NOVPUB
Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Go In Plump, Come Out Skin and Bones
Something seemed to be happening in the courtyard; a woman was crying for help, and a child was calling for their mother. Tong Yao was on edge; could there be intruders in the yard?
While hesitating whether to peek through the door cracks at the situation, the door was suddenly pulled open. A man similar in stature to Wu Dalang—short and skinny—emerged from the courtyard, cursing as he went. Had Tong Yao not reacted swiftly to dodge out of his way, they would have collided.
The man didn’t seem to expect someone would be at the door. He paused briefly and then continued on his way, cursing all the while. Thereafter, a beaten-up woman with a swollen nose and messy hair emerged from the courtyard, clutching a child. She cried out after the man’s retreating figure, "Give me back my money, that money was for Niuniu’s school fees."
"Sister, is that man a robber?" Tong Yao asked cautiously, "Do you need help to call the police?"
The child in the woman’s arms was crying severely. After some time spent attempting to pacify the child, she managed to calm him down. Only then she was able to speak through her sobbing, "That’s my husband."
"..." Tong Yao was at a loss for words. It turned out to be a family matter. She didn’t feel it was her place to comment and was about to leave when she heard the woman sobbing, "It’s bad enough he’s lazy and doesn’t earn money. I barely managed to borrow some money from my family for our child’s school fees, and he even took that! How are we supposed to survive?"
Perhaps the woman had bottled up her grievances for too long. Now that she found someone to talk to, she couldn’t help but pour out her sorrows. The child in her arms, who looked about four or five years old, wiped his mother’s tears, while mumbling sweetly, "Niuniu will blow on mommy’s tears. Mommy, don’t cry."
Tong Yao hadn’t initially wanted to involve herself in the situation but couldn’t help feeling a pang of sympathy for the understanding and pitiful child. She decided to offer her two cents," If your husband is so terrible, why don’t you get a divorce?"
The woman was silenced by her words and, while regretfully stroking her daughter’s hair, choked out, "If we divorced, she wouldn’t have a father."
What use was there for a man who abused his wife and didn’t contribute financially to the household?
Without a divorce, is she waiting to be beaten to death?
Tong Yao was speechless and had little patience for such stubbornness. She was about to leave when she noticed the large courtyard at the back of the woman’s house. An idea struck her,"Sister, is your house available for rent?"
"Huh?" The woman was stunned and her crying ceased. After a while, she managed to gather herself, wiped her tears and asked, "Young lady, are you looking to rent a place?"
Tong Yao nodded and tried to suppress her excitement as she explained, "I don’t need it for living. I want to store some things here. As long as there’s some space in your yard it will suffice."
"What are you looking to store?" The woman, who was a stay-at-home mother without any income, depended on her husband who wouldn’t work. They were surviving on the occasional aid from her family and mother-in-law, and their lives were heavily strained. They were very close to not being able to make ends meet. Therefore, the prospect of renting rooms came to her like a pie from the sky.
Tong Yao started to calculate on her fingers, "A foldable small table, a big pot, a honeycomb coal stove, and some honeycomb coal balls. If you agree, I will pay you eight yuan a month. How does that sound?" These items were necessary for making milk tea, and if she could keep them here, it would be a lot easier.
At the moment, ordinary workers earn around twenty to thirty yuan a month. Her proposal of eight yuan just to store some stuff was quite a generous offer.
"Agreed, agreed." The woman nodded fiercely, her mouth wide open in joy, "Young lady, when will you start renting?"
She hadn’t expected to settle the matter so easily. Tong Yao’s eyes crinkled in a smile, "I will bring a handwritten contract first thing tomorrow morning. If you’re willing, you can sign then, and we can start calculating the rental from tomorrow onwards."
"I’ll be waiting for you at the door tomorrow." The woman’s lips trembled in excitement. It then occurred to her that she hadn’t yet introduced herself, so she quickly said, "I’m He Fang. Young lady, what’s your name?"
"I’m Tong Yao." She crisply replied. "I’ll call you Sister Fang from now on!"
"Oh! Okay, call me whatever you want." He Fang was slightly embarrassed as she murmured her reply. From the way Tong Yao dressed and acted, she seemed to be from a wealthy family. She had no right to be addressed as ’sister’ by her!
Realizing that Tong Yao wanted to rent her house but hadn’t yet seen it, He Fang quickly opened the wooden door fully, "Tong Yao, take a look at the yard and see if it’s up to your liking. We don’t use the room on the west side of the house, you can keep your stuff there, that way it would be safe from wind and rain."
Standing at the entrance, Tong Yao glanced at the courtyard and noticed a hand-pushed cart. An idea flashed in her mind, "Sister Fang, if you are available in the mornings, could you help me transport something to the school? I’ll add another seven yuan to your monthly pay, making it a total of fifteen yuan."
Upon hearing fifteen yuan, He Fang didn’t hesitate before agreeing, "I’m available, I’m available. If you need help with anything, feel free to ask, since I stay at home with my child and have quite a bit of free time."
With a husband who refused to support the family and sisters-in-law who looked down on her, each trip back to her family was marked by fights and confrontations. They never treated her well, and even her mother had to bear the brunt of it. He Fang was entirely fed up with her life. However, since she had a child to care for, she couldn’t work. She was always hopeful of the situation improving as her child grew older.
But as the days grew harder, she felt increasingly suffocated. Sometimes, she even thought of ending everything by drinking pesticide. She never would have imagined that such a fortunate situation would present itself today.
Feeling increasingly excited, He Fang’s eyes began to redden again, and it looked like she was about to break into tears again. Tong Yao couldn’t bear to see someone crying and sobbing, "Sister Fang, then let’s finalize it. I’ve got some things to attend to now, so I’ll come back tomorrow."
Even as Tong Yao had walked quite some distance away, she turned back to see He Fang was still standing at the door with her child, watching her. Overwhelmed, Tong Yao quickened her pace. She went for a quick round around the school to pick a spot for her stand before heading back to the housing complex.
At half-past three in the afternoon, with some people at work and some others napping, the housing complex was extraordinarily quiet. Going up the stairs, Tong Yao heard hushed chatter and, after some searching, she found, to her surprise, that cockroaches were talking in the corner of a wall.
"Brother, where are you hurrying to? Didn’t you say earlier that the Chen Yanmei’s place downstairs was the only one with a scent of milk and that you wanted to settle down there?"
"She had a big spring cleaning today and placed rat poison under the bed. If I stay there any longer, I’m a goner....."
"Alright, where are you headed then! Why not check out the house where the new family moved in?"
"What’s there to see! That family likes cleanliness. I entered plump and left skin and bones."
Tong Yao didn’t pay attention too closely to what was said after that. However, she noticed a key detail in the cockroach’s discussion: Chen Yanmei’s place had a scent of milk. Maybe they had ordered fresh milk for their child. Coincidentally, she had not yet figured out where to get the milk she’d need for her milk tea.
After thinking for a while, Tong Yao headed to Li Nuanchun’s door. She knocked for a while, but there was no response. Just when she thought that Li Nuanchun was not at home and decided to come again later, she ran into Li Nuanchun, who was coming down from upstairs. Upon seeing Tong Yao, she seemed somewhat flustered.
