Chapter 9: Furious Enough to Burst

Chapter 9: Furious Enough to Burst

"Brother, I actually stopped going to school last year."

"Don't send money back home anymore. I'm not at the Su family's place now. When you go back, tell the foreman you're quitting, and by the end of the month, return to the city."

Su Ping panicked. "An'an, where did you go? I thought that as long as I sent money back, they would let you continue studying. Why did you stop?"

Su An didn't hide anything from her brother. He was honest and straightforward; if she didn't tell him directly, he might be deceived by the Su family.

"Brother, the money you sent back wasn't spent on me. The clothes and shoes I wore were the ones Su Jiao threw away. At home, I had to do a lot of work, and my school acceptance letter was given to Su Jiao by Ji Qingqing. They treated me poorly and never gave me enough to eat. Now, I'm already married."

"They sold me for over a thousand in dowry and a job position at the steel factory."

Su Ping clenched his fists and stood up abruptly, with only one thought in his mind.

His sister had been sold.

Back in the countryside, many families sold their daughters for dowries. None of those girls were happy; they all cried bitterly and were beaten.

"Did they sell you? Like how Chen Gui's sister, Xiaohua, was sold off to another family?"

Su Ping grabbed Su An's wrist tightly. "An'an, don't be afraid. I can earn money. Whatever amount they sold you for, I'll pay them back."

"Did they hit you? Did they scold you?"

Su An reassured her brother, who was examining her for injuries.

"No, Brother, I'm okay. Don't worry about me. Look, I can come to see you now. Just don't be deceived by the Su family anymore and stop sending them money. They weren't good to us and even drove Mom away. They are bad people."

Su Ping breathed a sigh of relief and nodded vaguely. "Okay, I won't associate with them. You mustn't get into any trouble. I promised Mom that I would take care of you."

As he spoke, Su Ping's anger surged.

"That's outrageous! Why didn't you tell me? I told you, if they bullied you, you should have written to me. I left my contact number at the mine for you. You could have sent me a telegraph. When I asked you during the New Year, you didn't say anything."

With that, Su Ping grabbed Su An's hand and started to pull her away. "Come on, finish your drink quickly, return the bottle to the shop owner, and I'll go back with you. If they bullied you, I'll beat them to death."

Su An raised her voice and shouted, "Brother, don't be hasty, listen to me."

"Okay, I'm listening," Su Ping calmed down immediately, his big innocent eyes looking at his sister with a wet gaze.

"Brother, it's useless if you go back now. I'm already married. Just listen to me, stop sending money back, and tell the foreman you're quitting by the end of the month and returning to the city. In the future, stay by my side. If you're not there, people will start bullying me again."

Su Ping nodded without hesitation. "Okay, I'll tell Foreman Liu I'm quitting when I return to the mine. In the future, I'll stay by your side and see who dares to bully you."

After convincing her brother, Su An brought up Wang Xiaocui.

"Brother, do you miss Mom? Do you miss Wang Family Village?"

"Yes."

"Then after you return to the city, let's go visit Mom in Wang Family Village, okay?"

Su Ping hung his head and shook it weakly. "I forgot the way back."

Su An looked at her silly big brother and burst out laughing.

The Su family lived in City A, while Wang Family Village was located in a remote mountain village in Yang County, which was part of City A.

Before they came to A City, the two siblings had only been to town a few times and didn’t even know which way the county seat was, let alone A City.

When Wang Xiaocui brought them to find Su Jianjun, they walked more than ten miles of mountain roads, switched from a bullock cart to a bus, and finally a train, before transferring to another bus. After seven or eight transfers, they finally made it to A City.

Plus, Su Ping and Su An were both prone to carsickness, so they were dizzy the whole way. If it weren’t for my memories from my past life, even I might have had trouble finding the way back.

"Brother, I know how to get back. When we have time, we'll go back and visit Mom together."

......

At the Su family's place on the other side, after Su An overturned the table and left, Su Jianjun, wielding a stool, couldn’t catch up with Su An and instead twisted his old waist. This left him fuming so much that he started shouting and smashed two bowls.

Ji Qingqing, biting back her anger, cleaned up the mess. The food was all over the floor, making it inedible. She considered using the leftover rib and mushroom soup from earlier to make do.

But when she checked the stove, the pot was nearly empty. The ribs had been eaten, leaving only chewed bones. Seeing the tooth marks on the rib bones, it was clear how much Su An had enjoyed them, which made Ji Qingqing so angry she almost smashed the pot.

"That ungrateful brat, I really misjudged her all these years. I thought she was an easy pushover, but she turned out to be a wolf cub that doesn’t bark."

After going through all the trouble to buy those ribs and dried mushrooms, she had only made a bowl for Su Lei, and now there was nothing left.

Hearing the sound of pots being slammed in the kitchen, Su Jianjun couldn’t help but ask.

Ji Qingqing walked in with a black face.

"Jianjun, this country bumpkin daughter of yours is really something. She’s got all these bad habits that are impossible to deal with. It’s true what they say, 'it’s hard to guard against a thief in the family.' I was thinking about how hard you’ve been working lately, and after buying two jin of ribs and two liang of mushrooms to make you some nourishing soup, look what happened..."

Ji Qingqing held up the empty pot for Su Jianjun to see the bones.

"Your 'filial' daughter left you some gnawed bones. Hey, it’s bad enough I’m not her real mother, but she doesn’t even care about her real younger brother, Lei. All these years, you’ve given her food and clothes, raised her, and she repays you like this? It’s worse than raising a dog. Do you think she even cares about you?"

"With this kind of attitude, do you think you can rely on them when you’re old? They’re just heartless creatures..."

"After all the effort we put into finding her such a good family, and she turns out to be an ungrateful wretch..."

Su Jianjun, who was already fuming, became even angrier after Ji Qingqing’s outburst. He was so angry he wished he could strangle Su An on the spot.

"The other day when you went to the steel factory to find Zhao Daxing, did he say when he’d be back from his business trip?"

"We need to get rid of her as soon as possible and let her wreak havoc on someone else’s family."

"If it weren’t for what happened with my job at the ceramics factory..."

Ji Qingqing gritted her teeth. "I can’t stand the sight of her for a second longer."