Free Web NovelChapter 44: Chapter 21: Conclusion (Part 2)
’It’s in my nature to nip any danger in the bud... but to act against women and children... especially when they haven’t shown any real hostility yet...’
A flicker of conflict crossed Fang Rui’s eyes. ’Forget it. I’ll go take a look first, then decide what to do next.’
...
The Song Family’s Home.
The night was cool. The moonlight, as clear and cold as water, flowed slowly into the room, filling it with a desolate chill.
"Mama, WAAAH, Papa’s dead!" Xiaohua bawled. frёewebnoѵēl.com
"Was it Fang Ling’s family? I heard them! They said it was Fang Ling’s older brother..."
Xiaoqiu was only seven, but he was already old enough to understand some things. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and his eyes filled with hatred.
"No, it has nothing to do with the Fang Family."
Auntie Cai Hua pulled her two children close and murmured, "Don’t hate. You mustn’t hate. And most of all, don’t be like your father and try to harm people... Do you understand?"
"I... I understand," Xiaohua answered, choking back a sob.
But Xiaoqiu said nothing. He just snorted and turned his head away.
"Xiaoqiu..."
Auntie Cai Hua’s expression turned severe. She grabbed Xiaoqiu and forced him to face her, her voice rising to almost a roar as she demanded, "Do you understand?"
"I understand," Xiaoqiu finally said.
"Sigh."
Seeing Xiaoqiu’s reaction, Auntie Cai Hua sighed in disappointment. A mother knows her son best; how could she not see that while he’d obeyed with his mouth, his heart was still defiant?
"So be it! So be it!"
In an instant, she went limp, as if her very bones had been removed. She shook her head and said calmly, "Fine. Since you want to know, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you the whole story from beginning to end..."
"...Your father stole the Fang Family’s grain. In this world, grain is life... And he pulled out scissors. He was going to kill someone, it’s just that Brother Rui of the Fang Family was too capable, so he didn’t succeed... Besides, the judgment came from the Government Office..."
"Even if you must hate someone, you should hate the Tiger Gang, you should hate this world. What does it have to do with the Fang Family? We’re all just miserable people trying to get by."
This heart-to-heart talk, laid out so plainly, left Xiaoqiu’s eyes filled with confusion. He had listened, but now he didn’t know who he was supposed to hate.
Auntie Cai Hua kept talking, not caring if her children could understand. Or rather, after such a disaster, they had to understand. They had to grow up fast.
"Honestly, all this talk of hatred and revenge is pointless. The reality is this: how are we going to survive, with me raising you two alone..."
"Your father is gone. There’s no man of the house. Our grain is almost gone... This is how a family falls apart... What are we going to do?"
"And we still have to pay the regular fee to the Tiger Gang..."
Auntie Cai Hua seemed to be speaking to her children, but she also seemed to be murmuring to herself.
These were problems she couldn’t solve, so it was impossible for her two children to offer any answers. In fact, the bleak reality of it all stunned them into silence.
Xiaohua was so scared she stopped crying. Xiaoqiu’s eyes went blank, the blow having crushed his spirit completely.
"We can’t stay in Willow Alley!"
After a long silence, Auntie Cai Hua finally made up her mind. "It’s chaos and war outside the city, we absolutely can’t go there. The only option is to go to East City and take shelter with your grandmother!"
Of course, this wasn’t necessarily a good option. A widowed daughter returning to her parents’ home with children in tow—it was easy to imagine the scorn she would face.
Life over there was just as difficult. Showing up with two children was no guarantee of survival.
But it was a path, nonetheless!
Auntie Cai Hua was a woman of action. She immediately began to pack. "You two help as well. We’ll pack through the night... We’ll leave Willow Alley tomorrow, before dawn..."
...
’It’s good that they’re leaving. I won’t have to make a difficult choice.’
Fang Rui thought to himself.
Yes, he had been standing outside the window, listening from beginning to end.
Auntie Cai Hua told her children not to hate the Fang Family—perhaps she was sincere, or perhaps she just didn’t want them to live their lives consumed by hatred.
Their family was leaving Willow Alley—more than anything, it was simply to survive.
Whatever the reasons, these two factors made Fang Rui abandon his thoughts of killing them.
Otherwise...
There was no ’otherwise’—in this world, until you’re truly faced with a situation, who knows what choice you’ll really make?
’This dog-eat-dog world can always push a person to become neither human nor ghost... This time, the crisis might have passed. But next time, what choice will I make?’
Fang Rui had no answer. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
He sighed quietly to himself, melted into the shadows, and left without a sound.
...
「The next morning.」
The neighbors were startled to discover the Song Family’s door wide open. Auntie Cai Hua, along with her two children, Xiaoqiu and Xiaohua, were gone.
Even their few valuable possessions, like their bedding, were gone.
A group of neighbors gathered outside, muttering amongst themselves.
"Where did the Song Family go?"
"Who knows? Looks like they packed up and left on their own... Probably went to stay with relatives."
"That makes sense. The Song Family lost its breadwinner, and they still have to pay the regular fees..."
"Even if they leave Willow Alley, how much better can it be? Never mind the hardship of relying on others, just tell me—where in Changshan County Town aren’t there gangs?"
"Sigh, we’re all just miserable people..."
...
Some among them harbored darker thoughts, suspecting it had something to do with the Fang Family, but of course, they didn’t dare say it out loud.
Fang Rui knew exactly what they were thinking, but he didn’t care.
After the commotion died down and the crowd dispersed, he left with the Third Lady.
The Third Lady suddenly asked, "Brother Rui, with the Song Family ending up like this, has your anger been appeased?"
"Appeased?"
Fang Rui was taken aback for a moment before he understood. He shook his head with a wry smile. "We’re all just miserable people. What is there to hate?"
He wasn’t lying. He truly felt no hatred. Whether it was turning Song Dashan over to the authorities to intimidate the neighbors, or eavesdropping at the Song Family’s home last night to guard against danger...
From beginning to end, it had all been for the sake of self-preservation.
"That’s true."
The Third Lady nodded slightly, though it was impossible to tell if she believed him.
"There’s one more thing. Aren’t you going to explain?"
She rolled her eyes prettily. "Brother Rui, you already reached Entry Grade a month ago when you helped me move that water urn, didn’t you? And you claimed you got some prescription that healed your body? You really kept me in the dark!"
"Haha, well, I didn’t really have a choice."
Fang Rui rubbed his nose in embarrassment. "In this world, how can a person be at ease without a few tricks up their sleeve?"
"That aside,"
He suddenly looked at the Third Lady. "Third Sister, aren’t you the same? In such a chaotic world, you’re telling me you don’t have any tricks of your own?"
Her husband, a Military Leader in the county’s reserve forces, had been away from the city for so long. With the Third Lady’s looks, the fact that no one had harassed her clearly meant she wasn’t so simple.
The Third Lady, of course, wouldn’t answer directly. Playing her woman’s prerogative, she said coquettishly, "What tricks could I possibly have? When I run into trouble, I’ll have to rely on my dear Brother Rui to pull me through!"
"Of course," Fang Rui agreed readily.
He said that, but he would still weigh the situation. If it was within his power and wouldn’t cause him any major trouble, he would help.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t bother.
And this was only because he had a good relationship with the Third Lady’s family. As for the other neighbors in Willow Alley, who were mere nodding acquaintances, Fang Rui couldn’t care less if they lived or died.
It wasn’t that he lacked compassion, but that in this world, there were too many injustices. He couldn’t possibly deal with them all.
The prevailing social attitude was that it was better to have one less problem than one more.
Don’t believe it?
Just take a walk outside. Every day, countless injustices played out on the streets, and any passersby would just quicken their pace and hurry away.
...
