Chapter 69
◎Should This Relationship Be Acknowledged?◎
Even though Tangtang hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice from the Wang family since she was six, many people in Yuhuai Village didn’t know the inside story of Tangtang and the Wang family. If Su Yandi’s accusation of her being an ungrateful wretch who didn’t recognize her biological mother were to spread, Tangtang’s reputation would not be good at all.
Tangtang looked at the hand that was being held by her. After a long daze, a sarcastic smile appeared on her lips. “Reunion? At the Wang family, I wasn’t even worthy of being a person. I was just a livestock in the pigsty that could be beaten and scolded at will. How am I worthy of having a reunion with your family?”
“At the Wang family, I did the dirtiest and most work. If I did anything slightly wrong, you would hit and scold me with a thorny rattan cane. Wang Shijin would kick me with his big feet. In the years of famine, the sweet potato buns of the Wang family were all for your family to eat. I could only eat the rice bran that the chickens ate and the chicken bones and fish bones that you left behind.”
“Just because I was late in feeding the chickens, you pulled a fire poker from the stove and hit me. The embers on it splashed onto my arm. That scar is still on my arm to this day.” As she spoke, Tangtang rolled up the sleeve of her cotton coat, and the hideous and terrifying burn scar was exposed to everyone’s eyes.
Tangtang had many scars from being beaten when she was a child, but after years of recovery, many of the scars had slowly faded and were no longer visible. Only this burn had remained on her arm, with no sign of disappearing.
Even the crowd couldn’t help but be shocked when they saw it. The burn scar was on the upper right side of her arm, as big as a bowl. It was still so hideous and scary after more than a decade. When it was first burned, she must have fainted from the pain. Tangtang was just a child at that time.
How could there be such biological parents in this world? They were simply worse than animals.
Yu Juanfang had bathed the young Tangtang before and naturally knew that she had such a wound on her arm. But she hadn’t expected that the wound was actually from Su Yandi.
“When I was five, you took me to a fool’s house in the neighboring village. You lied to me and said you were going to the latrine. In fact, it was for a hundred yuan. You wanted to sell me to the fourteen-year-old fool of the Huang family in the neighboring village as a child bride. I ran out and chased after you, begging you not to sell me to a fool. When you saw me chasing from behind, you ran faster and faster, as if you were afraid of being entangled by something dirty. I fell, and my lips, palms, and knees were all bleeding. You didn’t even turn your head to look at me. When I was in Waguan Village, I had nightmares every night, afraid that you would send me to that fool’s house again.”
“If it weren’t for my dad and mom, I would have been eaten by wild wolves until not even a bone was left. How could I have lived until today, gotten into Capital University, and waited for you to come and acknowledge our relationship?”
“I only have one biological father in this life, and that is Su Huimin. I only have one biological mother, and that is Yu Juanfang.”
Tangtang threw off Su Yandi’s hand. It should have been a moment of anger, but her tone was very calm. “Do you dare to swear? If there is a single false word in what I said, I will be punished. If every word I said is true, then let your three sons of the Wang family be bachelors for the rest of their lives and have no descendants.”
“You… you are so vicious!” Su Yandi stared at Tangtang, her shame turning into anger. She hated it when others cursed her three sons.
As she spoke, she raised her arm in a fit of anger, about to slap Tangtang as she had done before.
Su Yandi was fat and strong. Tangtang estimated that she probably couldn’t block this slap and was already prepared to take it. But after she closed her eyes, the expected fiery pain did not come. Yu Juanfang got up and blocked Su Yandi’s descending slap.
Yu Juanfang sneered. “Vicious? When you wanted to sell your own daughter to a fool as a child bride, when you drove the child out of the house and let her be fed to the wolves in the snow, why didn’t you think you were vicious?”
“When Third Brother brought this girl, Tangtang, home, she was a small, scrawny thing, covered in injuries. She was afraid that I would drive her away and didn’t even dare to eat a full meal. She carried a bamboo basket that was almost as tall as her, with the firewood inside packed tightly, looking as if it could break her back. It took a long time for her heart to finally settle down, to feel that she was a member of the old Su family, and that she no longer had to worry about being driven away.”
“Third Brother and I raised her bit by bit. She finally finished primary school, then went to high school, and now she’s gotten into university. Now you want to come and pick the fruits of our labor? You want Tangtang to earn money to build a house for your old Wang family, to get wives for your three children of the old Wang family, wishing you could suck her marrow dry? You and your family want to suck her blood. Where in the world is there such a good thing?”
When Yu Juanfang said this, her voice was already choked with sobs, her eyes red. “You signed an adoption agreement back then, saying that you had given up custody of Tangtang, that she had no more ties to the Wang family, that you would never acknowledge each other, and that she would not have to care for you and Wang Shijin in your old age… Today, while everyone is here, I also want to ask everyone to judge. Should this relationship be acknowledged or not?”
After Yu Juanfang said this, a clamor of discussion erupted in the courtyard.
“This can’t be acknowledged. Why should it be acknowledged?!”
Granny Zhang, leaning on her cane, pushed forward. “This absolutely cannot be acknowledged. Back at her old Wang family, she ate chicken feed and was beaten with a rattan cane. Now that she’s gotten into university, you come to acknowledge her? I think you want to break Tangtang’s bones and render her fat!”
“A black and white agreement with a red thumbprint on it, and it says you will never acknowledge each other. How can this be acknowledged?!”
“I remember that there was indeed a family in the neighboring village of Waguan Village that bought a child bride for their fool of a son. But everyone just talked about it and it passed. I didn’t expect that someone would really sell their own daughter to a fool for money.”
“Stop arguing. Let me tell you what happened to that fool from the Huang family. He drowned in the river when he was in his twenties. He didn’t even get a wife before he died. If that Tangtang had really been sold to him, how could she have gotten into Capital University? Su Yandi has harmed her once, and now she wants to harm her a second time!”
After this news was revealed, the villagers immediately exploded. Some pointed at Su Yandi’s nose and cursed, while others sighed in sympathy for Tangtang, for having such a biological mother.
“This is no biological mother. This is simply an enemy. I’ve never seen such a vicious family. And they still have the face to come and acknowledge their relationship?”
Su Yandi stood in the crowd, wanting to retort but was blocked by the clamor of curses and couldn’t speak. Her face turned red and then white.
Tangtang looked at Yu Juanfang, who was protecting her, and her eyes felt a little sore.
She looked at Su Yandi, who was about to be drowned in the crowd’s saliva. “Do you think I’m still the Wang Sanya from my childhood that you could trample and beat at will?”
Su Yandi couldn’t retort to the crowd’s curses, but seeing this little slut dare to speak to her like this, she said, “Pah, don’t think you’ve become a phoenix just because you’ve flown up to a high branch—”
Su Yandi wanted to curse some more, but Su Huimin could no longer bear it and picked up a carrying pole to drive her out. “Get out, get out! Our Su family doesn’t welcome you!”
“Su Laosan, this is my parents’ home. Why are you telling me to get out?” Su Yandi’s stout body blocked the door, unwilling to leave.
“Does a single tile here have anything to do with you? Back then, you angered Dad so much that he fell ill and passed away in less than half a month. Our old Su family has long since cut off ties with you. We haven’t had any contact for more than a decade. This is not your parents’ home!” Even a weak scholar like Su Huimin couldn’t help but curse, and the carrying pole in his hand came down on her head.
A few half-grown children in the courtyard picked up small stones and threw them at Su Yandi. Usually, if they were mischievous, the adults would have stopped them long ago. But today, the adults tacitly did not stop the few small children and even picked up sharper stones and stuffed them into the children’s hands. “Get out, get out.”
Su Yandi could only glare at Tangtang with resentment, gritted her teeth, and left the Su family unwillingly.
Tangtang stood behind her parents, watching Su Yandi, who was being beaten and driven out like a drowning dog. She felt that she had finally truly escaped the shadow that the identity of “Wang Sanya” had brought her.
Tangtang remembered that during the primary school entrance exam, she had been so scared of running into Wang Shijin and his sons on the street that she didn’t dare to walk down that street. She had hidden behind a haystack of a small pushcart, afraid that they would take her back to the Wang family. If it weren’t for Brother Shunian’s arrival, she would have missed the exam.
At this moment, she felt that she had finally walked out of that shadow of fear.
If she were to meet Su Yandi and Wang Shijin on the street again in the future, she would no longer be as scared and evasive as she was in her childhood.
Yu Juanfang’s palm gently covered the burn scar on Tangtang’s arm, a trace of pity in her eyes.
“Mom, I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore.” Tangtang gave her mother a smile.
Su Huimin put his arm around Tangtang’s shoulder and sat down on the stool.
Seeing this, Mother Yu was also very gratified. She had felt from the beginning that Tangtang had a clear brow and pure eyes, and was a good child. If she was raised well, she would definitely not go wrong in the future. Today, Tangtang had disowned her biological parents from Waguan Village in front of everyone, saying that she only had Su Huimin as her father and only Yu Juanfang as her mother.
Facts proved that her original thoughts were not wrong.
After driving away the annoying Su Yandi, the atmosphere in the courtyard quickly returned to the initial joy and festivity.
“Don’t think about those unhappy things anymore. This biscuit, Third Sister-in-law, she won’t easily take it out unless it’s the New Year. Everyone, don’t be polite.”
“Have some tea, have some tea! This tea tastes good too.”
“By the way, do Juesheng and Juexiao know that Tangtang and Juesheng have both gotten into university?” Yu Yahong remembered and asked. Her Wani had also gotten into university. It was tuition-free, and the school even gave a monthly subsidy of twelve yuan. After graduation, she would be assigned to work in a hospital. Just thinking about it was wonderful.
It was her eldest son, Shuanfu, who was right. Many things could no longer be thought of in the old ways. Wani had always had her own ideas. In major life events, if she was allowed to make her own decisions, she would make the right ones.
“We sent them a telegram as soon as the admission results came out. They should know by now.” Juesheng and Juexiao’s brothers had used up all their family visit leave, so they couldn’t come home.
“Then when Tangtang and the others go to the capital for school, is it as far as going to Xiangyang City?” For the older villagers in the village, the furthest place they had been in their lives was Yuanlin County. They had heard that above Yuanlin County was Xiangyang City, which was probably the furthest place they could imagine.
“It’s even further. You have to go to the county town first, then take a bus from the county town to the city’s train station. From Xiangyang City to the capital, you have to take a train for a day and a night.” These were also things that her husband, Su Huimin, had told her. Yu Juanfang usually didn’t take the initiative to talk to people much, but today was different. She sat in the crowd, her eyes crinkling with a smile.
The villager clicked his tongue. “You have to take a train for a day and a night? My goodness, that’s so far.”
“I heard that the commune’s supply and marketing cooperative has a lot of new and bright fabrics. Third Sister-in-law, you have to make two new sets of clothes for the two children, so that the city people can see how bright the children from our Yuhuai Village are!”
Hearing this, the others couldn’t help but laugh. “There’s no need to make new clothes. With a girl like Tangtang’s looks, she’ll be the most beautiful girl even in the capital.”