Chapter 17 Part 2

Seeing that her playmate wasn’t speaking and seemed on the verge of tears, the girl couldn’t help but ask, “You didn’t know? I thought you already did.”

Kong Yanyan shook her head honestly. “My moms never told me.”

But then she thought about it—her moms knew she wasn’t their biological child, yet they still treated her like their own. They must love her a lot.

Her mood brightened instantly. That evening at the dinner table, she said “Mom, I love you” to each of them in turn.

When Kong Jian asked why she was suddenly saying such things, she recounted everything her playmate had told her, down to the last detail.

That night, upstairs came the sound of nonstop wailing and shouting.

“Fang Siyi, you bastard! I’m already five years old, and you still dare to spank me! I’m telling my mom to divorce you and get me a real dad who won’t hit my butt!”

The next day, Kong Yanyan brought beef jerky that Kong Jian had made herself upstairs to visit her playmate.

The playmate was lying on the bed. When she saw Kong Yanyan arrive, she huffed at her irritably. “It’s all your fault. You go blabbing everything to your mom, and now my dad beat me because of it.”

Kong Yanyan didn’t know what she’d done wrong. She was just a little kid, so of course she had to tell her mom lots and lots of things.

But seeing her playmate like this, she obediently apologized.

Only after taking all of Kong Yanyan’s beef jerky did the playmate grumpily say she forgave her.

Kong Yanyan sat beside her and started anxiously chatting about her little mom.

She had said “I love you” yesterday, but Little Mom hadn’t smiled back like Big Mom did. It seemed like Little Mom didn’t like hearing her say it at all.

But several times when she’d gotten up to use the bathroom at night, she’d heard Little Mom begging Big Mom to say she loved her.

Could it be because she wasn’t their biological child that Little Mom didn’t like her?

The more she thought about it, the sadder she got—especially remembering how, from as far back as she could remember, Little Mom always had a stern face toward her, never speaking gently. Even when she wanted to sleep with her moms, Little Mom refused.

The more she dwelled on it, the more upset she became, and big teardrops were about to fall.

Her playmate, who had just been harshly beaten by her own heartless dad, felt pretty noble. Even at a time like this, she could still comfort the girl.

She told Kong Yanyan that her own real dad was the same—almost never giving her a good look. Whenever the two of them were alone, they were either arguing or on the way to an argument.

Kong Yanyan was instantly comforted.

The fathers of her little friends who shared blood ties with her would act this way, and since she and Little Mom weren’t related by blood at all, there was even less reason for concern.

Thus, on this particular evening, Kong Yanyan—who had always obediently slept alone in her bedroom—gathered her courage and knocked on her mothers’ bedroom door.

“Mom, can I sleep with you tonight?”

Little Mom’s expression soured, as if she’d been interrupted in the middle of something.

But Kong Yanyan was no longer the timid girl she used to be. She flashed a sweet grin at her.

Ning Yan’s face hardened as she prepared to shoo her away, but Kong Jian fixed her daughter with a gentle stare and murmured a threat only the two of them could hear: “Either you leave, or you let Nuannuan in.”

That night, Kong Yanyan slept like a dream, nestled snugly between her two mothers.

When she woke the next morning, she grabbed the cookies her mom had made for her and headed upstairs to knock on her little friend’s door.

~~~

Her little friend was Fang Nianyun, the daughter of Kong Yanyan’s maternal cousin.

Though Fang Nianyun was a year younger, she was incomparably smarter.

Even concepts like blood relations—something Kong Yanyan had never heard of—had been explained to her by Fang Nianyun.

Kong Yanyan adored her because Fang Nianyun’s mind brimmed with fascinating knowledge that she herself could scarcely comprehend.

As far back as she could remember, the two of them had always played together.

They were the best of friends!

Kong Yanyan longed to return to her hometown and visit Kong Yaoguang, but her mothers were too busy lately. With the New Year approaching, however, they had promised to take her back then.

Impatient to see her great-grandfather sooner, she confided in Fang Nianyun.

Fang Nianyun pondered for a moment. Seeing the desperate longing in her friend’s eyes, she emptied her pockets of all her pocket money and declared they would buy train tickets back to N City.

Kong Yanyan had always envied Fang Nianyun’s own smartphone; all she had was a phone watch, nothing like the games Fang Nianyun could play on her phone.

But it didn’t matter—Fang Nianyun was always happy to lend it to her. On the surface, Kong Yanyan had no phone, but in truth, she did!

Fang Nianyun slung her backpack over her shoulder—it held her phone and a power bank—and took Kong Yanyan’s hand as they headed out.

Kong Yanyan hesitated. “Shouldn’t we tell Moms?”

Fang Nianyun, ever the irresponsible little sister type, flicked her forehead. “No way. The aunts would never let us.”

“But what if we get lost?” she asked, a bit scared.

The little girl glared at her. “We won’t get lost! You have to trust me!”

And so, the two chubby little milk buns set off hand in hand.

Once they were on the bus, Kong Yanyan thanked her. “Thanks for taking me home. Next time, no matter who you want to visit, I’ll go with you.”

Fang Nianyun huffed. “No need to thank me. I’m smarter than you, so of course I’ll look after you for the aunts.”

Kong Yanyan didn’t argue; it was simply the truth.

They got off the bus and continued toward the high-speed rail ticket office.

But before they could even enter, two figures blocked their path.

Kong Yanyan lit up with joy. “Mom! What are you doing here?”

Kong Jian opened her mouth to speak, but a sharp series of smacks rang out nearby. She turned her head along with Kong Yanyan.

Fang Nianyun—who had been on the receiving end of countless spankings over the years—was once again having her pants yanked down by Fang Siyi for a paddling.

She wriggled like a spring on his leg, yelling all the while, “Bad egg Fang Siyi! Hateful Fang Siyi! Let me go! I’m telling Mom!”

Fang Siyi, clad in a stern business suit—he’d clearly just stepped away from some formal event—looked even more thunderous at her outburst.

“I’ve told you a thousand times: I’m your dad! If you dare take Yanyan running off again, I’ll break your legs! Don’t drag your mom into this—even if Grandma shows up, it won’t help!”

In public, Fang Siyi always maintained an air of strict propriety. Only Xi Yunyun ever saw his boundless tenderness.

That all changed after Fang Nianyun was born. Now the world had one more person to set his temper ablaze.

Unable to wriggle free, Fang Nianyun unceremoniously sank her teeth into the hand gripping her shoulder. Fang Siyi hadn’t been hitting hard to begin with, and her puppy-like bite only made him raise his hand higher. When it finally came down with a solid smack, he still couldn’t bring himself to strike with real force.

“Who taught you to bite people? Did your mom and I raise a dog? Fang Nianyun, let go of that hand right now, or you can forget riding home in my car!”

Fang Nianyun released the flesh in her mouth and spat at him. “Who wants to ride in your stupid car? I don’t! Ow! Fang Siyi, how dare you hit me—now I’m really mad! Next time you and Mom are in there trying to make me a little brother, I’ll bust the door down and stop you!”

“…”

Kong Jian quickly covered her daughter’s ears. After the commotion from those two, she’d completely forgotten what she had been about to say.

She scooped the chubby little toddler into her arms and pinched her cheeks. “No more sneaking out with your sister without an adult’s permission, you hear me? If Yanyan got lost, Mommy would be worried sick.”

Kong Yanyan reached out clingily and wrapped her arms around her, planting an obedient kiss on her cheek. “Mommy, I was wrong. I’m sorry. But I missed Great-Grandpa so much, so sister said she’d take me back to N City. It’s all my fault—nothing to do with sister.”

Kong Jian sighed helplessly. “Mommy was planning to tell you tonight. Great-Grandpa said he misses you too, so he’s coming over tomorrow to play with you for a few days.”

“Really? Then let’s hurry home, Mommy—I’m starving!”

“Kong Yanyan! You little traitor! You’re just ditching me like that? Fang Siyi’s gonna kill me!”

Fang Siyi stopped at her words. He dropped her to the ground, deftly pulled up her pants, then hoisted her over his shoulder. “Hang on tight. I’m taking you back to your mom. And out of the kindness of my heart, I’ll remind you: she already knows about this. She’s even madder than last time you shaved Xiao Jian bald.”

Fang Nianyun—who’d been utterly fearless just moments ago—clung to the man’s head, nuzzling it ingratiatingly. “Daddy, I was wrong. Let me crash at Auntie’s tonight. You can coax Mommy first, then I’ll come home.”

The man chuckled. “Scared now? Too late.”

She bristled instantly. “Fang Siyi! You old geezer! I hate you!”

Kong Yanyan quietly looked away. “Mommy, let’s go home.”

~~~

Fang Nianyun finished first grade and skipped straight into third, becoming classmates with Kong Yanyan.

Kong Yanyan wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but she worked harder than anyone. She always sat ramrod straight in class and, even in elementary school, took meticulous notes in her textbooks and kept a log of her daily mistakes.

Sadly, life didn’t reward her efforts. From first grade on, her scores languished in the bottom three of the class—nothing like her two parents, both star graduates of A University’s master’s program.

Fang Nianyun was the polar opposite. She’d inherited her parents’ brilliance, amassing so many awards from childhood that the cabinet couldn’t hold them all.

Even after jumping from first to third grade, she still claimed first place in her year.

At the end of third grade, Kong Yanyan asked reluctantly if she’d skip again next year—straight to fifth grade.

Two days earlier, Fang Nianyun had shaved off the fur Xiao Jian had just started growing back. Xi Yunyun, determined to punish her, took the scissors herself and hacked off her daughter’s waist-length hair into an ugly, short student bob. The goal was to make her feel Xiao Jian’s pain and finally learn her lesson.

It hadn’t worked.

Now Fang Nianyun sat right behind Kong Yanyan. She’d slipped off her hair tie and was idly twirling the ends of her friend’s glossy black ponytail.

“Not skipping,” she said carelessly.

Kong Yanyan blinked in surprise—mostly delight. She twisted around, her pretty eyes locked on her friend. “Why not? Your grades are amazing. Skipping again would be no problem.”

“Turn around.”

“Oh.”

Fang Nianyun resumed curling the ponytail around her finger. “I just don’t feel like it. What, you want me gone that bad?”

Kong Yanyan shook her head vigorously. “No way! I’m thrilled you’re staying. You’re really not skipping?”

“One more question, and I’ll change my mind.”

She clammed up at once, obedient as a lamb.

“Kong Yanyan.”

“Hm?”

“Give me half your hair.”

“Huh?”

Kong Yanyan blinked, then nodded. “Sure. When we get home, Auntie can cut it for me.”

“Are you a moron?”

She turned back around. Her round almond eyes glowed with a gentle light.

“You’re more important.”

Hair was just hair. If Fang Nianyun wanted it, she’d give it to her.

“Idiot. One day someone’ll sell you off, and you’ll help count the money.”

“Then you’ll come save me.”

~~~

When Fang Nianyun started first year of junior high, she did something Kong Yanyan deeply admired.

She fell in love.

Her boyfriend was a third-year senior—three years older.