QTIMP -Chapter 5 Character Persona – Greedy (Part 5)

After parking and locking his bicycle, he went inside, greeted his father, and sat down.

Feng Hongxuan was reading the newspaper. Seeing his second son like this, he immediately sensed something was wrong and folded the paper, putting it aside.

“What’s going on? Has the fourth one not come back?”

“Mm.”

Feng Hongxuan sighed, then tried to comfort him, “If she doesn’t come back, she doesn’t. We just need to pay more attention in the future. People’s hearts are made of flesh; sooner or later, they’ll come to us willingly.”

Even he wasn’t sure whether he truly believed his own words.

Feng Rong couldn’t help but retort, “Come to us willingly? I’m afraid by now she must hate us.”

Feng Hongxuan paused, adjusting his glasses. “Why would you say that?”

He worked in the finance department of the machinery factory, and his upright, serious demeanor carried some authority when he spoke.

Feng Rong didn’t hide anything. “We were supposed to pick up the fourth one today, but you insisted the third one come along.”

Feng Yu, who had just entered the room, heard this and began quietly sobbing. “It’s all my fault… I just wanted to explain things to my younger sister.”

Hearing this, Feng Hongxuan frowned slightly.

Feng Rong, knowing his father wasn’t thinking deeply, explained further. “The back seat of the bicycle can only hold one person, but the fourth one never rides on the front bar.”

Once he said this, everyone else understood. Even Feng Yu only rode on the back of the family’s bicycles; both bikes even had cushions tied to the back seats.

“The most important thing is, look at what she’s wearing,” Feng Rong pointed out, indicating Feng Yu’s pale face trembling.

Seeing that his father still hadn’t reacted, Feng Rong wasn’t sure whether to feel disappointed or embarrassed, so he slowly explained, “It hasn’t even been three months since Grandma passed away.”

That single sentence instantly silenced the room, as if the air itself had frozen.

Feng Hongxuan suddenly remembered the old lady’s face. His mother had never been close to him, and when he turned twenty and had his first two children, the old lady had arranged for him to move to the city to study bookkeeping.

This had only happened because his father, before passing, had grabbed the old lady’s hand and pleaded, with the condition that he would never return to the village to disturb her, that she wouldn’t need his support in old age, and that all the family belongings would remain with her.

It was on the eve of liberation, and the city was actually quite chaotic. He had wanted his two children to stay in the countryside to be with the old lady, but she refused.

He was heartbroken, and ended up just returning once a year before the New Year to deliver some gifts. When he learned the two younger daughters had been born, he again suggested letting the youngest daughter be taken care of by her grandmother.

Unexpectedly, the old lady agreed this time. He thought this meant their mother-son relationship could be repaired. But when he made a phone call home, it ended up angering the old lady so much that she passed away.

He still remembered clearly the words she shouted before hanging up: “You really are a Feng. It was my biggest mistake not to have crushed you when you were born.”

Being told this by his own mother hurt him deeply. At that time, his only intention had been to let the third child take the fourth child’s place to get into college.

Then the fourth could take the third’s place and try again, since the two of them were exactly a year apart.

He never expected the old lady to pass away like that. When he got the news, he felt guilty and terrified. Even knowing she had left a considerable inheritance, he never thought about it.

He had always convinced himself that there was no bond between them, that the mother-son connection had simply been lost and forgotten. Now, his second son’s words had shattered that fragile self-delusion.

He confirmed to himself that, indeed, as the old lady had said, he was callous, selfish, incompetent, and even more shameless.

He was now even ashamed to face his own children, especially his youngest daughter. He thought that she must be cursing him in her heart, just like his mother did!

He didn’t say anything, slowly stood up, and returned to his room.

The Feng family’s welcome banquet ended just like that—no one touched a bite, and it dispersed silently under a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

Eldest brother Feng Fan followed the second brother into the room and asked in detail about family matters. There was nothing to hide; Feng Rong recounted everything truthfully.

Feng Fan finally sighed and only said one thing: “Third sister has some questionable intentions. No matter what fourth sister thinks, she’s a girl alone out there, and some bumps and bruises are inevitable. As her brother, you need to watch over her more. As for me… distant help won’t solve an immediate problem.”

Feng Rong nodded silently, saying nothing further, but his perception of his third sister had already changed.

Si Qiu finished washing the clothes. Even though she had tried to wring them dry, some water still dripped, so she set a basin underneath to catch it.

Of course, she could have taken them downstairs to hang, but she decided against it. Her room had a window, so leaving them there overnight and opening them in the morning would be just fine.

The next morning, when the alarm went off, Si Qiu tossed and turned violently in bed a couple of times, then quickly scrambled up.

The main reason she didn’t linger in bed was that she had to line up at a state-run restaurant to buy buns and also place an order at a private eatery.

As someone with a sweet tooth, how could she not track down the hidden food spots in the city? But since those places were quite expensive, she didn’t go all the time.

To support her high spending, she had taken a part-time job as a Russian translator at a bookstore.

Why Russian? Because her English had always been mediocre, and after two world transitions, it had mostly faded. But she had studied Russian seriously here.

Her strong mental capacity and good memory helped her learn quite well. Even before the old lady appeared, she had already planned to take translation work.

By now, she had translated two sets of materials. The first paid five yuan per thousand characters, and the second paid six and a half yuan per thousand. All were Russian-to-Chinese translations.

This earned far more than a normal wage. However, according to Si Qiu, after 1966, such pay rates would mostly be halved.

Si Qiu felt that getting up early was not really early compared to others in the building. The soundproofing was poor, and she could already hear the clattering of daily routines.

But Si Qiu had a “cheat device”: she carefully took out a formation plate and spirit stones. The formation plate wasn’t very powerful—its main function was just to confuse, block sound, and isolate sight and scent.

In the cultivation world, this was considered a basic formation plate. It was “basic” not only because its function was simple, but also because it consumed very little energy.

The first thing she did after getting up was to pack away the formation plate. It wasn’t worth wasting spirit stones when she wouldn’t be home during the day.

She changed clothes and brushed her hair, braiding it from the top of her head down to the tips, with two braids draped over her shoulders. Then she grabbed the basin and dental tools to wash up quickly.

“Good morning, Aunt Liu! Good morning, Sister Zhou! Good morning, Uncle Sun!” Si Qiu greeted energetically.

“Oh, Si Qiu, you got up early today.”

“Aunt Liu, have you already prepared breakfast?”