Proofread by Claire.KK
Qiao Mu really regretted that she didn’t ask the big brother’s name, nor did she tell her name to him when she was a little girl. Every time they met, she just called him big brother, and he just called her little girl. Fourteen years past, both of them had changed a lot, so, even if she had the chance to meet him, perhaps they wouldn’t be able to recognize each other.
She was too young at that time. Her memories about the big brother had already faded. She could only remember his black eyes full of grief and his thin lips which would press together into a line when he got angry.
She wanted to get down to recall the big brother’s appearance. However, every time she tried to picture his face, it would get fainter and harder to see.
Qiao Mu sighed. Even if she found him, what she could do, maybe she could only let him see she was trapped in such an embarra.s.sing situation. Moreover, she just sold herself to the old man, Xi Muqiao, for five million yuan!
In the boundless huge crowd, for some people, once they said goodbye to each other, they would never have a chance to meet again.
Qiao Mu shook her head and stopped thinking about these awful things. As she had come back, she decided to eat lunch at home. Although she had become quite well off for the moment, she couldn’t allow herself to live high on the hog. What was more, a short while ago, she came back by taxi. It was already very wasteful.
“Holy s.h.i.t!” Qiao Mu entered the kitchen and stared at the scallion pancakes on the plate, feeling a little hard to believe, “Heck, where are my pancakes? How can they lose two pieces?”
Qiao Mu held the plate, her big eyes staring at the bottom of the plate. On the shiny black marble table, there was even no crumbs, let alone a piece of pancake.
Unbelievably, Qiao Mu turned around three times, with her big eyes wide open, then she shouted: “d.a.m.n it! Did a thief enter my house?”
She put the plate on the table and ran to her room. Neglecting the wet and cold floor, she kneeled on it, bent over and found a big black cotton-padded shoe under her bed, where she pulled out a stack of money and counted quickly.
“Thanks G.o.d! No money is missing.”
Then she stood up immediately, ran to the living room, and rummaged another stack of money in the interlayer of the old and shabby sofa cushion.
“Thank Buddha! All the money is here.”
Qiao Mu heaved a sigh of relief, patted her chest, and her face hadn’t yet recovered from the fright. ‘It scared me! It scared me to death!’
Then she stood up, walked to the door and watched the keyhole for a while. With her slender finger tapping her chin, she pondered, “The door hasn’t been prized. And all rooms and balcony are equipped with anti-theft windows, so, n.o.body can come in through windows.
But where are my pancakes? Were they eaten by a ghost?”
After investigating for quite a while, Qiao Mu didn’t find anything unusual. She decided to eat the remaining pieces of scallion pancakes. As they had become utterly cold, she poured a gla.s.s of hot water for herself. That was her lunch.
At last, Qiao Mu could only attribute the mysterious disappearance of pancakes to the chaotic state of her mind—as she received five million yuan at once, she was so excited that her brain got stuck, and she mistook the number of pancakes.
Having made five million yuan through selling herself, Qiao Mu first went to the hospital and arranged her mother’s surgery. Then she paid off all the debts, over four million yuan. Being debt-free, Qiao Mu felt so happy. Even when she went out to work, she was full of beans.
And unexpectedly, the old man hadn’t contacted her since that day. He seemed to have forgotten the whole thing, while Qiao Mu was happy with her leisurely and free life. She wouldn’t care whether he came to her or not, because she really didn’t want to see his infuriating sour face.
Every time Qiao Mu thought of the old man’s evil grin he showed and his nasty hand that slapped the contract on her breast, she would gnash her teeth, her face would get red as pork liver, and she wished she could come to him right away and fight with him.
Qiao Mu hung on to the distinction—kindness was kindness, and enmity was enmity. Moreover, she traded her body for the five million yuan, so, there was no kindness at all.
For Qiao Mu, Xi Muqiao was the kind of person who deserved to be abused for thousands of times. “Buzz off, you, old b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Why would you always come to my mind?”
In the hospital.
Doctor asked Lin Wei to condition her body for a period and prepare to have surgery. Hearing that, Lin Wei sat up incredulously, “Doctor, have surgery?”
Seeing that the doctor nodded, Lin Wei couldn’t help frowning, wondering how could she suddenly have the surgery? The problem was that they couldn’t afford it; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been lying in the ward all day long.
“Doctor, we haven’t paid for the surgery yet. How could you arrange it for me?”
“The fees have already been paid. Don’t worry. You just need to wait for the surgery patiently.” The doctor replied.
“The fees have already been paid?” Lin Wei looked surprised and asked him in disbelief, “Who, who paid the fees?”
“Is Qiao Mu your daughter?” The doctor asked her.
“Yes.” Lin Wei nodded, pondering what did this have to do with her daughter.
“That’s right. It was your daughter who paid it.” The doctor answered that for sure, then left after enjoining something.
Lin Wei was stunned. She stared at the back of the doctor, who was blocked by the off-white door. Then her face clouded at once, turning even paler than before, showing cyan. And her bony hands started to tremble slightly. She knew her family’s poor conditions very well, and she knew the surgery would takes a lot of money, so, they couldn’t afford it.
Their monthly expense costed most of her pension and Qiao Mu’s wages from the part-time job. Lin Wei was sure that her daughter couldn’t pay for it.
Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. Lin Wei, shuddering, with her eyes full of panic, picked up her phone on the head of the bed with her trembling hands. Then she dialed Qiao Mu’s number and said in a severe tone, “Come to the hospital immediately!”
It had been a long time that Qiao Mu hadn’t heard her mom’s severe voice. When she received the call, she had a premonition that she could no longer sweep that…
Her little red mouth was compressed into a thin line. She looked at her phone until its screen extinguished. She knew such a day would come sooner or later, and her mother would definitely ask her where the money came from.
Qiao Mu decided anyhow, even if she needed to tell a lie, she couldn’t let her mother know she had already sold herself to the underworld boss. Having a stubborn personality, her mother would rather die than do the surgery using the money she made by selling herself.
“Mom…” Qiao Mu entered the ward, pretending that nothing had happened. She didn’t look at Lin Wei’s serious face but said casually, “What’s wrong? Have you eaten dinner? Definitely not. I go to the canteen and buy some food for you.”
“Come here!” Seeing Qiao Mu planned to leave, Lin Wei directly called her back.
Qiao Mu’s hands shook and held the lunch box tightly. She tried to make herself look normal, and then she said in an aggrieved tone, “Mom, what happened? Why are you so angry? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Tell me, where does the money for the surgery come from?”
Qiao Mu’s eyes sparkling, then she looked down and wanted to shelter her panic. She dared not look at Lin Wei’s severe eyes. Although she could tell lies calmly in front of other people, without even blinking, she couldn’t resist her mother’s gaze. It seemed that Lin Wei’s sharp eyes could dissect her inside and out.
“Money for surgery?” Qiao Mu kept her eyes wide open, looking dazed.
“Qiao Mu, don’t play dumb!”
Qiao Mu was frightened to shudder. Her eyes turned to the floor. Her little hands held a corner of her sweater and twirled it slightly. She didn’t expect her mother could get so angry.
Lin Wei sat against the head of the bed. She was so furious that she breathed heavily, her chest undulating rapidly and her cyanotic lips looking horrible. She fought back the suffocated feeling of her chest and stared at Qiao Mu’s eyes.
She knew her daughter very well. Maybe even Qiao Mu herself didn’t know when she felt guilty, she would lower her head and dared not look at Lin Wei’s eyes, and her little hands would twirl the corner of her clothes involuntarily.
For the moment, Qiao Mu was in this state.