Chapter 10 — The Day My Father Remarried

I laughed softly and gave her a light kick.

"With a tiny frame like yours, you expect to be my protector?"

After a brief moment of playful banter, I began to pack my belongings. Sitting amidst a dormitory room that was already more than half-emptied, I gazed at the items I had accumulated over four grueling years of university. A few thick, heavy medical textbooks. A single box of clothing. The uniform apron once handed out to bubble tea shop employees. And... a photograph shared with my mother. I gently wiped away a speck of dust resting upon its surface, then carefully tucked it into the innermost compartment of my backpack. Graduation day had arrived, yet my father was nowhere to be seen. He claimed his health was failing, that he simply could not make the journey. Liu Meiling had sent me a brief WeChat message instead.

"Congratulations on your graduation, Wanwan. Come home for dinner whenever you have some free time."

I simply replied, "Thank you, Aunt."

The only person who came was my eldest uncle. He wore a crisp, clean white short-sleeved shirt, standing quietly among the rows of parents in the seating area, smiling and waving at me. I ran over to him. He gently patted my shoulder, smiling so deeply that the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes etched themselves into his skin.

"You have grown so much."

"You are a grown young woman now."

I looked up at him.

"Uncle."

"I have graduated."

"And about what happened back then..."

"My promise still stands."

His response was entirely resolute.

"Report for work next Monday."

"I have already arranged a position for you."

"You will start as an order tracking clerk."

"And learn everything else step by step."

I stared straight into his eyes. All the questions I had harbored in the depths of my heart for nearly three years finally overwhelmed my restraint.

"Uncle..."

"Can you tell me the truth today?"

"Why must you insist I come to your company?"

"And why must we keep this hidden from my father?"

The gentle smile on his face slowly faded away. He fell silent for a long, lingering moment before letting out a soft, heavy sigh.

"Wanwan."

"To be entirely honest..."

"I had planned to wait until you had worked here for a couple of years."

"Until you were standing firmly on your own two feet before telling you."

"But since you are asking today..."

He took a step to the side and sat down on a wooden bench beneath the shade of a sprawling tree. I followed and sat beside him. He gazed out toward the vast athletic field, his voice remarkably calm.

"Back then."

"Your father borrowed sixty thousand from me."

"Claiming he was going to invest it."

"In truth..."

"He used it to open a beauty salon for Liu Meiling."

"That shop."

"Did not even last half a year before it shut down."

"Every single cent was lost."

"After that."

"Your father wanted to marry Liu Meiling."

"The bride price."

"The wedding banquet expenses."

"He mortgaged the old family home to borrow the money."

I froze in absolute disbelief.

"The old house?"

"You mean..."

"The house the three of us used to live in?"

He turned his head to look at me.

"Before your mother passed away."

"That house was registered under the names of the two of them."

"You held a rightful half."

"When your father took it to be mortgaged..."

"He never once told you about it."

My mind felt as though it had shattered into pieces. My hands and feet instantly turned freezing cold.

"Then the house..."

"The debt is still being paid off."

He continued in a slow, measured tone.

"For the past two years."

"Your father's building materials business has barely managed to stay afloat."

"Every single month."

"Paying off the loan principal."

"Paying the mounting interest."

"Whatever money remains..."

"Is barely enough to feed the household."

"That is the real reason."

"He cut off your living expenses."

"It was not out of a lack of affection."

"The truth is simply..."

"He has nothing left."

I tightly clutched my graduation cap in my hands, my knuckles turning stark white.

"But..."

"Why didn't my father tell me?"

"If he had only said something..."

"I would have..."

"What could you possibly have done?"

My uncle let out a bitter, helpless laugh.

"Helped him shoulder the debt?"

"You were merely a university student."

"What did you have to bear it with?"

"Your father..."

"Has always possessed an immense sense of pride."

"The thing he fears above all else."

"Is letting his daughter witness his utter helplessness."

"Ever since your mother passed away."

"He wanted even less."

"For you to see him in such a state."

I looked at him searchingly.

"And you?"

"Why did you insist on bringing me here?"

"And why keep it a secret from my father?"

Su Weiguo remained silent for a long time. A sudden gust of wind swept across the sports field, flipping up the collar of his shirt. He raised a hand to adjust it, speaking in a low, somber voice:

"Because that mortgaged house..."

"Your father is nearing the point where he can no longer service the debt."

"If it remains in default by the end of the year."

"The bank will foreclose and auction it off."

I felt as though a bucket of icy water had been dumped straight over me, numbing me entirely from head to toe.

"Wanwan."