Chapter 8 – The Convict’s Granddaughter

What kind of family was the Shen family? What were the hidden pasts of her parents? On the surface, her parents were ordinary, law-abiding citizens, not much different from the other farmers in her village. However, still waters run deep, and Shen Yu was starting to discover that nothing was as simple as it seemed.

Shen Yu kept up a calm facade in front of her parents and went to the village doctor to buy some antibiotics. After her mother took the antibiotics, Shen Yu told her mom she was leaving to go back to the office. Mrs Shen exhorted her to take care on her way there. Shen Yu nodded and walked toward the front hall, her normally clear eyes now dark as a murky pool.

Shen Yu’s father was in the living room smoking his tobacco. The spicy scent had permeated the entire room and the room was foggy with the aftermath. Shen Yu met his red-rimmed eyes as she walked through the room. When he saw her, he dipped his head down, as if he was a child who just got caught doing something naughty. Shen Yu bit her lip and did not acknowledge his presence. Although she loved her normally docile father, she couldn’t forgive him for hitting her mother.

Just as she was about to leave the room, she could hear her father softly say, “Come back soon, honey.”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she almost turned back to say something but she remembered how viciously her father hit her mother. Gritting her teeth, she left the house.

Shen Yu took the taxi to the city but did not stop by the newspaper office, instead she made a telephone call to Tang Can. Her previously quiet life had turned topsy-turvy when he appeared and she needed some answers from her omen of bad luck.

The call connected but Tang Can told her that he was still at work. He suggested that she first go to the military guest house and they would meet up for lunch to talk.

With nothing else to do, Shen Yu went to the guest house. When she got there, a female soldier invited her in and escorted her to a private room. She was very friendly towards Shen Yu and was clearly trying to get into her good graces, but Shen Yu had no interest in reciprocating. The awkward atmosphere became too much for the female soldier, and she soon found an excuse to leave.

“Bah! Who does she think she is? Isn’t she the granddaughter of the convict? Her haughty attitude makes me sick!” exclaimed the female soldier when she thought she was out of hearing range. Some other female soldiers murmured back as they walked down the hallway.

Shen Yu stood up, her eyes wide with fury, and went out of the room. Unfortunately she hadn’t been paying close attention to her escort when she came in. There were several women in military uniforms in the hallway and they all had the same short haircut. Shen Yu couldn’t tell which one was the soldier who brought her in.

Seething, she went back into the private room and kicked the table leg, causing the tea set to wobble and clink together.

“Why are you so mad? Did someone make you angry,” asked a soothing male voice behind her. Shen Yu turned around and saw that familiar, heroic looking face. It was Tang Can.

She frowned and gritted her teeth. “Who the hell are you guys and why did you find me? If you don’t give me an explanation, I will…” Shen Yu was so worked up that she couldn’t finish what she was trying to say. Her face had turned bright red and her large, dark eyes were fixated on Tang Can, as if he was a disgusting cockroach. She fumed and raged internally as she tried to get a hold of her emotions. “…if you don’t give me a rational explanation, don’t blame me if I am rude to you!”

Tang Can chuckled in amusement, clearly not offended by Shen Yu’s lack of composure. “Don’t worry about it, you don’t need to be too polite with me. Treat me as you would treat one of your close friends.”

Shen Yu almost had an aneurysm at his words. Her eyes narrowed as she lamented silently. The man in front of her was shameless!

“Please sit! No need to be too polite!” he said in good humor. Tang Can’s brilliant smile was wasted on her as she had no interest in being cajoled.

A waiter came by to receive their orders. When Tang Can asked Shen Yu what she liked to eat, she pasted on a fake smile and said, “Would you happen to have any manure? A bucket of that would be sufficient for me.”

Tang Can’s mouth dropped open and the waiter stared at her as he tried to stifle a laugh. In the end, the waiter couldn’t hold it in and  had to let out a couple of snickers behind his hand.

Tang Can quickly recovered his equilibrium and could tell that Shen Yu was displeased with him. He turned to the waiter and said, “Please give us four dishes and a soup, please.”

After the waiter left the room, Tang Can flashed a brilliant smile at Shen Yu. “I had intended to find you and discuss matters with you, so it was perfect timing for you to come here today. A while back, my unit asked to borrow a reporter from your newspaper office and they recommended you! We were just recently able to complete the temporary transfer for you, so all you need to do is fill out some forms and you’ll be able to work for our newspaper instead.”

“What?” Shen Yu could not believe her ears. It was like he was speaking an entire different language from her!

“The unit that I’m stationed with is lacking a reporter, so we asked your office to borrow you temporarily,” explained Tang Can. Shen Yu subconsciously noticed that the smile on his face had some weird undertones and she had a sneaking feeling that something was not right. She originally wanted to ask him why he didn’t ask her opinion about this matter before conducting the external transfer but decided that this was a useless question for her to ask. Tang Can clearly would not give her a straight answer, the transfer was just a convenient excuse to get Shen Yu to work for him. She needed to figure out his true motives.

“Just what exactly do you need me for? I’m telling you, I don’t know anything about Uncle Li’s past! Also, I need to tell you some bad news! Uncle Li unexpectedly died a couple of days ago!” Tang Can nodded as she told him the new, hinting that he already knew what happened. At first she was startled but she quickly realized that it wasn’t surprising that he already knew about this. They had clearly done their research and likely had kept a close eye on her and her family.

“We already knew about this. I’d like to express my sincere regrets for your loss,” he replied, appearing sincere. Shen Yu snorted and thought less of him for trying to fool her.

“Don’t be such a hypocrite, I have no interested in accepting your false pity,” she sneered disdainfully.

Despite her obvious discontent, Tang Can kept up a friendly appearance. The gentle smile never left his face. He explained to her that they  had accidentally mixed up the people that they were looking for. Her Uncle Li was indeed a part of an expedition but he was not part of the research team that he was interested in.

He then went on to say, “This is such a fortuitous coincidence for us. I’ve always wanted to have a temporary reporter for my unit and it turns out you’re the perfect person for the job. So I recommended you to the higher ups. Because that horrible situation with your family, I didn’t notify you immediately about the plans. But luckily, you contacted me today just when everything was about done. So all we need to do next is to finish filling out some forms, have you pack up some luggage at home, and then we can go out to work together!”

Shen Yu listened to him talk attentively, as a smile full of contempt graced her face. Does really think I’m that naive? That he can appease me with some candy like a three year old? After listening to that long-winded explanation that gave her no information, Shen Yu had lost her appetite for lunch and her dislike for him increased another notch.

“That’s all well and good,” she said coolly, as if she was not annoyed with him. “But could you explain to me why one of your soldiers said that I am the ‘granddaughter of a convict’?”

Tang Can’s face twisted in fury!