Was Qu Tantan afraid of the old lady?
In the previous life, ever since the old lady arrived at their home, Qu Tantan had been the one accompanying and taking care of her. Even when the old lady had lost her mind, talking to herself, laughing and cursing wildly, Qu Tantan had never been afraid. So why would Qu Tantan fear the sharp-tongued, lively old lady now?
Besides, Qu Tantan knew everything. As long as she could keep the old lady on her side, why should she worry about her scheming Uncle, who only dared to stir trouble in the shadows?
“How do you know my name?”
At Qu Tantan’s shocking utterance of ‘Huifang,’ even her once-arrogant Uncle was now at a loss for words.
In the dead silence of the room, the old lady’s body trembled. Her face darkened as she glared at Qu’s father, her left eye emitting a chilling glint.
Qu’s father shuddered, hastily shaking his head to deny it. Even if he were given eight hundred times the courage, he wouldn’t dare let his precious daughter address the old lady that way.
The old lady reconsidered. Her eldest son indeed lacked the guts to do such a thing. Suspicious and uncertain, she turned to the little girl before her.
Qu Tantan stood with her hands behind her back, tilting her head up at the old lady, looking innocent and sweet. “I dreamt about it,” she said earnestly, spinning lies with a straight face. “That person in my dream looked a lot like my dad, and he always played with me.”
She continued with conviction, “The moment I saw you, I knew, you must be the Fang’er he told me about.”
The old lady’s eyes widened.
Father Qu sucked in a breath, quickly supporting Mother Qu, whose legs had gone weak from shock.
“You said… he called me Fang’er?” The old lady stared at Qu Tantan without blinking, as if she couldn’t believe her ears. Even her voice trembled slightly.
Qu Tantan nodded. As if that weren’t enough, she reached out to tug at the old lady’s sleeve and asked, puzzled, “He said he had a lot to tell you, but you refused to see him. Why?”
The old lady’s mind buzzed. Her fingers trembled, and she didn’t even register her younger son calling out to her.
The old lady’s name was Chen Huifang. When she was young, a factory explosion had left a deep scar across one of her eyes, blinding her in that eye and making her the source of many children’s nightmares.
Yet, her husband never minded. Though he wasn’t particularly capable, he was honest and kind. While everyone else avoided and shunned her, he held her hand and told her that to him, the soul was what truly mattered. He never found her terrifying, and he always spoke of how they should cherish each other, promising to take care of her.
He made good on that promise, saving up money for her future. Even though she had received a large compensation payout, he never touched a cent of it. Instead, he worked himself to exhaustion, eventually dying from overwork.
In her grief, she nearly lost the will to live. It was her younger son who held her and told her he had dreamt of his father, who had urged her to keep going. That single sentence became her lifeline.
Over time, her younger son grew to resemble her late husband more and more. She poured all her emotions into him, especially since her younger son always spoke sweetly to her. He often told her he had dreamt of his father, passing on messages that supposedly came from his father. They were words of concern, requests for her to treat herself better, or excuses for her to buy things.
Did she not realize that these messages were merely excuses for her younger son to get what he wanted? Of course, she did. She wasn’t stupid. But she allowed herself to be deceived willingly.
During the long years in the previous life, Qu Tantan understood the old lady’s feelings. She simply missed her husband too much.
Compared to the taciturn eldest son, who looked like the old lady and always tried to expose his brother’s lies, trying to make her see reason, she naturally favored the younger son, who indulged her longing for her late husband.
But that didn’t mean she didn’t care for her eldest son.
After her younger son took her away, she always worried about whether he was making enough money to help his elder brother, even if only by offering some advice. Yet, when she brought it up, her younger son’s demeanor changed instantly. He turned on her, threatening to kick her out.
At that moment, she merely felt a chill in her heart.
It wasn’t until later, when she overheard one of her younger son’s acquaintances, that she learned the truth. The person who had deceived her eldest son had been working with her younger son all along.
Though she had always seemed indifferent toward her eldest son, she had never forgotten the face of the man who had tricked him. She never expected to see that man in her younger son’s circle of friends.
She confronted him, demanding the truth. At first, he denied everything, but when he realized she wasn’t backing down, he grew impatient and admitted it outright. Then, he hit her.
Until the day she died, she never forgot the way her younger son had stood over her, sneering as he pointed at her face, calling her an old hag.
He told her he had long since grown sick of her ugly, terrifying face. As a child, he would cry in his sleep, hating the fact that she was his mother.
He said he had been bullied and mocked at school every day, always wishing he could have been born to someone else. And it was all her fault.
In the end, he spat that if she wouldn’t work as their maid, she should get lost.
But everyone knew that, in a strange city where her identity documents were controlled by him, where could she possibly go?
It was only then that she finally understood why they had kept preventing her from going outside ever since she arrived.
She numbly accepted their abuse, knowing that the money she had saved was gone for good. Every night, she dreamt of her husband sighing at her.
The overwhelming guilt, shame, and despair shattered her mind. She went mad.
When the old lady first came to Qu Tantan’s house, nobody knew what had happened to her. They only heard her mumbling apologies, calling out her husband’s name.
Recalling that scene, Qu Tantan’s gaze turned icy as she looked at her infamous Uncle.
This Uncle, whom she had never met before but had heard so much about, looked clean and gentle, seemingly harmless.
But who could have guessed that beneath his polished exterior lay a heart filthier than the dirtiest sewer?
Oblivious to the chilling gleam in the little girl’s eyes, the Uncle, seeing the old lady wavering, grew anxious.
He had worked so hard to suppress his elder brother. His plan to seize the inheritance was almost complete. How could one sentence from this brat ruin everything?
He cleared his throat and shot a disapproving look at the dumbfounded Father Qu. “Dad had never even meet this girl… Why would he specifically bypass Mom and us, and visit Tantan instead? It doesn’t make sense. Even if he refused to see me and Mom, shouldn’t he have gone to Brother first?
“Brother, I know you really want to buy a house, but I didn’t expect you to have planned so far ahead, getting Tantan to say something like that just to get our approval…” He hesitated, then added, “No matter how badly Mom treats you, Brother, you shouldn’t use this kind of method to hurt her feelings.”
“I didn’t—”
Before Father Qu could explain, Uncle Qu sighed heavily, looking troubled. “Tantan doesn’t understand anything. Are you trying to say she came up with this idea on her own? Of course, I’m not accusing you of deliberately teaching Tantan to say this… I just can’t bear to see Mom being deceived. Ah, I don’t mean anything else. We’ve been brothers for so many years… Brother, you understand me, right?”
Father Qu, who had initially been anxious to explain, suddenly darkened his expression when he heard his younger brother shift the blame onto his daughter.
As a son, he didn’t care how people scolded him. But if his younger brother was going to target his precious daughter, there was no way he would back down. Just as he was about to speak, Tantan suddenly hugged the old lady’s leg and asked in a small voice, “Fang’er, do you know what a leech is?”
The old lady, who had started to believe that her late husband had really sent a message through the little girl, had initially been in a fierce mood, ready to throw a tantrum. But when she heard her younger son’s words, she started to feel that he had a point. She was just about to lash out at her eldest son when she lowered her head and met the little girl’s clear, innocent eyes.
At that moment, an inexplicable sense of closeness and reliance welled up in her heart. She suddenly had the urge to hold the child, as if there were countless grievances she wanted to pour out to her. It was odd, but she subconsciously trusted this little girl.
Could this be… a reminder from her late husband?
For a moment, the old lady was filled with uncertainty.
While she was lost in her thoughts, she felt the little girl cling to her leg affectionately and ask that strange question.
She cleared her throat. She knew she should resist speaking to the child, but something deep inside urged her to answer. “…What?”
Tantan, oblivious to the old lady’s complicated emotions, looked up with an innocent expression. “It’s the Grandpa in my dream. He said he couldn’t visit Fang’er in her dreams because of some leeches. He was so angry, stomping his feet and waving his arms. He told me to make sure to tell you, to protect your money and not let him cheat you.”
She dragged out her words playfully, her smile sweet and mischievous. “So, Huifang, who exactly is the leech?”
The moment she finished speaking, Uncle Qu’s face changed drastically. He snapped, “You little brat, stop spouting nonsense!”
Whenever the old man got angry, he would silently wave his arms and stomp his feet, something only Chen Huifang knew. So even if Father Qu had coached Tantan, she wouldn’t have been able to mimic the old man’s exact mannerisms. The old lady immediately believed Tantan’s words.
Tantan, startled by her Uncle’s outburst, let go of the old lady and shouted back indignantly, “I’m not making things up! Someone told me in my dream! I wasn’t even talking about you, Uncle, why are you so nervous?”
She pouted angrily and reached for Uncle Qu’s sleeve, as if eager to argue her point. Uncle Qu instinctively tried to push her away, but before he could even touch her, Tantan suddenly fell backward as if she had been shoved forcefully.
Clutching her already injured arm, she sat on the ground in a daze. A moment later, her eyes welled up with tears. “I just wanted to know who the leech was… I didn’t want them to keep bullying Fang’er… Uncle, you’re so scary!”
Uncle Qu looked down at his hands, which hadn’t even touched her, completely stunned.
Before he could react or defend himself, Tantan had already burst into tears. “Dad said if I do something wrong, I have to apologize. I don’t know what I did wrong, but since Uncle is so angry… *sniff* I’ll apologize!”
Father Qu finally snapped out of it. Holding back his anger, he quickly picked up Tantan, his voice tight with concern as he asked if she was hurt.
Tantan shook her little head bravely. Though tears threatened to spill, she refused to cry. Her soft voice wobbled, “No, it doesn’t hurt… Uncle didn’t mean to push me. Dad, don’t be mad.”
Seeing his precious daughter get shoved, was hurt, yet still speaking up for his brother, Father Qu’s fury boiled over. Clenching his fists, he glared at his stunned younger brother, his eyes red with rage. “You don’t need to worry about the little money I have. It’s all for Tantan. She wants to live in that house, so I’ll make sure she gets to live there.
“Whether I buy a house or a shop, it’s none of your concern. And don’t worry, if I lose money running a business, that’ll be my problem. I’ll never ask you for help!”
For the first time, he coldly shut them down and refused his mother and brother outright. “Since we have nothing more to talk about, you should leave. Tantan is hurt, I need to take her to the hospital. We won’t be keeping you for dinner.”
The old lady, still rattled by Tantan’s words, barely registered what her eldest son said. She simply nodded absentmindedly and ignored her younger son’s shocked expression. With a grim face, she turned to leave.
Just before stepping out, she hesitated for a moment, then pulled out a handful of cash and stuffed it into Mother Qu’s hands. “The child… is hurt. Take her to see a doctor. Don’t let her cry.”
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she shot a fierce glare at her younger son, who looked like he wanted to protest. “You’ll apologize to her later.”
Without another word, she grabbed Uncle Qu and dragged him outside.
Watching her husband, who stood firm in front his arrogant mother and brother for the first time, and watched them leave without another word, Mother Qu slowly looked down at the wad of cash in her hands. Then she hesitantly turned to glance at their teary-eyed daughter in her husband’s arms.
Wait a minute… why did it feel like something was off about their little Tantan today?
Was it just her imagination, or was their Tantan just a little bit… scheming?