Chapter 8: Can’t Understand the Math Problems
At ten-thirty, Yang Yijun stared at the clock on the wall, a finger pressed to her lips, her brow furrowed, her attention fixed on the front gate.
Until the headlights of a car flashed outside, followed by the sound of tires screeching on the ground.
Yang Yijun sensed something was wrong. She got up and walked to the window. The wall lamps on either side of the gate were bright. She saw two cars at a glance, and at the same time, saw that woman, Diao Yufeng, getting out of one of them, holding Zhou Wanfeng’s hand.
The light from the corridor made Diao Yufeng’s face look like something from a paper effigy shop. A loud-mouthed, opportunistic, ignorant woman who couldn’t even write her own name was her sister-in-law in this life.
Just hearing the sound of her footsteps made Yang Yijun feel physically ill.
“Big Sister-in-law.” Diao Yufeng ignored her own son, who was trailing behind, and pulled Zhou Wanfeng along, taking three steps at a time, as if afraid the people inside would run away if she were a second late.
The lights in the first-floor hall were brilliant, making Yang Yijun, who was sitting on the sofa, look even younger and more beautiful, her back straight, her shoulders relaxed, her neck erect, her posture elegant and noble.
Diao Yufeng wore three large, gaudy rings on her hand—gold, jade, and diamond-studded. She pushed the door open with a crash, dragging Zhou Wanfeng in with her.
It was as if she weren’t a person, but an object.
Yang Yijun deliberately ignored Diao Yufeng and looked at Zhou Wanfeng, her brow furrowed. “We were waiting for you for dinner, child. You can’t do this again. It’s so dangerous for a girl to be out alone at night.”
Zhou Wanfeng chuckled. It sounded as if she had just gotten lost while taking a walk in her own neighborhood.
Diao Yufeng was ignored again. She pouted, looking at Yang Yijun’s pretentious demeanor. A woman in her sixties, acting like she was the Empress Dowager.
“Big Sister-in-law’s eyes are truly precious. You didn’t even see a big living person like me.” With that, she sat down on the sofa herself and waved at Zhou Wanfeng with a smile, motioning for her to sit next to her.
Zhou Wanfeng watched them. They were truly two completely different styles. If these two could get along, it would probably be the end of the world.
Yun Lang pushed the door open and called out with a grin, “Aunt.”
Then, the two Yun Haisheng brothers, Zhou Zhiru, and Yun Lan came in, with Granny Zhang bringing up the rear, her face covered.
Yang Yijun stood up and looked at her husband, Yun Haisheng, with some surprise. “Why are you back today?” She then looked at Yun Lan and Zhou Zhiru.
She saw that Yun Lan’s eyes were red. She had always been a crybaby, and it showed.
But when she saw the bruises on Zhou Zhiru’s face and chin, she cried out in alarm, pointing at the injury. “How did this happen? Weren’t you fine when you left? Yun Lan, go get the first-aid kit.”
Yang Yijun also noticed that something was wrong with Auntie Zhang, and her heart sank.
“It’s nothing, Mom. Just a small injury,” Zhou Zhiru said, not mentioning how he had gotten hurt, and just sat down on the sofa.
Yun Lang didn’t need to be told. He sat down next to Zhou Wanfeng and grinned at her.
Yun Haisheng gestured for everyone to sit down, indicating he had something to say.
Granny Zhang consciously stood behind Yang Yijun and called out with a heartbroken and aggrieved voice, “Old Mistress.”
Diao Yufeng heard it and shivered with disgust. “My god, Big Sister-in-law, you haven’t changed that form of address yet? Are you acting in a Republican-era drama? Or some Qing Dynasty courtyard drama? No one calls people that anymore. We’re all democratic and free now.” She even pretended to rub the goosebumps on her arms.
Yun Lusheng shot his wife a look, telling her to say a few less words. Didn’t she see his big brother had something to say?
Yun Haisheng cleared his throat twice, scanned the crowd, and then looked specifically at Zhou Zhiru and Yun Lan. “I’ll repeat what I said at the Public Security Bureau. From now on, this child is part of our family. If you two can’t make it work and get a divorce one day, as long as she is Chengbin’s sister, I will treat her as my granddaughter. There are only three children in this family. They can keep each other company. Why send her back to her hometown?”
Yun Lan had been scolded quite a bit on the way home, and her tears hadn’t stopped. Now, nestled against Zhou Zhiru, she nodded repeatedly.
After speaking, Yun Haisheng looked at Yang Yijun. Seeing her sipping her tea, looking unconcerned, his gaze shifted to Zhou Wanfeng on the other side. “Child, which room have you been staying in these past two days?”
“I’m staying in the attic,” Zhou Wanfeng said, pointing upwards.
Yang Yijun’s hand, which was holding the teacup, paused. As expected, the next second, Diao Yufeng’s loud voice cried out, “Oh my, my, child, you’re staying in the attic? Can people even live in that attic? Any random room in the house with a bed in it would be better than the attic. Big Sister-in-law, I usually respect you the most. I often tell my friends that I’m lucky to be your sister-in-law in this life. But this…” Diao Yufeng frowned and pouted, an expression that said, What can I even say?
Yang Yijun took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Sister-in-law, the child arrived unexpectedly, I didn’t know. You know I don’t like to be disturbed when I’m contemplating my Go game. By the time I found out, the child was already tired and asleep. I couldn’t very well wake her up in the middle of the night, could I?” With that, she tilted her head slightly and glanced at Auntie Zhang.
Auntie Zhang immediately picked up the cue with a pitiful look. “It’s all my fault. There are no spare rooms in the house. The Madam was away, and the Old Mistress was in the Go room. We couldn’t put a bed in the piano room or the reading room. After thinking it over, I just cleaned up the attic. If you don’t believe me, you can go upstairs and see. It’s really very clean.”
Diao Yufeng’s mouth twitched, and she rolled her eyes fiercely. “The child came all this way, and you give her an attic to live in. And look at the weather lately. It’s supposed to be autumn, but it’s so hot I’m sweating in a short-sleeved shirt. Big Sister-in-law is at home all day with nothing else to do, but you can’t even be bothered to buy the child a couple of seasonal outfits. The child has been here for two days. In this hot weather, wearing such thick clothes, she’ll get a heat rash. If her own grandmother were alive, she would be heartbroken.”
Yang Yijun put down her teacup. “I did buy them. At my age, I don’t understand children’s preferences, so I had Yun Lan buy a couple of outfits from abroad. The clothes are upstairs. The child didn’t like them. I was even planning to take her to the mall tomorrow to pick out a few outfits for herself.”
Diao Yufeng licked her dry lips, at a loss for words for a moment.
Zhou Wanfeng watched carefully. The difference in their abilities was vast. She sighed inwardly.
“Alright, stop arguing. Tomorrow, Yun Lan will take the child to the mall to buy a few outfits and shoes, and a backpack and stationery as well. As for the room, I think we should just…” Yun Haisheng was speaking when Zhou Wanfeng raised her hand, interrupting him.
She stood up, her expression indifferent. “Forget the room. I don’t want to live here. If possible, rent a place for me. I can take care of myself.”
“Oh, that won’t do. How old are you? How can you live alone? Just a few days ago, the newspaper reported that an adult was robbed in their home. How can we let you live alone outside?” Diao Yufeng seemed to see an opportunity. Her eyes lit up, and she tightly held Zhou Wanfeng’s hand with her three-ringed hand, but deliberately glanced at Yang Yijun. “If you don’t like living here, then come live with me. By seniority, you should call me Grandma too. We have a big spare room at home. We can tidy it up and you can move in. You don’t have to trouble anyone else tomorrow. I’ll take you shopping for clothes. As it happens, my aunt’s birthday is in a few days. I’ll take you to the banquet.”
Diao Yufeng imagined the scene of her bringing this child with her that day. It would be a real spectacle.
Yang Yijun stood up abruptly, still maintaining a certain degree of composure. She looked up at Diao Yufeng. The moment she opened her mouth, she had guessed what she was up to. A head full of straw, and she wanted to make a fool of her.
“Sister-in-law, you have a spare room, and there’s no problem with her staying with you. But didn’t we just say that if this child is staying, she has to go to school in Yunhai City? The summer vacation is ending at the end of the month, and middle school admissions are long over. If the child is to go to school now, do you have the connections?”
The moment Diao Yufeng saw Yang Yijun’s expression, she gritted her teeth in anger and backed down.
Zhou Zhiru understood the subtext and chimed in, “Does Mom have a good school to recommend?”
“Yun Lan’s cousin teaches at a private middle school and has a good relationship with the school’s leadership. The school is near our house. It shouldn’t be a problem to ask her for help.”
“Nearby? You mean Shuangshu Model Middle School?” Zhou Zhiru thought of the schools in the area and immediately came up with the name. This school was quite famous, but not for its academic quality.
Yang Yijun glanced at Zhou Wanfeng. No matter how reluctant she was, she couldn’t lose face in front of Diao Yufeng.
“The public middle schools are probably all full. The only option is to try for a private one. But school admissions in Yunhai City are tied to education policies. Each school has its own district. Renting a place to live won’t be recognized by the school.” Yang Yijun swallowed her frustration. Auntie Zhang’s face was red and swollen. She had been covering it since she came in. It was obvious she had been hit.
Yun Haisheng glanced at the clock on the wall and stood up. “Let’s leave it at that for now. We’ll contact the school tomorrow and settle it as soon as possible.” He then looked at Yun Lan. “The child is still hungry. Go to the kitchen and heat up the food.”
Yang Yijun stopped Yun Lan as she was getting up. “What can she do? She’ll just burn herself. Auntie Zhang, you go. It’s all on the stove. Just light the fire and heat it up.”
She then looked at Diao Yufeng and Yun Lusheng. “Stay and have something to eat before you go.”
“No, sister-in-law. It’s getting late. We’ll be heading back now,” Yun Lusheng said with a smile, gesturing for his wife and child to leave. It was clear that his sister-in-law was a little angry.
“Then I won’t keep you. Be safe on the road,” Yang Yijun said, even calling out to the departing Diao Yufeng, “Sister-in-law, come and visit often when you have time.”
Zhou Wanfeng got up and went to the kitchen. The moment Granny Zhang saw her approach, she instinctively backed away, her teeth clenched, like a snarling old dog.
Zhou Wanfeng heated up the food herself and said coldly, “If I had a little more strength, you’d be missing a few teeth.” She then raised an eyebrow and sneered, “Next time, I’ll break your ribs one by one.”
Granny Zhang heated up the food and didn’t dare to stay in the kitchen. She lit the fire and immediately left.
Zhou Zhiru and Yun Lan went upstairs to apply medicine.
Yun Haisheng and Yang Yijun were in the first-floor bedroom, glaring at each other.
“You knew Diao Yufeng just wanted to take the opportunity to humiliate me and make a fool of me, and you still let her come?” Yang Yijun was furious. “What is Diao Yufeng? She just got rich in the early years because the government took over her family’s house and land for construction. She can’t even write her own name. She wants to wear jewelry on all ten fingers. I feel dirty just looking at her.”
Yun Haisheng took off his jacket. “You say a few less words. I haven’t even asked you what happened with that child. How did it get to the point of her going to the Public Security Bureau to report a crime? Don’t you care about your own reputation? What trouble can a child cause here? Her surname is Zhou. Even if Zhou Zhiru isn’t close to her, they’re still related by blood. Yun Lan has a good relationship with him. For that reason alone, you should be a little nicer to this child.”
“How much nicer can I be? I greeted her with a smile. It was Auntie Zhang’s idea to have her stay in the attic. I had Yun Lan buy her clothes, but she didn’t like them. I’ve been thinking about her schooling since she arrived. Jingya’s school is a key experimental middle school. I wanted to send her there to be with Jingya, but the school, which everyone is desperate to get into, is already full.”
The more Yang Yijun spoke, the angrier she became. “And Auntie Zhang is so old. She went out of her way to look for her, and she hit her? The injury on Zhou Zhiru’s face was also from her, right? How can I dare to have a child like that in the house? What if Jingya and Chengbin learn from her?”
Yun Haisheng sat on the bed and frowned, not saying a word. Hitting someone was indeed wrong.
Yang Yijun sat down next to him and, after calming down, said, “Since she’s living in this house, I’ll have to be a little stricter with her in the future. I don’t expect her to be like Jingya, but at the very least, she should know some manners.”
Yun Haisheng nodded. “Fine, you handle it.”
The next morning, Yun Lan took Jingya and Zhou Wanfeng to the mall to buy clothes. She didn’t dare to go alone. After seeing Zhou Wanfeng hit someone, Yun Lan would get nervous whenever she saw her raise her hand.
They shopped all morning, buying clothes, shoes, underwear, socks, and so on. Yun Jingya helped pick out a lot of things. She was actually very happy that this younger sister could live with them.
When they returned home at noon, Zhou Wanfeng, dressed in new clothes, stunned Yang Yijun the moment she walked in. She was completely transformed. She had an indescribable presence about her, as cold and sharp as her eyes.
“Aunt, is this that child?” A woman sitting next to Yang Yijun was looking Zhou Wanfeng up and down, a hint of uncertainty in her expression.
“Cousin.”
“Cousin-Aunt.”
Yun Lan and Yun Jingya greeted her.
Yang Yijun waved at Zhou Wanfeng. “Wanfeng, come here. This is your cousin-aunt. She’s here to talk to you about school.”
Zhou Wanfeng nodded slightly and called out, “Cousin-Aunt.”
She wasn’t a mad dog that bit everyone she saw. As long as others didn’t provoke her, she was willing to be friendly.
Lin Jiawen took a set of test papers out of her bag. “I heard you used to study in your hometown in Dongshan. There’s a bit of a gap in the education between the two places. If you’re going to study here, no matter which school you go to, there will be a placement test. You should try this set of papers.”
“Now?” Zhou Wanfeng took the papers and glanced through them. Behind her, Yun Jingya craned her neck to look at the content.
“Yes,” Lin Jiawen nodded.
Yun Jingya took Zhou Wanfeng’s hand. “Let’s go to the study to do it. It’s spacious there, and you can ask me if you don’t know something.”
“Jingya, you can’t help. This is a test. You stay downstairs,” Lin Jiawen insisted that Zhou Wanfeng complete the test alone.
Zhou Wanfeng took the test papers to the third-floor study, her face grim. In her past life, when she was cornered by a dozen people in an abandoned factory, her heart hadn’t pounded this hard.
Damn it, it’s been years since I learned all this.
What is this first question? A formula? What am I supposed to do?
If -2a^(m-1)b^2 and 5ab^n can be combined into one term, then the value of m+n is ()
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4.
Zhou Wanfeng’s heart sank to the bottom of her stomach. She realized things were bad. She couldn’t understand the questions.