Chapter 8: My Daughter Is My Last Line

“Don’t you like playing every day? Today I’ll play with you.”

He reached out to shove me aside.

I grabbed his wrist and twisted hard.

Pain made him double over.

“Ha An Thu!”

I didn’t let go.

“If you touch her one more time, I’ll make you cross the street whenever you see a child.”

Parents nearby began to gather.

Someone recognized him.

“Isn’t that the uncle who hit that little girl?”

“Why is he still hanging around the school?”

Chu Yao’s expression changed.

He tried to yank his arm free.

I let go.

He staggered and nearly fell.

Just then, the school gate opened.

The teacher led Doa Doa outside.

The moment Doa Doa saw Chu Yao, her little face went white.

She hid behind the teacher.

My heart clenched.

Chu Yao still tried to smile.

“Doa Doa, I got you a balloon.”

Doa Doa shook her head hard.

“I don’t want it.”

Chu Yao’s face darkened.

“Is that what your mother taught you?”

Doa Doa clutched my hand. Her voice trembled, but she spoke clearly.

“You hit me.”

“I don’t want you.”

Chu Yao froze.

The other parents’ eyes pricked at him like needles.

Someone said bluntly, “A grown man bullying a child. What a disgrace.”

Humiliated and angry, Chu Yao raised his hand to slap her.

I didn’t move.

A hand reached out from the side and grabbed him.

It was one of the kindergarten’s male teachers.

He said coldly, “This is the school entrance. Please leave.”

Chu Yao struggled several times but couldn’t get free.

His face turned purple.

I stepped up to him and spoke quietly.

“Chu Yao, after coming here today, you’ve lost the last bit of dignity you had.”

“Go tell Du Mei.”

“She can’t use you to scare me. It won’t work.”

“My daughter isn’t someone she can hurt whenever she wants.”

Chu Yao glared at me.

“Don’t get cocky.”

I picked Doa Doa up.

“Of course I’m going to be cocky.”

“Because from today on, none of you will ever be able to scare her again.”

I carried Doa Doa away.

Behind us, Chu Yao was escorted out of the school gate.

Doa Doa rested her head on my shoulder and whispered, “Mommy, I said it out loud just now.”

I rubbed her back.

“I heard you.”

“You were so brave.”

She clung to me and cried for a while.

Not because she was scared.

But because, at last, she could let out all the hurt she’d been holding in.

That evening, Chu Chi came again.

This time, he didn’t knock.

He knelt outside my door.

Every neighbor who passed by saw him.

He lowered his head and spoke in a voice so hoarse I could barely recognize it.

“An Thu, I was wrong.”

I watched him through the peephole.

I didn’t open the door.

Du Mei came, too.

She leaned against the wall. The arrogance she’d shown before was gone.

“An Thu, I’ll apologize to Doa Doa. Open the door.”

I opened it.

Du Mei’s eyes brightened.

The next moment, I set Doa Doa’s medical report down beside her feet.

“Apologize here.”

The hallway was packed with people.

Du Mei’s face turned white.

She hadn’t expected me to make her apologize in front of everyone.

Chu Chi knelt beside her, his head bowed even lower.

Chu Duc Thuan had come, too. He stood at the top of the stairs, his face gray.

Du Mei’s lips trembled.

“An Thu, can’t we talk about this at home?”

I looked at her.

“Yesterday, when you were talking about family matters, weren’t you loud enough?”

The woman across the hall folded her arms.

“That’s right. The child’s face was all swollen, and not one of you looked sorry.”

Du Mei’s eyes reddened.

This time, she wasn’t pretending.

She was afraid.

At last, she understood that she’d torn away the Chu family’s last thin veil of respectability with her own hands.

I didn’t hurry her.

I just stood there, holding Doa Doa’s hand.

Doa Doa didn’t hide.

She stood beside me and looked at Du Mei.

Du Mei swallowed.

Finally, she bent down.

“Doa Doa, Grandma was wrong.”

“I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way.”

“I shouldn’t have covered for your uncle.”

“I shouldn’t have called you a useless girl.”

Doa Doa looked at her but didn’t say, “It’s okay.”

I hadn’t taught her to say that.

Some wounds don’t deserve to be erased with a casual “It’s okay.”

Du Mei looked up at me, tears spilling down her face.

“An Thu, I’m sorry to you, too.”

I said calmly, “I don’t accept your apology.”

She froze.

Chu Chi abruptly raised his head.

“An Thu!”

I looked at him.

“I opened the door today not to reconcile.”

“I opened it so you could give Doa Doa the apologies you still owed her.”

“Now that you’ve apologized, leave.”

The last glimmer in Chu Chi’s eyes went out.

Du Mei still tried to grab my hand.

I stepped back.

“Don’t touch me.”

Chu Duc Thuan finally spoke, his voice much quieter than before.

“An Thu, we’re old. In the future, we’ll still have to rely on you children.”

I laughed.

“Don’t you have a son?”

His expression turned ugly.

Chu Yao had become a laughingstock.

Chu Chi was being criticized behind his back by their relatives.

Only then did they remember the good things I’d done for them.

But it was too late.

Half a month later, Chu Chi moved out.

From that day on, I was the only one responsible for the mortgage.

I didn’t feel tired.

Before, I’d been supporting the whole extended family.