That slap landed hard.
The burning sensation had barely touched her cheek before Zhou Gang angrily rose to his feet and shielded her behind him.
“An Chunfang! I already told you, the money was something I gave Yanyan willingly. She has nothing to do with this!”
An Chunfang pointed at his nose, her face full of disappointment: “Zhou Gang, I scrimp and save every day—I can’t even bear to buy myself a decent outfit. But you? You just hand over two thousand yuan like it’s nothing! How did I end up marrying a man with no sense of priorities like you? I want a divorce! Divorce!”
Zhou Gang’s lips trembled, his face nearly turning purple with rage.
“Fine! Divorce! I’ve had enough too! All these years, I’ve handed my entire paycheck over to you—I only keep five hundred yuan a month for spending money! I let you have your way on every little thing in this household. What more do you want from me? Tell me! What more?!”
An Chunfang was stunned speechless by Zhou Gang’s roar.
Then she burst into loud, snotty tears and turned her attack toward Lin Yan.
“Lin Yan! Look, nothing good ever happens when you come back! You might as well have stayed dead in Jingbei! Now look what you’ve done—you’ve turned our household upside down! Your uncle and I are getting a divorce! Are you happy now?”
“An Chunfang!” Zhou Gang’s veins bulged as his voice rose several notches: “Shut your mouth!”
“Enough. Stop arguing.” Lin Yan stepped forward, gazing at An Chunfang with unruffled calm: “I’ve already found a place to stay. I’d planned to spend the New Year here before heading back to the county town. Since I’m not welcome, I can leave right now. And for the record, I’m not the one who turned this household upside down—you are.”
An Chunfang grabbed her arm in indignation, glaring: “Lin Yan, you’ve gotten bold now, have you? Daring to talk back? Don’t you forget—I’m the one who raised you!”
“Is that so?” Lin Yan let out a faint, cold laugh: “Want me to remind you exactly how you raised me?”
An Chunfang’s heart tightened at Lin Yan’s sharp gaze, and she guiltily changed the subject.
“I can’t be bothered arguing with you! Just return that two thousand yuan right now! Zhou Gang’s money is my money—I never agreed to it, so what right does he have to give it to you?!”
Lin Yan pried her hand off: “The money’s at the hotel. I didn’t bring it with me.”
“I don’t believe you!”
With that, An Chunfang lunged at Lin Yan like a shrew, grabbing at her clothes and starting to search her.
“BANG—”
The door was suddenly kicked open.
There stood Xing Yu, his face cold and stern, radiating a chilling frost.
He walked straight over to Lin Yan’s side and looked at An Chunfang with calm composure: “Hello, Auntie. I’m Xing Yu. You should know who I am.”
An Chunfang was dumbfounded, her mouth opening and closing: “Coach… Coach Xing… What are you doing here?”
Xing Yu smiled politely, but his eyes were as cold as an icy pool: “Didn’t Lin Yan tell you? She and I are currently getting to know each other.”
An Chunfang paused, then quickly switched to a fawning expression.
“Oh… Yanyan never told me! I thought you two… didn’t take a liking to each other!”
“She didn’t take a liking to me.” Xing Yu’s voice was deep: “But I took a liking to her.”
An Chunfang felt the temperature around her drop several degrees.
“Oh my, why didn’t you say so earlier! Look at all this fuss…” An Chunfang hastily patted Lin Yan’s shoulder, scrambling to smooth things over: “You silly girl, Coach Xing has taken a liking to you, and you’re still standing here being picky?!”
Lin Yan felt exhausted, the sight of An Chunfang’s mercenary face alone suffocating and nauseating.
Xing Yu pulled out five hundred yuan in cash and set it on the table nearby: “This is all the cash I have on me. I’ll transfer the remaining fifteen hundred to your WeChat.”
“This is so embarrassing…” Before she could finish the sentence, An Chunfang had already shamelessly pulled up her payment QR code.
Once the money came through, An Chunfang was satisfied.
“Coach Xing, why did you transfer two thousand? That’s five hundred extra!”
Xing Yu replied in a flat, indifferent tone: “The extra five hundred is for fixing the door.”
“Oh my, Coach Xing thinks of everything!” An Chunfang was in high spirits now, no longer causing trouble: “Yanyan, tidy up the house a bit. I’ll go cook, and we’ll have Coach Xing stay for dinner!”
Lin Yan closed her eyes and left without another word.
She ignored An Chunfang’s shouting from behind her.
She walked all the way back to the hotel before turning around and stopping, speaking to Xing Yu, who had been following her the whole way: “Stop following me. Go back. I’ll pay you back the twenty-five hundred as soon as I can.”
“You look terrible.” Xing Yu walked up to her: “Not feeling well?”
“Just a little tired.” Lin Yan pressed her dry lips together: “I’m going back to get some sleep.”
Back at the hotel, her headache worsened.
She swallowed two pills and burrowed into the blankets.
But even with her eyes closed, sleep wouldn’t come.
The past was like a blade, slicing through her memories until they bled.
Back then, her uncle worked as a laborer at a construction site in the county town and only came home on weekends.
An Chunfang had never liked her—she saw her as a burden, a millstone around her neck.
Whenever she was in a bad mood, she’d take it out on Lin Yan.
Only on the weekends when her uncle came home could she enjoy two days of peace and happiness.
She’d quietly told her uncle about some of the things that happened, but nothing ever changed. All it brought was fierce fighting between An Chunfang and her uncle.
Eventually, she got used to it.
Used to curling up in the corner and eating the leftover food Zhou Feiyue didn’t want.
Used to being force-fed toilet water by An Chunfang whenever she did something wrong.
She had grown used to the beatings and scoldings that came without reason, year after year…
She had thought that eight years would eventually wear down some of that cold, hard edge.
But in truth, no matter what you did, someone who didn’t like you would never see you in a good light.
If it weren’t for the uncle at home who genuinely cared for her, she would never have returned to this place.
…
When she woke up, it was already eight in the evening.
Her head still felt heavy.
She walked to the window and glanced at the moon hanging in the sky, its light casting a lonely, desolate glow over the small town.
Just as she was about to look away, a figure standing downstairs caught her eye.
Standing tall and upright, exuding an air of propriety despite the inherent coldness about him.
Lin Yan’s expression shifted slightly.
In such freezing weather, had he been standing there all afternoon without leaving?
After a moment’s thought, Lin Yan washed her face and went downstairs.
The wind outside howled fiercely, and Lin Yan couldn’t help but shiver.
But when she came out, Xing Yu was nowhere to be seen.
She scanned the surroundings—he had probably left.
She pulled her down jacket tighter and walked to the small shop to buy three cans of beer, then headed toward the town square.
Beside the square ran the Shiliang River, where in summer the townsfolk loved to come and play in the water and cool off.
When she was little, whenever she felt wronged, she would come here to secretly cry.
Lin Yan sat on the steps by the river, staring blankly at the moon for a long time.
Just as she took a sip of beer, a shadow suddenly pressed down beside her.
She looked up to find Xing Yu standing next to her, lazily holding a stack of beer cans, his tall, slender figure like a pine tree in the moonlight.
Xing Yu sat down beside her as if it were the most natural thing in the world, opened a can, took a sip, and fixed his gaze on her with an unhurried air.
“Friend, having a drink without inviting me?”