapter 08: The children

　　This stupid kid, he can't even support himself, and he's talking about paying back the money.

Cherry Adams doesn't take the boy's promise seriously.

And what kind of construction site hires workers without even checking their IDs? Cherry Adams doesn't think so.

　　Cherry Adams was right. On Sunday, she took the day off and went to the construction site to look for the Lee family. She saw the foreman paying wages and Jasper Lee standing in line. Something happened between them.

Jasper Lee was relatively calm, but as the conversation heated up, he punched the foreman in the face, his eyes red with anger. The two men began to fight, rolling around on the floor.

　　Jasper Lee was only fourteen years old, and although he was taller than Cherry Adams at just over five feet, he was very thin and was beaten into a state of helplessness after only a few moves.

　　Cherry Adams parked the car quickly. In the short time it took, the battle situation had changed again.

Pascal Lee rushed out of the dormitory with a fever-reducing bandage on his head, but insisted on using his body to protect his brother from the kicks. Cherry Adams could only say he was stupid. You're barely alive yourself, and you're hanging on to your brother's 40-day salary. What the hell are you doing here to make things worse!

　　Pascal Lee is weak and vulnerable and was soon beaten up and left with a black and blue face. Cherry Adams didn't want to get involved in this fight, but thinking about the kicks he had given her in the middle of the night and the medical bill of over a thousand dollars, he couldn't just spend the money and buy Pascal Lee a time-limited card. Could someone be beaten to death that fast?

Cherry Adams pulled out her cell phone, turned on the camera, and snapped, "What are you doing? This is child abuse!"

　　Cherry Adams' voice was shrill and her voice was extremely loud. When she put this big hat on him, the foreman's face turned red and he stopped to defend himself and said, "Girl, don't get me wrong! These two little bastards hang around our site all day long. I've already said that we don't hire child laborers, but they won't leave!"

　　"No child labor? Then where did he get the work clothes? Why did his brother come from your dormitory? I think you hired child laborers and don't want to pay, so you deny it! Do you think you don't have to take legal responsibility for letting children work for you? Ah?"

"No..." The foreman also responded, "Who are you? What are you doing on our construction site? Are you their guardian?"

　　Jasper Lee and Pascal Lee unconsciously looked at Cherry Adams, but she asked in return, "Are you her guardian?"

"Me? No." The foreman shook his head.

"Then why are you asking me? Do I look like someone who has given birth to two children? Use your brain before you speak!"

This question stunned the man in his forties.

　　"This is no longer a child labor issue, you know?" Cherry Adams sneered, "You don't know who their guardian is, I don't know who their guardian is, they don't have a guardian! Complete orphans! How dare you kidnap orphans to work?"

This is too alarming! The contractor quickly raised his hand and said, "I didn't do it, I'm scared, I'm going to cry.

　　At this point, some of the other workers explained that they had been hired two months ago, that they had come voluntarily, and that they had been paid, so Jasper Lee had not been mistreated.

"Were you paid or not?" Cherry Adams asked Jasper Lee. "Child, just tell the truth. If you got paid, you got paid; if you didn't, you didn't."

"I was paid for the first month, 1,200 yuan. But I didn't get paid for the second or third month."

　　The foreman hurriedly asked someone to go get the money, then handed Cherry Adams a cigarette and stammered, "Look..."

"Giving me a cigarette won't help," Cherry Adams said, taking the cigarette in spite of herself. "You think I want to get into this? If I didn't know your boss Li..."

"You... you know my boss Li?" The foreman was even more shocked. "I'm sorry, I didn't treat you well enough. Please come in and sit down."

　　"No, I won't sit down. You're so busy here, I won't sit down." Cherry Adams held the cigarette to the side of her mouth. "Forget it this time. I'm taking these two kids to the police station."

Cherry Adams had just put the Lee brothers in the car in a perfectly legal manner. Pascal Lee's head was still buzzing and he didn't know what had happened. However, Jasper Lee asked with a clenched fist:

"Do you really know this Li boss?"

　　"I don't know shit about him, but I do." Cherry Adams threw her cigarette out the window, though she didn't smoke.

"The last time I almost hit you, there was a man named Li in a suit, and his destination was somewhere around here. It's obvious what kind of boss he is, so I just made it up."

　　Jasper Lee was stunned. He would do it, and so would Cherry Adams, and she would do it even better. Inexplicable thoughts flashed through his mind. Cherry Adams was someone who could protect them, and she was fully capable of doing so... It was just that she also had no intention of having anything to do with them.

　　Cherry Adams still gave bad advice: "Stupid, you shouldn't have said that you only owed two months. If you say more, he will have to pay anyway, no matter how much it is. You really don't know how to be flexible!"

Pascal Lee said that it could still be like that. Cherry Adams immediately gave him a blank look: "Stupid, you are even more stupid.

　　Pascal Lee already felt bad about being beaten up, and now he was being scolded, so he was about to snap back, but Jasper Lee tugged at his arm and gestured at the wages in his hand. Pascal Lee suppressed his anger and silently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Cherry Adams saw that Pascal Lee still had the energy to be angry, so she asked again, "Has your brother been feeling better lately?

"Well, thank you for paying for the medical expenses the other day."

　　Jasper Lee counted out sixteen hundred dollars from the bloodstained money.

"This money is all from the beatings you two brothers took, and I don't feel comfortable taking it," Cherry Adams said, but still took his money with a big smile.

"Where will you go after you go to the police station?" Cherry Adams tapped the wheel.

Jasper Lee pursed his lips but said nothing.

Pascal Lee complained, "We have nowhere to go."

　　"No, no," Cherry Adams quickly raised her hand to avoid being morally blackmailed, "don't sell me a sob story, it's useless, I'm not some heroine of a romance drama."

"Then drop us off at the pharmacy, thanks," Jasper Lee said, "Pascal and I need medicine."

"Okay, sure,' Cherry Adams was relieved.

　　After registering the materials and leaving the police station, Cherry Adams dropped them off at a nearby drugstore. That was the end of it, and she was about to leave when Jasper Lee knocked on her car window again.

Cherry Adams frowned and asked, "What is it?"

"In the future...can we come visit you?"

"No way! Get out of my face!" Cherry Adams suddenly scowled and stepped on the gas.

　　Pascal Lee was seething in the back, stamping his feet, "Brother, what should we do? I don't think Cherry Adams cares about us."

"There's no rush in this matter, take it slow," Jasper Lee carried iodine ointment and glanced at Pascal Lee's bruised cheek, "Since she was willing to drive us to the hospital, pay our medical expenses in advance, and help me get my wages, it means she's not that heartless."

"Brother, what do you mean?"

　　"Cherry Adams likes money, but apart from that, she helps us without harming her own interests. As long as we can show that we are helpless, she will be moved. After all, she has helped us so much already, and even if she knows that it is a sunk cost, she will not let it go."

"So what do we do?"

Jasper Lee whispered into his younger brother's ear.

Pascal Lee pointed at himself and said, "Huh? Me?"

"Yes, you."

　　.

Cherry Adams' comfortable life didn't last long. Soon Jasper Lee came knocking again, her face ashen. "Why are you here again? This time I won't say anything..."

"Pascal, Pascal is gone!"

Jasper Lee grabbed her in panic.

"What?" Cherry Adams' expression froze. "Did you say that in Chinese? I don't understand. How did your brother disappear all of a sudden?"

　　"I don't know either. I went to work early in the morning and when I came back..." Jasper Lee wiped away a tear and said, "Pascal has been very unstable these past few days. He said he didn't want to bother me anymore, and last night he even said..."

"What did he say? Cherry Adams asked.

"That he didn't want to live anymore."

"Then you should go to the police. What's the point of me waiting here? Can I stop him from killing himself?"

　　"As his older brother, I can't persuade him either. I'm not as smart as you..."

For some reason, Cherry Adams was praised in this way. She felt that Jasper Lee suspected her of putting him on a pedestal.

But the disappearance of a child was a serious matter. She took her brother to the nearby police station to report the case. The police opened an investigation and asked Cherry Adams if she was the guardian of the missing person.

"Yes, she is," Jasper Lee replied first.

　　Cherry Adams looked at him, but did not argue.

With a person's life on the line, who wants to cause more trouble?

The police quickly sent patrol cars to search the city, and Cherry Adams and Jasper Lee also searched the nearby streets.

However, the two of them met several times in the streets and alleys, but neither of them found Pascal Lee.

　　Cherry Adams began to grow impatient: "Your brother really gives people no peace!"

"I'm sorry, it's my fault," Jasper Lee choked, blaming himself, "It's all my fault for not looking after him.

"To be honest, you did your best as a brother, okay?" Cherry Adams' voice grew louder, "When you were in the Beijing Lee family, didn't you clean up after him every day? You should have taken that time to raise him properly so that today's foolishness wouldn't have happened!"

　　"Pascal... Pascal regrets it now..." Jasper Lee said, "He chose to leave because he felt that you hated him and were therefore unwilling to adopt us. He feels guilty for doing that to you, and he told me... he hopes you can forgive him..."

"Big brother! Cherry Adams laughed angrily, "What is there to forgive when the person is gone? If he's so capable, let him come and kneel before me and admit his fault!"

　　Suddenly there was a phone call. The police said that Pascal Lee had been found at the top of the Riverside Bridge. He was trying to commit suicide.

Cherry Adams and Jasper Lee drove over as fast as they could.

They saw Pascal Lee surrounded by a group of police officers and police cars on the empty Riverside Bridge.

"Kid, come down first. Let's talk about this!"

"It's dangerous on the bridge. Come down quickly!"

　　"No... I don't want you..." Pascal Lee whimpered like a puppy, "I want my sister... I just want my sister..."

The police quickly dragged Cherry Adams over to him, "This is your sister, she's here to pick you up, she's here.

The situation was urgent and Cherry Adams had no choice but to comply: "Pascal Lee, you hurry up and get down here, what's wrong with you in the middle of the night, you can tell me whatever you want in a minute!"

　　"Sister! Sister!" Pascal Lee shouted more and more vehemently, holding out his hands to her with tearful eyes.

"I... I'm sorry..."

Cherry Adams quickly ran over to catch him.

The child, who had just refused to let anyone near him, fell into Cherry Adams' arms. The policemen sighed with emotion, "Your relationship with him is truly extraordinary.

Cherry Adams was also stunned.

　　She looked at Pascal Lee.

Pascal Lee was sobbing miserably, calling for his sister over and over again, and then lying on her shoulder, begging her not to hate him.

"After all this fuss, it's finally settled," the policeman said. "Let's get your brother home first."

So that night, at least, Cherry Adams took the children home in a daze.