Su Ruyi carried the luggage inside, smiled at the people outside, then closed the partition door, shutting out all the chaos.
These days, in houses like theirs, people usually kept their doors open during the day for ventilation. It was rare to see someone like Su Ruyi closing theirs.
Wang Huizhen stood frozen at the doorway, holding a chicken, still unable to process what had just happened.
She had been a few steps behind and got blocked by others, so she watched from the other end as her grandmother and cousin literally flew from one side to the other—no exaggeration! They were airborne, at least a meter off the ground!
"What are you standing there for? Come inside," Su Ruyi called to her.
"Ah, oh, right."
Wang Huizhen walked in dazedly, still holding the chicken. When she saw the mess inside, she shuddered, her eyes immediately reddening.
How violent must the scene have been for their home to end up like this!
Their home wasn't big—about twenty square meters with one bedroom and a living room that also contained a bunk bed.
During the day, the bedding from the lower bunk was usually folded and stored on the upper bunk, turning the bed into a sofa.
Next to the bed stood a low cabinet, while near the door were a row of stools and a folded table.
Normally, the table remained folded and was only opened when someone needed to do homework or eat.
Though the home was kept clean, it was crowded with belongings piled against the walls.
Now everything was in disarray. The family's only thermos flask was shattered.
The state of the room was bad enough, but her mother and two younger sisters were in worse shape. Even her eldest sister, who cared deeply about her appearance, had her hair pulled into a mess, several scratches on her face, and footprints on her clothes.
"Chicken!"
Tong Yunyun was delighted to see the chicken, smiling with her bloodied mouth, completely indifferent to the injuries on her face and body as if long accustomed to such treatment.
"What were they doing? This is too much!"
Wang Huizhen could no longer hold back her tears, overwhelmed with helplessness.
Her stepfather's family had always treated them poorly, looking down on her mother and the sisters, especially after her mother gave birth to Tong Yunyun with her stepfather. Their disdain became even more apparent.
Grandmother Zhang Cuihua constantly blamed her mother for her stepfather having no male heir, calling her mother and the daughters jinxes. Later, she even wanted to have her eldest uncle's son, Tong Guangyao, adopted under her stepfather's name.
More accurately, she wanted Tong Guangyao to inherit their family's assets—to perform the funeral rites for her stepfather after his passing, while still remaining his biological parents' son normally.
Her stepfather had refused, but Zhang Cuihua unilaterally decided and frequently brought Tong Guangyao over to take advantage of them.
Now, with her stepfather gone—his fate still uncertain—they had come to cause trouble, accusing them of being jinxes.
When the factory issued the condolence payment, they started showing up every few days, trying to seize both the payment and the job the factory had offered.
It was true that she and her elder sister weren't blood-related to the Tong family, but Tong Yunyun was her stepfather's biological daughter, and her mother had worked hard for this family all these years—if not credited, at least acknowledged for her efforts.
Moreover, it was her mother who had given up the position for her stepfather to become a permanent worker at the furniture factory.
Yet, just because there was no man in the house, it seemed like nothing in the family belonged to them anymore.
Su Ruyi: "Alright, stop crying and hurry up with the cleaning. I'm hungry."
Li Mei, who had been at a loss, immediately perked up upon hearing this:
"You must be Ruyi. I'm your Aunt Li Mei. This is your older sister Wang Huizhen, and this is Tong Yunyun. We'll clean up right away and cook for you soon. Do you have any dietary restrictions?"
"I'm fine with anything." Su Ruyi paused after speaking. "Cook more rice. I have a big appetite."
The side effect of her abilities was that Su Ruyi's appetite had become enormous. After eating a bunch of things on the train, having two more boxes of rice would barely be enough.
In the past, such an appetite wouldn't have mattered. As a Landlady who had to pay taxes every year even without working, she could easily eat well and have her fill—not necessarily delicacies every day, but enough to even start a mukbang channel for extra income.
But under current circumstances, such a large appetite was somewhat troublesome. Once she settled down, she'd need to find ways to earn money, or she'd eat herself into poverty.
"Okay, okay. The living room is a mess. You've been traveling all day—go rest in the room first."
Li Mei quickly started cleaning with Wang Huizhen and Wang Huiting. Once she began working, she became efficient, not letting her limping from the beating slow her down.
Su Ruyi hadn't bathed in three days on the train. Although the sleeper berth was better and less crowded, allowing her to wipe herself with a towel in the bathroom at night, the summer heat left her feeling grimy.
She decided not to enter the bedroom, instead taking a stool to sit in the hallway.
Zhang Cuihawas still cursing outside but didn't dare approach again—Su Ruyi's earlier move had frightened her.
Yet, suffering such a loss and leaving unwilling, she felt resentful.
Her curses were filthy, all derogatory slurs targeting women, like "ridden by thousands, pillowed by tens of thousands.""
Su Ruyi opened the door, tossing the stool in her hand, and glared coldly.
Zhang Cuihawas as if choked by the neck, recalling how she'd been thrown earlier.
She hastily pulled Tong Guangyao back, blustering:
"You, just you wait! When my son comes, we'll see how you bitches act so arrogant!"
Su Ruyi sneered, watched them retreat, then closed the door to block any prying eyes.
Fortunately, the house was at the end, offering some privacy, or there'd be none at all.
Tong Yunyun approached, her dark eyes fixed on Su Ruyi, staring intently.
Su Ruyi looked back, noticing the little girl bore some resemblance to her.
"Are you my big sister?"
Su Ruyi frowned as soon as she spoke, pointing to the water vat on the balcony:
"Go rinse your mouth first. With all that blood on your face, aren't you disgusted by the smell?"
Yunyun glanced at her but complied. As she was about to spit the rinse water on the ground, Su Ruyi pinched her mouth shut.
"How filthy. Spit into the spittoon."
Yunyun blinked to show she understood, and Su Ruyi released her.
Yunyun went inside, pulled a spittoon from under the bed, and spat the bloody water into it.
After cleaning her mouth, she came back out.
Su Ruyi watched Li Mei and her two daughters busy inside and lifted her chin: "Aren't you going to help?"
Yunyun put her hands on her hips, head held high:
"I'm the man of the house. Men don't bother with such trivial matters!"
Su Ruyi scoffed, "Who taught you that?"
"No one taught me! I'm a man—I just know it naturally!"
"Hah! So your father Tong Aihua isn't a man then?"
Tong Yunyun glared, "Don't you talk about my dad!"
"Wasn't it you who said real men don't bother with trivial matters? Yet Tong Aihua does all those things at my house."
Yunyun's eyes widened further, "Impossible! My dad would never do such things. He doesn't lift a finger at home—you're lying!"
"That's because your mom and sister do everything for him at your place. At my house, those are his chores."
Yunyun froze, unable to picture her father doing such tasks.
"If you don't want to do something, just say so. Don't claim it's 'not men's work.' Besides, are you even a man?"
"I am! Of course I am! I'm stronger than any boy—I jump higher and farther, climb trees better, and I'm smarter too. I am a boy," Yunyun retorted angrily.
"My mother took first place in the national competition, outdoing all the men. Even high-ranking officials praised her, yet she remains a remarkable woman. And here you are, so young, looking down on females."
"But girls can't smash the funeral bowl."
Su Ruyi rolled her eyes, "Smashing a bowl isn't like moving mountains—anyone can do it. Where I'm from, we don't even have that burial custom. So what? Does that mean we shouldn't live?"
"But I'm a girl. That means my dad has no heir."
"Oh, stop it. Who says girls don't carry on the bloodline? Even if you marry and have children, can you guarantee they'll carry your family name? When men marry and have kids, there's no certainty the child is theirs either."
"But our children can't take the Tong surname."
"Why not? I took my mother's surname. Find someone like our dad, and your children can be Tongs too. Or they could take your mother's Li name."
Being young, Yunyun soon got tangled in Su Ruyi's arguments. She felt they were wrong but couldn't counter them.
The mother and her two daughters in the room stayed silent, tidying up while listening to Su Ruyi's persuasion.
When Yunyun was five, she shaved her head on her own and insisted she was a boy.
Had everyone not stopped her, she would have used the men's restroom. Though she no longer insists on that now, she avoids women's restrooms too, either relieving herself outdoors or using a chamber pot.
She constantly competes with boys, often fights them, and has become the neighborhood's child leader.
Though not tall and quite thin, she fights fiercely and fearlessly, never holding back even when beaten. The rowdiest boys fear her confrontational style.
Nowadays, everyone calls her "Iron Donkey"—stubborn as iron with a donkey's temper, charging through life headfirst.
Tong Aihua and Li Min could do nothing about her, so they let her be.
Tong Aihua had mentioned her in letters but never in detail, only saying he had a tomboyish younger sister.
No one expected it to be this extreme.
From what Su Ruyi observed, Yunyun didn't seem to have gender dysphoria. Instead, she believed being a boy was better—that her family and mother wouldn't be bullied if they had a son—so she consciously molded herself this way.
During Tong Aihua's time with their family, he never showed son-preference tendencies, nor had their years of communication revealed any.
But this might be due to her mother Su Ying's influence. What she told Yunyun earlier wasn't untrue.
Their family operated on an inverted gender dynamic—major decisions were made by Madam Su Ying, while minor matters were handled by Tong Aihua.
She hadn’t changed her surname after a divorce; she had shared Madam Su Ying’s surname since birth. During their time in the countryside, Tong Aihua had essentially been a live-in son-in-law.
Madam Su Ying did not favor sons over daughters, and since Tong Aihua followed her lead, he didn’t exhibit such tendencies either.
In Su Ruyi’s memory, her family’s situation was the opposite of the village norm.
Villagers speculated that after Su Ruyi’s parents divorced, her father would surely renege on his commitments—after all, few men who ran off took responsibility, especially a live-in son-in-law.
Live-in sons-in-law were the most likely to turn hostile, afraid of recalling their “humiliating” past.
But the outcome astonished everyone. Su Ruyi believed this was partly due to Comrade Tong Aihua’s conscience, and partly—quite crucially—because Madam Su Ying had him firmly under her thumb.
Although they now lived in a county town, which was more progressive than the countryside, son-preference still persisted.
Such was the prevailing mindset of the time—not necessarily devaluing girls, but generally prioritizing boys, believing that having a son was essential for a fulfilling life.
Many families, despite the one-child policy, went to great lengths to have a second or third child for a boy, employing all sorts of tricks to evade family planning regulations. This was hardly news.
Since everyone had similar desires, people usually didn’t report each other and even helped cover things up.
People could wear different faces around different individuals. Comrade Tong Aihua likely had two sides to him—otherwise, how could he have driven his child to such a state?
“Anyway, anyway, it’s better to be a boy.”
Tong Yunyun delivered her final verdict.
Su Ruyi didn’t argue with the little brat, merely saying:
“If that’s what you think, fine. The treats I brought are only for girls. Since you’re a boy, you get none. Saves me a portion, and we can enjoy more.”
Tong Yunyun’s ears perked up, and she tilted her head up: “You came from the countryside—what could you possibly have brought?”
“Nothing much, really. Just common stuff like cured sausages, preserved meats, salted fish, mangoes, pineapples, longans, guavas, bananas, and so on. Very ordinary, nothing special. What good things could we possibly have from our remote, impoverished mountains? Nonexistent.”
Tong Yunyun started swallowing saliva on the spot—some of these fruits she’d only seen in textbooks!
These were all southern fruits, rarely seen in their area.
“I… I want some too.”
“Didn’t I just say? What I brought is only for girls. Boys get nothing.”
“B-but… aren’t the best treats always saved for boys?”
Su Ruyi shrugged: “That’s your rule, not mine. My rule is: ladies first, gentlemen step aside.”
Tong Yunyun’s little face scrunched up in frustration. She really wanted to eat, but she also really wanted to be a boy.
Author’s Note: