Fatty meat, get out!

After waking up, Jin Xilu was overjoyed to see the rare sunny day outside and busied herself carrying some tables, chairs, and benches out of the old house.

She squatted in the corner and carefully scrubbed the broken water pump, then hung the clean chair to dry against the wall.

Although she lives alone, she still needs to wash and dry things since the Chinese New Year is just around the corner.

There was nothing at home. She planned to wash and dry these things in the morning, then go to the street to buy things in the afternoon and go up the mountain to burn incense and visit her grandmother's grave.

She was concentrating on washing things in the house when she heard footsteps. Turning around, she saw a fat man standing by the wall, wearing socks and flip-flops even in the dead of winter.

Immediately afterwards, she picked up the freshly washed dishes and chopsticks and hurriedly walked into the house.

She didn't want to have anything to do with this man.

Jin Fang could easily see through Jin Xilu's thoughts. With a fawning smile on his face, he kicked over the table she had just washed, and then stepped onto the still-damp plastic stool.

He blocked the doorway forcefully, leaving Jin Xilu in a dilemma.

"What do you want to do?" Kim Hee-ro held the bowl, pressed her hands, red from being soaked in ice water, to her chest, and tried her best to suppress the twitching fear on her face.

She swallowed hard, her heart clenching, her fingers gripping her clothes tightly. The burning pain of being pressed against the rough earthen wall was still fresh in her memory after many years.

She had a psychological aversion to this man and subconsciously took two steps back.

These two steps were what made Jin Fang laugh; as she retreated, he moved closer.

"Hey, what's going on? You still remember those silly fights we had when we were kids? Xilu, you've never grown up!"

He opened his mouth, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. Even though his teeth, which were infected with bacteria, had long been filled, they were still disgusting.

When Kim Hee-ro saw him smile, it was as if a sharp knife had pierced her mouth. Her toothache was accompanied by a stinging pain in her ears, and she felt as if insects were crawling into her mouth. She was forced to open her mouth, but she couldn't utter a single word.

No, there's no going back. The acid that Jin Xilu had experienced years ago is now surging through her body again. There's no time to think about it, and she can't afford to think about it too much.

She held the bowl with swift, decisive movements, smashing it in her hands. Small, scattered shards of porcelain fell to the ground, cutting her palm. She then pointed a large shard of porcelain, stained with her own blood, at the taller man in front of her.

Her burning hatred was about to leap from her tongue, but the nausea churning in her stomach forced her to slow her speech, her voice trembling as she said, "Step back, what, what are you doing here?"

"Sure, don't get excited. I'll keep it brief since you weren't planning on offering me a drink of water."

Jin Fang stepped back and climbed back onto the chair, the movement causing his fat to jiggle, making him look somewhat comical.

He sat down at the table by the main entrance, clicked his tongue in disgust twice, then lowered his head and rubbed his palm against the wall a couple of times. The white dust that peeled off the wall stuck to most of his arm. Then he clenched his palm and held the dust in front of Jin Xilu, then suddenly released it lightly, his eyes sharp and threatening.

"I want this house."

The ginger-yellow dust mixed with small pieces of light pink wall paint was poured in front of Jin Xilu, like golden fireworks that echoed through the alley during the New Year, flickering and fading away little by little, which she could not take back.

Jin Xilu once thought she could live in the old house for the rest of her life, and that she would quietly grow old with her grandmother's ashes. But the Jin family came looking for her at her grandmother's funeral.

That winter, snow weighed down the roof tiles of the old house, and the chill spread from all directions, making her wonder if this was her last winter.

The so-called adults of the Jin family took out several neatly folded sheets from their trousers, fluttered them in the wind, and the pieces of paper brushed against her face. Her tears had already dried up, but that wasn't the end of it. They pointed at her nose and laughed and scolded, "The old man and woman usually keep a low profile, and we thought they were saving up for their funerals, but the funeral was so shabby. It turns out they used all their money to feed their cats and dogs."

After they called Kim Hee-ro a stray dog ​​or cat, she rushed forward like a madwoman and bit the arm of the man who was speaking with all her might. He was wearing a thick cotton coat, so she didn't know if she had hurt him, but everyone was terrified by her man-eating, deranged gaze.

The man retreated several steps, then angrily slapped her across the face, but thankfully she dodged the first blow.

She snatched the order from his hand so fast that no one could react.

Her eyes became inflamed from crying, and she couldn't even see what was written on the paper. She tore the sheet to pieces, and her tears soaked the soft paper fragments, which turned into incense ash in front of her grandmother's black and white photo.

Materials can be replenished if they run out, and even if they can't, no matter what method is used, even if everyone in the town spits at her, it would be more than enough to drown a helpless orphan like her.

Kim Hee-ro didn't want to recall what happened next. She knew better than anyone that the house belonged to the Kim family, but she wouldn't give it to them.

Jin Xilu didn't put down the broken porcelain shard she was clutching. Instead, she hid it behind her back, facing the sun. She stared at Jin Fang, trying to open her eyes wide. Since only Jin Fang had come, it meant that the other members of the Jin family were temporarily afraid to approach her because of what happened back then.

Jin Fang was easy to deal with. After thinking it over, she let out a shallow sigh: "If you won't give me a house, what do you want?"

"Hmph, clever! To put it bluntly, I don't even want your dilapidated house that's near a mental hospital. I want money, you trade money for the house." Jin Fang said his demand impatiently.

Jin Xilu guessed it was about money, but she was still somewhat doubtful: "Can you make that decision?"

"Everyone gets old, everyone dies, and this family will be mine sooner or later." Looking at Jin Xilu as she grew up, he felt a little regretful that he hadn't bullied her more in the past. His bad intentions had always been there. He added, "Don't believe me? Come back to the Jin family with me. I didn't bring the cops because I was afraid you would bite me."

Jin Xilu understood. Although Jin Fang was unreliable, he was indeed lucky. He was the only son of the Jin family in this generation. He dared to do this not because he was blinded by money, but because someone had definitely taught him.

"How much?"

"Exactly 100,000, no more, no less. The dowry you received back then was much more than this." He finished speaking with a wicked grin, opening his mouth and licking his greasy, thick lips with his tongue.

Exhausted, Jin Xilu dropped the porcelain shard in her hand and it smashed at her feet. She couldn't come up with that much money right away.

Jin Fang noticed her embarrassment, then licked the oil off his upper lip, smacked his lips, moved his bottom, and jumped off the table: "There's another outsider who's offering a high price for this house. If you can't pay that much in two days, I'll sell it to him. Don't blame me for not warning you then."

“One month. I’ll give you 160,000 after one month.” Jin Xilu calculated the time in her mind. One month would be enough for her to finish those things and then leave alone. For now, she had to stall him no matter what.

"Ha, are you trying to fool a child?" Jin Li left decisively, not tempted at all by Jin Xilu's fake 160,000.

"I'm telling you this: if you don't have money, go borrow it. If you don't have 100,000 in two days, you're done. Get out of here."

As noon approached, the intense sunlight shone on her, and the world was bright, yet she felt as if she were in the deep shade of a mountain forest, panting and competing with the ever-growing and flourishing vegetation around her for fixed oxygen.

Completely unaware that there was someone behind her, and that a cat was watching her the whole time.

The orange cat peeked out: "Meow! Young man, it's time to be a hero and save the damsel in distress! Hurry up and seize the opportunity!"

"You too, stop going over there to listen to old ladies' stories."

Jiang Yilin was standing in a position that completely blocked him, so Jin Xilu couldn't see him. After Jin Fang left, he rubbed his dry eyes, lowered his head and felt the numbness in his legs go away. Then he picked up the orange cat from the ground and held it in his arms.

"Go do something for me."

After saying that, he stopped looking at Kim Hee-ro and left quietly, his steps always light.

Jin Xilu's hand wound wasn't too big, but it wasn't small either. The large drops of blood hitting the cement floor were a bit creepy, but she didn't care about herself. She was especially distressed about the clean chairs that Jin Fang had kicked over.

"I just washed it clean. Never mind, I'd better get it done quickly so as not to delay my afternoon plans."

She went inside intending to find some cloth to wipe the blood off her body. She had always been very tolerant of her own affairs, and things like bandaging and applying medicine were never her responsibility. What was more important now was how to get money within two days.

She walked around the house for a while, but couldn't bear to use a clean cloth, so she just wiped the bloodstains with a tissue. Just as she finished wiping, she heard someone calling her name outside the door.

"Jiang Xilu? Xilu, is that you who's back?"

Jin Xilu initially hesitated to respond; she had just dealt with one, and now another one was coming.

The person standing at the door was none other than an old man, hunched over, leaning against the wall with a stiff neck, his silver hair neatly tied behind his ears.

Hearing the increasingly clear and familiar voice, Jiang Xilu recognized her. It was Xin Xuan, her former teacher, who had called to inform her of her grandmother's passing.

Upon seeing her, Jin Xilu quickly hid her fingers behind her back, peeked shyly out of the room, and replied, "It's me, Grandma Xin, what brings you here? How are you feeling?"

Xin Xuan stood by the threshold, her body swaying slightly. Her eyes, still clear, remained on her slender face. As she tucked a stray hair behind her ear, her black, hollowed-out silver bracelet on her left hand knocked on the wooden door with a thud.

"What? Your grandma's dead, so I'm dead too?"

Hearing this, Jin Xilu was so frightened that she rushed out of the house. Although they called her Grandma, Xin Xuan was not old enough to be called that. It was all out of respect that everyone had for her. Twenty years ago, she was Grandma Xin. As more and more people called her that, everyone was used to calling her Grandma Xin.

If there's one person Jin Xilu fears most in the whole town, it's Grandma Xin. Xin Xuan was the first college student from the town, but for some reason, she didn't go to college and instead stayed in the town to teach for her entire life. Jin Xilu was also raised under her tutelage.

She hurriedly explained, "No, no, Grandma Xin, you're not kidding me."

"You're a smart person, why would you come back?"

Looking into her eyes, which resembled her grandmother's, Jin Xilu fought back tears and said, "I miss Grandma."

"You don't know how your grandmother died?"