The Scorching Sun - 2

Mrs. Lu's face darkened at Fang Zhuo's words. She said stiffly, "This family's financial situation isn't nearly as good as you think. Your younger brother is about to start his final year of middle school, and he's an outstanding student. Do you understand?"

Fang Zhuo met her gaze and stated calmly, "From a legal standpoint, I'm still a minor. You're obligated to support me."

Mrs. Lu barked out a laugh. "Compulsory education only lasts nine years! What do you even know about the law?"

"I really don’t know much. But I imagine adults should." Fang Zhuo said, “You never fulfilled that obligation. Even calculated at the barest minimum legal child support standard, what you owe from all these years should be more than enough to cover my tuition."

The middle-aged man, who had kept his head down in silence until now, finally lost his composure. "What exactly are you trying to say?! "

Fang Zhuo lowered her eyes halfway, staring at the grain running across the wooden dining table before her. "I know where you work. I've also met your coworkers."

The color drained from Fang Yiming's face. Realization flashed across it, followed by anger tightening every line of his expression.

A pair of wooden chopsticks slammed onto the table, one of them skittering away. Furious, Mrs. Lu shot to her feet, glared viciously at Fang Zhuo, then snatched the chopsticks from Fang Yiming's hand. "You still have the mind to eat?!" she snarled at him. "Look at this daughter of yours! Listen to the filth coming out of her mouth! She's still just a student, and she already knows how to threaten us! Fang Yiming, when I married you, you promised I wouldn't have to deal with her!"

She was beside herself with rage, but no one responded. Fang Zhuo turned her head slightly, the corner of her eyes lifting as she looked at Mrs. Lu from the side. "You think I'm threatening you because, deep down, you know what you've done wouldn't stand up to the light of day.”

Mrs. Lu nearly choked on her own breath. She was about to launch into another tirade when Fang Yiming raised a hand to stop her.

Whether it was a rare pang of guilt or caution born of realizing how shrewd Fang Zhuo truly was, his chest rose and fell several times before he finally forced himself to swallow his anger. Frowning, he said, "Give her the tuition money."

Across the table, Fang Zhuo's younger brother slammed his bowl down, folded his arms across his chest, leaned back in his chair, and refused to eat another bite.

"And my living expenses," Fang Zhuo added.

“So you want to settle things once and for all with us? Is that it?” Mrs. Lu said in disbelief, pointing toward the front door. "Fine. I'll give you the money. Now get out, and don't ever come back!"

Fang Zhuo stood, walked over to the sofa, picked up her backpack, and left without a moment's hesitation.

Mrs. Lu grabbed the shoulder bag hanging nearby, rushed out the security door in her slippers, pulled out a thick stack of freshly withdrawn banknotes, and without bothering to count, hurled them at Fang Zhuo in a fit of rage.

"You turn eighteen next month, don't you? I'll count it as half a month left. Here, take it all! Keep the change!”

Red-and-white banknotes scattered across the floor. A few were caught by the cool breeze drifting in through the stairwell window and fluttered down the steps.

The motion-activated light flicked on, bleaching Fang Zhuo's already pale face even whiter.

The night wind swept through the hallway, its chill lashing everyone's exposed skin. Only then did they realize the sky outside had gone completely dark.

Fang Zhuo pressed her lips together. Hooking a finger beneath her backpack strap, she hitched it higher onto her shoulder. Her voice turned sharp, every word distinct. "Pick them up."

Silence swallowed the stairwell.

"If I can't go to school, that's fine. I'll carry a sign every day and sit outside your son's classroom. I'll tell his classmates and teachers exactly how I was denied financial aid and forced out of school because my own family abandoned me. If he goes to high school, I'll follow him. If he goes to college, I'll follow him there too. Cold days, hot days, I don’t care. Maybe I can visit your workplace instead.”

Her tone was clearly soft and unhurried, yet it struck a chill of fear into their hearts. 

The dim light seemed to be swallowed by the black wells of Fang Zhuo’s pupils. Long lashes veiled the unfathomable depths beneath them.

She repeated herself. "Pick them up.”

Mrs. Lu's face trembled. Fang Zhuo's threat had rooted her to the spot. Regret stirred in her, but her pride would not allow her to stoop for this girl. Caught in that impossible bind, she stood frozen. In the end, Fang Yiming stepped forward and bent to pick up the scattered banknotes one by one.

Their son, clinging to the doorframe, called out hesitantly, "Dad.” Fang Yiming waved him away with a stern expression, signaling for him to go back to his room.

Once every bill had been gathered, Fang Yiming straightened up. Looking up from where he stood below, his eyes met Fang Zhuo's directly.

She looked down at him from above without the slightest trace of emotion. There was something cold, almost chilling, in that gaze.

Fang Yiming froze for a moment and awkwardly looked away. For the first time, he realized Fang Zhuo wasn't the timid, easy-to-bully girl he'd always imagined. Whatever words he had intended to use to smooth things over died in his throat.

Fang Zhuo was nothing like her mother, Fang Yiming suddenly thought in a daze. Ye Yaoling had been so simple, so naive.

He held out the money. Fang Zhuo waited two seconds before taking it.

As if deliberately testing their patience, she counted every bill carefully in front of them, once, twice, then a third time. Not stopping until Ms. Lu’s patience had frayed to the breaking point.

There were exactly five thousand yuan.

Only then did Fang Yiming seem to realize something. He fumbled another two hundred yuan from his pocket and tucked it into her hand.

"The tuition, dormitory fee, and other expenses come to forty-two hundred," Fang Zhuo said as she opened her backpack and carefully slipped the money into the middle compartment. Without looking at either of them, she added evenly, "That leaves a thousand. Let's call it the buyout price for cutting all ties."

Fang Yiming's lips parted. He wanted to say, no, that wasn’t it, but before he could speak, Fang Zhuo followed with, "More than I thought I was worth."

She glanced toward Mrs. Lu, noting her anxiety and unease, and smiled. Her lips curled with deliberate spite. “I’ll be back.”

Mrs. Lu violently grabbed Fang Yiming by the arm back inside and slammed the door shut.

After the heavy bang, a faint sound drifted down from upstairs. Whoever it was had tried to tread quietly, but in the silent stairwell, even those tiny footsteps still carried clearly.

On the other side of the closed door, Mrs. Lu finally abandoned all pretense and erupted. "Fang Yiming, how much do you even make in a month? Get this straight: your son is in his final year of middle school! Do you know how much his tutoring costs every month? His food? His clothes? Are you planning to bleed your own son dry just to pay off that ungrateful wretch outside? If that's what you want, then this marriage is over!"

Whatever tiny attachment Fang Zhuo had once held for this family was gone. She simply turned and walked downstairs.

For all the shouting and chaos, it ended in astonishing silence. No matter how violently the waves crash, once they return to the sea, they leave behind only a few fleeting ripples.

Pushing open the building’s security door, a fine drizzle sprayed in, bringing to her the first cool breath of late summer. She slipped the money into her pocket and gripped it tightly, yet it felt as though every bit of warmth had been drained from her body by the thick stack of banknotes.

Perhaps there had never been much warmth in their family to begin with.

Loose strands of hair grew damp with rain and clung to her cheeks. Head lowered, Fang Zhuo walked beneath the eaves. She had gone only a few steps when a voice called down from above.

"Hey!"

A window upstairs had been pushed open. Fang Zhuo’s half-brother leaned out, an umbrella in his hand, motioning at it then tossing it down toward her.

Fang Zhuo bent to pick it up as he shouted, "Take all your stuff with you! And don't ever come back!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth, Fang Yiming yanked him back inside.

Fang Zhuo opened the umbrella and stood there blankly for a long while.

She didn't have a phone. She didn't have a map. The school dormitory was already locked for the night, and she had no idea whether the last bus had stopped running.

Tonight, the city revealed its coldest, most unfamiliar face to someone who had lost her way.

She wandered aimlessly along the streets for a while before settling on a twenty-four-hour convenience store. Taking a seat on the bench outside, she opened her backpack and read beneath the light spilling through the shop window.

The light, dulled by the pane of glass between them, soon left her eyes aching. After only a short while, she packed away her books, leaned back gently, and rested against the window.

***

A familiar blue uniform passed through Yan Lie's line of sight.

He set down the half-eaten hamburger in his hand, looked more closely, and confirmed that it really was Fang Zhuo. What a coincidence, he thought.

She looked exhausted. Sitting outside the convenience store, she hugged her backpack tightly against her chest, and before long drifted to sleep.

Yan Lie hesitated, but remained where he was, quietly watching. At first, he simply wanted to see when she would leave. Yet by the time he had finished his dinner and even played another round on his phone, she was still sitting there.

He walked over, intending to wake her. However, couldn't quite figure out why she was outside at this hour. The hand he had raised lingered in midair before falling back. In the end, he just stood there, his shadow shielding half the streetlight from falling across her.

Maybe it was the murky light, or maybe life had simply been too hard on her lately. From his angle, her complexion looked startlingly pale. Her lips were dry enough to crack, and the narrow wrist exposed beyond her sleeve hinted at just how thin she was.

For a moment, Yan Lie couldn't even remember what Fang Zhuo was like at school; their interactions had been too few. All he could recall was that she always seemed to be in a hurry, constantly rushing from one place to another. She wasn't particularly sociable either, and always wore an expression that suggested nothing in the world interested her.

Everyone had their own peculiarities. Yan Lie's instincts told him it was better not to intrude on hers.

He went into the convenience store and picked out two steamed buns, a bowl of sweet porridge, and two small cakes. After paying, he lowered his voice and said to the cashier on duty, "Could you give these to the girl outside? Just tell her they didn't sell and are about to expire, so you're giving them away."

Following his gaze, the cashier finally noticed someone sitting outside. Judging by the matching school uniforms, the girl appeared to be this handsome young man's classmate. He readily agreed.

Yan Lie grabbed a bottle of water for himself. After stepping outside, he paused beside Fang Zhuo for two seconds, then quietly turned and left.

As soon as his shadow disappeared into the distance, Fang Zhuo opened her eyes.

She wasn't brave enough to spend the night sleeping on the street. The money tucked inside her backpack alone was enough to keep her from sleeping soundly.

The cashier came out carrying the bag. He had intended to repeat the script Yan Lie had told him, but when Fang Zhuo looked up at him, the words somehow seemed to burn in his mouth and took a different turn. "Your classmate was really worried about you. Are you hungry? Have something to eat."

Fang Zhuo slowly lowered her gaze to the white plastic bag in his hand.

The cashier suddenly felt that this girl was far too mature for her age. Then again, perhaps "mature" wasn't the right word. She looked more like someone already worn down by life.

Just when he thought she would refuse, she reached out, accepted the bag, and politely said, "Thank you."

"It's nothing." The cashier slipped his hands into his pockets and started back inside. After taking only half a step through the door, he stopped, turned around again, and said, "It's been raining these past few days, there are a lot of bugs out here. Why don't you find somewhere indoors to stay?"

Seeing the near-literal “no money” written all over Fang Zhuo’s face, he gave a helpless smile and casually pointed down the street.

"There's a KFC up ahead that's open all night. The staff there are pretty nice. You’re a student, they won’t make things hard for you. There's a row of couches in the corner that's decent for sleeping, if you're lucky enough to find an empty one. If not, there's a hospital nearby. Just make sure you keep an eye on your belongings."

Fang Zhuo listened quietly and nodded. After considering it for a moment, she picked up her backpack and stood.

The steamed buns were still faintly warm, the heat seeping into her palms as she tightened her fingers around the bag.

Watching the traffic, she reached the crosswalk. When the light turned red, she couldn't resist lowering her head and taking a bite.

The warm, savory filling spread through her mouth, its heat flowing into her cold, empty body. Only then did she belatedly realize how hungry she truly was.

She ate with complete focus, standing there as the red light turned green, then red once more.

A fine drizzle blurred the city. The night wind carried an early chill.

This was her first meal of the day.

Brilliant neon lights stretched into the distance like a river, flowing toward the boundless darkness beyond.

Fang Zhuo gazed absently toward the edge of the sky. Her future was just like that river of light. It might not be straight or clearly defined, but it had already unfolded before her, leaving her nowhere to turn back.

---

← Previous | Table of Contents | Next →

0