It was four o’clock in the afternoon when Shigguang arrived at the police station. The sun was still fiercely shining. It had cost her seventy-nine yen to get to Chongshan. When Shigguang paid for it, it physically pained her.

That couple didn’t spend a dime on her and now these leeches are sucking her dry. It’s disgusting.

Shigguang went in the police station. Before she even got a word out, she heard a holler.

“Shigguang!”

Shigguang’s hair stood on end. Glancing back, she saw Jianwei in a worn yellow vest, gray trousers, and canvas shoes. His hair was short and white.

Shigguang’s disgust was so apparent that he frowned: “Tell me what’s going on.”

Seeing Chen Jianwei approaching, she immediately raised her voice. “Stand there and talk.”

“Is this your attitude towards Lao Tzu?” His dishonest eyes shone with anger.

Chen Jianwei lost his temper when he saw Shiguang like this. He pointed at her forehead and scolded. “Did I raise you for nothing? What’s the point of college education if you can’t even learn good manners?”

Shigguang turned around to walk back outside.

“Stop, you ingrate! Where do you think you’re going?”

As he yelled, Chen Jianwei chased after her.

“I dare you to hit me!” Shigguang turned towards him and pointed. “Chen Jianwei, I warn you. If you hit me once, I will put you in prison for the rest of your life. This is the police station.”

A policeman who was going to persuade them to stop shook his head: “It’s difficult for an officer to meddle in household bickers.”

Shigguang has always had a bad temper. But now that she on the verge of poverty. She must put on a front.

“Shigguang, you shouldn’t talk to your father like that!” Liu Cuihua bellowed. “Shiguang, don’t talk back to adults. He is your father afterall.”

“Do you know why you are who you are today?” Liu Cuihua can’t help but play the role of a grieving mother.

“It’s because you are cowardly and incompetent! You can’t even protect your own daughter. What kind of mother are you? If you are human, don’t let this man lead you by the nose. ” Shiguang refused to let her continue on.

“You rebellious ingrate!”

Chen Jianwei raised his hand and slapped Shigguang across the face. In a rage, she hit Jianwei back. “If you want money. Keep dreaming!”

The years of imprisonment was evident in his face and behavior. He looked and acted like a wretched hooligan. Grabbing Shigguang’s schoolbag, he shoved her hard. Shigguang fell on the ground and burst into tears.

“Help me!”

The police quickly pulled Jianwei off of her.

“Wait! Don’t do it!” Shigguang cried. She has no choice. The house is registered under this leech’s name, Shigguang could not escape from him even if she tried. Zhou Meng had informed her at the very beginning that she wanted Shigguang to suffer under the thumb of her biological father. The deed was in his name so that Shigguang couldn’t shut him out or send him back to prison.

“If I get out of this, I will find you and beat you to death!” The leech threatened.

“If you dare touch me again, you will be detained!”

Watching the girl’s pitiful cries, the police ordered several officers to hold down Jianwei while a policewoman took her away to comfort Shigguang.

“They didn’t raise me. I grew up with my adoptive parents. This is killing me. He is not a good person. He was too lazy to serve as a father figure. He was previously sentenced to three years for theft. I work part-time jobs to make ends meet. How dare they tear into my life and ask for money?” Shigguang went on and on, spilling all her grievances. Even though she knew he was acting, she was affected emotionally. “I don’t owe them anything except the blood that runs in my veins. Do I have to toss my life away to pay that off?”

This is a family matter and the police department can’t step in.

“Why don’t you calmly discuss it together? Afterall you are a still family.”

Shigguang began to sob again. She has nothing to say to that monster. She watched quietly as an older policeman began to reprimand Jianwei.

“Why don’t you go out and do some work? You have working arms and legs, don’t you? Why push your daughter like this?”

“She’s loaded but she won’t spare her poor dad a cent!” Shigguang has stayed at the Zhou’s family for eighteen years. It’s impossible that she doesn’t have a substantial amount saved. Yet, she doesn’t want to spend it on him. Chen Jianwei continued insisting that Shigguang is a heartless dog.

“Have you ever seen such a daughter? She deserves a good beating. She deserves it!”

“Shut it!” The policeman admonished angrily. “I have never witnessed such a thick-skinned and selfish father. It doesn’t matter whether she has money or not. You have no right to take it from her. Did you even raise her yourself?”

“If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have had a good life in that wretched Zhou family for more than ten years!”

Shigguang sank into herself. She pinched her fingers tightly as his words jabbed at her broken heart repetitively. Without Chen Jianwei’s nonsense, Shigguang would still be at the Zhou mansion, with her real parents. She wanted to kill Chen Jianwei. But killing people meant paying with her life and Zhou Shiguang was not that stupid.

“Ungrateful dog.” Chen Jianwei cursed out. “Sooner or later, she’ll die a horrid death.”

“Do you have to berate her like that?” The policeman stood up and slammed the table with his palms. “What kind of a father are you? Your daughter works to earn money to put herself through school. A girl in her twenties, can’t make a lot.”

The policeman pointed at Jianwei viciously. “Are in your seventies or eighties? Why can’t you make your own money at forty? Stop relying on your daughter!”

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/jonahagon

For other inquiries, you may also contact me at: [email protected]