CH 13

In a blink of an eye, the half a month allotted time for paying the debt finally arrived. It was Monday today. Yu Xiao initially intended not to attend school and just stay at home with his mother while waiting for those people to arrive at their door. It was a pity that Mother Yu insisted on sending him to school personally in fear that he would be hurt if he stayed home. In addition, she also asked Hao Ren to keep an eye on him today, and stopped him if he ever went home halfway.

When she saw Hao Ren nodding his head as his response, Mother Yu’s taut nerves finally relaxed. She stayed outside the classroom and only left when the bell indicating the start of the first class rang.

When she got home, Mother Yu’s heart was filled with grief as she thought of how the money she gathered was barely enough to cover the debt. Despite the fact that she performed well at the factory every time, and that she was given permission to get this month and the next month’s salary in advance by the factory manager, the money was still far from adequate. Even after borrowing money from the people she knew, a difference of fifty to sixty yuan still existed.

Under such a condition, instead of giving her a helping hand, the mother-in-law’s family find faults with her everywhere. From time to time, Old Mrs. Yu would knock on their door, saying that she, a daughter-in-law, didn’t know how to be filial to her mother-in-law. She also added that she only knew how to enjoy her life at home and didn’t know how to serve her.

Every people around her was aware that she was about to go crazy just the get the money to pay for the debts. She worked overtime until the sun started to shine just to get more overtime pay. After arriving at home, she will eat a little before going directly to bed to sleep. If her family’s Xiaoxiao didn’t take the initiative to do all the housework in the house on her behalf, she was afraid that things wouldn’t be as easy as of now.

Unfortunately, the mother-in-law’s family chose to ignore it. As for the man of the family, he didn’t go home at all, and it was simply impossible to rely on him. It was already good enough if he didn’t add any more trouble for them, the mother and son.

In the end, the remaining money was finally gathered with the help of her elder sister and elder brother with all the savings from their own respective families and all the dowries her younger sister had just received.

Thinking of the behavior of her natal family, and then at her mother-in-law’s family, she couldn’t stop her heart from turning cold. She still recalled that it was her mother-in-law’s family who wanted this marriage in the first place. At that time, they were treating her so well at the expense that she would become the future daughter-in-law. They would even come to their house to give her some homemade products.

But before a month could pass, they immediately revealed their true faces. Badmouthing her without any shame whether it was in front of her or behind her back, saying that she just took things from their Yu family and only knew how to help her natal family, but not her husband’s family.

The people in the neighborhood were aware of Old Mrs. Yu’s true character, so when the door is closed, they would lament at home how bad Mother Yu’s life was and always questioned the reason why fate let her be tied with such a man.

Of course, Mother Yu was having difficulty but still chose to shut her mouth. Things like this always happened at that time. Marriage was established after meeting on blind dates introduced by an acquaintance once. The husband and wife were basically strangers before getting married.

Although Mother Yu’s family sent someone to inquire about the other party’s situation, Old Mrs. Yu made preparations in advance, so the news sent back was that the other party’s situation was good. She would never expect that it was all but a lie.

At Mother Yu’s side, she was still sighing at her fate when the three men who had come to collect the debts before finally arrived. They straight away entered the house with Yu Jun held in their hands. Seeing this scene, Mother Yu became uneasy for some reason.

“How is it? Did you manage to get all the money?” The oldest of the three men, who was also the person in charge, moved his legs to sit on the chair beside him. Holding a cigarette in hand with his legs crossed carelessly, he asked in a laid-back manner.

Mother Yu quickly pulled out the two hundred yuan cash she prepared from the pocket of her blouse and passed it to him respectfully, “Here it is, exactly two hundred yuan. It should be okay now, right?”

The man in charge flicked the cigarette ash and exchanged glances with one of the other two younger men. The younger man pulled Yu Jun to kneel on the ground. With his eyes on Yu Jun, the man in charge unhurriedly said, “The money this time was the money for the last time’s debt. Let’s now talk about his current debts and how to pay the money this time.”

“The money this time?” A trace of disbelief could be heard in Mother Yu’s voice, “How much does he owe you this time?”

“Oh, not much. It’s about the same as last time, about three hundred yuan.”

“What? Three hundred yuan?” Mother Yu shouted in fright. This time, she already did all kinds of ways just to get the money for the two hundred yuan debt. Now, where is she going to collect that three hundred yuan?

The man in charge saw her flustered appearance, and although a trace of struggle flashed in his eyes, there was nothing he could do. He was just the person appointed to collect debts. Throwing a contemptuous look at Yu Jun, who was currently kneeling on the ground and cowering, he slowly said, “Actually, you don’t need to raise money to pay off the debt.”

“What?” The uneasiness in Mother Yu’s heart became stronger at this point.

“Your man and I have already reached an agreement. As long as you sell your son to us, you won’t need to pay off the debt this time.”

“What? No way!” Mother Yu quickly refused loudly, ignoring the fear inside her chest.

“What do you mean?!” Yu Jun, who was kneeling on the ground, raised his head to look at her ferociously before cursing, “I have raised him and gave him delicious food to eat and water to drink for more than ten years. Why? Now that his help is needed, he can’t repay me for raising him? You bitch, imprint this on your head that I’m the head of the family and this matter is settled like this!”

“No, I don’t agree!” The woman who had always been afraid of Yu Jun, courageously retorted this time, “No matter what, I won’t let you sell Xiaoxiao!”

“Bitch, how dare you contradict me!” If it weren’t for the hands that were restraining him against the ground at this moment, Yu Jun would have rushed to her and give her a few hard slaps. Then, he turned his head to the oldest man, who was also the man in charge and said, “Brother Qiu, don’t listen to this bitch. This matter is settled like this. Look, we’ve already made an agreement.”

The man in charge nodded to the other two younger men before looking again at Yu Jun who was standing there like a servant. He moved his eyes away in disgust, “Since that is the case, then I’ll go come back tomorrow and take that kid away. If anything happens in the middle, you know the consequences!”

“Yes, yes, yes. I know, I know. Brother Qiu, take care. The other two brothers also take care.” Yu Jun nodded and lowered his head to escort the three of them out of the house.

Upon seeing Yu Jun enter the house, hatred covered her eyes. She didn’t open her mouth about his gambling and drinking, or when from time to time, beat them mother and son. But look, he even had the intention of selling Xiaoxiao!

“You bitch! You have the nerve to go against me just now. Are you tired of living?” Yu Jun took out his belt the moment he entered and whipped it hard.

If it was normal times, Mother Yu would just let him beat her without making a sound. But today, the resentment building up inside her heart finally broke out. Xiaoxiao is her only son, and no one is allowed to hurt him!

Mother Yu moved sideways and dodged the incoming whipping of the belt. She directly lifted the stool beside her and smashed it hard on him, “You animal, I’ll fight you today!”

“You fucking bitch, how dare you throw that stool at me? See if I don’t you beat you to death today!” Yu Jun exploded when the stool was thrown over him. The hand holding the belt shook in anger.

Filled with anger and resentment, the two smashed everything in the house into pieces. In the end, Mother Yu was still beaten and collapsed on the floor with blood on her body. Yu Jun kicked her a few more times before ceasing his actions. He moved to the bedroom, still breathing heavily. Afterwards, he pulled the door closed and got on the bed to sleep.

The school bell finally rang. Yu Xiao, who was fidgeting in worry, didn’t have the time to bid goodbye to his friends and ran back home quickly. Just now, his eyelids kept twitching. He was scared that something bad might happen at home.

The moment he walked inside the house, his eyes widened in shock seeing his mother lying on the floor coated with many wounds. He quickly approached his mother, and yelled with trembling voice, “Mom, wake up! Mom!”

“Huh? Xiaoxiao?” Mother Yu slowly opened her eyes, “You’re back.”

“Yes, I’m back, mom.” Yu Xiao carefully supported her to stand up before letting her sit on a chair, “Mom, what do you feel? Are you feeling uncomfortable? Let’s go to the hospital now.”

Mother Yu struggled to lift her hand and waved it, “It’s alright, Xiaoxiao. Mom is fine, just a little dizzy.”

“What? Dizzy?” Could it be his mother suffered from a concussion? Yu Xiao became deeply worried. “Mom, let’s go to the hospital now.”

“It’s fine, Xiaoxiao.” Mother Yu became distressed when she thought of the expenses if they really went to a hospital now, especially now that the family still had debts to pay off.

“Mom, did he lift his hand on you again?” Yu Xiao clenched his hand with so much force, “Why did he hit you again?”

Mother Yu’s eyes became red in silence. She pulled Yu Xiao into her arms and hugged him tightly, “Xiaoxiao, my poor Xiaoxiao.”

“What’s all the noise! Interrupting my sleep, are you looking for a fight?” Yu Jun harshly pulled open the door. His eyes brightened up when he saw Yu Xiao, “Little bastard, you’re back. Very good, very good!”

This was the first time for Yu Xiao to see this man speak to him with such a good expression. He couldn’t help but feel strangeness in his heart.

As soon as Mother Yu saw him coming out of the room, her hands hugged Yu Xiao tightly, “Don’t even think about it, I won’t agree to it!”

“It doesn’t matter whether you agree or not. Anyway, I’m the one who has the final say in this family!” Yu Jun fumed at her words.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Yu Xiao pursed his lips and thought inside, this was the first time he saw his mother talking back to that man.

“Good, it’s now your time to repay me!”

“What?”

Mother Yu choked up and opened her mouth to say, “This beast, he’s planning to sell you as payment for his debts.”

“What?” Yu Xiao widened with disbelief written on his face. A tiger might not eat his own cub, yet this man actually…

Scanning his eyes around, Yu Xiao realized that his mother fought with this man head-on just for him. As he looked at the wounds on his mother’s body, Yu Xiao became so angry that his eyes turned red. He glared at the man and gnashed his teeth before saying, “You bastard, I will definitely not let you go!”

“Little bastard, how dare you scold me?” Yu Jun casually picked up the cup on the side and threw it.

Mother Yu immediately turned around and took the hit with her back. Yu Xiao quickly reacted and asked her nervously, “Mom, are you okay?”

“Mom, hiss, it’s fine.” With her face turning white, Mother Yu replied with a smile.

The anger in Yu Xiao’s heart started to rise rapidly. He broke free from his mother’s arms and rushed towards the man, “Ah! I’ll fight you! You bastard!”

It was a pity that he forgot that he was still in a child’s body now. Without much surprise, he was quickly restrained by Yu Jun. The man’s fist slammed on him harshly. Seeing this, Mother Yu almost went crazy and quickly stood up and ran in his direction. The three of them fought into a ball.

In the dead of night, Mother Yu pulled Yu Xiao, who was beaten and had wounds all over his body, into her arms. She made up her mind in her heart. With a crying voice, she asked him, “Xiaoxiao, if, if your mother and your father divorce, will you…”

“I’ll be with you, mom.” Yu Xiao answered before she could even finish her sentence.

“But then, you…” would only have your mother, a single-parent family, and you would be looked down upon. Mother Yu swallowed the rest of her words.

Yu Xiao looked at her with firm eyes, “I know, but mom, I don’t want you to be beaten by him again.” Furthermore, as time advanced, there would be more and more single-parent families, and no one would find them strange and gossip about them like now.

“Xiaoxiao, my Xiaoxiao!” Mother Yu burst into tears, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

I’m sorry that mother can’t give you a complete family. I’m sorry that you have to be beaten and scolded for a long time. I’m sorry for letting you have a bad childhood. I’m sorry, Xiaoxiao!

Yu Xiao gently patted the back of his mother. He was aware that getting a divorce in this day and age would cause a large commotion and would make them the talk of the town. In addition, based on the character of that man, he would not agree to a divorce easily. It looked like he had to ask for that person’s help…