Chapter 9: Cruel Reality

  There is a traffic light in front of the school gate. One is for the convenience of students crossing the road, and the other is to allow wealthy parents to park here every day to pick up their children after school.

  Mo Xi Yu had just walked to the front of the traffic light and hadn't had time to cross the road when she ran into her mother, who had already crossed the road. Her mother met her at the school gate, looking somewhat disbelieving, but then mostly delighted.

  "Mom, how did you get here?" Mo Xi Wu didn't expect to run into her mom here either. Her mom rarely got off work this early, usually working overtime until very late at night just to earn a bit more money.

  Today is Saturday, after finishing the third class, it's already over 6 pm. Plus the delay caused by Mo Xi Wu, now it's almost 7 pm. If it weren't for the long daylight in summer, it would have been dark already, and the surroundings are very quiet. So when the red light on the roadside is lit, there are only one or two cars stopping at the side of the road occasionally.

  "Mom thought you weren't coming home this month, so she brought two sets of spare clothes for you." Mo Xi Wu only then saw that her mom was holding several bags with logos from specialty stores on them. The brand new bags made Mo Xi Wu frown, and her gaze shifted to her mom's face, feeling both pain and resentment in her heart. Her mom hadn't even finished work yet, and had clearly come out wearing her work uniform, obviously planning to work overtime again tonight.

  She snatched the bag from her mother's hand and threw it to the ground in a fit of anger, stamping her feet. Her mother immediately pulled her away, squatted down, and carefully picked up the bag, "What's wrong with you? How can you throw such expensive clothes on the ground?"

  Mo Xi Wu was pulled away by her mother, and saw her mother squatting on the ground, painfully patting the dust off the bag. Tears began to flow down, "I don't want it, since you know how expensive it is, why did you still buy it? I don't want to see you working overtime for these few pieces of clothing, I just want to go to school honestly and clearly, without these fake disguises. You doing this will only make me look down on you, and even more so on myself."

  The mother, crouching on the ground, trembled and her hands shook. She lowered her head, and Mo Xi Wu couldn't see her face, but only heard her forcing a smile as she said: "You child, how can you be so disobedient? You weren't like this before."

  "I've had enough!" Mo Xiuyue's voice thundered out, transforming all her grievances and humiliation into this one furious roar at her mother.

  A loud "slap" sound suddenly rang out, and Mom's head jerked up in fright. She saw Dad standing in front of her, having slapped their daughter, his face red with rage, unable to speak a word.

  "Mom didn't have time to pick up the clothes on the ground, and hurriedly pulled open Dad, scolding: "What are you doing? How can you hit Xi Wu, she's still a child who doesn't understand things." After finishing speaking, Mom turned her head quickly and wiped away tears, smiling at Xi Wu: "Xi Wu, hurry up and pick up the clothes on the ground, let's go home!"

  As soon as she finished that sentence, she regretted it. This wasn't Mom's fault; Mom had done all this for her sake. The one who didn't have the right to complain about Mom was her, and yet today she had deeply hurt Mom. So when Dad slapped her in the face, she didn't utter a word of complaint, and even felt a slight sense of relief from atoning for her sin.

  Hearing his mother's words and seeing her secretly wiping away tears, Mo Xi Wu silently lowered his head, picked up the clothes on the ground, and walked ahead. Behind him came the sound of his father's angry voice.

  "This child is so ungrateful, not only does she not appreciate your hard work, but she even dares to complain to you. Where has her obedience and understanding gone? This book was read in vain, and I still expect her to take the university exam, getting into university would also be a waste of our hard-earned money."

  Her heart suddenly stopped beating when she heard her father's words. Father didn't let her go to college! Mo Xiyan pursed her lips, her hands and feet were icy cold, one hand touched the wrist chain, and her mind was in a mess. If her father really didn't let her go to college, what would she do...

  "How can you say such a thing in front of the child! Is this something a father should say? I think you're being unreasonable." The mother scolded the father, dissatisfied with what he said.

  "It's not right for you to be treated like this!" Dad said suddenly, holding Mom's hand with a bit of heartache. "This child is so disobedient, can't see that you're wearing your work uniform and still came out to deliver clothes to her, it's really raising a white-eyed wolf... back then..." Mom hastily covered Dad's mouth, seeing Mo Xiuyu still walking without any abnormality, quickly continued the conversation: "Nonsense! I love having both sons and daughters, don't mention this again today or I'll get angry!"

  Dad sighed helplessly and didn't continue speaking.

  Mom glanced at Dad's clothes and joked: "You're also wearing your work uniform out."

  Dad looked a bit flustered, his usually composed face showing a rare flush of red. "It's just that I was worried about you," he said. "I suddenly saw you rushing out in a panic and thought something had happened, so I followed you without thinking."

  Mom heard and asked anxiously: "Is it okay to come out like this? Will you be scolded by the boss?"

  "It's okay, I'm the company's accountant, and my relationship with the boss is good. I'll just give him a call later."

  "Since you're going to make a call, tell them you won't be coming back today. It's rare that all three of us are together today, I'll cook something delicious..." Dad and Mom were chatting in the back, while Mo Xi Yu walked ahead.

  Watching Mo Xi Wu and her parents leave, a red luxury car started at the place where Mo Xi Wu and her parents had an argument. At the traffic light, Jiang Xiang Ya, who was sitting in the back seat, hid her body in the darkness, wondering what to think next.

  She could have gone home with Rong Xuan, but unexpectedly it was her turn to be on duty today. She was already unhappy in her heart, and seeing Mo Ye Wu leave before her made her even more angry. However, she didn't expect to see such a scene, the various gloomy thoughts surrounding her heart suddenly disappeared, Mo Ye Wu's family background is so ridiculous, her last bit of concern also vanished.

  After the red sedan left, it was already very late, but a black BMW sports car still didn't leave. Rong Xuan sat in the driver's seat, thinking that Mo Xi Wu would not go home again today like before. Thinking that even Mo Xi Wu's roommate had gone home, and there was only her alone on the vast campus, Rong Xuan couldn't help but worry.

  After school, he was about to make an excuse to refuse going home with Jiang Xiangya, but unexpectedly Jiang Xiangya said she was on duty today and couldn't walk together with him. Hearing this news, he got a little excited, he didn't plan to let Jiang Xiangya know that he liked Mo Xiyan, it's rare to have such a good opportunity, so he went home and told his family that he wouldn't be back tonight, no need to leave the door open, then drove his car to school, never expecting to see such a scene.

  That's why she didn't want to be in contact with others and preferred to be an invisible person, right? Why did she have to hide her family background? Was she a person who loved vanity? Then why would he like someone like that? Did he really like her? Was she worthy of his liking?

  A string of questions swirled around Rong's head like a Buddhist monk reciting scriptures, causing his headache to worsen. He started the car and disappeared into the dark road.