The Crumbling Peach

The second day of the school sports meet came to an end, and the spectator stands remained as desolate as ever. As evening fell, Taozi was bent over, picking up discarded cans that others had left behind.

Truth be told, the area around the trash bins had the most bottles, but the cleaning staff had already taken them away along with the garbage bags.

Taozi didn’t have the courage to compete with the cleaning aunties for the bottles, so she could only scavenge the scraps that no one else wanted.

Still, she was content. Collecting all these bottles and cans could earn her a bit of money—enough for a few meals with some pickled vegetables, at the very least.

The income from the library helped too. Day by day, life was getting better.

"Hum, hum, hum~" Taozi dragged her bag cheerfully, humming a tune as she walked.

However, she hadn’t completely dismissed what Ye Shuang had said to her earlier that day. Yet, deep down, she still trusted her parents instinctively—surely they wouldn’t deny her younger sisters an education, right?

The money she sent back should have been more than enough to cover their tuition and living expenses.

"I look up high, to the moon above~" Just then, her phone rang again.

"Huh?"

Taozi pulled out her phone and saw an unfamiliar number. But since it looked like it was from her hometown’s area code, she answered anyway.

"Hello?"

"Sis… sob…" The voice on the other end was choked with tears, leaving Taozi stunned for a moment before she stammered, "Panpan?"

"Sis… sob…" The crying on the line didn’t stop, and Taozi’s heart immediately clenched. She sat down on a nearby bench, urgently asking, "What’s wrong?"

Through her sobs, Panpan—Taozi’s fourth younger sister—managed to explain that all the sisters were now doing farm work instead of going to school. Only their brother was allowed to study and eat well.

"Dad won’t let us talk about it… says if we do, he won’t let us study anymore…"

"But I’m hungry… we don’t get enough to eat…"

With every word, Taozi felt her heart grow colder. She tightened her grip on the phone, first calming her sister down before promising to send money back home.

After hanging up, the girl sat silently on the bench, lost in thought.

Finally, she picked up the phone again and called her mother.

"What?" came the impatient voice on the other end.

"Where’s my money?"

"What money? You dare ask me for money?!" The anger in her mother’s voice was unmistakable.

"I’m asking about the money I sent back! Where did it all go? You promised the girls could go to school!"

A few seconds of silence passed before her mother asked coldly, "Who told you?"

"None of your business!" Taozi knew she couldn’t reveal it was her sister—otherwise, the girl would surely get a beating tonight. But before she could press further, the call was abruptly disconnected.

Taozi stared blankly at her phone, then stomped her foot and redialed.

This time, no one answered.

She sat there, calling over and over again, until twenty minutes later, the call finally went through. This time, it was her father who picked up.

"What do you want?!"

"Why aren’t my sisters in school?!" Taozi could faintly hear shouting in the background, and she nearly yelled, "Stop hitting them!"

"Who are you yelling at?!" Her father lashed out. "If all of you run off to college like you did, who’s gonna take care of this family? What’s the point of girls studying so much?!"

"If you want them to study, fine—50,000 per sister. Bring the money!"

"Useless trash," "Once you're cast out like spilled water, you might as well die out there"—harsh words like these poured out relentlessly. Peach gripped her phone, fat teardrops falling uncontrollably onto the floor.

She never imagined her parents would go so far as to keep her younger sisters from attending school, all because they feared they might follow in her footsteps—leaving home for university in another city.

Weren’t they family?

Why would they worry about something like that?

"Drip, drip—"

As if the heavens mocked her, rain began to fall, drenching the girl from head to toe.

Thinking of other parents, Peach felt her heart grow even colder.

It was as if everything she had ever believed in had been callously smashed onto the ground.

......

......

Yinshan Academy, dormitory.

In one of the dorm rooms, a girl with a towel wrapped around her hair lounged in pajamas, legs crossed as she painted her nails. An iPad playing a Korean variety show sat in front of her.

"Shut up already!"

"Ah~ so cold~" On the screen, a heavyset woman splashed alcohol onto a female contestant’s face, eliciting a dramatic whimper.

Just then, the door creaked open.

The girl barely glanced up. "Oh, you're back?"

Peach shuffled in, soaked to the bone, her eyes hollow as she stared at the girl.

"How can I make money fast?" she rasped.

"Study hard, get a good job," the girl replied without looking up, focused on her nails. "Or, y’know, do what I’m doing—join the family business after graduation."

"I mean fast."

"For girls, making quick cash isn’t that hard..." The girl still didn’t turn around. "Remember that news story? Some hostess at a bar made a million in a year."

"Or be an internet celeb, go live-streaming. Heh."

"...Oh." Peach stood frozen for a few seconds before turning to leave.

"Hey, Xiao Tao, can you peel an apple for me? I just touched my toes and don’t wanna—" The girl finally looked over, only to find Peach already gone.

"Huh? Why’s the floor all wet?"

Peach boarded the academy shuttle with no destination in mind, her drenched appearance drawing sidelong glances.

Most assumed she’d been dumped. With the rain keeping the shuttle nearly empty, no one approached her.

The shuttle didn’t go far, reaching its final stop in just a few stations.

By the time Peach stepped off, the rain had stopped. She had no idea where to go but wandered forward in a daze.

Bars...

There had to be one around here, right?

"......"

After aimless walking, she actually spotted one.

[Sweetie Bar]

The sign was unlit, the interior dim—seemingly closed.

Normally, Peach would never dare approach such a place. But today, with nothing left to lose, she strode straight in.

Inside, the lighting was faint but enough to see.

The moment she entered, her eyes landed on seven or eight tattooed men smoking, plus two... women?

One of them, Peach wasn’t even sure—dressed provocatively, but the frame was unmistakably masculine.

"Well, well, where’d this little sister come from?" one of the men called out.

"Alright, don't scare her. Little girl, we're not open for business today," said the other woman with green ponytails.

Besides, Peach's drenched appearance gave off a rather peculiar vibe.

"I—I can work here!" Peach blurted out. "I can host drinks!"

The burly men exchanged glances, clearly not expecting things to take this turn.

Where did this weirdo come from?

Their gazes all shifted to the figure sitting in the center, leisurely puffing on a slim cigarette.

"Sweetheart, tell Auntie Li—why do you want to be a drink hostess?" Aunt Li crossed her legs, her eyes lingering on the Yinshan Academy emblem pinned to Peach's uniform. She blew a smoke ring and narrowed her eyes.

"A student's job is to study hard, you know~"