CH 15.4

Chapter 15.4 – Rescued

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After Li Chuan had gotten off the bus, Yun Fei turned to face Su Qin with an aggrieved look.

She felt particularly laughable seeing Feifei’s aggrieved look that she reached out to touch his small head, “He didn’t mean it.”

Yun Fei pouted with puffed cheeks and muttered, “That’s not necessarily true.”

The bus arrived in Yunyang City at around 4 in the afternoon.

Since Su Qin and Yun Fei had swapped seats, the big boy stuck his face on the glass window, looking out with novelty. He couldn’t help sighing with the exquisite architecture here.

Passing through the downtown area and going up the flyover bend, the skyscrapers around and the never-ending flow of vehicles could be seen.

Yun Fei has never left the village. At this moment, he was like a transmigrated ancient man who was full of curiosity about everything.

Upon arriving at the bus station, Li Chuan and Zhang Cheng sent Su Qin and Yun Fei’s mother and son home respectively.

Since the police had notified Su Qin’s parents, they were already waiting at home.

Li Chuan and the police sent Su Qin home then left after staying for a while.

Su Qin was not surprised at all seeing the little boy in her mother’s arms once she returned home. Her father brought this little boy back after she went missing.

The little boy was a child conceived by her father with a mistress, who died of illness several years ago and the little boy had been living with his maternal grandmother. After Su Qin went missing, her father brought the little boy home and her mother loved this little boy like her own flesh and blood to deflect the pain of losing her daughter.

When Su Qin came home in her previous lifetime, the little boy was already 9 years old and he never acknowledged her as his older sister. And her parents even gave all their love to this little boy.

When she wanted to go back to school, her parents forbade her and arranged blind dates for her, and asked her to go out to work as they had long wanted her to leave home.

She still remembered her mother’s argument.

“Su-su, not that Mom is trying to persuade you. Although the man was married, he has a car and a house, and moreover he doesn’t disdain you. You’re already 20 years old and have been abducted for so many years, and you still want to attend the senior high school. Even if you are not embarrassed, Mom still minded. Listen to Mom, don’t waste time studying, get married early, have children and come out early to work to earn money for your little brother’s tuition.”

F*ck, Su Qin still feels disgusted to this day with that argument.

Having dinner around the table with her family after Su Qin came home, no one spoke.

Halfway through dinner, Su Qin asked her mother, “Mom, when can I go back to school?”

Her mother, Wang Lin, was taken aback. Glancing at her husband, she put aside her bowl and chopsticks and said, “Su-su ah, now that you have a younger brother, who has to attend kindergarten, our family probably can’t afford to pay for two children. Since you have not been to school for a long time and the final exam is about to take place, you probably can’t keep up with the curriculum too. How about … you don’t attend school anymore. You can go to work in those coastal cities, where wages are said to be very high there.”

Su Qin, “ ….. “

She just knew it would be this outcome.

Su Qin did not refute her mother’s words. She put down her bowl and chopsticks then said, “Mom, I’m your biological daughter and you are obligated to raise me to adulthood. How about this, you give me the sum of the 3 years of senior high school’s fees and I will move out, then you both can pretend that you have never given birth to a daughter like me, how about that?”

Her father, Su Zhengguo, slammed the bowl down heavily on the table with a loud ‘bang’, which scared the little boy into wailing a ‘Wa’ sound.

Her mother picked the little boy up and put him on her lap to coax him gently.

Su Zhengguo yelled at her, “Wretch, what did you say?”

Feeling chill in her heart, Su Qin sneered, “Wow, how long have I disappeared that you guys brought back a son? This is truly awesome.”

Su Qin was missing for 5 years in her previous lifetime and returned home at the age of 20. Her relatives and neighbors pointed fingers of blame at her that her parents felt humiliated, so they tried ways to ‘kick’ her out of the house, since what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.

Su Zhengguo, “What’s with your manner of speaking? You were abducted to the countryside to be someone’s wife and considered married. As a married girl, you still want to attend school? Even if you have no sense of shame, your mother and I still care about our prestige!”

Curling her lips with a sneer, Su Qin looked at him, “Dad, it turns out that daughter in your heart is never worth mentioning?”

Wang Lin pulled her husband, gesturing him to say nothing, she after all is their biological daughter.

Since Su Zhengguo is also short-tempered, he spoke angrily, “You should have listened to me back then, then this money-losing commodity[1] would not have been born!”

Su Qin continued to be engrossed with her dinner and was silent for a long time before she said, “Okay, I’ll go out to work. The girl, who was rescued with me this time, is also in a coastal city, so I can go look for her. The ticket from Yunyang to there is about two hundred eighty. I need to rent a room and also expenses once I reach there, you give me a sum of money. To avoid relatives and friends back-mouthing and making you guys lose face, I will leave tomorrow.”

Wang Lin felt relieved to see her agree to go out to work and asked her softly, “That girl, is she reliable?”

Su Qin looked at her mother rather mockingly.

What can be done if she is not reliable?

Hearing her say so, Su Zhengguo calmed down too and said, “We don’t have much money, we can only give you 1,000 yuan.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” After Su Qin finished the last bite of her meal, she got up and said, “That’s settled then, I’ll leave tomorrow since I’m afraid of being back-mouthed too. I’ll go pack my things in the room, you guys have the money ready and I’ll come out to get it later.”

The husband and wife looked at each other in blank dismay as they watched their daughter walk into the room.

Wang Lin said, “Zhengguo, do you feel that our daughter has become much more mature? Is it too much of us to do this?”

Su Zhengguo took out a cigarette, lit it and told his wife, “Hurry up with the meals then clear up and get the money for Su-su. It’s good for her to leave Yunyang to avoid the relatives and neighbors from gossiping.”

Wang Lin nodded, thinking that her husband had a point.

At five o’clock the next morning, Su Qin left home with her bags and money before her parents got up.

Wang Lin was the first to wake up and saw the letter her daughter left on the table, her eyes couldn’t help but reddened.

She is, after all, her biological daughter and the flesh that fell off her body, so it’s bogus not to feel distress.

She probably won’t be able to see her for many years after such farewell. While she was emotionally sad, she turned to look at her husband and another woman’s son, and her heart felt even more dejected.

Fortunately the woman is dead and this little boy is now her son. Thinking about it this way, she didn’t seem to feel that sad anymore.

Fortunately, she still has a son.

Su Qin didn’t leave Yunyang, but rented a single room in the old city area.

The location of this district was remote and the single room she rented was on the top floor, which was cramp and gloomy. The rent was 120 yuan which she still could afford at this moment.

Putting down her luggage, Su Qin simply cleaned up her little den. She brought the beddings from home, so that she wouldn’t need to buy new ones and kitchen utensils were slightly cheaper to buy from the nearby wholesale market.

She was now in her first year of senior high school and she had learned all the senior high school curriculum in her previous lifetime, which were all engraved in her mind. She wanted to take a two-year break from school first to earn enough for her and Yun Fei’s tuition fees, as it wasn’t too late to return two years later.

After settling down, Su Qin went to the nearby commercial street to look for a job. She wanted to find a job providing fashion styles assistance.

In recent years, there are many 15 or 16 years old girls working and no one will treat her as a minor. Su Qin visited many clothing stores and finally chose a clothing store called “Lovestruck”.

She chose this clothing store for two reasons.

First, the lady boss is young enough.

Second, the lady boss has a good eye in selection since the clothes in the store will not be too difficult to sell.

It was now 2006 and Su Qin’s home was stacked with fashion magazines of various eras in her previous lifetime. If she remembers correctly, double-breasted dolly shirts, pleated cuffs clothing and flared jeans will be popular this summer.

The clothes in other stores were quite mediocre, with no sense of design and fashionable elements. Only the clothes in this store have kept pace with all the fashionable elements of 2006.

This store just started business without a large storefront and also lacks patronage. Compared  to other clothing stores, this store is relatively deserted.

It’s now April and the weather is warming up. There are people wearing down-jackets and sweaters on the street, while this lady boss has already put on short-sleeved midriff and flared jeans.

With a headful of explosive curly hair, the lady boss sat on a plastic stool and sized up the unsophisticated Su Qin with her legs crossed, and asked, “The store next door is hiring people too and has a better patronage. Our store is hardly patronized, why didn’t you go next door but come here?”

Though Su Qin dressed unsophiscatedly, she looked indifferently calm and at ease. She revealed a decent customer-service’s smile, “I’ve seen last month’s [Vogue], your store has closely copied the many fashionable styles in the magazine. I believe that our store business will be pretty good after half a month.”

“Hey, you, this little girl even read [Vogue]?

The lady boss was impressed with her. She didn’t expect this unsophisticated little girl in front of her to actually read that kind of international fashion magazine.

Just based on this little unsophisticated girl’s appreciation of her vision in selection, the lady boss immediately decided on Su Qin and offered her a basic salary of 800 with commissions and lunches, then let her come to work the day after tomorrow.

The lady boss asked her, “Oh by the way, do you have an ID? Go across the street and duplicate a copy for me.”

“Yes.” Although Su Qin is a minor, she has already gotten her ID card when she turned 15.

Once her job and lodging were settled, Su Qin took the address given by the police to go find Yun Fei and Yun Qin.

Crossing from the eastern part of the city to the western part, she arrived at an old laborers’ community.

This was a dormitory building that was previously allocated to the employees of a former state-owned electronics factory. Many retired elderly live here and Yun Qin’s grandmother is no exception.

Arriving at door 301, Su Qin rang the doorbell, but it was a young woman of about 30 who came to open the door.

The woman asked her, “Who are you looking for?”

Su Qin looked inside and asked her, “I’m here to find Sister Yun Qin, is she here?”

“Qin-qin ah, she’s not here. She left with her son.”

Su Qin asked, “Then, do you know where they have gone to?”

The woman shook her head, “I don’t know. They probably would never come back again.

[1] 赔钱货 (Péiqián huò) – an old derogatory term for girls because girls couldn’t go out to earn money and her family had to prepare dowry when she got married, hence the name.