Chapter 142: I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY WE’RE DRAWING THIS OUT
"I didn’t know she was yours when I met her," Guiying said.
"I know," Fangfang said. "That’s what makes it funny."
Arang stepped back to let them in without a word. The children were all visible — Yilin at the small table with a bowl, the others arranged around the room in various states of morning, the two year old still drowsy against Fangfang’s side.
"He left last night," Arang said. "Around ten. Hasn’t come back."
"Again?" Guiying said.
"Again," Arang confirmed.
Behind him Wei Ling exhaled. "I have to be honest," she said, her voice carrying the confidence of someone who had decided their opinion was the most important thing in the room, "I’m not sure what we’re supposed to achieve here. The father keeps leaving, the children keep being left alone, we keep coming back. At what point do we acknowledge that some people simply aren’t capable of change?"
Guo Sheng looked up from his phone long enough to nod.
Guiying didn’t turn around immediately. He looked at Yilin, who had gone very still at the table, her spoon held halfway between the bowl and her mouth, her eyes fixed carefully on nothing.
Then he turned.
"Lower your voice," he said.
Wei Ling blinked. "I’m just being practical——"
"You’re being practical in front of a five year old who understands every word you’re saying," Guiying said quietly and clearly. "So lower your voice or take it outside."
The room went quiet.
Guo Sheng put his phone in his pocket.
Wei Ling looked at Yilin, who had gone back to her congee with the focused attention of a child who had learned that disappearing into whatever was in front of her was the safest response to adult conversations.
Nobody said anything for a moment.
Fangfang, from the couch, looked at Wei Ling with the particular expression of someone who had an opinion and the social standing to deploy it if necessary, and said nothing, which was somehow more effective than saying something.
Guiying pulled out his phone and called the social worker’s number.
There was work to do.
The social worker arrived twenty minutes later, a Beta woman in her forties named Liu Yan, punctual and unhurried, with a folder under her arm and the particular composure of someone who had walked into situations like this enough times to have stopped being shocked by any of it.
She looked at the apartment, at the children, at Rongquan’s absence, and made a note without saying anything about any of it first, which Guiying appreciated.
Wei Ling, apparently emboldened by Liu Yan’s arrival, started talking immediately. "The father isn’t here again," she said, with the emphasis of someone presenting evidence in a case she had already decided. "This is the second time in two days. Clearly the situation is——"
"Thank you," Liu Yan said pleasantly, without looking up from her folder. "I’ll form my own assessment."
Wei Ling closed her mouth.
Guo Sheng had found a chair in the corner and was sitting in it with his phone out again. Liu Yan looked at him once, looked back at her folder, and said nothing, which was its own kind of commentary.
Liu Yan crouched down in front of Yilin first.
"Hello," she said. "My name is Liu Yan. What’s yours?"
Yilin looked at her carefully, doing the same measuring assessment she did with everyone new, and then said quietly, "Song Yilin."
"That’s a pretty name," Liu Yan said. "Yilin, can you tell me when your baba left?"
"Last night," Yilin said. "After we ate."
"And who made sure you ate this morning?"
Yilin glanced at Arang, who was leaning against the kitchen doorframe with her arms crossed.
Liu Yan followed her gaze and nodded. Then she stood and moved through the apartment slowly and methodically, opening cupboards, checking the sleeping area, noting everything in her folder with the quiet efficiency of someone building a picture.
Wei Ling drifted toward Guiying and lowered her voice. "You see? There’s nothing here. No food, no proper sleeping arrangements, the father is consistently absent. The children should be removed. I don’t understand why we’re drawing this out."
"Because removal isn’t a switch you flip and undo," Guiying said, keeping his own voice low. "Those children know this apartment, they know Arang, they know each other. You don’t uproot five children from everything familiar without being certain it’s the only option left."
"And you think it isn’t?"
"I think Liu Yan is the professional in this room," Guiying said, "and she hasn’t finished her assessment yet."
Wei Ling pressed her lips together.
Fangfang, from the couch where she was quietly keeping the two year old occupied, caught Guiying’s eye and said nothing. But she raised her coffee cup slightly in his direction.
Guiying looked away before he smiled.
Liu Yan finished her walkthrough and came back to the center of the room, wrote something final in her folder, and looked at Guiying. "I’ll need to speak with the father before I can complete the assessment. Is there any way to reach him?"
"Arang," Guiying said.
Arang pushed off the doorframe. "I have a number," she said. "He doesn’t always pick up."
"Try," Liu Yan said.
Arang pulled out her phone and called. It rang out. She tried again. On the third attempt it connected and Rongquan’s voice came through, slightly blurred at the edges in a way that confirmed exactly where he’d been spending his time.
"You need to come home," Arang said, without preamble. "There’s a social worker here. Now."
A pause on the other end.
"Now, Rongquan," she said, and hung up.
Liu Yan looked at her with something that wasn’t quite approval but was adjacent to it.
"He’ll be here in twenty minutes," Arang said, which was not something Rongquan had said but which she stated with the flat certainty of someone who had just made it a fact through sheer force of expectation.
He was there in fifteen.
Rongquan entered with disheveled clothing and a faint odor of alcohol. His movements were slow, and his focus appeared dulled. He acknowledged Liu Yan, Guiying, and the children briefly before his gaze settled on Yilin, who was already observing him from the table. At 6 years old, she was the oldest of the five children and the only one of school age. Her expression was neutral, watchful.
Liu Yan waited until he was seated, then opened her file. "Mr. Song, thank you for meeting with us today. My role is to assess the welfare and safety of your children. To do that accurately, I need you to answer my questions as clearly and honestly as possible."
