☆, Chapter 2: Bird’s Nest Soup
Hao Ren had not expected to wake up again, so, when she opened her eyes and saw the familiar little angels on the nursery wall, she was so startled she jumped up from the bed.
Jump?! How many years had it been since she had performed that action? When she realized what she had just done, she looked down at the pair of perfectly fine legs beneath her and was too stunned to speak for a long time.
Legs…
Not the withered, bone-like legs whose muscles had atrophied from disuse, but the slender, beautiful, long legs of a girl in her developmental years.
The only good trait she had inherited from Hao Weiguo was her height. Hao Ren’s body proportions were excellent; her legs were long and straight. Coupled with the fact that she was a shut-in who rarely went out, her skin was fair. Although the girl in the mirror wasn’t exceptionally beautiful, her tall and slender figure was enough to make many other girls jealous.
Even though many of her classmates in high school had thought she was just a child from a poor family, her tall, slender figure made her stand out like a crane among chickens. This was also one of the reasons she was bullied by certain girls in her class. Children were truly ridiculous. Being poor was a reason to be bullied, being stupid was a reason to be bullied, being ugly was a reason to be bullied—even being beautiful could become a reason to be bullied.
When she first learned that she had lost her legs, Hao Ren had been in so much pain it was as if she had lost her entire life. She had cried for three full days and nights before she finally managed to accept reality. Now, regaining control of her legs, her excitement was no less than the devastation she had felt when she learned she had lost them.
She tried wiggling her toes, then tried lifting her leg, and then she pinched her thigh hard. A sharp pain shot through her, and upon realizing that all of this was real, she hugged her legs and instantly burst into tears like a child.
“Woof!” As she was sobbing, a yellow shadow quickly leaped onto her bed and began to carefully lick the tears from her face with its warm tongue.
“Daizi?!” Wiping away a tear and seeing clearly who the yellow shadow was, Hao Ren’s heart clenched. She reached out and hugged Daizi’s warm body tightly.
Then she buried her head in its soft fur and began to wail uncontrollably, like a madwoman, crying until the sky turned dark and the sun and moon lost their light. Her body even began to convulse, and soon, her tears had soaked a large patch of Daizi’s fur.
“Wooo wooo…” Perhaps sensing Hao Ren’s emotions, Daizi nuzzled her neck and let out a low, sorrowful whine.
“Hahaha… Daizi… we’re still alive… alive…” After crying for a while, she suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, wild and unrestrained, yet more cathartic than anything she had ever experienced.
“Woof woof!” Daizi seemed a bit confused about what was wrong with its owner. Its large, dark eyes stared fixedly at Hao Ren for a long time before it suddenly began to wag its tail and let out a few excited, soft barks.
Hao Ren looked around the room. Everything was still so familiar. The curtains were still the same faded ones, the color of the walls still showed the vicissitudes of time, and the little angels on the wall still wore their usual carefree smiles. The scene she had once grown so tired of looking at now felt unprecedentedly warm and dear.
Just as Hao Ren got up, ready to check what day it was, the door to her room was suddenly kicked open. The force used was so great that the gust of wind from the abruptly opened door made Hao Ren suck in a cold breath.
Then, a furious male voice, thick with murderous intent, came from outside the door: “Unlucky Ren, shut your mouth! What the hell are you doing, crying one minute and laughing the next? Even if you’re not annoyed, I’m annoyed to death!”
The only person in the world who would call her “Unlucky Ren” was her half-brother, Hao Yi.
Sure enough, as soon as the words fell, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy stormed into her room. Without a word, he gave her a forceful shove to the chest. He was very strong, and the push sent Hao Ren sitting right back down on the bed.
Looking at the boy’s ferocious, yet still strikingly handsome face, Hao Ren sighed internally at how unfair God was. Sons take after their mothers, and daughters take after their fathers—it was a cruel reality. That guy, despite being male, had inherited his mother’s beauty, while Hao Ren, a girl, looked like that bastard Hao Weiguo. Even the way she frowned in the mirror was identical to that bastard’s. While not ugly, she was immediately outshone when compared to Hao Yi.
With that devastatingly handsome face that everyone loved on sight, every time that guy came home from school, he was followed by a long trail of infatuated, ignorant little schoolgirls. He received so many love letters he couldn’t hold them all. Although Hao Ren always comforted herself by saying it was useless for a boy to be that good-looking, she still couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy every time she faced that face.
Why can this person have everything he wants from birth? Why can he eat his fill, dress warmly, and enjoy the doting love of his parents, while I can only be his maid, his punching bag? Why, even when it comes to looks, which are unimportant for a man, has God favored him so?
Hao Yi had no idea that Hao Ren’s mind had already drifted a million miles away. He continued to vent his dissatisfaction with a ferocious expression, “If you’re really that scared of the college entrance exam, then just don’t go tomorrow! I was having a good time playing my game, and you scared me so bad I got insta-killed by the boss. Tell me, how are you going to compensate me?”
As he spoke, he threateningly shook his fist at Hao Ren, but in the end, he didn’t strike her.
“Considering you have your exam tomorrow, I’ll let you off the hook for today. I’ll settle the score with you after it’s over!” Unsure if he was embarrassed by Hao Ren’s stare or if he genuinely meant it, he quickly exited Hao Ren’s room after speaking, even pulling the door shut behind him.
If Hao Ren was Harry from Harry Potter, then Hao Yi was the obnoxious Dudley.
Under the careful tutelage of Mr. and Mrs. Hao, Hao Yi was practically a carbon copy of Dudley. The moment he learned to walk, he learned to bully Hao Ren. Pulling her hair, kicking her, and punching her were all common occurrences. Sometimes he would even hug Hao Ren and bite her until she was covered in teeth marks, refusing to let go no matter how heart-wrenchingly she cried. And Mr. and Mrs. Hao would only ever stand by and watch.
Children are nothing if not direct. Hao Ren was, after all, two months older than him, and every time she was bullied, she couldn’t help but fight back. And every time she fought back, she would win. Unfortunately, whenever that happened, Mr. and Mrs. Hao would immediately step in, accuse her of bullying her younger brother, and promptly show her what real bullying was. After a few times, she no longer dared to fight back. Compared to the fists and feet of adults, the fists and feet of Hao Yi, who was younger than her, were clearly more bearable.
Thanks to Hao Yi, she had spent her entire childhood hunched over wherever she went, looking as if she were constantly ready for a flying kick, much like the trembling maids and servants in a Qing dynasty queue drama. Later, her grandmother made her stand against a wall for an entire summer vacation before she finally managed to straighten her posture.
Fortunately, as he grew older, that guy Hao Yi finally began to mature a little. Although his attitude toward Hao Ren was still as bad as when they were children, he rarely got physical with her anymore. Perhaps it was because they were of the opposite sex. One time when he pushed Hao Ren, he accidentally touched her chest and ended up blushing for half the day. The memory of his flustered and awkward state still brought Hao Ren a great deal of satisfaction.
Unlike Dudley from Harry Potter, this guy wasn’t actually all that bad. Many of the stationery items and even the computer Hao Ren was currently using were things he had gotten tired of and tossed her way. She didn’t know if he was genuinely fickle or if he took pity on Hao Ren and did it on purpose.
There was a time when Daizi was sick, and that idiot had even bought a ten-kilogram bag of imported dog food under the pretext of wanting to see what dog food tasted like. She didn’t know if he had ever actually tried it, but in the end, the bag of dog food was given to Daizi. Daizi ate it for a whole month, and after finishing it, not only did it gain back the weight it had lost while sick, but its coat also looked much healthier.
Her reminiscence ended, and Hao Ren finally registered what his last few words had meant. She looked down at Daizi by her feet, her face a mask of shock. “Daizi, what did he just say? The college entrance exam, he said tomorrow is the college entrance exam!”
Daizi, of course, couldn’t answer her, and merely tilted its head.
The college entrance exam? Hao Ren rushed to the desk converted from her old crib and rummaged through the sea of practice problems to find her exam countdown booklet. Staring at the countdown, which only had one final page left, her heart began to pound wildly, and her body started to tremble uncontrollably.
It was this exact point in time!
Tomorrow was the day of the college entrance exam! And tomorrow, besides the exam, a major event that would completely change her life was set to occur! The car accident! The car accident that had taken her legs, the one that had prevented her from taking the exam, the one that had completely altered the trajectory of her fate! Because of that accident, she lost her legs and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life! Because of that accident, she missed the exam, fell into despair, and never got another chance to turn her life around!
She had understood her situation since she was young, so she studied harder than anyone else. Heaven rewards the diligent, and her academic performance was top-tier even at H High School, a provincial key school. If nothing unexpected happened, she could have easily gotten into a top university and successfully escaped the sea of suffering that was the Hao family.
And yet, at the most critical moment…
Hao Ren was struggling with whether or not she should go take the exam tomorrow when a knock suddenly came from the door.
Hao Ren opened the door. Standing before her was the maid, Auntie Zhang.
“Little Ren, not asleep yet? Your Auntie Mei asked me to bring you something.” Auntie Mei was the woman Hao Weiguo had brought home, Hao Yi’s mother.
Hao Ren took it. Just as in her previous life, it was a bowl of bird’s nest soup. Auntie Zhang quickly departed after completing her task, but Hao Ren stood at the door, holding the bowl, her heart unable to calm down for a long time.
Auntie Zhang was a distant relative of Auntie Mei and was naturally on her side. She had never given Hao Ren a proper look in all her years. Even when Hao Ren was starving and went to the kitchen to find something to eat, she would use it as an excuse to tattle to Hao Weiguo, earning Hao Ren a severe beating. How could such a person suddenly be so kind as to bring her bird’s nest soup?
Hao Ren clearly remembered that before the car accident, her head had inexplicably started to feel dizzy. At the time, she had thought it was just a common cold, but thinking back now, there was clearly something suspicious about it.
The incident had happened too suddenly back then, but she vaguely remembered that the car that hit her looked somewhat familiar. At the time, she had thought it was just a similar model, but now she realized it must have been the exact one she was thinking of!
“Woof woof woof!” Seeing Hao Ren staring intently at the bowl of bird’s nest soup, Daizi suddenly became agitated. It stood up on its hind legs and began to paw at Hao Ren’s pant leg with its single front leg, letting out a series of urgent barks.
In her past life, Daizi’s reaction had also been very strong. Hao Ren only hated that she had been so naive back then, thinking it was a sign of their conscience, never imagining there was a problem with the soup. She had even ridiculously thought Daizi was agitated because it was greedy and wanted some, and had given it half.
She had never dreamed that this was the truth…
That venomous woman was trying to eliminate her completely!
A wave of desolation washed over Hao Ren’s heart. Looking back on her life, she had never enjoyed a single day of the life befitting a tycoon’s daughter. All her memories were soaked in endless blood, tears, and gloom, all thanks to that woman. And yet, even so, that woman was still not satisfied, refusing to spare even the one worthless life Hao Ren had left.
“Hahaha…” Hao Ren poured the bird’s nest soup out the window and once again burst into hysterical laughter.
Her suspicion was correct. The moment she poured the soup out, Daizi, which had been pacing anxiously as if it wanted to pounce on her and take a bite, suddenly quieted down.
“Oh, Daizi, that woman is truly vicious…” Hao Ren squatted down and hugged Daizi, burying her head in the soft fur of its neck. She closed her eyes and nuzzled it, her cold body finally feeling a trace of warmth.
That woman’s reason for doing so was indeed quite sufficient. Her grades were simply too good, which made the woman feel threatened. The her of the past had been truly foolish. She knew someone harbored immense malice toward her, yet she had still brazenly shown them that she possessed the ability to turn her life around.
“Wooo wooo…” Perhaps Hao Ren’s behavior made Daizi feel uneasy, as it let out a low, anxious whimper.
“Don’t worry, Daizi! I absolutely will not fall for it this time!” Originally, Hao Ren had been agonizing over whether to take the college entrance exam. Now, there was no need.
Since that woman was so wary of her, how could she possibly let her down?
***
Translator’s Notes
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Unlucky Ren (倒霉仁, dǎoméi Rén): This is a malicious nickname Hao Yi uses. It’s a pun on Hao Ren’s name (郝仁, Hǎo Rén), which sounds identical to “good person” (好人, hǎo rén). “Daomei” (倒霉) means “unlucky” or “bad luck.”
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Qing dynasty queue drama: This refers to historical dramas set in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), where male characters famously wore their hair in a queue (a long braid at the back with the front of the head shaved). These dramas often feature a strict hierarchy with timid servants and maids.