“Mom, my brother stole my money!”
Her daughter was crying. At thirteen, she had saved up money by collecting scrap every day, only for her brother to steal it and squander it.
But Jiang Yan didn’t answer. She was still trying to process the shock of being reborn after death.
She had died so horribly.
She should have been enjoying her old age, but her son had angered her so badly that she suffered a stroke, then dumped her into the road to stage accidents and extort money from drivers.
Thank goodness she had been reborn!
Her daughter was safe, too. Her son hadn’t beaten the girl so badly that she was left disabled and disfigured.
Jiang Yan wanted to pull her daughter into her arms and tell her that this time, she wouldn’t need her daughter to protect her. Mom would take care of herself—and protect her daughter, too.
Just then, her husband Wang Xuezhong spoke:
“We’re all family. What do you mean, ‘stole’? How can you say something so thoughtless, you silly girl?”
Wang Xuezhong favored boys over girls. His daughter was a natural beauty who had skipped several grades and, at thirteen, had gained admission to the same high school as her brother—a school with an admission rate below fifty percent.
And it was a top high school!
But in Wang Xuezhong’s eyes, his daughter was still nothing but a financial burden.
“But I earned that money! I wanted to buy a pair of pants!”
His daughter held out her sunburned, peeling arm, trying to awaken her fatherly affection.
She only wanted a pair of pants. She didn’t want her classmates laughing at her anymore because the front of her trousers gaped open like a “big gate.”
“Who doesn’t wear new clothes for three years, old clothes for another three, then patch them and wear them for three more?”
Wang Xuezhong shot his daughter a reproachful, deeply disdainful look.
“You’re so young, and already so vain. When you’re a little older, someone will offer you a little something, and you’ll run off with them. Then I’ll have raised you for nothing!”
His words were cruel. His daughter was hurt, tears streaming down her face, but she didn’t dare talk back to Wang Xuezhong.
Jiang Yan immediately got up to comfort her daughter, but Wang Xuezhong ordered her:
“Hurry up and get my things ready. I’m going on a business trip. My train leaves this afternoon.”
Jiang Yan’s heart lurched. She remembered. It was today!
Wang Xuezhong went on a business trip every weekend. In reality, he was going off to have an affair with Liu Yingying.
The absurd thing was that every time, Jiang Yan herself prepared clean clothes and tasty provisions for his journey.
Liu Yingying liked sweet food, so Wang Xuezhong would specifically tell Jiang Yan to make him brown-sugar flatbreads.
If she hadn’t been buying clothes for her daughter this time, they never would have run into each other on the street.
One long street, two different worlds.
On one end, Wang Xuezhong and Liu Yingying ate and drank extravagantly, indulging themselves without restraint.
On the other, Jiang Yan and her daughter lived in shabby circumstances. They tried to haggle over a mere two mao, only to be scorned and chased away by the vendor.
When Jiang Yan’s gaze landed on that familiar figure, her heart felt as though it were being torn apart.
But the first thing she did was cover her daughter’s eyes with her hand and hurry away.
In an era when gossip and public scorn could drown a person, Jiang Yan chose to divorce Wang Xuezhong peacefully, so their children wouldn’t be laughed at or suffer the stain of his reputation in the future.
Wang Xuezhong, shameless as ever, said she could divorce him if she wanted—but she had to leave with nothing.
And he meant it. When they divorced, he didn’t give Jiang Yan or either of their two children a single cent.
People said that even a day of marriage earned a hundred days of affection. Jiang Yan had borne him a son and a daughter. Even for the children’s sake, he should have given her the share of the property that belonged to her.
But Wang Xuezhong was that heartless. On the very day of the divorce, he drove Jiang Yan and the children out onto the street and left them to sleep rough.
“Don’t you have hands of your own?”
Jiang Yan wiped her daughter’s tears with her sleeve. Her voice was colder and more defiant than ever before.
Wang Xuezhong stared at her in astonishment.
“Are you trying to rebel? What kind of way is that to talk to me?”
Jiang Yan said nothing. Her soul had been reborn, but her body still instinctively feared Wang Xuezhong.
Her heart was racing; her hands were trembling.
Even so, she forced herself to snatch Wang Xuezhong’s wallet from him.
It had been a gift from Liu Yingying. She’d said she’d bought it especially for Wang Xuezhong, but in truth, it was dead stock left over from her husband’s failed business.
It was something no one else could sell, yet Wang Xuezhong treasured it and kept it close to his body.
“Go find your son. Until we settle this business of him stealing the money, you’re not going on your trip!”
She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her flesh and using the pain to force herself to stand firm.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Wang Xuezhong tried to snatch the wallet back, but Jiang Yan had anticipated him. She twisted her wrist and dodged his hand.
That made Wang Xuezhong furious.
“You’re the one looking for trouble. Don’t blame me for what happens next!”
He stormed out and soon dragged his son back from outside the family compound, where the boy had been throwing money around to show off.
Without a word, he tossed Wang Chuanzhi to the floor and immediately slapped him.
Smack! Five red finger marks appeared on Wang Chuanzhi’s face.
When a son suffers, his mother feels the pain.
Wang Xuezhong wasn’t hitting his son. He was hitting Jiang Yan!
“Your mother told me to hit you!” Wang Xuezhong yelled, pointing at his son’s nose. He made sure to look at Jiang Yan, too.
Let’s see if you don’t feel sorry for him!
Smack! He slapped him again.
The other side of Wang Chuanzhi’s face took the blow, too, and the handprint swelled.
“Your mother said you stole money and told me to teach you a good lesson. So, did you steal it or not?”
Wang Chuanzhi was stunned by the beating. Tears streamed from his eyes despite his efforts to hold them back.
“I, I… stole, stole…”
He had just started to admit that he’d stolen the money when Wang Xuezhong kicked him again, making him yelp in pain.
“Steal what? Your sister’s money is your money! She’s being petty and running to complain, and your mother’s biased—that’s why she told me to hit you. Understand?”
After roaring at his son, Wang Xuezhong turned to Jiang Yan and taunted her:
“Is that enough? Are you satisfied? If you don’t think it’s enough, I’ll keep going. I’ll chop your son’s hand off! That’s what he gets for stealing money, isn’t it?”
As if words weren’t enough, he grabbed a kitchen knife and waved it in front of Jiang Yan, as though he really meant to chop someone.
Both children were scared witless.
Jiang Yan, however, had grown calm. She could only smile bitterly to herself.
People said scum ran in the blood. But her son’s depravity surpassed anything she could have imagined.
She had given her son everything, yet he always took his father’s side!
Wang Chuanzhi knew his father was cheating, and that the divorce was his father’s fault. Even so, he remained close to his dad.
Even when Wang Xuezhong died, he left his son not a penny of his inheritance, giving it all to Liu Yingying.
But Wang Chuanzhi didn’t hate his father. He hated Jiang Yan.
Before pushing Jiang Yan, who had suffered a stroke, toward the stream of traffic, he said:
“Mom, you’re so old now. You’ve lived long enough. Dad needs someone to take care of him down there. Learn from my Mom Liu. This time, be a good wife to him!”
He called Liu Yingying “Mom”!
That woman hadn’t given birth to him or raised him, yet he called her “Mom”!
“Go ahead and chop it off!”
There was no longer any pain in Jiang Yan’s eyes at the sight of her son being beaten. Her heart had died, leaving only numbness.
At her words, an awkward silence fell over the room.
Wang Xuezhong opened his mouth several times, but couldn’t remember what he’d meant to say.
He checked the time. He was running late.
“I don’t have time for your craziness!”
Wang Xuezhong flew into a rage. He clamped one hand around Jiang Yan’s neck, shoved her down onto the bed, and forcibly snatched back the wallet.
He couldn’t keep Liu Yingying waiting. Wallet in hand, he left without another moment’s pause.
Then Wang Chuanzhi got up from the floor and shoved Jiang Yan hard as she was rising. She slammed into the edge of the bed, pain shooting through her.
“Mom, how dare you tell Dad to hit me? I hate you!”
His hatred was as fierce as his strength. He hated her with all his might.
Jiang Yan stared into her son’s eyes. Her numb heart was torn open all over again, blood pouring from the wound.
Good. Very good!
Keep hating me. Don’t you dare ask me to forgive you!
She didn’t want this ungrateful son anymore!
As for that ungrateful son’s scumbag father, Jiang Yan touched her neck. The place where Wang Xuezhong had just choked her still throbbed faintly.
Her gaze darkened as she sank into thought…