By the time Lu Jiaping rushed back to school from the high-speed rail station, classes had already ended. She looked around the entrance but didn’t see her daughter. Yuxin was usually obedient; sometimes when Lu Jiaping was delayed, Yuxin would wait for her nearby.
After searching for a while without success, Lu Jiaping was about to message the teacher when she spotted two children standing at the entrance of the stationery store across the street.
Jiang Yuxin was chatting and laughing with a boy, her entire face glowing with happiness. The boy took something out and handed it to Jiang Yuxin, then waved goodbye before running off cheerfully.
Lu Jiaping’s expression darkened. The depression that had been building up over the past few days was almost crushing her, and she felt herself teetering on the edge of a breakdown.
She’s only eleven, Lu Jiaping reminded herself, struggling to rein in her emotions. Yawen was right—her daughter was only eleven, not even a teenager yet. She might still be confused about interactions between boys and girls. Lu Jiaping couldn’t jump to conclusions.
Jiang Yuxin turned around with a smile, only to see her mother’s grim face. Startled, she took a guilty step back.
Lu Jiaping led Jiang Yuxin toward home. Once they crossed the street and there were fewer people around, she finally spoke.
“Was that boy the new transfer student in your class, Chen Mingliang?”
“Yes.”
“Are you close with him?”
Jiang Yuxin hesitated for a long time before whispering, “No… He’s the captain of our class’s basketball team now. I used to be the captain, but I quit, so…”
Lu Jiaping frowned. She shouldn’t have let her play basketball in the first place—it only led to her mixing with boys.
“Do you know how many points he scored on the last unit test?”
Test scores weren’t made public, and fifth-graders were shy about discussing grades with their peers. Of course, Jiang Yuxin didn’t know.
“Only three students in the class scored below eighty in the English test. He got seventy-six.”
Jiang Yuxin instinctively defended Chen Mingliang: “That’s because he just transferred here. The listening equipment…”
“Yuxin!” Lu Jiaping cut her off. “I’m not against you making friends, but you need to be selective. Enze and Hongjun are both good students, and I’m very happy you get along with them. But Mingliang is different—his grades are really poor. You should be friends with better classmates.”
Jiang Yuxin’s eyes dimmed, and she fell silent.
Lu Jiaping felt she had made her point and decided to drop the subject. Instead, she asked, “Were you playing around yesterday? You didn’t even finish your homework until so late. I know you were upset because Grandmother came, but you’re a student. You need to learn to manage your emotions. This can’t happen again, understand?”
…
Jiang Yuxin had no explanation and mumbled an agreement.
As they approached the kindergarten entrance, Lu Jiaping asked again, “It’s been three days. How many essays have you written?”
Of course, she hadn’t written a single one. Jiang Yuxin had no idea how to write an essay. Even after several composition classes, she still couldn’t get the hang of it. Essays weren’t like other types of writing where she could rely on imagination—they required more insight and accumulated experience. Writing had always been her weak point, and she simply couldn’t do it.
Lu Jiaping completely erupted: “Jiang Yuxin, what is wrong with you! Who have I been working so hard for all this time? Do you have any idea how much I’ve sacrificed? Jiang Yuxin, I usually don’t like to say these things to you. You’re my daughter, and it’s what I should bear. But what about you? Do you know how many scornful looks I’ve endured these past few days? I put up with all of it just so you could attend a prestigious middle school, but what about you?”
Her anger exploded like firecrackers, a rapid and furious outburst. Jiang Yuxin’s head sank lower and lower.
“You’ve stayed with your grandmother for so many days now. You should know what kind of person she is. Let me tell you, everyone in your father’s hometown is like that. They all believe women are worthless, that women are born to serve men, that women don’t even deserve to eat well. Jiang Yuxin, do you want to go back and live that kind of life? Do you?”
Jiang Yuxin shook her head desperately.
As Lu Jiaping shouted, she began to cry: “You are my daughter. From the moment you were born, she looked down on you, thinking I gave birth to a daughter, thinking you were just a girl. But what’s wrong with being a girl? What era is this now? Girls are my treasures too. How much effort have I poured into you? Whatever others have, you will have too. I’ve been more attentive to you than to your brother. Do you know why? In this society, women have it so much harder than men. If you don’t strive, everything is in vain!”
“Don’t you like your godmother? Don’t you always say she’s your role model, your pride? With you being so lazy and useless, how can you possibly measure up to her? Someone like you could never succeed like her!”
Jiang Yuxin cried until she could barely catch her breath. Even when she returned home to do her homework, she couldn’t stop sobbing.
While cooking, Lu Jiaping slammed pots and pans loudly, startling Jiang Yuchen into speaking softly.
In the evening, Jiang Yuxin still had classes. Lu Jiaping took Jiang Yuchen to drop her off and said bluntly, “Go to class first. No reading tonight when you get back. Write two 800-word essays for me, do you hear?”
Jiang Yuxin shook her head in panic: “Mom, I can’t do it. I can’t write them.”
“Whether you can or not, you will write them!” Lu Jiaping returned home to an empty house. The dishes hadn’t been washed, and for the past two days, her mother-in-law had been cooking without properly cleaning the stove, leaving it disgustingly dirty. She wanted to clean it but felt utterly exhausted.
Over the past few days, she had been rushing around without proper rest. Her sleep had been poor, and though she usually napped at noon, today she had to clean the house and was busy all afternoon without any break.
Lu Jiaping walked over to the coffee table and told Jiang Yuchen to draw there. She leaned back on the sofa to rest and, within moments, fell into a deep sleep.
In her hazy dream, she remembered her childhood. Both her parents worked and had no time to care for her. She went to and from school alone. Because she was timid, she was bullied at school—classmates threw her backpack in the trash and mocked her for her poor grades.
Later, she pushed herself hard. Her life revolved entirely around studying until, finally, she became an outstanding student. Teachers looked at her with approval, classmates admired her, and the bullying vanished.
After graduation, Lu Jiaping never considered pursuing a career. She wanted to have children, to give them her wholehearted love and protection.
It was the phone that startled Lu Jiaping awake. She got up and looked—it was a call from the tutoring center teacher. Class wasn’t over yet—why was the teacher calling?
“Yuxin’s mom, has Yuxin gone home?”
Lu Jiaping looked around blankly. Yucheng was quietly watching TV, and only the two of them were at home.
“No, she hasn’t.”
“Yuxin’s mom, Yuxin only attended one class. During the break, she disappeared. Now it’s the second class, and we noticed Yuxin never came back—and her backpack is gone too.”