Chapter 9 Ye Jia She can't stay here and wait to be sent away
After the Chinese New Year, my stepmother gave birth to a son.
Outside the hospital delivery room, Jiang Cheng clutched his phone, a smile like Ultraman's laser beam. Jiang Hao felt as if his father was about to transform. His younger brother was his transformation device.
Could it be that her father is Ultraman from the beginning? He hasn't transformed in all these years just because she's a daughter?
Jiang Hao wanted to lie on the glass and look inside. She blew out a breath and drew circles on the frosted surface. Then she drew another circle inside the circle, and drew circles inside circles. When there was no more room inside, she drew circles outside. When she drew the tenth circle, Jiang Cheng pulled her and asked her to say hello to the friends who came to see her stepmother.
Jiang Hao wanted to take on the responsibility of taking care of the relatives and friends who came in real life. Jiang Cheng was responsible for telling the relatives and friends on the other end of the phone over and over again: "It's born! Mother and child are safe! It's a boy! 6.82 catties!"
Jiang Cheng felt that he had a successor! He was very proud!
The joy and satisfaction in his voice were something Jiang Haoxiang had never felt before. She remembered her father smiling and saying, "She was a little girl," when he mentioned her birth.
There is a huge difference between being given a cotton-padded jacket by someone else and winning 30 million in the lottery.
Jiang Hao didn't quite understand what "daibài" meant. She just felt that her father walked with a swift breeze, spoke in a loud voice, and looked at her brother with a gentle look, which also made him more caring towards her stepmother. Could that "daibài" be a transformation device?
The stepmother came home from the hospital to recuperate after giving birth. She seemed more confident because she had given birth to a son, and her attitude towards Jiang Haoxiang also became gentler. She was more generous and caring.
Before giving birth, the stepmother forced Jiang Haoxiang to touch her belly and feel the fetal movements. After the birth, she forced Jiang Haoxiang to hold her son and forced Jiang Haoxiang to grow an extra heart, a loving heart, a heart dedicated to loving her son.
The stepmother hugged her son and said to Jiang Haoxiang with a smile: "Haoxiang, come and see your brother, he is so cute. You are the older sister, you must love your brother in the future. When we are old, your brother will be your only relative and your support."
Jiang Cheng also said: "This brother is a gift to you. He is your closest person. He is your blood relative. He is the one who will stay with you the longest."
The people who will be with me the longest? Isn't that Aunt Xiang Li and Brother Zheng Yi? Didn't I make a birthday wish a few months ago that the three of them would celebrate my birthday with Jiujiu every year from now on?
The two parties' statements were contradictory, but Xiang Li and Zheng Yi never lied to her.
Jiang Hao thought strangely: Could it be that my father and stepmother are lying?
The little brother started crying again. Jiang Hao wanted to look at the little lump of flesh in the cradle, who only knew how to sleep, feed, and cry. She didn't feel anything special, just that he was a little noisy and took up a lot of space. But she still obeyed and walked over to take a look as asked.
"Come, hold your brother." The stepmother suggested and handed the child to her.
Jiang Haoxiang was startled and took a step back, hiding her hands behind her back. She was afraid that she would fall if she didn't hold the baby well.
The stepmother was still laughing: "What are you afraid of? You are the older sister, what's wrong with hugging your younger brother? Come on."
Jiang Cheng watched from the side and chimed in: "Okay, try it, just be gentle."
Jiang Hao seemed to be half-pushed and half-resigned, and stiffly accepted the swaddling clothes. Her whole body was tense, not daring to move. She felt even more tired than holding Jiujiu. Obviously, Jiujiu was already 8 kilograms, heavier than her brother, but she didn't feel tired at all.
The stepmother looked at her, looking at her as if she was facing a great enemy. She was not satisfied, but her voice was still gentle. Perhaps it was because she had just given birth and did not have the strength to be tough: "I miss you so much. Look how much your brother likes you. You will definitely treat your brother well in the future, right? You will love your brother, right?"
The word "love" is unfamiliar to Jiang Haoxiang. Her mother died too young, never teaching her what love is. Her father never told her he loved her. Xiang Li and Zheng Yi never asked her if she loved anyone.
Jiang Haoxiang doesn't know what love is.
The book says that love is the heart beating fast, love is the uncontrollable desire to be good to the other person, and love is the heartache when seeing the other person cry.
When her stepmother asked her if she loved her brother, Jiang Hao felt like her heart was about to stop because of the tension! She could be nice to her brother, but she couldn't help it... Not to mention that she felt upset when she saw her brother crying.
Love was a heavy stone, crushing Jiang Hao to pieces. She felt so broken she could barely hold her brother. She looked at her stepmother's gentle eyes, then at her father's encouraging gaze, but the word "love" was beyond her comprehension. She remained silent.
The stepmother's smile faded. She reached out and hugged her son back, clearly disappointed. "How come he doesn't even say a word? Isn't it natural for a sister to love her brother?"
Jiang Cheng's brows furrowed as he looked at Jiang Haoxiang, scolding her, "Haoxiang, why are you becoming more and more naive? Mom is asking you a question! Do you love your brother? Your brother loves you so much!"
The younger brother can't speak, and Jiang Haoxiang is not crying now. How do they know that the younger brother loves her? Jiang Haoxiang lowered her head and looked at her shoes. She didn't understand. Why didn't she say that loving her younger brother was immature?
Although the younger brother couldn't speak, he completely changed the focus and rhythm of the Jiang family's life. Everyone's attention was on the baby. Jiang Hao felt more like an actor who needed to be pulled out to play along in the performance of family harmony.
After school started, she didn't tell any of her classmates that she had a younger brother. In her composition, titled "New Things, New Atmosphere During the Chinese New Year," Jiang Haoxiang didn't even mention her younger brother. Instead, she wrote about Zheng Yi, who had hit her face while skateboarding and, fearing disfigurement, wanted plastic surgery. She wrote about Zheng Yi's "new face, new atmosphere."
Zheng Yi was furious when she found out. She even wrote about Jiang Haoxiang in her own essay, titled "The Most Incomprehensible Person." She listed a hundred things about Jiang Haoxiang that she couldn't understand, and ended with the following sentence: "I don't know her very well, so I don't understand her very well. But we will always be together. I'm sure one day I will know her very well and understand her!"
The teacher gave Zheng Yi a C, saying that she was in fourth grade, but her writing was still like a diary. Rewrite!
One afternoon, Jiang Hao wanted to go home from school. As soon as she opened the door, she felt something was wrong. She was now very good at reading all kinds of information: the air, objects, food, and toys. She felt like a great detective!
Dad, stepmother, and step-grandmother were sitting on the sofa in the living room, all with serious expressions, as if they were having a family meeting. My younger brother must have been asleep in the nursery.
Jiang Haoxiang's heart started beating wildly for no apparent reason, then faltered and died down. She changed her shoes and called out softly, "Dad, Auntie, Grandma."
No one responded.
It was the stepmother who took action first, went to the room and took the younger brother out, and it was the stepmother who spoke first: "I miss you so much, come here."
Jiang Haoxiang wanted to walk over and stand in front of the coffee table.
The stepmother lifted the blanket covering her brother, revealing the baby's legs. There was a noticeable purple bruise on his calf.
Jiang Haoxiang was confused.
"I really want to. Tell me the truth," her stepmother stared into her eyes, "Did you pinch the bruise on your brother's leg?"
"It wasn't me!" Jiang Haoxiang answered very quickly! "I never pinched my brother! I didn't even dare to hug him!"
"If not you, who else could it be? We're the only ones at home! Grandma holds him all day and loves him so much! Your dad and I can't possibly do that! It's just you! You're the only one who always hates this little brother! Last time I asked you to hold him, you wouldn't even say you loved him!"
"I don't hate him! I really didn't pinch him!" Jiang Haoxiang felt strange. Just because he didn't love his brother, didn't mean he hated him.
She felt she had a clear distinction between right and wrong. She needed a reason to dislike someone; she couldn't just dislike them without any reason. Jiang Hao wanted to have a little bit of her own pride. She felt that if she wanted to be an outstanding adult, she had to have a reason for everything she did, whether it was love or hate. This was a rule she had established for herself at a young age.
"You're still quibbling!" Jiang Cheng slammed the coffee table and stood up. "Jiang Haoxiang, I didn't expect you to be like this! You lied! And you dare not take responsibility for what you did! My brother is so young, how could you have the heart to do that to me!"
"I didn't! It really wasn't me!" Jiang Hao wanted to shout, but she didn't cry. She wanted to pull her father's hand, but Jiang Cheng pushed her away.
"That's enough!" Jiang Cheng roared, "I think you're just feeling unbalanced and jealous of your brother. I'm telling you, you can't tolerate this habit!"
The doorbell rang suddenly, accompanied by Zheng Yi's shout: "Jiang Haoxiang? Are you home?"
He was originally going to go back to his home with Jiang Haoxiang to do homework as usual, but Jiang Haoxiang received a call from Jiang Cheng asking her to go home first. Jiang Haoxiang said that she would go home first and come down soon, and also promised to bring grapes for Zheng Yi.
As a result, Zheng Yi waited downstairs for a long time but didn't see anyone, so he ran upstairs worriedly.
Jiang Cheng opened the door angrily.
Zheng Yi stood at the doorway and immediately saw Jiang Haoxiang in the living room. She was fine, not crying, so nothing serious should have happened. But then she saw Jiang Cheng and her stepmother trying to accuse her, and she felt bad again!
"Uncle Jiang, I'm here to find Jiang Haoxiang to do homework together." Zheng Yi spoke first, wanting to take Jiang Haoxiang away.
"She won't do homework with you today. She made a big mistake and doesn't deserve to do homework with you! She is too worried and might lead you astray." Jiang Cheng used to look down on Zheng Yi, but now he can praise him highly in order to humiliate and punish his daughter.
"Huh? What happened?" Zheng Yi didn't understand. Could Jiang Haoxiang still lead him astray? He thought about how his scores in his three main subjects combined were not as high as Jiang Haoxiang's score in one.
"It's nothing! None of your business is our family's business!" Jiang Cheng was still angry and spoke in a harsh tone.
The stepmother, however, seemed to have found a third-party judge. She cried to Zheng Yi, "You came at the perfect time. Please judge for yourself! Jiang Hao thought she pinched her brother! Such a small child, with a huge bruise on his leg! She still refuses to admit it even when I ask her!"
Zheng Yi stepped through the door, walked over to Jiang Haoxiang, and shielded her behind him. He didn't even look at the bruises on his so-called brother. He only looked at her stepmother: "Auntie, Uncle Jiang, do you have any evidence? Did you see Jiang Haoxiang strangle his brother with your own eyes?"
The stepmother choked at his question and cried even harder: "What evidence do you need? There are only these few people in the family! Who else could it be if not her? She's just jealous! She has a dark mind!"
"Psychologically dark?" Zheng Yi repeated the word. It was too profound, he had never learned it. "Auntie, Jiang Haoxiang isn't that kind of person. She just cried when her eraser was snatched away by a classmate. Why do you wrongly accuse her without any evidence? I just don't think it's Jiang Haoxiang! You should call the police and get an autopsy!"
Zheng Yi couldn't say anything logical, nor did he know how to exonerate Jiang Hao. He couldn't say things like, "The baby's skin is tender, he might have been bumped or scratched himself," or "Check the crib, check his nails."
He thought that he could clear himself of suspicion by calling the police, but he didn't pay attention to the family. It was extremely absurd that adults treated their own children like suspects.
But Zheng Yi just trusts Jiang Haoxiang.
He felt that even if the police, judges, class teachers, mayors, governors, or even national leaders came, they couldn't judge Jiang Haoxiang like this!
Jiang Cheng's face turned pale and blue after being hit by Zheng Yi's series of knocks, and he was embarrassed.
Seeing her husband speechless after being talked down by a half-grown child, her stepmother pointed at Zheng Yi and Jiang Haoxiang and said, "My son! This is my son! Why is he having to endure all this? Why are you all defending him? Did Jiang Haoxiang give you some kind of drug? She's a nuisance! A nuisance!"
After giving birth, she'd been feeling a bit anxious, and her figure hadn't recovered well. Jiang Cheng claimed to love his son, but in reality, he'd barely paid any attention to him. Her own mother's philosophy was different from hers. She had to worry about almost everything, big and small. Postpartum depression and long-simmering emotions suddenly erupted.
She began to cry incoherently, saying that Jiang Cheng didn't care about the children and was out socializing every day. She talked about how hard it was for her to raise the children alone, that everyone owed her wrongs, and that this family was suffocating her! In the end, all the criticism seemed to circle back to Jiang Haoxiang, as if she was the root of all the misfortune.
Jiang Cheng looked at his wife who had lost control, then at his daughter who was being protected by Zheng Yi with a calm face, and he felt a splitting headache.
Comforting his emotionally broken wife was the top priority. Tired and irritable, he asked Zheng Yi to go home first. Zheng Yi still refused. Jiang Hao wanted to whisper behind him: "Brother Zheng Yi, go back. This is my family matter."
Zheng Yi had no choice but to leave.
After Zheng Yi left, Jiang Cheng looked at Jiang Haoxiang and made a decision.
"That's enough! Stop arguing!" He interrupted his wife's sobbing and said to Jiang Haoxiang, "Haoxiang, pack your things. Tomorrow, I'll send you back to your grandma's house to stay for a while. We'll talk about it after your mother's emotions have stabilized and you've grown up. I'll go and handle the transfer procedures for you in a few days."
Jiang Haoxiang's calm expression shattered. She felt as if her father had transformed. But he wasn't Ultraman, he was a monster. She looked at her father, then at her brother, then back at her father. It turned out that monsters also needed a transformation device.
She thought of the episode she'd watched a few days ago, about the three-faced eccentric Dada, a creature from the planet Dada, sent to Earth by his superiors to collect human specimens. Zheng Yi had been so frightened at first sight of Dada that she'd pushed her phone away. But Jiang Haoxiang thought it looked quite interesting. He was wearing striped pajamas—she had a pair of similar ones—and his hair was long, shoulder-length—his mother used to wear it. Jiang Haoxiang wasn't afraid of Dada at all, and even thought it was adorable.
She thought of Dada and suddenly laughed.
She laughed so hard that her stepmother stopped crying, and she also laughed so hard that Jiang Cheng got furious.
"I think you're becoming more and more like your mom as you grow older!" Jiang Cheng felt like Jiang Hao wasn't even listening to him and didn't take him, his father, seriously! He became even more determined to send her to her grandmother's house. "Go pack your bags now!"
Jiang Haoxiang finally returned to reality. There was no Dada in reality. And soon, there would be no Zheng Yi, no Xiang Li, and no Jiujiu.
That night, Jiang Hao didn't know how he got back to his little room. It felt like the world had collapsed. Was this what it felt like to return to reality?
She didn't want to return to reality. Dada had no home on Earth and simply wandered the mountain roads. She looked out the window, and a thought occurred to her.
run.
She couldn't stay here and wait to be sent away.
Jiang Haoxiang quietly changed into thick clothes and stuffed all the pocket money in her drawer into her coat pockets. She glanced at the stuffed cat on the bed that Zheng Yi had given her, hesitated for a moment, and finally stuffed it into her schoolbag. Then, she shouldered her schoolbag, imitated Jiujiu, walking on tiptoe, carefully unlocked the door, and slipped out of the house in full view of everyone—don't ask how Jiang Haoxiang did it; she was going to be Dada's little monster.
The streets were empty late at night, and the wind blew through the bare branches, as if they were crying. Jiang Hao wanted to feel strong, as she hadn't cried all night. The trees were even more determined than she was. She walked aimlessly, not knowing where to go or which direction the mountain road led.
She walked to the ventilation vent of the secret base at the back of the community, where there was shade he shared with her.
She walked downstairs to Zheng Yi's house and looked up at the window. Inside were delicious snacks, cool air conditioning, Aunt Xiang Li's smile, Zheng Yi's concern, and Jiujiu's little body.
She walked along the route she usually took to school with Zheng Yi. On that route, she could hear his voice disapproving of her slowness and his movements as he stuffed snacks into her mouth.
She walked to the door of the store where her grandmother took her to eat last time. The store was closed and the roller shutter was closed. There was her grandmother's warm palm and the scarf embroidered with Mimi.
She even walked to the old neighborhood where she and her mother used to live. It had changed, with new high-rise buildings built in. She stood on the street corner, trying to recall what her mother looked like, but found that she could hardly remember.
Memories and reality intertwined. Mom was gone, Grandma wasn't seen often, and Dad had a new home and a new son, a home that no longer needed her, or even had room for her. Only Zheng Yi remained. Only with Aunt Xiang Li, Zheng Yi, was there warmth and safety. But now, she might not even be able to go there. Dad was sending her off.
Tears kept streaming down her face, and the cold wind stung her. She imagined the stuffed cat in her schoolbag poking at her back, so she wouldn't be alone. She walked on the deserted streets like an abandoned kitten.
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