An 80s female translator was spoiled rotten by a rough and jealous man.

Chapter 213 Uneasiness
At night, Cui Yan tossed and turned in bed, trying her best to banish the words she had overheard at the convenience store during the day from her mind. Words like "vampire," "bottomless pit," and "money-losing goods" were enough to pierce one's heart and lungs after just one hearing, leaving a deep and unforgettable impression. Moreover, Cui Yan had heard them more than once during her years living in the Lin family.

When she was sixteen, Huo Qingshan's great-aunt, who was also Huo's maternal grandfather's sister-in-law, came to visit. The great-aunt secretly pulled her maternal grandmother to the kitchen, and Cui Yan overheard their conversation. The great-aunt advised her maternal grandmother: "You can't really tame a girl from another family. You and your elder brother are getting old. You should think more about yourselves and Qingshan. You must leave this clinic to Qingshan. In the future, you should be more careful and watch out for those two."

The younger one is still young, but the older one is in an awkward age. If Qingshan gets married in the future, and there's still a sister in the family with no blood relation, which girl wouldn't feel uncomfortable? Aren't you just making things difficult for yourself?

In my opinion, you've already done more than enough by raising them to adulthood.

Later, Cui Yan became particularly afraid of the day she turned eighteen, as if that day represented another special meaning. Her eighteenth birthday was the most uneasy day she ever had, with a nagging thought running through her mind—that if she passed that day, she might be kicked out of the house at any time.

That day, Grandma cooked a very lavish meal for her and even went to a cake shop in the city to buy her a cake, saying that it's popular for young girls to eat cake on their birthdays these days, and she wanted to buy one for Xiaoyan and Tingting to try.

That day, Qingshan was on a business trip and passed through Nanyu Town. He stopped by to visit his grandmother and gave her a beautiful red leather watch as a coming-of-age gift. Cui Yan remembered that Qingshan came to their house for lunch that day with his driver. Her grandmother casually asked, "Why isn't Xiao Li with you today?"

Brother Qingshan said, "He's going to the train station this afternoon to pick up a translator."

It was just a casual answer. At that time, Cui Yan didn't know that the translator was Meng Youyou. She was even less aware that the gears of fate began to turn from that day on, and Huo Qingshan fell in love with the translator who had once been mentioned in a casual remark.

He loved her so much. This usually meticulous, serious, and disciplined man would secretly hold her hand even during meals in front of his grandparents. They would kiss by the window, completely unaware that she had appeared in the courtyard and was watching them through the window for so long. He was completely absorbed in the moment, as if he had tasted something delicious. He would pull her onto his lap, and later, when the passion was at its peak, he would press her against the table and kiss her. He was so engrossed, so intoxicated, yet he still made sure to place a hand behind her back, as if afraid of hurting her.

The visually striking scenes immediately filled Cui Yan with great doubt—was the man in front of her really her childhood friend, Brother Qingshan? How could he possess such passionate and outward emotions?

The gossiping women in the card room mentioned that when Grandma Huo first adopted her, her father had extorted a sum of money from the Lin family, but in reality, it was far more than that. Up to today, the amount of money her father had extorted from the Lin family over the years was far more than that one sum.
To put it simply, on the day she registered for the second semester of her senior year last year, she ran into her nominal father, whom she hadn't seen for several months, on her way to school. Even from dozens of meters away, she could almost smell the stench of alcohol emanating from him. At that moment, Cui Yan had a bad feeling. He usually wouldn't come looking for her unless there was something wrong, and if he did, it was only for one thing: money.

He deliberately chose the first day of school, probably because he knew she would have money on her that day, so Cui Yan ran away as soon as she saw him.

But she hadn't run far before the man caught up with her. He held onto Cui Yan's backpack strap tightly and tried to unzip it without saying a word. Cui Yan used all her strength to hold onto the backpack tightly and refused to let go.

Her own father, in an attempt to steal twenty-five yuan from her schoolbag, ruthlessly threw her to the ground. The back of her head hit the sharp corner of a roadside rock, and blood gushed from the wound, staining most of the rock red. It was a passerby who discovered her unconscious state by the roadside, while the man who had taken the money had long since disappeared.

She lay in the hospital in a coma for a day and a night, suffering from a skull fracture and a moderate concussion. For the next six months, she experienced double vision, was unable to read for extended periods, and suffered from intermittent dizziness that continues to plague her to this day. As a result, she had to take a six-month leave of absence from school and missed her first college entrance examination.

When she woke up, Grandma Huo asked her what had happened that day. She didn't dare tell her grandma the truth. As had happened many times before, Grandma Huo gave her a generous allowance, but she was actually very frugal. She usually only ate one steamed bun for lunch at school. All her money was taken by that man, and she had never told her grandma about it. She didn't want to mention that despicable man to the Lin family. She didn't want to add to their bad impression of that beast because... there was an inextricable connection. That man's existence and what he had done seemed to be inextricably linked to her. Even if their bones were broken, they were still connected by tendons; she could never completely extricate herself from the relationship.

During her hospitalization, Brother Qingshan visited her once. He asked her a similar question to Grandma Huo, and Cui Yan gave the same answer—that she had been robbed by thugs on the street.

But he was too perceptive. To this day, Cui Yan still doesn't know where she went wrong. Was there a loophole in her story? Or was there something unnatural about her tone or expression? In any case, Brother Qingshan quickly realized she was lying. He half-interrogated and half-coaxed her to get the truth out of her, but he also promised her that he would keep it a secret from her grandparents.

She didn't know what he had done. He must have gone to see that man. In any case, for the long year that followed, she never saw her ghostly father again, who would regularly report to her when he was short of money.

As an adult, Choi Yeon lives in constant torment, worrying about becoming homeless and fearing her father's continued harassment. A rare ray of light shines into her chaotic world, bringing her a sense of peace.

But now?

She was left with nothing again. The warm glow she had once carefully treasured would go with her beloved woman to the capital, a city she had only ever seen in books—prosperous, magnificent, and wealthy, just like the beautiful woman from the capital. However, she must hate herself. They would soon be married, and she certainly wouldn't allow her brother Qingshan to take care of such a wicked adopted sister again.

Her grandparents, who were so good to her, are getting older and will one day leave her. The sun will eventually set.

What awaited her... was only that greedy, wicked father, whom she couldn't shake off no matter what she did. Suddenly, she remembered her mock exam results from a few days ago, and another pang of heartache struck her. Her last flicker of hope clung to life in the cold wind, stubbornly refusing to be extinguished, but she knew all too well that what remained was merely the last gasp of a spent force, and it was only a matter of time before it was reduced to ashes.

Her life seemed predictable, dark, desolate, and unfathomable; just thinking about it was terrifying.

I could hear Tingting's soft snoring beside me. Children are always carefree. No matter what happens, a bag of candy can make them happy again, and tomorrow will be a brand new and wonderful day.

Cui Yan gently turned over in bed. It was already very late at night, and her mind was filled with jumbled thoughts. Thinking and recalling always takes a lot of energy, and gradually, a faint sense of fatigue and drowsiness crept in. In her hazy state, Cui Yan dreamed of her mother, that hardworking and unfortunate woman who had toiled her whole life.

Her mother held her hand, her face frail and her breath weak: "Xiaoyan, Mommy can't stay with you anymore. From now on, you'll live with Qingshan's grandparents. You must be good and obedient, so that your grandparents will like you, and so that your brother Qingshan will like you."

Did you remember what Mom told you?

Eighteen-year-old Cui Yan may not be able to clearly distinguish the various complex emotions between people. Fear and unease are the main themes of her past life. Confined to a small world, it seems that from the moment she is not liked, her "sky" will completely collapse from top to bottom.