Love For You - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Reckless Brat

Any child living under someone else’s roof may not necessarily be rebellious or obsequious, but they are invariably adept at reading the room.

Life in Teng City was far more comfortable than in the small township back in her hometown.

The urban elementary school was prettier than the one in the township, with well-equipped classrooms and kind, approachable teachers. Living with her birth mother also gave Miao Jing a bit more security. Moreover, Teng City’s climate was sweltering; it didn't snow in the winter, and when it got chilly, adding two sweaters to her school uniform was enough to get by.

For the poor, summer is far easier to endure than winter. Expenditures on clothing and heating are lower, and in a makeshift residence, drinking plenty of water and eating food that is a bit too salty are sufficient to cope.

Both Miao Jing and Wei Mingzhen liked Teng City.

The new family seemed able to coexist in harmony. Chen Libin was gentle and refined, had no bad habits, but also didn't meddle in household affairs or pay attention to the children. After work, he would sit in front of the computer, surfing the web, playing games, trading stocks, chatting, or watching movies. In those days, the Power Supply Bureau was one of the most profitable state-owned enterprises, and he held a technical position with prospects for promotion, a high salary, and excellent benefits. Rice, flour, oil, salt, and daily necessities were all provided by the workplace. With four people in the house, the two children didn't cost much beyond food and drink. The family life was simple, without additional expenses, and their financial foundation seemed quite solid.

Wei Mingzhen felt she was lucky to have found a reliable, good man. She and Chen Libin had started out chatting online, and she held a sort of spiritual admiration for him. During that first year as a housewife, Chen Libin would give Wei Mingzhen a sum of money for household expenses at the beginning of every month. It wasn't a huge amount, but it was just enough for the family’s needs. Wei Mingzhen, eager to show she wasn't materialistic, took excellent care of the household.

Of the two children, Wei Mingzhen was ostensibly more partial to Chen Yi, being kind and considerate toward him. However, Chen Yi would just ignore her, flicking his eyelids, casting cold, sidelong glances; he was full of malice at such a young age, and Wei Mingzhen deeply disliked him. In private, Miao Jing was treated better than Chen Yi—it was a secret, hidden kindness. If a chicken was served, there were two drumsticks: one for Chen Libin and one for Chen Yi, but the first person to actually get the meat was Miao Jing.

After living there for a while, Miao Jing learned a word: "two-faced."

No one in the house managed Chen Yi, and the neighbors nearby also said that Chen Yi wasn't learning anything good and would end up a hoodlum. He was wild to an extreme. He would return home at set times to eat and sleep, but spent all other time outside. Near the neighborhood, there was a garbage station and a small park, which served as Chen Yi’s base. He played marbles, flipped cards, played "horseback riding" games, spun tops, and was a pro at fighting and causing trouble. He was awe-inspiring and something of a little tyrant among his peers. Miao Jing and Chen Yi attended the same school, but they never went together, and they never spoke. If they happened to be near each other outside, he would coldly tell her to get lost and stay away.

At home, whenever the two were alone in the bedroom, Miao Jing would suffer. She often didn't know how she had provoked him. A sudden punch to her back, a pencil jabbed into her arm, or a prank where he would drag her chair and tear up her homework often left Miao Jing in agony. Both she and Chen Yi were the type to keep things bottled up and not speak, but Miao Jing was seemingly more cowardly. Chen Yi would also threaten her viciously, saying that if she dared to let the adults know, he would beat her to death.

The second bedroom had no air conditioning, and all summer long, the electric fan was completely monopolized by Chen Yi. Miao Jing’s bed was by the window, and every morning she was baked by the sun. At night, she was often too hot to sleep, tossing and turning in bed. Sometimes she would glance at Chen Yi fast asleep in his undershirt and shorts, looking gentle and harmless, when in reality, he was a little devil.

The reason she never reported him to Wei Mingzhen or Chen Libin was because Chen Yi got beaten, too—he was beaten by Chen Libin.

Gentle discipline was not the trend back then; mischievous children were often beaten. The wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves would drift from the window, and all the neighbors could hear it, not thinking much of it. Yet, they had never heard the sounds of beatings or violence from the Chen household.

Chen Libin never disciplined Chen Yi through reasoning or heartfelt persuasion. Miao Jing saw it for the first time: Chen Yi came home from playing at mealtimes and went to the table to eat, the chair legs dragging across the floor with a harsh, screeching sound. Chen Libin frowned slightly and delivered a direct, flying kick to Chen Yi’s stomach. The boy slammed into the corner of the wall, the wall making a dull thud like a muffled firecracker. Chen Yi huddled in the corner, head drooping, his jaw clenched tight. Chen Libin walked over calmly, delivered two more kicks from his dominant position, and then sat down to drink and eat as if nothing had happened. Chen Yi climbed up from the corner without a sound, picked up the chopsticks from the floor, and buried his head in his rice, eating fiercely.

This way of beating was always without warning, like a fly passing by suddenly being swatted. There was no reason and no explanation—or perhaps there was a reason, but Chen Libin couldn't be bothered to explain—a neighbor’s complaint, someone coming to the door to accuse him, a home-visit call from a school teacher, and so on.

It wasn't that he was beaten every day. Sometimes things would be fine for ten days or half a month, but every few days there would be a thrashing. Chen Libin never hit him in the face; he usually used his feet to kick, whichever posture was convenient—stomach, back, thighs. Miao Jing had seen bruises on all these parts of Chen Yi.

She was terrified of this method of beating. Wei Mingzhen would comfort her, saying that boys getting beaten was just a way of educating them. Besides, Chen Yi’s personality was indeed malicious, rude, fierce, and he used bad language, fought, and stole—everyone found him detestable. Wei Mingzhen told Miao Jing to stay away from him and that if Chen Yi dared to bully her, she should go tell Chen Libin.

Chen Libin’s kicking force seemed heavy, but Chen Yi always stood up without changing his expression. As a young boy, he would keep his head down, his eyes like cold, hard stones hidden away, full of a fierce, unrelenting spirit. Miao Jing always thought it didn't hurt much, but later she discovered that Chen Yi would make sounds while sleeping in the middle of the night and would talk in his sleep. Sometimes, when he turned over in his sleep, she would see his brows knitted tight, clutching his stomach, making intermittent moans. Only then did she realize he was in pain, too, just enduring it. His sleep-talking was hurried and muffled, but he would call out for "Mom."

Having lived in this house for a long time, Miao Jing was always somewhat on edge.

Later, someone came to the door to complain, saying their car had been scratched on the side of the road and that someone had seen Chen Yi holding a rock and scratching lines on it. The car owner came to demand compensation. With the evidence irrefutable, Chen Libin paid some money, sent the person away, and then, with a kind expression, took out an object.

Chen Yi rushed into the room and huddled in the corner. Miao Jing saw the fear in his eyes, like a terrified little wild beast trapped in a cage.

That was likely a DIY electric device Chen Libin had made. He understood electricity and easily built a tool for punishment. When that thing touched Chen Yi, he began to tremble, his shoulders hunched, his face deathly pale, his eyes turning red.

"I’m doing this for your own good. You’ll end up in trouble sooner or later like this," Chen Libin said gently. "You’re so young and you’re not learning anything good. Don’t say you’re the son of Chen Libin. I can’t control you."

"You’re not my son, and I’m not your dad."

Miao Jing saw Chen Yi’s body twitch and jerk in a gruesome manner.

Wei Mingzhen looked on, heart pounding, and dragged the rigid Miao Jing out of the room. Finding that Miao Jing was shaking uncontrollably, she dragged her to the balcony. "What are you afraid of? It has nothing to do with you. That’s Chen Yi’s birth mother; his mother failed your Uncle Chen."

After that, whenever Chen Yi caused trouble and got beaten, Miao Jing would start having nightmares at night. She would wake up struggling in the middle of the night, her legs twisted and cramping. She would grab her bedsheets and gasp for air. Sometimes she would wake Chen Yi up, too. He would pull back the curtain, stand by her bed, watch her flushed face and heaving chest, and grin evilly, cold air radiating from his eyes.

"If you look again, I’ll get up in the middle of the night and gouge your eyes out."

Miao Jing whined and reached out to cover her own eyes.

He looked at her timid, mouse-like appearance and curled his lip in disdain. "What are you afraid of? He doesn't hit you."

"He’s a psychopath, a pervert."

Chen Yi muttered, left Miao Jing, lay back on the bed, pulled the quilt over his head, turned over, and fell into a deep sleep.

As Miao Jing grew a bit older, she came to understand the situation regarding Chen Yi’s mother through the whispers of neighbors and Wei Mingzhen’s cryptic attitude.

Chen Yi’s mother had drowned. She had gone to the riverbank to wash bedsheets for no apparent reason. When they found her, it was days later. It was unclear if it was an accident or her own choice. Before this, there were rumors that Chen Yi’s mother had an affair, cuckolding Chen Libin. Someone had caught her in the act, she couldn't get a divorce, and they quarreled at home every day. There were also rumors that Chen Yi wasn't Chen Libin’s son at all, because Chen Libin had been diagnosed with low sperm count and didn't find it easy to have children.

Wei Mingzhen had carefully examined Chen Yi and even secretly asked Miao Jing if she thought Chen Yi looked like Chen Libin. She heard from neighbors that Chen Yi looked a lot like his mother. His mother had been very beautiful, but it seemed he also looked a bit like Chen Libin. Both father and son were handsome, and Chen Libin’s high nose bridge and double eyelids were also present on Chen Yi.

There were absolutely no photos of Chen Yi’s mother in the house. Perhaps there were, and perhaps Miao Jing had accidentally seen one once without even making out what she looked like—a tiny black-and-white ID photo tucked into the crack of one of Chen Yi’s books. When Chen Yi realized it, he pushed her hard.

As time went on, Wei Mingzhen also started quarreling with Chen Libin. Every month, Chen Libin only gave her a fixed living allowance. The family savings were said to be substantial, but they were firmly in his grip, with not a cent leaking out. If she wanted to have more money in her pocket, Wei Mingzhen had to go find a job herself. Furthermore, Chen Libin was also constantly involved with different women online, using suggestive language.

Wei Mingzhen still wanted to get pregnant. Given the current situation with Chen Libin and Chen Yi, they would sooner or later have a falling out. If she could give birth to a child for Chen Libin, many things would be easier to handle.

Miao Jing was good at her studies; her grades were always among the top in the grade. Every semester she received many awards and also participated in various academic competitions and contests. Her personality wasn't exactly endearing, and she was quiet most of the time, relying entirely on her grades to win attention and favor from those around her. Gradually, she came to have one or two close female classmates.

At school, people around her didn't know the relationship between her and Chen Yi. Chen Yi had been running wild and rampant in school since he was small, wild and untamed, but his grades weren't too bad, staying in the middle of the pack. When he was in the fifth or sixth grade, there were already girls who liked him, chasing behind him, shouting his name loudly, and fighting for the chance to do his homework.

Even at their young age, they would say Chen Yi was handsome and had an even better smile. Even though he was somewhat rude and annoying, he was very loyal, like a chivalrous knight in a martial arts novel.

Sometimes when Miao Jing saw Chen Yi on the playground, darting from one end to the other, his forehead covered in sweat, a wanton and unrestrained smile on his dusty cheeks, his eyes bright and dark, he didn't seem quite so terrifying.

After graduating from elementary school, Chen Yi went to the local middle school. The school wasn't far from home, just a thirty-minute walk, but Chen Yi stayed in the dorms.

The children were growing up, and middle-school boys were entering puberty; it was no longer appropriate for the two of them to share a room. Besides, with Chen Yi’s personality and temper, staying in the dorms was better. Miao Jing could have a room to herself. Since her grades were good and she was timid and quiet, she should be taken care of a little more.

Chen Yi’s single bed was moved to the living room. The living room was rectangular, and one corner had previously held a few large boxes. It was cleared out, a bed was placed against the wall, and the curtain was moved over, partitioning off a small space.

In any case, Chen Yi spent all day playing outside, returning home only to eat and sleep. After he started staying in the dorms for middle school, he came home even less, returning only once a month to ask for living expenses or similar things.

He began to shoot up in height, and all his clothes suddenly became a notch too short. His appearance transitioned from the childishness of a young boy to a raw, heroic, and unrestrained air. The contours of his face began to become three-dimensional, his personality became more defiant and domineering, and he became increasingly reckless, also beginning to enter his rebellious phase.

Staying in the dorms didn't calm the feud between father and son. Chen Yi fought in school, skipped classes to go online, gathered people to play cards, and not a single good thing happened all day. The school frequently complained, made home visits, and asked to see the parents. Whenever Chen Libin beat him again, Chen Yi dared to strike back, stiffening his neck, jutting out his chin, pointing at Chen Libin’s nose and cursing his mother. First, he smashed that electric device, then he relied on his bare hands to counter Chen Libin’s kicks and punches.

Chen Libin was pushed back by his son, stumbling backward a few steps. His face turned gray, and he was surprised and panicked for a moment, but he quickly reacted and started using tools—a leather belt or a wooden stick.

He was taller than Chen Yi, his build was stronger than this bamboo-like brat, and he was stronger. It wasn't yet time for the father to admit defeat.

The most serious incident was in his second year of middle school, when Chen Libin went to the school.

Two groups of teenagers had fought outside the school. Someone brought a knife and stabbed the other person in the lower abdomen, putting them in the intensive care unit. The students who caused the trouble were taken to the police station. Chen Yi also took part in the melee, but he knew his limits when striking; he didn't hit any vital areas, and he had called an ambulance. In the end, he slipped away quickly and washed his hands of it cleanly.

The school wanted to expel this group of students. Fortunately, due to the protection of the nine-year compulsory education system and the fact that Chen Yi had a benevolent homeroom teacher, they managed to find a way to keep Chen Yi in school, albeit with a major disciplinary record.

That time, Chen Yi was beaten very badly. A leather belt of Chen Libin’s was broken during the beating, right in the living room. Both father and son gritted their teeth and said nothing. Wei Mingzhen was cooking in the kitchen, and Miao Jing was in her room. Hearing the dull thudding of the strikes outside, she closed her eyes and covered her ears.

After the beating, Chen Yi lay on the bed in the living room, the curtain drawn tight. The three of them ate dinner in the dining room, completely unable to feel his presence.

After the meal, Chen Libin went to the bedroom to play on the computer. Wei Mingzhen ladled a bowl of food and placed it by Chen Yi’s bedside. She turned her head to see Miao Jing’s quiet eyes staring straight at her, then pointed toward the room, telling her to go in and do her homework.

In the middle of the night, Miao Jing went out to use the bathroom, passing through the living room. The darkness and the silence of the hour were as dead as anything could be. She was so frightened that her hair stood on end; she feared that he might have died and turned into a corpse. But as she walked a few steps closer and listened carefully, she heard the sound of labored, weak breathing.

Miao Jing summoned her courage and pulled back the curtain. The bowl of food left at the bedside hadn't been touched. Chen Yi’s head was turned inward, his hands and feet spread out, lying flat on the bed like a piece of rotting meat. Miao Jing felt a tightness in her throat; she didn't dare move, her heart racing with nervousness. Slowly, he turned his head. There were dried bloodstains on the corner of his mouth. In the dim light, his pitch-black, rigid eyes had a fleeting glimmer of tears. He looked at her, numb and eerily silent, not moving a muscle.

She went to the kitchen, poured a cup of water, and carefully brought it to him. His gaze stared straight at the cup of water, his temples twitching. Then, extremely slowly, he turned his body, his cracked lips pressed against the rim of the cup, slowly exhaling a breath of turbid air. Miao Jing gently tilted the cup. His lips brushed against the cool water, and subconsciously he took small sips, slowly drinking the entire cup of water just like that.

In the darkness, there was a faint sound—she didn't know if it was his throat or his stomach.

The food at the bedside had long since gone cold and hard. Miao Jing stumbled into the kitchen in the dark, found two eggs, turned on the stove, and by the faint blue light of the flame, she nervously steamed a bowl of egg custard. This was a dish her grandmother often made for her when she was sick and feeling unwell as a child. She mixed the smooth, hot egg custard with a tiny bit of leftover rice, carefully cradled the bowl, sat by Chen Yi’s bedside, blew on it mouthful by mouthful to cool it down, and fed it to him with a spoon.

The two of them barely spoke, and there was no positive affection between them; it was merely out of a child’s sympathy and morality.

Chen Yi half-closed his eyes, opened his mouth to take the spoon, and chewed slowly, mouthful by mouthful. After he finished, Miao Jing fed him the second spoonful.

In the silence of the deep night, this bowl of rice was finished, slowly and ever so slowly, without making a single sound.

After finishing the egg custard, Miao Jing panicked, went to the kitchen to wash the bowl, and then scurried back to her room.

When she came back from school the next day, Chen Yi was already gone.

He would return occasionally later, choosing times when Chen Libin wasn't around to take some things. He wouldn't use the front door, instead climbing directly in from the balcony or the window. He seemed to have grown a bit taller, and his figure had become more robust, jumping in and out like he was doing parkour, giving Wei Mingzhen and Miao Jing a huge fright.

That summer, Miao Jing graduated from elementary school and also entered the middle school Chen Yi attended. She was in the first year of middle school, and Chen Yi was in the third year. Miao Jing chose to live in the dorms, far away from that room of nightmares.