Riiiing—
The class bell rang, and all the students, lost in their thoughts, returned to their seats.
Yuan Ping was still missing and didn’t appear to be returning to class.
Yao Ye wrinkled his nose. He really didn’t want to deal with the ignorant country bumpkins in this class any longer. All he wanted was to find a henchman. Anyone would do.
His anger clouded his mind, and Yao Ye paid no attention during the remaining two classes.
During this time, the head teacher had arrived and angrily inquired about Yuan Ping’s whereabouts. After the futile inquiry, he left, even more irritated.
Yao Ye propped up his cheeks and watched the farce with boredom, thinking that he had to give credit to Yuan Ping — after what had happened in the morning, it seemed that there wasn’t a single person who didn’t dislike him in this school.
Taking advantage of the break between classes, Yao Ye curiously inquired about some news concerning Yuan Ping and found out the reason why Yuan Ping was ostracized.
Yuan Ping was the son of a butcher, and his family owned a slaughterhouse in town. Not only did they try to short-change the townsfolk by selling less meat than the customers had paid for, but they also consistently sold stale meat. This had given the townsfolk diarrhea for a long time, following which they had started to ostracize the family.
According to the students in the class, the Yuan Ping family all looked gloomy, their expressions seemingly carved out of the same mold. They also behaved vulgarly and often peeped at others from shadowy corners, making people very uncomfortable.
Therefore, everyone disliked this family.
But things had been improving lately. In the past few weeks, Yuan Ping’s father had become a better butcher, the meat he sold had improved in quality, and his personality had become more cheerful and less annoying.
However, his wife and son, Yuan Ping, were still acting in the same unsettling manner. Rumor had it that the mother and son had mean personalities and disrespected the butcher, who supported the family, in private. The wife, in particular, was a domestic abuser and often injured Yuan Ping.
When Yao Ye heard this, he thought of the bandage on Yuan Ping’s neck and the bloody scab on his hands.
Were those caused by his mother?
Yao Ye had never seen such a pitiful person before and momentarily felt bad for him. However, when he thought of Yuan Ping’s cold avoidance, that feeling dissipated.
Wasn’t there a saying that went something like ‘a pitiful person definitely has a hateful trait in them’? That guy’s personality was indeed unlikable.
Well, at worst, Yao Ye wouldn’t bother caring about someone who offended him anymore; after all, the guy was already so pitiful.
Yao Ye thought so and, with disgust in his eyes, retrieved the bloodstained handkerchief from the storage compartment beneath his desk.
It had been used to wipe Yuan Ping’s face earlier and was already extremely dirty.
Yao Ye tossed the handkerchief into the trash can.
Ugh, seriously, his hands were now stained by the scent of blood. He would need to use more hand soap to wash it off later.
Soon, school was over, and Yao Ye walked out of the classroom surrounded by his classmates.
He chatted and laughed with the students around him all the way, got into the limousine parked at the school gate, and left under the envious gazes of others.
As soon as the car stopped, Yao Ye enthusiastically jumped out, rushed into his small garden, ran to the hall, and happily grabbed a can of soda.
“Little Ye! Drinking soda again?! Seriously, you won’t be able to grow taller at this rate!” The gentle long-haired woman shook her head helplessly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Yao Ye suddenly thought of that skinny guy. Perhaps due to malnutrition, he was so thin that his bones were visible, and his wrists were as thin as twigs.
“Little Ye, it’s your first day of school today, how do you feel?” Mother Yao asked kindly.
Yao Ye lay weakly on the sofa and complained, “It’s not good. I’m about to enter the first grade of high school, but they made me attend the third grade of junior high again. It’s boring! Mom, when can we go home? I don’t want to stay here anymore!”
Mother Yao could only smile bitterly in response to Yao Ye’s complaints.
Father Yao was a very filial man. After Yao Ye’s grandfather passed away, the only elder left was his frail grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Father Yao naturally cared deeply for her.
Initially, Father Yao had wanted to take her to a big city with advanced medical equipment to care for her, but the old woman was used to this small town and refused to leave no matter what. In desperation, Father Yao had no choice but to accompany his elderly mother back to the small town and decided to spend the remaining years with her here.
Unable to predict when they would return to the big city, Mother Yao and Yao Ye had moved with them to this town and couldn’t easily leave.
After chatting for a while, Mother Yao excused herself to check on the lunch prepared by the servant.
Yao Ye thought of his grandma upstairs and hurriedly went to visit her.
Though he didn’t like this town, he still loved his grandmother.
After opening the door to his grandma’s room, he saw a frail elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair, gazing out the window with a vacant expression.
“Grandma, I was super unlucky today!”
Yao Ye leaned against his grandmother’s knee, his face, which still contained some baby fat, showing disgust.
Yao Ye rambled on about all the things he couldn’t stand, like dirty toilets and unpleasant classmates. However, the elderly woman with wrinkled cheeks and a sickly appearance remained silent, her unfocused eyes staring out of the window.
He didn’t know how much time passed, but Yao Ye was nearly asleep when he suddenly heard his grandmother’s voice.
“…Meat! Meat! …Meat!”
The elderly woman with silver hair reached out excitedly, her thin, slender arms almost reaching out of the window.
Yao Ye abruptly woke up. He looked up and saw his grandmother leaning so far forward that she seemed inches away from falling out of the window. Startled, he quickly pushed her back.
“Grandma, what’s wrong with you? Are you feeling sick again? Are you okay?”
Yao Ye was frantic, fearing something might happen to his grandmother, and the rims of his eyes turned red in fear.
“Meat! Meat! Meat!”
His grandmother continued to mutter, her tone hollow and eerie, pointing outside the window.
“Meat?”
Yao Ye was momentarily puzzled, and then he smelled the aroma of cooked bones wafting through the window.
“It’s strange. What’s that smell? It’s weird.”
Yao Ye sniffed and caught a whiff of the odor from outside the window, finding it rather peculiar.
He opened the window and looked outside, spotting a passerby on the road not far from the villa carrying a bag of something and walking away hurriedly.
Yao Ye intuitively believed that the earlier smell had come from that pedestrian. He wrinkled his nose, closed the window in disgust, and escorted his grandmother out of the room.
The scent resembled the aroma of simmering bones. In truth, it was quite a pleasant fragrance, but it made Yao Ye feel somewhat uncomfortable, and he didn’t wish to smell it further.
Yao Ye led his grandmother to find his mother, suggesting that she take her to the hospital. However, not long after they left the room, his excited grandmother calmed down and returned to her normal state.
Yao Ye was perplexed and recounted the entire incident to his mother.
“Could grandma want to eat meat?” Yao Ye speculated.
Mother Yao gazed at her mother-in-law’s serene expression and couldn’t comprehend the situation. She figured Yao Ye’s thoughts might’ve been in a turmoil due to his care for his grandmother, and comforted, “Don’t worry. See, Grandma is fine now. Maybe you were just dreaming earlier!”
“Your grandma has always been a vegetarian. Why would she think about eating meat? Back then, when I first married your dad, I didn’t know this and served meat dishes to your grandma. She immediately threw up after eating them. I got a good scolding from your dad! Haha, but then your dad was scolded by your grandparents together, admonishing him not to be so fierce with his wife! Oh, your dad’s face turned as red as a monkey’s butt back then, hahaha!”
Mother Yao chuckled heartily, reminiscing about her youth with a nostalgic look on her face.
Yao Ye remained somewhat doubtful as he listened to his mother’s tales of family affairs.
But there was nothing seriously wrong with his grandma, so he could only suggest getting her a physical examination the next day.
Mother Yao readily agreed and instructed the servants to serve the dishes and they started having lunch.
Yao Ye had no appetite and was inexplicably preoccupied with the smell he had encountered.
Was Grandma’s abnormality related to that smell? Or did she simply have a craving for meat?
After eating, Yao Ye took a nap and then went to school.
When the afternoon classes began, Yuan Ping still hadn’t arrived.
Yao Ye simply threw all thoughts of him to the back of his mind and smoothly blended into the class like a fish in water.
The afternoon passed quickly. After school, Yao Ye rode home as usual. He noticed pedestrians on the road briskly heading towards the eastern part of town. They were intermittently twitching their noses and appeared peculiar.
Curious, Yao Ye opened the car window to get a closer look, but he caught a whiff of the same aroma he had smelled that morning.
That peculiar bone aroma.
Yao Ye observed the direction the pedestrians were headed and asked the driver about it.
The driver glanced toward the direction Yao Ye was pointing and explained, “Oh, that’s the town’s slaughterhouse. They sell meat in the afternoon, and their business has been quite successful recently!”
Yuan Ping’s home?
Deep in thought, Yao Ye closed the car window and ceased his scrutiny.
Perhaps the meat processed at the slaughterhouse was just of too low quality. In this small region, even such inferior meat could attract so many townsfolk. How strange.
Upon returning home, Mother Yao was taking Grandma Yao for a stroll in the small garden. When they saw Yao Ye returning, they all returned to the villa, and the family gathered in the living room to watch TV.
As darkness fell, Father Yao finally returned after a busy day. He smiled and ruffled Yao Ye’s hair, inquiring about his day.
“It’s okay, but I’m not used to the bathroom. Dad, can you donate a building to our school? It’s really dirty there!”
Yao Ye reclined on the sofa and grumbled.
Father Yao smiled and replied, “I knew you wouldn’t be used to it. Don’t worry; I’ve already informed the school that I’ll construct a new building in a few days, and I’ll renovate the bathroom in your old building for temporary use tomorrow!”
Yao Ye was satisfied. Seeing that his father was in a good mood, he pestered him to take him to an amusement park in a large, neighboring city tomorrow.
Since Yao Ye had rushed and started his first day of school here on a Friday, there would be no classes tomorrow. Yao Ye wanted to escape this remote town for some relaxation.
Father Yao had no choice but to decline, explaining that he had returned to his hometown this time to invest in and develop it. He had been very busy lately and had to visit investment sites in town tomorrow, so he had no time.
“Have fun by yourself for now. You can play with your classmates. Don’t just think about going back all day!” Father Yao admonished with a stern face.
Father Yao felt that he was pampering this only child of his too much, but he was helpless to change. When he was young, he had suffered a lot, so he wanted to compensate his son with the childhood he’d dreamed of. As a result, his son ended up becoming a haughty young master, which vexed him to no end.
Yao Ye perked up his ears, knowing that his father had a gruff manner but a soft heart. He continued pestering his father, claiming that he wanted to join him tomorrow as a learning experience.
Father Yao couldn’t withstand Yao Ye’s insistence any longer. His ears were almost calloused from the badgering, so he had no choice but to agree.
Yao Ye cheered but then remembered he hadn’t asked where they were going.
“Dad, where are we going tomorrow?”
“We’re going to the town’s slaughterhouse. I heard their business has been picking up recently. I want to see if I can invest in it and support them. It would allow this town to offer more local specialties. When it comes to investments, the most crucial thing is…”
Father Yao was eloquent and enthusiastic when discussing investments, but Yao Ye had only heard one word throughout the conversation.
Slaughterhouse.
Were they going to that weirdo Yuan Ping’s house tomorrow?
Yao Ye hesitated for a moment, wanting to refuse because he knew it was filthy there, and there was a guy there who had embarrassed him.
“Okay, prepare well for tomorrow. I will depend on you to support the family business in the future. It’s about time for you to gain some experience.”
Father Yao looked content, thinking that his son was finally becoming more sensible.
Seeing his father’s pleased expression, Yao Ye scratched his cheek and mumbled in response.
Forget it, he would go; he wasn’t afraid of Yuan Ping.
Could the grandma have gotten addicted to the meat?
I mean…
I realize how rhetorical my question is 😭😭