“Kang Jie, every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor. Some things can be done on someone else’s behalf, but other things simply cannot be substituted by another person.” Ye Zhiqiu assumed Kang Zhimiao had come to plead for leniency on Kang Zhixin’s behalf.
She hadn’t expected Kang Zhimiao to shake her head. “Zhiqiu, you’ve misunderstood. I’m not here to ask you to forgive Zhixin. She did something wrong, and she should face the consequences.”
“I really never imagined she would do something like that.”
After learning the full details of what had happened, Kang Zhimiao was furious.
She was a dancer herself, and she understood all too well what an injury meant for a dancer’s career—especially since she could see that Ye Zhiqiu was someone who genuinely loved dance with all her heart.
Right then and there, she had slapped Kang Zhixin across the face and given her a furious scolding.
She had come to see Ye Zhiqiu not to ask her to plead with the Troupe leaders on behalf of Kang Zhixin or Wu Qingyun.
She knew perfectly well that once the Troupe leadership had made a decision like this, there was no changing it—particularly given how egregious Kang Zhixin’s behavior had been.
“Kang Jie, since she’s already received her due punishment, let’s just put this matter behind us.”
Ye Zhiqiu wasn’t an overly magnanimous person by nature. She simply didn’t want to waste her time and energy on such petty, unpleasant affairs.
Kang Zhixin wasn’t worth it.
Kang Zhimiao chatted with Ye Zhiqiu for a while longer before heading home. She was just about to start cooking when the phone rang.
It was Kang Zhishou calling her. “Big Sister, something terrible has happened. Zhixin slit her wrists, and the shock made Dad faint.”
Kang Zhimiao frowned. “How is Dad doing?”
“Dad’s going to be fine. But Zhixin, she…”
“What about her? Is it beyond saving? Or is she going to be left with permanent damage?”
Kang Zhishou found his older sister’s reaction very strange. Before this, Kang Zhimiao had been the one who cared most about Kang Zhixin out of all of them. Now she seemed utterly indifferent to whether Zhixin lived or died, cold and distant.
“Zhixin, she wants to see you.”
“Fine. I understand. I’ll come over after I’ve eaten.”
After hanging up the phone, Kang Zhimiao felt genuinely unsettled.
After all, this was the little sister she had cherished and looked after for so many years. How could she simply stop caring on a whim? But what Kang Zhixin had done was just too infuriating.
She made dinner for Xu Xun and Xu Rui, then headed straight to the hospital without eating anything herself.
She went to see Kang Zhengqing first and explained the situation clearly to him. “Dad, I went to see that young woman. The fact that she isn’t pressing the matter further is already a huge act of generosity on her part. Zhixin’s expulsion is a done deal. There’s no changing it.”
Kang Zhengqing understood the reality of the situation deep down. He was just soft-hearted and couldn’t bear to see Kang Zhixin in such a hysterical, unhinged state.
He let out a heavy sigh. “Then what are we supposed to do about Zhixin? Tell me, here I am at my age, and I’m supposed to watch one of my own children be buried before me?”
“Dad, Zhixin isn’t genuinely trying to kill herself. She’s using this to frighten us. Since she was little, how many times has she pulled the same stunts—first crying, then making a scene, then threatening suicide? Is it really that few?”
At Kang Zhimiao’s words, Kang Zhengqing, Kang Zhishou, and Kang Zhiren all found themselves remembering.
Because Kang Zhixin was the youngest, and because her mother had risked her life to bring her into this world, they had all spoiled her terribly.
The result was that she had been indulged to the point of becoming unreasonable. Ever since childhood, whatever she wanted, she had to have, or she would kick up an endless fuss.
Back then, Kang Zhimiao had spent the most time with Kang Zhixin, so these memories were the clearest in her mind.
Once Zhixin got a bit older, she behaved much better, and they all just assumed that her earlier behavior had simply been childish immaturity.
“She ran her mouth off, spreading rumors everywhere. That’s how she earned that disciplinary mark, and she even dragged Dad’s reputation and both of yours through the mud.”
“She got injured because of her own aggressive competitiveness. No one pushed her; she fell all on her own.”
“And this time, she went even further—trying to hurt someone right in front of other Troupe leaders.”
Kang Zhimiao laid out everything Kang Zhixin had done. “Before, I kept quiet about these things because I was mindful of her being a young woman, sensitive about her reputation. When I found out, I just buried it.”
“But now she’s getting more and more out of hand. We can’t let her have her way any longer.”
Kang Zhengqing glanced at Kang Zhishou and Kang Zhiren. All three of them felt that what Kang Zhimiao said made sense.
A family shares both honor and disgrace. If there’s one bad apple in the barrel, it can end up harming everyone.
“Dad, Second Brother, Third Brother—none of you should get involved this time. She needs to learn a hard lesson. Otherwise, who knows what she’ll do next?”
Kang Zhengqing, Kang Zhishou, and Kang Zhiren all nodded in agreement.
While Kang Zhishou and Kang Zhiren stayed to look after Kang Zhengqing, Kang Zhimiao went to see Kang Zhixin in the other hospital room.
The moment Kang Zhixin saw Kang Zhimiao, she burst into messy sobs and reached out to embrace her. “Big Sister, what took you so long to get here?”
Kang Zhimiao didn’t let Kang Zhixin hug her. Instead, she grabbed Kang Zhixin’s bandaged wrist and took a look. There wasn’t even a trace of blood seeping through the gauze, which meant the cut hadn’t been deep at all.
And that was just like her. Kang Zhixin was always willing to harm herself for effect, but never enough to actually do any real damage.
“Big Sister, did you go see Shen Zhiqiu? What did she say? Is she refusing to help?”
“I just knew that b*tch wouldn’t…”
“Zhixin!”
Kang Zhimiao couldn’t hold back. She slapped Kang Zhixin hard on the arm. “Watch your mouth!”
Kang Zhixin froze for a second. Then, realizing why Kang Zhimiao had struck her, her expression twisted. “Big Sister, what’s the meaning of this? You’re taking her side!”
“Why are you taking her side? I’m your sister!” Kang Zhixin jabbed forcefully at her own chest.
“I’m not taking Zhiqiu’s side. I’m taking the side of what’s right.”
“Do you think the words coming out of your mouth sound pleasant? Who taught you to talk like this? One minute it’s ‘fox spirit’ and ‘loose woman,’ the next it’s ‘b*tch’!”
“Those are insults! We’re all women here—how can you use language like that to tear down another woman?”
Back in the Cultural Troupe, Kang Zhimiao had always hated the way some women would constantly compare themselves to one another. She never understood what there was to compare.
She also detested the gossip—today talking about this person being one way, tomorrow talking about that person being another.
After marrying into the Xu family, she rarely sat around with the other wives in the compound to gossip about others.
Because of that, she didn’t have many friends. Being able to connect and talk with Ye Zhiqiu had genuinely made her very happy.
“Big Sister, why are you yelling at me? What did I say that was wrong? Shen Zhiqiu is a b*tch! How else could she have gone back and immediately landed the principal dancer role? Who knows what kind of seductive tricks she used?”
Kang Zhixin remained defiant. She refused to admit that Ye Zhiqiu was simply better than her, preferring instead to believe Ye Zhiqiu must have resorted to some underhanded method.
“Seductive tricks? I know exactly what tricks she used. Let me tell you.”
“Zhiqiu gets up at five o’clock every morning to practice her technique, just like she always did when she was in the Troupe. After her postpartum confinement ended, as soon as her body had recovered a bit, she started working on getting back into shape.”
“And beyond that, she has a natural foundation for it. You’re a dancer—you should know that some things you just can’t compete with. But what you can do is use hard work to close the gap created by natural talent. Have you done that?”
“Zhixin, the state of your skills might fool an outsider, but you can’t fool your Troupe Leader, and you can’t fool me.”
“If you had spent all that time you wasted gossiping and slandering Zhiqiu on training instead, you wouldn’t have lost your position as the alternate principal dancer.”
Kang Zhimiao knew that no matter what she said, Kang Zhixin wouldn’t come to her senses. But she felt she had to say these words anyway.
