noffsinger Chapter 206: Swept Out the Door
Chapter 206: Swept Out the Door
"Jiajia, you’re an adult now. Zhihe is pregnant, so can’t you be a little more considerate? Don’t be so willful anymore, understand?"
Cao Daqiang said, then picked up his tea and took a sip, his gaze avoiding his daughter.
"A spoiled Miss like her is more than I can handle. Just seeing her makes my chest hurt. Why don’t we have her move out for a while? We can talk about it again after I have the baby."
Yuan Zhihe leaned on Cao Daqiang’s shoulder and immediately suggested driving her out.
Cao Jiajia’s mind went blank. She shot her head up. "Dad, I’ve really changed! Please, don’t kick me out..."
"Jiajia, how about you go stay at your grandmother’s for a few months? You can come back after the baby is born."
Cao Daqiang actually agreed. Just as he had discarded Ling Xueshan all those years ago, he now casually cast his own daughter aside.
But Cao Jiajia was no longer the Shanshan of the past, the one who could be so easily manipulated. She desperately clutched Cao Daqiang’s sleeve.
"Dad, how can you treat me like this? I’m your own flesh and blood! If you dare kick me out, I’ll tell Yuan Zhihe every last one of your dirty secrets!"
"How dare you!"
Hearing this, Cao Daqiang’s expression changed instantly. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his eyes flew wide, and he seized her by the wrist.
"Cao Jiajia, I’m warning you. If you dare spout nonsense in front of Zhihe, don’t blame me for disregarding our bond as father and daughter!"
Yuan Zhihe, meanwhile, quietly took half a step back, a smug look on her face.
The moment he finished speaking, he flung her arm away. Cao Jiajia, already unsteady, lost her footing and slipped. She fell hard, her back slamming against the corner of the wall. She gasped in pain.
Her gaze swept over Cao Daqiang and Yuan Zhihe, finally falling to the floor.
The door slammed shut with a BANG. She understood then that she no longer had a place in this home.
She stood outside the door and heard lighthearted laughter from within, as if nothing had just happened.
She could only lower her head and leave.
The night wind was cold against her face. Most of the shops lining the street were already closed.
But she had forgotten that the Liu Family of today was a far cry from its former glory.
The sign at the street corner for "Liu’s Grain and Oil" had long since faded and begun to peel.
Ever since Cao Daqiang made it big, he’d systematically suppressed the Liu family. Their businesses failed one by one, until only a small storefront remained, struggling to stay afloat.
The moment she walked in, the entire room was filled with scowling faces. No one paid her any mind.
"Well, well, I thought you went off to live the good life with your dear old dad. What’s the matter? Couldn’t hack it, so you suddenly remembered us poor relatives?"
Her aunt stood at the kitchen doorway, a rag clutched in her hand, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Pah! You ungrateful brat! You’re just like that short-lived mother of yours. Serves you right that no one wants you!"
Her aunt, in particular, hated her.
Back when the Liu Family was thriving, they employed three or four maids. Her aunt had spent her days putting on lipstick and going shopping, never even having to lift a finger to cook.
Back then, she was the star of the family, always boasting to anyone who would listen about how well she’d married and how comfortable her life was.
’But now?’
There was no money for help anymore. She had to do all the laundry, cooking, and child-rearing herself. The years had aged her terribly.
’How could she not be resentful?’
Looking at her niece standing before her—in an old dress, head bowed in silence—only soured her mood further.
Their families had once been on similar footing, but now here she was, expected to take in someone kicked out by her own father.
Cao Jiajia knelt on the floor, her voice trembling as she begged to be taken in. She promised she would do any kind of work, as long as she had a place to stay.
But her aunt didn’t even deign to look up.
She turned her back, picked up a spatula, and stirred the vegetables in the pot.
In the end, it was her grandmother who took pity on her. Tottering, she pulled her granddaughter into the house.
"Let her stay for a couple of days. We’re blood relatives, after all. It’s not right to turn her away."
But the aunt was still fuming. She dumped a pile of dirty laundry into a wooden basin, pointed a finger in Cao Jiajia’s face, and said, "If you want to eat our food, you’re going to work for it. Don’t think you can get a free ride here."
After just two days, Cao Jiajia was already at her breaking point.
But she had nowhere else to go. Her boyfriend, Yu Yeping, was living hand-to-mouth himself, scraping by on daily odd jobs.
If she went to him, they would just starve together.
He could barely even make rent; they’d probably end up sleeping on the streets.
The landlord had already come by three times last month to demand payment. Yu Yeping had to swallow his pride and beg for a few more days, and the landlord had reluctantly agreed to give him one more week.
Better to endure it here. At least this way, she could have a hot meal and a bed to sleep in.
She gritted her teeth and endured, keeping her head down and focusing on her chores. She tried her best not to cause trouble or say much.
At mealtimes, she would shrink into a corner, wolf down her food, and then quickly get up to clear the dishes.
But even with Cao Jiajia humbling herself to this degree, fate had no intention of showing her any mercy.
At Yuan Zhihe’s instigation, Cao Daqiang began spreading rumors about his late wife’s indecency.
While drinking with his coworkers from the factory, he would bring it up, hinting that his late wife had cheated on him during their marriage and had been a woman of questionable character.
He’d add that Cao Jiajia didn’t look a thing like him, and that her behavior wasn’t what you’d expect from a child of a respectable family.
Since the dead can’t testify, he just flat-out insisted that Cao Jiajia wasn’t his biological daughter.
He even found a fortune teller to cook up a convincing story about their birth charts being incompatible.
Those who heard were skeptical but intrigued, and it became the subject of widespread gossip.
The news spread like wildfire and soon reached the Liu family’s ears.
Her cousin heard it from a friend and went home to tell his mother.
Her aunt smashed her bowl on the floor right then and there. "I knew that girl came from bad stock!"
Now, her aunt had the perfect excuse to kick her out.
She stormed into the room, kicking the door open. Pointing at Cao Jiajia, she roared, "This isn’t a shelter! How dare a bastard like you live in my house?"
"Get out! Get out of my house right now! You... you stray! Don’t you dare dirty my doorstep!"
She grabbed Cao Jiajia’s meager belongings and threw them out the door. The cloth bundle hit the wall and burst open, scattering clothes across the ground.
"Auntie, what are you talking about? I’m not a bastard!"
The word was a dagger to the heart. She had often used it to curse Ling Xueshan when they were children, and now it was being thrown right back in her face.
No one spoke up for her. Even her grandmother could only hide in her room, wiping her tears.
This time, even her grandmother couldn’t protect her. Cao Jiajia was thrown out of the Liu Family’s house for good.
She stood at the courtyard gate, clutching the tattered cloth bag in her hand, trembling all over.
Raindrops began to fall, chilling her to the bone as they hit her shoulders.
Rain fell from the sky. Soaked to the bone and with nowhere else to go, she walked the streets alone. Finally, she had to swallow her pride and go find Yu Yeping.
Thankfully, Yu Yeping didn’t look annoyed. The moment he saw how drenched she was, he pulled her inside. Without even pausing, he started rummaging through his things, looking for dry clothes.
He even pushed the bowl of noodles he had just finished cooking for himself in front of her.
"SOB... Ye Peng, what am I going to do? My dad doesn’t want me, my aunt and uncle kicked me out... I... I don’t have anywhere to go..."
"Don’t be scared, it’s okay. You have me now. This is your home now. Jiajia, trust me. As long as I have food to eat, I’ll never let you go hungry."
Yu Yeping squatted in front of her, gently patting her shoulder.
After saying this, he unslung the canvas bag from his back. He pulled out a plastic bag from inside it and handed her half of a cold flatbread.
He hadn’t been able to bring himself to finish it, saving it for her all this time.