Beauty and the Beasts

The seeds of hatred and fury maniacally multiplied amid the despair. The aggrievedness and resentment that had accumulated from the past were the best nutrition for the seeds, making them grow into towering trees that reached the sky in an instant.

Father Shen was still busy pouring Shen Yin’s books into the fire. After another big pile of books was thrown down, crushing the blazing flames.

He poured half a bottle of baijiu¹ into the fire, and the flames surged with a bang, nearly burning his hand.

Father Shen shook his hand and cursed, “Troublesome. Why did I raise you all these years? I should’ve strangled you to death long ago!”

You should have strangled me to death, indeed.

Shen Yin thought in her heart as she walked behind and picked up an empty beer bottle on the table.

Father Shen instinctively sensed something and was about to turn around when he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head, and the sound of a glass bottle breaking exploded beside his ear, startling him even more greatly than the pain..

He turned around in disbelief and touched the back of his head. Seeing his hand covered in blood, he couldn’t believe his daughter who had always been timid as a mouse could do this.

With the broken beer bottle in her hand, Shen Yin trembled as she retreated.

When Father Shen snapped out of his shock, the angry flames had surged to a high height, and he reached out to strangle her.

In Shen Yin’s eyes, with his dark undereye circles and a ferocious expression, the man before her appeared like some sort of demon. She had no time to think. By the time she realized what she was doing, the broken beer bottle in her hand had already pierced into the man’s face, who was now letting out cries of agony like a pig being slaughtered.

Blood splattered all over Shen Yin’s face, and her hands were similarly covered in fresh blood. Ashes formed from the burning of paper flew around in the air. The man rolled about on the rubbish-strewn ground, one hand pressed upon his left eye as thick blood constantly flowed out from between the cracks of his fingers.

Shen Yin helplessly stood there and looked at the man, then at her own hands.

Finally, she called 112 before running out the door flusteredly.

…

On Monday morning, the three Mu brothers reached school bright and early.

The school was cold and cheerless, and the three of them were the only ones in the classroom.

Mu Ya glanced at the entrance from time to time. From just the three of them in the classroom to it nearly being filled, before he got to see Shen Yin, the bell rang for them to gather.

Could she be late? He had heard that latecomers would be punished. What to do?

Sigh, she’s really slow.

But Shen Yin still hadn’t come when they were doing their morning run. First period, second period, she wasn’t there as well.

Unable to sit still any longer, after the morning exercise ended, Mu Ya found a chance to speak with the form teacher.

“Why isn’t Shen Yin here? She said she’d be here today,” Mu Ya said as he stared at the form teacher.

The form teacher was surprised. Shen Yin wasn’t popular with her classmates and she didn’t appear to be all that close with Mu Ya usually. Perhaps it was because both of them were introverts that she hadn’t been able to tell.

The form teacher also looked perplexed. Wanting to get some clues from Mu Ya, she said, “I called her father earlier. Her father…”

“What about it?” Mu Ya pressed urgently.

The form teacher’s countenance wasn’t that good. “I got the feeling she doesn’t have a good relationship with her father. Her father only said he wanted her to drop out of school. Do you know about her family matters?”

Drop out?

Mu Ya clenched his fists and nodded without hesitation. He said, “I know a little. Where does she live? Can you let me go to try and understand the situation?”

After all, it concerned a student’s future. Although Shen Yin was unsociable and unkempt, her academic results had been fine all along. The form teacher could tell that she was a hardworking student, and she couldn’t bear to see her ruined just like that. She was only too glad that someone was offering to understand her situation.

“But… this will affect your learning progress,” the form teacher said hesitatingly.