He Yao hadn't expected things to escalate like this.
She hadn't expected her family, who usually paid her no mind, to suddenly rally around her, expressing a unified "concern" for her.
Initially, she had felt a twinge of guilt, thinking her actions might have been questionable, and harbored vague worries about the future.
But now, seeing their true colors again, she suddenly felt she had done the right thing.
She decided to embrace the mess.
"I'm an adult now, this is my business, what does it have to do with you?"
He's mother was already furious, and upon hearing this, she became even more enraged.
"What are you saying to me? This is your own business? Nothing to do with me? You ungrateful girl, you..."
Her aunt stepped in to pull her mother away, "Oh, let's talk nicely. It's happened, it's happened, hitting her won't solve anything. Don't hit her."
"He Chuan, close the door, let's all sit down and talk this through properly today."
With that, her aunt pushed her mother onto the sofa. Her uncle nudged He Yao, and the group sat down around the sofa.
As soon as she sat down, He's mother started crying.
"It's not that I, your mother, really want to hit you, Yao Yao. Think about it, how old are you? What you're doing now is completely foolish..."
If anyone else had said this, He Yao might have listened. But her mother... wasn't that ironic?
"At most, I'm repeating your path from years ago. You gave birth to me this way too, what right do you have to judge me?"
Her mother, struck by the truth of her words, froze for a moment, tears streaming down her face.
"It's precisely because I made a mistake back then, because I regret it, that I can't let you repeat my path!"
"Have you seen how much I've sacrificed to raise you all these years? If it weren't for you, I..."
He Yao sneered and interrupted her.
"Don't always say it's because of me. You chose to have me, I didn't choose you. It's your responsibility to care for me."
"That's right, it is my responsibility to care for you. That's why I'm managing you now!"
"You didn't manage me when you should have, and now you remember. What were you doing before?"
"What do you mean by that? Although I wasn't with you since you were little, you never lacked anything that was yours, did you? Your uncle and aunt lived in such difficult conditions, yet they still raised you, and I sent you living expenses every month..."
Hearing this, He Yao found it even more ironic.
"You sent me living expenses? How much did you send each month? Ask my uncle and aunt, how much did they spend on me? Nicely put, they raised me; crudely put, I was just a free nanny in their household."
Upon hearing this, her uncle and aunt's expressions turned cold.
Her uncle said to her, "He Yao, your wings have really hardened, how can you speak like this? If we hadn't raised you, feeding you and changing your diapers, would you be where you are today?"
"There's a lot of housework, it's normal for children to help out the family!"
"I'm not saying it's abnormal to help, but at least it should be fair, right? I'm a person, is He Chuan not? Why should I do everything? He always acts like a prince?"
Her aunt looked speechless, as if He Yao had angered her to the point of no return.
"You child, you always seemed so respectful to us, I never expected you to have so many thoughts behind our backs."
"Some things are just what girls should do. The tasks I assigned you were all within your capabilities, trivial matters, and look at you, you've taken them to heart."
"And the heavy work, some of which you couldn't do, didn't I do it after getting off work? Who told us we're women? Some things, we're born to..."
He Yao didn't want to listen to them anymore.
She had heard it all too often since she was a child, feeling as though she wasn't living in modern society but in the distant past.
She found it absurd, tedious, and impossible to communicate with them.
"So what do you want to tell me today? Do you want me to leave here and go back to being your free nanny, or..."
She glanced at her stepfather and sneered.
"You can say whatever you want, but I'm not going back. I won't be manipulated by any of you."
"If you think raising me all these years was difficult, I'll repay you all when I start earning money. Don't worry, I won't default."
Her mother couldn't help but try to lay hands on her again.
"You think I came here today to ask you for money? You ungrateful girl, you're simply unreasonable!"
Saying this, her mother wiped away her tears and sighed.
"Forget it, forget it. The mistake has been made, there's no point in scolding you further. Besides, you're young and might have been deceived. I came today to seek justice for you."
"Tell me who that man is, where he is now, and call him over..."
Seek justice?
How could anyone in the world be so ridiculous? Every word that came out of their mouths was something He Yao didn't want to hear.
"What do you mean, seek justice for me? What do you mean I'm young and might have been deceived? When I was bullied at your home and reported it to you truthfully, you didn't say this to me."
"You thought I was a conniving person, full of lies and imagination, but now you're afraid I've been deceived? Mom, you always say the most ridiculous things."
He Yao's mother knew what she was referring to, and not wanting to delve deeper into the topic in front of her brother and sister-in-law, she changed the subject.
"We'll talk about the past when we get home. Today we're talking about you and that man, don't change the subject, who is he?"
He Yao sneered, closed her eyes, and leaned back on the sofa, showing no desire to communicate further.
"I won't tell you, and I won't leave here. Even if you tie me up and take me away today, I'll escape at any opportunity. You can't control me anymore, Mom, so don't try to."
"This will only cause bad blood between us, so that's that. You should leave."
"You!"
Her mother was about to say something else when her stepfather stepped in to manage the situation.
"This is all nonsense. I told you all along, just take her to the hospital for a check-up, then report it to the police for investigation. It's straightforward. What's the point of all this back and forth?"
"Let's go, I've already made the hospital appointment. We'll take her there now."
He Yao initially found the situation absurd and tedious, choosing to ignore them.
However, upon hearing her stepfather's words about reporting it to the police, she instantly became enraged.
She opened her eyes and looked at him with utter disgust.
"What right do you have to tell me what to do? You reporting me to the police? Don't you think that's ridiculous?"
Her stepfather, being a man in his 40s who had weathered many storms, was not easily provoked by her words.
He maintained his polite and refined demeanor, looking at her calmly.
"Although I'm not related to you by blood, since I married your mother, I have a legal guardianship responsibility for you..."
"Guardianship? What do you really want from me? You know yourself, so why are you lying in public? Aren't you afraid of your tongue getting twisted?"
"This is my home. I don't need you to manage me, nor do I welcome you here. You should leave!"