Sang Zhi parted the crowd.
The young woman's delicate face was even more tender than the peach blossoms on a spring branch, and her dark, clear eyes were like a pool of limpid spring water.
Standing there so prettily, the rumors self-destructed without a blow.
The expressions on the faces of Sang Yun and her mother shifted dramatically.
Taking in everyone's expressions, Sang Zhi slipped into Su Xia's embrace, baring the marks of beatings on her arm.
"The village secretary said my grain quota is in the city and refused to sell me grain on credit. Auntie, I'm useless, I couldn't borrow any grain, please don't beat me."
"What does this mean? Didn't Liu Meili say she sent grain home every month?"
"That's right, and she still beats her?"
"They took her house and her job, and to top it all off, they beat her and starve her. Is Liu Meili even human?"
"Her own daughter is pampered enough—my clothes are patched layer upon layer, yet she has cloth ration coupons to make her new clothes."
The topic of elopement was successfully shifted to her mistreatment of her niece.
Liu Meili glared at her fiercely and awkwardly explained, "There's no such thing..."
Weren't this dead girl's lips sealed like a wooden peg before? Why was she acting so abnormal today?
"Everyone in the village can vouch for me. It was Granny Cai who shared her rations with me and raised me."
She buried her head in Su Xia's embrace, catching sight of the angry face out of the corner of her eye, her body trembling continuously.
"Don't hit me, I won't say anymore."
The young girl shrank back and lowered her head, her pupils misty with watery color, the tip of her pert nose flushed, looking utterly pitiful.
Su Xia only felt that she had changed somewhat, but she couldn't quite pinpoint what was different.
Yet the timing was just right now, and she let out a fierce tirade.
"Fine then, let's go to the trade union to settle this and see if it's right for you to abuse an employee's dependent, and even frame her for elopement. How can your hearts be so venomous?"
Tears swirled in Sang Zhi's eyes, hovering on the verge of falling, as she thrust in a timely knife, "That letter wasn't written by me either. If you don't believe me, let's compare handwriting."
How dare Sang Yun and her mother do that? They hurriedly explained it was all a misunderstanding and grabbed her to go back.
Worried, Su Xia wanted to follow them inside, but received a warning shake of the head from Sang Zhi.
...
Once the gate was closed, Liu Meili and her daughter followed her into the kitchen, which was now Sang Zhi's living quarters.
Nowadays, urban housing conditions were tight, and it was commonplace for three generations of a family to be squeezed into a space of thirty to forty square meters.
This house was allotted to Sang Zhi's parents, featuring two bedrooms totaling around forty square meters, plus a small courtyard of over ten square meters.
Although the kitchen took up a small half of the courtyard, it was already far better than the pigeon coops of other employees.
Right now, however, the couple Sang Jiqing and Liu Meili occupied one room, while the other room was partitioned and assigned to their three children.
Sang Zhi could only live in the kitchen.
Seeing there were no outsiders left, Liu Meili crossed her arms, her brows raised in anger.
Before she could speak, her hair was grabbed by someone, and before any abuse could escape her lips, her head was plunged straight into the bone-chilling water vat.
Running water had not yet been piped into every household, so people had to fetch water from public water pipes hundreds of meters away; hence, most families kept a water vat at home.
"You said I eloped?"
Bubbles came gushing up from the water surface.
When she was hauled back up, the woman shrieked.
"Sang Zhi, have you lost your mind?"
Sang Zhi's pretty face was a mask of frost, and without wasting words, she pushed her back down.
"Sober up a bit more!"
She let her catch her breath and pushed her down again, repeating this several times.
Drowning, Liu Meili thrashed about like a giant toad.
Seeing her own mother being bullied, Sang Yun dropped the act, rolled up her sleeves to help, but Sang Zhi merely flicked her arm, and that instant numbness caused her to lose all sensation.
In the cramped kitchen, one person spat bubbles while the other clutched her arm and wailed.
When her cheap aunt had her fill of water, Sang Zhi picked up a pair of scissors and walked toward Sang Yun.
Ever since she witnessed her own mother's misfortune, Sang Yun had turned a bit cowardly; seeing the scissors in hand, she retreated step by step in terror.
"Y-You, don't come over..."
Sang Zhi grabbed her by the hair, driving her knee into her stomach, and making sure the opponent had no strength to resist, she set to work on her styling.
Compared to what this family had done to her, she was merely serving an appetizer.
When they confiscated her belongings and chased her off to sleep in the kitchen, they had hypocritically claimed she shouldn't blame them because they simply liked it too much.
"Sis, I like your hair too, lend it to me to play with."
She was no professional hairdresser, however; she cut one side short and the other long, and amidst the other's miserable pleas for mercy, the floor was soon covered in a layer of sheared hair.
The scissors weren't sharp, and cutting made her hands sore.
Stopping to rest, she dealt a psychological blow, holding up her cousin's dog-chewed hair and asking Liu Meili—who lay paralyzed on the ground, soaked and gasping for breath—to appraise it.
"Auntie, how's my craftsmanship?"
Sang Yun read utter disbelief in her mother's eyes and shoved her away like a madwoman.
But action and reaction are mutual forces; Sang Zhi didn't budge an inch, while Sang Yun tumbled backward near the stove.
A stray spark landed on her head, and soon, an unpleasant odor filled the air.
She had left the girl with a crew cut...
Screaming, Liu Meili splashed water onto her daughter.
Sang Yun writhed on the ground as if possessed; once the fire was put out, she was left numb and dazed.
On Sang Yun's bluish scalp fluttered a few curled strands of hair, so ugly it hurt the eyes.
The ear-piercing screams once again drew a number of neighbors.
Aunt Su also began anxiously pounding on the door.
"Sang Zhi, is that you? Are they beating you again? Open the door, open the door quickly!"
When a woman shrieked, her voice was sharp and piercing, making it rather difficult to tell whose it was. Hearing the commotion, Sang Zhi quickly shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Sis, I was wrong, I won't talk back anymore, I'll sleep in the kitchen just fine, don't hit me, it hurts so much..."
Sang Yun considered herself crafty, but she still had to concede defeat before this girl; she chased after her crying and screaming like a madwoman.
"I'm going to kill you!"
Sang Zhi timed the opening of the door just right, and the onlookers coming to watch the spectacle saw the "monk" facing them with expressions that froze momentarily.
Immediately after, the sniggering turned into roaring laughter, and the entire alley was in an uproar.
Sang Yun fled in shame and anger. Liu Meili tried her hardest to accuse her, but this kind of stunt was just like the boy who cried wolf.
No one believed her anymore.
Sang Zhi stepped aside to let the neighbors see clearly into the kitchen.
The window had a huge hole in it, the folding cot was less than a meter and a half long, and the quilt was just a thin layer.
No amount of sophistry could match the impact of reality.
And yet they claimed they hadn't abused their niece?
"Su Xia, let's go to the trade union together tomorrow!"
"Right, let's go ask at Liu Meili's workshop too. Is she even human?!"
Su Xia was heartbroken; she had only just learned how harsh Sang Zhi's living conditions truly were.
"Come on, sleep at my place!"
Sang Zhi shook her head. Aunt Su had two boys at home, and their own living conditions were tight, so she wouldn't go over and add to the clutter.
Besides, how could a warrior easily desert the battlefield?
The Sang family's misfortunes had only just begun.
After seeing off the indignant crowd and closing the gates, she transformed back into a female warlord.
Before Granny Cai passed away, she had left her plenty of good things, but the family had ransacked and looted them all, so her first order of business was to search the house.
That pair of mother and daughter certainly wanted to block her.
Unfortunately, terrified by her gaze, they huddled together and shivered.
This couple had always cried poverty, but their secret stash was quite substantial; she dug out thirty-two hundred yuan, along with numerous grain stamps, meat stamps, industrial stamps, and non-staple food stamps.
As for living quarters, her cheap cousin's room was the cleanest, so Sang Zhi threw her things right out and moved in.
Liu Meili dared to be angry but didn't dare speak, and after comforting her daughter for a bit, she told the girl to sleep with her tonight.
The two of them figured today's failure was simply due to a lack of manpower.
They would wait until tomorrow when the husband and eldest son got off work, and the youngest son returned from maternal grandma's place.
They would surely finish her off!
Though busy all day, Sang Zhi was quite tired; ignoring the hatred burning in the eyes of the mother and daughter, she locked her door early and went to rest.
Just as she was dozing off, however, the buzzing sound inside her head rang out once more.
Accompanied by the words: "Rebooting... Initialization... Bzzzt... Successful."
She tumbled into the embrace of a scorching, muscular, and naked man.