CH 5

With the doctor’s repeated assurance and Yu Xiao’s persuasion, Yu Xiao’s mother finally discharged him from the hospital after staying here for almost two weeks. After packing up, she took Yu Xiao to thank the doctors and nurses who took care of him, and went home.

Yu Xiao’s mother initially wanted to pay for a car to get home as she was worried about Yu Xiao’s health, but was stopped by Yu Xiao. He was not ignorant about their family’s financial situation and knew that paying a car needs a lot of money.

Seeing her son acting sensible, Yu Xiao’s mother felt both emotional and sad. If she hadn’t married such a man back then, although her family’s Xiaoxiao will not be better than now, at least they can live a life that is not worse like now.

A sigh escaped from her lips as she thought of that useless man. In their time, men and women were introduced by a matchmaker or relatives at the age of seventeen or eighteen. It doesn’t matter if they love each other or not, after the first meeting, the marriage was quickly settled.

This led to many unfortunate events as men and women didn’t know each other at all before marrying. They simply listened to other people’s talk about how good their marriage partner is and so on. It was only after marrying that they discovered what the other people said was entirely not true.

Yu Xiao’s parents were also married in this way. After marriage, Yu Xiao’s mother found that the other party was a useless man who only knows how to drink, play, and beat his own wife, completely unlike of what he portrayed when outside the house. Despite that, divorcing never crossed her mind, especially when she had Yu Xiao.

After all, in this relatively feudal society, if a man and a woman divorce, it is the woman who will suffer. The woman then will be labeled as a broken shoes, promiscuous, immoral, and so on. Then the child will also be bullied, others would call him a wild child or an unwanted child that no one wants. So for her son, Yu Xiao’s mother gritted her teeth and persisted. She did all kinds of things just to keep their marriage.

But sometimes, as a woman, the thought of divorcing her husband and living a good life with her child would occasionally flash through her mind. But it was only fleeting.

“Mom, let me help you carry those things. You didn’t give me anything to carry, but you took so many things by yourself. I will be worried.” Yu Xiao took another look at the big and small bags beside her and looked at her sweating appearance, with her hair sticking to her forehead due to sweat. He stretched out his hand with the intent of carrying the bags by himself.

Yu Xiao’s mother shook her head decisively and refused, “No, you’re just discharged from the hospital. The doctor said that although your body is fine, the root of the illness is still there. You can’t overexert yourself, so don’t bother about carrying these things. Don’t worry, I can carry these things by myself. Besides, they are not heavy. It’s okay, Xiaoxiao.”

“But, mom…” Yu Xiao still wanted to open his mouth but Mother Yu directly cut him off by pretending not to hear anything. Anyway, she already decided that she will not let her son do the work.

Yu Xiao’s verbal request didn’t work out. He stretched out his hand and directly grabbed the bags, but stopped when Mother Yu gave him a stern look. She said angrily: “Xiaoxiao, are you disregarding your mother’s words?”

“No, I didn’t disregard your words.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I, I just want to help you.”

“Xiaoxiao, listen carefully to mom. If mom said that she can handle it, then she can really handle it. Your health is not good now, so you should rest more. Mom knows that you love mom, but mom also loves you. Be good, don’t make mom feel distress, okay?”

“Hmm.” He looked at his mother’s firm appearance and had no choice but to agree reluctantly.

“Alright, good child. Let’s go, we’ll be home soon.”

“Okay.” After arriving at home, he will meet his father once again after coming back from the future. He wondered what kind of ‘meeting ceremony’ that man would give him this time.

“You two bastards, do you still know how to come back?” When the door opened and before Mother Yu cab react, a piece of bowl flew towards her face.

With his quick senses, Yu Xiao immediately saw the flying bowl. He gritted his teeth and pushed his mother with his little remaining strength, just in time when the bowl was about to hit her. Both of them felt their heart beating wildly for a moment. If that flying bowl really hit her, her head would definitely bleed.

Yu Xiao never thought that his father would give him such a big ‘meeting ceremony’. It was impossible for him not to know about his hospitalization, but instead of visiting him to the hospital, he acted righteously the moment he and his mother got home. What a father and husband he is!

“What are you looking at, little bastard? I raised you and gave you clothes and food. But you’re just too fragile, aren’t you? You stayed at the hospital for so long and spent all the money at home. You came to this world just to be a debt collector, aren’t you?”

Seeing Yu Xiao’s dark eyes staring straight at him, Yu Jun felt guilty for some reason. But in the next second, he reverted back to his usual self. He felt that he must’ve been dizzy after drinking.

Yu Xiao stepped forward and wanted to retort a few words, but was pulled back by Mother Yu quietly. Seeing her shaking her head, Yu Xiao fell silent. He knew that his mother did it for his own good. A child like him stood no chance against an adult, moreso because he just came out of hospital.

Inside, Yu Xiao secretly made up his mind: He will become stronger as soon as possible, and take away his mother from this hellish place to live a better life!

“Yo! I’m talking to you! Are you deaf or stupid, don’t you know how to squeak?” Yu Jun became furious when he saw that he was just standing there silently with his head bowed. His heart was filled with unhappiness. Standing up directly and walking to his side, he raised his hand. Obviously, he intended to slap Yu Xiao’s ear fiercely.

The moment Mother Yu saw it, she quickly stepped forward and pulled Yu Xiao into her arms, before turning around at the same time. The man’s palm hit her hard. Yu Xiao wanted to break free, but was hugged by her tighter.

“Okay, okay. You bitch, you have learned to protect this little bastard, right? Good, it’s really good. Then I will let you protect him!” As Yu Jun looked at the appearance of mother and son hugging each other tightly, the anger in his heart intensified. He roughly pulled out his belt and whipped Mother Yu’s back again and again.

Listening to the muffled sound of beating, Yu Xiao’s eyes became hot and tears poured down on his face. At the same time, a ruthless look emerged in his eyes as he clenched his teeth to prevent himself from crying. He knew that if he cried at this moment, it would not help his mother at all, instead it would make that man excited, making him hit his mother harder and harder.

It was not surprising that this useless man who fears the strong and bullies the weak will exert his authority at his own home, as he was always looked down upon by everyone outside. Everytime he suffers injustice, loses money in gambling, or is ridiculed by others outside, his mood will turn for the worse. As a result, he would beat Mother Yu and if Yu Xiao cried, he would hit Mother Yu harder. He was doing it to regain his self-esteem and dignity at home.

At last, the sound of beating gradually weakened and Mother Yu knew that the beating and scolding was about to end. Her heart that was beating fiercely finally calmed down. The wound on her back was stinging in pain, but fortunately her Xiaoxiao was safe, it was all worth it.

“Go, I’m hungry. Hurry up and cook! What are you dawdling for? Are you deaf and didn’t hear what I say?” Yu Jun stopped his beating breathlessly. After that, he turned around and walked to the chair beside him, and sat down on it.

When Mother Yu heard this, she nodded quickly and headed to the direction of the kitchen. But before she could take a few steps, she was stopped again by the man.

“Come here! These things you left at the door, what do you think you should do with it?”

“I, I’ll clean it up immediately.”

“Mom, you go ahead. Leave the matter of cleaning to me.” When he saw his mother’s situation, he immediately took a step forward to stop Mother Yu from cleaning the luggage they brought back. He pointed to the kitchen and said: “Mom, you can go and cook.”

“But, Xiaoxiao…” Mother Yu glanced at him worriedly before glancing at the kitchen, hesitating for a moment. She was worried that You Xiao would be exhausted because of this. At the same time, she was also worried that Yu Jun would hit the two of them if she didn’t speed up her cooking.

“What are you two talking about? Are you deliberately being lazy? Believe it or not, I will beat you again!” When Yu Jun saw that the two of them were whispering in the corner, he shouted and slammed his fist hard on the table.

“Mom, you go quickly. Don’t worry, I won’t overexert my body. Quickly go now.” Taking advantage of the time when Yu Jun was still shouting, he gently pushed Mother Yu to the kitchen and showed her a comforting smile.

Mother Yu struggled for a while, but chose to cook first. If can finish cooking early, she can come back and help Xiaoxiao clean up the luggage.

Seeing that his mother went to cook, Yu Xiao lowered his head and looked at the several large and small bags laying on the ground. He started to squat down and slowly check what was inside, and put them away one by one.

“Little bastard, don’t you know how to move quickly? Did I raise you for nothing? What are you waiting for?”

Along with that man’s scolding, Yu Xiao put things inside the bag away little by little with great effort. But because he was just a ten-year-old kid now who had a short stature, and also because he had just been discharged at the hospital, he needed to use a stool just to place some things. After a while, his forehead was covered in sweat.

Finally, he was able to clean up all the things before Mother Yu could finish cooking. Wiping off the sweat on his forehead, a smile uncontrollably bloomed on his face. He doesn’t know what he was like when he was just ten years old in his last life, but now he was happy that he can do it all over again with his mother. Of course, he will definitely spend more time with her in the future, and he promised that he will be son that his mother can rely on.

“Is the food still not ready? Stinky bitch, what are you doing? You’re so slow. Are you happy that I’m starving now? Hurry up, do you hear me?” Yu Jun shouted deliberately to find fault.

“Here it is, here it is.” Mother Yu walked to the table with brisk steps, put down the dishes in her hands one by one, and then went back to get a bowl of rice and also put a pair of chopsticks in front of Yu Jun.

Yu Jun picked up the chopsticks with a frown and then flipped through the dishes. Suddenly, he slapped the chopsticks on the table. “Bastard! Do you think you are serving a beggar? How dare you give me these things, are you tired of living?”

“No, it’s not.” Mother Yu rubbed her hands nervously and replied carefully. “This… there is not much money at home, so…”

“So you just give me these things, is that what you want to say?” Yu Jun turned his head to Yu Xiao and yelled: “Little bastard, if it wasn’t for you, how could I eat such a thing? I’ll strangled you to death, hum! What are you looking at?”

Mother Yu pulled Yu Xiao’s clothes and signaled him not to bother with Yu Jun. She did so because she knew that he would only suffer in the end. After Yu Xiao saw the worried look on her eyes, his eyes darkened. He silently lowered his head to listen to the man’s cursing.

The more Yu Jun scolded, the more the unpleasant feeling in his heart grew bigger. In the end, he got up and pushed away the mother and son angrily and walked outside in a huff before slamming the door loudly.

Yu Xiao quickly supported his stumbling mother who was pushed away by him, and moved his head to look at the door that was slammed tightly by him. A trace of hatred fleeted across his eyes.