Uneasy daily life

What kind of nonsense is this, killing without burying?!

“Face the truth, face yourself,” Yukino Yukinoshita said casually. “Anyway, the facts are there. I’d like to see what happens up close, but I’d probably get beaten up—tsk, no wonder that jerk can roll so fast.”

Yukino asked, "Where's Yukino-chan? You're going to be in charge of organizing the fireworks festival for the family, right? Do you need my help?"

"Hmm...no need, I can do it myself."

Yukino Yukinoshita felt a rather subtle feeling, and a hint of worry appeared on her face. Could she handle the relationship between Toyohama and her aunt?

Yukinoshita Haruno immediately saw what her younger sister was thinking and said with a smile, "Yukino-chan is such a lucky girl."

"?" Yukino Yukinoshita was puzzled.

"I was lucky that even though I knew about my mother's problems, I never directly experienced the feelings caused by those ailments."

Yukinoshita flicked Yukinoshita's forehead and teased, "No one is perfect. Everyone has flaws, which is one thing—whether you will face those flaws, whether you will be affected by them, and how you will view them, is not something that can be summed up by the saying 'no one is perfect.'"

"Hmm~ To use a jerk's words, everyone knows that each other picks their noses, but when they do it, whether it's when others do it or when others pick their noses for them, are all different."

Yukino Yukinoshita's eye twitched, and she said with disdain, "Sister, don't use that kind of analogy!"

……

……

"Wahana? Wahana! Wait!"

Toyohama's mother hurried after her, and Toyohama and Hana, who were running ahead, finally stopped. It was an alley with few pedestrians. With red eyes, she turned around and, before her mother could speak, couldn't control her emotions and asked, "Are you jealous of Aunt Sakurajima?"

"What are you talking about?!"

Feng Bin's mother glared angrily at her daughter who had suddenly become filial.

"You lack confidence, you're afraid, you're worried that Aunt Sakurajima and that old man will remarry! Aunt Sakurajima is in the entertainment industry, so you want me to get into the entertainment industry too! You want to satisfy yourself, you want me to work so hard, but you're still not satisfied—of course you won't be satisfied, because Aunt Sakurajima is the person you're most dissatisfied with, right?!"

Toyohama Kazuka growled, "You're not at ease! If you're not at ease, you'll torment me! You don't dare to torment Aunt Sakurajima, so you can only torment me?! Don't use me as a bargaining chip for your confidence!"

"I'm doing this for your own good! Even if you have some reservations, shouldn't you strive to become a better person?!" Feng Bin's mother's anger flared. "Do you think life is easy—"

"It's not easy at all! The hardest part is getting your praise and recognition! I've already tried my best, haven't I? How much harder can I try? Is there anything I can't do?! From childhood to adulthood, I've never heard you praise me! Because I can't even do the things you take for granted, the things that make you feel at ease!"

"You'd care if I ran away from home, you'd care if I hurt my foot—you only care about me in times like this?!"

"I'm not going to be an idol anymore."

I don't want to be used as a proof of anything!

Chapter 111 A Ghost in the House?

"Do I need you to prove anything? You're the one who needs to prove yourself! Do you think you can just do nothing? I raised you with such care and effort, only for you to throw tantrums and argue with me every day?!"

Feng Bin's mother was furious and asked emotionally, "Do you know how much effort I've put into you?!"

"You can be dissatisfied with me, but I can't be dissatisfied with you? Do you even know how much I'm dissatisfied with you?!"

"You're dissatisfied? I'm dissatisfied with what you've done! How many times have you run away from home?!"

"And what about you? All you do is make demands and then say you're not satisfied! You're so good at setting conditions, so capable, what are you afraid of, Aunt Sakurajima?!"

"What am I afraid of? What am I afraid of!"

You're afraid of everything!

"Fine! I'm scared! Aren't I just concerned about you? If I didn't care about you, would I have gone to find you when you ran away from home?! You stayed at a boy's house, and I was trying not to argue with you anymore, so I didn't mention it!"

"Ha! Isn't that what you're saying now?! Anyway, it's useless for you to talk, it's just annoying! It's just nagging!"

"If I don't nag you, will you even listen?!"

"When I listen to you, can you see it?!"

"If you listened to me, how could you still do so many messy things?!"

Fengbin's mother was furious, and Fengbin and Hua were also very angry. The intensity of the mother-daughter conflict was unprecedented.

My mother and father remarried, and Aunt Sakurajima was my father's ex-wife. All of my mother's worries and fears weighed on me... My father's presence was very faint. I only had some impression of him when I was very young. I don't know what got into me, but I aspired to be a shining idol, and my mother naturally became the focus of my life.

"Your request isn't out of concern for me; it's clearly because you're afraid you can't compete with Aunt Sakurajima!"

The pent-up resentment, the bitterness of understanding, and the anger born from years of discontent transformed into Toyohama Kazuka's roar: "You're afraid of this and that when you're getting married? Then why did you even give birth to me?! Are you so afraid of not being as good as Aunt Sakurajima? Yes! You're afraid because you can't be as good as Aunt Sakurajima!"

"Wahana!"

Feng Bin's mother was furious and, for the first time, couldn't help but raise her hand.

Feng Bin and Hua Jiang craned their necks and said, "Go ahead and hit me!"

Snapped!

After a sharp crack, the alleyway fell silent, with only the sound of two people breathing heavily and erratically.

Fengbin's mother looked bewildered and confused, her face stiff as she stared at her daughter. Her eyes flickered with anger, exasperation, confusion, and heartache. Fengbin and Hua simply turned to her, their eyes red-rimmed, a few tears still glistening in them, their expressions vacant.

"I'm your mother!"

The words that Feng Bin's mother blurted out carried a hint of dejection.

I'm your mother, why aren't you on my side? Instead, you're speaking up for others, even your father's ex-wife?

"Who doesn't have a mother? Look at other people's mothers..."

Feng Binhua forced a smile, barely feeling the burning pain on her cheeks. She probably wanted to make a sneer, but she couldn't control her facial muscles, making her look ridiculous and distorted.

After giving a perfunctory reply, they had no intention of caring about anything else.

Feng Bin and Hua ran off with practiced ease.

Feng Bin's mother stood rooted to the spot, her mind going blank for a moment. In her confusion, she covered her mouth with her hand, took a few deep breaths, and tried to calm herself down.

He's probably hiding at Bai Ying's house again...

Fengbin's mother turned around and suddenly saw a familiar person standing at the entrance of the alley, looking at them with a strange expression.

"..."

After touring the company, there wasn't much food left in the cafeteria. Aunt Sakurajima politely declined the suggestion of having a special meal prepared for her, and was just about to go home to seriously consider her work situation when she stumbled upon this scene that should have been incredibly satisfying...

Witnessing the argument between the mother and daughter, I felt a strange emptiness and bewilderment. It was as if I shared a subtle empathy with Toyohama's mother, and I didn't feel any schadenfreude. It was really strange—I don't have a daughter or any family education problems...don't I?

There's a strange sense of unease. Have I forgotten something?

As Aunt Sakurajima was lost in thought, a voice, still tinged with anger, rang out.

"What are you looking at?!"

You're openly gloating, aren't you?!

Feng Bin's mother suppressed her emotions and hardened her voice with a stern face.

Aunt Sakurajima snapped out of her daze, looked at the emotionally unstable Toyohama mother, paused for a moment, and asked, "Shall we talk?"

"I have nothing to talk about with you."

Feng Bin's mother firmly refused.

……

……

Even the toughest tongue softens when it comes to alcohol.

"Waaaaah... Why do you say that? She can't do anything right and yet she blames me? Haven't I cared about her? Haven't I tried my best? How much suffering did I endure to give birth to her? I spent money to send her to a good university, to a prestigious girls' school, to a good private tutor. I even spent money to support her dream of becoming an idol! Why is she getting angry? I haven't even gotten angry yet! She's frustrated and upset because she didn't do well, but I'm even more anxious than she is..."

In a private room at a restaurant, before they had eaten much of the food, Feng Bin's mother ordered some wine and started drinking. She wasn't particularly drunk, but she was clearly overwhelmed with emotions and began to complain incessantly, rambling on about those fragmented things.

These are words she cannot say to her husband, and saying them to her daughter will only lead to arguments. On the contrary, she can speak fluently to this long-standing potential enemy.

Feng Bin's mother wasn't in the mood to think about anything else. Whatever emotions came to mind, she just blurted them out. Anyway, they'd already seen arguing, and her relationship with the other person wasn't much better anyway.

Aunt Sakurajima also drank some wine, occasionally giving perfunctory replies, seemingly lost in thought. It was really strange; given their past relationship, it would have been most appropriate for them to remain strangers who "knew of each other's existence." Yet, by sheer coincidence, they ended up eating and drinking together, listening to each other chat about everyday matters, which made them seem closer than ever.

I find myself surprisingly receptive to the heartfelt words and worries of mothers, even when they come from someone with whom I have a very special relationship.

You put so much effort into your child, expressing your care and making requests, only to be rejected by the child in the end.

Amidst the contradictions and conflicts, there is resentment that the child doesn't understand them at all, and heartache that they are being rejected despite their care.

He had practically placed all his hopes on her, yet she was like a 'golden boy' who wouldn't do as he pleased.

as well as……

"The child has grown up."

Aunt Sakurajima blurted it out.

"Her? She's only in her first year of high school. How old is she? She's still just a child."

Feng Bin's mother scoffed and retorted.

Aunt Sakurajima countered, "What do you consider to define what constitutes a child growing up?"

"At least being financially independent means being able to earn your own money..."

"She's an idol, and although she's not very famous, she can support herself if she's frugal."

"You still need to graduate from university."

"It's only a matter of time, isn't it?"

"Isn't time all about growing up? At least she won't be considered grown up until she gets married."

"Then what will you do after she gets married?"

"..."

Feng Bin's mother probably hadn't thought that far ahead, and after a slight pause, she blurted out, "I'll take care of her grandson."

"Hmm... Once Hehua's career is successful, she'll graduate from university, and her idol career will be over, then she should consider marriage. She won't be too short of money then, and I'll help her take care of her children after she gets married..." Fengbin's mother felt much better thinking about it, and snorted, "What do you know?"

"If I don't do well in my career, I'll have a huge fight with you first, and I probably won't want to be an idol anymore. Family problems are affecting my studies, and whether I can even get into university is a question. I might not even go to university after graduating from high school. Let's not even talk about marriage. Maybe in high school, maybe in university, I'll suddenly meet someone I want to date, but I'll end up with the wrong person. At best, I'll see through them and break up. At worst, they might only reveal their true colors after marriage. At best, it'll be heartbreak; at worst, it'll be a loss of both love and money."

Aunt Sakurajima took a small sip of her drink.

Feng Bin's mother's eye twitched violently, and she sneered, "Ha, do you even have a daughter?"

Aunt Sakurajima's voice turned cold as she said, "Even if everything goes smoothly, and you get married and have children, do you, as a member of the family, still want to steal someone else's granddaughter? You're just talking nonsense when you're drunk."

"What's the big deal? He can just marry into the family." Feng Bin's mother spoke meaningfully, her words suddenly becoming profound, unlike the casual, rambling conversation she had just been making up.

"Those willing to marry into the family are all unambitious and incompetent. Do you want your daughter to fall in love with a good-for-nothing?"

"What kind of talk is this? As long as we truly love each other, being happy with Hua is not a problem. I don't lack the money."

"I can tell you're very thoughtful and come from a good family, but you're not very happy."

“You take on everything yourself, and now you’re still single, and I don’t see how happy you are.”

The relaxed atmosphere between the two suddenly became tense, their eyes glaring at each other fiercely, their gazes filled with a fierce and unspoken tension.

But after staring at each other for a while, I got tired of it. What, were we supposed to fight, tear each other's clothes, or pull each other's hair? I couldn't bear the embarrassment.

Fengbin's mother, still upset about her daughter's various rebellious acts, continued drinking and couldn't help but ramble on about the trivial matters in their mother-daughter relationship.

Children? Children... mother and child...

Aunt Sakurajima seemed lost in thought again. She had initially assumed that, having drunk and eaten with the other person, the person she would instinctively think of was that man. But it seemed she was more concerned about him and his daughter? Why was she so concerned about that? What was this strange sense of déjà vu...?

My mood couldn't help but sink.

Aunt Sakurajima poured herself a glass of wine, listening to the other person's ramblings while lost in thought.

……

……

Ding dong——!

Ding dong——!

Ding dong——!

The doorbell kept ringing.

Feng Bin and Hua pressed the doorbell idly and without any rhythm, but there was no response for a while. She barely managed to pull herself out of her disappointed and confused state of mind. Could it be that the jerk wasn't home?

As I was thinking this, the door slowly opened with a click.