Yang Yuan walked faster and faster, not daring to stop despite gasping for breath. Yang Wenping could only stride along behind her. Seeing his sister’s anxious expression, he even prepared for the worst in his heart.
If his little sister had really gotten into some irreparable disaster, then he would just have to take the blame for her.
Yang Yuan’s mind was in a panic. She entered the front gate and walked straight ahead, while Yang Wenping turned to close the door and slide the bolt shut.
“Ah—”
Yang Yuan let out a startling scream, scaring Yang Wenping so badly he scrambled and tumbled his way inside.
“Yuanyuan!”
Just now, Yang Yuan had been walking along with her head down, and when she looked up, a figure suddenly appeared right in front of her—dark and hulking, thick-waisted and broad-shouldered. She was so frightened she plopped down on the ground, scared out of her wits.
“Yuanyuan.” The dark figure was also startled by her and moved to help her up. “Yuanyuan, what’s wrong? It’s Mom! Don’t you recognize your own mother?”
“What’s going on? What happened?”
“Who is it? You’ve scared the whole household crying!”
“The Yangs, yelling their heads off after dinner instead of sleeping—what’s all the racket about?”
Voices from the neighbors came from all around. Yang Yuan stayed frozen for a good while before coming back to her senses, her face breaking out in a sweat. The Yang family apologized repeatedly to the neighbors and helped her into the house.
“Yuanyuan, how are you feeling? Any better?”
Mother Yang had originally been furious, determined to teach Yang Yuan a good lesson. But after that scare just now, seeing her daughter’s little face pale as death, she forgot all about it.
She patted the ground, then brushed her hands over Yang Yuan’s body, tapped her forehead, pinched both her earlobes, all while murmuring, “Search and find, search and find…”
This is a folk method of soul-calling that adults use when children get frightened. Even though it’s really just psychological comfort to soothe a child.
Yang Yuan drank some water and felt much better. She had simply been too absorbed in her own thoughts, and when someone suddenly appeared, she was caught off guard for a moment. Once she recovered, she was fine.
Looking at the people gathered around her, she was full of confusion. “Mom, why are you back? Weren’t you at Second Sister’s place?”
“And Dad, weren’t you supposed to be on duty today? Why are you back so early?”
When Father Yang and Mother Yang heard her questions, they remembered the reason they had come home, and anger crept onto their faces.
Mother Yang didn’t answer her questions. Instead, she said, “Yang Yuan, Yang Wenping, both of you stand up straight. First of all—where did you go, and why are you back so late? And Yang Yuan, look at yourself—what on earth are you wearing? Explain yourself right now.”
Yang Yuan looked down. Oh, right—she was still wearing Father Yang’s clothes. No wonder she’d been feeling hot. Then she remembered something and wiped her face—her hand came away black…
She gave the three of them an awkward smile, unable to suppress her guilt.
Requesting permission from the parents to fix her appearance, she washed her face and came back out to stand properly again. By then, Yang Wenping had already finished his explanation.
Yang Yuan licked her lips and carefully chose her words. “I wore Dad’s clothes as a disguise, because I had to do something without anyone recognizing it was me. As for what it was… I haven’t decided whether to tell you yet.”
At the end, she glanced at her parents’ expressions, her heart pounding. Such a perfunctory excuse—she herself couldn’t bear to hear it.
Seeing that no one spoke up, she added, “The reason I’m home late—same as above.”
The room fell silent. Yang Wenping had already sat down—apparently his answers had been satisfactory and he’d passed.
When it came to the temper of the Yang parents, Yang Yuan was still trying to get a read on it, and at the moment she couldn’t be sure whether she’d be allowed to sit too.
Mother Yang took a deep breath, closed her eyes to calm herself, then immediately fixed her gaze on her. “Your second brother-in-law says you want to buy a classmate’s job. Something this big—when were you planning to tell the family?”
“I’m telling you right now.” Yang Yuan explained everything about the Song family, down to the last detail. This whole thing had only started this morning, yet Mother Yang’s question made it sound like she’d been hiding it for ages. It wasn’t like she’d committed some unforgivable crime, was it?
“Besides, none of you were home. Even if I’d wanted to say something, I couldn’t have. When Second Brother came back at noon, didn’t I discuss it with him right away?”
Hearing that it had all happened just today, Mother Yang’s worry eased by half.
As for the other half—Mother Yang slammed the broom down on the table with a “crack.” “What exactly were you doing tonight? Who were you with? Where did you go? Talk.”
Mother Yang’s face was cold and her tone heavy. Yang Yuan couldn’t help but shiver, mist rising in her eyes. After all, this wasn’t her birth mother—she didn’t dare hesitate for even a second, and spilled everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.
Of course, instinctively she left out the parts that put her in a bad light, and didn’t mention a single word about the money.
“My legs went numb from crouching, and I didn’t dare make a sound. I only went to find Fourth Brother to go home after the boy and girl had walked far away.” Yang Yuan’s voice was a little hoarse, tears welling in her eyes.
“Yang Yuanyuan, did not a single word I said get through to you?” Mother Yang couldn’t suppress her anger and shot to her feet, broom in hand.
“Stay home, stay inside—especially at night. Look at you, so capable now, huh? Sneaking around, following people—why don’t you just fly up to the sky? What other people’s business is it of yours? Why were you following them?”
“You’re a little girl who complains the knife’s too heavy just chopping vegetables. If anyone wanted to do something to you, you wouldn’t even be able to run. What did I tell you before I left? There was a girl in your grandma’s neighborhood who was assaulted at night, and driven to hang herself because she couldn’t go on living. It hasn’t even been a month. Do you just refuse to listen at all?”
As she spoke, Mother Yang reached out and smacked Yang Yuan on the bottom. Father Yang and Yang Wenping hadn’t expected her to actually hit her—their youngest daughter, whom they never so much as flicked a finger at—who would have thought she’d start hitting her just like that today?
Yang Wenping stepped in front of Yang Yuan. “Mom, Mom, Yuanyuan knows she was wrong. Stop hitting her, stop hitting her.”
“What are you doing?” Father Yang pulled Mother Yang into his arms to hold her back. “Scaring her is enough. You can’t actually hit her. Yuanyuan’s still young—as long as she knows she was wrong, that’s what matters. Now that she understands how serious it is, she won’t do it again.”
As for Yang Yuan—Yang Yuan was scared silly. Because of her family situation, she’d grown up being coaxed and pampered. Her dad, her mom, her grandparents—none of them had ever had the heart to say a single harsh word to her.
This was the first time in her life she’d ever been spanked, and the tears in Yang Yuan’s eyes could no longer be held back.
Father Yang and Yang Wenping’s attempts to stop her couldn’t block Mother Yang’s tirade.
“Move aside! If I don’t give this girl a beating, she’ll never learn. It’s my own fault for spoiling her too much and letting her develop this temper—ambitions sky-high, thinking herself so clever, always treating everyone else like fools. You’re so capable, aren’t you? Like you’re the only one who amounts to anything? Why do you keep sticking your nose into other people’s business?”
“Let me tell you, Yang Yuanyuan—don’t think that just because you always manage to take advantage of that Song family girl, it means anything. It’s because she looks down on you in her heart and can’t be bothered with you. If she ever truly holds a grudge one day, two of you stacked together couldn’t beat Song Can.”
Father Yang pulled Mother Yang backward, but she switched the broom to her other hand and swung again, the broom head sweeping toward Yang Yuan’s and Yang Wenping’s legs.
The blow was so light it didn’t hurt at all, yet Yang Yuan burst into sobs, crying harder and harder.
I’m not your daughter, so what gives you the right to hit me? Even my own mom has never hit me. I’m not Yang Yuan, so why should you get to control me?
This lousy place—I never wanted to come here. I was enjoying the air conditioning, eating ice cream, living the good life. Who knew I’d wake up from an afternoon nap and end up here?
I couldn’t fight against transmigration, couldn’t fight against society. I don’t want to work, don’t want to go to the countryside. What’s wrong with wanting to live as comfortably as I can? Where did I go wrong? So I came home a little late—big deal, it wasn’t the middle of the night. What gives you the right to hit me?
“Who cares about meddling in your lousy business anyway? That woman is Zheng Yuyin, Yang Wenping’s fiancée, and she’s already carrying someone else’s child. It’s the dead of winter—who did I do all this for? My kindness got treated like a donkey’s liver and lungs. What gives any of you the right to hit me?”