The rhythm for the two, mother and son, continued to be the same, Wan Zhi spent his days planning his future course while Yin Zi moved about the small room cleaning it and doing chores over and over just so she could be busy. As time passed Wan Zhi grew annoyed by her constant movements and found her a few books to read, he knew his mother wasn’t the brightest so most of it was thick picture books and magazines.

It would be a wonder in a place where there were so many people why his mother didn’t go out and communicate with the other adults. The reason was simply because of the things that she had experienced as a child, even under the close protection of her parents she couldn’t escape the bullying and meanness of the children around her.

Because of her slowness and lack of intelligence, she was often bullied and adults weren’t too kind to children that didn’t know how to please them. His mother had no emotional intelligence so even if the adults saw how she was treated they all chalked it up to play among children. Because of this his mother liked to stay with her parents, she became very timid and introverted so even in her adulthood, she didn’t have anyone she was close to.

The only reason the old fox took a liking to her was because of this, her beauty was just a bonus, she was timidly introverted and easy to control she had no one at her side so how would she know he was a bad person. Using this to his advantage the old fox forced her into bed and when she woke up and was in a panicked state he tricked her into believing the thing they had between them was good and that they were meant to be.

It was because of this that when she went to find the old fox in their last life the old fox still took her in, he liked the idea of having someone that only loved him, even if she had an unwanted oil bottle attached to her. His mother was infatuated and believed everything she said was right, she was easily coaxed by him and his children so in the end when she harmed him she believed it was the right thing to do.

As for him he only had his mother by his side since his birth so he trusted her, so when she told him those things that happened to him were either for his own good or his own fault he believed her. The mother he loved twisted into a manipulative and poisonous cur and he turned into a victim at the hands of the mother he cared for and loved the most, even when that happened…

Wan Zhi retched at the sudden memory and his body shuddered, Yin Zi who was not too far away approached him with concern, she wanted to see what was wrong with him. But it was her own fault for not knowing that the things her son now hated the most was to be touched. He reacted violently and slapped her hand away, Yin Zi was so startled she cried out and fell on her butt.

Gripped her red hand tears formed and her eyes reddened before she started to cry like a little child, Wan Zhi had no time to care for her because he was drowning in his own memories. He slid off his chair as he covered his ears and curled into a ball, he tried to push the memories down as he retched and continued to shake.

One sat down crying like a child while the other tried not to slip into a panic attack. Yin Zi tried to fight her tears as she wanted to comfort her son, but when she tried to move closer he would pull back, in the end, she could just sit farther away and watch him in worry and confusion. She couldn’t figure out how just a second ago he was fine but now he was behaving like this. In the end, his mood affected her and she started hitting at her head and continued to cry, the commotion grew louder and in the end, drew the attention of the neighbors.

Someone came over to knock on the door to find out what happened but only startled Yin Zi, she got up and ran to her bed and curled up in the corner. Eventually, the neighbor left but for the next while, the two people would remain in their unstable state.

It wasn’t till a while later that Wan Zhi was able to pull himself out, by that time he was laying on the ground with a shaking frame that was soaked in sweat. He wiped his tears and tried to stop his shudder as he slowly sat up, he looked up to where Yin Zi sat. She was in the farthest corner wrapped firmly in her sheet, sucking her thumb as she cried silently, his movements caused her to look over.

The mother and son looked at each other for a good while, Wan Zhi let out a sigh and took his bathing things to go to the communal bath, shutting the door a bit loudly behind him. Soon he was sitting in the bath with the tap pouring cold water on his back, he sighed and closed his eyes, before blinking them open, if anyone approached they would be startled by how vacant his eyes were.

He continued to sit under the tap until he felt better, he moved from under the tap and sat on the small stool before he began to scrub his skin. The place his mother had touched felt disgusting to him so as he scrubbed his skin that part received the most attention. By the time he felt comfortable enough to leave the bathroom his skin was red, the people in the bath could only watch in concern as he left.