Chapter 6 — You Waited For Me Two Lives

Normally, this young lady was nurtured and cared for growing up, no one ever touched a finger. The first time I was beaten back was in front of a lowly village woman like me. My heart was tense, I squatted down to wipe Ta Yeu's tears. His cheeks were red, his hands were cold. I stood up and looked at Ta Tuy Ngoc. There was light in his eyes, as if he was waiting for something. He hopes that I will love my child, that I will soften my heart, that I will obey him and say a gentle word.
“Thank you, master, don't force the young master and the eldest lady anymore.”
The light in his eyes immediately brightened.
“They only have one mother, that is the wife.”
Ta Tuy Ngoc's face gradually became whiter little by little. The curve at the corner of the lips hardens, like cracks appearing on ice. He opened his mouth, his throat moved once, but in the end he still couldn't say a word. Ta Canh hugged my leg, his eyes filled with the attachment of a child for his mother. Thinking of the tragic ending in my previous life, I gritted my teeth and bent down, gently removing each of its fingers. It burst into tears:
“Mom!”
I took a step back, retreating into the yard.
“I am not your mother.”
Ta Tuy Ngoc stood still in place. The sunlight shone half of his face white, the other half hidden in the shadow of the fence. The children were led back by the nanny. Ta Yeu's sobbing sound gradually faded away. Ta Giac did not speak from beginning to end. When he reached the end of the alley, he turned his head to look at me, his lips pursed into a straight line. I waved at it. He turned away and didn't look back anymore. The yard door closed. I don't know when Ly Tan Bach stood in front of the kitchen door. He stepped forward and tucked my wind-blown hair behind my ear.
"Miss, let's go home. Rice is cooked."
13
When A Bao was three years old, he started learning to read. There is only one school in town, opened by the Ta family. The first day after school, I stood at the end of the alley waiting for him. From afar, I saw a small figure carrying a book bag walking towards me. He walked very slowly, the toes of his shoes kicked the pebbles on the road. Coming in front of me, it raised its head. His eyes were red and tears immediately rolled down.
“Mother.”
He rushed into my arms, his voice muffled, his small shoulders shaking intermittently. I squatted down to wipe its face, and felt a red mark on the back of my hand, as if it had been cut by something hard. He grabbed the corner of my shirt and refused to let go. He cried and said that someone pushed him and took away his book. The next day, I took him to school and met Ta Canh in the hallway. Six-year-old Ta Canh is much stronger than when he was a child. He was wearing an indigo brocade shirt and was leading his students to sculpt clay statues in the yard. The clay statue in its hand fell down. It glared over, in its eyes was anger that I had never seen before.
“Ly A Bao, you only know how to call adults, it's useless!”
I pulled A Bao behind me. Ta Canh's eyes turned red. In the past, in the Ta family's palace, I sometimes went to the heavenly courtyard to visit him, would squat down and button his shirt, hold him on my knee, and feed him rice flour. Now the child we are holding by the hand is not him, the person we are protecting is not him either. It stood there like a small animal whose food had been robbed, gritting its teeth tightly. Ta Giac walked out of the school and stood on the steps looking at this scene. He was nine years old, his features became more and more similar to Ta Tuy Ngoc, cold and distant, but at this moment he showed some complexity. His eyes slid from Ta Canh's face to his me, fell on A Bao. Lips moved slightly, but did not speak. The Ta family's matriarch heard the commotion and rushed over. Recognizing me, she was stunned for a moment, then immediately turned serious.
“Do Nuong T. Tu.”
She pushed A Bao forward.
"The school has school rules. Your child has offended Young Master Canh. You must apologize to Young Master."
A Bao was pushed and staggered half a step, turning to look at me in fear. I pulled A Bao in front of me, squatted down, and looked straight into his eyes.
“A Bao, tell mother, what happened in school yesterday?”
A Bao bowed his head, his fingers twisted the string of his bag, his voice was very low:
“He… he pushed me, saying my mother was… was…”
“What is it?”
“It's a lowly thing that was thrown away by the Ta family.”
Tears welled up in A Bao's eyes again.
"He stole my book, tore a page, and cut my hand with a stone pen."
I turned its small hand over. The red mark on the back of his hand had formed into a thin layer of scab. I stood up and looked at Ta Canh.
“Young Master Ta, you bullied our A Bao, you must apologize to him.”
Ta Canh immediately became angry:
"Based on what? Is an untouchable like him worthy of my apology?"
“We are good people.”
I looked straight into its eyes and said every word clearly.
"We have civil status, marriage certificates, and righteously pay taxes and food. There is no one in this world who is an untouchable."
Ta Canh was choked by my words. His face turned red, his lips moved but he couldn't find a word to refute. At that time, a hand gently placed on Ta Canh's shoulder. I don't know when the lady was standing behind it. She wore a light blue coat, with a silver hairpin in her sideburns. Between the eyebrows is still a leisurely look that others cannot learn, the voice does not allow rebuttal:
“Canh Nhi, sorry.”