CHAPTER 5:  Fire Pit

Back when Xu Yanqiu got married, her husband asked her if she had been married before or had children. She said no. If she’d told the truth, the man wouldn’t have married her. After all her effort to snag a wealthy man, how could she be willing to give that up?

That was also why she stopped paying child support to the Lin family. It wasn’t like she couldn’t have more kids—why bother caring about a girl she didn’t even feel close to?

“There were reasons back then,” Xu Yanqiu said stiffly.

“If you want to find Xiaoya, go find her yourself,” Lin Mother said, already guessing Xu Yanqiu’s intentions. “I’ve taken what they gave me, so I’m not going to keep showing up trying to get more out of her.”

Lin Mother had no intention of being cannon fodder. Blood ties? Please. She didn’t even let Yi Xiaoya call her “Mom” anymore—just “Auntie,” as she used to. If she kept going to find Xiaoya, the Yi family would find a way to deal with them. Ordinary people like them wouldn’t stand a chance.

Others would see them as nothing more than bloodsucking leeches!

“Go, go, go—get out!” Lin Mother shoved Xu Yanqiu out the door and slammed it shut.

The house Yi Xiaoya’s biological father gave the Lin family was big—four bedrooms and two living areas. Lin Father and Lin Mother had one room, their son had another, one was a guest room, and the last could be used for their grandson.

Lin Mother had no complaints. The place was near a good school and worth several million, maybe ten million. She didn’t pretend to be a saint. She had raised Yi Xiaoya, so getting something in return was only right.

There was no need to refuse it, and even less need to let others act like they owed the Lin family a debt they could never repay.

If you’re going to take something, take it cleanly. That way, everyone has peace of mind.

Xu Yanqiu stood outside the closed door, her face dark. She hadn’t expected that after all these years, Yi Yao would come back to recognize Xiaoya. She was starting to wonder if something had happened to his health—but no, more likely, he just never had any other children, so now he thought of Xiaoya again.

If she could re-establish a connection with Xiaoya, it would definitely benefit her. Even if her husband found out she’d hidden the truth, he wouldn’t be angry. He might even be glad she had a biological daughter like that.

Her husband had recently been trying to get a business deal with Yi Yao, but Yi Yao wasn’t someone they could just meet. Even if they found out where he lived, they couldn’t just show up—that would only get them blacklisted.

“Xiaoya wasn’t even your biological child, so what are you being so smug about?” Xu Yanqiu muttered angrily. She kicked the door—but immediately winced in pain. She’d forgotten how uncomfortable her stylish heels were. That kick had hurt even more.

She had originally planned for her cousin to go with her to see Yi Xiaoya and help explain things. Really, she just wanted her cousin to lie—say that she’d been paying child support all these years, and talk about how hard her life had been. Say she’d been forced into a premarital pregnancy, that Yi Yao wanted her to get an abortion, but she didn’t—because she loved Yi Xiaoya.

But her cousin hadn’t gone along with it at all. No sympathy. Not one bit.

Her cousin only cared about money!

So what if she hadn’t paid child support for over a decade? She was paying now, wasn’t she? How petty could someone be?

But if Lin Mother were truly petty, she would’ve dumped Yi Xiaoya off at Xu Yanqiu’s husband’s house years ago. She didn’t—she raised the girl all the way.

That evening, Yi Xiaoya came to visit Lin Mother—partly to check out the new house, partly for dinner. But most importantly, she wanted to find out who her biological mom was. The way her foster mother had asked her to change how she addressed her—no longer “Mom,” just “Auntie”—that had to mean she knew something.

As soon as Yi Xiaoya arrived, she bumped into Xu Yanqiu at the elevator.

Xu Yanqiu rushed out of the elevator and didn’t look where she was going, slamming right into Yi Xiaoya.

“Watch where you’re going!” Xu Yanqiu snapped, glaring at her. “You bump into someone and don’t even apologize? No manners at all.”

“And how is my upbringing any of your business?” Yi Xiaoya rolled her eyes. “Lady, you bumped into me. Don’t act all high and mighty.”

“You—” Xu Yanqiu fumed. Was this girl calling her old?

“What’re you looking at? Jealous I’m younger than you?” Yi Xiaoya raised a brow. “Relax, I’ll take good care of myself and age gracefully. Unlike you—probably got called ‘Auntie’ before you even hit thirty.”

Xu Yanqiu felt like everyone here was impossible to deal with—her cousin, this girl—none of them made sense.

“You’ll get knocked around in society one day!” Xu Yanqiu spat, storming off. People like this just hadn’t faced the real world yet. The prouder they acted now, the harder they’d fall later.

“Pfft. These days it’s the Gen Z crowd taking over the workplace. Getting knocked around? They hire people to knock others around!” Yi Xiaoya stuck her tongue out at Xu Yanqiu’s retreating back.

She headed to the Lin family home. Lin Mother was visibly surprised to see her. “Why are you here?”

“Am I not allowed to visit?” Yi Xiaoya replied. “Just wanted to see what kind of amazing house was good enough to make you send me away.”

“He’s your biological father to begin with. Saying he’s ‘giving’ you to him—he’s just taking you back,” Lin Mother said.

“If I have a biological father, then I also have a biological mother. Mom… Auntie,” Yi Xiaoya said. “You say you’re my aunt, then who is my mom? Of all the aunts I’ve called ‘Auntie’ before, which one is actually my mother?”

“Don’t think about it. They’re all relatives, but don’t expect to see her even once in a year,” Lin Mother replied. “She never shows up wherever you are.”

Xu Yanqiu was afraid people would say Yi Xiaoya looked like her. The whole “twin brother and sister” thing—she only said that for outsiders to hear. Among their relatives, several already knew Yi Xiaoya wasn’t Lin Mother’s biological daughter.

But the elders in the family never said anything out loud. If they did, things would get messy.

Ever since Xu Yanqiu got married, she rarely came back to her parents’ home, let alone saw these relatives.

“When you came upstairs just now, did you run into—” Lin Mother started, but before she could finish, Yi Xiaoya interrupted.

“No way, the old aunt downstairs who said I had no manners—don’t tell me that was my real mom?” Yi Xiaoya said. “Her face was caked with makeup, and she’d sprayed on so much perfume it was overwhelming.”

Yi Xiaoya studied Lin Mother’s expression. She really didn’t want a mom like that. But since she’d been left to be raised by her aunt, it probably meant her birth mother wasn’t much of a person anyway.

“Wait till your real mom comes knocking,” Lin Mother said.

Lin Mother thought to herself, Xu Yanqiu really doesn’t care about her own daughter. Her own daughter was standing right in front of her, and she didn’t even recognize her—worse, she called her rude.

“Where’s my brother?” Yi Xiaoya looked around.

“He stays in the dorms,” Lin Mother said.

The school dorms weren’t expensive—seven students to a room, bunk beds, four sets, and one extra bed for luggage. The room was small, with a long bench in the middle.

Lin Dahua, Lin Mother’s son, was also in his second year of high school like Yi Xiaoya. But he was a sports student.

He used to sleep in the living room. He didn’t like being under his parents’ watchful eyes—whenever they walked into the living room, they’d see him. So he decided to stay in the dorms instead. Living with kids his age gave him more people to talk to and hang out with.

Lin Dahua often complained that their parents spoiled his sister and not him. But in truth, Lin Father cared more about his own son—he often secretly bought snacks for Lin Dahua.

But Lin Dahua had a big mouth. He liked to mention it in front of Yi Xiaoya. So she started to think her dad favored boys over girls and would even fight Lin Dahua for his snacks, demanding “fairness.” But how could a girl beat a sports student? Sometimes Lin Dahua would just eat the snack in one bite right in front of her, leaving her fuming with rage.

Back then, Yi Xiaoya would ask, “Are you really my brother?”

And Lin Dahua would answer, “You can be my older sister!”

The two would stare each other down, wide-eyed, until they couldn’t take it anymore and both turned away with a cold “hmph.”

“Perfect timing…”

At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” Yi Xiaoya said, heading over. When she opened the door, she found Lin Dahua standing there. “Yo, you’re back.”

“Pfft. You visiting or something?” Lin Dahua said.

“You live here, why didn’t you open the door yourself?” Yi Xiaoya said. “It’s not like it was locked from the inside.”

“…” Lin Dahua gave his mom a resentful look. “Mom, would it kill you to tell me you were moving? I went back to our old place and they told me the house was rented out! I had to ask around—a bunch of people—before I found out you moved here.”

He was speechless. Was he really their biological son? They didn’t even tell him about the move—what, did they expect him to live in the school dorms for the rest of his life?

“Where’d you get the money for such a nice place?” Lin Dahua asked, puzzled. “Don’t tell me you sold my sister off for bride money? Like, a million-dollar bride? Ten million? No way—that’s illegal! She’s underage!”

After saying that, he even gestured to Yi Xiaoya: What are you standing there for? Run!

Even though he often fought with her over snacks, Lin Dahua still cared about his sister.

“Mom, I’m only in high school. I haven’t even started college. Even after I do, that’s still years away from marriage,” Lin Dahua said. “By that time I’ll be earning money myself. If word gets out that I sold my sister for money, which girl would ever want to marry me?”

“You think you’re worth selling your sister for?” Lin Mother asked.

“Of course! Who else are you going to rely on for retirement?” Lin Dahua said. “Xiaoya might not be top of the class, but once she grows up, she’ll definitely be a knockout.”

He looked at his sister. Yeah, she definitely had the potential to become a femme fatale.

“She’s not your sister—not your real sister!” Lin Mother said.

“Mom… don’t tell me her real dad came to get her?” Lin Dahua scoffed, pulling his sister behind him. “That only happens in TV dramas. Mom, let’s not keep this house. Let’s move out! We can’t let Xiaoya fall into a fire pit!”