When Half the Paulownia Blossoms Fall - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I opened the door and found my younger brother, Xia Yaozu, standing outside.

Yaozu and I were twins.

On the day we were born, the village flooded, drowning several head of livestock.

The village shaman came to our house with a sharp blade in hand and hung a sacred banner over our front door.

She said twins were an ill omen, and that one of us was destined to bring disaster upon the family.

My parents had originally planned to secretly strangle me to death. Later, when they heard that a daughter from the neighboring village had brought in a bride price of one hundred thousand yuan, they changed their minds and kept me alive.

Xia Yaozu whistled like a street thug.

The moment I opened the door, he grew impatient.

“What took you so long? You aren’t hiding a man in there, are you?”

He craned his neck, trying to peer inside, then shoved past me and started prowling around the room.

Yan Sui had already turned back into the little Black Snake and quietly curled up inside the box.

Xia Yaozu didn’t bother changing into slippers. He dropped into a chair and propped his legs up on the coffee table.

His mud-caked shoes left filthy footprints across the clean floor.

I frowned. The Black Snake had worked so hard dragging that mop around all morning to get it clean.

So I stepped forward and yanked him up.

“You’re disgusting. Clean up the mess you made!”

Xia Yaozu grinned at me without a care in the world.

“Sis, I haven’t even gotten to the real reason I’m here. Got any money? Give me some to spend.”

I slapped his hand away.

“What money would I have?!”

His eyes rolled shiftily, and he split his mouth in a grin.

“Sis, if I hadn’t given you that chance, how could you have become a college student?”

“It’s not too much to ask for a little compensation, right?”

Countless nights, I had wrapped myself in a padded coat and studied under dim streetlights.

All because they thought I was wasting electricity.

The hard wooden plank bed had dug into my waist until it ached, and my frostbitten hands had gone numb from the cold.

Everything I had achieved today had never come from some opportunity anyone handed over to me. It had all been earned through my own desperate courage.

At that thought, I reached out and shoved Xia Yaozu.

“Get out. Get out of here!”

I had done farm work since childhood, so my grip wasn’t weak, but the difference in strength between men and women was still too great.

Xia Yaozu flung me aside with force and raised his hand to hit me.

“Don’t push your luck!”

“Mom and Dad already said all your money is mine. And when you get married, your bride price will be mine too!”

A Black Snake shot up onto his arm, its two adorable little bead-like eyes now filled with murderous intent.

A flash of scarlet snake tongue flickered out, and sharp fangs sank viciously into his arm.

Xia Yaozu let out a scream.

He swung his arm wildly, trying to fling the Black Snake away, but the Black Snake clamped down and refused to let go. So he slammed his arm hard against the wall.

Afraid Yan Sui would be hurt, I grabbed a chair and smashed it down on Xia Yaozu’s head.

With a bang, Xia Yaozu was knocked unconscious. His bulky body collapsed to the floor.

The Black Snake was flung away hard.

I rushed over and picked him up to check on him.

Several of his scales had split, blood seeping through the cracks. I called to him a few times, but he still didn’t respond.

My nose stung.

I hadn’t cried when my parents beat me half to death. I hadn’t cried when they locked me in a dark little room and starved me.

I had known for a long time that crying couldn’t solve anything.

But at this moment, my tears refused to obey me and came pouring out.