To Covet (GL) - Chapter 77

I’m not sure exactly how hard she hit her, but the goal of humiliating her daughter was certainly achieved.

Yu Zhouwan neither dodged nor resisted. It looked as if the sudden slap had left her dazed, but I felt that she had expected it all along; she simply had nothing left to say to her mother.

“You are not going out tomorrow. I’ll tell the nanny to keep an eye on you,” she delivered the final ultimatum. “I’ve contacted your teachers to set up online classes. If the nanny is busy, you still aren’t allowed out. Stay home.”

Yu Zhouwan’s fingers twitched slightly—a subconscious habit of hers when she was thinking.

Following Yu Hanyang’s gaze, Shi Yunya turned back and saw me standing there abruptly. She let out a breath and her shoulders relaxed, but it didn’t mean her anger had faded; rather, she didn’t want to continue this “family education” session in front of me.

Domestic scandals shouldn’t be aired in public. What was I doing standing there like a fool watching the show? Was I supposed to clap and cheer?

“You talk to her,” she said, waving her hand and giving a brief command to her husband. “You’re her father. You figure it out.”

My eyes remained fixed on Yu Zhouwan. Aside from the redness rapidly spreading across her face, the chaos of a moment ago seemed like an illusion—like an old projector skipping over a frame of damaged film, only to resume normal operation an instant later.

It just so happened that the damaged frame was frozen on her face.

“Let’s wait. It’s very late, and the kids have class tomorrow.”

“Do it as soon as possible.”

She wasn’t satisfied with Yu Hanyang’s response, but in the end, she didn’t say more.

“Wanwan, be good, go get some rest. Your mom has been in a bad mood lately; just go along with her and don’t make her angry,” Yu Hanyang said, slipping into his favorite role as the “nice guy.” “See, as angry as she is, she didn’t say she wouldn’t pay your tuition. She still cares about you, see…”

He had always been this kind of person.

When I was little and my mom and grandmother argued, he was always the one playing peacemaker for both sides. For a long time, I was blinded by the “kind soul” mask he crafted for himself.

Later, when I grew up and looked back on the scenes where he and Yang Chun finally broke ties, I re-examined the several major fights between my grandmother and mother that I remembered. Every single one, without exception, had been triggered by him. For example, my mom wanting to take my grandmother’s savings to invest for him, and eventually selling her own gold wedding jewelry.

Or the time my grandmother told him to take my mom to a good hospital for her illness, but he took her to a small clinic and used a fake lab report to brush her off.

I can’t remember the rest clearly because whenever my grandmother was present during their fights, she usually found a way to usher me away—either by locking me in the bedroom or giving me some change to send me out to play.

Yu Hanyang raised his arm to pat Yu Zhouwan’s shoulder, but she shifted her body to dodge, knocking his hand away.

“Sister.”

I took Yu Zhouwan’s hand. It was dry and warm, yet I could clearly see sweat stains where she had been clenching her cuffs.

She remained standing there, unwilling to move.

I reached up and touched her face; it was terrifyingly hot.

When I called her “Sister,” Shi Yunya looked back. I could feel my back nearly burning through under the heat of her gaze. I understood—she felt I wasn’t worthy of sharing a blood relation with her precious daughter.

Under the eyes of her and Yu Hanyang, I dragged Yu Zhouwan with difficulty toward the room for a couple of steps.

“Keyi,” he said, gesturing with his chin for me to let go of her and follow him to the study. “Dad wants to discuss something with you.”

“Say it here.”

I stopped and stayed put, pretending not to understand the hints in his expression and gestures.

“Let your sister go rest first. Let’s talk privately, just father and daughter.”

“Just say it here. I’m tired too.”

“Yu Zhouwan,” Shi Yunya commanded, “go back to sleep.”

Yu Zhouwan didn’t move. I felt her discreetly tighten her grip on my fingers. Before I could respond, she quickly let go, turned, and went into her room. The sound of the door closing was very soft.

I often thought about everything that happened that night, replaying the details in my mind many times.

If the Yu Keyi of that moment had been a bit smarter, she would have known that Yu Zhouwan was just that kind of person—no matter what happened, she would ultimately obey the person called “Mother” unconditionally. Whether that person was a God providing bread or a butcher wanting to eat her flesh, the result would never change.

If I had realized it earlier, perhaps I wouldn’t have lived in pain for so long afterward.

One cannot pin their hopes of flight and freedom on a bird that has been willing to have its wings clipped since it was young.

“So, Keyi, you saw it just now. Your Auntie Shi has been in a very bad mood lately. The company has been in the red for months and the pressure is high, plus she has other things to deal with.”

“As for your sister… Auntie Shi has high expectations for her, so she’s been waiting every day for responses from the colleges she applied to.”

“So, would you mind staying somewhere else for a while?” He finally cautiously made his request. “Don’t worry, I’ve talked to Auntie Chen. I’ll have her cook for you every day and stay with you at night.”

I wanted to say he didn’t need to go to such trouble and that I could apply for school housing, but the thought of facing Shi Yunya’s face for the whole summer made me quickly weigh the pros and cons. I nodded and agreed.

“Dad will definitely find you a clean place near the school. You won’t have to worry about the rent or the surrounding environment. It won’t be a shared apartment; no one will disturb you. You just focus on your studies.”

I counted on my fingers. When Shi Yunya ordered Yu Hanyang to “figure it out,” she was actually saying it for me to hear—to get me out of this house, or at least out of her sight.

“When can I leave?”

“I’ve already found a place. I’ll wait a couple of days for the current tenant to move out and then find a part-time cleaner to tidy up.”

“Can’t I stay here during the summer break?” I deliberately acted weak and aggrieved.

“Well… your sister will be going abroad as soon as she gets her admission letter. What would you come back for?” He politely declined my humble request. “If you get bored living there, maybe ask your grandmother if she wants to come? But don’t tell her about the situation with your Auntie Shi. Just say you want to study hard on your own and want some peace and quiet.”

“Consider it a favor to Dad. Whatever classes you want to take or materials you want to buy, just say so. Dad will pay for it.”

I almost wanted to laugh. If Shi Yunya didn’t nod her head, he would just drag his feet and try to persuade me not to buy things that weren’t “urgent.”

It makes sense. The fact that Shi Yunya tolerated me being under the same roof for nearly a year was already impressive.

Yu Hanyang used to praise her to me as being “cold on the outside but kind on the inside.” Looking back, she probably just felt that providing a meal was no different from giving alms to a beggar on the street.

Now that she sensed I was a threat to her family relationships—specifically that her precious daughter’s future was being threatened—she wanted me out immediately.

In truth, I hadn’t “corrupted” Yu Zhouwan with anything.

I had merely let her follow her inner desires and cravings through repeated, almost domesticating sexual acts. That was all.

Naked, illicit, yet extremely effective lessons.

Of course, Yu Zhouwan could still play the part of the good daughter, just as she still felt her fetishes were shameful and didn’t dare to proactively ask for satisfaction.

Nature is hard to change.

A small ripple was enough.

I pushed open Yu Zhouwan’s door.

She was standing by the bed. The soft mattress was right by her legs, but she hadn’t sat down. She just stood there with her head bowed.

“Sister.”

I touched her visibly swollen cheek and applied an ice pack to it. Water droplets ran down her neck and into her clothes. She hadn’t changed out of the wet clothes yet; the rainwater had already absorbed her body heat.

I grabbed her hand like a puppet’s and made her grip the ice pack, then found a set of clothes for her from the wardrobe.

“Go take a shower,” I told her.

When I opened the door earlier, Shi Yunya was sitting on her bed staring at me. I pretended not to see her gaze, closed the door, and shut her out.

It felt very much like taking advantage of a moment of weakness. At least in Shi Yunya’s eyes, anything I did with Yu Zhouwan was an attempt to drive a wedge between mother and daughter.

“You’re unhappy.” I took Yu Zhouwan’s freezing cold hand and gently rubbed her knuckles, wrapping my other arm around her waist and burying my face in the hollow of her neck.

“Actually, you can go anywhere you want.”

Yu Zhouwan took a long time to give a small “Mhm” in response. Her fingers gripped mine tighter, coming back to life from her rigid, tense state.

“Sister, let’s go take a shower, okay?” I whispered in her ear.

She didn’t say yes or no, but when I pulled her hand, she didn’t stay pinned to the spot like before.

I pinned up my hair and reached out to adjust the water temperature. Yu Zhouwan was still standing there—in the middle of the steaming mist, fully dressed in her soaked clothes.

I reached out to undo the top button. She didn’t refuse or dodge, letting me manipulate her. So I took off her outer clothes and pants, and then unclipped her bra.

As my fingers brushed across her back, the naked body in front of me gave an involuntary shiver. But she didn’t ask me to leave. Instead, she stepped a little closer to me, lowered her head, and obediently let me unbind her hair.

Her quiet reliance was a swaying scale. I traced my finger pad down the bridge of her nose, over the stinging pain on her cheek, and over the hidden marks of our lovemaking on her body.

I tapped one side of the scale lightly, letting it naturally tip toward me.

I had her sit on a stool. The hot water from the showerhead hit her shoulders and back. She looked down at the flickering lights and shadows on the floor, her feet resting in the gaps between the tiles. As I touched her warming body, I could feel her slowly recovering from the state of shock and tension.

Once her hair was soaked, I gently combed through the tangles with a comb, just as Yang Chun used to do when she washed me as a child. I rubbed a lather into my palms and spread it evenly through her hair.

“Close your eyes.”

The water ran down her cheeks, and the foam flowed onto the floor. Her hair was saturated with water, thick and smooth strands sticking to her fair skin. I tied it up as gently as possible without making it messy.

In the blurry mirror, I saw Yu Zhouwan’s shoulder leaning against me; she had truly let me do whatever I wanted with her. Even though it would soak my clothes, I didn’t push her away. I helped her clean herself, wiped every drop of water from her body, and then put her in a nightgown.

I took a quick shower myself, then pressed Yu Zhouwan toward the mirror, unpinned her hair, and began blow-drying it.

The hot air blew against my fingers. I couldn’t help but ruffle her hair into a mess, then slowly dry it with the hot air again—as if I were meticulously cleaning a favorite toy and couldn’t help but play with it out of excessive affection.

Yu Zhouwan leaned in my arms with her eyes squinted. As the mist on the mirror cleared, I leaned down and kissed her hair.

Even though it was the same scent, after washing her with my own hands, I could smell a slight difference when I drew close to her—as if some secret essence had melded together.

The corners of her mouth curled up slightly. She found the hand I had wrapped around her shoulder and hooked my pinky with hers.