"What's your name?"
"Su Tang."
"How old are you?"
"Twelve."
"In the first year of junior high?"
"Yeah."
The car sped down the wide road, the scenery outside blurring past in a flash.
Su Tang hugged his schoolbag tight, huddling in the passenger seat, as skittish as a rabbit.
He was a late bloomer, and this posture only made him look even smaller and frailer.
"Just like that wretched woman, exactly the same."
The woman behind the wheel glanced over at him and let out a cold sneer. "Only twelve, and already a little temptress."
"Sis…"
Fear was plain as day on Su Tang's face. "My mom isn't a temptress…"
"Don't you dare call me sis."
The woman spun around sharply, shooting him a furious glare. "Who gave you permission to call me that? Did that wretched woman teach you to?"
"My mom isn't a wretched woman…"
Su Tang's voice grew fainter and fainter. "She's always been so good to me…"
He seemed to shrink right into the seat, as if trying to disappear entirely.
"My father was unfaithful to my mother while they were still married."
The woman cut him off icily, the corner of her mouth curling with contempt. "Because of her, my parents got divorced. Tell me—isn't she wretched?"
At his age, Su Tang could barely make sense of it.
He didn't know what infidelity meant.
But he could feel, sharp and clear, that it was nothing kind to say.
He clutched the straps of his schoolbag nervously, his long lashes casting a soft shadow over his eyes.
"Don't you dare cry!"
The woman's voice cut through the air like a blade, sharp with threat. "Cry, and I'll throw you out of this car right now!"
Su Tang pressed his lips together hard. "I'm twelve. I won't cry…"
He knew his mother had found him a stepfather.
And with that, he'd gained an older sister who was in college.
Her name was Ai Xian.
But she clearly didn't want him to call her sister.
Infidelity… now he understood what the word meant.
After driving for more than ten minutes, the car pulled up outside an apartment building.
Ai Xian parked, flung open the door without a second glance. "Get out. Lose me, and I don't care if you die out here. It's none of my business."
Su Tang hugged his schoolbag to his chest and hurried out after her.
Dusk was falling, and the corridor was dim. Ai Xian jingled her car keys and marched upstairs with a stony face,
not looking back once, as if the small figure trailing behind her was nothing but an insignificant shadow.
Halfway up the stairs, her phone rang.
Ai Xian glanced at the caller ID, her face twisting with pure disgust, but she answered anyway.
Aggressive, venomous words poured from her lips, landing heavily in Su Tang's ears.
"Go ahead and marry that wretched woman if you want—then just pretend you never had a daughter like me."
"You two can take care of this brat yourselves. Why the hell are you dumping him on me?"
"Stay for a month? I can't even stand having him around for a single day. I'm afraid I'll strangle him before I know it."
"Ai Hong, are you even a man?"
The man's voice on the other end was gentle, which only made Ai Xian's scowl deepen with impatience.
She spat out a few more harsh insults before slamming the phone shut.
She then turned to look at Su Tang standing behind her.
Even at just twelve years old, the boy already bore the promise of striking good looks.
He had inherited every fine feature from his mother—the very woman Ai Xian called wretched—with big, clear eyes, a straight, high nose, and thin lips.
He was even more beautiful than his mother had been.
If one had to find a flaw, it was his late development: he barely stood a little over one hundred and fifty centimeters tall,
only reaching up to Ai Xian's chest.
But that only made her hate him more.
After all, it was this mother and son, with their identical faces, who had destroyed her once perfect family.
Both of them, equally shameless.
At the older girl's cold, piercing stare, Su Tang flinched and stepped back involuntarily.
"What are you hiding from?"
Ai Xian curled her lip in contempt. "Really that scared I'll strangle you?"
Su Tang nodded cautiously, his head bobbing slightly.
"Even that pitiful, wronged look is exactly like your mother's."
Ai Xian let out a cold, hollow chuckle.
She reached out and grabbed him by the nape of his neck. "Your eyes well up with tears at the drop of a hat. No wonder my father fell for it. Do you believe I'll strangle you right here, right now?"
Su Tang froze on the spot, completely paralyzed with fear.
Cold, slim fingers wandered over the back of his neck, and Ai Xian's eyes glinted with danger, thick with dark amusement.
She was stunningly beautiful, with exquisitely delicate features; her narrowed, slanted eyes held an overwhelming, predatory edge.
For a moment, it seemed she was truly considering something unthinkable.
"Boring."
After a long, heavy silence, Ai Xian finally let go and scoffed.
She pulled out her key and unlocked the apartment door.
"Come in."
Ai Xian slipped off her shoes and strode toward the living room without looking back. "Take off your shoes yourself. Dirty the floor, and I'll make you lick it clean."
She didn't so much as glance at the shoe rack, let alone grab a pair of slippers for him.
Su Tang glanced over: two pairs of cotton slippers sat there,
one purple, one pink—both clearly for women.
He didn't dare touch anything without permission, so he kicked off his shoes and walked inside in just his socks.
The apartment was spacious, with two long sofas and a flat-screen TV in the living room.
Several half-eaten bags of snacks were scattered messily across the coffee table.
Su Tang stole one quick glance before looking away immediately, too frightened to stare any longer.
Thrust into a strange place with an older girl who treated him with such cruelty, he felt utterly ill at ease,
a desperate urge to turn and run coiling tight in his chest.
Ai Xian paid him no mind at all. She walked to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of hot water, then retreated to her bedroom to change.
About half an hour later, she stepped out in a white nightdress.
Her slightly wavy wine-red hair fell loosely over her shoulders, softening her sharp demeanor a little.
Su Tang was still standing exactly where he'd been left, schoolbag on his back, frozen and too scared to move an inch.
"Get over here."
Ai Xian sank onto the sofa, crossed her legs, and crooked a finger at him. "People who don't know better would think I'm bullying a little kid."
Aren't you?
Su Tang shuffled over meekly, not daring to sit, but standing stiffly beside the sofa, his whole body tense.
He spoke in a small, cautious voice. "You just tried to strangle me…"
"Quite the coward, aren't you?"
Ai Xian's tone lightened a little, the corners of her eyes lifting with amusement. "Don't worry. Killing you would land me in jail. I'll think of something else to make you suffer."
Su Tang fell silent, too afraid to utter another word.
"You're twelve. How is a first-year junior high boy only one hundred and fifty centimeters tall?"
Ai Xian lounged lazily on the sofa, scanning him up and down with a critical gaze. "So scrawny. Does your mother not feed you properly?"
"My mom says I'm a late bloomer…"
Su Tang answered nervously. "I'll grow faster later on."
"Right. Food stolen from other people's families must make you grow quick."
Ai Xian's words turned vicious once more. "Learn well from your mother how to be a thief, how to ruin other people's happy homes."
She made no attempt to hold her tongue in front of a junior high school student.
Su Tang didn't fully grasp her meaning, but shame burned hot on his cheeks, and he clutched the schoolbag straps even tighter.
Ai Xian watched his reaction and seemed to lose interest entirely.
She picked up a bag of potato chips from the table and began crunching away.
Su Tang's gaze drifted unconsciously to her hand, and he swallowed hard, his throat bobbing.
Ai Xian was sharp as a tack, narrowing her eyes at once. "Hungry?"
Su Tang nodded honestly.
After school that day, he hadn't met his mother as usual—Ai Xian had picked him up directly.
He hadn't eaten dinner yet.
Ai Xian scoffed. "Too bad. There's nothing here for you to eat."
Truth be told, she couldn't fathom why this kid had been dumped on her in the first place.
After her father's infidelity, he had insisted on a divorce,
and had secretly married Su Tang's mother behind everyone's back.
Her relatives, furious and intent on confronting the other woman, had gone after the pair.
Even in this law-abiding society, verbal abuse and insults were inevitable.
Things must have descended into complete chaos by now.
Those two despicable people were probably afraid of traumatizing young Su Tang, so they'd decided to send him to stay with her for a while.
But why me?
Ai Xian stared blankly, utterly bewildered.
Do I look like someone easy to get along with?
My mother was the one who got betrayed. Do you think I can't scare this kid into having nightmares every single night?
"Sis, do you know where my mom is?"
Su Tang lowered his gaze quietly. "She'll be worried if she can't find me…"
"I told you not to call me sis—do you not understand a single word I say?"
Ai Xian crunched on her chips loudly, the sound sharp and irritating. "Your mom doesn't want you anymore. You'll never see her again."
Su Tang froze on the spot.
His eyes slowly widened, his clear, pure pupils trembling slightly.
"Don't you dare look at me like that!"
Ai Xian snapped coldly. "And don't call me sis, or I'll throw you out. I mean every word of it!"
To be honest, even someone as cold and unfeeling as her sometimes found it hard to bear Su Tang's pitiful expression.
It was exactly like his mother's—the kind of look that could soften even the hardest heart, that made anyone who saw it ache with sympathy.
Su Tang pressed his lips together immediately, holding back any sign of emotion.
"They'll come pick you up in a while."
Ai Xian shook her legs irritably, her face twisted with displeasure. "What did I ever do to deserve a rotten excuse for a father like this?"
Making his college-aged daughter take care of the other woman's child?
Ai Hong, go to hell.
"Then… what should I call you from now on?"
Su Tang's voice was even softer now, almost a whisper. "Auntie?"
"Do you want a beating?"
Ai Xian choked on her breath, nearly exploding with rage.
Compared to most college students, her style was indeed more polished and mature,
but that was just a reflection of her personality. In reality, she was only nineteen years old—
a freshman in her first year of university.
"Then… sis?"
"Call me Master."
Ai Xian rested an arm on the back of the sofa, a faint, cruel smile playing on her lips. "When I was little, I had a puppy just like you. Always lying in front of me with that same pathetic look."
Su Tang looked genuinely frightened now.
He stood there dumbfounded, completely at a loss.
Though he didn't know much about such things, he knew "Master" was not a kind title to be given.
His lips moved slightly. "Do dogs call you Master?"
"No."
Ai Xian narrowed her eyes, her voice lazy and dangerous.
"So I killed it later."