Killing Marriage [ABO] - Chapter 31

Chapter 31; Science Popularization

“That child, she finally pestered Captain Ren into taking her to shoot a gun,” Mi Tong said with a worried expression, looking at the photos her daughter sent. “What’s wrong with a little girl playing with things like that? It’s so dangerous.”

The two of them went to a shooting range in the suburbs owned by Ren Zhong’s retired comrade, where they used real guns and ammunition.

Normally, children so young aren’t allowed to handle guns. But many children of military families start practicing with guns with adults from a young age. Mi Li, surrounded by these “gun kids,” wasn’t even the youngest one.

Shang Liwei leaned over. “Let me see… Wow, isn’t this great? Rock climbing, shooting clay pigeons, five shots with a ten-meter rifle and a score of thirty-three rings—Li Li is very talented at this!”

“Talented at this? Then why did the ballet and piano teachers say she had no talent?” Mi Tong’s smooth brow was furrowed tightly. If you drew a “mountain” character on her forehead, it would form the word “mountain stream” with her brow.

Mi Tong’s biggest hope for her daughter was that she would grow up safely and marry a good family. Therefore, she didn’t encourage Mi Li to participate in rough sports. She believed that learning arts, which improved temperament and cultivation and made people more likable, was the proper thing to do.

“Everyone has different talents. Since Li Li has her own interests and things she’s good at, why do you have to force her to do things she’s not good at?” Shang Liwei said, stroking Mi Tong’s head.

But Mi Tong disagreed. “I’m doing it for her own good. Sister Liwei, you’re an Alpha, different from us Omegas and Betas.”

She always drew strict lines between different genders and regulated herself and her daughter according to the expectations of society.

Shang Liwei held a completely different view. She had been wanting to have a serious talk with Mi Tong about this for a long time, and she had hinted at it many times before. Now, it was time to bring the matter to the table.

Shang Liwei asked, “Tongtong, will your ‘for her own good’ truly make her ‘good’?”

“Trapping her in a field she’s not good at, making her never get recognition or praise from teachers during her growth and learning, and getting nothing but a sense of frustration from all her hard work… will that really help her grow up to be confident, healthy, and strong?”

At this, Mi Tong guiltily looked away.

She was silent, looking down at the ground.

“These are all things people can do. What’s the difference? Are Alphas people, and Betas and Omegas sub-humans?” Shang Liwei put her arm around Mi Tong’s shoulder. “It’s not just Mi Li; you need some help, too.”

Many times, the problem wasn’t with the child at all. On the contrary, the parents had serious problems that needed to be addressed urgently. Only parents who were willing to accept psychological counseling and make changes could develop a healthy parent-child relationship and grow together with their children.

“Believe me, many, many Omega girls and Beta girls are like this. They don’t want to marry a man like their father, and they certainly don’t want to repeat their mother’s life.”

Shang Liwei leaned close to Mi Tong, painting a vivid picture of Mi Li’s future with her words.

“If she wants swords, spears, and halberds, don’t give her rouge and silk. If she wants armor and riding boots, don’t give her long skirts and dancing shoes. If she wants to roar like a tiger cub in a valley and make all the beasts tremble, don’t make her a wife who stays at home and deals with daily chores.”

“Don’t make her a caged bird; let her soar in the sky. Don’t make her a delicate flower in a greenhouse; let her defy the snow and frost. Don’t clip her sharp claws or take away her weapons; let her forge her own path through thorns and with bold strokes.”

“She deserves all the beautiful things she wants in this world.”

Everything in Mi Tong’s vision suddenly became clear. In the short video, Mi Li on the rock-climbing wall was a little spider scurrying up and down.

That small child had a powerful life force and infinite possibilities.

Before her vision blurred and tears fell, Mi Tong looked up, took a deep breath, and held back her tears.

“Yes, Sister Liwei, you’re right.” Her chest rose and fell slightly, her throat catching. “How can you rely on others for a living? My life has been so terrible… how could I let Li Li live like me?”

She tried hard to control her emotions, her watery eyes looking at Shang Liwei, filled with many things she couldn’t express or explain.

“I know most people wouldn’t give advice on this. It’s a thankless job and too easy to get blamed. But Sister Liwei, you’re just too good a person. You just can’t stand to see other people’s suffering. You’re just… too kind-hearted.”

Shang Liwei didn’t know how many compliments and tears she would receive from Mi Tong.

She stroked Mi Tong’s soft hair. “It’s also because you’re willing to listen and make a change. I’m just a source of information, letting you know that you have more choices. But what you choose and what you do in the end is up to you.”

Mi Tong nodded vigorously.

To be honest, helping Mi Tong gave Shang Liwei a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Seeing someone genuinely move in a positive direction filled her heart with hope and anticipation for the future.

Shang Liwei really liked this feeling of helping others. She wasn’t enjoying her authority or knowledge; she simply hoped that everyone could have a better life and better circumstances.

Then, she suddenly fell into a state of immense powerlessness and disappointment.

Could she help one person and help everyone?

Shang Liwei couldn’t stand to see other people’s suffering or the prevalence of ignorance. But the things she couldn’t stand were always more than the things she could.

“I’m out here helping others, but I haven’t even solved my own problems,” Shang Liwei said, shaking her head and laughing at herself.

The lock on the door clicked open. It was Mi Li, back from the shooting range.

“Bang! Predicting the speed of the clay pigeon, wind direction is OK!” Mi Li was engrossed in her own shooting-world storyline. “Ms. Vivian, I’m Lily, a member of the guard team. Your safety is my responsibility. Please follow me to evacuate.”

Playing make-believe with a child was easy.

Shang Liwei crouched down and snuck over to Mi Li. “Guard team member, move forward for justice!”

“Forward!”

Shang Liwei picked Mi Li up, who struck a Superman pose and “flew” through the air.

“Whoosh… swoosh! Vroom!” Shang Liwei skillfully imitated the sounds of various planes, raising and lowering Mi Li at different speeds.

She turned to the doorway and yelled at her disabled childhood friend, who was bringing Mi Li home, “Captain Ren, rest assured, everything is fine at headquarters.”

Ren Zhong: “…”

Let whoever wanted to play with the child do it; Ren Zhong wouldn’t be participating.

“Thank you, Captain, we’ll meet again tomorrow!” Mi Li saluted Ren Zhong from Shang Liwei’s shoulder.

Ren Zhong just waved his hand as if to say “bye,” leaning on his shiny black cane and heading home.

Mi Li had a blast today.

At the dinner table, she talked about figure skating and the guns she played with at the shooting range, her little mouth never stopping, either eating or talking.

“The attitude in ballet is the same as the attitude in figure skating! And the arabesque—there’s a move in figure skating that’s super similar called the arabesque spiral!”

Mi Li was explaining excitedly, but the two adults were a bit confused.

It was because she had learned so many professional terms from the coach that she spoke as if in code.

“Lily, what are ‘attitude’ and ‘arabesque’?” Shang Liwei, upholding the attitude of not being ashamed to ask questions about things she didn’t know, asked Mi Li.

Mi Li put down her bowl and chopsticks, still chewing, and was about to demonstrate. “Attitude is like this: the right leg is the standing leg, and the left hand is in the fourth position. The left leg is raised and bent at the knee, with the heel directly behind the body. It’s also called ‘crane stance.'”

“Alright, we’re eating. Don’t do the moves now; you’ll choke,” Mi Tong said, motioning for her to sit back down.

Mi Li muttered, “Vivian, aren’t you a scientist? Shouldn’t a scientist know everything?”

“Science has many different fields,” Shang Liwei explained patiently. “Everyone specializes in different things. Some are math scientists, and some are language scientists. Even if they’re in the same field, they’re ‘big colleagues, small outsiders.'”

Mi Li asked, “What does ‘big colleagues, small outsiders’ mean?”

Most people would find a child who kept asking questions annoying and would just say, “Why do you ask so many questions? Just eat your food,” since they thought the child wouldn’t understand the explanation anyway.

But Shang Liwei wasn’t like that.

She said very patiently, “It’s like two people who are both chefs. Are they colleagues?”

Mi Li nodded.

She continued, “But if one is a Western chef and the other is a Chinese chef, don’t they each have some tricks that the other doesn’t know? Isn’t the Western chef an outsider in a Chinese restaurant, and vice versa?”

Mi Li immediately understood. “Things that we think are obvious and simple might be very difficult for another group of people, and they might have never even heard of them. Is that what it means?”

After getting a confirmation from Shang Liwei, Mi Li was so happy that she got another half bowl of rice.

She excitedly talked about the guns she played with at the shooting range this afternoon. “I just found out that a lot of people can’t tell the difference between an AK-47, an AKM, and a Type 56…”

A child not even eight years old could distinguish between several guns that looked almost identical based on the grip, receiver, and magazine.

Although she had heard this knowledge from other kids with more “gun age,” her ability to retell and remember it after just one afternoon of playing showed a combination of strong interest and a smart brain.

Mi Li’s eyes were shining. “If only I could make a video and post it online! Then more people would be able to tell the difference between them.”

The words of the speaker were not intentional, but the listener took them to heart.

A huge boulder that had been weighing on Shang Liwei’s heart suddenly cracked. A brilliant idea jumped out like a stone monkey.

Doing academia and research was a long, hopeless road. Who knows when she would be able to create something that would truly change people’s lives?

But science popularization was different.

What it could do was help people open a window, letting fresh knowledge flow in like the air outside, washing away the stagnant water in the room. Everyone who saw the content could benefit from it.

And for Shang Liwei, the most important thing was that the meaning of gender science popularization wasn’t just a collection of knowledge points, but the change in gender concepts that needed to happen behind it.

Her experience of being fired meant she couldn’t be a researcher or teach at a university anymore. But making educational content online didn’t require any prerequisites.

“Lily, let’s make a video!” Shang Liwei’s eyes, which had been dim for a long time, lit up again. “Let’s film you teaching everyone how to tell the difference between these guns, and let people see how amazing a seven-year-old Beta girl can be.”