Neighbors 03

"Just you wait until you get married, I'll come back in grand style and throw money in your face! Hmph!" Fang Wanwan was lost in her fantasy until a knock came at the door.

"Coming!" It's probably Sister Li, Fang Wanwan thought. This Sister Li is really pitiful, ending up married to such a man.

She opened the door with a bright smile: "Sis Li..."

When she saw who was standing at the doorway, Fang Wanwan's expression froze.

"Fang Zaolao?"

"Who are you to call me 'Fang Zaolao'?" Even though they hadn't seen each other for a long time, Fang Zaolao immediately reached out and grabbed Fang Wanwan's hair.

"Ow! What are you doing?!"

The sisters instantly started fighting, though it was less of a fight and more of Fang Wanwan being ground into the floor.

"I'm telling you, if it weren't for the old man insisting on coming, I wouldn't bother with your little birdcage!"

"Let go! Where's Dad?"

"Him?" Mentioning Fang Zhiyi, Fang Zaolao hesitated. "He left after we got off the train, said he had some business to take care of, told me to stay at your place for the night." She paused. "If it weren't so expensive to stay outside, I wouldn't be staying here either!"

Fang Wanwan was almost laughing in anger. "A beggar with such a stiff spine?"

"What did you say?!"

The two sisters were like enemies, finding nothing but fault with each other.

"I've changed my mind. I'm not staying in this dump! I'll get a hotel and leave tomorrow!" Fang Zaolao released her sister, got up, and left.

Fang Wanwan's eyes grew moist. "Get out! I don't have a sister like you!"

She always remembered what her father and sister were like—they had always put her down!

"What are you looking at? Get lost!" Fang Zaolao was in an equally foul mood. Running into Li Juan, who was holding her child's hand, and seeing her curious, prying gaze, Fang Zaolao wasn't about to humor her.

Startled by the shout, Li Juan immediately shrank back against the wall to let her pass.

"Mommy, that big sister is so scary..." Zhang Xiaoli was also frightened.

Li Juan quickly comforted him. "It's fine, Xiaoli, don't be scared. She's just trash."

"What's trash?"

"It's..." Li Juan didn't know how to explain for a moment, so she simply changed the subject. "How about we go to the neighbor, Sister Fang's place, for dinner later?"

"Okay!" Hearing about food, Zhang Xiaoli cheered up.

A satisfied smile appeared on Li Juan's face. That new girl next door was really nice, and a bit simple too. Her husband had said he'd be back late today, so maybe she could pack some food to take back for him later.

She led her son to Fang Wanwan's door and knocked.

Meanwhile, Fang Wanwan, growing angrier by the minute, felt her scalp still stinging. Hearing the knock, she thought her damned sister had come back.

"Get lost! I'll call the police if you knock again!"

This shout startled Li Juan. Call the police? Had she discovered she'd been secretly using her hand cream? How could she be so stingy?

Anxious, Li Juan slowly lowered her raised hand, and the smile she had forced onto her face gradually faded.

She had her pride too! What was so great about her? She dragged her son back towards their own apartment.

"Mommy, aren't we going to Sister Fang's to eat?" Zhang Xiaoli was reluctant to leave. Sister Fang's place had good food, while at home they only had plain noodles. As a child, he knew which was better.

"No! Let's go!" First yelled at by a stranger, and now this simpleton shutting her out, resentment welled up in Li Juan's heart. "Showing her true colors so quickly, what's the big deal? The money for this apartment probably came from selling herself!"

"What's selling herself?" Zhang Xiaoli discovered another new term.

Li Juan didn't answer.

Inside, the heartbroken Fang Wanwan didn't pay this any mind either; she only felt wronged.

At the hotel, Fang Zaolao ate a quick meal and went to bed. She had decided: she'd go home as soon as she woke up tomorrow! She didn't care what the old man was up to; it was utterly ridiculous!

One cried herself to sleep, the other grumbled herself to sleep.

But both had the same dream.

The scene in the dream felt incredibly real. From an observer's perspective, Fang Zaolao saw how her sister tried to be a good person, and how she ended up dead. Seeing her sister lying on the cold floor, panic surged in Fang Zaolao's heart. She screamed, but the two murderers planned as if they couldn't see her.

And Fang Wanwan also saw her own fate, and... her father and sister searching everywhere for her. Her sister, who was always like a porcupine, frantically asking passersby if they had seen her, secretly hiding away to cry. Gradually, Fang Wanwan's heart filled with guilt.

When her body was finally found, her father's hair turned white overnight. Her sister knelt before her memorial and said so many things, so many words she had never heard. Her sister fought because some hoodlum was trying to hit on her. Her sister beat her up that time because she had messed up, and her sister took the blame, even got scolded to her face. Her sister wasn't expelled; she chose to drop out herself...

Every single thing was something she hadn't known.

Every single thing was something her sister only said after she died.

Fang Wanwan jolted awake, sweat soaking the sheets. She gasped for air, scenes from the dream flashing through her mind.

Were those images real?

Urgent knocking sounded at the door. Fang Wanwan hesitated, then walked over and cautiously opened it.

But the door was suddenly pushed open, hitting her squarely in the face.

Fang Wanwan felt the world spin. Oh no! The neighbors have come to kill!

She tried to scream, but then heard a familiar voice.

"Whoa! Why are you on the floor?! Get up!"

Fang Wanwan's eyes gradually focused, seeing the sister who had stormed off angrily the day before.

They just stared at each other for a moment. Then, Fang Zaolao crouched down and hugged her. "Thank goodness, thank goodness, you're okay."

"Sis..." A guess formed in Fang Wanwan's mind.

"What did you call me?" Fang Zaolao was stunned.

"Sis!" Fang Wanwan hugged her tightly. "I'm scared!"

In that moment, the two sisters finally opened their hearts to each other, only to discover they had shared the same dream.

"I... I don't want to stay here anymore. I want to move." Fang Wanwan remembered the woman she had felt sorry for in the dream actually doing such things, and her hands and feet wouldn't stop trembling.

But she forgot what her sister's personality was like.

Fang Zaolao comforted her, but her eyes gradually turned cold. "Leave? Wouldn't that be letting them off easy?"

"Huh?"

"I'm saying, this score must be settled."

"Sis, forget it... it was just a dream..."

Fang Zaolao looked at her sister, about to say something, when the door was knocked on again.

"Miss Fang, please help me!" Li Juan's pleading voice, choked with tears, came from outside.

Fang Zaolao and Fang Wanwan both looked towards the door simultaneously. This scene was familiar. Li Juan's son had suddenly developed a fever, and she came to Fang Wanwan to borrow money—money that was never repaid, even by the time Fang Wanwan died.