From Xing City to Xu Miyu’s rural hometown was quite a long journey. The driver wasn’t one for small talk, and Xu Miyu also didn’t speak, so the silence along the way brewed her complex emotions.
No matter how excessive Jiao Xiumei had been before, how angry she made her when causing a scene at her hotel, hearing that she was critically ill still left her stunned.
She had thought about cutting ties with Jiao Xiumei, and cutting off Jiao Xiumei’s hopes of getting money from her. But she had never wished Jiao Xiumei dead. After all, it was Jiao Xiumei who gave her life in this world. At this moment, she couldn’t clearly describe her feelings, they were too complex, leaving her somewhat numb.
Thinking and pondering this the whole journey, night had completely fallen by the time she finally arrived home.
Pushing open the yard gate and walking in, she had just got out “I’m home” when she froze in place.
The whole family was there. Her father Xu Guangzhong, her mother Jiao Xiumei who was supposedly bedridden and critically ill, eldest sister Xu Mizi, second sister Xu Minan, and the Xu family’s only son Xu Mibao.
Plus herself just stepping into the yard, it really was the complete family, all present and accounted for.
Xu Miyu’s heart sank heavily. She asked Jiao Xiumei: “What’s going on? Aren’t you hospitalized?”
Jiao Xiumei cackled and signalled her precious son with her eyes: “Go bolt the yard gate shut.” Then told the elder daughters, “Take this unfilial wretch to the shed, let mother have a good chat with the blight I gave birth to!”
Xu Miyu had wanted to run the moment Jiao Xiumei started speaking, but it was already too late. Xu Mizi and Xu Minan rushed up to drag Xu Miyu to the shed. This shed was a small brick room built in the rural family’s yard, usually used to store food, vegetables, firewood and coal, a storage shed not meant for people.
When Xu Mizi and Xu Minan dragged Xu Miyu into the shed, she finally realized in despair what was going on.
So the so-called mother being sick was all a scam. It was them, all the people who should have been her closest kin, ganging up together to trick her back home.
The shed had no windows, dark and damp, the moldy, dusty smell everywhere. Xu Miyu tried to break out but Xu Mizi and Xu Minan desperately blocked her. Xu Miyu asked in shock: “What are you doing? Are you planning to lock me in here? You’re insane, this is illegal!”
Jiao Xiumei then walked into the shed, blocking the doorway. She flicked the switch by the door and a weak 5-watt lightbulb reluctantly flickered on, barely lighting the dim interior.
In the dim light, Xu Miyu looked at Jiao Xiumei and her sisters in disbelief. They actually tricked her back just to imprison her.
For a moment, she truly doubted if she had been picked up. If she was really blood-related, why would this family treat her in such a preposterous way? Just because she was the only one who wouldn’t submit to their brainwashing?
Although her sisters looked strong while she appeared weak since young, her sisters obeyed their parents’ every word, wholly accepting their fate of supporting their brother with delight. Whereas although she acted weak and ingratiating, she actually harbored stubborn resistance within – she was unwilling to accept her overlooked fate, also unwilling to accept her parents’ bias. She tried every method she could, hoping to gain attention and approval, insisting on fighting for the chance to attend school and study like Xu Mibao no matter what.
Was this why her parents especially disliked her since she was little? They always wanted to brainwash her, PUA her, suppress her resistance, pressure her until she became obedient and willing to live for her maternal household and brother like her sisters.
But the more they suppressed her, the more fiercely she resisted, until finally she even dared to completely break free of their control. This was unacceptable and infuriated them, so they simply staked it all, tricking her back home to imprison her, intending to properly deal with her stubbornness and extinguish her rebellious spirit.
Xu Miyu’s heart turned ice cold.
Some children were their parents’ treasures; some children were merely puppets for their parents, not allowed to have their own thoughts or rebel, only able to obediently listen and bleed themselves dry for their brother their whole lives.
Xu Miyu clenched the bag in her hands. Right now, she was very resolute that no matter what happened next, she would not give this family even a cent.
Xu Mibao and Xu Guangzhong then also entered the shed.
Xu Miyu never imagined she had such face that the entire Xu family would gather in this broken shed.
With everyone present, Jiao Xiumei called her elder daughters back to her side, then softly muttered something to her three children.
In the next moment, the perfect coordination between Xu Mizi, Xu Minan and Xu Mibao was displayed. Xu Mizi held Xu Miyu back, Xu Minan snatched away Xu Miyu’s bag, Xu Mibao grabbed Xu Miyu’s phone.
The three people successfully returned to Jiao Xiumei’s side.
Xu Miyu watched everything happening before her, only felt it was ridiculous and laughable.
Jiao Xiumei grabbed the bag from Xu Mizi’s hand and wildly rummaged through it. After turning it inside out, she didn’t see a wallet or find any cash or bank cards.
She was a little exasperated and raised the bag to ask Xu Miyu: “Where’s your wallet? Your cards?”
Xu Miyu sneered and reached into her coat pocket, taking out a bank card: “I don’t have a wallet. I was in a hurry when I went out today and happened to stuff this in my pocket, otherwise it would’ve fallen into your hands too.” After speaking, she smiled and snapped the card into two pieces before Jiao Xiumei’s eyes then threw it on the ground. “Don’t think that just because the card’s destroyed you can still go to the bank with my ID and replace it to withdraw money. Like I said, I was in a rush when I went out today and even forgot to bring my ID.”
It was just her luck to have rushed over in worry when she heard Jiao Xiumei was critically ill, only for it to all be a scam.
Xu Miyu laughed at herself. She laughed until her heart was desolate.
She really hadn’t expected this scam. She was also truly disheartened and determined to sever ties for good after today.
She had seen them as dad, mom, sisters and brother, but they had never seen her as family. She was merely a tool they could conveniently exploit when needed, then toss aside and disregard when not.
From today onwards, no matter how cold and heartless she was to them, she would not feel the slightest hesitation or guilt.
Jiao Xiumei watched as Xu Miyu broke the card and threw it away, her eyes practically bloodshot from anger.
She turned and asked Xu Mibao: “Do you know how to handle her phone? Isn’t there some way to transfer money directly from phones? Can we get the money out using this thing?”
Xu Mibao turned on the phone screen and took a look, then told Jiao Xiumei: “It has a password.”
Jiao Xiumei turned to interrogate Xu Miyu: “What’s the password?”
Xu Miyu laughed and said: “250250”.
Xu Mibao entered it in but the phone wouldn’t unlock.
He realized and ratted Xu Miyu out to Jiao Xiumei: “Mom, Xu Miyu is mocking me! She said I’m an idiot!”
Jiao Xiumei was so angry she trembled. She turned to ask Xu Miyu: “Then what exactly is the password?”
Xu Miyu couldn’t be bothered to answer.
Xu Mizi suddenly had an idea. She took the phone from Xu Mibao’s hand, went closer to Xu Miyu, and flashed it before her face.
The phone unlocked through facial recognition.
Xu Mibao was overjoyed: “Eldest sister, you really are amazing! Life’s just different living in big cities!”
Xu Mizi smiled affectionately at him.
Xu Miyu regretted so much at this moment that she had enabled facial recognition to unlock her phone.
Xu Mibao fumbled with the phone, then angrily said after a few moments: “Mom, she bound it with an empty sim card, can’t transfer money out!”
Suddenly there was a ding, someone sent a WeChat message over.
Xu Miyu knew there was an 80 percent chance it was from Ji Feng. She rushed forward wanting to snatch her phone back. Xu Mizi and Xu Minan held her back together.
Xu Mibao followed Ji Feng’s message according to the notification and scrolled up their chat history. Suddenly he became excited as if discovering new lands, loudly shouting: “Mom, mom, look look! This person is probably Miyu’s new boyfriend!”
Jiao Xiumei hurriedly crowded over to see, and after confirming it was correct, she seemed to find a life-saving solution. She raised her head to ask Xu Miyu: “Old Three, you’re dating? He seems to take you on dates at the hotel frequently, for him to be able to go so often, he must be quite wealthy right? Old Three, let me say it, in our family you’re the most outstanding, always able to attract rich men’s favor! This is great, your brother can finally be saved, as can the grandchild in my daughter-in-law’s belly!”
She waved the phone at Xu Miyu, discussing with her: “Old Three, mom will return the phone to you. You call your boyfriend, tell him to lend us some money to tide things over for now, to save your brother and your nephew. Okay?”
Xu Miyu resolutely refused: “Impossible. I will never ask anyone else for a single cent for any of you again.” She would never suck blood from those around her for the vampiric family behind her.
Jiao Xiumei’s expression chilled. She threatened: “Fine, if you won’t ask your boyfriend, then I’ll find your ex-husband. Don’t come complaining to me then for losing face.” She pretended to get Xu Mibao to call Nie Yucheng’s number.
Xu Miyu laughed seeing Xu Mibao nodding along but dragging his feet.
“You still think I’m an idiot? Based on your parasitic nature, you must have already gone begging to Nie Yucheng. Is there anything you wouldn’t dare to do? But I guess you not only failed to get money from him, you even got scolded by his new wife right? If you hadn’t been completely wrung dry by Nie Yucheng, you also wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble tricking me back here.”
Jiao Xiumei was right on target. She hadn’t expected Xu Miyu to guess so accurately. She saw that this daughter before her had completely changed from the past. For the first time, she realized this daughter wasn’t stupid or easy to fool, she was actually very clever.
Jiao Xiumei steeled herself. No matter what, she had to get money today, for her son, also her grandson.
She hardened her face and told Xu Miyu: “Fine, Old Three, you guessed right. I did go beg Nie Yucheng to no avail. But no problem, if the ex-husband route doesn’t work, there’s still your new boyfriend!”
She snatched the phone from Xu Mibao’s hand, randomly jabbing at it while asking Xu Mibao: “Where’s the contacts? Here right. Let’s slowly scroll from the top, she must have saved her boyfriend in the front.”
Xu Miyu became a little anxious at this point. She really had marked Ji Feng’s name with a symbol at the top, listing him in first place.
If they really called him, she felt she would die from shame and anger.
Right in her flustered state, she suddenly had a flash of brilliance.
Thank goodness for Huawei’s voice assistant. She loudly called: “Xiao Yi, power off!”
The intelligent voice assistant immediately responded, turning off the phone.
Jiao Xiumei was dumbfounded, staring at the black screen, trembling from anger.
“You family destroying parasite, I really want to sew up your mouth!” She cursed Xu Miyu a couple times, then handed the phone back to Xu Mibao for him to turn it on.
Xu Mibao pressed the power button, but the screen jumped to a page requiring the SIM card password to be entered before unlocking.
Xu Miyu had read online that if a phone was lost, after others used the number to receive verification codes, they could successfully change many passwords, causing all sorts of losses to the owner. So to prevent this from happening, it was best to set a SIM card password on top of the password for unlocking the phone. This way, every boot would first require entering the password before moving to the next step. It was four numbers, lockout after three wrong attempts.
Xu Mibao looked at the four empty boxes on screen, and impatiently asked Xu Miyu: “How many damn passwords does your phone need?!”
Xu Miyu smilingly replied: “This I even regret not setting app passwords earlier since I thought it was troublesome. If I had set those, you wouldn’t have even been able to open WeChat just now after boot.”
Xu Mibao turned to ask Xu Mizi: “Eldest sister, can we get this password through scanning her face?”
Xu Mizi shook her head: “Need to enter manually after reboot.”
Xu Mibao could only ask Xu Miyu again what the boot password was.
Xu Miyu laughed and said: “Try guessing it yourself.”
Xu Mibao didn’t dare randomly enter, afraid that like earlier, a few wrong attempts would lock the phone.
Xu Mizi persuaded from the side: “Old Three, why make things so stiff and awkward for family? Weren’t you so nice in the past, always proactively helping with household matters, how did you suddenly become so cold-blooded?”
Xu Miyu turned to look at her and laughingly asked: “Oh? I’m cold-blooded? But no matter how much I helped you all, did you ever show gratitude? Were you ever satisfied? Who’s really the cold-blooded one?”
Seeing the eldest berated, Xu Minan couldn’t hold back either and spoke up: “Old Three, what are you saying? You can find a boyfriend now, isn’t that all thanks to Eldest sister getting you the job? She gave you a new life after the divorce, you need to know gratitude!”
Xu Miyu laughed and turned to Xu Minan: “Wasn’t it me who found ways to secure jobs for her and her husband? Did they ever show me gratitude? And later to protect their jobs, they deceived their own sister into making stewed meat to appease my ex-husband and his mistress. Is that the new life she gave me?”
Her smile grew colder. She looked at the five people opposite her and enunciated word for word: “None of you get to call me family ever again. You have no right to say that. Look at yourselves, have you ever treated me like family? You only saw me as an ATM to bleed dry.”
Xu Guangzhong flared up: “Xu Duoyu, don’t go too far! Your mother and I raised you so big, you should know to repay the household too. What you did in the past was what you ought to do, don’t go on about your contributions all day. Now your brother is in trouble, as his older sister you should be helping him!”
Xu Miyu looked at Xu Guangzhong, this man lording paternal authority over her, and sneered asking: “What kind of brother is Xu Mibao? He was born just minutes before me. Yet he’s this shameless leeching off his sisters’ blood at this age, simply disgraceful.” She sighed, then told Xu Guangzhong: “You’re always lecturing me with a fatherly air, but have you acted as a father should? Have you given me a father’s love? If I hadn’t insisted on attending university with my life, you would’ve just casually married me off for bride price. You utterly fail as a father yet insist on lecturing me with authority, truly laughable.”
Xu Guangzhong was incensed hearing Xu Miyu’s words.
The five people opposite her also turned red from anger, gnashing their teeth.
“You’ve gone crazy!” Jiao Xiumei pronounced judgment on Xu Miyu’s behalf of the other four.
Xu Miyu laughed again: “Then I should’ve gone crazy sooner. It’s because I went crazy too late that I still have to live like a ghost at thirty.”
Xu Mibao shoved Xu Miyu’s phone into Jiao Xiumei’s hand and rushed at Xu Miyu himself.
Xu Miyu picked up the thick wooden stick she had eyed on the ground earlier and forcefully swung at the arm Xu Mibao swung her way. Xu Mibao yelped in sudden pain. Jiao Xiumei rushed over in heartache, crying: “Let mom see!” Then cursed Xu Miyu: “You murderer! Even hitting your own brother!”
Xu Miyu’s face was fierce, clearly prepared to stake her life.
“Xu Mibao you useless trash! Weren’t you trying to hit me? Come on!” Holding the wooden stick, she glared at the few people before her and snarled, “Since you want to make it so I can’t live, then let’s just all die!”
Her fierce look wielding the stick successfully deterred the others.
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