January 1, 2022

Chapter 28: So Beautiful

But Yansheng was no longer the silly girl who would only bicker loudly with Yingying in the past.

When hitting a snake, one must strike seven inches below its head, and Huan was Yingying’s seven inches.

Yansheng gently touched Heling’s head, then she raised her eyes. Instead of looking at Yingying, she glanced at her father coldly.

Huan received this glance.

He saw how his youngest daughter, who was originally excited and happy, had a pained expression now. She was now leaning on his eldest daughter.

His eldest daughter stroked her hair tenderly while looking at him without saying a word.

He thought that Yingying’s words were just a bit disappointing at first, but he was given a cold look by his eldest daughter, which seemed to be showing sarcasm and contempt, he felt strange and awkward. All the small dissatisfactions he had for his wife that were accumulated during the day suddenly gathered together and broke out.

He yelled at his wife angrily, “What? So my words don’t have any use now? Do I need you to arrange everything for me?”

Yingying was baffled and didn’t have any idea why her husband suddenly got angry. She was reprimanded in front of the children and her nephew just like that, so she was embarrassed and she tried to defend herself, “No, I’m just saying that this child—”

“So you know that she is a child! She wants to go to the amusement park, but you don’t want to take her there? How did you become a mother?!” Huan scolded her.

He certainly didn’t think about how he became a father as well.

Yingying felt wronged. She hadn’t seen Huan care more about Heling, a money-losing commodity, before. She wondered why he suddenly became like a peerless father now and what kind of madness was this.

She still wanted to open her mouth to speak, but Huan had already lost his patience. “Okay! Stop talking and care more about your children in the future.”

Zheng saw that the situation was not quite right, so he coughed and tried to mediate, “Uhm… Uncle, how are we going to the company tomorrow?”

Huan thought for a while and replied, “Tomorrow is your first day, so you can go with me.”

The dialogue between Huan and Yingying did not clearly say whether they would still go to the amusement park or not. At least for a child like Heling, it was not clear at all. She was disappointed and aggrieved.

Yansheng put her arm around her small slender body and patted her shoulder lightly. After hearing her father’s response to Zheng, she gave him a surprised look.

In her previous life, Zheng did not disgust Huan on the first day of his arrival, and Huan’s attitude toward him was quite tolerant. Zheng was a younger relative after all.

Zheng naturally went to the company in Huan’s car. It was his first day of work so it just made sense.

However, he actually rode in that car for a whole week and Huan started to be annoyed with him.

Huan had money and didn’t mind taking care of one or two poor relatives. Their house was big and there were many rooms, so he didn’t mind if their relatives’ children would stay at their home temporarily. They also had a company and he didn’t mind arranging a position for them, even if it was a sedentary job or just hired them for nothing.

The space in the car was so big and it was a one-hour journey from home to the company. Zheng was so blind and he thought of himself as the young master of the Zhang family, so Huan was annoyed because Zheng rode his car every day.

After all, anyone would feel uncomfortable if their private space was violated.

In the second week, Zheng stopped taking Huan’s car—there were several cars in the family anyway. Yansheng didn’t know if Huan had instructed Zheng to do so or if Huan had complained to Yingying. Anyway, Yingying gave Zheng the family’s cheapest BMW car to drive.

Zheng drove a BMW, like a rich and handsome man, which was very cool.

Later on, he really pursued a rich and beautiful woman while portraying to be a rich and handsome man. He also stole Huan’s watch to round up this lie.

At that time, he had lived in the Zhangs’ house for almost half a year, and during this period, he wanted Huan to give him a promotion several times. Huan was really annoyed with him for a long time, so when the incident happened, he simply drove him away.

Yingying was embarrassed by this relative and lost a lot of face.

So Yansheng wondered if this would happen early in this life.

Yingying bought a car in advance and she showed off her wealth to Zheng in advance. She also told him how much Huan’s watch cost. But this time, Huan, who was already annoyed with Zheng, drew the line at the very beginning and clearly said ‘first day’ before letting Zheng take a ride with him.

Yansheng didn’t know if Zheng understood the meaning of those two words or not, but she clearly understood it. So she was quite surprised for these scenes to happen in advance.

Before Zheng responded, Shuocheng already made a fuss. “I’m going to the amusement park! I’m going to the amusement park!”

“All right! We’ll definitely go, my dear!” Yingying hugged him. “I’ll take you there! I’ll take you there!”

Yingying already gave the permission, but Heling did not become happy.

Every time Shuocheng celebrated his birthday, he could get whatever he wanted.

Heling would only have the chance to go to the amusement park under the influence of Shuocheng’s light. So she hoped that one time, even just one, the whole family would go there for her.

Her heart was sour and her eyes were red.

Suddenly, there was a hand in front of her and the back of its fingers brushed her eyes, brushing away the tears that were about to fall off her eyes.

She raised her head and looked at her sister. Yansheng was also looking at her with a frown.

Her indescribable grievances suddenly found a place to go.

She was leaning on her sister crookedly, then she simply stretched her arms, plunged into Yansheng’s arms, and hugged her waist.

Yansheng was a little irritated.

She wondered what happened to this little girl because just for today, Heling broke through her line of defense again and again, and had an intimate contact with her.

But this little girl was hurt and pitiful, so the idea of pushing her away—she couldn’t bear it at all. This was a child who had a mother, which was equal to having no mother as well. Compared to Yansheng who didn’t have a mother, there seemed to be not much of a difference.

Yansheng stiffened, then she stretched out an arm around Heling’s shoulder and give her a side hug.

On the other side, Yingying calmed Shuocheng down, and Zheng continued to ask Huan, “Uncle, if I work at your company, what’s going to be my position?”

Yansheng was not interested in their conversation, so she took Heling away.

Behind them, Huan pondered and replied, “Young people like you should start as an intern…”

While walking to the stairs, Yansheng asked Heling, “Why are you still crying? Didn’t your mother tell you that you’ll go to the amusement park?”

Heling replied listlessly, “Mom will go there to take Shuoshuo and not to celebrate my birthday.”

Yansheng now understood. “Hmph!” She walked up two steps and said, “So what? You’re going there anyway.”

Then, she stopped and turned around. “I will teach you how to properly behave—there are countless ways! You must not be sad because of other people! Do you understand? Especially when that person is your mother. If you become sad because of her, then you’re a fool! In this house, when did your mother make people other than Dad and Shuocheng happy?”

After speaking, she continued to walk up. She was tall and had long legs, so she walked fast.

Heling, who was short and thin, chased behind her.

“Sister!” Heling asked, “Do you hate my mother so much?”

Yansheng did not conceal it. “Do you still need to ask me that?”

In the past few years, Yansheng and Yingying had no idea how many times they had quarreled in this house. They really didn’t need to talk about their hatred for each other.

“Then, sister…” Heling continued to ask, “Do you hate me?”

Yansheng stopped abruptly and turned her head.

Heling tilted her small face, which was about the size of a palm. Her pupils were black and her eyes were bright but still a bit reddish after crying. She was staring straight at Yansheng and seemed to be a little nervous.

Yansheng gritted her teeth. “I hate you!”

She stretched out her hand and poked Heling’s forehead. “I hate you! I hate you! You are the most annoying one! You stick to me all day long.”

She said every word while poking Heling’s forehead at the same time.

Then she put her hand down and walked upstairs bitterly.

Heling covered her painful forehead and grinned happily, then she chased after Yansheng. “You don’t hate me!” She was very happy.

The little girl’s emotions changed so quickly.

Who felt so wronged and cried just now?

Tsk.

Yansheng really looked down on Heling. “You know what? You’re such a crybaby and weak. Your mother makes you unhappy but you have the ability to quarrel with her, right? So what’s the point of shedding tears when you are wronged?”

So Heling was even more aggrieved. “I don’t dare because she would pinch me, it hurts very much.”

As she said that, she stretched out her arm to show it to Yansheng. Sure enough, there was a bruise on that arm. It was not there when they bought clothes that afternoon.

Yansheng remembered that before eating, Heling was walking in front of them and suddenly let out a cry of pain.

“Why did she pinch you again?” Yansheng’s face fell.

“She said that I was dressed badly.” Zhang Heling was unconvinced. “How is this not pretty? The clerk in the store today said that we both look good in these clothes!”

Yansheng had a clear understanding. Yingying didn’t think that the clothes looked ugly, she was just not happy to see her daughter getting close to Yansheng.

These sister-matching clothes were certainly piercing to Yingying’s eyes.

Yansheng curled the corners of her lips and her mood improved.

She took out her cell phone, pulled Heling’s arm to take a picture of that bruise, and sent it directly to their father with the message: ‘I feel sorry for your daughter. This little girl is her child.”

Yansheng actually understood it a little bit more now. In Huan’s heart, first of all, he himself was the most important, then his son, next were his daughters, and lastly, his wife.

The one he married had to be placed behind his biological children. After all, if they divorced, they would just be two strangers later on and the children would always be connected to him by blood.

This small account in this man’s heart was clear.

Yansheng put away her cell phone and touched Heling’s head. “It’s okay, just ignore her from now on. She just likes to see you sad.”

But she regretted saying the last sentence. After thinking carefully about those words, she realized that they could be hurtful to someone’s heart.

Fortunately, Heling was still young and couldn’t taste the heart-wrenching meaning in her words. Heling watched as she walked to her room and called out to her, “Sister!”

Then the little girl opened her arms as she stared at Yansheng. Her black eyes were full of expectation.

Yansheng was rendered speechless.

She had a very bad premonition.

“What are you doing?” she asked warily.

“Give me a hug,” Heling asked expectantly. “Please!”

Didn’t I hug you downstairs just now!

Yansheng looked up at the ceiling speechlessly, then she lowered her head and squeezed out a voice between her teeth. “Zhang Heling, don’t go too far!”

Before her voice fell, Heling had already rushed into her arms and hugged her.

“Just give me a hug!”

The little girl had become lawless and started to be coquettish.

Yansheng was as stiff as she was downstairs just now. She opened her arms and did not know where to place them.

The slender little girl in her arms muttered quietly, “My mother never hugged me…”

Yansheng paused, as if she had been punched in the heart.

The punch was soft and weak, but it made her heart sore and uncomfortable.

Indeed, Yingying only hugged Shuocheng, at least in Yansheng’s memory.

In fact, since the death of her mother, Yansheng had not hugged anyone like this for a long time.

She cautiously tried to slowly lower her arms, but she heard Heling say, “My classmates are very envious that I have a sister. They all think that it must be very nice to have a sister.” The little girl continued, “But I dare not tell them that my sister is super-fierce!”

Yansheng was stunned.

This is all wrong! Is it okay to slap this little brat in my arms now?

“I dare not tell them that my sister doesn’t talk to me and doesn’t care about me. I told them that my sister treats me very well,” the little girl in her arms babbled. “I really didn’t expect that it will become real one day. I’m so happy!”

Yansheng was silent for a long time.

She finally lowered her arms and hugged Heling tightly.

It’s fine! Although she’s stupid, I can make do with it, so I won’t slap her anymore.

The two girls, one had no mother and the other one was not valued by her mother, hugged each other tightly for a short while. What they got was the softness and warmth in their hearts. When Heling stepped into her room, she heard Yansheng’s voice calling her again, “Hehe!”

The little girl took a half step back and leaned out with a baffled look.

Yansheng propped her elbow against the wall which made her look like a bit ruffian and a bit cool.

She said, “Tomorrow, wear that one with a golden pattern on a white background.”

They bought more than one sister-matching clothes today, and Heling knew which one she was talking about.

The little girl grinned. She stretched out her hand and gestured an ‘OK’ sign.

Yansheng also hooked the corners of her lips and smiled.

My sister smiled, so beautiful!