Absolutely Spoiled – Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – The year of abandonment

“Yiyi, after Dad and Mom separate, who do you want to go with?” The parents who had once spoken so lovingly to each other had torn off their facades in a blink of an eye, turning into strangers.

They were all asking her “do you want to go with dad or mom”, was it to give her the freedom to choose?

But what she wanted to know more was, “If Dad and Mom have to separate, who wants me?”

Yu Kai and Ruan Qing both fell silent. Yu Zhiyi lowered her eyes, already knowing the answer.

What a cruel reality…

Overnight, she had realized what it meant to fall down from the clouds. She didn’t even get a chance to ask for help.

They had planned everything already. They were just waiting for the right time to notify her: We have divorced already.

“Dad.”

“Mom.”

“You guys are so cruel…”

At the same time she learned that her family was going to be torn apart, she suddenly discovered that she was not chosen by either party. It was really cruel.

Outside the door, her grandma was rubbing her temples. Only after her dizziness went away did she push the door open and walk in, bringing the young girl with her back to her room.

“Grandma, was Yiyi not good enough, is that why they don’t like me?” Her hands were covering her tearful eyes. A strong sour feeling emerged from her throat, “I can do housework, I learned how to cook a lot of foods, I can take care of myself and also other people, and I was also obedient and studied hard, but…”

She looked forward to family harmony. Even if they really couldn’t continue on and divorced, she would respect her parents’ choices. She wasn’t even asking for her parents to spoil her.

But why, why did none of them want her?

Hearing the child pour out her grievances, Grandma felt heartache for her. Hugging her granddaughter, she helped her wipe away her tears, “Our Yiyi is the most obedient and understanding child. Grandma loves, Grandma wants you.”

The granddaughter that she had raised since young, Grandma cared about her the most.

When she was young, because neither of her parents were around, she was more mature than other children the same age as her. She learned early on how to take care of housework, helping to do laundry and cook. She was never stubborn and wasn’t like those other naughty children outside who would only cause trouble for their family.

When other people treated her well, she would be happy and cherish it, using her own ways to repay the goodwill. When other people did not treat her well, she would also just swallow her grievances, never shouting at others or getting angry.

This was the most worry-free child the elder had ever seen, but as adults, they failed to uphold their duty to the child, hurting her.

The ending result could not be changed. Ruan Qing took Yu Xinyan away, and Yu Zhiyi followed her dad.

Ruan Qing had to return to work, but Yu Kai stayed behind. Because the matter of his gambling had been exposed, he was fired by his work.

Grandma felt that her vertigo symptoms had become worse and worse and had to tell her daughter the truth. Ruan Qing brought her mother to the hospital for a checkup. The provincial hospital advised her to go to the city to undergo surgery.

“Mom, the hospitals here aren’t as good, you should stay with me for now.” Ruan Qing decided to take her mother away with her this time, to check into one of the better hospitals in the city for treatment.

At first, Grandma was still hesitating, but afraid that something worse would happen, she agreed to go with her daughter to the city for treatment.

Before she left, she was very worried about her granddaughter, “Yiyi has been feeling very upset about your matters recently. If she were to know that my sickness has gotten worse, I don’t know how much sadder she’ll be.”

Grandma couldn’t bear for the child to be sad and discussed what to say with Ruan Qing, “Yiyi, Grandma will go with Mom to the city for a while, you and Dad should just stay at home for now.”

Yu Zhiyi suddenly became very afraid, holding tightly onto her hands, “Grandma is also leaving?”

“Grandma isn’t leaving. Yiyi’s mom is also Grandma’s daughter. Grandma is just going to live there temporarily, I will be back soon.”

Since her grandma had put it that way, she could only trust her words. She trusted that her grandma would just be living there for a few days and would return quickly. Grandma had promised that she would never abandon her.

From that day on, Yu Kai would go out during the day looking for employment while Yu Zhiyi stayed at home alone.

When she was bored, she would look up recipes and want to make some for Shi Yi. She put the little pastries into a box and carried it with one hand. After exiting the courtyard, she suddenly saw a moving truck was parked outside the Shi family’s home as the movers were moving stuff into the car.

Yu Zhiyi stood frozen at her original spot. She suddenly remembered that a long time ago, Ning Suya had once said that after Shi Yi graduated from middle school, they would move to the city.

From the day her parents told her they were divorcing, she suddenly matured a lot. For some reason, she recalled something that Shi Yi once said, “Dad, Mom, and their child is one family, they will always be together.”

But reality proved him wrong. Dad and Mom can separate, and parents can also leave their children.

Her and Shi Yi…

In the end, they’ll separate too.

Ultimately, the box of pastries was not given away. Sitting on the table, the food’s warmth slowly disappeared until it became cold and hard.

In the afternoon, Yu Kai returned home in a bad mood.

In the past few years, he had been working outside, and this time when he came back, he looked down on the meager amount of money the family had. But if he were to go out now, not only did he not have any connections, he also had no starting capital.

He had hit dead ends everywhere trying to look for a job and naturally felt unhappy.

“Where’s the food?”

“On the table there’s…” Yu Zhiyi opened the box’s lid and then scooped a bowl of rice for her father.

Yu Kai was very hungry and quickly finished two bowls. The vegetables had been picked clean, leaving only juices behind. He threw the bowl and chopsticks on the table and left without a word.

Yu Zhiyi gathered the dishes and cleaned them as well as the stove and table.

After she finished, she saw her father sitting on the sofa smoking a cigarette. As he blew rings of smoke out, a choking smell filled the air. She bore the discomfort and walked to her dad. After staying silent for a moment, she said, “Dad…we don’t have any more rice.”

Her grandma usually grew vegetables in the garden nearby, so they weren’t lacking any vegetables for now, but they were already hitting the bottom of the rice bag.

She had taken out some of the savings in her piggy bank and went to buy rice. But because she didn’t have enough strength, she couldn’t lift it and could only negotiate with the shopkeeper to let her take the rice in increments.

On the last trip, she coincidentally bumped into Shi Yi who was coming out the door. He directly grabbed the rice bag from her hands, “It’s so heavy, why don’t you let Uncle carry it.”

“Dad is already tired from looking for jobs in the morning, and besides, I don’t have anything to do during break. It just takes a few more trips, that’s all.” The young lady was very understanding.

Shi Yi frowned, “It’s fine if you sympathize with Uncle, but you can also look for me to help.”

He had gone to the city with his parents to finish the paperwork. In a blink of an eye, she had learned how to carry rice bags?

Yu Zhiyi unnaturally kneaded her fingers as she let out a shallow smile, “Thank you, Brother.”

–

Ever since Yu Zhiyi’s family changed, Shi Yi would come over every day to accompany her.

Unfortunately, Father Shi got a phone call saying that his father had taken a fall and landed in the hospital. He wanted him to bring his son and wife to visit him.

Father Shi felt extremely anxious when he heard this and immediately asked for leave from work, wanting to bring his wife and son to visit his father.

The car was parked outside as Shi Yi turned into the courtyard, “Dad, I’ll go tell Yiyi.”

His parents were understanding, “Then hurry along.”

Shi Yi nodded and ran into the courtyard only to see the young lady standing in front of the laundry table, her small and soft hands working hard to scrub the adult clothes. Shi Yi immediately frowned, “What are you doing?”

“Washing clothes.” She was still holding onto to a piece of clothing in her hands.

“Why not use the washing machine?”

“It’s summer. The clothes are thin, they’ll be finished quickly.”

Actually, using the washing machine once would take half an hour, a waste of electricity. A few days ago, she had looked at the electricity meter. The money was almost gone so she had to conserve power.

The young girl had her head lowered as she continued to wash. A few stray hairs were stuck to her face. When Shi Yi raised his hands to brush the hairs away, she raised her head.

Even if he wanted to help, there wasn’t enough time so Shi Yi could only let out a small sigh, “Yiyi, I’m going with my parents to visit my grandpa. I’ll be gone a few days.”

“Is Brother also leaving?” Yu Zhiyi looked at him, her first reaction was panic.

Seeing her crestfallen expression, Shi Yi immediately knew what she was thinking. During such a crucial time, when her closest family left her one by one, it definitely must’ve hurt her a lot.

He also greatly felt heartache for Yiyi, but Yiyi was still okay. He had to go back to visit his grandpa.

Shi Yi explained to her, “Because Grandpa is in the hospital, I have to go back and visit. After Grandpa is better, Brother will come back.”

He was in a hurry and couldn’t stay for long, so he instructed her, “If there’s anything, just call me or ask one of the neighbors for help. Don’t try to do everything yourself like last time. You should also take good care of yourself, understand?”

“Okay…” Other than agreeing, there wasn’t anything else she could do. It wasn’t like she could stop him from leaving.

“Brother, wait. Let me get something.” She suddenly remembered something and hurriedly ran into her home.

While she was gone, Shi Yi saw that one of the neighbors was at home and ran over, “Auntie, if it’s convenient, can you help take care of Yiyi, please.”

Yu Zhiyi put the pastries in a clean bag and brought them out, “Brother, this is for you and Uncle and Auntie. You guys can eat it on the road.”

“Also, I hope your grandpa is fine and is healthy.” Such an understanding child. She knew the right and comforting words that adults liked to hear.

Also another…I hope you’ll still come back.

After Shi Yi left, Yu Zhiyi stared at the empty doorway for a long time before slowly recollecting herself and continuing her chores. She hung the clothes up to try and went back home to prepare dinner.

Yu Kai had returned a little later than usual today. Moreover, there was the smell of alcohol on him.

“Dad, are you eating?” If he was, she had to warm up the food.

Who knew that just as she walked over, Yu Kai suddenly pushed her. The young girl was caught unawares and landed on her butt on the ground.

“Eat, eat, eat, all you know is to eat!” Yu Kai vented his anger on his daughter, spewing out nasty words, “If it weren’t for you, would I have to be here?”

He didn’t have money, didn’t have a way to bring Yu Zhiyi to anywhere else to settle down.

Yu Zhiyi looked at her father in shock, feeling a sharp pain spreading in her heart. Even though she knew that she wasn’t his choice, when she heard him say it so directly, it was still upsetting.

Even if she finished all the housework every day and would rather spend all of the pocket money she had saved over the years than ask him for money, did she still become a burden? Could it be that in her parents’ hearts, she was always extra baggage dragging them down?

Tears swirled in her eyes as she tried her best to keep them at bay.

Mom said that she came back to visit her, but in the end, she abandoned her.

Grandma said that she would come back home very soon, but they had only talked on the phone a few times. There were even times when she called first and would be hung up after saying only a few sentences. At first, she still asked her grandma when she would return. The other party always answered, “Just wait a little longer”, so not long after, she stopped asking.

Brother said he would return, and that she could look for him if anything came up. How was she supposed to look for him? Is it to tell him, Yiyi has been abandoned by everyone, and no longer has a home…

Yu Kai couldn’t find a job he was satisfied with. But in order to live, he had no choice but to do hard labor. During the day, he would be exhausted from his job, so when he returned home, his temper became worse and worse.

Yu Zhiyi even had the idea of finding a part-time job, but there wasn’t any place in this small town that would need a fifteen-year-old girl to do work. All of them rejected her.

Yu Kai’s room reeked of cigarette smoke and alcohol, and Yu Zhiyi would go in every day to clean. These past few days, there were more and more cigarette buts and empty beer bottles that piled up to where she couldn’t clean all of them.

When Yu Kai got drunk, he would spew a lot of nasty words towards her, even hitting her. When he became sober, he would hug her and apologize. Yu Zhiyi didn’t know what to feel towards this father of hers and thus became even quieter.

One time, even the naggy aunt couldn’t take it anymore and dragged her to her home, “Your dad has gone too far. I’m calling your mom.”

Yu Zhiyi clenched her fingers, not daring to admit that after all this time, she was still harboring a sliver of hope that maybe her mom still had feelings for her.

But when her aunt called, just when she said the name “Yu Kai”, the other party immediately hung up.

In that moment, the young girl’s face turned pale.

What was she still expecting? Sympathy? Her mother never cared about how she was doing, so how could she worry about whether she was living well or not.

Today, Yu Kai had gotten into an argument with another person at the construction site. The two got into a fight and was he was fired. Once again, he was hugging his beer bottles as he got wasted and sat on the ground.

Yu Zhiyi gingerly called him to go back to his room to rest, “Dad, the floor is cold. You should sleep inside your room.”

Yu Kai saw a blurry figure swaying in front of him and felt annoyed. Grabbing a beer bottle, he threw it at her.

“Ah—“

A painful cry shattered the quiet night.

*

Shi Yi also didn’t expect that when his grandpa entered the hospital, other illnesses would also pop up.

His grandpa missed the younger generation, but because Father Shi was busy with work and Ning Suya also could not take a long break, they let Shi Yi stay. Grandpa liked this smart grandson of his a lot and couldn’t bear for him to leave.

As a result, this short stay turned into a month-long one.

The day his grandpa was discharged from the hospital, the whole family came to receive him.

Shi Yi helped support his grandpa as he nagged, “Grandpa, in the future you can’t drink alcohol or smoke anymore. You have to take good care of your body.”

“I got it.” Grandpa was a stubborn old man. His promises were worth nothing, and sometimes, he’d even secretly hide his alcohol to drink.

Now that his grandfather’s treatment was finished, he could go back and be with Yiyi.

Just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly got a call from “Auntie Yang”.

“Shi Yi, something serious happened to the Yu family…”
“I also just found out today. Yiyi seems to have been sent to the hospital. When I went to their house to look, there was even blood on the ground…”

The news of Yu Zhiyi getting injured was like a boulder that landed into a calm lake, making a tsunami in Shi Yi’s heart, waves after waves hitting him. The always calm Shi Yi lost his cool for the first time, almost tripping over his own feet.

He had to go back.

Ning Suya didn’t stop him, only asking, “Even Yiyi’s mom and uncle can’t handle this, how are we supposed to interfere?”

The youth clenched his fists as his eyes let out a determined glean. He enunciated very clearly to his mother the choice he made.

“When a sensitive child has been abandoned once, they will begin to suspect everyone’s love.”

“Mom, I won’t abandon Yiyi.”
“Never!”

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