Uneasy daily life

Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) said in a detached and distant tone, "What do you want to find in me? To satisfy your vanity and jealousy, to comfort your resentment and pain, as if you have really become the person you admire."

"Wahana!"

Feng Bin's mother was speechless. She called her daughter's name sharply, but her daughter only responded with an ordinary look. Her eyes did not show the usual irritability and anger, but her recent coldness and aloofness were particularly obvious.

They were so unfamiliar with each other that I couldn't speak to them as I would to my daughter.

"Opposing debater, please begin your remarks."

Fengbin and Hua (Baiying)'s playful and teasing words sounded distant and empty. Fengbin's mother unconsciously sat back in her chair, her chest heaving and panting, her face pale, and her eyes even reddened. She sniffled and couldn't reply at all.

Sakurajima Mai (Wakka) was at a loss, completely unable to get a word in edgewise… Mom, you envy my sister's mom? I'd never even considered that. Shouldn't I be angry that I'm not as good as my sister? Sigh? If I had to explain why I'm angry that I'm not as good as my sister…

I felt a strange sense of loss.

"Hehua, how could you say that about your mother?!"

Feng Bin's father couldn't stand it any longer and quickly spoke up, while giving his daughter a meaningful look—Alright! Know when to stop!

"You, who habitually use silence to evade problems, also want to fight as a debater?" Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) perked up, sneering and pointing. "Dad, isn't the one who caused all these problems the one who rekindled your old flame with Auntie?!"

"Wait a minute!"

The other three exchanged meaningful glances simultaneously, leaving Fengbin's father utterly bewildered. He quickly spoke up, "When did I rekindle our old flame? If you're talking about the past, I only introduced you and Mai once, didn't I?!"

Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) said confidently, "Mom suspects you've rekindled your old flame."

So I don't have any at all!

Feng Bin's father emphasized this forcefully.

Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) pondered, "It's only natural for Mom to be suspicious—after all, Aunt and Sister's lives have improved, they've even achieved considerable success, and Dad married into the family. He'll probably regret it when he sees Aunt and Sister's achievements, then go back to his old flame, and rekindle their relationship..."

"Your statement is utterly absurd! When have I ever contacted anyone in all these years... tsk!"

Feng Bin's father was furious, but then clicked his tongue and his face showed that he was too lazy to argue.

"Yes! That's right. When it comes to arguing with someone about right and wrong, Dad prefers to distance himself with a clear-cut silence rather than expressing his own opinion or trying to persuade the other party."

Feng Binhe (Bai Ying) suddenly changed the subject: "When you divorced Auntie back then, Dad must have felt the same way, right? When you reached your limit of annoyance and patience, no matter what was right or wrong, or what the outcome would be, you would still feel the same way... When you divorced Auntie, you couldn't prove your innocence to Mom. You were tired of Mom's constant suspicion and questioning, so you chose to leave."

"The only difference is that I used to be so impulsive that I could get a divorce right away, but now I've come to understand the weight of the decision and just want to avoid seeing it."

Feng Bin's father moved his lips, but couldn't say anything for a moment.

"Since you're tired of arguing and taking action, and you avoid problems whenever you encounter troubles, then don't give me advice on things between me and my mother."

Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) smirked: "Dad always thinks others don't consider his feelings, but aren't you the one who doesn't consider others' feelings? When Mom was uneasy and suspected you had rekindled your old flame, you didn't try to calm her down. When Aunt was pregnant and worried about life and the future, you didn't comfort her either..."

"You're doing things you hate, and you might even call it 'wisdom,' 'silently bearing the burden,' or 'the wise do not argue'? Don't make people laugh. You're just a weak guy who likes to run away from problems."

As the words fell, the daughter seemed neither like a daughter nor like a parent; a thousand unspoken thoughts wove a silence that enveloped the dinner table.

"Hehua, stop talking."

Mai Sakurajima (Wakka) broke the silence, awkwardly trying to argue instead of simply kicking him: "Uncle and Aunt, they...you're a family..."

"Family? Yes, family should share success and failure." Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) scoffed nonchalantly. "If I succeed, then my success is the success of my family. But I didn't succeed, so my failure is the failure of my family—I shouldn't be blamed, and I didn't do anything wrong. Is that what you're trying to tell me, sister?"

Sakurajima Mai (Wahana) hesitated for a moment, a surge of frustration rising to her head. She thought, "I guess I should just kick this guy! Don't try to do things like this... these... these things that I just don't understand!"

"He, and flowers..."

A familiar, slightly hoarse voice came from the side, carrying a weak explanation: "I didn't mean that, I just... I just..."

Sakurajima Mai (Waka) turned her head and saw her mother, who was crying at some point, moving her lips. Her voice was weak and completely unlike the commanding tone she remembered.

My mother is really a... weak-willed person.

"You just did it as if it were the most natural thing to do, without thinking too much about it at all!"

Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) suddenly erupted, slamming their hands on the table with a loud thud. In Feng Bin's parents' eyes, their daughter seemed to have lost all control of her emotions, angrily shouting as usual, "If that's what you think and do, then stop trying to justify yourself! Do you adults feel suffocated if you don't speak from a moral high ground?!"

"enough!"

Sakurajima Mai (Wahana) suddenly stood up, feeling agitated.

"That's not enough! I want to say more! Mom is a lunatic! Dad is a selfish bastard! My family is rotten to the core!"

“###!”

Mai Sakurajima (Wahana) instinctively slapped him.

Snapped!

Ok?

Sakurajima Mai (Waka) froze, looking at her slightly numb palm. Had she hit him? She then looked at the 'herself' in front of her.

“Sister…” Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) covered their cheeks, pursed their lips, and after a few seconds of stunned silence, shouted, “Sister, you big idiot!”

The sobbing girl pushed aside her chair, rushed out of the house in a few steps, and slammed the security door against the wall with a loud thud.

"Wahana?!"

Feng Bin's parents realized what was happening and instinctively got up to chase after him.

Their daughter's reaction today was unusually strange, clearly not just a simple case of rebellion; it was so strange and astonishing that it terrified them.

"Auntie, calm down. She probably doesn't want to see you right now. I'll go talk to her properly later."

Sakurajima Mai (Waka) quickly offered a few words of comfort to calm the two down. Looking at her parents, who seemed somewhat distracted, she felt a mix of emotions and wanted to say something, but she didn't quite feel comfortable speaking up... Hmm? I'm the older sister now, not Toyohama Kazuka, so can I speak up?

Could it be that this bastard deliberately harassed me because of this, and then ran away?

Their affairs are perhaps something they can talk about with outsiders.

She hesitated for a moment, gritted her teeth, and asked, "Auntie, Uncle, was what you said to Hua just now true?"

"...I don't know, I don't know."

Feng Bin's mother took a deep breath, sniffed, and murmured helplessly, "Hehua... I... I really didn't want to do what Dad said and hire someone to manage the company, but later..."

“You really were as Hua said before.” Feng Bin’s father calmed down more quickly, and sighed heavily. “When you were interning at the company, you often complained to me about how your father-in-law looked down on women and was a chauvinist. After we got married, you were also busy with company matters…”

"And what about you? You don't care about anything, and you even bring..."

Fengbin's mother instinctively retorted, but then remembered that Sakurajima Mai was still nearby, and her words stopped abruptly.

"I brought Kazuha and Mai, but Kazuha insisted on going!" Toyohama's father explained with a headache. "For some reason, Kazuha kept asking me to give birth to an older sister for her, didn't you know?!"

Feng Bin's mother frowned and said, "When did you ever say that you were bothered by flowers?!"

"You'll find out and ask me, I've already told you!" Feng Bin's father said, barely suppressing his frustration. "What can I do if you don't believe me? I can tell you a thousand times and you still won't believe me!"

"Alright! Stop arguing!"

Mai Sakurajima (Wa-ka) spoke up to remind them that there were outsiders watching, stopping the two from arguing. She then looked at Toyohama's mother and asked, "Auntie, can you tell me about your past? I'll try to persuade Wa-ka later."

"...Was it really as Kazuka said before?"

Feng Bin's mother was still a little overwhelmed with emotion, and said intermittently, "I am the only daughter in the family, and my father is quite traditional. He mentioned a long time ago that I should find a husband to live with me in the family. At that time, I was studying at school and never liked my father's idea... Later, when the industry was in a slump, my father probably couldn't care less about his male chauvinism, so I took the opportunity to intern at the family company, and that's where I met him."

"I never knew he had been married for so long..."

“Because it wasn’t a happy thing, I was under a lot of pressure at the time, and I occasionally had thoughts of divorce.” Feng Bin’s father took over the conversation and spoke about the past without any hesitation. “Later, when I had thoughts of divorce, I would never talk to others about my marriage with her…”

Feng Bin's mother said, "It was during that time that I met him, and we gradually got along well and became friends. At the time, I always thought he was a very ambitious person, worked very hard, and treated people well. I felt he was a good employee..."

“A good employee who is good at working overtime, right?” Feng Bin’s father said irritably. “No wonder I always felt that your attitude was strange back then. He Hua was right, you value career achievements and abilities very much.”

"So you're jealous? Jealous of... my mother?" Mai Sakurajima (Waka) asked softly, adding, "Waka has already said so much, and it was all a long time ago, so Auntie doesn't need to hide it anymore."

Feng Bin's mother was silent for a long time before hesitatingly saying, "There is jealousy... but more than that, I feel envy and longing. Your mother is a very capable person. She speaks eloquently, is shrewd and capable, and is very talented. Although we had never met before, I could see her achievements from the news... Actually, I only really met your mother before."

Sakurajima Mai (Wahana) remained silent, subtly seeing her own reflection in the other person.

"You know each other?" Feng Bin's father couldn't help but ask, "You didn't cause any trouble for others, did you?"

Feng Bin's mother immediately reacted strongly: "Why are you asking this?"

"Here we go again! I really haven't contacted her!"

"I know."

"what?"

"So, are you trying to contact someone else?!"

"?"

The two sparked another debate on this issue.

Perhaps from an outsider's perspective, compared to the two who spoke according to their own emotions, Mai Sakurajima (Wahana) inexplicably understood the reason—her mother cared a lot about her father, or rather, about the family. Because her father had been divorced, she was particularly sensitive to any possibility of her father changing his mind. Her concern only made her father irritable and silently give up on defending himself, and distance himself from her, which made her even more anxious and worried.

These are my family members.

"Stop arguing, I'll go find Hehua."

Sakurajima Mai (Wahana) said a few words with mixed feelings and left the house.

Perhaps they were tired of arguing, or perhaps they simply had no interest in debating anything tonight, Feng Bin's father and mother sat silently in their chairs, pondering endless thoughts.

"Wahana... she should be alright, right?"

Feng Bin's mother spoke with some unease.

"It's none of your business... Sigh, I don't know." Feng Bin's father frowned. "Let's talk about it when she gets back..."

"What did you say?"

"...I'll resign, and I'll help her with her work and studies from now on."

"No way! Sakurajima is her manager!"

"what?!"

Feng Bin's father looked completely bewildered, wondering if he hadn't updated the world version. What was all this about?

……

……

Mai Sakurajima (Waka) stepped out of the room, looking around. Under the pale moonlight, the streetlights outside the detached house were bright, filling the night with light, yet it was so desolate that it made people feel empty.

Where is that bastard?

Could it be that my impulsive slap wasn't considered by that bastard?

Sakurajima Mai (Wahana) felt inexplicably uneasy, and stepped out of the courtyard, looking around for her target.

"Wow--!!"

Suddenly, Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) appeared from behind and shouted loudly.

Sakurajima Mai (Wahana) shuddered, turned around in fright, and immediately became angry: "Hey! You're really scary!"

"Do you want to listen to what you're saying?"

"..."

Mai Sakurajima (Wahana) fell silent for a moment.

"Hmm?" Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) raised their eyebrows slightly, circled the other person twice, looked them up and down, frowned slightly, and their expression gradually became serious, like a doctor who had diagnosed a patient with cancer.

"...What are you doing?"

"Dog, you've changed..."

Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) sighed deeply.

"#!"

踹！

After dodging the opponent's deadly series of kicks, Feng Bin and Hana (Shirokage) maintained a safe distance and continued with the diagnosis: "You've changed. You've become melancholic, you've become fond of self-punishment and mental boxing, you've become suspicious of whether you or the world is sick..."

"It's you who did it!"

Sakurajima Mai (Wahana) huffed and puffed out a sentence, then suddenly slumped down, not knowing what to say or how to respond.

Feng Bin and Hua (Bai Ying) squatted down against the courtyard wall and waved their hands, saying, "Come, come, here!"

“Tell me…” Sakurajima Mai (Waka) moved away with a look of disgust. Rather than squatting against the wall in an awkward posture, she chose to lean against the courtyard wall in a more fashionable way. She looked up into the night, still feeling a sense of unreality. “Is that really how it is? Mom was jealous and envious of my sister’s mother, and Dad was simply afraid of trouble…”

Toyohama Kazuka (Shirokage) suddenly asked, "Stickman, why can't you become a big star like Hero Plus?"

"Because it's impossible. Being an idol is fine, but to become an idol like my sister is really too difficult."