If it wasn’t for her desperation and fear she would have continued to wait for all her life, he couldn’t tell if it was by some strange fate or just dumb luck but his mother managed to find the old fox and that became the greatest mistake of her life. As he thought of the things that followed, Wan Zhi Couldn’t help but tighten his grip, he unintentionally yanked on his mother’s hair causing her to cry out in pain.

His hand shook and he released his grip, his mother who had calmed down looked up at him with red eyes filled with her grief and asked in a soft voice. “Since I can’t find your father, what do we do now?”

As Wan Zhi looked at her he could only sigh, was this something an adult should be asking an eleven-year-old child? Looking at his mother’s face as she seemed to realize her mistake he could only sigh. He stood up and helped his mother to get off her knees, brushing the dust off of them before pushing her into his seat. Looking at his mother’s innocent eyes that softened as they looked at him, he knew she had forgiven him for the way he just handled her and this made him question how quick she would be to forgive that old fox.

He frowned tightly but decided to let it go for now since he had no intention of going anywhere near that man and his family, especially that vicious first young master. He shuddered for a second but pushed his memories down, he walked across the room and took the broom to clean up the mess he had made. When he was done he cleaned up the dinner and put the leftovers in the fridge before he took his mother’s hand and lead her to the room they shared.

In fact, it could barely be called a room because the entire apartment was just one small room, with each section being divided either by counters or blinds. In the room, there was just a large old bed with a cheap mattress and mismatched sheets, an old dresser, and a few other furniture pieces that didn’t go together.

Wan Zhi sat his mother on the bed and went over to the dresser, he got down and reached under pulling out an old shoebox, and went over to her to sit down. His mother curiously looked at the box before looking up at him and waiting for him to speak.

“This is the allowance you had given me in the last few years, it isn’t a lot but it’s enough for us to live in a hostel for a few weeks. My exam is coming up and if I can do well they’ll give me some prize money for graduation. I can attend a junior secondary school in a different city and you could get a job there and maybe if I score high enough they’ll give me a scholarship, that way we won’t have to worry about money in the meantime I’ll try to find a way, you mom we can get by without going to that house, okay?”

Yin Zi nodded and confirmed that she would go along with his thoughts causing Wan Zhi to sigh. “Okay then let’s rest tonight and tomorrow we’ll move into a hostel, there you won’t need to worry about finding a job until we go to the next city.” His mother nodded and they got up to get ready for bed.

The next day they got up early and took a bath before he wore his uniform and sat to have a simple breakfast. After they were finished he went to the room to help his mother pack.

“Don’t bring all of this with us, we’ll just take what’s necessary, as for the furniture we’ll have to leave it behind since there won’t be any room in the hostel.” After hearing this his mother gave him an aggrieved look and he sighed again. “They are so old and worn and we don’t have the money to store them anywhere so it’s best to just leave them as a thank you to the landlord and in the future, I’ll buy us better ones.”

His mother seemed to be appeased by that so they continued to pack, there were just his books and other school things, a few extra changes of clothes, and the biggest bag was packed with their foodstuff that was the only thing they couldn’t afford to leave behind. His mother longingly looked back at the apartment but reluctantly followed when he tugged on his hand. When they left the sun was just coming up so they were able to leave without arousing the suspicion of the other tenants and the landlord.

Soon they boarded a bus and he sat down with his mother holding her hand as he tried to reassure her. “The hostels are closer to school so I’ll be safer when I move between the two, and since it’s so close it lessens my travel time so I have more time to eat, rest, and study. And since you’re home we can spend more time together and you can take this time to rest so that when we get to the next city you’ll be ready for your next job.”

As Yin Zi listened to this she seemed to calm down and then nodded as a smile came to her face “plus it is only two months, two months later I’ll be able to have a job and I’ll give you back your allowance. Just don’t push yourself too hard, I want you to remain happy and healthy, okay?” Wan Zhi nodded and Yin Zi smiled lovingly as she petted his head and kissed him gently.

A while later they got off the bus and went towards the hostel, there were a few of them in the area but the only one that accepted families, and luckily there was a room available. Wan Zhi helped his mother to sign up and paid the rent ahead for the next two months before going up to the room, after getting his mother settled he needed to hustle to school.