4
Ashley left the hospital a week later.
Her face was pale.
Mom and Dad waited on her hand and foot as
she recovered from her minor postpartum.
I was revising in my room and enjoying the peace and quiet.
As I was about to go out and get some water,
I heard Mom on the phone with a relative in
the living room.
“Yes, she had an abortion, but the child
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couldn’t be saved.”
“You misunderstood. It was Emily who had a
abortion, not Ashley.”
“Oh, Emily has always been stubborn. She fooled around with some guy and got herself
pregnant. It’s such a disgrace!”
“I’ve always taught them the same. Why is Ashley so obedient and sensible?”
I stood at the bedroom door and stared at
her, shaking with anger.
Ashley heard the noise and walked out of her
room, a cruel smile on her pale face..
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room, a cruel smile on ner paie тace.
“Emily, Mom said that it’s bad for a girl’s
reputation to be pregnant before marriage. I guess you can take responsibility for me.”
I caught her eye and saw the hate that
flashed across them.
It wasn’t hate for me, but-
My gaze landed on the woman in the living
room.
“Mom, Ashley was the one who had the abortion. Why are you telling other people
that it was me?”
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I stepped back in disbelief.
She came over, helping Ashley with a look of
distress. Then, she nodded her chin at me.
“You’re the older sister, so you should help
your younger sister.”
“Ashley is so simple–minded, she can’t stand
gossip.”
“When school starts, you don’t have to go.
When Ashley ha
red, you can go
together.”
The two entered the room together, not
esking my opinion. They didn’t seem to think I
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asking my opinion. They didn’t seem to think
would refuse.
Before she closed the door, Mom gave me a
cold look.
“Listen to me or you can forget about getting
your tuition and boarding fees.”
The bedroom door slammed shut.
I came out with my backpack on, casting one
last glance back.
Then I left the thorny cage.
The internet cafe was nearly deserted for the
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The internet cafe was nearly deserted for the
New Year. I copied the surveillance videos,
enjoying my amazing performance.
I quickly put together the clip and uploaded it.
Then I went to a hotel and got a room,
sleeping until dawn.
It felt so good.
When I woke up, my phone was blowing up with messages from all sorts of chat groups.
The videos didn’t have that many views.
But the internet was interesting in that the
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But the internet was interesting in that the
system would push the videos to people
around you.
The family WeChat group was filling with
messages.
Scrolling to the top, my aunt was being
sarcastic:
[So is this a cat to replace a crown prince?
How can you be a mother like this? Your heart’s completely biased!]
Behind her was my uncle giving strict
criticism: [Don’t air your dirty laundry. But
dincinlinad
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Emily needs to be disciplined. Can’t you sit
down and talk things over? You have to post
them online to be laughed at!]
My uncle was a teacher, and usually cared
about his reputation most.
With his support, my mom completely let
loose and contributed 60–second audio clips
to the group.
She cursed more in this life than she had in
her whole life.
My dad arrived late and explained in the
group:
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[I wasn’t home that day, so I didn’t know the
two had done that. Everyone, please forgive
them, I will make sure to discipline them.]
I curled up my lip.
He had been hiding on the balcony that day.
The apartment complex’s WeChat group was lively as well, alluding to the mother in the video being too biased.
[Twins? Isn’t that from the block 14 in our
complex?]
Someone tagged my parents.
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That was hilarious. They couldn’t have beer
tagged.
Long before someone exposed the address, my parents had mutually left the chat group.
My phone was about to blow up.
“You’re getting so good at this, putting your mom and dad online for others to curse. I
shouldn’t have raised a dog instead!”
Dad took the phone:
“Emily, where did you go? I’m so worried
about you.”
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His tone was gentle, filled with pain and
anxiety.
Just like a father who dearly loved his
daughter.
But I knew that it was just his mask.
Like it had been last time.
Mom pulled the oxygen tube, killing my flesh.
And his silence and leniency killed me a second time, cutting my soul to pieces.
When I didn’t say anything, Mom yelled:
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“You need to go online to clear things up
forget that you have a mother!”
I laughed.
“Alright, then… goodbye, uncle and aunt.”
Without parents like them, my future would
only bloom even more.
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LO
They didn’t contact me again.
When the new semester started, they didn’t
pay my tuition or put money on my campus
card.
They were probably waiting for me to grovel
to them.
My aunt told me about the situation at home.
After I posted that video, Chris’s mother saw it. She came to their door with Chris to
propose a marriage, but my parents kicked
them out.
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them out.
However, Ashley was determined to be with
her boyfriend.
They had a huge fight over it, but somehow
Mom and Dad had agreed.
The condition was that Chris’s family would
have to give a 500,000 wedding gift.
Even though people were calling them lions
and sharks, they insisted on 500,000.
My aunt said: “Your mom recently spent a lot of money on some son–bearing secret
remedies, and has been drinking Chinese
medicine every day.”
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C
medicine every day.”
It looked like her efforts to have a big child
had failed, so she was trying for a smaller
one.
That 500,000 was probably for their future
son’s milk money.
I just smiled and went back to my studies.
Occasionally, after I finished memorizing my vocabulary, I’d look at Mom’s messages.
She was going crazy, sharing articles from marketing accounts.
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[Women preparing for pregnancy must drink
these supplements!]
[Three things you must do in the morning if
you want a son!]
[Share this Koi fish and you’ll definitely have
son!]
I felt complicated seeing them so late at
night.
How could someone as smart as me have
such a foolish mom?
Time went by quickly.
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I worked hard, absorbing knowledge from my
textbooks to catch up on what I missed in my
last life.
After a while, Ashley found me.
She had taken time off from school to
recover, but she looked terrible.
“Do you know Mom’s pregnant?” she said
through gritted teeth.
I said, “Oh,”
Seeming unhappy with my reaction, she burst
out:
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“If she has a son, will there be any room for
us?”
“I don’t give a damn.”
I bypassed her, quietly practicing my English listening comprehension.
Behind me, Ashley’s roar faded.
I got first place in the city’s mock exams for
the second time in a row.
I felt more stable and grounded than I had
last time.
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attention to the seniors‘ experiences taking
their exams.
My homeroom teacher had a classmate call
me over.
As soon as I stepped through the door, I saw
a familiar face.
My dad was red–faced and about to slap me.
I dodged to the side.
Maybe he hadn’t expected me to dodge, but his hand hit the wooden desk, hurting him so much he cringed.
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He growled at me:
“You’re still out there, you have no idea what
happened to your mom!”
“Your mom just got surgery, and you need to take care of her at the hospital.”
He turned to the homeroom teacher, his tone
rough:
“Teacher, I’m asking for Emily to have half a
month off.”
I dodged the hand he was reaching for.
“What kind of surgery? Isn’t she pregnant?”
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“I’m telling you to go, so go! Why are you so
disobedient?”
He looked distorted, avoiding the question
and glaring at me.
I couldn’t help but laugh in my heart.
Recently, Mom hadn’t had her period for a month, and was convinced that she was
pregnant. She had announced the news proudly in the family WeChat group.
But the other day, my aunt told me that Mom had gone to the hospital for a checkup.
She wasn’t pregnant.
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But she had a huge ovarian cyst that had to
be removed with minimally invasive surgery.
I expected them to come to me, so I told the homeroom teacher about the situation.
I had teared up as I cried:
“Teacher, my parents want me to take the college entrance examinations for my sister. They kicked me out during New Year’s because I wouldn’t.”
“They even want to send me to the countryside to marry some forty–year–old
cripple so I can’t go to college.”
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So, when Dad asked to take me away, my
homeroom teacher stood in front of me.
“Emily’s dad, there’s less than a hundred days left until the exams. Everyone is busy revising. How can you take her away to distract her?”
The homeroom teacher said:
“Also, I heard that Emily’s sister Ashley is at home resting. Wouldn’t it be better for her to take care of her?”
As soon as my dad heard that, he wasn’t
happy.
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“No way!”
“Ashley was spoiled since she was little. She
doesn’t know how to take care of anyone.”
The homeroom teacher clicked her tongue,
looking strange.
The other teachers in the office also looked
at him.
My dad cared about his image, so his face
turned red.
He raised his hand and pointed at me,
roaring, “If you have the guts, then don’t ever come home!”
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roaring, “If you have the guts, then don’t eve
come home!”
Then he left in a rage.
The homeroom teacher sighed, patting me or the shoulder, and gave me half a day off to go to the hospital to visit Mom.
There was no way I was going to visit a
patient.
Lately, I’ve been losing a lot of hair because I’ve been staying up to revise. I’ll get some vitamin B from the doctor.
Vitamins at the hospital are cheap, only three
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After leaving the consultation room, I looked up and saw Dad hurrying down the elevator.
He was even wearing a hood to avoid being recognized.
I glanced at the sign.
Upstairs was the andrology department.
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Chapter 2
