Quick Transmigration: Kitten's Healing Handbook - Chapter 71
Chapter 71: Light In The Cracks 4
Perhaps the sound of something falling into the washbasin was too abrupt in the quiet night. Lin Yao heard a roommate complain from outside, “Who’s making noise so late at night? ”
Lin Yao hurriedly grabbed some paper towels to press on the wound, biting her lip and quietly listening to the sounds outside. Only after making sure no one was woken did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Without water flow to prevent bl00d clotting, this kind of cut stopped bleeding quickly. However, the hastily applied paper towel is now partly stuck to the wound, and the pain of tearing it off is worse than a blade cutting…
After cleaning up the bloodstains in the toilet, Lin Yao hid the bloody paper towels in her schoolbag. That night, Lin Yao got a rare good night’s sleep.
On Friday night, Lin Yao went home because her mother asked her to come back for her brother’s birthday. Lin Yao brought her mathematics test paper, which she scored full marks on in the recent monthly exam, secretly hoping for affirmation.
But back home, before she could say anything, her mother immediately assigned her various tasks. Her brother, meanwhile, sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, watching cartoons, as if their busyness had nothing to do with him…
After much bustle, they finally had dinner amidst her brother’s constant urging. It was her brother’s birthday, so naturally the table was filled with dishes he loved. Lin Yao looked at her rice, unsure whether she should pick up her chopsticks…
“Are you such a picky eater, child? There are so many dishes on the table and you won’t eat them. You’re so difficult to please. ”
Lin Yao knew she had no right to retort. Silently, she took a bite of each dish. The food, which should have been delicious, tasted tasteless.
“As your older sister, you don’t even have a smile on your brother’s birthday. What’s wrong with you? ”
Lin Yao paused her eating. She had forgotten when she last smiled, when she had last truly felt happy…
Lin Yao, who didn’t know how to smile anymore, could only try to curl her lips: “Happy birthday, brother. ”
Su Laidi was not satisfied with Lin Yao’s dry blessing, but she didn’t want to quarrel with Lin Yao at the dinner table, especially since it was her precious son’s birthday: “Remember to give your brother your gift later when we have cake. ”
Lin Yao had remembered in previous years, but recently she had found even staying alive painful; how could she remember other things? But Lin Yao dared not say she’d forgotten; she only nodded silently.
After dinner, Lin Yao returned to her room and found her notes and extracurricular readings from fifth and sixth grade. She handwrote a birthday card, took two hundred dollars from her scholarship money after paying this year’s tuition fees, and put it in the card, ready to give it to her brother.
At this moment, she had no time to worry about the remaining half of the semester and that she only had less than two hundred dollars left for living expenses. She only knew that if she didn’t prepare a birthday gift for her brother, her mother’s scolding would await her.
She had heard too many dirty and unpleasant words. After one trip home, she didn’t want to hear them again. Textbooks said home was a safe haven, but for her, it was just another hell…
Lin Yao went to the living room with her brother’s gift, but found her schoolbag opened and her test paper missing. A feeling of suffocation welled up, her heart beating uncontrollably fast: “Mom! Did you see my test paper that I brought back?!”
Su Laidi was cutting fruit in the kitchen. Hearing Lin Yao’s slightly sharp voice, she almost cut herself, her temper flaring: “What’s all the shouting about?! It’s just a piece of worthless test paper. So what if it’s gone? ”
Turning around, Su Laidi saw her son next to her, holding a paper airplane. It was decorated with various colorful drawings, but it was vaguely recognizable as a test paper.
Su Laidi didn’t react. A test paper was just waste paper once the exam was over; if her son wanted to play with it, let him.
In the past, Lin Yao would silently suppress her emotions after being scolded by Su Laidi, but she was on the verge of an emotional outburst. Her precarious rationality led her to follow her brother’s playful sounds into the kitchen, where she saw the test paper, now unrecognizable in his hands.
That test paper was like the last glimmer of hope for her to seek affection and protection. As long as she hid it, that hope might remain. But at that moment, her hope shattered…
Lin Yao couldn’t control herself, snatching the test paper from Lin Chen’s hand. Lin Chen saw the bloodshot eyes and suppressed anger in his sister’s eyes, and was dazed. Since he could remember, he had never seen his sister get angry.
Su Laidi dropped the knife, slapped Lin Yao across the face, grabbed the test paper folded into a paper airplane, and tore it into fragments: “It’s just a worthless piece of test paper! You have monthly exams every month; what’s wrong with letting your brother play with it for a while?! What’s the matter?! Do you think you’ve grown wings and can dare to resist?! Get back to your room! ”
After being yelled at by Su Laidi, Lin Chen also snapped out of his daze and started crying. Su Laidi comforted him, not forgetting to scold Lin Yao: “Haven’t you gone yet?!”
Only then did Lin Yao recover from the dizziness of the slap. Su Laidi slapped her hard. Lin Yao’s ears were still buzzing when she heard Su Laidi tell her to leave…
Lin Yao looked at the fragments of the test paper on the floor, just like her shattered heart, picking up the pieces, but unable to put them back together.
Su Laidi didn’t bother with Lin Yao. After comforting Lin Chen, she carried the cut fruit and took Lin Chen to the living room, sang him a birthday song, cut the cake, and discussed where they would go to play on Saturday.
But all this warmth and happiness had nothing to do with Lin Yao. Lin Yao returned to her room with the fragments of the test paper, took out an iron box from under the bed, which contained her birthday gift that had been broken the year it was given, and now added a pile of broken paper scraps…
Lin Yao felt that she should be sad, that she should hug herself and cry silently. But only when tears fell into the iron box, mixing with the broken glass and paper scraps, did Lin Yao realize she was crying. But her mood, after the sudden change, was unusually calm.
Tears flowed uncontrollably for half an hour before gradually drying. The handprint on her face became even clearer. The swelling pain, and the dead silence of her emotions, pulled at Lin Yao, who had already emotionally collapsed. She sat on the floor next to the bed, and in a daze, she stayed awake until dawn.
Lin Yao heard her brother’s happy laughter from outside the room: “Mom, hurry up, we haven’t been to the amusement park for more than a month! ”
Su Laidi gently told Lin Chen to slow down, then the sound of the front door opening and closing.
Lin Yao went to the living room, retrieved her schoolbag that had been left there yesterday, and looked at the empty house, filled with confusion…
Whether she returned to school or stayed, it felt like an abyss to her. She had nowhere to retreat, to retreat further would be to be shattered to pieces.