Su Yanyan wasn’t originally from the imperial capital. It was only when she was young that her mother suddenly brought her here and settled down in the city.
This decent walk-up apartment was the home she and her mother had in the imperial capital.
Thinking back on it, she was actually much more fortunate than the children back in her hometown.
At least living in the city, she didn’t have to deal with the endless pigweed to cut like the kids back home, nor the never-ending piles of laundry and her younger brother’s diapers to wash.
Lost in thought, she arrived at her doorstep.
Su Yanyan realized she hadn’t brought her keys, so she could only steel herself and knock on the door.
Sometimes her part-time job kept her out late, and to avoid disturbing her roommates’ rest, she would come home to sleep instead.
But today, she’d left the hotel in such a hurry that she’d forgotten to grab her keys.
She knocked for a long time before footsteps finally sounded from inside, accompanied by grumbling curses.
Bang! The door was yanked open.
A woman reeking of alcohol stood there, a liquor bottle in hand, glaring at Su Yanyan with disgust. “Didn’t I give you the keys? What are you knocking for!”
The woman before her was none other than Su Yanyan’s mother, Su Hong.
“Mom, I’m sorry, I forgot my keys.” Su Yanyan was so frightened she quickly spoke in a small voice.
“Worthless good-for-nothing! Can’t even handle one simple thing—what use are you!” Su Hong cursed, then turned and staggered toward the living room, bottle in hand.
Hearing the words “worthless good-for-nothing,” Su Yanyan felt nothing at all anymore.
She quickly followed behind and carefully closed the door, afraid of making any sound.
Su Hong sat down on the sofa, took a swig from the bottle, then propped her legs up on the coffee table. “Go, pour me a glass of water and bring me my stomach medicine.”
Su Yanyan acknowledged and hurried off to fetch the water and medicine.
Years of heavy drinking had left Su Hong’s stomach in poor condition, so she needed to take stomach medicine regularly.
“Mom, here’s your medicine.” Su Yanyan brought over the cup of water and the pills.
Su Hong took the cup and was about to drink when her gaze suddenly landed on Su Yanyan’s clothes.
In an instant, her expression changed. The water that had been at her lips was suddenly hurled straight at Su Yanyan’s face.
Even though the warm water wasn’t scalding, it splashed across Su Yanyan’s face, leaving her cheeks and neck red.
“Mom.” Su Yanyan called out, confused.
Su Hong suddenly rose to her feet and delivered a sharp slap across her face.
“Su Yanyan, what kind of clothes are you wearing?! What shameless things have you been doing out there? Are you that cheap? Who are you trying to seduce dressed like that?”
“Mom, what are you talking about! This is just my work uniform!”
Su Yanyan hadn’t expected that an ordinary pencil skirt would make her mother think she was trying to seduce someone. She covered her face and stood frozen in place, not daring to move.
But one slap wasn’t enough to satisfy Su Hong’s anger. She suddenly grabbed Su Yanyan by the hair, hitting her and cursing her for being shameless.
Su Yanyan was dragged down onto her knees, struggling and pleading.
“Mom, I’m begging you, please stop! This is just my work uniform!”
But even as she begged, Su Hong didn’t let go. Suddenly, she roared at Su Yanyan, “You disgraceful thing! Why don’t you just go die!”
At those words, Su Yanyan, who had been resisting, suddenly stopped struggling.
Yes… why didn’t she just die?
If she died, everything would be fine.
Su Yanyan lay on the ground like a broken doll, letting Su Hong’s fists and feet rain down on her.
In Su Hong’s eyes, this was like a provocation, spurring her on even more fiercely. “Playing dead, are you? I’ll teach you to play dead with me!”
As she cursed, Su Hong swung her fist toward Su Yanyan’s stomach.
Su Yanyan’s eyes widened in terror at Su Hong’s movement, and she instinctively raised her hands to protect her belly.
Yet the next second, her hands slowly fell away.
Her eyes dimmed once more.
This baby was never meant to come into the world anyway. If it left together with her, at least it wouldn’t have to be alone.
Let it end. If everything ended, it would all be over.
Recalling her experiences from childhood to now, Su Yanyan’s face was filled with despair.
Just as Su Hong’s fist was about to land, the cry of a neighbor’s baby jolted Su Yanyan back to her senses.
No! It shouldn’t be like this.
Suddenly, Su Yanyan’s eyes snapped open.
With a strength she didn’t know she had, she gripped Su Hong’s arm tightly and shoved her away.
Su Hong’s eyes widened in shock as she fell to the ground without any defense.
“You worthless girl! How dare you push me! I’ll beat you to death today!” Su Hong cursed as she tried to get up, but having drunk too much, she couldn’t manage to rise after several attempts.
Su Yanyan braced one hand on the ground and slowly climbed to her feet. Once she was steady, she looked at Su Hong and asked, word by word.
“Since you hate me so much, why did you give birth to me? You keep saying that man abandoned you because I was a girl! But have you ever considered that maybe he never intended to take responsibility for you from the very beginning? And giving birth to me was nothing more than your own self-indulgence!”
After so many years of suppressed life, Su Yanyan finally shouted out the words from the bottom of her heart. Her eyes were red, and her shoulders trembled violently.
“You call me a jinx, you call me a worthless girl, but what am I? I’m your daughter! You made me feel like my existence was a mistake, like you had to endure so much because of me. But… now I realize that’s not true at all! It’s not!”
“You could have chosen not to have me, but since you did, why couldn’t you love me? So… so all of this is because of you and that man!”
Su Yanyan’s voice choked several times, and finally she stepped back one pace at a time. “Since I disgust you so much, fine. I’ll leave. From now on, I will never bother you again!”
With that, Su Yanyan took one last look at the woman she called mother, then turned and ran.
Su Hong finally snapped back to her senses. Lying on the ground, she shouted, “Go! Once you leave, don’t ever come back! Better yet, die out there!”
The voice behind her made Su Yanyan unable to hold back her tears any longer. She cried as she ran down the stairs.
But the next second, she collided with someone’s embrace.
Su Yanyan looked up, and the light coming through the window allowed her to see the person before her.
“Uncle…”
The moment she spoke, tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
Gu Beichuan’s face was dark and grim. He had heard the sound of an argument upstairs and, feeling a bit worried, had come to check. He never expected to witness such a scene.
“Did your mother hurt you?” The obvious bruise at the corner of the girl’s mouth made Gu Beichuan’s voice tremble slightly.
The girl didn’t answer, her thin body trembling gently. Gu Beichuan didn’t ask again. He held her and strode away.
It wasn’t until they got into the car that Gu Beichuan instructed the driver.
“To the hospital.”
Held in his arms, Su Yanyan suddenly tensed up when she heard “to the hospital.” She grabbed the uncle’s hand tightly.
“I… I don’t want to go to the hospital.”
If she went to the hospital, what if Uncle found out she was pregnant?
She didn’t want Uncle to know about this. She would handle it herself.
“You’re injured. You have to go to the hospital!” Gu Beichuan’s expression was very serious.
He didn’t want to pry into the girl’s personal affairs, nor did he have the right to.
But right now, he had to intervene.
“Uncle, can’t we not go to the hospital? I don’t want to go…” Su Yanyan clung tightly to the man’s hand, looking up at him.