Chapter 154: Terrible Acting (Subscriptions Requested)

"Hello there. Is this your little baby? How adorable! May I hold her for a moment?"

Yang Qing approached the woman with a gentle smile, looking at the quietly sleeping infant in her arms with profound affection.

The baby appeared to be around three or four months old, yet possessed an exceptionally cute appearance. Her little face was round and plump, adorned with long eyelashes, a tiny button nose, and slightly pouting lips.

She wore no cap on her head, and a tuft of yellowish-brown hair rested softly like short down upon her crown.

While Yang Qing smiled affectionately at the baby, Li Dongning, standing beside him, wore a pensive expression, his gaze shifting back and forth between the woman and the infant.

"May I hold her?"

Seeing that the woman did not reply, but instead looked at the two of them with deep vigilance, Yang Qing felt a quiet certainty settle within him. His smile widened even further as he spoke again.

"Who are you people? What do you want?"

A trace of panic flashed in the woman's eyes as she hugged the infant tighter to her chest, putting on a brave face with a trembling voice.

"Don't be afraid. We mean no harm. We just think your little baby is adorable and want to hold her for a moment."

Smiling, Yang Qing sat down beside the woman. Casually, he picked up the baby bottle that the woman had just used to feed the infant and had left nearby, inspecting it closely.

At this sight, the woman's heart skipped a beat with panic. Her eyes darted restlessly about, looking for a way to escape.

Those in her line of work certainly retained a degree of vigilance. She had actually noticed Yang Qing and his companions earlier, but because a young girl had been with Yang Qing at the time, she had let her guard down and paid them no mind. But now...

The woman attempted to stand up and leave, only to find another young man standing motionless right in front of her, watching her with a questioning and suspicious gaze.

"This... this probably isn't your child, is it?"

At that moment, the cold voice of Yang Qing, sitting right beside her, rang out abruptly, making her heart leap into her throat.

"You—what are you talking nonsense for! How is this not my child?!"

The woman shrieked as if startled, then scrambled up in a panic, attempting to flee, only to be grabbed firmly by Yang Qing.

"Your child? Heh..."

Yang Qing let out a cold laugh, then turned to Li Dongning and said, "Dongning, call the police."

"Oh, right!"

Without hesitation, Li Dongning pulled out his phone and made the call. By now, seeing the woman's frantic actions, he too realized something was amiss and began to trust Yang Qing's judgment.

"You—you people, step aside! I'm taking my child home! Help! Someone is snatching a child! Help!"

Seeing that Li Dongning was calling the police and that Yang Qing was holding onto her tightly, the woman shouted in sudden panic.

Yang Qing was momentarily stunned by her tactic of the thief crying "stop thief." Then, observing the surrounding crowd gradually gathering, pointing and whispering, he narrowed his eyes slightly, furrowed his brows, and lowered his voice:

"Hand the child to me, and I'll let you go. Otherwise, you won't be able to run fast carrying her anyway, and the police are almost here."

"You... you'll really let me go?!"

The woman looked at him with skeptical disbelief, still unable to comprehend how the man's attitude could shift so drastically.

You just called the police, and now you're telling me you'll let me go?! What kind of game are you playing?!

"Yes, I'll let you go! As long as you give me the child!"

Looking at her with a cold, piercing gaze, Yang Qing said with utmost seriousness and sincerity, "People like you have lost your humanity. I'm afraid that under extreme pressure, you might do something to harm her, so..."

"Give her to me, and I'll let you go! I keep my word. Otherwise—"

"Take her!"

Perhaps Yang Qing's words carried too much conviction, for the woman actually handed the infant from her arms over to Yang Qing.

Yang Qing smiled. He released his grip on the woman and hurriedly took the baby into his arms with utmost care and tenderness.

Seeing that Yang Qing had let her go, a surge of joy washed over the woman as she prepared to bolt, only for another hand to instantly grab hold of her.

The woman glared at Li Dongning with a look of utter bewilderment and rage.

"Heh heh..."

Li Dongning remained utterly unfazed by her glare, chuckling, "He said he'd let you go, but I never said I would."

"You... you people..."

The woman was so infuriated she could barely speak, her eyes shooting vicious daggers at the two men.

"Well done!"

Paying no heed to her glare, Yang Qing turned to Li Dongning and praised him.

"Heh heh..." Li Dongning smiled smugly.

Meanwhile, the surrounding crowd had closed in. As if suddenly finding her backing, the woman shrieked at the top of her lungs:

"They're snatching a child! Child snatchers! Grab them! They're stealing my baby!"

Li Dongning: ......

Yang Qing: ......

Such a terrible performance! Completely unqualified, negative review! Are you a beginner at this or something?!

Can't you even shed a single tear to win a little sympathy?!

"Don't listen to her nonsense."

Seeing the crowd growing denser—with even a young fellow starting to believe the woman's words and preparing to intervene—Li Dongning hurriedly shouted:

"She's a human trafficker! We've already called the police, and they'll be here any minute!"

Hearing this, the few young men instantly froze in their tracks, casting suspicious and uncertain glances at the woman.

"Don't believe him! He's stealing my baby! Somebody help me catch them!" the woman screamed.

Yet this time, no one readily believed her words anymore. After all, Li Dongning had stated that the police had been called, and in moments like this, the authority of the law held sway.

Silence fell over the crowd, throwing the woman into a desperate frenzy. Driven by panic, her acting skills suddenly improved—she actually managed to cry tears of genuine anxiety!

"Young man, is this baby yours?"

After a long moment, a woman in her forties looked at Yang Qing and asked.

"No," Yang Qing shook his head. "I took her from this woman's arms. She is a human trafficker."

"A trafficker?" the middle-aged woman asked with a skeptical look. "How do you know?"

"Because of this!"

Picking up the baby bottle he had placed on the chair, Yang Qing said in a deep voice, "What's inside here is not breast milk."

With that, he looked toward a young mother pushing a stroller in the crowd, beckoned to her, and said,

"Young mother, could you come take a look and tell us if this is breast milk?"

"Um..."

The young mother hesitated for a moment, handed her stroller over to her husband nearby, walked forward, took the bottle, examined it, and even poured a drop onto the back of her hand and licked it. She immediately declared:

"This isn't breast milk, nor is it baby formula. It tastes a bit like... like..."

"Soy milk powder..." Yang Qing interjected.

The young mother: "Yes, yes, yes! It's soy milk powder!"

Having said that, she looked at the baby in Yang Qing's arms and asked, "When did the baby fall asleep?"

"Uh..." Yang Qing was momentarily taken aback. "Right after she was fed by..."

"Wait, no!"

Realizing something, his expression abruptly shifted. With an anxious and chilling gaze directed at the woman, he demanded, "What did you mix into it?! Tell me!"

The woman offered no reply, continuing only to scream and wail, struggling so fiercely that Li Dongning could barely hold onto her.

"This is bad, we need to take her to the hospital for a checkup."

Yang Qing said with growing urgency. As he spoke, he prepared to turn and leave with the baby in his arms, only to be blocked by a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

"Don't rush. Let me take a look; I'm a doctor."

"Great! Please check her quickly," Yang Qing urged anxiously.

The middle-aged man gently lifted the infant's eyelids to inspect them, paused in thought for a moment, then took the bottle from the young mother's hand, poured out a drop, tasted it, and pondered once more before saying:

"It should be sleeping pills, though it's hard to tell the exact dosage..."

"Sleeping pills!"

The crowd gasped in shock, their expressions instantly turning to fiery rage as they glared at the still-screaming woman.

"Monster! You have no humanity!"

"You'd actually drug a baby this small, you bastard! I'm going to... damn it!"

Two young men, consumed by fury, lashed out and kicked the woman, sending her sprawling to the ground.

*Whew,* Li Dongning thought, *finally a bit of relief. That thieving woman was surprisingly strong!*

"Hey, don't let her run away, keep a close eye on her!" Li Dongning instructed the two young men.

"Relax! Damn it, you can leave scum like this to us!"

"Right! While we still have a moment, we're going to teach her a lesson for everyone!"

Li Dongning: "Ahem... Do as you please, just don't break her."

Seeing the two young men closing in to deal out punishment, the woman shrieked desperately:

"Don't believe them! They're the ones who stole my baby! That bottle belongs to them too!"

"Gasp!"

At the woman's words, the raised fists of the two young men froze mid-air. Their gazes snapped back toward Yang Qing and Li Dongning.

The rest of the crowd followed suit, looking at them with renewed suspicion.

Li Dongning: ......

Well, another classic case of the thief crying "stop thief." She had used the exact same trick twice, yet it achieved miraculous results because the people involved were just the three of them, and no one else knew the true sequence of events.

Li Dongning looked helplessly at Yang Qing. Yang Qing also stopped his departure with a helpless expression. After a brief silence, he sighed and said:

"I am Yang Qing. You can look me up online..."

"Yang Qing! You're Yang Qing! God Qing!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a voice of delighted surprise rang out. Three young girls pushed their way through the crowd with excited expressions, gazing at him with burning eyes.

"Yes, I am Yang Qing," Yang Qing smiled wryly. "If you don't believe me, you can check online. My photos should be there."

As soon as Yang Qing finished speaking, the three girls exclaimed in delight: "No need to check, I know you! Wow! I'm seeing the living God Qing! I'm so excited! God Qing, can we take a photo with you?"

Yang Qing: ......

Young ladies, please, let's get serious. What time and place is this for taking photos?! Photos of what?!

By this point, the rest of the onlookers had already pulled out their phones to search. Comparing the information and photos on the internet with the man standing before them, they were struck dumb with astonishment.

Singer, lyricist and composer, creator of the world-class piano masterpiece "To My Beloved"......