Chapter 4

In the blink of an eye, that rascal was in high school. He did excellently on his entrance exams, earning a full waiver of tuition and miscellaneous fees for three years.

Ye Hai held a banquet with over a dozen tables to celebrate, telling everyone that this kid was destined for Tsinghua or Peking University.

I sat in the corner, eating a slice of watermelon, watching his beaming, smug face and feeling speechless. It’s not even the college entrance exam – what’s there to show off about?

Ye Hai walked over with a piece of cake. “Ranran, Daddy cut you the biggest piece. Try it.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want it.”

Ye Hai sighed lightly and added, “Today is your brother’s entrance banquet. Don’t wear such a long face and make people laugh at you. Look at Uncle Zhang’s child, the same age as you – she’s sweet and well-behaved. That’s how girls should be to be likable.”

I lowered my eyes and didn’t answer.

Ye Hai just stood there holding the cake, the cream gradually melting and dripping down. Seeing I wouldn’t take it after a long time, he got a little angry, tossed the cake into the trash, and walked away.

It was finally over when the banquet ended, but suddenly Chen Ye went on stage to give a speech.

He held the microphone, coughed twice, his thin lips pressed together as if a bit nervous, paused for two seconds, and said, “Today is a special day – not only my entrance banquet, but also my adoptive father’s birthday.”

I looked up in surprise.

Ye Hai in the crowd was equally shocked, even more flattered than surprised.

“I’m not someone who’s good at expressing myself, and I didn’t prepare a draft. I just had a sudden impulse and ended up standing here.”

Chen Ye took a deep breath and continued, “To be honest, my concept of ‘father’ has always been vague. As you all know, my dad… isn’t like others. When I was ten, my family suffered misfortune, and my mother left me too. If my adoptive father hadn’t taken me in, let alone go to high school, I probably would have starved to death on the street.”

I tossed away the watermelon rind, unable to hold back a cold laugh.

“I was malnourished as a child and was often bullied by other kids. Each time, it was my adoptive father who stood up for me. When my desk-mate at school falsely accused me of stealing money, it was my adoptive father who stood up for me and reasoned with the other parent. As the saying goes, the kindness of raising is greater than that of giving birth. He let me know what fatherly love is. He’s the person I respect and feel most grateful for in this life…”

Chen Ye didn’t finish.

Because I grabbed the microphone from him.

I straightened my back and looked at the deeply moved audience below with a blank expression, my gaze falling on Ye Hai’s gratified face. Suddenly, a surge of grievance welled up, making my eyes sting.

At the tables closest to me, people whispered quietly.

“Is that Ye Ran?”

“Should be. She looks a lot like Ye Hai, but why is she so thin?”

“Men just can’t raise kids well, not like women. Look at her wrinkled clothes, her yellowed collar.”

“Chen Ye turned out well.”

“Old Ye has a good heart, just not much brains. He neglects his own daughter to look after someone else’s son, even drove his wife away.”

“An adopted son is still a son! You don’t understand – as the saying goes, raise a son for old age. You need a boy in the family. Girls just aren’t reliable.”

Suddenly, I felt like a clown – utterly ridiculous.

“What a tearjerker of a speech. If you read it at a funeral, it’d work even better.”

The guests below stared, whispering to each other and pointing at me.

Ye Hai was stunned, his lips trembling.

“To be honest, my concept of ‘father’ is vague too. You all know, my dad is different from others.” I sneered, then slowly began, “When he was carefully taking care of someone else’s son, I could only hug my mother’s photo and cry my eyes out. When he shielded someone else’s son at school, I was being ostracized and ridiculed by my classmates in the classroom. When he let someone else’s son feel fatherly love, I’d already forgotten what motherly love even felt like.”

I looked down at Ye Hai, whose face was growing paler by the second, and asked, “Do you think you’re so great? Being chosen as Chunshui Town’s most loyal and devoted good man, you must be so proud, right? Ye Hai, maybe I really am not your own child. I’m not like Chen Ye, I don’t respect or thank you. I see you as a disgrace. I think you’re the dumbest, most foolish idiot in the world! Just thinking that someone like you is my father, thinking your blood runs in my veins, gives me goosebumps. Disgusting, absolutely disgusting… You’re like a virus in my genes, a tumor in my brain, something I can never get rid of. You make me sick!”

After I finished, I smashed the microphone down on Chen Ye’s head and yelled, “Nothing good ever comes out of your mouth, so quit saying such disgusting things in the future!”

Then I ran out without looking back.

I didn’t know where to go. I ran aimlessly, the wind in my ears drowning out the cries stuck in my throat. I just kept running, thinking of nothing, not daring to think of anything, as if only then could I feel a little calmer.

It wasn’t until dusk fell and my energy was gone that I stopped at the park on the western edge of Chunshui Town.

I sat on the swing, swaying back and forth. People passed by from time to time. I looked at them, thinking, reckless and hopeless, which of these people might be bad? Could someone kill me? Or stuff me in a sack and smuggle me off the island? Sell me to some remote, impoverished place – anywhere, as long as Ye Hai would never find me.

Then I sighed. Forget it, Ye Hai wouldn’t care anyway.

I sat in the park all night.

At dawn, as the sky lightened, Chen Ye found me, riding an electric bike.

He picked me up like a chick, ignoring my kicking and struggling, refusing to let go.

Damn it, I cursed inwardly, how did this guy suddenly get so tall? It’s all Ye Hai’s fault!

“Leave me alone! I don’t want to go home!”

“If you’re not going home, we’re going to the hospital.” Chen Ye tossed a helmet over, his voice completely flat. “Your dad went crazy looking for you all night, and ended up being hit by a motorcycle. He’s still unconscious.”