Reborn into this life before the age of two, my Father vanished on his way to the provincial exam in the capital—alive, he was never found; dead, his body never returned. That very month, Grandfather passed away in grief. Grandmother, bedridden with illness for two years, eventually followed, leaving behind a mountain of debt. Years later, unable to bear the burdens of life any longer, Mother finally decided to remarry.
Let her marry, then. I wasn’t unreasonable.
But this man—I had to meet him. There were things that needed to be said, face to face, and made perfectly clear.