Volume One, Chapter Five: Wearing the Green Hat

Su Jinxia leaned against the door, her gaze dripping with disdain as she looked at them. “If you don’t provoke me, I naturally won’t hit you.”

“I know there’s meat at home. Hurry up and make me some dumplings. Don’t think of pulling any tricks. Whatever you do to me, I’ll repay it double.”

Her obsession with dumplings stemmed from their mother’s favoritism—only when their father was around did dumplings appear in her bowl.

“Dumplings?” Xiao Ying’s face was full of disbelief. How could her request be so simple?

Su Jinxia shot them a sharp glance. “Yes, dumplings. Now get inside and make them for me!”

Terrified, they trembled and hurried inside. Su Jinxia’s piercing gaze forbade any mischief.

By dawn, two large plates of dumplings were prepared and set on the table. Without a word or a glance up, Su Jinxia sat down and began eating, not inviting them to join.

The meat dumplings were a bit salty, but juicy to the point that oil spilled out with each bite.

As she ate, her mind was already planning. If she were to go to sea, she’d need to prepare certain things. First and foremost, letters of introduction were essential; she would need them along the entire journey.

On the other hand, she needed money. She glanced around the room before fixing her eyes on Xiao Ying, who stood nearby.

“Bring me the money and ration coupons.”

“What?” Xiao Ying raised her voice in shock. Asking for money was like asking for her life.

Su Jinxia put down her chopsticks. “I won’t say it twice.”

Xiao Ying looked at her eldest daughter in confusion. “You ate those dumplings, and you’ve said your piece. Why are you asking me for money and ration coupons?”

“None of your business.”

Meeting her daughter’s cold, emotionless stare made Xiao Ying shudder; it was like a look that could take a life.

Shaking, she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket. “You know our situation. I don’t have a steady job. We live off your father’s salary and some welfare from his workplace.”

“We barely have any savings. Here’s just a little over one yuan, three jin of coarse grain coupons, two jin of fine grain coupons, and some other coupons.”

Su Jinxia stepped forward, grabbed Su Mingyue’s hair with one hand and pinned down the other hand she tried to move.

“If you don’t want your precious daughter to get hurt, you’d better hand over the money and ration coupons you’ve been hiding.”

Panicked, Xiao Ying stood up. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to turn the world upside down?”

Su Jinxia yanked Su Mingyue’s hair again, staring at her wide-eyed before pulling harder.

“Ah!” Su Mingyue screamed, then pleaded to her mother, “Mom, save me! My big sister’s gone crazy—she’s lost her mind!”

Xiao Ying took a few steps back and looked toward the door. If she opened it now and called the neighbors, would anyone come to restore justice?

“Don’t even think about calling anyone. You’ve offended nearly all the neighbors. You really think they’ll side with you?”

Su Jinxia said confidently, “Now hurry up!”

Xiao Ying stomped her foot in frustration, then returned inside to find the biscuit tin. Gritting her teeth, she muttered, “This is a sin!”

Su Jinxia let go, strode over, and snatched the tin away. In front of them, she turned it upside down, scattering everything, taking all the money and coupons, and carelessly tossing the empty box back.

Xiao Ying gaped in shock at her eldest daughter’s bandit-like behavior.

“How can you do this? How can you take all the money?”

Su Jinxia then spotted several letters from her grandfather—letters she had never seen before, detailing each remittance from him.

“So all this money was sent by Grandpa, and it was meant for me. You never told me!”

Xiao Ying knew she was at fault but remained defiant. “What’s yours is mine. You’re my daughter, so naturally this money is mine too. You’re so young—why do you need so much money?”

She silently cursed the old man’s favoritism. If she had known she’d be found out, she would have burned the letters.

Su Jinxia said coldly, “From today on, I won’t call you ‘mom’ anymore! What you owe me, I’m taking back in full!”

With that, she slammed the door and left, leaving the two trembling women behind.

The door shook several times, hanging precariously before slamming shut with a bang—shocking them back to reality.

“Mom, what’s gotten into big sister?” Su Mingyue looked at the plates on the table, which held only thirty dumplings, now completely devoured. The plate was so clean it reflected shadows.

That tin had held her secret stash for years. Somehow, her sister had taken it all at once, probably assuming she wouldn’t take everything.

“Damn her. If I’d known, I would have drowned her in the chamber pot the moment she was born.”

Su Mingyue watched her mother’s wild expression with fear but forced herself to speak.

“Mom, what do we do now? Big sister is out of control! We’re no match for her; we can’t fight back.”

Xiao Ying glanced at the calendar. “Your father’s coming back today. We’ll tell him everything and let him handle it.”

“Will that work? Dad likes big sister. He’s just rarely home. When he returns, won’t he side with her?”

Su Mingyue said bitterly, “If that happens, all our suffering will have been for nothing.”

Xiao Ying replied firmly, “No. As long as we speak first, with this wound still fresh, I don’t believe he won’t stand with us.”

Hearing this, Su Mingyue felt a flicker of hope. She would never allow her sister to live better than she did.

Stepping out onto the main road, Su Jinxia’s mind raced with new plans—not only to rescue Zhao Yue and prevent his leg from being crippled but also to find her grandfather.

According to the letters, Grandpa sent money home every two months, and it had been two and a half months since the last remittance.

That meant whatever happened to him occurred during this interval.

In her previous life, she only learned about her grandfather’s disappearance a year later.

Many things had happened in the meantime: the train station recruitment, where her father, as an insider, could arrange a position for someone.

To secure this spot, her mother signed her up as a youth sent to the countryside.

Since her younger sister was too young to go, her mother sold the position for money.

Because of her quiet nature and her father’s long absences and unstable schedule, her memory of him was vague—he seemed a silent, timid man.

Her parents’ relationship had always been strained; her mother was rarely satisfied with her father.

Suddenly, a thought flashed in Su Jinxia’s mind—her younger sister bore some resemblance to the neighbor, Uncle Wang. Both were left-handed.

Once, she had come home early from school and caught Uncle Wang leaving their bedroom in disheveled clothes. Neighbors didn’t usually enter the bedroom.

Could it be that the younger sister wasn’t her father’s child?