Warning: This translation is as abridged as possible. Read the original here and Part 1 here
Read Disclaimer here first!

Qi Yao cleared the bowls on the table.
Mother laid on the sofa, watching an inane TV series. Next to her hand was a plate of sunflower seed. She opened them as she watched TV, leaving a large pile of shells on the ground.
Yi Yao finished watching the bowls and came out with a broomstick, thinking of how to ask mother for money. “I want money, give me money.” Phrases like that are equivalent to a declaration of war at home.
When the broomstick reached her feet, she reluctantly raised her feet, as if Yi Yao interrupted her watching.
Yi Yao moved the broomstick back and forth, then took a deep breath and said, “Mom, do we have any extra money…”

“What extra money? Money is never extra.” Classic Lin Huafeng tone of voice – mocking and cruel.
Yi Yao pushed aside the anger in her. Some seed shells fell between the sofa and the ground, and couldn’t be brushed away.
“Can’t you eat nicely? They’re all over the ground. You’re lucky you’re not the one cleaning up. Why can’t you put them on the table?”
“So what if you are cleaning up? Aiyou, is it too lowly for you? Do you really think you’re worth anything? I’m taking care of you for free. Sweeping the ground? You have to lick the ground if I ask you.”
“Be clear. What did I get for free?” Yi Yao drops the sweeper. “Dad pays the school fees, and give you money every month. Plus, I serve you food and drinks. Even if you hired a servant, you would’ve have had to pay her, I…”
Before she could finish speaking, a handful of sunflower seeds flew over. All over her hair and clothes were sunflower seeds.
Although they’re small  and light, and almost didn’t hurt at all when they hit the face, somewhere in the body, they caused real sharp pain.
Yi Yao brushes aside the sunflower seeds on her hair and said,”Just tell me, do we have any extra money at home. If yes, give them to me. Otherwise, just pretend I didn’t ask.”
“Look for anything of value and home and why don’t you just sell them! You might as well as sell me, too!”
Yi Yao smiled, and returned to her room. As she closed the door, she said to Lin Huafeng, “Haven’t you already been selling yourself?”
And then the door slammed.
A cup followed and hit the door, falling to pieces.

(more…)

Warning: This translation is as abridged as possible. Read the original here.
Read Disclaimer here first!

Two points equal a segment.
One point equals a ray
No points equals a line.
Before the age of 13, Qi Ming and Yi Yao were on the same point. After that, like two rays, they became further and further.
Everyday is even more different than the previous one. Life was written in a neat version and a messy version, and then loses its color with the brushing of time until it’s hard to tell the two apart.
Before thirteen, their lives all met on the same dot.
They grew up in the same suffocating courtyard. Went to school the same year. Liked to watch the same cartoons during dinner. At that time, Qi Ming’s family was still a normal family. His father didn’t have $2million to buy high-class condos. Even the sun shined at the same degree on their growing lives.
Yet the year when they were thirteen, life pointed at two different directions and rapidly sent out rays.
In Qi Ming’s memories, one sunset that summer, Yi Yao’s father left this courtyard with a heavy luggage bag. When leaving, he kneeled down to hug Yi Yao. Qi Ming looked out the window and saw the hot tears rolling outside her father’s eyes.
When they were fifteen, he heard Yi Yao say, “my mom is a prostitute. She’s a crappy woman.”
Every life is like a ripe and sweet fruit. Only some lives were broken too early, revealing the tough core inside.
(more…)