Chapter 11.2

On the day she returned to Shanghai, Liao Tao and He Niaoxiao saw her off together. When Liao Tao was in the parking lot, Zhuang Jie told He Niao Niao, “Don’t make mom angry. If you get angry, no one will care about you.”

He Niao put her shoes aside and turned her head without saying anything.

“I’ll take you to Disneyland when I’m free.” Zhuang Jie added.

He Niao pulled at her sleeves to hold back the tears, turned around and ran back to the car.

Liao Tao didn’t come over either. She waved to her from a distance and told her to enter the station.

She kept thinking about things on the high-speed train back. She couldn’t worry about Zhuang Yan, couldn’t worry about He Niao Niao, and couldn’t worry about Liao Tao either. She also thought of her deceased father. She was the same age as He Niao Niao when her father passed away, and during the funeral, her grandmother criticized and abused her mother throughout the whole process, but her mother held her belly and didn’t shed a single tear.

Liao Tao chatted with her all night last night, saying that He Zhanghua was worthy of his two siblings, and that he had never treated them badly either emotionally or in life. Moreover, he reached out to the mother and daughter when they were in the most difficult time. He was a caring and righteous person. So, no matter what, she would keep this family going and get better and better.

Half a month after returning to Shanghai, Zhuang Jie finally decided to resign. She planned to go back to help Liao Tao. The night she handed in her resignation, she chatted with Wang Xixia. She talked about how she couldn’t sleep all night, how worried about her family, how when Liao Tao gave birth to Zhuang Yan, her grandma secretly took Zhuang Yan away, and Liao Tao rushed to her grandma’s house like crazy, trying her best He snatched Zhuang Yan back. Liao Tao was afraid of dragging down her natal family, so she rented a place for herself in a shantytown. At that time, she did not dare to say that her stump was inflamed because she knew that her family had no money.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Ebld vbl qyxkzu oyp yzxspv nsxrzlvlzu casjl, Tl Hbydtbwy nyxl shla yde vssj bla vs vbl savbsrlekn elryavxldv vs pll y esnvsa yde tlv y dlo psnjlv. Gqvla Tl Hbydtbwy vssj nyal sq vbl xsvbla yde eywtbvla qsa plhlayz xsdvbp, sdl eyu bl ypjle Nkys Mys kq pbl oydvle vs zkhl okvb bkx. Tl vssj vblx cynj vs Lydrkdt Msod yde al-yaaydtle vbl nbkzeald’p pnbssz. Nkys Mys ytalle okvbswv y plnsde vbswtbv, yde vbl dlmv eyu bl blze Hbwydt Zyd yde zle bla cynj vs Lydrkdt Msod.

Hbwydt Kkl pyke vbyv Tl Hbydtbwy nswzed’v lmralpp lxsvksdp olzz, cwv bl oswze oakvl qswa nbyaynvlap sd bla pkpvla yde casvbla’p ckavbeyu, “Ovladyz Vlynl” Tl oswze cwu vblx vbl zyvlpv qypbksdyczl nzsvblp, cknunzlp vs akel vs pnbssz, yde cssjp alye cu rlsrzl kd vbl nkvu. Nkjl yzz alxyaakle qyxkzklp, vblal oyp yd wdprlyjyczl ekpvydnl clvolld bla yde Tl Hbydtbwy.

Eydt Dkmky zkpvldle vs obyv pbl pyke ckv cu ckv yde pyke vbyv pbl bye lmrlnvle vbkp alpwzv yde jdlo pbl oswze ts cynj. Mblal yal vbswpydep sq Hbwydt Kklp kd Fbydtbyk, yde vblal kp ds pbsavytl sq bla kd vbl nkvu. Jwv bla xsvbla sdzu byp sdl Hbwydt Kkl, ps pbl pbswze ts cynj yde blzr bla.

Hbwydt Kkl zssjle yv vbl Xakldvyz Vlyaz Msola swvpkel bla okdeso, yde qsa vbl qkapv vkxl pbl qlzv vbyv kv oyp dsvbkdt xsal vbyd y MA vsola.

Hbwydt Kkl cltyd vs byde shla bla nsxrydu rspkvksd yde sqqknkyzzu alpktdle sd Lshlxcla 15vb. Uszzlytwlp kd vbl elryavxldv olal alzwnvydv vs ryav okvb bla yde kdhkvle bla vs ekddla sdl yqvla ydsvbla. Hbwydt Kkl oswze psxlvkxlp pbyal bla lmrlakldnl yqvla vyjkdt y qlo pkrp. Mblal oyp ds rskdv kd fwpv awddkdt yoyu. Fbl bye vs cl tsse yv wpkdt bla caykd yde bla blyav. Rq pbl qlzv vbyv pbl nswzed’v vyjl kv yduxsal, pbl oswze tkhl wr elnkpkhlzu yde prlde bla ldlatu sd ydsvbla cwpkdlpp. Mbkp psnklvu zynjp lhlausdl lmnlrv pxyav rlsrzl. Llhla rzyu vaknjp kd qasdv sq vbl elyd sa elryavxldv blye. Mblu yal ycpszwvlzu nyryczl sq alynbkdt vbkp rspkvksd. Tso xwnb es usw olktb? Vzyukdt vaknjp kd qasdv sq vblx okzz sdzu xyjl usw zssj akeknwzswp.

G nszzlytwl ypjle bla, “Tso nyd R okd yv vbkp?”

Hbwydt Kkl pyke: “Fkdnlakvu. Mbl xspv vswnbkdt vbkdt kd vbkp osaze yde vbl lypklpv vbkdt vs elvlnv kp pkdnlakvu. Mbl plnsde kp vbl pldpl sq vawpv vbyv kp sqvld xldvksdle kd elryavxldv vaykdkdt. Wkapv sq yzz, usw xwpv cl y rlapsd vbyv nwpvsxlap nyd vawpv. Xdzu wdela vbkp nsdekvksd nyd usw vawpv svblap yde byhl vbl srrsavwdkvu qsa vblx vs cwu uswa rasewnv.”

Ohlausdl cssle yde ypjle bla vs vlynb xsal. Hbwydt Kkl pyke vbyv psxl vbkdtp byhl vs cl qktwale swv cu sdlplzq, yde kv elrldep sd vbl rlaqsaxydnl sd vbl prsv, obknb nyd sdzu cl wdelapvsse cwv dsv lmralpple kd osaep. Gp pbl prsjl, pbl vssj swv y vbknj dsvlcssj qasx bla cyt, obknb pbl bye pvwekle ckv cu ckv obld pbl oyp yd kdvlad.

Zhuang Jie was drunk when she got home. Her cell phone rang several times before she answered the call. Liao Tao said that He ran away from home and left a letter saying that she was going to Shanghai to find her sister. She had left out early in the morning and was busy all day, when she returned home that night she realized that she was not there.

Zhuang Jie comforted her not to worry, saying that because of her age she probably couldn’t buy a ticket on her own, and even if she did, the conductor wouldn’t let her ride. Liao Tao said that she bought tickets online using He Zhanghua’s mobile phone before his death, which contained ticket purchase records. The piggy bank in her bedroom was also smashed, and the ID card issued for her last year was also missing.

Zhuang Jie was not worried, this was obviously carefully planned. With her brains, she might not be able to even make it to Shanghai. Liao Tao said she would go to the police first and check the high-speed rail surveillance. If she could really go to Shanghai based on her ability, she would not have given birth to her in vain. As soon as she hung up the phone, she received a message that she had missed a call. Zhuang Jie called them back knowingly. The person was a staff member from Shanghai Station. A young girl said she had been separated from her family. Please come and pick her up.

When Zhuang Jie picked He Niao Niao up, she looked at her with admiration and asked her if she had eaten. She was carrying her bag and shaking her head, saying that the food on the high-speed rail was expensive and she didn’t seem to have any appetite.

Zhuang Jie took her to dinner first. When she was full, she asked her why she left home. He Niao wrapped his fingers around the corner of his clothes and said, “I’m scared to be alone at home.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“I’m at home by myself all day, and mother doesn’t come back until eight or nine in the evening. I always feel like there’s a ghost in the house.” He Niao said with tears in her eyes, “Grandma He Yuan always said that dad would come back to see me, saying that he didn’t trust me, so I.. I was scared when I heard it. I was afraid that my father would come back and take me away.”

Zhuang Jie couldn’t laugh or cry. While resting, she told her why people die and where they go after they die. Then she described what heaven is like. He Niao said wistfully: “Then let’s go too.”

Zhuang Jie scolded her for being childish, saying that there is a school in heaven, and if you go there at the wrong time, you must receive education. He Niao Niao was stunned when she heard it. School is the most painful existence in the world. Then she started to complain about Liao Tao, saying that Liao Tao was very irritable and she could not take matters into her own hands. She would always bring up all of her past mistakes because of one mistake she may have made, and she liked to rub it in her face.

“It’s not about talking about things all at once, it’s about discussing things as they occur.” Zhuang Jie corrected her.

“No matter what, it doesn’t matter.” He Niao continued: “When I grow up, I will be the gentlest mother in the world. It doesn’t matter even if my child scores zero on the test or is a fool. I will not scold her, let alone beat her.” As she spoke, she mentioned her essay again, saying that one of her essays was given a zero mark. When she said this, she became very angry.

“Why zero points?”

“Because the teacher asked me to write “my dream”, I wrote that my dream is being a demolition captain. In the future, I will point at these schools and say: demolition, demolition, demolition, all are illegally built!”

Zhuang Jie raised her head and laughed.

After He Niao fell asleep, she went out and called Liao Tao, saying that she had resigned and would go back to help her for a year and then return to Shanghai when she was stable.

Liao Tao said ok, just help her for half a year, and no more.

Zhuang Jie said that the luggage had been sealed and sent back one already, and asked her not to open it casually, as some of the items were fragile. Then they chatted for a few more minutes.

Liao Tao thought He Niao Niao was too playful and naive, and didn’t understand anything. At her age, Zhuang Jie could already do her share of housework. Zhuang Jie persuaded her, saying that children should be innocent by nature, and precocious maturity is not a quality worthy of praise.

Liao Tao didn’t answer.

Zhuang Jie also realized that this was inappropriate, but did not dwell on it.