Battered Young Miss

Sheng Jinzhe picked up the phone to dial his mother at around twelve in the morning. The phone rang thrice before it was finally picked up.

"Hel...h.e.l.lo..."

"Mom! It"s me!"

The high pitched voice on the other end of the line, made Sheng Ying sit up in bed, the tiny cobwebs of sleep cleared out of her eyes in an instant.

"Zhe, what is the matter? Why are you calling so early in the morning?!"

"Yu"s parents came here last night to take Liena with them."

"And you are just telling me now?! Why didn"t you call either me or your dad when they came?"

"Mom! Listen to me! They have full custody of Liena!"

"What do you mean that they got full custody of my grandchild?! You are not making any sense Zhe!"

On the other end Sheng Jinzhe was very angry that his mother was not getting it that his daughter was no longer with him. Meanwhile, Madam Sheng was tapping her husband by the leg to wake up.

Sheng Heinan kept on sleeping, he would toss for a while and later remain in one position.

"Wake up! Zhe said that Liena has been taken by our in-laws!"

"Dar..ling, I am so tired..."

"Tired my foot! Get up!"

She kept using her legs to hit his, but her husband s.h.i.+fted to the other end, clearly avoiding her feet from smacking him.

"It"s so difficult to wake your father, he is still sleeping as we speak! That man would probably be sleeping if the house were to be on fire!"

It was no secret that Sheng Henian was a deep sleeper.

"They threatened to expose what led to Yu"s death to the press, I had no other choice but to let them take her from me!"

Sheng Jizhe was the typical mama"s boy, men like him usually cried to their mother when faced with a situation that they either can not handle or choose not to. They know that if push came to shove they could easily wriggle out of the mess, while the mom does the cleanup.

In a pink lacy nightgown and hairnet, Sheng Ying eyes looked as though they were on fire, she was beyond annoyed at what she heard from her son.

"How dare they take her grandchild away without discussing it with her?! Who do they think they are?!"

The thought crossed her mind, but instead she said, "Did they mention anything apart from the death of daughter-in-law?"

It took a moment for Sheng Jizhe to reply his mother, he didn"t want to say that his in-laws knew of his infidelity which was one of the strongest weapons they were able to use against him.

"It was mostly centered around Yu"s death."

"Are you sure?"

Sheng Jinzhe could hear the warning tone behind his mother"s query and he knew without a doubt that she knew something of his dark secret. Rather than telling her, he chose to play it safe instead.

"What else could there be?"

"Zhe? Zhe? How many times did I call you?"

He hated when his mother asked him questions like "how many times she called him" it always drove him mad when she asked.

"Twice."

"Good!"

"Now tell me! Do you have anything that the in-laws know and you haven"t told me? Think carefully before you answer!"

Sheng Jinzhe could hear the tone of irritation from his mother, she knew he wasn"t as forthcoming as he presented himself to be on the phone.

"Mom, I have told you all I know. Why would I want to hide anything from you?"

"You are stupid, very stupid! Even if you lied to everyone else, not me! Do you think I am blind?"

"No mom."

"Then what are you doing with her kept woman? Is it because I and your father have not confronted you about it?!"

"I"m sorry mom, I"m truly sorry."

"Did daughter-in-law know about your mistress?! Answer me!"

"No mom! If she knew do you think I would have lived with her under the same roof?"

"That girl was too foolish for her own good, something like that was going on under her nose and she didn"t even know?!"

"Mom, leave Yu out of this, she is already dead!"

"Oh my goodness! So you can even speak up in her defense!"

From the background, the sound of hands rubbing against each other in a show of mockery could be heard.

"I know I didn"t do right by her, but it"s all in the past. She"s gone and also Xiaobo, none of them can ever return back to us, no matter how much I wish for it."

"Stop all this nonsense and self pity! You woke me up, I"m sure it wasn"t to hear that you miss your wife?!"

There is a saying that a mother knows her child best, but at times such saying is never applicable to all situations, especially those of Sheng Jinzhe.

"I"m scared mom! Now that Yu is no more, there is no one to stop her parents from getting back at us for watching their daughter die the way she did!"

"You haven"t told me anything, or do I need to call the maid I sent to your house to tell me what actually happened?!"

The threat seemed to work as Sheng Jinzhe opened up to his mother about what actually transpired at his home.

"They told you to sign some doc.u.ments?"

"Yes mom!"

"Do you still have them on your phone?"

"They are saved in a folder somewhere."

"Your father and I would come over tomorrow morning before you leave for work at nine."

"When is someone from the legal department coming?"

"That would be later, first we need to know what they had you sign and after I"ll have a lawyer look at the doc.u.ments."

"Ok mom, thanks."

"I need to sleep."

At the background, Sheng Ying was yawning from the need to return back to bed.

"Good night!"

"Bye!"

The last call was from Madam Sheng, before the phone went dead.

---------

"Liena wake up! It"s time for breakfast!"

The little girl was in a one story building made from brick, the home of Luo Fei and Luo Xue her grandparent"s from her mother"s side of the family.

Neither of the grandparents took any doc.u.ments or material possession of their granddaughter. Birth certificate, school and health records remaining behind at the home of her parents. Not that it made any difference, since everything was now almost entirely online, things like birth certificates could be obtained with the touch of a b.u.t.ton from the computer.

That night the Luos carried a sleeping Liena out and drove for close to half an hour before arriving at their home in the city.

"Honey, I don"t think she"s awake yet."

Luo Fei turned to look at his wife who was dressed in red slacks and a pullover of purple.

"Let me see if I can wake her up."

Luo Xue looked warmly at the eyes of her husband, there was no denying the two loved each other deeply without any reservation.

The house was designed to hold just four bedroom and two bathroom, one room was made into a study for the couple to use at anytime; there was a kitchen with a pantry and a small s.p.a.ce of land outside for gardening. The decor was painted in yellow on the outside and brown on the inside.

Luo Xue pushed opened the door next to their room, which used to be the room of their daughter. The little girl slept on an over sized bed under a green comforter. When she got inside, she saw her granddaughter still asleep in bed, but needed to have her get up to eat the first meal of the day.

"Liena baby?"

Calling out softly to the child, she watched as the little girl continued to sleep.

"Liena wake up."

Luo Xue began shaking her granddaughter by the arm in a bid to wake her up. The little was soundly asleep, not looking as if she was getting up anytime soon.

"How does Yu get her to wake up."

It was there that Luo Xue developed a newfound respect for her late daughter, there had never been a day that she didn"t cry when the thought of her daughter crossed her mind. Death was a painful experience to go through especially difficult deaths like those of Sheng Yu whose mother and father blamed themselves for not being as firm as they should in dissuading their daughter from marrying Sheng Jinzhe.

The little girl was carried by her grandmother in her pink pajamas into the dinning room where an a.s.sortment of dishes was laid out. Rather than going straight to drop the child on the high chair, Luo Xue went directly to the sink in the kitchen which was like twelve steps from the dinning room to turn on the tap.

"Ha!"

Placing her hand over the running tap, Luo Xue scooped some of it and poured it on her granddaughter, who shrieked in fright at the sudden coldness to her skin.

Liena was about to cry when she was the stern look from her grandmother, which clearly warned her without words that crying was forbidden.

"Good morning my little angel!"

The little girl stared at her grandmother in defiance, not wanted to greet her.

"I see you woke up feeling grumpy, when I tried to be nice you didn"t want to stand up."

"I"m sure with time she would get used to waking up early."

Luo Fei sent words of rea.s.surance to his wife, saying without too many words that their grandchild would turn out okay.

"Where would you like to sit?"

The little girl didn"t answer her grandmother, instead she stared at the white s.h.i.+rt of her grandfather as though fascinated by them. An image that seemed like a shadow formed in the mind of the child, before she letting out a wail.

"What is it Liena? Is there something on your grandfather"s s.h.i.+rt?"

She held her grandmother in a tight hug, while the two grandparents looked at each other as though asking if there was something going on with her.

"I think we need to get her a doctor."

"I agree with you, when it comes to children, it"s very difficult to tell what goes on in their minds."

Luo Xue sided with her husband for them to take their grandchild to visit a doctor.

The grandmother of Liena kept rocking her in her arms, while her grandfather continued with his breakfast. After a while, the hold she had on her grandmother loosened as the two sat on a chair to have their breakfast.

The Luos had called that morning to have their granddaughter withdrawn from the school she was attending to one that was closer to where they lived. Luo Xue and her husband drew up a to-do list where they kept track of what they had done in regards to their granddaughter"s schooling and adjustment to a new environment. The little girl had already missed one day of school already, but she wasn"t asking for her mother, which the Luos found to be very strange.

The funeral was a very hard part of their life, which neither of them had put away, not that it was something easy, but their granddaughter made the Luos want to step out of their house each day and look forward to the next day. They had a long journey ahead of them, on their road to finding healing, not just for them alone, but also for their granddaughter, Sheng Liena. Who wasn"t talking, nor interacting much with the people around her and the environment.