A Promising Youth

Chapter 6 Why Is It Unfair To Me?

We got into my brother's car that day, and on the way they kept saying how good the unit was, how

good the pay was. My brother said he had gone to great lengths to help me find an expatriate job, and

that I only had to work for a year, and then I could be a minor leader when I was back.

I was so sad to see my family's hypocritical faces. I was born of the same parents, why was I sold into

the black coal mine?

Why had I been sent to prison?

How could my parents be so cruel to me?

So now, it was okay if they changed, but if they tried to harm me, I would never sit and do nothing!

I had to ask my parents why they treated me so unfairly all these years!

At noon, we went to the sales office, bought a house for my brother and paid the down payment. At that

time, my brother really thought of himself as Matteo, all the contracts and identity documents used the

name of “Matteo”.

After the formalities were done, we went to the restaurant for dinner. During the meal, my brother called

the recruiters and asked them to take me in front of the restaurant.

They thought I was a fool. Instead of recruiting at the company, they came to take me in front of the

hotel. What was this if not a human trafficker?

I put down my chopsticks, grabbed my brother's bag and said.

“I'm full, I am leaving.”

I turned to leave after saying that, but my father slapped the table and said in a cold, stern voice.

“Where are you going? The recruiter will be here in a minute, now you're not going anywhere!”

My brother followed suit, stood up, grabbed me by the shirt directly from behind and said.

“What are you doing with my bag? Put it down!”

I tilted my head and took a deep breath and after calming down, I turned to look at him and said with a

bitter smile.

“Brother, this is my bag. The identity documents inside, the academic certificates, and even the

contract to buy a house were all written in my name, Matteo Chan. How could this be your bag? How

do you prove it?”

“Mother fucker.”

My brother suddenly glared at me with big bloodshot eyes and bared his teeth as he yelled.

“From this day on, your name is Jemima Chan, and I'm Matteo Chan! If you let it slip, I'll break your

bones!”

“Brother, what you say doesn't count. This is a society under the rule of law, who is Jemima Chan and

who is Matteo Chan, we have to talk about evidence!”

As I spoke, my palms were sweating with fear. The fear this family had brought to me, especially the

hostility of my brother's grim face still haunted me.

But I had to resist. Master said that there were things not as scary as we thought, and that if I took the

first step bravely, I might find something different.

I chose to trust him, so I took my courage and said.

“Why don't we take the police and go to the village and get the neighbors to see who exactly is Matteo

Chan?!”

In fact, my brother and I grew up in the village, so the villagers could tell who was the timid and reticent

Matteo and who was the wild and hideous Jemima just by listening to our voices!

Hearing me say that, the family all panicked!

For in their consciousness I had always been a slave at the mercy of others, afraid to resist. My father,

still trying to frighten me with his majesty, got up and seized me by the collar and said.

“Have you made enough noise? You were all born to me. Whoever I say is Matteo, is Matteo!”

I pushed his hand away so hard that he stumbled, and I said.

“Dad, after five years in prison and being away from your family, I realized that my life isn't what you

make it out to be! And the IDs and academic certificates in the bag are all in my name, I just got back

what was mine, shouldn't I?”

Speaking here, I paused for a moment and added.

“As for this house, I will take it as your compensation for my five years in prison, it's not too much, is

it?!”

“Son of a bitch, do you believe I'll kill you?!” Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

At that moment, my father became enraged and grabbed the plate on the table and was about to

smash it at me. My brother got up and grabbed the stool and swung it at me.

“This is a hotel! As long as you dare to hit me, the people in the hotel will definitely be the first to call

the police!”

Trying to restrain my fear and my trembling legs, I stared at them and said.

“Once it goes to the police station, it's going to be a big deal! Then I'll tell them all about the time you

lied to me and put me in prison and my brother impersonated me in college! With such a big crime,

your family will never get out in 10 years!”

Their movements stopped and cold sweat broke out on my back. My mother fell to the floor at once,

crying and clutching my leg, and said.

“Matteo, why are you so ignorant! We're at least your families. Your brother has arranged such a good

job for you, with more than 6000 a month, you can't do this to us!”

Looking at my mother's hypocritical wretchedness, I sniffled and said.

“Mom, it's more than 6,000 a month, it's 8,000, right? And the money will all be on my brother's card,

and I'll be tricked into the black coal mine for the rest of my life, right?”

“Son of a bitch, you eavesdropped on us!”

Again, my brother got furious and was to swing the stool to hit me.

“If you dare to do it, why should I not dare to eavesdrop? Jemima, dare you move me?”

With cold eyes, that was the first time I went toe-to-toe with my brother!

The air froze instantly, and as all the hypocrisy was unraveled and the filth exposed to the sun, each of

their faces burned hotly!

On the contrary, my mother was so thick-skinned that she immediately put on the face of a rural shrew

and kept shaking my leg, saying.

“Matteo, you can't be like this. No matter what, we're the ones who gave birth to you and fed you from a

young age! If you cheat the house away, how can we still live? The family's land is gone and we're

$80,000 in debt. You're driving us to death!”

“Mom, when you set me up in prison and were going to sell me into the black coal mine, why didn't you

think that you could drive me to my death? Do you guys know what I've been through all these years?”

I couldn't believe I was in tears at the mention of it. Clutching the bag in my hand, I gritted my teeth and

asked, “Why are you so nice to brother, but unfair to me? I need an answer. If your answer satisfies

me, I can give it to you this house contract!”

Hearing this, my father slammed the plate hard on the floor, and yelled at me with his hair erect.

“Because you're a plague! If it weren't for you, our family wouldn't be in such dire straits! If I had known

back then, we should have aborted you. We shouldn't have kept you alive in this world!”

“Cut the crap!”

My mother stood up in tears and choked up as she told me about that year.

In that year, my brother was the only child in the family. My parents were still employees of the county's

large factories. They were not rich but had a good life in the village. Then because of the over-birth of

me, family planning not only fined them with all their money, but also made them lost their jobs, so the

family had been in ruins since.

So all these years, they blamed me for the downfall of the family, and that was why they treated me so

coldly, beat me, and took out their anger!

But what did I do wrong?

Did I make them give birth to me?

Gritting my teeth, with tears sliding down my cheeks, I glared at them fiercely and asked

“Is that my fault? Is it fair to me to you have me and did not raise me properly and constantly take it out

on me?

Dad, Mom, I'm a human being, not a beast, let alone a pig you can fatten up and slaughter!“

“It's all because you insisted to have him! I told you he was a little devil. Well, the devil is now getting

his revenge!”

Because of his weakness, my father didn't dare target me, but backhandedly slapped my mother.

My brother leaned over to whisper something in my father's ear, and then he fumbled for my father's

phone and headed straight out of the box.

My brother, who was full of bad intentions, must have no good intentions when he went out with the

phone.