Chapter 1

I met my youngest aunt for the first time at Grandpa’s funeral.

The moment she appeared, the people eating at the funeral feast began to whisper.

“Is that Xuemei? What’s she doing back here?”

“After all these years? I thought she was dead.”

Their voices were thick with disgust, contempt, and malicious delight, as though she were a fugitive who had no business coming back.

I did have some idea why.

Her name was Rong Xuemei. She was my grandparents’ youngest daughter, my father’s younger sister.

But she had left before I was born, and I had never seen her. Everything I knew about her came mostly from Grandma’s bitter complaints, repeated day after day.

“I worked myself to the bone raising her, sold rice and flour to pay for her schooling, then found her a husband. He was one of the finest young men anywhere around! What other mother would have done so much for her? And that wretched girl said I was trying to sell her. She ran off without a word and declared she was cutting us off.”

“Why is my life so miserable? All that work, and I raised an ungrateful little beast.”

“If I’d known, I’d have strangled her. Aborted her. I should never have brought her into this world!”

In other words, my aunt had run away and disowned her parents. In the countryside back then, that was nothing short of scandalous.

People in the village placed great importance on respecting and obeying one’s parents. They all regarded her as a disgrace.

They often comforted Grandma. “An unfilial child like that will get struck by lightning sooner or later. Pretend you never had her. Don’t make yourself ill over her.”

My aunt had been gone for eight years. Nobody knew where she was, what she did, or even whether she was alive.

Only when Grandpa suddenly died of a stroke did she finally return.

But nobody welcomed her. She had walked into a storm.

Dad was the first to rush at her. He grabbed her collar and slapped her hard across the face.

“Rong Xuemei! Didn’t you disown Dad? What are you doing here pretending you care? Hasn’t he suffered enough? Get out! Get the hell out! You’re not welcome here!”

My aunt held a hand to her cheek and said nothing for a long time.

I thought she might cry when nobody was looking. Instead, her face was calm, as though she had expected this.

My older aunt didn’t hit her. For some reason, she began wiping her eyes with her apron, crying so hard she could barely breathe.

“Little sister, you’ve finally come home. Mom and Dad have missed you so much. Your brother’s just angry. Don’t take it to heart. Come on, let’s go inside and talk as a family.”

Only later did I understand why they acted that way.

One played the villain, the other the peacemaker. If they fooled the guests, the family’s reputation would survive.

As for my youngest aunt’s “trial,” it was only just beginning.