Chapter 10 Dog bites dog

The people who came to help couldn’t help but complain, “Hurry up, it doesn’t look too serious. Let’s just get him home first.” After all the commotion, the family of four didn’t get home until almost midnight. Song Nanshan sat on the bed crying, while Song Nanfou’s “family jewels” no longer hurt, but his whole body was bruised and sore, hurting terribly. Yet, his father forbade him from going to the hospital, saying the family had no money.

Zhao Xiue was heartbroken. She held a bottle of iodine and cotton swabs, carefully applying the medicine, muttering curses, “I don’t even know which heartless bastard did this. It’s really wicked.”

“No kidding, it hurts so much. Oh, my bones feel like they’re breaking,” Song Nanshan said, wincing as he moved his knee.

He raised a question again, “Who exactly beat me? Could it be the same people who stole from our family?”

Zhao Xiue looked at her two sons, feeling heartache, and cursed loudly, “Who knows which lowlife can’t stand to see us do well and would do something this cruel.”

Even Song Aiqiang was puzzled. Their family had lived in Ningcheng for so many years; it was impossible they hadn’t offended anyone, but who would have seriously wronged them? He couldn’t think of anyone.

Song Nanshan glanced at his parents and voiced his suspicion, “Could it be my second sister? So much has happened at home, and she still hasn’t come back.”

Only then did the others realize that Song Nanting still hadn’t returned. But no one really connected this matter to her because they didn’t think she was capable of something like this.

Zhao Xiue cursed under her breath, “That damn girl might as well have died out there. Such a big mess at home, and she just doesn’t come back, as if she doesn’t care about us at all. When she comes back, I’ll break her legs for sure.”

“Wait.” Suddenly, Zhao Xiue seemed to realize something from her own words, “The Pan family! It has to be the Pan family. That whole family is no good. They even said today that Song Nanting should go clarify things. Isn’t that obviously trying to pin the blame on her? That sinister old woman, I’m not done with her.”

Song Aiqiang squinted and said, “We’re definitely not done. She must compensate us, or we’ll keep making trouble. They’re just two women — a widow and an orphan — we’re not scared of them.”

“Mom, Dad, where do you think that damn girl Song Nanting went?” Song Nanfou squinted his eyes, still confused, “Could she have been hidden by the Pan family?”

Zhao Xiue and Song Aiqiang both shuddered and exchanged looks. “That’s possible.”

Zhao Xiue said, “Tomorrow I’ll go get her back from them. No way she’s been their servant for over four years without a penny and they made our daughter disappear. If she’s alive, I want to see her; if she’s dead, I want to see the body.”

“That’s right. If they don’t give us our girl, then we want money,” Song Nanfou said with a grim expression.

With so much going on at home, Song Nanfou had originally planned to try his luck with gambling. But today was just unlucky — usually, he could win a few bucks, but today he lost forty or fifty. That kind of debt wasn’t easy to carry. He had to find a way to make some money or else those people would break his legs.

After the family discussed a plan, early the next morning Zhao Xiue went straight to the Pan family with a kitchen knife in hand. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to bring her sons for backup, but they were too beaten up to get up. If it weren’t for the family’s desperate financial situation, she wouldn’t have hesitated to send them to the hospital. Now, she was going to the Pan family — to get her daughter back, and the money! Zhao Xiue was full of fighting spirit! She didn’t care what others thought of her. Compared to money, face meant nothing.

While Zhao Xiue was fiercely demanding money from Wei Dani, Song Nanting finally got up. But her train ticket was for the evening, so she still had time.

After breakfast, around ten o’clock, Song Nanting took out her food ration tickets and meat coupons and went directly to the supply and marketing cooperative near the train station. The clerk there said weakly, “It’s not time yet.”

“Hui Ning, it’s me,” Song Nanting called out.

Sun Huining was startled. “Nanting, you’re here? You haven’t been around for quite a while.”

Sun Huining and Song Nanting had become friends through fights. Once, Song Nanting had sent her wages to buy some meat buns to treat Wei Dani, but Sun Huining refused to sell to her, wanting to keep them for herself. They fought over it and, oddly enough, became friends.

Sun Huining knew about Song Nanting’s troubles and summed it up in one word: “Foolish.”

At that time, Song Nanting just smiled. Coming from a good family and deeply loved by her parents, Sun Huining could never understand what it was like for someone starved for love and affection in their original family to crave kinship and love so desperately.

Song Nanting stubbornly told herself Wei Dani cared for her like a daughter, and that the handsome Pan Shifeng had just run into trouble outside and would return once it was sorted. But later, she realized she was the only one mistaken; everyone else saw the truth clearly.

By the time she learned the whole truth, Sun Huining had been married for years. It wasn’t until much later, when Lu Jian’an helped reconnect them, that they met again. Sun Huining, then a grandmother, cried so hard she couldn’t catch her breath. She said she had tried to find Song Nanting after learning the truth, but was too late — Song Nanting had already left. If not for Lu Jian’an, they might never have met again.

It was really good to see young Sun Huining now, but Song Nanting had no time to linger.

She took out all the meat and grain coupons and said, “Hui Ning, I have a six o’clock train tonight. I’m leaving here to go work in the countryside. To keep my parents from finding me, you have to help me—exchange these for steamed buns and stuffed buns, something I can eat on the road.”

Sun Huining was shocked, not understanding what had happened but knowing Song Nanting was in trouble and needed help. She nodded quickly, “Wait here, I’ll get it for you now.”

Then she ran to the kitchen.

Sun Huining’s parents were county officials, and her uncle managed the catering company, so no one dared mess with her at work. Even the head chef showed her respect.

While Sun Huining was preparing the food, Song Nanting took the tickets she had and went next door to buy soap, towels, oil, and all sorts of miscellaneous coupons. She spent all the coupons she could use, buying three large mesh bags full.

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, she ducked into a small alley nearby. Seeing no one around, she put everything into her small storage room.

The house was a two-story building with a fairly spacious living room on the first floor, perfect for temporarily storing all kinds of random things.

After finishing, Song Nanting looked at the cigarette coupon and bicycle ticket in her hand. She gritted her teeth, went out, and stopped a man who looked like a cadre on the street.

“Comrade, hello. I have a bicycle ticket, do you want it?”