Chapter 4

Teacher Lane knew what my home was like, and she asked if I needed help.

I thought about it seriously and found that I didn't.

She applied for the school aid on my behalf, waived my tuition, and arranged for me to eat as much as I wanted at the school cafeteria.

It gave me more time to spend on studying.

As for home, ever since they believed I'd really put rat poison in the food, they didn't dare touch a bite until I picked up my chopsticks.

Even when they talked at home, they kept their voices low, terrified of setting me off.

A barefoot person doesn't fear one wearing shoes.

For me, passing the college admissions exams and reaching a better future was a goal that stood above every person.

Whoever got in my way could go die.

But my parents wouldn't give up.

I had just worked out the final challenge problem in math when someone told me they'd climbed onto the roof of the building next door.

A crowd of students had gathered below to watch, my father was sitting on the edge of the railing, and a school official was sweating buckets trying to talk him down.

My father shouted himself hoarse:

"I'm not coming down. If you won't leave me any way to live, then I won't live at all!"

My mother sat on the ground, slapping her thighs and wailing.

"We're suffering. We've got no choice."

The principal was suffering too. On the verge of retirement, and now this.

"Please stay calm. Whatever it is, we can work it out."

The moment he heard that, my father perked up.

"Unless you expel my son, Trudy Fox, I'm jumping off right here."

Teacher Lane had just dragged me over, and the first thing I heard was my father demanding the school expel me.

I clenched my fists, and when I looked at him, it wasn't the way you look at family. It was the way you look at an enemy.

My father grew more and more worked up.

"The family owes so much money. How does she have the nerve to sit here studying? Better she gets out and works to pay off the debt. That's worth something!"

Teacher Lane was the first to object.

"Sir, come down first, let's talk this through properly. Trudy has real potential. Once she's in college, she'll earn far more."

Teacher Lane tried to reason with him, to appeal to his feelings.

But my father was past caring about any of that.

The collectors came after him every day, and lately they'd been hitting harder. If he didn't pay soon, he was afraid they'd actually beat him to death.

As long as his son went out and earned money, he'd have the stake he needed to turn things around.

He took a step closer to the edge.

No one dared say a word.

The officials looked at me with reproach, like I was the problem.

My mother stood up and moved to my father's side.

My father was the hard force. My mother was the soft knife.

"Trudy, your dad and I really can't afford to keep you in school. Your father has no job, my health is bad, and we still have your brother to raise. He's this family's heir. He has to keep going to school. But if you keep going, this whole family falls apart."

"I'm begging you. Drop out."

The dean of students leaned in and murmured in my ear:

"Just agree with your mother for now. Get them down first."

I didn't react.

Give an inch once, and you give an inch every time after.

If they could use this today to make me drop out, they'd use it again next time.

Because it worked.

And for a situation like this, the correction center had long ago given me the standard answer.

My mother was still shouting:

"If you don't drop out, we really will jump, and then you'll have no parents, you'll be an orphan!"

Everyone was waiting for me to react.

At last, I moved.

I stepped forward and knelt down.

"Please, Mom and Dad, just die."