civilwarnovels Chapter 207: Shouldering the Entire Sky
Chapter 207: Shouldering the Entire Sky
In that moment, a warmth spread through Cao Jiajia’s heart.
Her throat tightened and the tip of her nose tingled. Tears welled up in her eyes again, but this time, it wasn’t from feeling wronged.
She looked up at Yu Yeping’s dark, thin face.
She finally understood how Shanshan had managed to hold on after being kicked out by her family. ’It turns out that having someone who genuinely cares about you really can hold up the sky.’
Back then, she hadn’t understood. She thought she couldn’t survive after leaving home.
But now she knew that as long as there was someone by her side willing to shield her from the wind and rain, life could never completely fall apart, no matter how hard it got.
She slowly stopped crying, wiped her face with the back of her hand, and sat up straight.
After a good cry, she steeled her heart and decided to build a life with Yu Yeping.
She didn’t want to beg anyone for help or bow her head ever again.
Since her own father didn’t want her and her relatives wouldn’t acknowledge her, she would rely on herself to survive.
She stood up, brushed the dust off her pants, and took the water bottle Yu Yeping handed her for a drink.
Her hands were still trembling, but she had made up her mind. No more running away.
They were two young people with little education and no special skills, but they had plenty of strength and weren’t afraid of hard work.
They went to the labor market in the south of the city, searching for work among a sea of recruitment signs.
They would leave at five in the morning to queue up, arguing until they were red in the face just to snag a ten-hour-a-day job hauling cement.
At noon, their only option was to squat in a corner of the construction site and gnaw on steamed buns. At night, they’d go to the scrapyard to collect cardboard boxes and drink bottles, not returning to their rented room until the early morning hours.
They wanted to earn a stable life with their own two hands. They hauled bricks by day and collected scrap by night, scrambling for any dirty, tiring job they could find and pinching every last penny.
When buying groceries, they only picked the cheapest potatoes and cabbage. To wash clothes, they diluted laundry powder with water and scrubbed repeatedly.
In the summer, they couldn’t bear to turn on the fan. In the winter, they huddled under two old cotton quilts for warmth.
But even so, they insisted on saving the few hundred yuan they managed to scrape together each month, putting it in a metal box and dreaming of one day moving into a bigger place.
But some people just couldn’t stand to see them living a peaceful life.
That morning, the foreman broke with tradition and paid them their wages early.
Yu Yeping received 836.50 yuan, and Cao Jiajia got 620.
They stood under the sun, clutching the money and counting it over and over, terrified of making a mistake.
After slogging away for ten-odd days, they had finally received their first paycheck. Covered in grime, the two of them took a shower, then looked in the mirror and laughingly called each other beggars.
The hot water in the bathroom only lasted for ten minutes. They took turns rinsing off, using the bare minimum of body wash to get clean.
When they came out and looked in the mirror, they saw streaks of dirt on each other’s faces and their hair was a tangled mess. They couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Yu Yeping pointed at Cao Jiajia and said she looked like a beggar, and Jiajia flicked a handful of water in his face.
As they walked, they did the math, planning to treat themselves to a nice meal. They didn’t want to be too extravagant, though, so they decided to find an affordable little restaurant for a feast.
Who would have known that as they turned a corner, they would run right into Cao Daqiang, who was out shopping with Yuan Zhihe.
Cao Daqiang was wearing a dark jacket and carrying shopping bags. Yuan Zhihe was holding his arm, her face made up exquisitely.
They were laughing and talking, about to enter a shopping mall, when they were caught off guard by the two people walking toward them. Both parties stopped in their tracks.
"Dad..."
Cao Jiajia subconsciously took half a step back.
She hadn’t meant to call out, but the word felt like it had been stuck to the tip of her tongue and slipped out on its own.
Before the word had even fully left her lips, she saw Cao Daqiang’s face turn as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Who’s your dad? Your mother cheated on me, and I ended up raising her bastard child for over a decade. Just looking at you makes me sick! If you dare follow me again, it wouldn’t be going too far to have someone kill you!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?!"
The moment Yu Yeping heard that, rage shot to his head and he leaped forward. "Who’s following you? Are you fucking blind?!"
He rushed forward in a few steps, his chest heaving, and pointed right at Cao Daqiang’s nose as he questioned him.
Yuan Zhihe flinched back in fear. Cao Daqiang immediately pulled her behind him protectively, his movements swift.
He yanked Yuan Zhihe to his right side, turning his body to block her view while shooting a meaningful glance to the side.
A man in a black jacket immediately took a step forward, rolled up his sleeves, and positioned himself beside Yu Yeping.
Cao Jiajia quickly tugged on Yu Yeping’s sleeve. "Don’t say any more, Ye Peng! We can’t afford to mess with them. Let’s just go, let’s go..."
She knew this man was Cao Daqiang’s driver; she had seen him a few times when she used to eat at home.
The man was not someone to be trifled with. He was ruthless.
Terrified something would happen, she pulled Yu Yeping and started backing away.
"Scared now? Too late!"
Cao Daqiang sneered. He had no intention of backing down. He pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and stared at Yu Yeping as he spoke, his tone icy. "Xiao Zhang, get over here now. East gate. Someone’s causing trouble. Teach them a lesson for me."
In less than three minutes, the driver in the black jacket hurried over.
Without a word, the man strode forward and began to beat Yu Yeping viciously.
Yu Yeping instinctively raised his arms to protect his head, but his opponent’s blows were extremely heavy. He was quickly beaten back, staggering until he crashed into a trash can in the corner.
The metal can fell with a loud CLANG, drawing the attention of passersby, but no one dared to step forward and intervene.
"Stop! Please, stop hitting him!"
Cao Jiajia lunged forward to block the attack but was shoved aside.
All she could do was watch helplessly as Yu Yeping was beaten until he spat up blood, his mouth swelling and one of his eyes already starting to bruise.
"Jiajia, get back! Even if they break my legs today, I’ll never kneel to him!"
Blood trickled continuously from the corner of Yu Yeping’s mouth. He wiped it with the back of his hand, then roughly smeared his face and staggered back to his feet.
He had run with a rough crowd on the streets for a few years when he was younger, so fights were nothing new to him. But the man in front of him was a proper military veteran, and his movements were clean and efficient.
He was knocked to the ground after just a few exchanges.
More and more people gathered to watch, but no one dared to get close, and no one stepped in to stop it.
Cao Daqiang stood in front of Yuan Zhihe, shielding her.
"Consider this beating a light warning. Next time I see you near me, I’ll call the police and have you arrested for causing a public disturbance!"
With that, he took Yuan Zhihe’s arm and walked away.
Cao Jiajia knelt on the ground and helped Yu Yeping up, tears streaming down her face as they staggered away under the pointing fingers of the crowd.
"I’m sorry... It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have acknowledged him as my dad... Ye Peng, does it hurt? Say something..."
"COUGH... I’m fine. I won’t die. Once I recover, I swear I’ll settle this score with him, piece by piece!"
Yu Yeping tried to stand, but his legs suddenly gave out, and he nearly collapsed again.
Cao Jiajia quickly threw his arm over her shoulders, using all her strength to half-drag, half-support him to his feet.
She knew Cao Daqiang’s character all too well.
On the surface, he seemed calm and reasonable, but he was utterly ruthless to the core. Once provoked, he never held back when he struck.
For Yu Yeping to have instigated the conflict and only gotten beaten this badly was, in a way, lucky.
What she feared was that Yu Yeping would go looking for trouble again after he recovered. If that happened, she was afraid it wouldn’t end with just a beating.
Cao Jiajia spent two days in a state of anxiety and fear, leaving her completely listless.
’Hate him as I might, I’m just an ordinary student. What could I possibly do to fight back against someone like him?’
’I have no family background, my friends can’t help, and I wouldn’t even dare to think about hiring thugs.’
After thinking for a long time, only one person who could possibly help her came to mind.