TSED; chapter 10

hello again! this signals the end of daily releases as we have reached chapter 10. woo, 1/6 of the way there! (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))
releases will now be each monday, wednesday, and friday! thank you for reading this far! i’m no professional, so it means a lot to me. see you again on monday!

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Zhao Xiaolian was depressed for a few days after her adultery was discovered, and wasn’t in the mood to pay attention to Big Black or consider selling him for money. She called Zhang Jianguo several times, but his family was also currently a mess. No matter how tough his wife was, ultimately, the victims of her husband’s actions were her and her children. She actually didn’t want to divorce, just for Zhang Jianguo to change his mindset and not make any more mistakes.

Zhao Xiaolian had hoped that Zhang Jianguo would divorce his wife and marry her, but he refused to do so and instead was convinced by his wife to not even answer his phone. Zhao Xiaolian was furious.

The last few days, Zhang Hang had been planning to drop out of school, but knew there was no way his teachers would agree. He was an outstanding student who entered the high school after only taking the entrance exam once. How could the school just let him drop out?

Even if he was psychologically prepared, it was a difficult thing to face. If he really did take his diagnosis and used it to convince the school to let him drop out, he would have to accept his own future blindness. Zhang Hang didn’t dare to face it. He wished to prolong these good days for as long as he could. He wanted to see his school with his remaining vision, he wanted to conquer his future. At the end of this pleasant dream, he wanted to remember his beautiful school, full of painful but hopeful memories.

Even if they were messy, a person still wants to remember their best days.

Lu Chengye understood Zhang Hang’s attitude, and didn’t urge him along. He would let the child get along with his classmates, friends, and brothers for a while. In the near future, they would have to go their separate ways.

However, it seemed that Heaven did not intend to leave it to Zhang Hang. When he came home from school one day, Zhao Xiaolian was waiting for him. She said to him in an aggressive manner, “Go with me to your father’s house right away. I’ll show that bitch who refuses to divorce. My son with Zhang Jianguo is so much better than her daughter who doesn’t even make an effort!”

Zhang Hang stared at Zhao Xiaolian in disbelief. This was his mother, the woman that Zhang Qiming had loved for half of his life, and the mother that Zhang Hang had always respected.

She just wanted Zhang Jianguo to love her.

Lu Chengye was furious. Did Zhao Xiaolian not care about Zhang Hang at all? Even until the end, Zhang Qiming had shown consideration for Zhang Hang’s future. But Zhao Xiaolian would drag him along with her and destroy a family barely any time after her own bitter divorce? How would Zhang Hang grow up a proper man, with this kind of single parent?

He bared his teeth at Zhao Xiaolian. If he was a simple loyal dog instead of a man inside, he would have ripped out Zhao Xiaolian’s throat. Having no mother would be better than having one like her!

“I’m not going,” Zhang Hang said slowly, his heart only aching slightly. After all the pain he had experienced recently, he was no longer easily hurt.

“You have to!” Zhao Xiaolian grabbed Zhang Hang by the arm. “He is your father. Let’s go and drive that woman and her bitch daughter away. You’ll be taken care of by your real father then. Zhang Qiming is nothing but a—”

“Mom!” Zhang Hang threw Zhao Xiaolian’s hand away and looked at her darkly. “When you say that someone else’s child is a bitch, it makes me afraid that others will say that about me. The word is more suitable for me than her. Zhang Qiming is just an average man and an average father, but even knowing that I am not his real son, he’s willing to pay child support until I graduate from University. I will recognize no one else as my father but him!”

After that, Zhang hang didn’t intend to go back to his room. Instead, he went out with Big Black, still carrying his schoolbag. He didn’t want to stay at home and give Zhao Xiaolian any more opportunity to force him. Even if he hated her, she was still his mother. What could Zhang Hang do?

Fortunately, the weather was getting warmer, and the wind had the smell of spring. Zhang Hang found a hotel to stay in, but because he brought along a dog, the boss just stared at him. Eventually, when he agreed to pay more, the man reluctantly agreed. However, he repeatedly stressed that if the dog damaged hotel property, Zhang Hang would have to compensate for it twice over.

Lu Chengye was very depressed. As a dog, he was so discriminated against. Finding transportation that would accept a dog would also cost a lot of money. Fortunately, his Hang Hang was not a stubborn person. Lu Chengye had secretly taken some of Zhao Xiaolian’s money and stuffed it in Zhang Hang’s schoolbag, and Zhang Hang had silently accepted it. After all, at the time his parents were getting divorced. He’d had a feeling of impending crisis and had started saving more money.

However, the tens of thousands he had were not enough. Lu Chengye looked down and thought hard. He still had to find more ways for them to make money, but it wasn’t the right time for it.

Zhang Hang stayed in the hotel for a few days before returning home. By then, the house was a mess. After Zhao Xiaolian and Zhang Qiming got married, he never asked her to do housework. If she had money, she hired part-time cleaners. If she didn’t, Zhang Qiming did it all. Zhao Xiaolian led a pampered life, so she didn’t know how to work. The house was in complete chaos, and insects crawled among the garbage. Zhang Hang’s sense of smell had already become more sensitive, so he couldn’t bear the smell. He cleaned up the house with Big Black’s help.

Even after they were done cleaning, Zhao Xiaolian had not returned. Zhang Hang didn’t care, and continued to live his life alongside Big Black.

Zhao Xiaolian didn’t mention breaking apart the marriage to Zhang Hang again. She seemed to have gone to see Zhang Jianguo several times, but always came back with injuries. The last time she had gotten injured, it was a little serious. Zhang Hang didn’t want to look at her and just applied medicine. Zhao Xiaolian cried and scolded, “Son of a bitch, that bastard! When that woman hit me, he joined in. My son won’t even help me!”

Zhang Hang’s hand paused slightly before continuing applying medicine for his mother. That man was just a stranger who he happened to be related to. No matter how he was doing, it didn’t matter to Zhang Hang.

His vision once again blurred and when wiping the corner of Zhao Xiaolian’s mouth, he accidentally touched her lips. Zhao Xiaolian raised her hand and slapped Zhang Hang on the face. “Are you blind?!”

Zhang Hang took a deep breath and kept applying medicine. After her wounds were treated, he put the medicine box back and took Big Black back to his room.

He couldn’t see very well anymore. He had never planned to tell anyone, but his mother still hadn’t noticed…

After returning to his room, Zhang Hang weakly leaned against the door and slid down into a sitting position. He covered his face. There were no tears, just sadness. He was upset to see Zhao Xiaolian hurt. However, he didn’t know if she felt even a little bit of his pain.

Big Black put his plush head on Zhang Hang’s shoulder and the boy put his arms around him. Big Black cared about him more than anyone else in the world.

“I’m okay,” said Zhang Hang, his head buried in the black fur. “I can guess what she’s probably going to do. I won’t be sad. I’m just a little worried that if she doesn’t get a job, just relying on Dad’s financial support might not be enough.”

Zhang Hang’s worries weren’t without basis. Within a few days, Zhao Xiaolian had started to sell her jewelry. These things had been bought for her by Zhang Qiming before they divorced. Because they contained gold, they were sold for quite a bit of money.

However, one could not just sit back and do nothing. Two months later, Zhao Xiaolian was once again out of money. She stared at Big Black and said, “This dog has some value.”

Recently, Zhao Xiaolian had been crazy because of lack of money. Zhang Hang was used to this sort of behavior by now. He said coldly, “You wouldn’t even get a few hundred¹ for it. I could just sell my blood for money.”

“Don’t talk to me like that!” Zhao Xiaolian squinted at Zhang Hang. “It’s a lot of work to raise this dog. It also delays your learning. Ah, you’ve gotten poor scores in the last two monthly examinations. Your teacher called me the other day. If you want to stop going to school, you have to work…”

“Crash!” Lu Chengye angrily flicked one of the cosmetic items on Zhao Xiaolian’s dressing table with a claw. The glass bottle shattered when it hit the floor. Zhao Xiaolian rushed to the table, her heart aching. “ My cosmetics! You damn dog! I will make you into stew and eat your meat!”

Lu Chengye just ignored her and dragged Zhang Hang’s by his clothes back to his room before they were kicked out by Zhao Xiaolian. Anyway, Zhang Hang would protect him. His Hang Hang was a big boy. As long as Zhao Xiaolian didn’t sell Lu Chengye, he could do anything.

“If you don’t have money, get a job, Mom.” Zhang Hang went back to her room to try to persuade her.

Zhang Hang’s words seemed to have gotten across to Zhao Xiaolian. She started to look for a job the next day. After graduating from high school, she was assigned a job in a state-owned enterprise. Later on, the business could not produce enough profits to pay wages. Since Zhang Qiming could provide money for the both of them, she quit her job to play mahjong full time. She thought she would make a very good employee, but graduating high school was no longer enough to get a job, and she had no practical work experience. No company was willing to hire her.

In an instant, spring had passed and summer began. Zhang Hang knew he couldn’t hold on much longer. His final exam results were so poor that his teachers and classmates were gobsmacked. Lin Sheng had surpassed him by several grades and was planning to help Zhang Hang with make-up lessons during the holidays. However, this issue could not be fixed with make-up lessons. His vision had deteriorated to the point where he could only make out an object’s general outline, and Lu Chengye didn’t dare to leave him alone for a moment. He followed Zhang Hang’s ass all day and wouldn’t leave his side for a second.

Zhang Hang bought Braille textbooks and secretly taught himself Braille in his spare time. He hoped that he could build a foundation and began making plans for the future. University didn’t seem like a very realistic goal, but there was a lot of knowledge he could learn on his own. He could also take tests to get some professional and technical certifications.

Although life was hard, as long as he did his best, there was hope.

Compared with Zhang Hang who worked hard each day, Zhao Xiaolian had lost confidence in finding a job. Two days ago, she had given up and gone back to playing mahjong. All day she did nothing. Don’t mention giving Zhang Hang the child support from Zhang Qiming, she had even asked Zhang Hang for money.

Recently, Zhao Xiaolian hadn’t been home for a while. Zhang Hang didn’t know what she was up to. Once he was done with his final exams, he planned to go to the head teacher to explain the matter of dropping out. He would study Braille well over the summer.

However, the next day after finishing final exams, someone knocked on the house’s door. Zhang Hang opened it to reveal a man in a suit. The man said politely, “Hello, are you Mr. Zhang Hang? Ms. Zhao Xiaolian sold this building to me at a low price. She said there was someone else in her family who hadn’t been notified, and entrusted informing you to me. Please move out as soon as possible.”

T/N: my reaction when i translated the last paragraph

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^{1. for context, 200 hundred yuan (Chinese currency) is about… 30 USD ; U ;↩}