Both Ermonkey and Isabel rubbed their eyes, hungry and sleepy, their small faces already tortured into an ashen state.

Following this man, they went up a staircase, a gloomy and dark staircase, with each step being very high. The children climbed up as if they were hiking, putting in a great effort.

All of a sudden, Isabel slipped from one of the steps and let out a sharp scream. As Ermonkey turned to pull her up, he saw the man swiftly and deftly lift them both up, carrying them onward together.

After reaching the second-floor landing, the man bent over, panting, and said to Ermonkey, "How much do you weigh?"

Ermonkey pouted, "Don’t call me fat if you have no strength."

The cheeky little face looked exactly like that man called Dabai. The man sneered again and said to Ermonkey, "I see nothing in you resembles your mom, you only take after your dad, apparently, you inherited none of the good and all of the bad."

"You’re talking nonsense!" Ermonkey angrily pointed at his face with force, "My dad is both handsome and tall, a representative of the well-off and attractive, you can’t compare to him, slandering my dad and me in one go."

"Your dad has money, but it’s not money he earned. In fact, he’s just a useless waste."

"No!" Ermonkey was so angry he wanted to kick him.

Isabel, watching the argument between the big and small characters beside her, had long been scared pale, then from hunger and fright, with a thud, her small body collapsed onto the floor.

The two males turned upon hearing the noise, only to find that this young miss had fainted.

After a while, Isabel slowly opened her eyes and found she had been moved inside the house. "Xiaobai" was watching her with her little head resting, and when she saw Isabel awake, she made a hush sound, "You’re so delicate."

Isabel blushed again, sat up, and said, "I’m sorry."

"Enough, stop apologizing." Ermonkey said, helping her to sit down on the carpet.

Because that man finally agreed to provide them with food.

It was a few pieces of bread crust each, smeared with some butter, plus a small cup of fruit juice.

Such a pitifully meager dinner, intolerably inadequate for big eater Ermonkey, and even for Miss Isabel, who possibly always picked at her food and refused to eat at home, felt moved to the point of tears, crying out, "I’m hungry—"

The man could care less about them, fixing himself a plate of pasta and twirling it with a fork.

"Hey, this is child abuse!" Ermonkey indignantly shouted at the man.

The man indifferently glanced at the two of them, "Eat if you want, don’t eat if you don’t. You need to realize there are plenty in the world who have nothing to eat."

Apparently, he was deliberately starving them. This man, how resentful he must be of the rich! Both Ermonkey and Isabel couldn’t help but think.

"Your parents didn’t educate you properly. They raised one into a pig and the other into a picky eater, this is the result of what your parents brought upon themselves."

"Don’t talk about my mom and dad like that." Isabel bit her lower lip forcefully with her small teeth, and after fiddling with her fingers on her dress, said, "It’s my fault."

"Forget it!" Ermonkey interrupted her, "Didn’t you notice yet? Who does he think he is? He’s just a man my mom dumped, someone who can’t compare to my dad."

With a bang, the man slammed the cup he was holding down on the table heavily.