CH 50.2

Right after she had said this, Shu Ning finally opened the door. But just as Ning Wan thought that she had changed her mind, Shu Ning ordered her to leave--

"Can you stop pestering me? Is lodging a complaint not enough?" Her head was lowered, and her hair hanging down. "I'm leaving to pick my daughter up from kindergarten now, so if you'll excuse me."

Her long hair hung over her face, concealing a large portion of it. Ning Wan almost immediately realized that something was up - this was her mother's favorite posture to cover up her injuries.

"He hit you again?!”

Before her questioning, Shu Ning couldn't meet her gaze. "No. Don't you mind our family affairs…"

Taking advantage of Shu Ning not having had enough time to form a response, Ning Wan swept aside her long hair. Sure enough, there was a red mark on Shu Ning's left cheek from what looked like a slap in the face.

Ning Wan boiled over. "How long has it been since he apologized to you this time? It's only been a few days since you said you wanted a divorce, and then he tried to kill himself and promised to do better! Yet you still believe him? You still gave him another chance to hit you? Shu Ning, wake up!"

However, at this point Shu Ning just wanted to get rid of Ning Wan and move forward. Her tone turned pleading. "Don't come after me any more. This time it was because I found you and listened to your words and considered divorce that Feiyuan hit me. He said that I've disgraced our family and put our family harmony in danger by listening to the words of an outsider. He would be so angry if he saw me with you again..."

Ning Wan was about to respond when the ringing of Shu Ning's cell phone interrupted their conversation. She picked it up. At first, her voice was suspicious; "The police station?" But soon, her suspicious tone became consternation. "What! Shiyin ran out of the kindergarten and is now at the police station? Okay, I've got it. I'll come as soon as possible!"

Forgetting all about Ning Wan, Shu Ning hurried to the police station.

It sounded like something had happened to her daughter?

Ning Wan considered it. In the end, she couldn't feel at ease. For fear that the matter had something to do with Yu Feiyuan, she hurriedly followed Shu Ning to the police station.

By the time they ran up to the police station, Ning Wan was panting heavily.

Shu Ning seemed to be familiar with what was going on. "Excuse me, policeman, did my daughter Shiyin come and make a false report again? She's just playing a prank, the silly girl lost her temper. I'm here to bring her home. Where is she now?"

A false report? Ning Wan felt like it was quite suspicious, so she eavesdropped on the policeman sitting at the window and pointing to the mediation room. "She's over there. Our head and a lawyer brought her in to figure out the situation."

Shu Ning headed to to the mediation room, while Ning Wan followed closely, her brows furrowed. The door of the mediation room was unlocked, and just as Shu Ning was about to push it open, she heard Shiyin's voice coming from the inside - a desperate voice choked with tears--

"Uncle Policeman, Uncle Lawyer, please help my mum! How can I make my dad go away?"

Six-year-old children were incapable of beating around the bush tactfully. Her appeal was straightforward. "In my class I know someone whose parents are divorced and don't live together anymore. Can my mum get a divorce? I don't want to see my mum being hit again. Or maybe can you take my dad away?"

From inside came a different voice. Ning Wan hesitated. She almost instantly recognized it as Fu Zheng's. It was deep and grave, and a little cold, but very gentle. Perhaps because he was talking to a child, his tone was deliberately slow and he was using simple words--

"It's not us policemen and lawyers who can tell your parents whether to divorce or not." Fu Zheng's voice seemed to have a soothing power, and the little girl's crying seemed to quiet down. "Simply put, only your parents can make the decision."

"But my dad won't..."

"That's fine too." His voice was very gentle. "Divorce doesn't need both of your parents' to agree. So long as one of them wants a divorce, it will happen. So long as your mother is determined to divorce him, she will surely be able to leave your father, so don't cry. The problem can be solved."

Unfortunately, when the little girl heard this she seemed to crumble instead. "My mom won't divorce either! My dad beat her up so bad and I called the Uncle Policeman, but mom said that she didn't get hit! The person who's lying isn't me, it's my mom!"

Even with Fu Zheng backing her up, the police couldn't do anything but comfort her. With no adult making a report, no victim's confession, and no evidence, it was impossible to file a case.

Yu Shiyin could probably tell that it was hopeless to hope for police intervention. She hung her head and muttered, "If only dad could disappear…"

Her voice was still the voice of a young child, but what she said next was not at all like a six-year-old girl. "Uncle Lawyer, I have a question. I'm six years old, so if I murder someone, I won't have to go to jail, right?"

Before Fu Zheng could answer, she continued on. "The TV said so. If you're under fourteen, you don't have to go to jail. So, if mom won't divorce, can I still make dad go away? One of my classmates has some rat poison..."

No one could have foreseen a cold and terrible thought like that being uttered by such a sweet and tender child as Yu Shiyin.

The two people in the room froze, while Shu Ning, who had been standing at the door about to go in, shuddered slightly, as if she had just been hit by a bolt of lightning.

In the past, when she had been beaten violently by Yu Feiyuan, Shu Ning had always put her daughter in her bedroom first, and told her to plug her headphones in to listen to songs or watch cartoons. No matter how hard she was beaten, she never made a sound. To her relief, her daughter never asked about her injuries afterward, so as time passed, she felt that the matter would have little impact on her daughter.

Whenever she called the police, Shu Ning would pacify her afterward, and Yu Feiyuan would buy her a toy as compensation. When she was done playing with it, she would apologize, and the family would remain seemingly harmonious. She had never expressed any particular feelings about her father.

But unexpectedly, everything had been an illusion. When had her innocent daughter become a gloomy child who could make you shiver when listening to her words...?

Something that even Shu Ning had never thought of, something so serious as murder, and patricide at that, had actually been said by her six-year-old daughter with a light, yet serious attitude...

Even though she was still a child, the hatred and determination on her face couldn't be concealed. Through the open crack in the door, Shu Ning could clearly see her daughter's immature face, set in an indifferent expression that belied her age.

At that moment, the policeman finally believed that the many reports before had not been groundless. However, because the child's mother, the victim, had not made the report and there was no evidence, he could not intervene. He could only sigh and advise, "Little one, don't think about such things or learn from those bad kids on TV. You're only six years old. If you really do something like that, you'll ruin your life. You still have a long future ahead of you. If you hate your father, you can leave him behind when you grow up, so don't do something that you'll regret…"

These words gave Ning Wan, who was also at the door, pause. It felt as though time had reversed itself and she had become Yu Shiyin sitting in that room, as if everything had reincarnated...

In the beginning, Ning Wan had also called the police. Her mother, too, had chosen to make peace and cover up the truth. Just like Shu Ning, she had been completely unwilling to divorce. In the end, Ning Wan had come to terms with it by choosing to be independent. She couldn't change her mother, so she had looked forward every day to the day when she became an adult, was admitted to a university far away, had a job that would make her financially independent, and could leave her father behind...

She prayed in her heart that these words of comfort from the policeman might appease Yu Shiyin's young mind.

"But if I leave my dad, then what about my mom?" However, Yu Shiyin interrupted the policeman's words. Her voice was choked with tears, but she was firm. "Uncle, I want to protect my mom. I don't want to my mom to be hit ever again. If even I run away, then what will my mom do?"

If just now Shu Ning had been shocked by her daughter's dark thoughts, now she couldn't help but weep.

Everything was her fault. She had turned her child into this. Yet her daughter didn't resent her, but even wanted to protect her. It was in order to protect her that her lively, cheerful daughter had actually came up with the thought of murder...

Thanks to her cowardice and smoothing things over to keep the peace, the child who should have been bright and sunny had been living in a haze. Yet even though she had disappointed her by lying to the police again and again, the little girl hadn't given up on her. Instead her daughter wanted to protect her, but obviously... obviously it was her responsibility to stand up for her daughter!

She wasn't qualified to be a mother at all!

She had thought that not getting divorced would give her daughter a complete family, but she had never thought that the moment Yu Feiyuan raised his fist, their family would never be complete again...

Shu Ning's heart was a mix of overflowing remorse, pain and emotion. She bit her lips so hard that no sound could come out.

Ning Wan had also halted her entry due to the little girl's words. Yu Shiyin's words were like a small hand seizing her inner emotions. Her heart churned...

At that moment, Fu Zheng's voice sounded out again from inside, still cold in sound but not in feel--

"It's good that you want to protect your mother. You're a great kid, but no matter what your father has done, it isn't a reason for you to think about something as dangerous as murder."

"It's because my dad hit my mom that I think so," Yu Shiyin retorted. She once again began to get agitated. "You're not me, you don't have a dad like mine! You have no idea how awful he is! How like a devil!"

Fu Zheng remained gentle. "I haven't experienced anything like what you have, but it's not that no one else hasn't. I know a girl whose father is just like yours. In fact, it was even more difficult for her than you, because her father gambled. Since her family was not as well-off as yours, she had to go out to work. But she hasn't done anything crazy or become a bad person. On the contrary, she might be one of the best, most hardworking women that I know. She's always willing to help others and has never even thought about doing anything illegal."

That attracted Yu Shiyin's attention. "So… what is she doing now?"

The look on his face was very soft as he said these words. From where Ning Wan was standing, she could see his solemn expression and warm eyes as he met Yu Shiyin's gaze. "She became a lawyer just like me, to help children like herself and mothers like hers."

Ning Wan pressed her lips together tightly. She had never thought that Fu Zheng would mention herself, or that in his eyes she might turn out to be one of the best women he knew.

Fu Zheng didn't know that she was standing outside the door. Looking at the little girl, he said slowly but seriously, "Shiyin, you are braver than your mother. I think you can help her, so don't do anything to your father for now. Shall we first work together to help your mother out?"

"Why don't you talk to your mother and ask her to let this lawyer lady help her out?" he gently, patiently coaxed. "Your mother is currently under a little misunderstanding about her, but she really does want to help you, because she's experienced it all herself and understands. If she was here, and your mother was willing to talk to her, your mother could be separated from your father."

Shiyin was silent for a moment before finally nodding, "Okay."

Outside, Shu Ning could no longer control herself. She rushed into the mediation room and swept her daughter up into her arms, weeping. "Shiyin, it's your mother's fault. It's all your mother's fault. It was your mother who hurt you. Don't do anything stupid!"

Even when Yu Feiyuan had beat her, Shu Ning had gritted her teeth to stop herself from crying, but right now the tears were running down her face. "Your mother's been useless; you silly child, it should be your mother protecting you!"

Familial love is probably the most subtle relationship in the world. It cannot be chosen, yet it is complex and intricate. These two simple words encompass love, giving, learning, dedication, sacrifice, control, suppression, violence, mutual affection, support, betrayal, and being divided at heart.

There are family that will give you the very deepest of wounds, yet there are also family who become the sparks that allow us to keep going in the world.

Yu Feiyuan had badly wounded Shu Ning, yet little Yu Shiyin had still been thinking about protecting her mother, even in the darkest of ways.