Chapter 293: Chapter 290: Ye Xiaotong’s Ending (Part 2)
Ye Xiaotong really didn’t want to go back.
In the village, there was Liu Dongliang, who knew about her past. Once she returned, he was likely to notice and even threaten her again.
She couldn’t return in such a wretched state!
Yang Xiumei couldn’t persuade her, so she took Wu back to the village first, saying she would come to the town to get her in a few days.
After all, there wasn’t a single penny left in the house to buy food. They could starve, but the child couldn’t.
At least when they returned to the village, Wu could have a full meal.
Ye Xiaotong stayed alone in the house for several days. When the landlord came to ask for rent again, she wanted to plead, but the landlord wasn’t having it, giving her only three days to pay up or leave.
Ye Xiaotong was out of options, dragging her sick body around looking for work, thinking of finding a cheaper place to stay for the time being.
But in the past two years, the town had developed rapidly, and the rent for houses skyrocketed; even a small room was shockingly expensive to her.
It’s been a long time since she lived through the days of having no money. Ye Xiaotong refused to believe that bad luck would strike her again, refusing to accept a life of hardship once more.
So she went to find her other old clients.
But those who used to hang onto her every word now chased her away as soon as they saw her. Some even hit or cursed her because they, like her, had contracted the disease.
In just a few days, Ye Xiaotong became a street rat, even having to hide in alleys to avoid being caught and beaten by those who held grudges against her.
She managed to scrape together some money.
But that money was what her former clients used to get rid of her quickly, as if she were a beggar.
She couldn’t afford to renew her room, so Ye Xiaotong found the cheapest and most dilapidated small room to stay temporarily, moving her previous belongings there.
By the time Yang Xiumei returned to town to bring her back to the village, Ye Xiaotong was nowhere to be found.
Yang Xiumei worried that she might have lost hope or gotten into an accident, coming to town for several consecutive days to look for her.
But Ye Xiaotong was afraid to return to the village, unlikely to be found. She deliberately avoided capture, and Yang Xiumei’s hopes gradually died.
From initially searching every day, asking around, it dwindled to once a week, then to once a month or even two months, but Ye Xiaotong never appeared, and Yang Xiumei abandoned hope completely.
After all, Ye Xiaotong had infected many people, creating countless enemies; she probably fled town to hide in another city or perhaps got beaten to death long ago.
Yang Xiumei had aged; she didn’t have the energy to look for Ye Xiaotong, resigning herself to the idea that her daughter was dead.
But in reality, Ye Xiaotong remained in town.
She just couldn’t find normal work, hiding every day in dark, filthy alleys, exploiting the poor lighting and the urgency and panic of the men who came looking for her, barely maintaining her survival.
Though she earned much less in these alleys than before, her circumstances left her no room for complaint, as no store was willing to hire her, and she couldn’t do anything else, only this.
Years passed, and Ye Xiaotong’s health finally deteriorated.
The doctor had said back then that within another year, she would reach the late stages of syphilis, untreatable even if she wanted.
Now, more than two years later, she was already in the late stage, with no way of treating it.
She couldn’t even go to the alley to earn money anymore; her skin on her face and body was broken and rotting, terrifying ordinary people, making it impossible for anyone to pay for her.
So Ye Xiaotong survived by scavenging garbage for food.
She picked leftovers others discarded or spoiled food they threw away.
Her clothes were long exchanged for food; only the last piece remained on her body.
She wanted to go home, but returning in such a state would be worse than dying directly, with people laughing at her.
She’d rather eat garbage.
Holding onto that last shred of dignity before dying.
Finally, one day, she could no longer scavenge garbage.
That day, the rain poured down heavily.
She had nowhere to take shelter, her clothes were soaked, her stomach growled with hunger, she burned with fever, her body covered with broken, torn flesh.
Seeing someone throw out a spoiled portion of braised food into the trash, she hurriedly dragged her heavy body over, half crawling, half walking.
But when she saw the printed image of the advertising diva on the box with braised duck neck, she broke down completely.
This wasn’t any ordinary braised duck neck.
It was Love Vine Sweet and Spicy Duck neck, with the advertising diva being the clear-eyed, beautiful Ye Manman!
Ye Xiaotong never imagined she would see Ye Manman again in such a situation!
All her strength seemed drained in that instant, causing her to collapse weak-kneed into the dirty, foul-smelling water on the ground.
The rain mercilessly pounded her body and face, rendering her numb all over.
And beside her lay that box with Ye Manman’s photo on it, holding the sweet and spicy duck.
Ye Manman appeared more beautiful than ever; even just looking at this photograph, she could feel Ye Manman’s unreachability.
Ye Manman already lived a happy and blissful past life, and her current life turned out even better!
Living in Jing City, her image printed on Sweet and Spicy Duck distributed to their little town.
How great must her life be!
How prosperous must He Chen have become!
Why was it this way?
She had lived another lifetime, shouldn’t it be her turn to enjoy wealth and luxury this time, to become a noblewoman residing in a mansion driving luxury cars?
Why was Xie Fengmian still in prison, and she was here in the trash?
"Why..."
She stared with muddy eyes at the sky, uttering one final question.
But the heavens didn’t answer her, the rain intensified instead.
Ye Xiaotong’s eyes blinked weakly; she never received her answer, and her eyes lacked the strength to close again...
