Han Ruochen still remembered everything that happened. If she was not wrong, then the swine flu would make an appearance two years from now. By then, the savings of their family should have been twenty thousand yuan. But Mother Han, whose heart was set on her old lover, couldn't see her father doing well when her old lover was suffering. Thus, she emptied the coffers, and when the farm was hit hard, she simply packed her bags and left with her old lover.
Even taking Han Ziyan and Yang Jianming with them. Though Mother Han was a fool when it came to love, she was also quite cunning. Because she had made her lover sign an IOU before lending him money, she could easily squeeze his wife out of the family and marry over to his family with a big fat wedding.
Just recalling that sight was enough to make Han Ruochen grind her teeth to dust. However, she soon calmed down. The outbreak of swine flu was still two years away, and the current savings that had been depleted were only five thousand yuan. She would soon find a way to let her father know about these depleted savings such that he would take the power to control the finances of the house.
Because Han Yichen never ate at home, as he had to go out socialising, he didn't know that Mother Han never cooked the meat that he brought for them. Half of it went into her and Han Ziyan's stomachs, and the remaining half was given to Han Ziyan's biological father.
All Han Ruochen and her two younger siblings received was a lecture on how it was difficult for their father, and they couldn't afford meat.
"Dad, I am afraid that Mom will get angry with me over this," Han Ruochen said softly. "You know how she is. Every time we refuse to give in to Ziyan, she will start hitting us."
"Hit? She hits you?" This was the first time he had heard this!
"Yes," Han Ruochen nodded and then pulled back her sleeves to show the long gash on her arm. It was an injury that she had received when she had dropped the glass of milk that was for Han Ziyan, and her mother had hit her with a cooking spatula.
A cooking spatula was really sharp and, when used with force, could leave some deep gashes behind. Her mother knew this, and yet she hit her like that—she even called her vulgar names and told her to stop being jealous of Han Ziyan. She even threatened to keep this injury a secret from her father, or else Yang Jianming would find her disgusting.
Having a scar was a big thing in this era. Thus, no woman would let their partner know that they had scars on their body. The old Han Ruochen was also afraid. But now she no longer cared. She had lived a life which was filled with pain, suffering and humiliation. Compared to washing the soiled bedsheets of that fool, this was nothing.
When Han Yichen saw the wound on Han Ruochen's arm, his eyes turned red. He couldn't believe that behind his back, his daughter had suffered so much.
"And not only me," Han Ruochen continued. "Mom also beats Jianyou. This is why he always stays outside and never comes back home."
Han Jianyou was her fourth brother, and he should be in middle school right now. Because he was still in his teens, he was much more rebellious than her other siblings. When he was young, he was still a bit obedient, but with Mother Han getting more and more out of control and calling him all sorts of names in an attempt to push him off the right path and make him rebellious, Han Jianyou had become more and more like a ruffian.
And he was also the one who was going to give her the biggest headache, because if she was not wrong, Han Jianyou had long gotten entangled with a local ruffian under Mother Han's harsh scoldings. That silly boy didn't even know that this was all done to ruin him. Why would he? Because Mother Han was his biological mother.
But some women—they were not worthy of the term mother.
Han Yichen's face turned even stiffer. He didn't know that such a thing was happening at home. He did understand the concept of using the rod and sparing the child from spoiling. But he believed that his children were not out of line. Why was his wife treating them so harshly? And Han Ruochen? She was so old already and close to getting married. How could Mother Han hit her with a spatula? Did she not want her to get married or what?
Han Ruochen stayed silent. She didn't disrupt her father, whose face was turning red and purple. She deliberately brought this matter up to shatter her father's illusion that their family was perfect and doing good. No matter what kind of person her mother was, her father truly liked her; if not, then he wouldn't have married her, even though her grandfather was against the marriage.
Thus, Han Ruochen needed to broach this subject carefully and slowly. Only by breaking her father's trust in her mother bit by bit would she be able to make him completely disappointed in her. If she told everything to her father, then at most, he would get angry and question her mother.
But Meng Yunhan was not only sly, but she also knew how to cajole men. If not, her ex-lover would have never accepted her, even when she had given birth to five children for her father.
When Han Ruochen was tied in a room like a dog in the Yang family, she had heard her mother say that she told Master Yun that it happened because Father Han forced her. But in truth, she had deliberately given birth to so many children because she wanted to make Master Yun uncomfortable.
It was her little and petty revenge.
And yet Master Yun believed her.
With her skills, Han Ruochen was worried that her father would once again be fooled due to his feelings. So, she would take it slow and slowly fill poison in her father's head against her mother.
"Too far; she had gone too far!" Han Yichen exploded. Smacking his hands on the table, he stood up, wanting to even the score with Meng Yunhan.