The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 4 - 5

Chapter 4 - 5

Almost the moment she got out of the car, stepped into Yuching's home, handed out the gifts for her nephew and niece, greeted Yuching's father-in-law and mother-in-law, and caught sight of her sister-in-law, Yushuang exploded just like a firecracker touched by a lit match.

Her sister-in-law was pregnant again. Her belly was already showing, making her movements quite cumbersome. With an air of serene composure, she waddled over like a mother goose to greet Yushuang.

Why hadn't she heard Yuching mention this? Such a massive matter, and he hadn't said a word even after the rice was already cooked into rix? Did he wait until seeing was believing before announcing it to the world? With their mother gone, wasn't she the head of this household? What was Yuching playing at by keeping it under wraps?! Did she not even exist in his eyes?!

Yushuang glanced at her sister-in-law's belly, then looked at Yuching, and finally glanced at his father-in-law and mother-in-law. With the elders present, it wasn't the place for her to throw a tantrum.

A knife sat right above the character for "endurance."

Kanglong stood quietly behind her.

Her sister-in-law asked, "Sis, this is..."

"I'm Yushuang's boyfriend," Kanglong answered on her behalf.

They offered up the gifts.

The father-in-law and mother-in-law beamed with broad smiles. "Good, good, good. She finally has a boyfriend. Such wonderful news! What a blessing, good things come in pairs this New Year."

That hateful word "finally." She was no old maid!

The family bustled about lively, surrounding Kanglong and asking him all sorts of questions.

Yushuang was dumbfounded. What were these people thinking? Were they aliens? Did they not live in this society? She had no mood to sit around any longer. After just going through the motions to show her face, she immediately declared that she wasn't feeling well and wanted to head back to the hotel to lie down for a bit.

She wasn't lying; she genuinely had a headache and felt awful. Yuching's mother-in-law urged her to stay and rest right there at the house. Yushuang gave a bitter laugh. Lie down? Looking around, was there even a place to lie? This was a home that had been thoroughly "ravaged" by elders and kids, with practically nowhere to set a foot.

It wasn't until they reached the hotel that Yushuang truly let loose. As if she were the plaintiff and Kanglong the jury, she gasped out breathlessly, "Is this making any sense? Sure, the country encourages childbirth, but is there any need to support it to this extreme? They already have a boy and a girl, a matching pair forming a character of goodness. Oh... and it was completely deliberate, not an accident! They racked their brains and deliberately wanted another one!" Yushuang huffed a burst of air through her nose. "His own job is an absolute mess, the factory hasn't even signed a long-term contract with him, he's a single man supporting five mouths, and he still thinks his burden isn't heavy enough? He wants more?! His father-in-law and mother-in-law both need medication, every single month there are medical bills that can't be reimbursed, and as for her pension, there's none either. That good-for-nothing wife of his hasn't worked in seven or eight years, and now here comes another! That's another three or four years down the drain! Three kids eating together—won't they eat you to death?! This isn't the old days when you could just raise seven or eight kids in a household. What kind of city is this? What does it cost to raise a child? It's not just about tossing them a mouthful of food; you need to educate them and be responsible! Responsible to the very end!"

Furious, Yushuang hurled a pillow across the room.

And there was more she hadn't said yet! It wasn't appropriate to voice it with Kanglong around—

Yuching was her only younger brother and sole remaining relative. If they kept having children, his hardships would escalate. When problems arose in the future that he couldn't solve, who else could he turn to except her?

His troubles might very well end up becoming her troubles.

Their mother was gone, and she couldn't completely wash her hands of her brother. Yushuang wasn't a heartless person. Yet she had lived her own life neat and unburdened for half a lifetime, finding even marriage too troublesome. If she got dragged down by such a massive household, her own life would undoubtedly be ruined.

Good heavens! What kind of karmic debt was this?

Kanglong had never experienced anything like this and didn't quite know how to comfort her for a moment. All he could say was to let them eat bitterness if that was what they wanted. Yushuang clutched the pillow tightly. "It's not about eating bitterness or not; it's a problem with their brains, a problem in their mindset, a problem of whether they have any correct judgment of themselves! Living like this means staying poor for a lifetime. Having children isn't like raising little kittens or puppies!" She hadn't even brought up the fines for violating family planning policies.

Kanglong could understand Yushuang's words. In a sense, he and Yushuang were on the same wavelength regarding their worldview. He also hated trouble; his parents' failed marriage had left him with zero faith in matrimony either. For the time being, he didn't have much desire to carry on the family lineage. He just wanted to focus on scientific research, have someone to converse with, avoid overly heavy burdens, and progress together. He hoped that by the time he reached his forties, he would have a bit of financial freedom and then properly enjoy life. However, from Yuching and his wife's perspective, they had the freedom to reproduce. When all was said and done, having a third child was simply a choice, and they would bear the consequences themselves. He hadn't considered the potential trouble it might bring Yushuang. Besides, given Kanglong's personality, even if he could think as deeply as Yushuang did, he would still feel it wasn't a real issue: what you couldn't help with, you simply didn't help with, drawing a clear line in the sand—wasn't that enough?

"Go call Yushuang—call Yuching out here," Yushuang said, lifting her head. Her nostrils looked as though they were about to breathe fire. Kanglong made the phone call, and Yuching hurried over, thinking his older sister's condition had worsened. Once he stepped into the hotel room, however, he discovered that his sister was bursting with vigor and vitality. Just like in the old days, she leaped right up to beat him.

This time, her weapon of choice was a pillow.

After a round of "brutal beating," Yushuang finally laid out all her worries, realistic calculations, analysis of their predicament, and future possibilities to Yuching. "You're going to support six people on your own—do you have any idea what that means? Little brother, wake up!"

Yet Yuching didn't see it that way; his judgment was based on an entirely different outlook on life. He didn't believe he would stay poor forever. The river flows east for ten years, then west for ten years—was he destined to have bad luck forever? Are you kidding me? Having a third child might just bring him good luck. What was wrong with supporting six people? By that time, supporting ten or a hundred people wouldn't be a problem at all.

Yushuang said with grief and indignation, "Xiaoqing, these are all delusions! Fantasies! Daydreams! Completely baseless! You're walking straight into a fiery pit! When the time comes and you try to press down the gourd only for the ladle to pop up everywhere, you'll be completely ruined!"

Yuching interrupted her. "Sis, I know you look down on me. In your eyes, I'm just a speck of booger who will never turn things around, never catch a lucky break, and never make big money!"

"A person has to accept their fate!" Yushuang snapped.

Startled by her tone, Kanglong crossed his legs the other way, dropping them down.

This wasn't a negotiation; it was two armies arrayed in battle. The blaze of war could set the house on fire.

"I refuse to accept my fate!" Yuching didn't back down. "You want me to accept my fate, but have you accepted yours? If you had accepted your fate, you wouldn't still be unmarried and childless at your age! Look around you, what kind of fate do millions upon millions of women have? Isn't it just getting married and having kids?! Why won't you? You're afraid of trouble, you're afraid men will trouble you, you're afraid I'll trouble you. Sis, I can tell you right now—I'll take full responsibility for my own children, and even if I have to beg for food, I won't ever come begging at your door. Admit it, neither of us accepts our fate! I, Yuching, am definitely going to get rich in this lifetime! Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire; even with the little schooling I've had, I understand that much!"

Yushuang's head buzzed as if tens of thousands of bees were swarming around inside.

Her words were deafening. Her worldview gave a violent shudder.

Yuching was being utterly unreasonable, but what he said wasn't completely devoid of logic. She had her own stubbornness. She pursued a carefree, unburdened life, and she had a form of cleanliness obsession when it came to interpersonal relationships. Aside from the unbreakable, unseverable natural bonds with her mother and younger brother, she was always exceedingly cautious when establishing connections with the outside world—including her relationship with Kanglong.

"Read his fortune," Yushuang said to Kanglong, offering a delaying tactic. He knew a thing or two about fortune-telling.

"Big bro, you know how to do that?" Yuching leaned closer, instantly intrigued.

Yuching extended his hand, palm facing upward.

Kanglong gave a light cough.

"Bad?"

"I don't read palms," Kanglong said.

Yuching sat back down properly and straight. He traced a circle around his face with a single finger.

"Read the Four Pillars of Destiny," Kanglong said.

Yushuang blurted out her younger brother's birth date and time. Fiddling with his phone for a moment, Kanglong looked up. "Hmm—the pillars show strong physical vitality, with Geng metal as the Day Master. He's someone who can carve out a living in society."

"Can he get rich?" Yuching asked.

Impatient, Yushuang snapped at her brother, "Getting rich, getting rich, all you ever think about is getting rich! Do you have anything else in your eyes besides money?" Turning back to Kanglong, she demanded, "Check his marriage."

Kanglong looked again. "The hour pillar sits upon a strong root; offspring fortune is quite flourishing."

"How many children does he have in his fate?" Yushuang asked.

"Four."

Yushuang and Yuching fell simultaneously speechless.

"Or maybe three," Kanglong added. "Right now isn't the best time. After turning forty-one, he enters the Ji earth major fortune cycle, and that's when he can make a fortune."

Yuching was discouraged, complaining that waiting too long was no fun.

Yushuang scolded, "You should just pray you actually make a profit!"

Yuching asked again, "Have you ever calculated for my sister? When will she get married? When will she have children?" Kanglong was at a loss for words.

Yushuang brandished the pillow once more. "This stinky brat!"

Yushuang had never had her fortune told, nor did she believe in fate. Come to think of it, the poor consult fortune-tellers while the rich burn incense at temples; aside from the devastating blow of their mother's passing, she had coasted through her upbringing and life almost entirely smoothly, rarely needing to seek answers to life's mysteries through divination. Recently, Yushuang had come to swear by a piece of chicken soup wisdom: "Everything is the best arrangement." Kanglong's appearance was also part of it. Since they were all good arrangements, what was there left to calculate? That was why she had never asked Kanglong to read her fortune or look into their relationship. Still, there was no telling if Kanglong had checked in private—though he had never mentioned a word of it.

However, thanks to Yuching's unsparing "publicity," on the day they formally visited for the New Year, Yuching's entire family treated Kanglong like an important figure and guest of honor. From sixty-two-year-olds down to two-year-old toddlers, everyone respectfully presented their birth dates and times, begging Kanglong to inspect their fortunes. Having no choice and out of consideration for Yushuang's face, Kanglong had to patiently read them one by one.

Yuching's mother-in-law showed the highest enthusiasm and believed in it devoutly. When Kanglong told her that her major fortune cycle between ages twenty-one and thirty-one hadn't been very favorable, the mother-in-law immediately clapped her hands, pointed at her husband, and shouted, "See! Exactly right! That was when I married into his family!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Yushuang sat off to one side. For some reason, although she had initially felt immense revulsion toward this household—anyone would dislike a man supporting five people, among them two invalids, two rugrats, and an unemployed wife; a family twisted together like a dough twist, practically prime candidates for poverty alleviation—when she was actually thrust into the middle of it, Yushuang couldn't help being infected by that inexpressible, hard-to-define "human warmth."

Compared to her own empty three-bedroom apartment, this place was far too cramped and noisy. Yet she discovered that her younger brother's family hadn't lost their enthusiasm for life at all. Every single one of them firmly believed that this household still held hope, that their luck would eventually turn around, that if this generation couldn't make it, the next one would—even if that hope appeared utterly bleak in Yushuang's eyes.

Unconsciously, Yushuang began to re-evaluate the meaning of life.

For the midday meal, the mother-in-law and father-in-law personally manned the stove. They had spent nearly a month preparing for the New Year. Cured meats, smoked chicken, and stinky mandarin fish were all tastes of their hometown. There was also a sweet and sour carp weighing a solid five jin. When it was served, the father-in-law insisted on pointing the fish head directly toward Yushuang, calling it a sign of good fortune.

Yushuang took the very first bite with her chopsticks.

She picked out a piece and gave it to her eldest niece, Chun'er. Her sister-in-law used the tip of her chopsticks to flake off a bit of fish meat, chewed it up, spit it out, and fed it to the second child in her arms. Seeing this, Yushuang felt a wave of nausea rising straight to her throat.

Yet the moment the little one swallowed it down, he began coughing violently.

Yuching panicked. "Are there bones?!"

The sister-in-law looked aggrieved. "I checked, there weren't any!"

All the adults stood up.

The little one's coughing grew increasingly rapid and shrill.