"Sister Xiaxia, thank you for saving my second sister just now."
Yang Chuxia was startled, and then squinted at the boy, realizing that he didnât quite resemble Yang Daâan or Ms. Liu. Instead, he had an honest face. How had she not noticed this before?
Could it be that the mischievous brat from before suddenly grew up? Yang Chuxia wondered to herself.
"You donât have to thank me. Your second sister didnât really want to die. She just couldnât accept the truth and wanted to vent her feelings," Yang Chuxia said, not explaining much to the bewildered child. "Go on, hurry back."
Yang Chuxia waved her hand and went ahead, while Yang Qingbao stared at her retreating figure, suddenly thinking that this sister wasnât that scary after all. Moreover, she was quite impressive. But why wasnât she his real sister? At this thought, Yang Qingbao felt a little lost.
When they returned to Yang Family, Yang Ruoqiu noticed her brotherâs downcast appearance and couldnât help but feel curious.
"Qingbao, whatâs wrong? Were you bullied by someone?"
"No." Yang Qingbao kicked a stone on the ground listlessly, "No one in the village wants to play with me, so who would come to bully me?"
Yang Ruoqiuâs heart sank, and her dislike for Old Lady Hua increased a little bit. Ever since Old Lady Hua was caught in adultery, people from the first and fourth branches of the family had been subjected to finger-pointing and gossip in the village. But what was even worse, the children were the ones bearing the brunt of it all.
"Then just donât play with them." Yang Ruoqiuâs eyes lit up, "Qingbao, if the people in the village donât play with you, wait till your third uncleâs Qingrui and Qingtong are on holiday, and go play with them. They wonât say anything about you."
"But will they be willing to play with me?" Yang Qingbao asked, his head still lowered. "Our grandma wasnât good to them before, never giving them food or meat."
"Qingbao, sheâs not our grandma. Just donât call her that, I feel disgusted reminiscing on her shameful acts," Yang Ruoqiu wished Old Lady Hua hadnât died, so she could learn from Yang Chuxia and give her a few slaps. It was bad enough that she treated the children of the first branch poorly when she was alive, even after her death, they were still ostracized by others.
At this moment, Ms. Luo moved her stool out to the courtyard to bask in the sun. Hearing Yang Ruoqiuâs words, she gave a sarcastic smile, "Miss Qiu, what you say isnât right. No matter how bad a grandma she was, she was still your grandma. Itâs not because of Old Lady Hua that youâre being ostracized in the village, but because you are not blood relatives of the Yang Family."
"What a joke, Fourth Aunt, as if being the biological son of our grandpa makes you any more popular. Just look at who tried talking to Auntie Li and got ignored!"
"You..." Ms. Luo was about to explode when Yang Dongxue suddenly ran back in tears, covered in filth.
"Mom, Mom! They hit me! They donât want to play with me, and they even hit me..." Yang Dongxue cried, her face covered in tears and snot.
Ms. Luo was instantly filled with distress, "Who dares to beat you? Are they tired of living?" She pulled Dongxue to her side, wiping her tears with an old handkerchief, while asking with concern, "Xueâer, what happened? Why donât they want to play with you?"
"Mom, they donât want to play with me because they say grandma is bad, grandma is bad, and Iâm just as bad as her...sob sob sob..."
"Damn it..." Ms. Luo was furious upon hearing this, "Itâs all because of that damn old woman! Sheâs causing even my daughter to suffer."