"If you end up permanently injured, what will happen to us three?"
Qin Zhonghui froze. It was the first time his daughter had ever lectured him.
Besides, he didn't think it was that serious.
Beside him, Su Yun complained, "I kept telling your dad to go get it looked at, but he said it was a waste of money and would heal on its own. He's just been stubbornly refusing to go."
Qin Jiao said, "Dad, you're worried about the cost, but if you miss the best window for treatment, your hand could be permanently damaged. It could end up costing several, even tens of times more money to fix it then! It's not worth the risk! And all the time you're wasting in between, you can't get anything done properly. And another thing… Dad, all that money you're saving? It just ends up in our uncle and aunt's pockets. So what's the point of you saving any of it?"
Stunned speechless by his daughter's lecture, Qin Zhonghui hastily replied when he heard her last sentence, "You silly girl, where are you hearing this stuff? Don't just make things up! I give all my money to your grandparents, not to your uncle's family."
Su Yun couldn't hold back any longer. She frowned and said, "See? Even our child gets it, so why don't you? We paid for half of that big house in the front yard, and what's the result? Our daughter is this old and still has to squeeze into this west room with us! And every time we gave money to your parents, I saw it with my own eyes. They'd turn right around and give it all to your third brother's family!"
Qin Zhonghui lowered his gaze, sitting there and fumbling in his pocket for a cigarette.
But then he remembered he shouldn't smoke in front of his daughter. After all, they were cheap cigarettes, and the smell was too strong.
So he forced himself to resist the urge.
Seeing that the mood was right, Qin Jiao pulled her sister, who had been standing in the corner, over to them and yanked up her sleeve.
She said, "Dad, Mom, do you see this? While you're away, our uncle and aunt spend the money you earn, and then their son, Xiao Tao, hits your daughter! It's not so bad for me since I'm away at the school dorms most of the time. But poor Xiao Shi... at home, she never gets a decent meal with meat, and she has to put up with Xiao Tao's bullying. And forget about Uncle's family—Grandpa and Grandma both prefer Xiao Tao, so they never stick up for Xiao Shi... The day I came home for break, Xiao Tao had even pinned Xiao Shi to the ground and was beating her!"
As Qin Jiao spoke, her eyes started to redden. Xiao Shi secretly glanced at her sister. 'That day, Xiao Tao hadn't actually pinned her down and beaten her.'
'But whatever her sister said, went.'
Seeing the bruises on her younger daughter's body, Su Yun hugged her and began to cry.
Qin Zhonghui hesitated. "It's just kids roughhousing, isn't it?"
"Does 'kids roughhousing' include pushing someone into the water? Besides, Xiao Shi is already nine and she isn't even in school yet. She just stays home all day getting bullied…"
At the mention of her daughter falling in the water, Su Yun couldn't hold back anymore. She burst out, "Let's split the family! I can't take this life anymore! I work myself to the bone out there earning money, just to feed a pack of ungrateful vipers who stay home and bully my daughter! I won't let this go!"
Seeing his wife and daughter so upset, Qin Zhonghui stood up and started to head outside. "I'm going to go have a word with my third brother!"
"Dad! Wait!" Qin Jiao grabbed Qin Zhonghui. "If you go over there like this, they'll just deny everything. It won't do any good. The moment you two leave for work again, they'll go right back to bullying Xiao Shi. I think Mom was right—we need to split the family! That way, our family of four can live our own lives. We can still support Grandpa and Grandma when we have money, but we won't have to be tangled up with Uncle's family anymore!"
"But splitting the family…"
"Eldest Uncle's family already split off, so why can't we?"
"But your mother and I are always away for work, and you're in high school in the county seat. If we split the family, what would your sister do? If she comes with us to work, she'll have to miss out on her schooling, won't she?"