Hard work after winning the lottery

"What did you say?! It's him?!"

Her fingernails dug deep into her daughter's flesh from the force, but she felt nothing.

"How could it be him?! Yunyun! What... what is going on?!"

Her mother's persistent questioning was like an awl, completely piercing through the barrier that Hua Yun had been trying to build.

Those eyes, which had just stopped crying, were blurred again by the scalding liquid.

This time, she didn't suppress it anymore.

Tears, like pearls from a broken string, silently slid down her pale cheeks.

With an almost numb tone, devoid of all emotion, she slowly unearthed the past that she had buried for five years from the grave of her memory.

Five years ago... I worked at the Zhou Group in City A...

"He... is my boss."

"At that company's annual party, I...I drank too much...and he drank too much too..."

"Just that one time, just that one time..."

"Later... I dared not say, and I didn't know how to say it..."

"I'm afraid... I'm afraid he'll think I'm after money, trying to climb the social ladder... I'm afraid he'll..."

"So... I quit my job, cut off all contact, and went home alone."

Even with just these few brief words, Li Guifen and Grandma Hua were able to piece together the fear, helplessness, and despair that a young girl experienced in a foreign land.

"Silly child..."

Grandma Hua could no longer hold back.

She removed her hand from her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

That wrinkled face was filled with unbearable heartache.

She pulled Hua Yun's frail body into her arms tightly, and gently stroked her granddaughter's head with her chin.

"My silly Yun'er..."

"Such a huge thing... bigger than the sky... how could you shoulder all of this alone!"

Why didn't you tell Grandma or the rest of the family?

"You're... trying to break Grandma's heart..."

The old man's cries, aged and sorrowful, were like a dull knife, cutting into Li Guifen's heart, one cut at a time.

Li Guifen's eyes were already red and swollen.

She held her daughter's hands tightly, which were so cold they had no warmth at all, her fingertips trembling.

Heartache, overwhelming.

Anger spreads like wildfire!

"No wonder...no wonder you were like a lost soul when you came back after quitting your job!"

"You won't say anything when I ask you anything, you just keep it to yourself..."

Li Guifen's voice was thick with nasal tone. She stared intently at a point in the void, as if trying to see through time and space to the culprit who had harmed her daughter.

She turned her head sharply, her gaze fixed intently on Hua Yun, and asked the most crucial question.

"What's the meaning of Zhou Yanjin's sudden appearance at our door?!"

"What is he trying to do?!"

Li Guifen's question, laced with suppressed rage, was like a red-hot iron rod, piercing straight into Hua Yun's heart.

What does he want to do?

She wasn't some cultured person who understood grand principles; all she knew was that her daughter, the daughter she had cherished since she was little, had been bullied!

They kept bullying me for five years!

For the past five years, she, as a mother, had been completely unaware of this!

The thought of her daughter losing her virginity alone in City A, and how terrified and helpless she must have felt, made Li Guifen's heart ache as if it were being squeezed and ripped dry.

"That damn thing!"

She cursed through gritted teeth and suddenly tried to stand up from the edge of the bed.

"I'm going to find him and get to the bottom of this! What gives him the right?! What does he take Yunyun for?!"

"If he dares to try and take our child away from us, I... I'll fight him to the death!"

That desperate stance was like a mother hen fiercely protecting her chicks, her feathers all bristling.

"Hey! Daughter-in-law, what are you doing!"

Grandma Hua reacted quickly and pulled Li Guifen, who was trembling with excitement, back to her senses.

"What problem would you solve by rushing over there now?!"

The old man's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable authority, like a morning bell, instantly waking Li Guifen from her anger-fueled rage.

"The children are all asleep! Do you want to wake up the whole village?!"

Li Guifen froze.

Yes, Si'an, Si'le, and Si'tao are sleeping soundly in the next room.

What good will her outburst do?

Besides making the matter public knowledge and letting the grandchildren wake up tomorrow morning to find a mess, what else can be changed?

That burning anger seemed to be doused with a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing most of it, leaving only wisps of smoke, swirling with resentment and frustration.

She sat heavily back on the edge of the bed, covered her face with her hands, her shoulders heaving violently, and suppressed sobs escaped from between her fingers.

That was the deepest helplessness and heartache a mother could feel.

Grandma Hua sighed, released her grip on her daughter-in-law's hand, and instead gently patted Hua Yun's back with her wrinkled but still warm hands.

one more time.

A silent comfort, yet it carries the power to soothe all wounds.

The initial shock and rage, like the receding tide, gradually subsided.

In the room, only the mother and daughter's low sobs and the grandmother's heavy sighs remained.

After a long while, Li Guifen slowly lowered her hand.

She raised her head, her gaze fixed on her daughter's face, and asked, slowly and deliberately, the question that every parent fears most.

"So... Zhou Yanjin came this time, is he... is he trying to... take our child away from us?"

This problem is like a Damocles' sword hanging over our heads.

Grandma Hua's heart clenched, and she held her breath as she nervously watched her granddaughter.

In the eyes of these simple, rural people, someone like Zhou Yanjin, with his wealth and power, could have anything he wanted.

Their only, and greatest, advantage is their three lively and adorable children.

Hua Yun felt a pang of sadness when she saw the identical panic in her mother's and grandmother's eyes.

She slowly shook her head.

She had forced back her tears, leaving only a pair of overly clean eyes reflecting the dim light.

"no."

Her voice was hoarse, yet exceptionally clear.

"Zhou Yanjin...he already knows."

She paused, as if organizing her thoughts, to recount in the simplest way the conversation that had changed everything that afternoon in the courtyard.

He said... he wouldn't use force to take the child away from me.

"but……"

Hua Yun's fingertips unconsciously curled up and dug into her palm.

He said, "The child needs his father. That's a fact that no one can change."

"He demanded...the right to have contact with and spend time with the children."