He thought about asking around to see what was going on, but as a grown man, he felt awkward bringing it up. He decided to head home first and have Liu Min go pry for details instead.
Liu Min, of course, was his newly wedded second wife.
Reaching his front door, he pushed it open and stepped inside, casting a brief glance toward his daughter Chen Xiuya’s bedroom. He decided there was nothing worth checking on. She had just taken a minor knock to the head, and Liu Min had already put some salve on it anyway. Besides, he needed to rely on his new stepson for the future—a daughter was utterly useless.
With that thought, he pulled out his keys, unlocked his bedroom door, and prepared to step inside for a rest. But the moment the door swung open, he was met with a room plastered in vibrant red bloody writing.
“Aaaagh!” he shrieked in horror. His knees buckled, and he collapsed hard onto his backside.
The neighbors had already been keeping an eye on him when he returned, and the moment they heard his bloodcurdling scream, everyone came running over.
“What happened? What happened? What’s going on?!”
“What on earth happened to make him scream like that?!”
“Oh my goodness, Xiuya’s dad, why are you sitting on the floor?!”
As the neighbors reached the threshold and caught sight of the scene inside, they gasped in collective horror.
“My sweet mother! What is that?!”
“Heavens above! How could this be?!”
“This is way too terrifying!”
“It scared the daylights out of me!”
A few neighbors who couldn’t stand his usual conduct immediately began snickering under their breath.
“Serves him right! That must be Xiuya’s late mother coming back from the dead to settle the score with these heartless monsters.”
“No kidding! Retribution has finally come.”
Just then, Liu Min returned from her errands. Seeing the crowd gathered outside her apartment, she wondered what all the commotion was about. Pushing her way through the mob, she saw Old Chen sprawled on the floor and quickly rushed over, putting on her softest, sweetest tone.
“Old Chen, why are you sitting on the cold floor? The floor is so freezing! Here, let me help you up.”
Hoping to strike a graceful pose as she helped him up, she turned her body—only to catch a full view of the bedroom interior. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed in a faint right then and there.
“Ha! Looks like someone’s got a guilty conscience—fainting dead away from sheer terror!”
Not a single person reached out to catch her; plenty of neighbors despised her. In truth, the crowd only had the courage to chatter because they were standing together in safety. If any one of them had been alone, who would dare step foot inside that room? Anyone looking at that sight would be terrified.
Despite the era’s fierce ideological push to stamp out superstition, how many people could truly shake off deep-seated fear?
“Ain’t that the truth!”
By now, the scum father had regained a fraction of his senses. Seeing the room stripped bare of every single belonging with only the bloody letters left behind, he scrambled to his feet and sprinted toward Chen Xiuya’s bedroom. Bursting in to find the bed empty, he began frantically searching the room, shouting as he hunted:
“Xiuya! Xiuya, where are you?! Xiuya?!”
“Oh, save your breath!” an older neighbor barked. “Now you remember to look for Xiuya? Where was all this concern earlier?”
“Exactly! The child only survived because she was lucky!”
“Have… have you all seen Xiuya?” he stammered.
An elderly woman in the group stepped forward and sneered:
“The poor girl nearly died! When we found her, her face was covered in blood, and she had a knot the size of an egg on her head. I honestly wonder if you’re even her real father—how could you beat a child into that state and just walk away without a second thought?”
“I didn’t! I… I told Liu Min to bandage her up!”
“Listen to him spout nonsense! That child didn’t get a lick of care from anyone. If we hadn’t found her and rushed her to the hospital, Xiuya would be dead by now!”
“Precisely! Who are you trying to deceive with this pathetic act?”
“Yeah!”
“I… I… I…”
“Alright, save your ‘I-I-I’s!” another neighbor chimed in, crossing her arms. “If you don’t want Xiuya, that works out great—I don’t have a daughter, so I’ll adopt her as my goddaughter! I’ll raise her myself. Anything is better than letting her get beaten to death in your house.”
“Ah, don’t say that,” a woman beside her interjected. “He’d never agree to that. After all, he’s still counting on forcing Xiuya to take that other family’s son’s place in the countryside!”
“Right! He’s relying on this whole scheme to curry favor with that fallen woman fainting on the floor.”
“That woman acts all delicate and helpless all day long—who is she trying to fool? She uses those eyes of hers to flirt with every man she sees!”
“What? You’ve actually seen her do it?”
“You bet I have! Just last week, she was flirting with Old Wang. I remember she wanted to trade something with him, and her eyes were practically glued to him while she spoke. Old Wang even grabbed her hand afterward!”
“No way!”
“I saw it with my own two eyes!”
Unable to stomach any more of the gossip—or perhaps fleeing out of sheer terror—the scum father shoved his way through the crowd and sprinted toward the hospital. Since the factory hospital was right next to the residential compound, he arrived in no time.
After asking for her room number, he stepped inside to find Chen Xiuya lying on the bed, her eyes tightly shut, her small face deathly pale and completely drained of color.
Her head was wrapped in white bandages, though faint spots of blood were still seeping through.
The father stood at the foot of the bed, staring down at his daughter with a complex, unreadable expression. No one could tell what was going through his mind.
Just then, the neighbor who had stayed behind to keep watch returned from the restroom. Spotting Old Chen hovering at the threshold, she shoved him hard on her way in.
“What are you doing blocking the door? If you’re coming in, get in! If not, clear out! Don’t stand there blocking the way!”
The auntie’s blood boiled just looking at him. What kind of monster was he? To beat such a sweet girl into this state—was he even human?
“I… I came to see Xiuya.”
“See what? See if she’s dead yet?” she spat back. “Because if she’s dead, there’ll be no one left to take that other family’s son’s place in the countryside!”
“I…”
“I what? I’ve never seen a man like you in my life! How old was that boy when he moved in here? You honestly think he’ll ever treat you like a real father? Keep dreaming! He tossed his own biological father aside without a second thought, yet here you are, a complete stranger to his blood, indulging in foolish fantasies! Just you wait—the moment you outlive your usefulness, see if that mother and son give a damn about you.”
The father remained silent, staring blankly at her, lost in thought.
“Since you’re here, go pay the hospital bills.”
“Alright…” he muttered.
After settling the payment, he spoke briefly with the doctor and left.
When Wen Ya woke up the next morning, she spotted a metal lunchbox and a large enamel mug sitting on the bedside table.
The woman in the neighboring bed noticed she was awake and offered a friendly smile:
“Your dad brought you breakfast earlier. Now that you’re awake, eat up—you need food to recover fast.”
“Thank you,” Wen Ya murmured softly.
As she ate at a leisurely pace, her mind whirred. This body is named Chen Xiuya. How am I going to change her surname? The original girl’s mother had been surnamed Wen, which meant she could easily adopt her previous life’s surname again.
During morning rounds, the doctor examined her, offered a few precautions regarding her recovery, and discharged her.
When she feigned weakness and shuffled back into the residential compound, the neighborhood aunties immediately spotted her.
They swarmed around her—some rushing to support her arms, others asking about her condition with genuine concern.
“Xiuya, sweetie, how are you feeling? Are you any better?”
“A little better…” she replied in a faint, raspy voice. “Just… still dizzy, woozy, and a bit nauseous.”
“Then why did you check out of the hospital? You should have stayed for another two days!”
“No, Auntie… hospital stays cost too much money. I can tough it out at home.”
“You poor child! You’re far too sensible—that’s why that wretched family steps all over you!”
Hearing this, Wen Ya offered a weak, pitiful smile.