Chapter Twenty-Seven: Charging In

Just as expected, after she hammered on the door a few more times, the cursing and shouting inside suddenly ceased, and even the woman's weeping fell into an abrupt silence.

The peephole on the door, which had been bright due to the light from within, suddenly went dark.

Someone was looking out from the other side.

Suddenly, a loud thud sounded from inside the door, startling Ning Shuyi. The motion-sensor lights in the hallway flickered on in response.

"Who is it?" a man's voice called out from behind the door, sounding impatient. "Who are you looking for?"

"Hello, this is the census. Please open the door so we can register your household," Ning Shuyi said, holding up her identification card and placing it just in front of the peephole so the person inside could clearly see it.

"Go to someone else's place first! It's not a good time for us right now!" The man was clearly not a reasonable person. Even after Ning Shuyi identified herself, he had no intention of cooperating, showing signs of significant apprehension.

"Please cooperate with our work. I am not here to sell you anything!" Ning Shuyi hardened her expression, applying as much pressure as she could without making him so wary that he would refuse to open the door entirely. "If you don't cooperate, I will have to call my colleagues over."

The man hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly opened the door just a crack. He kept his hand firmly on the handle, his body wedged in the doorway, blocking almost the entire opening.

As Ning Shuyi took out her notebook and pen, feigning preparation for documentation, she unobtrusively blocked the edge of the door with her foot to prevent him from slamming it shut.

"Are you renters or the property owners? How many people live here? How many are permanent residents?" As she asked, her eyes darted past the man's shoulder, quickly scanning the room behind him.

The temperature outside was not particularly warm, yet the man blocking the doorway was wearing only a thin undershirt. His forehead was slick with sweat, his face was flushed, and his breathing was rapid.

Standing this close, Ning Shuyi could even smell the scent of alcohol on his breath.

The room appeared chaotic and deathly quiet; there was no sign of where the mother might be.

"Three people—a couple and a child," the man replied impatiently.

"Are the others home? If so, please have them come out for registration," Ning Shuyi said, looking for an excuse to make the little boy’s mother appear, as she was unsure of her condition.

The man clearly didn’t intend to comply. He looked down warily at the foot Ning Shuyi had wedged in the door. "She's not home; she went out. I know her ID number and everything else. I can register for her, so hurry up!"

Ning Shuyi was about to speak when the little boy, who had been waiting with Huo Yan half a flight down, suddenly shouted, "Mom! Mom, come out! I found a police officer to save you!"

Upon hearing this, the man’s expression shifted instantly. He cursed, "You little brat," and shoved Ning Shuyi, who was still blocking the door.

Ning Shuyi grabbed the edge of the door, but she was no match for his strength. She stumbled, her grip slipping, and just as she lost her balance, she felt a hand steady her from behind. Another hand reached past her, grabbing the security door just as it was about to slam shut.

Once Ning Shuyi regained her footing, Huo Yan pulled her behind him.

Huo Yan was strong; he held the door with one hand, and despite the drunken man’s desperate efforts, the door didn't budge, as if it had been welded to the frame.

"What are you doing?! Can the police just break into a private home?!" The man had assumed Ning Shuyi was alone and hadn't been overly nervous, but now that another male officer had appeared—one who was taller, broader, and clearly much stronger—his panic set in.

The boy’s shout must have triggered the woman who had been hiding inside. A flurry of noise erupted from within the apartment, and behind the drunken man, a woman with disheveled hair and visible bruises on her face stumbled out.

Hearing the commotion behind him, the man gripped the door frame and roared at the woman, "Get back in there! Who told you to come out!"

Seizing the moment of distraction, Huo Yan exerted his strength and pulled the door wide open. Before the man could recover, Huo Yan pushed him against the wall, pinning him by the chest so he could not break free.

The little boy, who had been waiting on the landing, seized the chance to rush back into the room, sobbing as he threw his arms around his mother’s waist.

It was clear that although the mother had sent the boy away to spare him from witnessing the domestic violence, the child was perceptive enough to know everything. Being sent downstairs had not shielded him from fear; it had only deepened his anxiety.

"Are you okay?" Ning Shuyi walked toward the woman, pulling her away from the abuser to avoid further incidents. "Where are you hurt?"

The woman looked truly wretched. Her hair was a mess; had it not been for a hairband still clinging to a few strands at the back, it might have looked as if she wore her hair loose, rather than having had her braid forcibly ripped apart.

One of her eyes was swollen shut, the eyelid reduced to a mere slit, making it impossible to tell if her vision was impaired.

There was dried blood around her nostrils, suggesting she had been struck hard enough to cause a nosebleed that had then been roughly wiped away.

The collar of her T-shirt was stretched and misshapen from being yanked, and there were prominent, dirty smudges on the knees of her loose pajama pants.

Looking at this, Ning Shuyi could easily imagine the scene that had just taken place: this frail woman being dragged by her hair across the floor by her abusive husband, beaten, and berated.

The fear and despair she must have felt!

As a husband, how could he bear to leave his wife in such a battered, broken state?

A surge of rage flared in Ning Shuyi’s heart.

"I..." The woman instinctively shook her head, as if to say she was fine, but she stopped immediately.

She looked so terrifying that anyone with eyes could see she was not "fine." She clutched her child to her chest with both hands, her eyes darting subconsciously toward her husband, as if terrified that he would be displeased by her behavior in front of the police.