When Auntie Pang heard this, a fire of rage surged from her chest to her head.
She whipped her head around, her eyes wide, and glared daggers at Cao Daqiang, who was standing to the side.
"Don't you listen to her nonsense!"
Zhang Yunhua suddenly bit her lip, closed her eyes, and steeled her resolve. She bent down abruptly, scooped up little Shanshan who was standing by her feet, and pulled her into an embrace.
"Fine! Cao Daqiang, you really are cruel! Such a well-behaved, beautiful daughter, and you can just cast her aside like that? Fine! From this day forward, this child is mine, Zhang Yunhua's daughter!"
Shanshan had been sobbing, her face a mess of tears and snot.
But the moment those words were spoken, her crying abruptly stopped.
She blankly raised her head, her tear-soaked eyes gazing at Auntie's round face.
Huh?
'Something this good can actually happen?'
'My bad dad tries to ditch me, but I get adopted by a kind neighbor instead?'
Shanshan stared blankly at the face before her and gave a small nod.
"...Okay."
Cao Daqiang couldn't wait to get rid of this "little troublemaker."
Hearing Zhang Yunhua's words, his eyes instantly lit up.
"Fine by me! If she gets sick or hurt from now on, it has nothing to do with me, Cao Daqiang! You all heard it! We don't even need a written agreement!"
As he spoke, he even raised his hand and pointed to the crowd around them.
The moment he finished speaking, he turned and rushed back into his own courtyard.
With a loud BANG, the wooden door was slammed shut.
"What kind of father is that? He's worse than a beast!"
"Tsk, his conscience was fed to the dogs."
The show was over, and the crowd gradually dispersed.
Auntie Pang still held the little child tightly in her arms.
She looked down at the child's thin, frail shoulders and suddenly felt a sharp pang in her heart, as if something had struck her there.
"Sweetie, don't be afraid. You'll live with Auntie now. As long as I, Zhang Yunhua, have a bite to eat, you will never go hungry! As long as I have clothes to wear, you will never be cold! Come on, let's not stay here. Let's go home!"
Shanshan turned her little head for one last look at the tightly shut courtyard gate.
She didn't hesitate or waver. Instead, she reached out her short little arms and wrapped them firmly around Auntie Pang's sturdy neck.
'If he doesn't want me, then fine!'
'This Long Zai will just find another family to freeload off of!'
'And this auntie smells so nice...'
'There must be lots of yummy food at her house!'
When they arrived at Auntie's house, the courtyard wasn't large, but it was neat and tidy.
Shanshan wasn't shy with strangers at all. Blinking her big eyes, she looked all around, finding everything new and interesting.
Auntie Pang brought her a piece of coarse grain flatbread. It was warm, slightly crispy on the outside, but soft and moist on the inside.
She also poured a bowl of steaming hot water.
"Eat this to tide you over. Auntie will cook you something hot in a little while."
Auntie Pang smiled and ruffled Shanshan's hair.
"Thank you, Auntie!"
She was already starving, so she ate quickly. The flatbread was a bit coarse and scratched her throat, but it was so much better than wild fruit!
She squinted her eyes as she ate, a look of pure satisfaction on her face.
Zhang Yunhua's heart melted watching her well-behaved demeanor. "Child, you can stay here for now. If that heartless father of yours ever comes to his senses and wants to take you back, we'll discuss it then."
Huh?
'Why would I ever want to go back to that cold house?'
"I don't—"
She was only halfway through her sentence when a voice suddenly came from over the neighboring wall.
"Well, well! Zhang Yunhua, where'd you pick up a little beggar?"
The woman was leaning over the wall, her hair combed back slick and shiny, her lips painted a gaudy red.
"My, my, bringing any old filthy thing into your house. Aren't you afraid of catching some bad luck? How utterly vile!"
Shanshan froze, nearly dropping the flatbread in her hand.
The little dumpling puffed up her cheeks angrily, her round eyes instantly widening.
Though she was young, she understood what "filthy thing" meant.
'The Long Zai is not pleased!'
But the woman wasn't finished.
"What? Your own man can't perform, so you go out and find a ready-made child? Tsk, tsk, tsk, your skin is thicker than a castle wall!"
Auntie Pang's face instantly flushed beet red, and the tips of her ears felt like they were burning.
She shot to her feet, about to rush out and argue, but stopped herself just as she took a step.
'Her husband's position is much higher than Dapeng's.'
'If I really make a scene, my husband will be the one to suffer. He might even lose his job.'
All she could do was lower her head and turn away, pretending to tidy the table and chairs in the room.
She didn't want Shanshan to see her tears, so she kept her face turned to the side.
Shanshan stopped nibbling on her flatbread, her eyes wide as she stared at Auntie Pang's broad back.
Mmm...
'The affairs of the human world are so strange...'
'Why would such a good person be cursed at like that?'
'But this auntie... she's truly good.'
'It's not a pretense, and she isn't being nice to me just to curry favor with someone.'
'It's a kindness that flows from the bottom of her heart.'
'A Long Zai remembers kindness, but also holds a grudge!'
Though she was young, she already had a scale in her heart to weigh right from wrong.
A flash of white light flickered in her small hand.
The woman who had just been standing with her hands on her hips, cursing, suddenly cried out, "Aiyo!" Her feet slipped out from under her, and she fell hard.
The sound of squealing cries, like a pig being slaughtered, immediately erupted from next door.
Zhang Yunhua was terrified when she heard it and rushed outside.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
She saw the woman on the ground, wailing and clutching her mouth, with specks of blood around her lips. Zhang Yunhua's face went pale with fright.
"Oh my god! How did this happen! Where did you fall? Did you chip a tooth?"
Shanshan patted the dust off her pants and slowly stood up.
"I don't know, Auntie. I'm sleepy, let's go inside and rest~"
Before she finished speaking, she grabbed Auntie Pang's hand and darted back into the house.
Once inside, she casually shut the door.
'Thank goodness the heavens left me with a little bit of power. I can use it three times a day.'
'Each use causes a slight tremor in my spirit.'
'Hehehe! Otherwise, how could I have made it to the family compound so smoothly?'
「That night」
Shanshan lay on the small bed Auntie Pang had made for her, her ears perked up, listening for any sounds.
From the next room came muffled sighs and the sound of Yang Dapeng trying to suppress a cough every now and then.
Her little brow furrowed.
During the day, Auntie Pang had been chatting with her husband while doing some needlework, and Shanshan had secretly listened for a while, finally understanding their situation.
It turned out that Auntie Pang was only able to stay in the family compound to take care of Yang Dapeng because of special approval from the higher-ups.
This opportunity hadn't come easily; it had required calling in favors and submitting reports.
Without this special consideration, she wouldn't have been allowed to stay at all.
This was because Yang Dapeng had suffered a severe injury in the past, and his health had been poor for the last few years; he fell ill one time after another.
And... he could no longer have children.
But there was a rule in the unit: if you didn't reach a certain rank, your family couldn't stay here.
No matter how serious the illness or how deep the bond, if your rank wasn't high enough, they had to leave.
If he couldn't get a promotion this year, he would have to go back to his hometown, and Auntie would have to leave too.
But with Yang Dapeng's physical condition... getting a promotion was going to be incredibly difficult.
Worse still, her bad dad was also competing for the same position and was always pulling dirty tricks behind the scenes.
That was why Auntie Pang had stood up for her today.
Shanshan couldn't lie still in bed any longer. She scrambled up, slipped on her slippers, and ran—TAP TAP TAP—over.
She didn't even bother to put on a robe as she rushed straight into the next room.