The next day when she went out, the big black dogs were no longer at the gate. It was probably Meng Zeyan who had taken them away.
Thinking about what had happened at the breakfast stall yesterday, Tang Huan decided she wouldn’t eat there again. From now on, she would have breakfast at school.
She still couldn’t remember who that man was.
The original owner’s memories didn’t all come back to her—only when she encountered certain people or events would fragments appear, and those memories were usually the most deeply imprinted ones.
That man, apparently, wasn’t important enough to remember.
Today, Feng Sisi brought two steamed sweet potatoes and eggs from home. As soon as Tang Huan got on the bus, she excitedly shared a portion with her.
After already eating the eggs she gave yesterday, Tang Huan felt too embarrassed to accept again.
“Sisi, you should eat it yourself!”
“No way. My mom specially prepared this for you to thank you for teaching me English,” Feng Sisi said as she shoved it into her hands without hesitation.
She had already told her parents that her deskmate was helping her with English, and both of them were very grateful to Tang Huan.
The sweet potatoes and eggs were prepared in double portions, and her mother had even said she would make them every day from now on.
Holding the food, Tang Huan felt even more guilty. She was making friends with Feng Sisi under false pretenses.
Teaching English was genuinely out of goodwill—but also partly to make herself feel better.
“You don’t need to do this, Sisi. Teaching English isn’t a big deal,” Tang Huan said uneasily.
But Feng Sisi didn’t agree. “For you it’s nothing, but for me it’s huge!”
Whenever she studied English, her brain went fuzzy. She couldn’t understand anything. But yesterday, after Tang Huan explained a few things, she actually understood them!
What did that mean?
It meant the problem wasn’t her—it was the teaching method!
Not that she was dumb. The teacher just wasn’t teaching the right way.
Anyway, Feng Sisi was full of confidence now. She was definitely going to get into university next year!
While chewing on a sweet potato, she glanced out the window—and froze.
She nudged Tang Huan with her elbow and pointed outside.
Tang Huan followed her gaze and only caught a blurred figure passing by. She had never seen him, but deep in the original owner’s memory, he was a nightmare.
“Huanhuan, that man is harassing someone!” Feng Sisi said angrily in a low voice.
She had seen him secretly touching a female comrade’s hair and even leaning in to smell it.
At that moment, buried memories from the original owner surged into Tang Huan’s mind like shattered fragments.
It was a pain she had never been able to speak of.
Coldness rushed through her entire body. She felt both anger and fear—how could such a disgusting person exist in the world?
And she knew immediately: that man had come for her.
Her first instinct was to hide. She was afraid to face him—the fear rooted in the original owner’s memories completely overwhelmed her.
But if she ran, what if he ended up harassing the Meng family?
No. That wouldn’t work.
Without hesitation, she pulled out the English study guide she had written the night before and pressed it into Feng Sisi’s arms.
“Sisi, can you help me ask the teacher for leave? Just say I’m not feeling well.”
“That excuse won’t work. Teacher Zhang will definitely ask you for details,” Feng Sisi said quickly. “Besides, you look fine—why are you suddenly asking for leave?”
Tang Huan’s eyes reddened with urgency. “Just help me, please. I’ll explain later, okay?”
Seeing how close she was to crying, Feng Sisi immediately agreed. “Alright! I’ll help you. I promise Teacher Zhang won’t question you. Don’t be upset!”
“Thank you, Sisi!”
Without wasting another second, Tang Huan jumped off at the next stop.
There was no returning bus for a while—she would have to run home.
The morning wind was cool as she ran through it, hair flying behind her. The girl sprinted down the early morning road.
People along the way looked at her strangely. After all, it wasn’t common to see someone running so fast while slightly off-step in her stride.
But she didn’t care.
She just wanted to hurry—faster, faster.
Before Li Feng reached the Meng family, she had to stop him.
Li Feng was the original owner’s stepmother’s son, two years older than her—a complete thug.
The original owner had been forced to marry him. She refused, arranged a blind date on her own, and met Meng Zeyan. After seeing him a few times, she secretly used her household registration booklet to register the marriage.
Her stepmother and stepbrother’s plan failed. They went to Tang Yuan Dao and cried and manipulated him.
Tang Yuan Dao, completely influenced by them, supported marrying his daughter off to Li Feng instead, insisting on “strengthening family ties.”
He even ordered her to divorce immediately after she registered the marriage.
When she refused, he became furious and kicked her out, refusing even to attend her wedding.
Not a single person from her family attended her wedding. It was both tragic and laughable.
Tang Huan’s past life had also been difficult, but more in a physical sense. At least her brother had given her everything he could. She had never lacked care.
She had never felt such heartache for someone before—or such hatred for someone either.
No—more than one. She hated the scheming stepmother-and-son pair, and even more, she hated Tang Yuan Dao, the father who turned a blind eye.
As she ran, she mentally replayed the original owner’s suffering. She was timid by nature—but this time, she didn’t want to be.
By the time she reached home, Li Feng was no longer on the road she had seen him on. She followed the path toward the house.
The closer she got, the more anxious she became. Not finding him didn’t mean he had left—it was more likely he had already gone to the Meng household.
Just when despair was about to hit, she saw them at the alley near the gate.
Two men stood there—Li Feng, and… Meng Zeyan.
Li Feng was asking him, “Comrade, do you know which house Tang Huan lives in?”
Meng Zeyan was about to respond when a hurried voice cut in from the alley entrance.
“Why are you looking for me?”
She was afraid that Meng Zeyan might tell him. The Meng family were good people—she didn’t want them dragged into this disgusting man’s mess.
Hearing her voice, Li Feng turned around and looked her up and down with a greasy, unpleasant gaze.
“You’ve lost weight.”
She wore a floral dress. Her chest was softly shaped, her waist so thin it looked like it could be broken with one hand. Her pale calves almost glowed.
Tang Huan frowned. She knew he was disgusting—but she hadn’t expected him to be this blatant. Her skin prickled with instinctive revulsion.
He said nothing, just kept staring at her in that revolting way.
Fear surged through her, but she forced herself to ask sharply, “Li Feng, what do you want? I have nothing to do with your family anymore!”
Li Feng sneered. “You say it’s unrelated, and it becomes unrelated?”
“Your father is hospitalized. Go take care of him at the traditional Chinese medicine hospital. My mother is busy—she doesn’t have time!”
Then he added sarcastically, “Don’t forget to bring your husband. Your father hasn’t even met him yet~ You’re really something—haven’t gone home even once since getting married. Don’t you miss your brother?”
“Li Feng, you—”
She didn’t finish.
Because in the next second, Li Feng was taken down in one move and slammed onto the ground, face-first into the dirt.
Holding him down was Meng Zeyan.
He said calmly toward the alley entrance, “Comrade, how about I take this hooligan to the police station? I can testify that he committed indecent assault.”
“Alright, thank you, comrade,” Tang Huan replied.
She knew he was intimidating Li Feng—but in that moment, she truly wanted it to be real.
Li Feng had always relied on the fact that the original owner didn’t dare escalate things or ruin her reputation, which was why he dared to push further and further.
Tang Huan was afraid too.
But she was even more afraid of being harassed again.
If she left the Meng family and then reported him—would that prevent the Meng family from being affected?