Chapter 35.4: The Wrong Kind of Mother

They say the ten fingers are connected to the heart, but the flesh of the palm is just as tender and sensitive. The girl's five nails sank deep into the skin, and she was still pressing harder.

It felt like having your hand plowed by iron tines.

Earlier, when crouched beside the water channel and reaching out to grab the burning incense in Runsheng's hand, it hadn’t hurt. But that was because he hadn’t been normal then.

Now, he was normal.

Begging for mercy seemed useless now. The girl who always listened to him now acted as if she couldn’t hear him.

Her eyelashes trembled, her body shook, and the light in her eyes vanished, replaced by a dull numbness.

A dangerous aura began to emanate from her.

In the past, whenever she was about to snap, the boy only needed to hold her hand to calm her down. But now, it was his hand that was pushing her further over the edge.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled his hand away from the girl.

Her body gradually stilled. The flutter of her lashes ceased, her eyes lowered.

She turned and walked toward the staircase.

The cloak that had covered them both slipped off. Li Zhuiyuan picked it up, wanting to drape it back over her.

But as he drew near again, the girl stopped. Her back trembled.

Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to stop, even take a few steps back.

The girl composed herself and continued forward, her figure disappearing down the stairs.

Soon, she appeared again on the stone yard. The door to the east room had never been closed. She walked right in.

Li Zhuiyuan stood on the second floor, still holding the red cloak.

She used to treasure anything that had to do with the two of them. Now, she recoiled from touching him, even from things that had touched him.

Li Zhuiyuan looked down at his palm, at the five deep, bleeding gashes.

It hurt, but he wasn't angry. He felt guilty.

With his left hand, he wiped away the blood to reveal a burn mark at the center.

He understood why the girl had suddenly snapped.

Because she realized that the one she had placed her hopes in to climb out of the abyss was willingly sinking deeper into it.

The cruelest torture in the world is to give someone hope in despair, only to extinguish it with your own hands.

She had almost grown used to it.

Li Zhuiyuan rinsed the wound, wrapped it in a clean cloth, and returned to his bedroom.

He lay on the bed, not sure if he was genuinely sleepy or just subconsciously wishing that after one sleep, daylight would make everything right again.

In any case, he fell asleep.

It was a shallow sleep, interrupted many times by inexplicable jolts of anxiety. Still, he didn’t open his eyes, forcing himself to sleep on.

Eventually, after who knows how many times, he sensed the clarity of daylight even through his closed eyelids.

Morning had come.

He turned his head and opened his eyes. The chair by the door was empty.

Li Zhuiyuan grabbed his washbasin and left the room. Passing his great-grandfather’s room, he saw through the gauzy screen that the old man’s bed was empty.

He washed up and went downstairs, but Runsheng wasn’t at the table either.

He hadn’t slept in that late. Why was everyone up so early?

Li Zhuiyuan walked out to the stone yard. Aunt Liu came out from the kitchen.

“Xiao Yuan, good morning. Breakfast will be ready soon.”

“Aunt Liu, where’s my great-grandfather?”

“The village chief came before dawn and asked him to go to the township office. Runsheng drove him there.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded, then looked toward the east room.

Behind the threshold sat a girl in a black dress, her feet on the step, eyes straight ahead, expressionless.

“Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan, come here quickly.”

This morning, when her granddaughter didn’t get up early like usual, Liu Yumei had already sensed something was wrong.

Then the girl got up, groomed herself, and sat behind the threshold with a stool.

In that instant, Liu Yumei felt like the sky had collapsed.

Now, the boy was her only hope.

Li Zhuiyuan walked toward the east room. As he got close, the girl’s body began to tremble. Her hands slowly clenched, and red welled up in her eyes.

Liu Yumei quickly stopped Li Zhuiyuan from approaching, crouching beside her granddaughter and softly whispering to soothe her.

The girl’s reaction was even more intense than when strangers approached her before.

Li Zhuiyuan backed off. After seeing the girl calm down under Liu Granny’s coaxing, he bit his lip and took a deep breath.

Yes, just like he’d hoped before sleep.

After one sleep,

everything was back to normal.

…

“What? Say that again—I didn’t catch it!”

Li Sanjiang slammed the desk in the civil affairs office. He had heard it clearly the first time, but he couldn’t believe it.

The director and staff at the office had no choice but to repeat the explanation—again, for the fourth time.

They, too, had received an urgent notice from higher-ups and had come early to process it.

Even they found it unbelievable when they saw the faxed documents.

In this day and age, something like this?

“Sir, are you Li Sanjiang?”

“I brought my ID and household register, didn’t I?”

“Yes, yes. Actually, the situation is clear now. It’s just a matter of whether you’re willing to sign. If not, we’ll send the paperwork back.”

Li Sanjiang blankly picked up the pen and asked:

“So if I sign this, Xiao Yuanhou ends up on my household register?”

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