Sang Zhi pushed through the crowd. The young woman’s face was as delicate as a springtime peach blossom, her dark, glossy eyes like a clear pool of spring water. Standing there with such poise, the rumors instantly crumbled. Sang Yun and her mother’s faces turned pale.
Sang Zhi took in everyone’s expressions before slipping into Su Xia’s arms, revealing the bruises on her arms. “The village secretary said my rations are in the city, so they wouldn’t lend me any grain. Auntie, I’m useless; I couldn’t borrow any. Please don’t hit me.”
“What do you mean? Didn’t Liu Meili say she sent grain back home every month?”
“Yeah, and you still hit her?”
“Occupying someone’s house and job, and in the end hitting them and starving them… is Liu Meili even human?”
“Her own daughter is so meticulous. I patched my clothes layer by layer, but she had ration coupons to make her clothes new.”
The topic of running away successfully shifted the blame onto her harsh treatment of her niece. Liu Meili glared at her, stammering, “That’s not true…”
This stubborn girl used to be quiet. Why was she acting so unusually today?
“The villagers can all vouch for me. It was Granny Cai who gave me my rations and raised me.” She buried her head in Su Xia’s arms, trembling at the sight of angry faces. “Don’t hit me, I won’t say anything more.” The little girl shrank down, eyes misty blue, the tip of her nose red, looking pitiful.
Su Xia felt something had changed about her, though she couldn’t pinpoint what. Seizing the moment, she scolded loudly, “Fine! Let’s go to the union and see if it’s right for you to abuse a worker’s child, and even falsely accuse her of running away. How can you be so cruel?”
Tears welled in Sang Zhi’s eyes, on the verge of falling, and she added a jab: “That letter wasn’t even written by me. If you don’t believe me, let’s compare the handwriting.”
Sang Yun and her mother didn’t dare resist and hurriedly explained it was a misunderstanding, trying to drag her back. Su Xia worriedly considered chasing after them, but Sang Zhi shook her head, signaling her not to.
Once the front door closed, Liu Meili and her daughter followed Sang Zhi into the kitchen, now her living quarters. With housing tight in the city, three generations often squeezed into 30–40 square meters. This house had been allocated to Sang Zhi’s parents: two bedrooms totaling around forty square meters and a small courtyard. Although the kitchen took up part of the courtyard, it was far better than the pigeonhole-style rooms most workers had.
Currently, Liu Meili and her husband occupied one room, the other split for their three children, leaving Sang Zhi with only the kitchen.
Seeing no one else around, Liu Meili crossed her arms, frowning. Before she could speak, her hair was grabbed, and before she could curse, she was shoved headfirst into an icy water tank. Since running water hadn’t reached every home yet, most families kept water tanks in the house, drawing water from communal pipes a few hundred meters away.
“You said I ran away?” The water bubbled violently. When she spoke again, the woman screamed.
Sang Zhi’s face was icy. She didn’t waste words, pressing her down again. “Wake up!” she said, repeating several times. Liu Meili flailed like a toad. Seeing her mother being abused, Sang Yun rolled up her sleeves to help, but Sang Zhi just flicked her arm, and she went numb.
In the cramped kitchen, one person splashed in the water, the other clutched her arms, wailing. Once the “cheap aunt” had her fill, Sang Zhi picked up scissors and approached Sang Yun. Witnessing her mother’s misfortune had cowed Sang Yun. Seeing Sang Zhi with scissors, she backed away in terror.
“Y-you, don’t come near…”
Sang Zhi grabbed her hair, kneeing her in the stomach to pin her down, then started styling her hair. Compared to this family’s behavior, this was just a light appetizer. Taking her belongings, forcing her to sleep in the kitchen, and pretending not to blame her—Sang Zhi did it out of fondness.
“Sis, I like your hair too, let me play with it.”
Though not a professional hairdresser, she cut one side short, the other long. As her cousin wailed in despair, the floor quickly became covered with hair clippings. The scissors weren’t fast, and her hands ached. During a rest, she cruelly held up her cousin’s unevenly cut hair. Liu Meili, soaked and gasping, could only comment, “Auntie, how’s my craftsmanship?”
Sang Yun read disbelief in her mother’s eyes and pushed her away in panic. But forces clashed, and she fell against the stove. Flames caught her hair, filling the room with a foul smell. Sang Zhi had given her a “crew cut.”
Liu Meili screamed and splashed water on her daughter. Sang Yun rolled on the ground like she was possessed; the fire was extinguished, but she was numb. Her scalp, pale and bruised, had a few twisted hairs left, ugly enough to hurt the eyes.
The piercing screams drew many neighbors. Aunt Su Xia anxiously knocked on the door. “Sang Zhi, is that you? Are they hitting you again? Open the door, quickly!”
Hearing the commotion, Sang Zhi shouted, “Sis, I was wrong! I won’t talk back! I’ll sleep in the kitchen, don’t hit me, it hurts so much…”
Sang Yun, thinking herself cunning, still admitted defeat. She cried, chasing after her, shouting like a madwoman, “I’ll kill you!”
Sang Zhi opened the door at just the right moment. The curious neighbors outside saw the “monk” coming toward them and froze briefly. Then their stifled giggles erupted into uproarious laughter, and the entire alley was in an uproar.
Sang Yun ran off in shame and anger, while Liu Meili screamed herself hoarse accusing Sang Zhi. But it was like crying wolf—no one believed her anymore.
Sang Zhi stepped aside, letting the neighbors get a clear view of the kitchen. The window had a huge hole, the foldable bed was less than 1.5 meters, and the blanket was just a thin layer. No amount of excuses could compete with the reality’s impact. And yet, they still claimed she hadn’t mistreated her niece?
“Su Xia, tomorrow we’re going to the union together!”
“Yes, and we’ll go ask Liu Meili at her workshop—does she even deserve to be called human?”
Su Xia’s heart ached. She had only just learned how harsh Sang Zhi’s living conditions were.
“Come on, sleep at my place!”
Sang Zhi shook her head. Aunt Su’s house already had two boys, and space was tight, so she wouldn’t add to the crowd. Besides, a soldier cannot easily leave the battlefield. The Sang family’s misfortune was only just beginning.
After sending off the enraged neighbors and closing the door, she returned to her “female overlord” mode. Before Granny Cai passed away, she had left Sang Zhi many valuable things, but they had all been plundered. So the first thing she did was raid the house.
The mother and daughter tried to stop her but were intimidated by her gaze, trembling together. Though the couple always cried poverty, their little stash wasn’t small: she found 3,200 yuan, along with ration coupons, meat coupons, industrial coupons, and many miscellaneous food coupons.
As for living space, her cheap cousin’s room was the cleanest, so Sang Zhi tossed her things out and moved in. Liu Meili dared not speak in anger and comforted her daughter, telling her to sleep with her tonight. They figured today’s failure was due to being short-handed. Once her husband and eldest son were off work and the youngest returned from grandma’s house tomorrow, they wouldn’t escape her wrath.
After a day of running around, Sang Zhi was tired. Ignoring the hatred burning in the mother and daughter’s eyes, she locked the door early and went to rest.
But just as she was dozing off, the crackling sound returned in her mind, accompanied by the words: “Restart… Initialize… zzzz… Success.”
She tumbled into the embrace of a hot, strong, and completely naked man.