Chapter 10: Zhou Zhiru, That Bastard
The silvery dawn gradually turned crimson. A light mist floated over South Lake, and the weeping willows planted by the shore swayed in the wind, creating ripples on the water’s surface.
Zhou Wanfeng admired the scenery of South Lake while jogging. She started with three kilometers, gradually increasing the distance as her body adapted. She enjoyed jogging in the morning; it helped her focus her mind and think while she ran.
After her run, she would go home to stretch. In the backyard, she would practice a set of boxing techniques she was familiar with from her past life. After one set, her breath would be heavy, and she would be covered in sweat.
Old Dong watched from the side, dumbfounded. He had seen it many times over the past few days, but he was still amazed every time.
Zhou Wanfeng took a deep breath. “Uncle, are you interested?”
Old Dong didn’t understand the techniques, but he subconsciously felt they were impressive. He scratched his head shyly. “No, I just think it looks good when you do it. Your hands, your feet, the way you move is prettier than dancing.”
It was the first time Zhou Wanfeng had heard boxing compared to dancing. She couldn’t help but laugh. In her past life, she had specifically sought out a master to learn for self-defense.
External martial arts trained the muscles, bones, and skin, increasing striking power and resistance to blows, emphasizing strength and speed. Men and women were naturally different in strength, so her master had taught her internal martial arts, which prioritized the cultivation of qi, emphasizing using softness to overcome hardness, and deflecting a thousand pounds with four ounces.
In her past life, she had trained desperately to survive. Now, it was more for self-cultivation.
“Old Dong, what are you dawdling in the back for? The front yard is covered in leaves, why don’t you sweep them up? You’ll slack off the moment I’m not watching,” Granny Zhang shouted from a distance.
Old Dong wasn’t annoyed. He smiled at Zhou Wanfeng. “I’ll go sweep the front yard.”
Zhou Wanfeng turned to look at Granny Zhang. People always forgot the pain once the wound had healed. Granny Zhang’s attitude towards her had been getting worse by the day.
Back in the third-floor washroom, she glanced at the laundry basket. Again, one of her garments had been left behind.
She showered to wash off the sweat, then scrubbed her dirty clothes with soap, rinsed them clean, and went to the attic terrace to hang them to dry.
As soon as she got up there, she saw Xiao Ling and Auntie Fang hanging laundry.
When they saw Zhou Wanfeng, they lowered their heads and continued their work, as if they hadn’t seen her come up.
Zhou Wanfeng went to the side to hang her clothes. “From now on, I’ll wash my own clothes. You don’t have to deliberately leave one or two pieces to test me.” With that, she went downstairs to eat.
After she left, Xiao Ling and Auntie Fang looked up at the clothes hanging there. Xiao Ling was still young and uncertain. “She washed them herself? So we really don’t have to wash her clothes anymore?”
Auntie Fang continued her work. “She said so herself. It’s not like we’re refusing to wash them for her, what’s there to be afraid of? If anyone asks, it’s her own choice, it has nothing to do with us.” For the extra few dozen yuan a month, Auntie Fang was prepared to go with the flow.
Xiao Ling nodded, thinking it really didn’t seem to have anything to do with them.
Zhou Wanfeng went to the first-floor dining table to eat. At first, they had said the family had set meal times. But it turned out the family’s meal times never coincided. It was probably just the time when the kitchen auntie finished cooking.
Zhou Zhiru and Yun Haisheng might not even eat at home if they had urgent business at the company. Yun Lan could sleep until past ten and never got up for breakfast.
Yun Jingya had many tutoring sessions. She had to learn the piano, practice dancing, and even practice calligraphy in her spare time. At night, she had to review her junior high school lessons.
Even the little fatty, Yun Chengbin’s, schedule was packed. The only time the whole family could gather was in the evening.
Zhou Wanfeng went into the kitchen and saw the kitchen auntie already washing the dishes. When she saw her push the door open, her expression was clearly flustered and helpless. She stammered an explanation, “I… I thought everyone had… eaten. There was only a little left, so I threw it in the trash.”
Afraid she wouldn’t believe her, the kitchen auntie even lifted the lid of the trash can to show her.
Zhou Wanfeng’s lips twitched. “No need to explain. I know what’s going on. From now on, there won’t be any breakfast for me, right? Then you’d better get the portions right. It would be a waste to make too much and throw it away.”
She had thought that once she settled down, things would get better. But the recent calm had just been a smokescreen.
Zhou Wanfeng shot the kitchen auntie a cold smile and turned to leave. There was no point in making things difficult for these people. She had to find the real culprit.
She headed straight for the Go room.
Bang. She pushed the door open and stepped onto the tatami mat with her shoes on. Granny Zhang, who was tending to the incense burner at the side, was about to scold her.
But when she met Zhou Wanfeng’s sharp gaze, the words got stuck in her throat. She was completely intimidated and didn’t dare to make a sound.
The person at the Go table was engrossed, feeling the pieces and looking for a way to break the game. Zhou Wanfeng sat down opposite her, and with a single movement, she swept the Go table aside. The black and white pieces clattered to the floor.
Granny Zhang cried out and covered her mouth. Zhou Wanfeng’s dagger-like gaze shot over, silencing her.
Yang Yijun’s chest heaved, her breathing ragged, her eyes blazing with anger, but she was trying her best to restrain herself due to her upbringing.
Zhou Wanfeng’s gaze was icy as she stared at Yang Yijun. “What I hate most is duplicity. If you didn’t want me to live here, you should have said so from the beginning. I didn’t want to live here either. To torment a ten-year-old child, your methods are despicable, not clever, and low-class, you understand?”
Yang Yijun’s cheeks tightened, her back ramrod straight. She met Zhou Wanfeng’s eyes and forced a smile. “Since you can see through it, why don’t you leave on your own? You’re so capable, why did you have to come here?”
“Yunhai City is not your home. What does my living here have to do with you? As far as I know, apart from providing Zhou Zhiru with some funds and connections at the beginning, he managed to turn a nearly bankrupt appliance factory into what it is today through his own ability. He’s not spending your money to raise me, so why are you making things difficult for me?” Zhou Wanfeng decided to lay everything bare. She couldn’t pretend to be friendly when they had already torn off all pretenses.
Yang Yijun’s face darkened.
“All you can do are these petty tricks. Your vision is so limited. Can you even see the whole game?” Zhou Wanfeng casually picked up a black stone and flicked it, accurately knocking a white stone off the board.
“You shut up!” Her skill in Go had been insulted, and Yang Yijun was furious.
Zhou Wanfeng stood up, her eyes filled with sarcasm. “These petty tricks won’t wear me down. I will study hard at the good school you found for me. No matter how my existence gets in your way, you can’t stop me. Do you know why?”
Her lips curled up, her voice cold and icy. “To be a whore and still want a monument to your chastity, how can there be such a good thing in the world? If you push me too far, I’ll tear off your face completely. I can make it so you can’t even show your face in Yunhai City.”
Yang Yijun’s face turned shades of green and white. She clutched her chest, as if she couldn’t breathe. Granny Zhang got up and brought her a cup of tea.
After watching her put on a show, Zhou Wanfeng sneered, “Yun Jingya, Yun Chengbin, I’m afraid they don’t know that the grandmother they respect and love does such despicable things in private. After all, she looks so pure and detached every day, but she’s cooped up in the Go room thinking of ways to torment people.”
Zhou Wanfeng was about to leave for her tutoring class. She only had a few days left before school started at the beginning of September.
But when she returned to South Lake Mansion after her class in the afternoon, the first-floor hall looked like there was a party. The U-shaped sofa was packed with people, and extra chairs had been brought in.
Zhou Wanfeng stepped inside. Everyone in the room, old and young, male and female, stared at her coldly. There were even a few vicious glares that could have eaten her alive.
Yun Haisheng, Zhou Zhiru, and Yun Lan were also among the crowd, their expressions grim. When Zhou Wanfeng entered, Zhou Zhiru was the first to stand up, his voice stern. “Zhou Wanfeng, come here.”
Zhou Wanfeng scanned the room. The hostile gazes surrounding her reminded her of her past life when she had single-handedly broken into the enemy’s headquarters. The reception she had received then was just like this.
She walked over to Zhou Zhiru, clutching her bicycle key. “What is it?” Before she could finish, she saw an old man sitting in the middle of the sofa next to her grab a teacup and throw it at her.
She dodged it with a timely turn of her head, and at the same time, threw the car key in her hand back at him.
“Dad!”
“Uncle!”
“Big Brother!”
Various forms of address were shouted out at once, it was impossible to tell who had said what. Zhou Zhiru’s brow was tightly furrowed as he called out, “Uncle.” He then looked at Zhou Wanfeng with a cold expression. “Zhou Wanfeng, what are you doing?”
“Are you blind? Wasn’t he the one who threw something at me first?” Zhou Wanfeng looked at the old man, whose beard was flying with anger, with a blank expression.
His cane thumped on the floor. “This is outrageous! How can you be so arrogant after hitting someone?” With that, he stood up shakily and tried to swing his cane at Zhou Wanfeng, but it was too short to reach.
The people next to him spent a good while calming him down.
Zhou Wanfeng looked at Zhou Zhiru. “I hit someone? Who?”
Granny Zhang came downstairs with a white-haired woman. The woman had high cheekbones, a thin chin, and naturally arched eyebrows. Her eyelids drooped, giving her a difficult-to-get-along-with look.
She was carrying Zhou Wanfeng’s backpack, which contained her clothes and shoes. She threw it on the floor with a thud.
“You ungrateful thing! We took you in, gave you a place to live, and pulled strings to find you a school. And you repay kindness with enmity, and even dare to hit people? Aren’t you so tough? Go on, go to the police. We can’t afford to raise someone like you. Hurry up and go back where you came from.”
“Big Sister-in-law didn’t just call the police. She said she was going to the newspapers and media to expose us, and make a banner with big characters. We were kind enough to take in a white-eyed wolf. Son-in-law Zhou, this child of yours is a lost cause. Hitting an old person, she’s no good,” a woman who resembled Yang Yijun stood up, her eyes fierce, filled with anger as she looked at Zhou Wanfeng.
Being scolded to her face, Zhou Wanfeng finally understood what this crowd was all about.
That old woman, Yang Yijun, had set another trap for her.
She picked up the backpack from the floor, dusted it off, and zipped it up again. She had transmigrated here with the sole intention of studying hard, living a good life, and experiencing a different kind of existence.
She had done well on the test at her tutoring class today. The teacher had even praised her for her rapid progress and said that as long as she paid attention in class and did her homework, her grades in junior high would not be bad.
She had even figured out the m+n question from the test paper her cousin-aunt had brought last time. The answer was D, m+n=4.
Granny Zhang stood behind the high-cheekboned woman, her eyes red and her nose red. It looked like she had been crying a lot.
Everyone present was glaring at her, and the curses were endless.
Zhou Wanfeng looked at the troubled Zhou Zhiru and suddenly felt that it was all meaningless. She shouldered her backpack and couldn’t be bothered to explain.
But Zhou Zhiru suddenly reached out and grabbed her, his voice heavy. “Wait a minute.” He then looked at Yun Haisheng and the others.
“Dad, what happened today is my fault as a father for not educating my child well. It’s my responsibility. She grew up with her grandmother and was spoiled a little. After her grandmother passed away, she came to Yunhai City to find me. I’ve been busy with work, managing a factory, especially during this important period of reform and innovation. I haven’t been able to take care of my wife and children, so I had to trouble you, Mom and Dad, to look after her. After living here for so many years, I’ve come to think of this as my own home. It should have been my responsibility to educate this child. It was my fault for being so busy with work that I only thought about having someone at home to look after her.”
Zhou Zhiru’s voice was heavy, and there was a slight choke in it as he spoke with emotion. “Now, Changfeng Electrical is on the right track, and we’ve hired many talented people to help manage the company. I was just thinking of freeing up more time to take care of my family… Now I have no face to continue living here. Yun Lan, go upstairs and pack. We’ll come back for the children’s things in a few days. In any case, we can’t stay here and disturb Mom and Dad’s peace anymore.”
Zhou Wanfeng looked at Zhou Zhiru’s profile and cursed him silently.
From the moment she had arrived in Yunhai City, this bastard had probably been planning this. Look at his eloquence. She wouldn’t believe he could speak so fluently without a script.