To be precise, Wen Wen didn’t drive into the internet celebrity named “Forget Her I’ll Open a Chicken Frame Shop to Support You,” but rather crashed into their family’s chicken frame shop.

Here’s what happened: In the afternoon, Wen Wen went alone to a small eatery specializing in chicken frames near the Development Zone highway entrance. She ordered a set of fried chicken frames and a set of cold-dressed chicken frames, sitting in a seat directly facing the entrance. Her phone and car keys were placed on the table, and she wore two pairs of disposable gloves on each hand. While keeping her eyes on the entrance, she methodically and meticulously dismantled each piece of chicken frame, stripping the meat completely clean and neatly arranging the bones on the side.

Only a middle-aged couple was busily working in the shop, and there weren’t many customers. After finishing two sets of chicken frames without seeing the person she was waiting for, Wen Wen burped and ordered another set. She had only dismantled half of it when she saw a maturely dressed young woman walk in. She smiled and removed her disposable gloves.

Thud thud.

When the young woman saw Wen Wen, she looked as if she’d seen a ghost and shouted to the middle-aged couple inside, “Mom, Dad!” But it was too late. Wen Wen pushed and shoved her into a corner in two moves, blocking her way. Without asking anything else, she demanded to know who told her to post that video.

The chicken frame girl, wearing high-heeled boots, barely managed to stand steady: “I did it myself!”

“Who gave you the information?”

“I found it myself!”

“Where did you find it?”

“I’m not telling you.”

Wen Wen didn’t waste words. She turned around, lowered her head, and casually grabbed a stool. But before she could smash it, the middle-aged couple, with greasy hands, came from behind. One grabbed Wen Wen’s hair and pulled her aside, while the other snatched the stool from her hands, raising it threateningly and telling her to get lost.

Wen Wen wasn’t afraid at all. This small broken stool couldn’t intimidate her in the slightest. She called out behind her to be gentle pulling her hair since she’d just gotten it permed, then looked at the girl and said she’d leave once she answered her questions.

The girl walked forward two steps. Her heavily made-up skin was dry and cakey. When she smiled under the fluorescent lights, she looked somewhat eerie. Seeing her parents backing her up gave her courage, and she strained her neck to say something she would greatly regret.

“Why should I care where I got it from? I didn’t even mention your name in the video. Go find whoever cursed you in the comments below. Why come after me? I think you just have a guilty conscience and are picking on soft targets. Instead of waving a stool at me, you’d be better off burning more paper money for your sister and mother. If it weren’t for your romance-addled brain inviting a wolf into your house, none of this would have happened!”

“Say that again.”

“I said you brought it on yourself, crazy woman.”

Wen Wen said nothing. She shrugged her shoulders free from their grip, picked up her phone and car keys, and walked out. Her car had originally been parked in front of the chicken frame shop. She deliberately drove it out, made a large circle around, then turned back and stopped directly across from the chicken frame shop. She pressed the horn hard several times, then simply held it down without releasing, as if taunting them.

Only after confirming that the family of three inside the shop had noticed her and knew what she intended to do, and after the few scattered customers had also fled in fear, did she slam on the gas pedal and drive straight ahead. Amid the family’s panicked screams, Wen Wen’s Camry, which she’d bought last year, rammed straight into the small storefront of the chicken frame shop. The car’s front end lodged inside, knocking down the sign and the tables and chairs at the entrance, nearly injuring the slow-running young internet celebrity.

Yet she still sat steadily in the car, looking at the girl with cold, heavy eyes, her delicate face as calm as a mannequin’s.

Someone called the police, but the district police station was quite far from there. On the other hand, the bank where Yu Jiuqi worked was closer, so Xiao Jiu arrived before the police.

When she arrived, she saw the car’s front end still lodged in the shop, with debris scattered at the entrance. She went through the back door of the two-yuan shop next door before finding the parties involved.

It was very strange. There wasn’t the tense confrontation she’d expected. Everyone was sitting face-to-face waiting for the police, with a plate of peanuts even placed on the table—unusually harmonious. But looking carefully, Wen Wen clearly held the upper hand in terms of presence. When she saw Xiao Jiu arrive, she actually smiled and greeted her.

“Jiu, why did you come? Did you take time off again? Are you hungry? Their family’s chicken frames are quite fragrant.”

Yu Jiuqi immediately realized something was off about Wen Wen today. She shivered, puzzled that it was even colder inside than outside. Without taking off her down jacket, she sat beside her, hesitating whether to notify Yu Kaixuan.

Then she remembered seeing in Wen Du Water Park’s work group chat just now that Yu Kaixuan was frantically arranging for people to handle refunds and complaints, busy and overwhelmed.

After last night’s incident, there had been massive refunds of the group-buying vouchers sold in the live stream a few days ago. This promotional plan had completely failed, and calculating carefully, they had actually lost money. Although there was no direct connection, everyone who spent money wanted to come celebrate the holidays in a lively and festive atmosphere. People were somewhat superstitious about such things. Moreover, there were other entertainment venues to choose from besides Wen Du Water Park. Except for the regular customers who genuinely loved bathing, the refund rate for new customers was very high. Yu Kaixuan hadn’t tried to salvage the situation and just told employees to handle it actively.

Forget it. After all, when the police came, it would just be mediation and compensation. Yu Jiuqi felt she could handle it.

At this moment, she heard Wen Wen suddenly speak. She looked at the young girl across from her who was still in shock, her tone calm: “Actually, I know who gave you Sun Yuwen’s information.”

The girl looked up, then squinted down, saying nothing.

“So many personal photos, plus those cut from group photos—you definitely couldn’t find those online. Those were all from inside the house.” She continued unhurriedly, “And those poems, none of them were ever published. That letter paper was just draft paper. Those poems were ones he looked down on back then, piled up to prop up table legs.”

Yu Jiuqi panicked a bit and advised: “Mom, stop talking.”

Wen Wen still stared at the girl, as if trying to back her into a corner: “You actually managed to get your hands on them. Don’t tell me they were propping up your family’s table legs?”

“Oh, then when the police come, we’ll have to discuss this in detail and sort it all out carefully.”

The girl finally broke: “Auntie, I know I was wrong.”

Wen Wen immediately counterattacked: “Who exactly gave them to you?”

Then Wen Wen named names one by one, gauging the girl’s reaction. First, she mentioned Sun Xi, then Sun Zhengwu, Li Fang, Old Lady Sun, and finally, after thinking for a long time, she remembered that name—Sun Tingting?

When Sun Tingting was mentioned, the girl suddenly bent over at the waist, lowering her head as if about to cry.

Wen Wen only sighed lightly and said, “So it was that child.” Then she added, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

In less than a minute, Yu Jiuqi realized something was wrong. She chased to the bathroom at the back door of the chicken frame shop, and sure enough, Wen Wen wasn’t inside. Meanwhile, the voices of two rough-voiced men came from the front door—clearly people from the police station had arrived.

Yu Jiuqi only hesitated for a few seconds before turning around and also slipping away. She knew the police would come looking for them and might even face more serious consequences, but compared to that, she was more wary of what Wen Wen was about to do next.

She knew very clearly where Wen Wen would go right now.

Yu Jiuqi ran to the intersection a hundred meters away before struggling to flag down a taxi. Based on memories from many years ago, she gave an address. She’d thought she’d long forgotten it, but surprisingly, she remembered it so clearly.

She arrived at that old residential community on Xifeng Street. Just as she got out of the car, before even entering the complex, she saw Wen Wen walking out through the low side door. She told the taxi driver to wait a moment.

The sky had already turned completely dark. The streetlights in the old community were dim, and the cold wind howled, cutting across her face like knives. Yet she only wore thick stockings with a long leather skirt over them.

Yu Jiuqi guessed she must have come up empty. Running against the wind, she shouted: “Mom, the wind is strong. Let’s go back first!”

Wen Wen looked at Xiao Jiu against the wind, seemingly unsurprised that she could find her. She didn’t ask anything, just walked over. The wind blew her long hair back behind her head, and a solemn face gradually became clear: “Don’t worry about me.”

“They’re not home, right?” Xiao Jiu asked against the wind.

“They must be hiding.”

“Then we’ll talk about it later.”

“I know where to find them!”

After saying this, Wen Wen suddenly quickened her pace, circling around Yu Jiuqi and walking toward the taxi waiting by the roadside. She got in, quickly closed the door, and said something to the driver. Before Xiao Jiu could catch up, the taxi carrying Wen Wen had already driven off, leaving her in the cold wind.

In the long, overt and covert struggle with Wen Wen, being cast aside as an obstacle like this was not uncommon. Yu Jiuqi glanced indifferently at this street she’d secretly visited many times during her teenage years. Despite the dim nightlights, with one look, she could still glimpse that short building at the very end. Xiao Jiu knew that whenever matters involved that household, Wen Wen didn’t trust her.

However, Yu Jiuqi didn’t mind her distrust and even understood it. Setting aside the well-documented betrayals of the past, just in the back-and-forth struggle between mother and daughter, Xiao Jiu wasn’t as obedient and well-behaved as she appeared.

After all, she was a child raised by Wen Wen’s own hands—she had learned some alternative methods of going crazy.

Yu Jiuqi stood in the wind, not rushing to chase after her, but instead made a phone call. The number had only three digits.

She called the police to arrest her mother.

She wasn’t joking with the police either. Her reason for calling was very sufficient. First, she voluntarily reported that Wen Wen was the person who had just driven a car into the chicken frame shop in the Development Zone. Ask the internet celebrity selling chicken frames about the motive. After crashing into their shop, when the police came, she ran away. She ran to settle accounts with the Sun family’s daughter, but no one was home at the Sun family.

At this point, the police asked, “Then where would she go?”

Yu Jiuqi said, “To the hospital, Shicheng City Hospital, to find the Sun family’s grandmother. You can run from the monk but not the temple. The Sun family’s temple was never this house but the old lady.”

The police finally asked, “What’s your relationship to Wen Wen?”

Yu Jiuqi was dazed for a moment before saying, “She’s my mother. I’m her daughter. So trust me, I’m the person in this world who understands her best. I know she doesn’t care about anything, isn’t afraid of anything, and is capable of doing anything.”

When Yu Jiuqi arrived at the hospital, she happened to encounter the police car that had just stopped at the entrance. She ran toward the inpatient department on the third floor, right on the heels of the police.

Xiao Jiu ran up first. Standing in the corridor, she saw several people gathered outside a ward in the nephrology department. Besides nurses and onlookers, the most eye-catching was Wen Wen in all black. She leaned against the door, arms folded, standing there as if waiting desperately for someone.

When Wen Wen heard running footsteps, she turned her head. After seeing Xiao Jiu, she just blinked. Then seeing two police officers behind her, she pulled at the corner of her mouth in a smile, turned around, and, looking as though she wasn’t going to wait anymore, kicked open the ward door.

Yu Jiuqi ran over and entered the ward. She saw Wen Wen still standing with arms folded, staring at the old lady with messy short hair sitting on the hospital bed. Xiao Jiu looked over too, at Grandma Sun Xi, whom she hadn’t seen in many years—someone who had once ruthlessly used her.

Old Lady Sun had developed uremia a few years ago and had only recently been matched with a kidney source. She was hospitalized waiting for surgery. Her face was waxy yellow, withered and emaciated, but her bulging eyes still looked like they could shoot fire, just as in the past, fiercely staring at Wen Wen before her.

Xiao Jiu often thought that in this feud spanning more than twenty years between the two families, Wen Wen wasn’t the only one still stuck in the past unable to return. Grandma Sun was the same, living solely on the resentment and unwillingness accumulated from the past.

They only exchanged a few glances, carrying a tacit understanding of deep-seated grudges. In the very short time before the police intervened, they had a confrontational exchange of a few words.

Wen Wen spoke first, saying lightly: “Oh, you’re not dead yet.”

Old Lady Sun’s voice trembled slightly but was extremely loud: “Neither are you, still shamelessly living on.”

Wen Wen smiled, appearing completely unconcerned: “You haven’t changed at all, still so disagreeable.”

Old Lady Sun snorted, then finally turned to look at Xiao Jiu, sizing her up and down. After a moment of silence, she said: “The wild child has become beautiful.”

Wen Wen said sternly: “Watch your mouth!”

Old Lady Sun’s gaze dully fell back on Wen Wen: “You haven’t changed either.”

Yu Jiuqi saw Wen Wen’s lips move, wanting to say something, but seeming to swallow the words back.

In the end, she only said in a light, admonishing tone through clenched teeth: “You better live well and watch carefully. You watch.”

At this point, the police stepped forward. Having apparently learned about the relationship between the two families in advance, they said a few mediating platitudes about young people sitting down to talk things through properly, not disturbing the elderly patient’s rest. “Let’s go, first come back to the police station. We still need to discuss the chicken frame shop incident. Really fierce—driving your car into someone’s shop.”

Wen Wen shuffled along following them, interjecting: “My daughter is fiercer—she called the police to arrest her mother.”

The police actually laughed, saying this was indeed the first time they’d encountered such a thing, looks like this child’s temperament takes after yours. Yu Jiuqi chuckled awkwardly, but Wen Wen suddenly stopped talking—not a single word.

At the police station, she still didn’t feel like talking. It wasn’t that she was uncooperative—she answered whatever the police asked and was flexible about compensation—but don’t expect her to apologize politely. No way. Yu Jiuqi rushed ahead to negotiate with the police station and the chicken frame shop people, reasoning and speaking nicely, while Wen Wen just sat beside her with crossed legs scrolling through her phone. Xiao Jiu glanced over—she was actually reading web novels.

Seeing Wen Wen’s casual attitude and Yu Jiuqi being a young woman who couldn’t bring herself to be too harsh, the chicken frame shop couple deliberately reported an inflated amount with vague and concrete numbers. Xiao Jiu got anxious and nearly got on the table to argue with them. After haggling and bickering for a long time, the other side wouldn’t budge an inch, and Xiao Jiu didn’t gain any advantage either.

At the critical moment, Yu Kaixuan and Xiao Fu arrived one after the other.

At the same time, suddenly, Yu Jiuqi’s phone, which was face-down on the table, started buzzing. It was a WeChat call.

She glanced at it indifferently and turned it face-down again.

It was Sun Xi.

Actually, on the way to the police station, she’d first received a message from him, briefly asking: [Is it convenient to call?]

Yu Jiuqi hadn’t replied to him. About an hour later, he sent another message: [Nothing else. Just want to say a few words about today’s matter.]

Xiao Jiu guessed he must have learned about the hospital incident. While arguing and bickering, she took time to reply with two sentences.

[I’m busy.]

[Busy with what?]

[At the police station.]

Then he called.

Yu Jiuqi didn’t answer immediately. She explained the current situation to Yu Kaixuan. Second Brother Kai knew the deputy director and had some connection. He talked things through a bit, deliberately adopting some street tone, sticking out his belly and frowning heavily before sitting down solemnly. The chicken frame shop couple became somewhat intimidated.

After feeling slightly more at ease, Xiao Jiu pondered for a moment. She thought that ultimately today’s matter was a conflict between the two families, and his curiosity was natural. It was necessary to communicate about it. She stood up and left, walking out of the police station.

She didn’t go far, just circled around two or three officers chatting and smoking at the entrance, coming to the small parking lot. Two police cars were parked there. The surroundings were pitch black and deserted. She pulled the hood of her down jacket over her head, swiped open her phone—its light casting faint shadows on her smooth-featured face—blinked, then called back.

He answered almost instantly.

Before speaking, Xiao Jiu suddenly regretted not asking those smoking officers at the entrance for a cigarette.

“Hello.” Her voice was inexplicably tight.

His side was very quiet: “How’s the situation at the police station?”

“Nothing serious now.” She guessed Sun Xi wanted to know more specifically, so she explained further, “Right now we’re just discussing paying some compensation. It’s being paid to other people, nothing involving your family. Don’t worry.”

He was silent for a while before saying in a low voice: “I know it was Tingting who caused the trouble. I’ll talk to her.”

“Will she listen to you?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Alright then, hope this matter ends here.”

“Mm.”

“Thank you for your trouble then.”

He fell silent again. Xiao Jiu looked at her phone—still connected. Just as she was about to find an excuse to say it was quite cold outside and hang up, Sun Xi suddenly asked:

“Are you still using that CCB card from university?”

Xiao Jiu thought for a moment, not understanding what he meant.

“I’ll return the money to you.”

Return money?

“I’m hanging up then.” He finally said.

Her throat felt dry. Yu Jiuqi still went to ask for a cigarette, borrowed a light, smiled sweetly thanking them, then slowly walked back to the parking lot holding the cigarette.

A short notification sound from her phone. Looking down, she saw a bank transfer notification—a string of zeros starting with 9. It must be what he’d transferred. She glanced at it and exited.

The cigarette was a bit harsh. The smoke she exhaled was thick, clumsily dispersing in the minus twenty-degree cold air, each wisp distinct. She stared at the increasingly thin smoke, contemplating why he suddenly returned this money.

Probably because he heard her mention compensation and felt somewhat responsible on his family’s part.

What else?

Suddenly, Xiao Jiu recalled the previously interrupted memory from middle school when he’d invited her to the New Year’s countdown at the back door of the milk tea shop.

At the time, Yu Jiuqi had refused.

No excuse used, she just didn’t want to go.

He still sat on the small stool at the doorway, nodded and said: “That’s fine. Then tomorrow I’ll treat you to milk tea.”

“No need.”

“Much better milk tea than this place.”

“No need.”

“Then how should I thank you?” He shook his bandaged wrist.

“No need to thank me.”

“I don’t like owing people.”

At the time, Yu Jiuqi stood two steps away from him, looking down at that face she found detestable, which had suddenly become much more serious.

“I don’t like owing people.” The teenage Sun Xi emphasized again, “If you owe someone, you have to repay it. If you don’t repay, it becomes a debt. Debts will never let people rest easy—they make you remember constantly, every moment.”

“Do you want me to think about you constantly?” He suddenly locked eyes with Yu Jiuqi. “Or do you want to remember me?”

“Once it’s repaid, it’s good, right?”

“Right.”

……

That cigarette was so harsh it made her cough. She stubbed it out and threw it in the trash can, then took out a mint candy she always kept with her, eating it as she walked toward the police station.

Once repaid, it’s good.

Yu Jiuqi breathed a sigh of relief.

Oh, wait!

She suddenly remembered something, took out her phone, and opened that bank transfer message again, looking at it carefully, over and over, looking at that string of zeros after the 9.

She counted several times, confirming she wasn’t seeing things. There were more zeros than he should have given!

What the—

Why so many?