Zhao Nuanyue watched Zhao Jinghai put on his act. The man had always been sanctimonious, a complete hypocrite. 'If he didn't want Huilan to say those things, why didn't he defend Mom from the start?'
Her naive mother actually looked gratefully at Zhao Jinghai after hearing his words, silently pleading for his help.
'Such a foolish woman deserved to be twisted around Zhao Jinghai's little finger. It's why her son died a horrible death and her daughter was ruined. She couldn't do anything about it, and in the end, all she knew how to do was run away.'
"Fine! So you're all trying to drive me to my death!" Zhao Huilan finished, her face contorted in a snarl as she shrieked, "I'm going to tell my mom, my grandma, my grandpa and grandma on my mom's side! You're all one big happy family, and I'm the bad guy! You're all ganging up on me! I finally get it now. Get a stepmom, you get a stepdad. Even my own father won't take my side!"
Zhao Huilan looked completely unhinged. A frightened Zhao Nuanyang hid behind Zhao Nuanyue, trembling, his own expression somewhat twisted.
Zhao Nuanyue squeezed Zhao Nuanyang's hand, silently offering encouragement and comfort to her younger brother.
Xia Yingyu was so scared her eyes filled with tears. She stammered, "I really didn't, I really didn't..."
Just as Zhao Huilan was screaming her head off, the door opened and Zhao Jinghai's mother, Wang Lianhua, came in. Seeing her granddaughter's pitiful crying, she immediately swept the girl into her arms and wailed, "My poor granddaughter! Bullied by that barren hen again..."
Those words made Xia Yingyu, who had been crying softly, turn pale. She stared blankly, her body shrinking back in fear.
Divorce wasn't common in this era. Even if Zhao Nuanyue supported her mother divorcing, Xia Yingyu would never go through with it.
Although she was angry at her mother for being so spineless, seeing Xia Yingyu trembling under the combined pressure of Zhao Jinghai, Zhao Huilan, and Wang Lianhua made her heart ache a little.
'But it was her mother's weakness that had led to her brother's death in her past life, and had forced her to live a life that was neither human nor ghost. For that, she hated her mother, too.'
"Mom, Mom..." Xia Nuanyang suddenly seemed to snap. He rushed in front of his mother, blocking Zhao Huilan and stopping her from lunging at Xia Yingyu.
Wang Lianhua swung her hand and slapped Zhao Nuanyang across the face. "You ungrateful baggage!" she cursed. "This is the Zhao family's house! You have no right to speak here!"
Zhao Nuanyang stood stunned from the slap. Then, a look of furious, crazed anger flashed in his eyes, and he lunged forward, shoving Wang Lianhua away.
"AIYO!" Wang Lianhua fell backward onto the sofa with a thud. "My old back! This shameless little bastard actually dared to hit me! Xia Yingyu, you bitch, this is the bastard spawn you raised! The Old Zhao Family must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to let a woman like you bring your baggage into our home."
Seeing his mother get pushed, Zhao Jinghai got angry too. He stood up, ready to hit Zhao Nuanyang. But Zhao Nuanyue had already turned and run to the kitchen, returning with a cleaver. "Whoever dares touch my brother, I'll kill them! I'll chop them into meat paste!"
Zhao Nuanyue stood in front of her brother, glaring furiously at Zhao Jinghai, Wang Lianhua, and a gloating Zhao Huilan.
'The barefoot are not afraid of those with shoes. Whoever flinches first loses!'
No matter the era, people always bully the weak and fear the strong. Zhao Nuanyue couldn't be the pushover everyone walked all over like in her previous life. She had to take up any weapon she could find to protect herself and her family.
Zhao Jinghai looked up. When he saw the brightly polished cleaver in Zhao Nuanyue's hand, he hesitated for two seconds before lowering his arm.
Wang Lianhua dropped the pretense of her aching back. She pointed a finger right at Zhao Nuanyue's nose and cursed, "You little thing with a mother but no father to raise you! You actually want to kill someone? Fine! Go on, chop me! Aim for my head!"
With that, she started to charge at Zhao Nuanyue.
'Zhao Nuanyue wasn't afraid of this old crone. All she ever does is throw passive-aggressive fits. The moment something doesn't go her way, she pretends to faint and lies on the floor to frame people—a true professional at faking accidents.'
"We can't live like this anyway. It's all death in the end. Killing one of you means I break even. Killing a few more is just a bonus," Zhao Nuanyue said viciously. She raised the cleaver and made a move to swing at Wang Lianhua.
Wang Lianhua had only meant to scare Zhao Nuanyue, but seeing the girl—who was usually as meek as a kitten—suddenly go berserk, she jumped in fright.
'What if this Zhao Nuanyue is just like that psycho Zhao Nuanyang? What if they're both mentally ill? You don't get executed for killing someone if you're insane. Wouldn't I have died for nothing?'
'Zhao Nuanyue's life is cheap, but her own life is precious!'
Wang Lianhua quickly stopped in her tracks, not daring to take another step forward.
Zhao Jinghai pulled his mother behind him and said hurriedly, "Nuanyue, you've gone too far. No matter what, she is your elder. You can't be so ill-mannered."
Zhao Nuanyue sneered. "You all said it yourselves—I have a mother but no father to raise me, so what manners would I have? We're not freeloaders in this house. We eat the survivor's rations my own father bought with his life. I admit that since coming here, no one on the outside bullies us anymore. But from the moment I walked through this door, I've done nothing but work every single day. And your daughter? What work has she ever done? Since you're so keen on calling in a debt of gratitude, I'll repay it. But you have to agree to one condition. If you agree, I'll go. If you don't, you can forget about making me go anywhere."
His normally quiet, withdrawn stepdaughter had suddenly become sharp-tongued, which unsettled Zhao Jinghai. He was starting to believe his mother's words—that this Zhao Nuanyue was secretly vicious.
'Keeping someone like that in the house was definitely not a good thing. It would be better to kick her out sooner rather than later. If it weren't for Xia Yingyu, he really wouldn't want these two pieces of baggage.'
'One is secretly vicious, the other is a psycho. Who knows, one day they might just grab a knife and hack the whole family to pieces. We wouldn't even know how we died!'
"You shameless girl! How dare you try to make conditions! This is a sin! Children that aren't your own blood can never be tamed! They're all ungrateful wolves!" Wang Lianhua shrieked at the top of her lungs. Luckily, they lived in a single-story house on the outskirts of the work unit's grounds, too far away for anyone to hear. Otherwise, a crowd would have surely gathered at their door.
Zhao Huilan supported her grandmother, Wang Lianhua, and added fuel to the fire. "Grandma, see? This is how they bully me all the time!"
'That shameless woman! How dare she say that? She's the one who steals food from me and Nuanyang every day. To show what a "magnanimous" stepmother she was, Xia Yingyu always let Zhao Huilan eat her fill first, and only then would she and Zhao Nuanyang get the leftovers.'
'The truly heartless and cruel ones were never Zhao Nuanyue and Zhao Nuanyang, but Zhao Jinghai's side of the family.'
'To deal with heartless people, you have to be even more heartless.'
Zhao Nuanyue narrowed her eyes, a vicious glint shooting from them. She waggled the cleaver in her hand and gave a cold, mocking smile. "Cut the crap. Heaven knows, the earth knows, you know, and I know what's really going on. Agree or don't, it's up to you. My own mother is too weak to protect us, so we have to protect ourselves."
Hearing her daughter's words, Xia Yingyu finally broke down completely, sobbing uncontrollably. She had failed her late husband, and she had failed her two children.