Chapter 577 — What Do We Do Now

Tang Yun nursed her grievance, half of it because she had been bullied and half because Wei Zhao had cast her aside. So it seemed: an ugly duckling was fated never to become a swan! She had thought she had found herself a good boyfriend, only to realize he had simply wanted to play with her.

Hearing Zhao Qibing's words today, Tang Yun understood all at once: girls from poor families like theirs were nothing but playthings in the eyes of those young masters — where would you ever find any real feeling? She had been naive enough to believe that Wei Zhao would be good to her for the rest of her life...

While the Tang women were still at their wits' end, a doctor in a white coat walked in. Looking at Mother Tang, he said, "You must be Tang Jucheng and Tang Yun's family, right? Please settle the surgery fee and the hospital fee — the ten-thousand-yuan deposit is not enough."

"What? Not enough?" For a moment Mother Tang simply did not know what to do. That ten thousand had been borrowed from the neighbors in the shantytown; her house had been pulled down, and the card Wei Zhao had given her had long since been lost God knew where. How was she going to pay the medical bills?

"Yes. Please go and pay it as soon as possible — at least another twenty thousand yuan." The doctor laid the bill on the table in front of Mother Tang and stepped back out.

Mother Tang stared at the bill before her, not knowing which way to turn.

"Mom, are we out of money? Where is the money in the house?" Seeing her mother's wretched face, Tang Yun set her own grievances aside for the moment and asked.

"The bank card and the passbook never made it out, and I don't know if we'll ever find them. The ten thousand we have now we borrowed from Liu Xinwen's family, and even that isn't enough..." Mother Tang sighed. "Now the house is gone, you and your father are both hurt — how is this family going to live from here on?"

No matter how hard things had been at home in the past, they had never once been at a dead end. But now they truly were! The house was gone, the money was gone, the card was registered in Wei Zhao's name so she couldn't even report it lost — what were they to do now?

Mother Tang was still worrying when Liu Xinwen pushed the door open and came running in, crying out as she ran: "Yunyun, how are you? How are you? You scared me to death!"

There had been no room in the ambulance, so Liu Xinwen could not ride along with it and had to make her own way here — which was why she only now arrived at the hospital.

"I'm all right..." Tang Yun gave a bitter smile and reached up to touch her eye sockets, not wanting Liu Xinwen to see that she had been crying.

But Liu Xinwen was hardly blind. Tang Yun's reddened eyes still carried the tracks of tears — how could she possibly have missed them?

"Yunyun, you've been crying?" Liu Xinwen cried out. "What's wrong? What happened? Didn't the doctor say you were fine?"

"Xinwen, my face is ruined..." Tang Yun could hold back no longer. She had suppressed it long enough; now nothing was left in her but the need to cry, to cry. She would never be a pretty girl again! Compared with her father's broken leg, the consequence she had suffered was far the graver one!

Tang Jucheng had only fractured a leg — nothing serious, and once it mended he would be perfectly fine! But Tang Yun's face was ruined, and that was the work of a lifetime. How was she to bear it?

"What? Ruined?" Liu Xinwen was shocked too! Tang Yun was the prettiest of all of them — how could her face be ruined?

"Eight stitches in her forehead..." Mother Tang said with a bitter smile. "Now the house is gone, her father's leg is broken, we still owe your family money, and the hospital keeps pressing for the fees — how are we going to get through this!"

"Have you told Wei Zhao?" Liu Xinwen asked suddenly.

"I... what would I want with him?" Tang Yun, brimming with grievance, nearly burst into tears all over again. Let Wei Zhao see her pitiful state? How could she? If Feng Xiaoxiao came, she would surely laugh at her — she would be only too happy that Tang Yun's face was ruined!

"Such a tremendous thing has happened — how can you not go to him? You silly girl, call him, hurry!" Liu Xinwen was getting anxious.

"He doesn't want me anymore — so what am I supposed to go to him for? To keep clinging to him?" Tang Yun was in tears again, weeping bitterly, wounded to the quick.

"If you ask me, child, they say a single day as man and wife earns a hundred days of grace. I think he does like you — why not try giving him a call? Our family is in this state; if we don't turn to him, how are we going to live?" Mother Tang hesitated a moment before going on: "Even if we ask for nothing else, he ought to make good that five-hundred-thousand-yuan card, shouldn't he?"

"Likes me? Likes what about me? My face is ruined — he wouldn't even take me as his mistress. How do you expect me to call him? So that I can humiliate myself?" Tang Yun was filled with hurt; she had never imagined her mother would still be hankering after break-up money at a moment like this. Her grievance was beyond all telling, and her reaction was fierce: neck stiff with rage, she snapped back in anger.

"He liked you well enough before — why not try?" Mother Tang was still not quite willing to let it go. She was a grown woman and weighed things more carefully: that five hundred thousand, they could not afford to forgo. If they let it slip, what would become of this family?

"Try what? How could I possibly try? I already owe him that much, and nothing ever even happened between us — how am I supposed to open my mouth to him again? How could I ever pay him back?" Tang Yun was growing desperate.

"Then why not beg his girlfriend — ask to be his mistress? Didn't his girlfriend agree to it as well?" Mother Tang hesitated, then said.

"I won't do it! Mom, what sort of idea is that? Say it once more and I'll go and die! How could you ask me to humiliate myself like this? My face is ruined, and I'd go begging to be his mistress — how could he ever agree? How am I supposed to live my life after this?" How could Tang Yun possibly agree? Was this not simply asking her to make a fool of herself?

"Why must you be so pig-headed? Whether Zhao Qibing plays with you or Wei Zhao plays with you, it's playing all the same — what's the harm in being a mistress? Our house is gone; if you won't call, then the whole family can just sit here and wait to die!" Mother Tang was not being unreasonable — it was simply that this family had truly run out of road. What else was there to do?

Mother Tang would have liked to send her daughter to seduce Zhao Qibing — two shops and an apartment for the family would have been a fine bargain! The trouble was, her daughter's face was ruined; Zhao Qibing wouldn't have wanted her even if she came for free. So Mother Tang turned her scheme back toward Wei Zhao. She reasoned that Wei Zhao had, after all, been her daughter's lover for a time, and would have to show some regard for old feelings, wouldn't he? Even with the girl disfigured, he couldn't very well wash his hands of her, could he?

You could hardly blame Mother Tang for thinking so — she had simply been too long afraid of poverty! Too long afraid of being bullied! When Wei Zhao was still around, Mother Tang had enjoyed a glory such as she had never known before; even the people on Snack Street had not dared lay a hand on her, and it filled her with no small satisfaction!

Yet the moment Wei Zhao left, her family was bullied, the house was torn down, her husband's leg was smashed to pieces, her daughter's face was ruined — and she did not even dare go and argue the point! Mother Tang would not stand for it; she longed, more than anything, for a life of money and power!