Yansheng wiped her face while staring at the little boy in front of her. She was surprised to know that Shoucheng was so young now.
Shuocheng was seven years old this year, the age when children suddenly became disobedient. He saw that Yansheng was successfully attacked, so he laughed hard, leaning forward and backward, a typical exaggeration made by a child deliberately.
Back then, the fifteen-year-old Yansheng chased him downstairs, scolded him loudly, and quarreled with Yingying who was defending him, which delayed their time. When the family arrived at the reception, her grandaunt’s birthday banquet had already begun, so the family was very disrespectful.
Her grandmother had lost her face in front of her sister-in-law and was very upset. Yingying was the wicked person who complained first, saying that it was Yansheng that wasted everyone’s time and made them late.
What was even more hateful was that Shuocheng took the small water gun and ruined the skirt that Yansheng later changed onto at the birthday banquet.
At that time, Yansheng only hated Yingying in her eyes. She felt that many witnesses could prove that Shuocheng was naughty and not that she was wrong. So, she angrily pulled him up to quarrel with her, completely disregarding the occasion.
Naturally, it made her grandmother even lose more face.
The fifteen-year-old Yansheng didn’t realize at that time that her extreme behavior had gradually alienated her relatives who had felt sorry for her at first.
For example, her grandmother and her father.
At this time, Yansheng stared at the seven-year-old Shoucheng, who suddenly laughed.
“You’re good.” She pretended to be fierce and said, “If you dare to do it again, I will ask Dad to beat your ass.”
That was a false statement because the Zhang family basically didn’t hit their children. Huan even regarded Shuocheng as a treasure. Therefore, even a child like Shuocheng could see Yansheng’s ‘bluff’.
The little brat was not afraid of his sister’s bluffing. He pulled his eyelid and stuck out his tongue, which arrogantly provoked her. “Leh leh leh, go ahead!” After that, he ran away.
“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry, he is still a kid.” Mrs. Luo pulled Yansheng back into the room. “Don’t bother yourself arguing with the likes of him. How old is he?”
After Yansheng entered puberty, her temper became more and more irritable. She had a little fight with a woman surnamed Liang for three days and would have a big fight with her for five days. But she was a half-grown adult, so how could she still fight with Yingying? Furthermore, Yingying could say a lot of nonsense to Huan every day since they shared the same bed. But Yansheng always yelled at Huan because of her unstable emotions, which gave him a headache whenever he saw her, so he was getting more reluctant to see her.
In the end, Yansheng suffered.
Mrs. Luo grasped her arm very hard, but Yansheng understood why. In the past, Mrs. Luo had always advised her not to confront Yingying head-on, because she would just suffer loss for nothing. However, she couldn’t just listen and endure all of that.
In the end, the outcome was that her relatives turned away from her as if she was an outsider in this family, a family of four talented people who loved each other.
When she was reborn, Yansheng said to herself that she would not make the same mistakes again.
She patted Mrs. Luo’s hand and calmly said, “It’s okay. I won’t bother with that little brat anymore.”
Mrs. Luo was relieved, so she let go of her arm and pushed her into the closet again. “That’s right! Just ignore him.”
Yansheng changed her clothes inside while Mrs. Luo was waiting for her outside. Then, Mrs. Luo heard the girl inside as if she was talking to herself, “However, Shuocheng has to be supervised, otherwise, I don’t know what kind of rubbish he’ll grow into.”
Mrs. Luo became nervous again. “With his father and mother, how will you be able to control him? You just need to go to school and study well, and give your mother in heaven a break.”
The closet became quiet for a few seconds, then Mrs. Luo heard the sound of the girl changing her clothes.
Faintly, it was as if a sentence floated out, “There’s a father, there’s no father…”
Mrs. Luo did not speak.
So what? Although he was Shuocheng’s father, he was also Yansheng’s father.
Yansheng changed into a new skirt and walked down the stairs. When she reached the first floor, she stopped and looked at the people below.
Hearing the footsteps, Huan raised his head and frowned, but he still called her as kindly as possible, “Yanyan, hurry up.”
Yansheng walked down unhurriedly and Yingying looked at her with a sneer. “Heh”.
Huan pretended not to hear his wife and asked casually, “What took you so long?”
Yansheng glanced at him, feeling inexplicable in her heart.
She was noisy, always tossing around, and making trouble. She used to think that Huan was sorry for her and her mother, so she had the right to be like that. But now that she calmed down, she finally understood after looking at him that all the troubles created by the rebellious children were just to get more attention from their parents.
That was right, which was so sad.
Now that Yansheng could see clearly, everything she had done in the past, uncovering the reason behind it, ignoring all excuses; in the end, all she wanted was just to make this man look at her more and care about her more.
Finally, what she got was his impatience. When she died, he only shed a few symbolic tears and then gave her a ‘decent’ funeral.
It was so ridiculous.
The rebellious and arrogant Yansheng with heavy makeup was nothing more than a child who couldn’t get love.
She was ridiculous and pathetic.
Huan got inexplicably uncomfortable under the gaze of his daughter and forced a smile. “What’s wrong? Why are you not saying anything?”
He didn’t know what was going on with his daughter today. Yesterday, she had a fierce fight with his young wife and her screams pierced his ears. But she was so quiet today and those pitch-black eyes faintly looking at him were like two pools of water with an unknown depth.
It was inexplicably disturbing.
Yansheng lowered her eyes.
She didn’t notice in the past that her longing for love and care had disappeared. In this life, she would not ask for anything, not from the outside, but the inside.
She had to live well all by herself.
The family’s grumpy eldest daughter raised her eyes. Her voice was surprisingly calm, serene, and sounded ordinary when she explained, “As soon as I went out after changing my clothes, Shuocheng used a water gun to drench me, so I had to change my clothes again which wasted my time.”
The calm and coldness of the girl surprised Huan.
Shuocheng was now at the age where everyone would be disgusted. This kind of mess was happening at home almost every day, especially now that it was summer vacation and the children were at home. It was just that when this kind of thing happened in normal times, Yansheng would have yelled already. But today, his daughter was surprisingly calm and sensible.
It will be great if she can speak so well on ordinary days! Who will not be annoyed by the disturbing noise every day?!
Huan straightened his face immediately. “Shuoshuo! Did you get your sister’s skirt wet?”
Shuocheng promptly replied, “I did not!”
Of course, everyone in the house knew that he was lying. The small water gun in the shape of a pistol was still in his hand. He had indeed just run down the stairs.
The second daughter, Heling, said, “It’s him. He told mother just now that he sprayed water on sister.”
Yingying was almost mad at her stupid daughter who betrayed her, so she immediately pinched her arm. “Shut up, no one will treat you as dumb if you don’t speak.”
As the mother and daughter argued, Yansheng’s sight fell on Heling.
Heling was six years younger than Yansheng and only nine years old this year. She only got her new teeth last year and finally looked beautiful again this year. She looked like a cute little girl who was ignorant.
It was a pity that Yingying gave birth to her, which kept her from entering the Zhang family’s door. It was not until the birth of Shuocheng and Yansheng’s mother’s death that she was finally promoted. The mother’s son was precious, so Yingying only had Shuocheng in her heart. As for Heling, there were several servants in the house and there was no shortage of food or clothes anyway.
Yingying didn’t care much about her.
But after Yansheng’s death, Heling was the only one who really wept for her.
That young girl cried so sadly which meant that she really saw her as a sister.
Yingying was often annoyed by her stupid daughter. In her opinion, this stupid girl often couldn’t distinguish between herself and the enemy. She always betrayed her and helped Yansheng to speak. After she finished pinching her arm, she reached out to twist her ear as well. Heling, who was still puzzled by her mother’s hatred, couldn’t do anything.
Huan did not approve of physically hurting the children. When Yansheng’s mother was still there, she had never hit Yansheng. On the other hand, Yingying was reluctant to hit Shuocheng, but she often tugged and pinched Heling. Although it was not totally hitting her, it was still very uncomfortable to see.
Huan was about to scold Yingying, but Yansheng suddenly stretched out her hand and grasped Yingying’s wrist.
Huan secretly cried out, we are about to go out, so don’t quarrel again. Ugh!
“Let go.” Instead of yelling, Yansheng said coldly, “There’s a cartilage in the ear, what would you do if you sprained it? Don’t you feel bad for your own children?”
When Yansheng’s mother was still alive, she learned the four arts—piano, chess, painting, and calligraphy; including Taekwondo and boxing. Later on, this was what happened, Huan gradually ignored her, so she became more and more hostile. The piano, chess, painting, and calligraphy were all abandoned, but she still practiced Taekwondo and boxing.
If she didn’t do some intense exercise, the rage in her heart would not disperse.
Going back now, Yansheng was only fifteen years old, but because of her persistent training all year round, her strength actually overwhelmed the delicate and soft Yingying.
Yingying screamed, “It hurts!”
Yansheng snorted and coldly said, “You know the feeling of getting hurt, but you think that the kids don’t know it?”
Yingying had loosened Heling’s ear and called out for help, “Let me go! Husband! Husband! She’s hurting me!”
The daughter was his own child and the wife was delicate, both have an equal value to him.
Huan came over and said, “Okay, okay, release her. Let’s go now. If we’re late, Mom will get mad and everyone will be scolded together. No one will escape!”
When he mentioned Yansheng’s grandmother, even Shuocheng shivered.
That amazing old lady was the real head of the Zhang family.
The only one who was not afraid of her was probably Yansheng.
What was so scary about people who didn’t love themselves or even hate themselves? The old lady once said sternly that she would be removed from the list of her will and she didn’t care. She still had her mother’s property to inherit, so she wouldn’t die from starvation.
She snorted at that time and just let it go.
Heling got behind Yansheng when Yingying let go of her ear.
She was really surprised and happy today. Normally, even if she helped Yansheng speak, Yansheng would not pay attention to her. Unexpectedly today, her sister actually protected her.
Her mother always told her that only her, her younger brother, and her mother were considered as family and truly the closest ones, and Yansheng was just an ‘outsider’.
But her brother was so annoying, he bullied her every day. Her mother didn’t care about her at all and felt that her brother was ‘lively and active’, which should be praised.
“He is a boy, that’s how he should be.” Yingying often said triumphantly.
Her mother would emphasize the word ‘boy’ in particular.
After all, Yingying relied on giving birth to a son, which turned her life around.
But for Heling, although her sister usually quarreled with her mother and her temper was terrifying, Yansheng usually just ignored her and never bullied her.
So, between her younger brother and older sister, Heling would rather choose her older sister, Yansheng.
Everyone went out and Heling had expectations in her heart, so she boldly wanted to hold her sister’s hand.
Unfortunately, Yansheng froze for a moment. Without turning her head, she directly threw off her hand and strode out.
The little girl lowered her head in disappointment.
“Hurry up!” Yansheng’s voice suddenly sounded.
Heling suddenly raised her head. Yansheng turned to look at her in front, seemingly impatient. “Hurry up, we will be late if we don’t leave now.”
There was light in the little girl’s eyes, then she ran after her.
Yansheng snorted and turned around to head outside.