Fu Yunzhu didn’t know how long she had been unconscious. In a hazy half-dream, she heard a man’s voice droning on beside her ear…
“Yunzhu, you’re already this old. Can’t you give your father a little peace of mind? If you anger your mother and she runs off, just the two of us a widowed father and daughter won’t that be a laughingstock in the village?”
The phrase “widowed father and daughter” made Fu Yunzhu’s mind freeze for a moment before she finally matched it with the usual saying “a widowed mother and orphaned children.” The corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.
Seeing her lips move, Fu Weidong immediately sprang to his feet in excitement and shouted, “Yunzhu! Yunzhu!”
His two shouts made her eardrums ring. Startled, Fu Yunzhu snapped her eyes open and sat up.
What greeted her was a bare wall of bluish bricks. The wooden lattice window was pasted over with old newspapers to keep out the wind. On a wooden rack sat an enamel washbasin, with a yellowed towel draped over it.
Standing in front of her was a man in his forties, wearing a white sleeveless undershirt. His hair was cut short, and he looked at her with an honest, guileless expression.
As a flood of memories poured into her mind, Fu Yunzhu finally realized she had transmigrated into a period novel, into the body of a young girl who shared her exact name.
Seeing her sit up, Fu Weidong immediately reached out to pull her. “Girl, if you’re fine, hurry up and get out of bed to cook for your mom and your sister. They’ll be back soon we can’t afford to delay.”
“I don’t have any strength at all, and I’m starving. How am I supposed to cook?” Fu Yunzhu replied.
She wanted to say that once there was a stepmother, there really was a stepfather too. The original owner of this body had been so enraged by her stepmother that she smashed her head against the wall and fell into a deep coma, yet the man’s biggest concern was that no one would cook for the stepmother and stepsister while she lay in bed.
Fu Weidong thought for a moment, then smiled. “Then I’ll sit here and chat with you for a bit. Once you’ve rested enough, you can go work.”
He happened to have something to say to her anyway.
Before Fu Yunzhu could speak, he began in a heavy, earnest tone. “Yunzhu, you really went too far this time. Your mom only asked you to give your engagement to your sister, and you went and tried to kill yourself by smashing your head against the wall. That’s really small-minded of you. All my usual teachings to you were wasted.”
“I really am not as broad-minded as you,” Fu Yunzhu said coolly. “He Cuihua put a green hat on you and you could still swallow it.”
Her sudden remark stabbed straight into Fu Weidong’s sore spot. His hypocritical mask instantly shattered, and he raised his hand at her. “Fu Yunzhu!”
Fu Yunzhu leaned her face toward him. “Go ahead, hit me. I’m not fully recovered yet. If you injure me, we’ll see who cooks and washes clothes for your whole family. If you beat me to death, we’ll see who goes every month to collect those twenty yuan of child support for my sister’s schooling.”
Fu Yunzhu’s biological mother had been a sent-down youth back in the day. When Fu Yunzhu was twelve, she divorced Fu Weidong and returned to the city. After that, she sent twenty yuan in child support every month, and specified that Fu Yunzhu herself had to sign for it at the post office.
Who knew that the original Fu Yunzhu had been thoroughly PUA’d by this so-called father. Just to obtain that tiny bit of flimsy, false paternal affection, she handed over all the child support and reduced herself to a servant for the entire household.
Thinking of the pitiful original owner, Fu Yunzhu felt her chest clog with anger. Since she was here now, this family’s days of clinging to her and sucking her blood were over.
Fu Weidong’s raised hand froze in midair and never came down.
In the end, he wiped his forehead and slowly sat back down, wearing a pained expression as he spoke in a trembling voice. “Who do you think I’ve been enduring all this for?”
Fu Yunzhu quietly watched him perform.
“Isn’t it all so you can have a complete family? Look at your sister she’s so promising. The college entrance exam is coming up, and even the principal came personally to our house, saying our village is about to produce another student admitted to a prestigious university. When she makes something of herself, do you think she’ll forget about you? That’s why we need to look further ahead. Can you stop harping on about your twenty yuan of child support every month?”
As soon as Fu Weidong finished speaking, the door creaked open. It was her stepsister, Fu Yufen.
Seeing him, she called out sweetly, “Dad, what are you talking about with my sister?”
When Fu Weidong saw his younger daughter, the smile on his face spread immediately. He stood up and said, “Your sister just woke up and has a bit of a temper. Try to persuade her.”
Fu Yufen nodded. “Mm, okay.”
Looking at his sensible younger daughter, Fu Weidong smiled. “You must be hungry. Dad will go cook noodles for you right now. I had Yunzhu save all the free-range eggs from the other day for you didn’t let anyone eat a single one. I’ll boil a few for you later.”
“Alright. Thanks for your hard work, Dad.”
Watching this scene, Fu Yunzhu felt a surge of bitterness on the original owner’s behalf. Her father’s kindness toward her had always stayed at the level of hypocritical words, while only toward her sister did it turn into real action.
Fu Weidong went out. Fu Yufen sat down beside Fu Yunzhu and asked gently, “Are you feeling any better, Sister?”
Fu Yunzhu looked at her face identical in hypocrisy to Fu Weidong’s. “I almost didn’t make it to collect those twenty yuan of child support to pay for your schooling. How good do you think I could be?”
Fu Yufen hadn’t expected Fu Yunzhu to speak so sarcastically. She froze for a moment, then quickly recovered and coquettishly held Fu Yunzhu’s hand. “Sister, are you still angry about the engagement with Gu Yu?”
She really did need the twenty yuan her mother sent every month to cover school and living expenses.
Seeing that Fu Yunzhu didn’t respond, she continued analyzing things for her in a considerate tone. “But Gu Yu doesn’t like you. Last time when you brought up setting a wedding date, he didn’t even mention preparing a betrothal gift. Instead, he actually asked our family to prepare eighteen hundred yuan as a dowry. That’s clearly his way of making you back off.”
Fu Yunzhu wasn’t angry she was puzzled. What kind of man was so precious that he dared to ask for an eighteen-hundred-yuan dowry? In this era, that was no small sum.
Yet there was no such dowry plot in the book. Still, that name carried a bone-deep sense of familiarity she couldn’t explain.
Suppressing her doubts, Fu Yunzhu asked, “If he wants our family to back off, does that mean he’s willing to marry you?”
A proud curve lifted the corner of Fu Yufen’s lips. “Sister, I’m different from you. This test, the principal said I can apply to the same university as him. If we go to the same school, we can look out for each other. Even though we haven’t had much contact yet, in the future he and I will definitely have more in common than you do. Sister, haven’t you noticed yet? Gu Yu has already changed. He’s long past someone you can keep under control. The longer you drag this out, the worse things will get. In the end, the one who suffers will be you.”
Fu Yunzhu wasn’t suffering at all. She just wanted to see this man who supposedly carried a value of eighteen hundred yuan in dowry see what he looked like, and see whether she could sell him for a good price through Fu Yufen.
“I want to go find Gu Yu and talk it over again.”
Fu Yufen smiled. “Sure. I believe you’ll come to your senses, Sister.”
She believed even more that such a smart man would know how to choose. Only if Gu Yu said it himself would Fu Yunzhu truly give up.
Before long, Fu Weidong came back and waved at Fu Yufen. “Come out and eat your noodles.”
Then he turned to Fu Yunzhu with exaggerated warmth. “Girl, I’ll bring your noodles in for you in a bit.”
“Mm.”
Fu Weidong went into the kitchen and served a bowl of noodles. As he passed through the main room, He Cuihua stopped him. “Isn’t that girl still breathing? Why does she need someone to carry food in to serve her?”
Fu Weidong set the bowl down on the table. “Her temper’s a bit off today. And we don’t have much meat or eggs at home. If she sees them, it won’t be good.”
He Cuihua glanced at the bowl in his hands clear broth with barely any noodles then at the eggs and meat in her own and her daughter’s bowls, and nodded. “Go on, then.”
Aside from worrying that Fu Yunzhu might get upset, Fu Weidong also wanted to take this chance to put on a show of fatherly love. This girl was easy to placate one bowl of noodle soup, a few kind words, and she’d agree to anything.
Fu Yunzhu sat on the bed and took the noodles from his hands. She didn’t listen to a single word Fu Weidong said, didn’t even lift her head, slurping the noodles down quickly. Then she shoved the bowl and chopsticks back into his hands.
“I’m going to find Gu Yu to talk things over.”