Chapter 8 Part 1 - Some Past Events

Translated by: Jellylynn

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Edited by: Kame & Lynn

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Names mentioned in this chapter (which can also be found in the glossary ):

-俞知乐(yú zhī lè)- Yu Zhi Le, the female protagonist.

-余子涣(yú zǐ huàn)- Yu Zi Huan, the male lead

-谢成龙( xiè chéng lóng )- Xie Cheng Long, the ‘boss’ who was the leader of the group of boys that insulted the male lead.

-王大爷(wáng dàyé)- Wang Da Ye, an elderly living in the same building as the female and male leads.

With Yu Zi Huan’s limited cooking skills, both of them had tomato fried eggs and stir-fried vegetables for dinner.

In the end, Yu Zhi Le’s insistence on her routine of taking a stroll and exercising after meals was still carried out.

“It’s not like my legs are crippled, it is just that my hand got burned, and at most, I just can’t play basketball with you.”

Therefore, when Yu Zi Huan was practicing shooting at the local basketball court in the neighbourhood by himself, Yu Zhi Le joined the elders engaging in idle conversation, and watched him from afar to ensure that Xie Cheng Long and the other bullies weren’t making things difficult for Yu Zi Huan.

Even though it was supposed to be making conversation, Yu Zhi Le was basically listening to their conversation. They loved to gossip about the going-ons in the neighbourhood. She didn’t have any relevant news to contribute, but that didn’t prevent the enthusiastic aunties from being nosy about prying into her personal life.

“Xiao Yu, I noticed that you’re always with your younger brother every day. You are probably not seeing anyone, right?” Auntie No. 1 pulled Yu Zhi Le over and asked her expectantly.

The alarm in Yu Zhi Le’s brain went off. Could this be wanting to introduce someone to her?

Yu Zhi Le laughed dryly and tried to divert the topic. Unexpectedly, Auntie No. 2 immediately continued that topic, “That’s not necessarily true. Xiao Yu ran away because she didn’t want to accept an arranged marriage. Maybe it’s because she is seeing someone.”

Yu Zhi Le was unable to understand how they could think in such a manner. Auntie No. 2 seemed to not get along well with Auntie No. 1 and often expressed an opposing view against the other. She didn’t want to get involved.

She looked to the side at Wang Da Ye for help. Originally, Wang Da Ye did not want to be involved in this kind of pastime for middle-aged and elderly women. Yet, he helped Yu Zhi Le out of the predicament, “Oh my, we, older generation, shouldn’t meddle with young people’s affairs. Nowadays, they promote ‘free love’ [1] .”

Yu Zhi Le immediately smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

Auntie No. 1 still wanted to say something, but Wang Da Ye looked at the figure of Yu Zi Huan, who was currently playing basketball, and said to Yu Zhi Le, “Xiao Huan is now much more cheerful than before. You’ve done a lot.”

This was to help Yu Zhi Le change the topic. Although she still wished that their conversation would stop revolving around her, she still needed to acknowledge Wang Da Ye’s compliments, “You have flattered me. Xiao Huan has always been a good kid. It’s just that previously, he had suffered too many setbacks that overshadowed his strengths.”

Yu Zhi Le spared no effort in praising Yu Zi Huan. She honestly thought that Yu Zi Huan was better than all the other children. Not only was he good-looking, but he was also intelligent, sensible, hardworking and kind. Other than the fact that he had a tendency to bottle his feelings and he disliked talking to outsiders, he did not have many flaws.

Wang Da Ye smiled very kindly and turned to look at the surrounding people and said, “Xiao Huan’s grandmother didn’t have any other wish before she died. Her only wish was for us all to take good care of Xiao Huan. And as neighbours, this is supposed to be the right thing to do, isn’t it?”

These words seemed like a reminder to someone. Yu Zhi Le’s gaze was calm and collected as it swept across the faces of the aunties and uncles, who were now wearing different expressions. Before she came, other than Wang Da Ye, almost no other neighbour showed goodwill toward Yu Zi Huan. And what’s worse, they condoned their own children to bully him, and they didn’t refrain their children from listening in when they were gossiping.

Auntie No.2 pouted and glanced towards Yu Zhi Le, “Big brother Wang, you are saying that as if we had treated Xiao Huan unfairly.”

“It’s not to the extent of treating him unfairly, but I just think that sometimes you have to be careful of what you say in front of your kids. It’s not good for children to learn from the bad things they hear.”

As for the first day Yu Zhi Le arrived here, she knew that some children in the community often called Yu Zi Huan “little bastard” in an insulting manner. The unpleasant rumours about Yu Zi Huan’s family naturally wouldn’t be discussed in front of her, but even so, Yu Zhi Le had intentionally or unintentionally overheard most of the information from the conversations of others.

Yu Zi Huan’s mother was a beauty and was very well-known in this area. And by the time she was 16 or 17, there was a long line of suitors. But everyone also knew that her father died early, and the family was made up of a widowed mother and a child. Therefore, the outstanding beauty coupled with a poor family background was like a shining soft permission [2] . When she was 19 years old, she was raped by a hoodlum in her area who had been watching her for a long time. This made most of the suitors scatter, only Yu Zi Huan’s father did not change his mind and insisted on marrying her.

However, the solemn vow that they had made before their marriage could not stop this matter from becoming a thorn in their hearts. Later on, Yu Zi Huan’s father would often suspect that Yu Zi Huan was not his biological son. He was always drunk and gambling to numb himself. He owed a huge amount of gambling debts and had even hit or verbally abused Yu Zi Huan’s mother.

When Yu Zi Huan was four years old, his mother finally couldn’t stand it anymore and wanted a divorce. Thus, she took Yu Zi Huan back to her mother’s home. However, before the divorce was finalised, Yu Zi Huan’s father ran away in the middle of the night because he was forced by his creditors to pay his debts and his whereabouts were still unknown.

However, the nightmare did not end there. The thug who defiled Yu Zi Huan’s mother was released from prison and he bore grudges on her because she was the one who called the police to get him arrested. He came to her door again and held her against her will for a year. He threatened her with Yu Zi Huan’s and his grandmother’s life to prevent her from reaching out to the police, and that was when the rumour about Yu Zi Huan’s mother having venereal problems started to spread.

Even if she tried her utmost best to hide it, it would be hard to hide such things in the tightly knitted neighbourhood. Not to mention that she was always at the center of neighbourhood’s gossip.

It could be said that ‘the beauty will suffer a tragic fate’ was a topic for endless conversation, especially for those who had always been jealous of her looks. All sorts of vicious remarks were made, as if they feared that bystanders would be unable to see through their true nature of taking joy in other people’s misfortune.

In the midst of all the rumours surrounding her, Yu Zi Huan’s mother made a move that shocked everyone. While the hoodlum was asleep, she attempted to stab him with a kitchen knife,but due to the lack of strength, he didn’t die after the first few stabs. Instead, Yu Zi Huan’s mother was seriously injured during the quarrel and they both succumbed to their injuries.

She was only twenty-five at the time of her death.

[1] 自由恋爱(zìyóu liàn’ài)-Free love. Freedom of choice in marriage, freedom to choose one’s spouse,etc..All matters and issues were the concerns of the people involved,and no one else.

[2] 软柿子(ruǎnshìzi)-Its literal meaning is soft permission but it refers to a pushover.