After serving the broth to Zhao Min,Ryu went to his study to check the contents of the PI investigation on Zhao Min and his uncle.The report was to the point stating that the children"s parents had died as an occurence of drunk driving accident.All the occupants of both cars involved in the collission were declared dead on the spot.It seemed Zhao Min"s parents had no living relatives other that his father"s younger half brother.The family was not very well off but earned a decent income from running their rented store and selling groceries and Zhao Min"s mother used to do odd jobs at the school to run the household smoothly and helpout.The uncle worked in a private security business as a guard and was currently employed in the security of some VIP.There was nothing to indicate any abuse or resentment or anything in the history for the Uncle to torture the kid.The two brothers seemed to share an amicable relations.h.i.+p.They were not close but also did not hate each other"s guts from what people knew.
Ryu looked thoughtfully at the report.Something was faulty here.Why would a normal man abuse people and kids let alone his brother"s?It had not been that long that he had gained custody of the kids and he was still under possible scrutiny to check his eligibility.But Zhao Min"s fear was real.And so were the marks on him.As Ryu re-read the report,he finally found something peculiar in the history.The man had an abusive relations.h.i.+p with his past girlfriend.There had been a single incident where the man lost his temper and the woman had filed a complaint!So the man was indeed short tempered.Reading further,the report said that the man had accepted the guardians.h.i.+p of the children but was currnetly acting as their caretaker only because the court had yet to approve the appeal for guardians.h.i.+p in the lack of a parent"s will.The children were not expected to move houses and would continue to living there as the house had been in their parent"s names.Jiang Xiangru would be the owner of the property and act as the guardian.
His application for the legal guardians.h.i.+p of the children guardian would be approved by court today and was set to be delivered into the hands of the man soon.Once he was the official guardian,the house deed would also be transferred to his name and getting the children out of his clutches would be difficult..So the motive to take in the kids was clear but the reason for abuse was not.And there was no proof.Guess for now all he could do was stop the man from getting the approval in his hands.Picking up his phone,he dialled a number and within a minute,the guardians.h.i.+p was put on hold.
Outside the family court:
Jiang Xiangru stood outside the court waiting to receive the official guardians.h.i.+p of his half brother"s brats.n.o.body looking at his could have guessed that the man actually had no idea where the kids were from the last ten days.He had not even bothered to file a missing report.The last time children ran away,their neighbors had actuallt handed them back to him.He had only needed them when the social worker had come for inspection.Once that was done and he had the guardians.h.i.+p,he would tomorrow file a missing persons report.He hoped by then the children had also gone to their parents.He nudged the lawyer to get the order fast.The lawyer had told him that the order had already been signed and would be given out any moment.The lawyer went up to find but what he was told made him a bit confused and even worried.
Usually when a given order was usually put on hold,it indicated the intervention of someone powerful but the lawyer was told that the order was delayed due to some errors.The person in charge of giving out the papers had been very vague.The lawyer shrugged his shoulders and went to convey the message that the guardians.h.i.+p order will not be received today.
At Ryu Long"s home:
Zhao Min finished the tasty broth that the man had left him and kept an eye on his sister who was visible on the baby monitor next to him.He wondered if what he had said was true.Zhao Min had never understood the meaning of power until his uncle came into their lives.He had the power only because he was an adult and more educated than those who lived in their neighborhood.Zhao Min was a scholars.h.i.+p student who had always been taught to keep his head down.He had taken the regular beatings quietly but then Uncle Jiang had slapped little xin xin and that scared Zhao Min.Xin xin was a little baby who should notbe hit.So he took a chance and ran to his kind neighbord hoping that they would tell Uncle to not be so harsh.But instead they shamed him for being a naughty boy and gave them back to Uncle Jiang.No one tried to listen to what he had to say because they deemed him a naughty child.When Ru had told him that his father would help them,Zhao Min had been doubtful.But now that man had offered to help him and Zhao Min did not know where to start.Did helping them go back was included in his help.The man had seemed strict and scary but when he had helped him up,his hands had not been hurtful so maybe that was not dangerous to him.
Zhao Min wondered how the man could help him and his sister.Xin Xin was too small.Maybe they could go to an orphanage but then what if he was separated from Xin Xin?She was the only family she had.For the first time since he realized that his Uncle Jiang was not a good man,Zhao Min felt safe and thought of the future.And cried silent tears.