Deceased Mother's Inheritance - Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Stand Straight.
The early morning sun streamed through the sheer curtains, waking up Yun Zhixue to the sounds downstairs. She walked barefoot to the window. Meng Zhengyue was sitting by the pool, tuning a wooden guitar in her arms.
Years ago, Yun Zhixue had learned to play the guitar, but she gave up because she could never find the right notes. Fortunately, her fingers were nimble, and she was good at playing the piano.
Meng Zhengyue strummed the strings, “Dark clouds cover the clear sky, the gale brushes past the tall buildings, a little boat without a harbor, stumbles in the embrace of the reef, if, I still had eighteen years of time, holding her hand to escape, escape, escape, what’s wrong, the girl is only sixteen, her stubborn spine is still hitting the south wall, quickly tell her, this is a dream, girl, wake up quickly…”
She sang impromptu, with her lowered hair covering her eyelashes. There was a faint melancholy, a unique sadness that was reflected in the bright sunlight.
Meng Zhengyue looked up and caught her red-handed. Her fingers, which were plucking the strings, stopped, and she raised her index finger at her. Yun Zhixue retreated a few steps like a startled deer, hurriedly hiding.
She was secretly looking at her, and she was the first to violate the rules.
Meng Zhengyue was unfamiliar, but also fascinating.
In just a few seconds, she added another label to her: dangerous.
Downstairs, Meng Zhengyue had prepared breakfast, intending to nourish Yun Zhixue’s body. Yun Zhixue’s meal included a nourishing tonic soup that was not greasy and tasted fresh. Yun Zhixue finished it quickly and licked the corners of her lips, clearly still wanting more.
Meng Zhengyue reminded her, “There’s more.”
Yun Zhixue didn’t want to get more soup, feeling it would be impolite. Meng Zhengyue, however, took her bowl, filled it forcefully, and put it back in front of her. After drinking the hot soup, Yun Zhixue’s pale cheeks were flushed with a light pink.
Meng Zhengyue smiled and said, “You look very pretty like this.”
“I’ll cook lunch,” Yun Zhixue said uncomfortably, so that neither of them would owe the other.
“No need. Consider it the rent I’m paying you for the house,” Meng Zhengyue said.
Yun Zhixue was silent. This house wasn’t hers to begin with; it was Yun Jing’s.
“That’s enough,” Meng Zhengyue put down her chopsticks. “Instead of thinking about how to draw the line between us, you should think about what punishment you’ll get for violating the rules.”
The light in her eyes was bright, and she seemed especially interested in punishment.
Yun Zhixue’s face changed slightly, and she responded sullenly, “I’ll think about it.”
Yun Zhixue returned to her room and looked at the rules she had personally written. The arrogance she felt then was replaced by frustration now. After a while, she looked closely at her face in the bathroom mirror…
Hmph.
She spent the entire morning reading, but her mind was elsewhere. She had no idea how she was going to be punished.
Would she throw her things away and tell her to get out?
In the afternoon, a cooking aunt and a caregiver came. Meng Zhengyue conducted a simple interview in the living room, holding a notebook and asking them questions one by one. In general, she said that there was a patient in the house and that they had to be careful.
When everything was arranged, Meng Zhengyue’s expression hadn’t changed. She looked at Yun Zhixue, who was standing behind the sofa, with a serious face. “…Hmm? You didn’t take a nap.”
Yun Zhixue hated owing anything to anyone. She had been so preoccupied that she couldn’t fall asleep. She walked up to Meng Zhengyue. “Punish me.”
Meng Zhengyue beckoned with her finger. “Stand straight.”
Yun Zhixue was taken aback and tensed her body.
“Bring your legs together.”
Yun Zhixue didn’t want to do as she was told, but she couldn’t control her body.
Meng Zhengyue got up, curved her finger, and flicked her on the forehead. She said softly, “Good job, honey. Keep up the good work.”
She was encouraging bad behavior.
After that one flick, Meng Zhengyue grabbed her notebook and drove away.
The clock hands pointed to 10:30 at night, and Meng Zhengyue returned.
Yun Zhixue felt that she was going too far and wanted to talk to her, to make her come back before 9:30. This thought came and went quickly.
She heard Meng Zhengyue talking on the phone downstairs. Her voice was syrupy, like melted honey. “What’s the point of going to a hotel? I’ll go with you next time. I have things to do.” The sound of high heels on the stairs was getting closer. Yun Zhixue instinctively took a half step back and hid herself in the shadows.
Meng Zhengyue walked up the stairs, holding onto the railing. The light passed over the paper bag in her hand, and Yun Zhixue couldn’t see what was inside. But the term “baomei” was especially clear—a more intimate term than “baobei,” filled with the closeness of lovers. So she treated relationships like this.
“Okay, baomei, just bear with it,” Meng Zhengyue said, coaxing the person on the other end.
Yun Zhixue had heard her talk on the phone once or twice at the hospital before. She always called a woman and said some very outrageous things, as if she were her other lover.
Baomei, baomei.
Yun Zhixue sneered inwardly. Two unfaithful, bad women. A match made in heaven. She couldn’t help but peek over again.
Very suddenly, Meng Zhengyue “hmm’d” and crooked her finger at her. Her eyes were filled with a seductive light. “Caught you.”
Yun Zhixue was so scared that she slammed the door shut. The moment the lock clicked, she heard a low laugh from outside.
She had been caught again.
Meng Zhengyue knocked on the door. “Spying on me again?”
Yun Zhixue pursed her lips, not wanting to admit it. Meng Zhengyue just turned the doorknob. Yun Zhixue realized she had forgotten to lock it and was filled with regret.
“Come here,” Meng Zhengyue said. “So I don’t have to come into your room.”
She smelled faintly of wine, a sweet, fruity scent. Her eyes were a light red. Yun Zhixue didn’t know how to describe it. She just felt that it was a little seductive.
Yun Zhixue got out of bed and stood straight in front of her.
Meng Zhengyue said, “Lift up your clothes.”
Yun Zhixue froze, looking at her with nervousness and unease.
Meng Zhengyue was like a toxic substance, charming and dangerous. Her eyes were half-closed, a little flirtatious… Finally, she lowered her head and forced her. “You made the rules, honey.”
Her face turned red, and her hands trembled as she lifted the hem of her clothes.
She really wanted to correct Meng Zhengyue… Can you please get it straight? You’re my mom’s girlfriend. Maybe, my future… Mommy.
Meng Zhengyue, this hateful woman, looked down at her lower abdomen. Her gaze did not move. It was so naked. She looked for a long time. Yun Zhixue couldn’t take it and closed her eyes, feeling as if she was being humiliated.
“It’s okay. You can open your eyes now.”
Her trembling eyelashes slowly moved upward.
Meng Zhengyue confirmed that her wound was not infected and was healing well. She nodded. “You’re very well-behaved. You’ve been applying the medicine properly.”
What… what does that mean?
Yun Zhixue couldn’t describe how she felt. It was like she was being scorched by fire.
It was so uncomfortable, but she didn’t hate it.
Meng Zhengyue blew a puff of air at her face and poked her chin with her finger. The scent of green apple swept over Yun Zhixue. Yun Zhixue’s face felt itchy, and her heart was pounding. She almost couldn’t stand straight. Meng Zhengyue’s eyes were full of shimmering water from being drunk. Her palm was on Yun Zhixue’s waist. She asked, “What are you thinking about?”
“…Nothing. It’s none of your business.” Yun Zhixue grabbed the door, ready to slam it shut, but Meng Zhengyue easily stopped her. She said, “You didn’t listen just now. You didn’t admit your mistake, and you tried to run away. You have to stand here for a little longer.”
Drunk women are so annoying. Yun Zhixue stood stiffly until Meng Zhengyue gently tapped her forehead with her finger. “Such a cute baby. Seeing you today, I don’t feel tired at all.”
Yun Zhixue hurried back to her room.
Her face was hot. She went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on it, but her breathing couldn’t calm down for a long time.
On their third day of living together, Yun Jing called during breakfast. Yun Zhixue put her phone on speaker on the table. Yun Jing’s message was simple: she wanted Yun Zhixue to get ready to go back to school.
Yun Zhixue’s expression changed instantly. Her lips were tight, and she didn’t say a word. It was clear that the child didn’t want to go to school.
Meng Zhengyue reached out to her. Yun Zhixue didn’t give her the phone.
Meng Zhengyue called Yun Jing directly. “She’s still recovering. Why should she go to school?”
Yun Jing explained that it was already mid-May, and the college entrance exam was next month. There was no time to waste.
Meng Zhengyue argued for her. “She’s so young and just had surgery. What if the wound gets infected?”
“She can take care of herself.”
“That’s easy for you to say. It’s her first time having surgery. Where would she get the experience to take care of herself? Didn’t you hire her a tutor?”
“A tutor won’t predict the test questions.”
“Then hire a famous teacher to do it.”
“A famous teacher doesn’t have that much time.”
“Her stitches haven’t been removed yet.”
Yun Jing smiled and said, “You care about her so much, you should just be her mom.”
Meng Zhengyue’s eyes arched slightly. “That’s an interesting way to propose. I…”
“I’ll go to school,” Yun Zhixue interrupted them. She took her bowl and went to the kitchen. She hated being used as a tool for their flirtation.
She also hated Meng Zhengyue for caring about her. It was so confusing. Why was she being so nice to her?
That same day, Yun Zhixue went to the hospital by herself to get her stitches removed.
In the afternoon, when Yun Zhixue returned, she saw Meng Zhengyue sitting on the sofa. She unconsciously straightened her back. Meng Zhengyue’s long legs were crossed, and she was looking at her expressionlessly. It was a completely different look from her usual smiling demeanor. At this moment, Meng Zhengyue exuded a sense of pressure. The rhythm of her knuckles tapping on her phone was like a dean tapping a ruler.
Before, she was always smiling. Now, Yun Zhixue felt a shiver of fear. She was a little afraid of her and chose to lower her voice as she walked upstairs.
“Who said you could get your stitches removed?” Meng Zhengyue’s voice was deliberately gentle. “The doctor said it would take at least seven days.”
It was the first time Meng Zhengyue had reprimanded her. Her tone was so gentle it was almost polite, yet it made Yun Zhixue feel as if she was covered in thorns. Her rebellious streak grew wildly. She clenched the hem of her clothes, her fingernails digging deep into her palm.
Yun Zhixue suddenly looked up, her eyes as sharp as a knife, and her tone was full of daggers. “What does it have to do with you?”
The air instantly froze.
Meng Zhengyue looked directly at her, a slight smile still on her lips, but the warmth in her eyes had faded. She put down her phone, and the phone made a very light clinking sound as it hit the table.
Meng Zhengyue stated a simple fact, “I’m the one who saved you, so you’re my responsibility.”
Yun Zhixue’s breathing stopped.
She hated Meng Zhengyue’s effortless attitude, and she hated herself… for being speechless because of a single sentence.
“I went to all that trouble, my arm is bruised, and I carried you to the hospital, just so you could do this to yourself?”
Yun Zhixue looked at her arm. Before, Meng Zhengyue was always wearing a jacket, so she hadn’t looked closely. When she glanced over again, she saw a large bruise on Meng Zhengyue’s fair arm.
Yun Zhixue was flustered and didn’t know what to say. She gritted her teeth for a long time and defended herself, “The doctor said they could be removed. Why do you care so much!”
For Yun Zhixue, this was a very strange kind of care. Meng Zhengyue had been pretending to be a wife and mother, but in reality, they weren’t close. Meng Zhengyue was just her mother’s lover.
Yun Zhixue even wanted to tear off this layer of hypocrisy and make her stop pretending to be a good person. Before, Yun Jing’s girlfriends who didn’t understand the situation would try to please her. Later, they would secretly say, “It turns out your mom doesn’t like you. Never mind.”
She hated Meng Zhengyue so much because Meng Zhengyue’s pretense was the most convincing.
Meng Zhengyue was angry, and Yun Zhixue even felt a sense of satisfaction.
Yun Zhixue was like a soldier going to win a battle. She wanted to announce her victory triumphantly: “See? My mom doesn’t like me. You’re out of luck, you idiot.”
Yun Zhixue lay in her room all day. Her stomach hurt a lot because she had the stitches removed early, and the wound was bleeding. She endured it without making a sound, but her eyes kept glancing at the door.
The imagined knock never came. She always reminded others to apply medicine, but she didn’t apply her own. Was it because… no one called her “honey”?
In the faint light of the next morning, Yun Zhixue walked down the stairs with her school bag. The private car that Yun Jing had arranged was already parked in the courtyard.
Meng Zhengyue was still sitting on the sofa. She looked up when she heard the footsteps. “Eat breakfast.”
Yun Zhixue walked back to the dining table and quickly finished her dumplings. Her blue school uniform and nightgown were neatly folded on the sofa, with every crease deliberately precise. Yun Zhixue pursed her lips and stuffed the clothes into her school bag, then got into the car without looking back.
Meng Zhengyue came out behind her. “Drive slowly.”
The driver listened to her. Meng Zhengyue’s hands were in her pockets. She was on a hoverboard, following their car.
She always maintained a perfect distance. Yun Zhixue stubbornly looked away, but every time she saw her reflection in the car window, her fingers unconsciously tightened, unable to resist the urge to look at her.
The car stopped at the gate of the villa community.
Meng Zhengyue called out to the driver. The car stopped. She tapped on the glass window and looked down at Yun Zhixue. “I’ll give you one more chance to change your mind.”
Yun Zhixue didn’t answer and didn’t look at her. A few seconds later, she lowered the car window and handed a tube of ointment to her.
“No need.”
The hoverboard drifted around the corner. She left with her hands in her pockets. The bruise on her arm was still visible. On the long street, only the shadows of the plane trees swayed.
Meng Zhengyue was angry.