CHAPTER 201: CHAPTER 201 ORIGINAL SIN 10

Ever since Yun Shuangshuang started earning money, every night after dinner, without needing Yun Shuangshuang to speak up, Wang Guixiang would scoop a bowl of bone broth to send over to Feng Jinyan.

Every day for the past few days, Yun Shuangshuang had to buy ten pounds of bones back. The Yun Family had gotten used to giving Feng Jinyan a bowl of bone broth every evening, all because Yun Shuangshuang had earned seventy to eighty yuan over these past few days.

After breakfast early in the morning, Yun Shuangshuang didn’t go out to pick mushrooms right away, but brought up an old topic again.

This time she directly stated her demands to Yun Zheng, the person with the most say in the family, "Grandpa, let my dad release my mom. I can earn money to support her and watch her so she doesn’t cause trouble."

Yun Zheng frowned, dissatisfied with Yun Shuangshuang’s relentless desire to let that crazy woman out. But since Yun Shuangshuang had begun to earn money lately, quite a bit too, he couldn’t treat her as he used to, fearing she might refuse to pick mushrooms if upset, so he signaled to Wang Guixiang with his eyes.

Wang Guixiang felt annoyed inside too, but seeing her husband giving a signal, she, who had been beaten by Yun Zheng since youth, still feared him from the bottom of her heart.

Wang Guixiang forced out a kind smile, patiently telling Yun Shuangshuang, "Why do you keep bringing this up, girl? Haven’t I told you before, if your mom comes out..."

"Grandma! I know what you’ve said." Before Wang Guixiang could finish, Yun Shuangshuang, suppressing her anger, interrupted her directly.

"If my mom gets lost, I’ll take the blame; if she hits someone outside, I’ll apologize, or even if I get beaten to death because of it, I won’t blame you. But if my mom causes trouble at home again, I’ll take her to beg on the street with me!"

Yun Shuangshuang could truly not bear it anymore! "Grandpa, Grandma, today you must let my mom out, or I will not pick mushrooms anymore. I earn money from mushroom picking so my mom can eat and dress warmly, not for you to eat well and drink well while giving her only broth with no meat bits!"

Yun Shuangshuang was already unwilling to interact politely with this family; she wasn’t afraid to break ties. This family was very greedy. Perhaps other families might fall out for the sake of dignity and not want the money she earned, but the greedy Yun Family wouldn’t dare to fall out with her because of the money she was making.

Sure enough, as soon as Yun Shuangshuang got angry, everyone fell silent. Though their faces looked unpleasant, no one came forward to object further.

At first glance, it seemed like all the adults in the family were intimidated by this child, Yun Shuangshuang, but in reality, it wasn’t Yun Shuangshuang they were afraid of; they were intimidated by their greed.

Though no one objected, likewise no one was willing to release Feng Jinyan. To the Yun Family, Feng Jinyan was practically no different from a dead woman.

They kept her locked in a room, giving her just one meal a day, even occasionally forgetting that. In their hearts, these people were already waiting for Feng Jinyan to die.

Now, nobody wanted to free this lunatic they had long deemed as a dead person, but if they didn’t, and Yun Shuangshuang went on strike, they couldn’t bear losing the money she earned—over a hundred yuan in four days, even counting the cost of buying bones.

Working in the town or Upper County only earned three hundred yuan a month, and Yun Shuangshuang, a little girl, earned more than an adult. Calculated over a year, it was quite a lot, and the Yun Family couldn’t part with this unexpected income.

Finally, Yun Zheng spoke up, "Fine, since you guarantee it, ask your grandma for the key, and you open the door yourself to let her out. But let me make it clear first, your mom is not allowed in the main room after you let her out. If anything happens, it’s on you!"

After saying his piece, Yun Zheng stormed off, visibly displeased. The rest remained cold, while Wang Guixiang untied the key that locked Feng Jinyan’s door from her waist, tossing it in front of Yun Shuangshuang with a snort.

Yun Shuangshuang didn’t care at all about the Yun Family’s attitude. She was eager, picked up the key, and rushed over to unlock the door for Feng Jinyan.

The lock that had kept the door shut for so long was tossed aside by Yun Shuangshuang. She would never let anyone lock her mother up again!

The room wasn’t very rundown, containing two metal barrels where Feng Jinyan dealt with personal needs inside the room.

It was now September, the weather was still hot, and the barrels hadn’t been cleaned in many days, making the room smell terrible.

Besides the two metal barrels, all it had was a wooden bed covered with dry straw and a tattered quilt. Aside from that, the room was empty, with no furniture.

Though the environment inside was poor, Yun Shuangshuang was fully motivated. She first took out the two barrels and discarded them, since they wouldn’t be needed anymore, then she threw out the straw and the tattered quilt from the bed, and brought in water to scrub the room inside and out seven or eight times!

Luckily, there was hardly anything in the room, making tidying simpler. There was plenty of wood in the mountains, and Feng Jinyan’s wooden bed wasn’t too bad. Since it was worthless, Yun Shuangshuang scrubbed it seven or eight times. After drying it, she brought in her two quilts.

Yun Shuangshuang’s quilts weren’t great either, but they were clean. Though the mountains were hot during the day, it would get cold at night without a light cover.

Cleaning the room wasn’t hard; once the source of the smell was gone and after several cleanings both inside and out, with the windows and doors open half the day, the room no longer smelled.

But Feng Jinyan was still very dirty, covered in a grimy layer. Her hair was tangled in clumps of greasy dirt, making her look filthy and causing goosebumps all over.

Yun Shuangshuang boiled two large pots of hot water, mixed it with cold to make it just the right temperature, then brought the big plastic basin for baths into the room, shut the doors and windows, and began bathing her mom.

After two pots of hot water, you could barely make out the skin color on Feng Jinyan, and scrubbing still produced a lot of dirt. Her hair was scissor cut so jaggedly it looked chewed by dogs, but there was no other choice; it was too tangled to wash properly, and she had to cut off the matted sections.

Yun Shuangshuang then boiled four more large pots of hot water before thoroughly cleaning Feng Jinyan. Once clean, Feng Jinyan looked even thinner, practically all skin and bones, with ribs clearly visible under the skin.

There were many mosquitoes in the mountains, and since Feng Jinyan’s room was dirty, there were even more. Her skin was covered with bites that swelled into red welts. Her hands were dirty, and scratching caused the mosquito bites to break open and become infected—now her skin was full of little scabbed spots.

Holding back heartache, Yun Shuangshuang reluctantly entered the room, found mosquito coils to light, and used some homemade herbal ointments to treat every bite. This medication was excellent for stopping itching and inflammation, and soon, Feng Jinyan stopped scratching.