Chapter 781: Feng Jingjing (Side Story)

Feng Jingjing often has a dream, in which she is locked in a dark room, no matter how much she struggles or shouts, no one pays attention to her.

The room is full of a musty smell, and there’s the sound of mice squeaking in the corners.

Especially when looking out the window, as night slowly falls, the fear in her heart, like the darkness, gradually engulfs her.

She stares at the glimmer of light in the window glass, which is eventually swallowed, and she falls into boundless despair.

The only thought is hoping someone will open that door...

............

She has a very good friend named Ningning.

Her mother never allowed her to make friends; her mother said that these city kids are cunning and look down on those who come from the countryside, and even if they befriend her, it’s not sincere.

But her mother also told her to get along well with those classmates and not to anger those so-called city people.

People from the countryside don’t even have the right to argue with city people about right and wrong; being born in the countryside is just wrong.

She had always firmly believed her mother’s words until she met Ningning.

At first, she thought Ningning was just like her, no, even worse than her.

She heard that her mother was also from the countryside, and her father abandoned her and her mother.

When she first received this news, Feng Jingjing even felt a bit of secret joy.

Ever since she and her mother came to her father’s side, her mother constantly reminded her that those children are different from her, they are all superior to her.

Ningning was the first similar person she met in this strange city.

They quickly became good friends.

But she soon discovered that Ningning really was different from her.

Even though her father abandoned her and her mother, her mother really loved her.

Not only her mother, but even her aunt and uncle really, really liked her.

Oh yes, her aunt and uncle were her father’s colleagues, and Feng Jingjing often ran into them in the compound; Ningning’s aunt was a very beautiful and capable woman.

She was the most beautiful and most capable woman she’d ever seen.

But her mother didn’t like her; from the first time they saw her in Northwest, her mother didn’t like her.

Her mother often said bad things about that pretty aunt.

Sly, snobbish, looking down on people from the countryside.

After she learned about Ningning’s relationship with them, she stopped associating with Ningning for a long time.

She was afraid she was just like her mother said, a child unaware of the adult world’s ways, that’s why she couldn’t see the pretty aunt’s malicious intentions or Ningning’s intentions.

She lost her only friend at school and could only watch other classmates play together alone every day.

Even when a kind classmate called her to join them, it would scare her to flee.

She didn’t deserve to be friends with city people, not even with Ningning.

But she longed for friends so much, watching Ningning approach, seeing her sun-like smile.

Whether with ill intentions or not, she unknowingly accepted her again.

She thought, just this once, she wouldn’t listen to her mother.

She buried all these thoughts in her heart.

Every day she looked forward to seeing her, afraid of saying something that might upset her, so often times, when they were together, it was the other person talking and her listening.

Ningning spoke of how her grandmother also disliked her for being a girl and didn’t like her and her mom.

Later, her uncle and aunt stood up for them, and her father, to prevent her mother from divorcing him, hid Ningning away.

Ningning too was kept in a dark room for a long time until her little aunt found her.

Ningning said that when her little aunt broke in and sunlight streamed into the room, at that moment, she felt her whole world lit up.

Feng Jingjing looked at the door in the distance, Ningning’s words repeated over and over in her mind.

She too hoped someone would help her open that door, just like Ningning’s aunt did.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, so much so that her eyelids grew heavy, and the sounds of the world drifted further and further away from her.

So long that she only felt her wishes were a luxury.

Finally, there was movement outside the door, and she heard a familiar voice.

The sunlight poured in, and a large and small silhouette at the door, backs to the light, she couldn’t make out their features, yet they matched the figure replayed in her mind hundreds of times.

She brought the sunlight that illuminated her world.

...............

Dad promised to avenge her, to ensure those who bullied her would receive just punishment, and that from now on he would protect her well.

Feng Jingjing wanted to say that she had long grown accustomed to what those people did to her, even before starting school.

Because her mother’s treatment of her was even worse than theirs.

But she didn’t say it; she knew her mother was also someone to be pitied.

Back in her hometown, her grandmother often cursed them as jinxes, saying her mother was a big jinx, and she was a little jinx.

She knew it was because she was a girl.

Her grandmother always preferred boys, even if those boys were less sensible and obedient than she was, even if her uncle’s family already had brothers and cousins, her grandmother still wanted her dad to have a son.

Grandma often said, dad was the most capable among her three sons, the most accomplished in their village, that they raised him into the best.

Yet, her existence extinguished dad’s lineage.

She still remembered the look in her grandmother’s eyes, a gaze filled with hatred that wished to strangle her.

Her mother must have known grandma’s thoughts and never left her alone with grandma.

Even when going to the field to work, she would carry her on her back.

One side was her daughter, born from ten months of pregnancy, the other side was her grandmother’s torment and pressure.

For a time, her mother didn’t even dare to sleep, constantly feeling that everyone around them wanted to harm them, staying up all night until they were brought to her father’s side.

She thought that once they reached her father’s side, their good days would come.

Then Feng Jingjing discovered that her mother had turned into another grandmother.

The new environment made her mother extremely self-conscious.

Originally, her mother had married her father before he went to college, and after he got into college, her mother worried he would look down on her.

Upon reaching her father’s workplace, her mother felt even more inferior and anxious due to the gap between her, her father, and those around them.

She tried hard to belittle her, transferring her own inferiority and fears to her daughter.

Moreover, she belittled her father, reminding him that he came from the countryside, as if by doing so, he and she could stand on the same level ground, telling him there’s no difference between him and her, reducing her own inferiority.

...............

Dad sent mom back to the countryside, removing her unwillingness and grievances along with her.

Ningning came to see her again and spoke about her brother this and that.

Still in her cheerful and optimistic manner.

She knew about her brother, back when Zhang Ningning... no, she later called herself Qin Ningning, and also said she could be called Jia Ningning.

Always having Jia Dad on her lips.

She said that was the new dad her mom found for her.

When she first heard this, Feng Jingjing was worried for Ningning.

She knew what that meant, her mom remarried, and she’d have a stepdad.

Back in her hometown, elders would often scare children saying your parents don’t want you and will find you a stepdad and stepmom.

Ningning got a stepdad, and in the future, there’d be new brothers and sisters, would her mom still love her the way she used to?

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Ningning told her that her mom was pregnant, and soon she’d have siblings.

Yet, she remained so happy.

Now, having a brother, it was like she had a new source of joy.

Ningning lastly told her this: everyone’s life is different, don’t make someone else’s fate your shackles, gratitude can be a gift, but don’t make yourself the gift.

She said, these were words from her little aunt.