"I've never met my dad since I was a child, and my mom never mentions him in front of me."
When I was little, I would ask where he was. Later, I stopped asking because every time I did, my mom would cry and then give me a good beating. After that, anyone who dared to laugh at me for not having a father, I would fight them and beat them to a pulp. No kid in the whole village dared to mess with me.
One day, there was suddenly extra meat in the house. I was overjoyed and spent several days in blissful contentment. At that time, I had no idea where the meat came from. Later, my mother told me that this was the last meal of meat she would give me, and she would never give me meat again. I didn't understand and insisted on asking why. My mother slammed her chopsticks on the table, looked me in the eyes, and said that if I ended up like my father, she would never see me again.
Until my dying breath, all I knew was that what my father did was something my mother could never forgive. She would do the hardest work for me, give me her last bite of food, and endure the villagers' ridicule to do the rough work that only grown men could do, all so that I could leave the mountain village.
You probably don't understand how difficult it is for a rural child to leave the mountains. I worked incredibly hard, just to make my mother proud and ease our burdens in the future. But do you know, when I received my university acceptance letter, my family was so poor we couldn't even afford to eat. My mother borrowed from every relative she knew, practically begging on her knees, but still couldn't scrape together enough for the tuition. I secretly packed my bags, thinking of finding some work outside to pay for my own tuition.
And I did succeed, getting into school as I wished. But when I was full of ambition, eager to make something of myself, I discovered that the people around me could obtain everything without any effort—interpersonal relationships, learning resources, living expenses, eloquence, jobs—it seemed that nothing mattered to them. While they could casually buy computers, my mother had to travel dozens of miles through the mountains just to make a phone call; while they were squandering money, my mother was still at home eating pickled vegetables and doing manual labor; while they could easily send gifts to their parents with a few taps on their phones, I couldn't do anything, and I couldn't even support myself.
When I got to university, I realized how out of place I was in society. I had no money, no friends, no eloquence, no confidence, and even studying didn't seem so important anymore. I've wondered why the world is so unfair; others are born with everything, while I struggle to even get by in this city!
I don't complain, really. I think I can live the life I want through my own efforts. But when I went home to visit my family, I saw my mother trying her best to suppress her cough in order to hide her discomfort. She would even run outside in the middle of the night and cover her mouth with a towel so that she wouldn't make a sound, just so I wouldn't hear her.
Do you know how unwilling I was at that moment?
I've seen enough of my mother's groveling when she begs for help, and I've seen enough of people who fawn over the powerful. Why am I making money so slowly? I'm afraid that when I finally have a fortune in my hands, all I'll see is my mother's grave!
So, while my mom was out, I found things about my dad. What my dad did, although dangerous, could earn him a lot of money in a short time.
I understood how much my mother hated my father, but I didn't know any other way to get the money quickly. So, after I returned to school, I wrote to my mother telling her that I wanted to join the army, the kind where I could retain my student status and receive a substantial monthly salary. My mother was overjoyed and even had someone write the reply on her behalf.
I joined my dad's organization, trained hard, went on missions, and sent money home. I thought that this would put my mom at ease so she could go to the hospital for a checkup, but little did I know she was still thinking about my future, worried that I wouldn't be able to get married without money, and insisted on saving the money.
I never expected to meet you on my mom's first visit. To be honest, you're different from those other people. There's no other emotion in your eyes, and my mom really likes you and encourages me to pursue you.
I did think that if she recovered, maybe we could give it a try. But what did you do while you were with her? You brought your so-called boyfriend to my mother to declare that you were already taken, and then you said my profession was unclean!
My mother became suspicious and threatened to kill herself to force me to tell the truth. I told her I was a soldier, but she didn't believe me and insisted that I take her to my military camp. Then she brought up my father, saying that she really wanted to see him again.
I knew she was suspicious, knew I'd looked through my dad's things. I admitted it, and she had a huge fight with me, kicking me out of the hospital room. I thought she'd calm down, but the next day, I found her dead, her brains splattered, her eyes wide open in death!
Wu Xiaole spoke expressionlessly, but her eyes never left Xiang Wan's eyes.
“You know, all these years, my only thought while doing missions has been to make my mother live happily. Murder, arson, robbery, kidnapping, what kind of thing doesn't involve bloodshed? I've seen it all, so what is there to be upset about? It's just that I don't know how to live in the future. I've lost the passion to fight. At least, I still have to fulfill my mother's last wish.”
Alarm bells rang in Xiang Wan's mind. Just as she stood up, Wu Xiaole grabbed her shoulder.
"Xiang Wan, you are my mother's last wish. Stay and come with me to see her. We'll get married in the afterlife, and she'll be very happy."
Wu Xiaole's eyes held a chilling indifference and a madness that showed no regard for life.
"Wu Xiaole, are you crazy? Your mother just wants you to live a good life, don't be so extreme. We're friends, can't we talk things out?"
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