The Game of Life

Jiang Feng checked the member list, the group owner was Ji Yue, and the only other member was Wu Minqi.

The group was called Ji Xia Research Center, but Ji Xue, being Ji Xia’s biological older sister, didn’t even qualify to join the group.

Jiang Feng, who had been about to start noodle pulling, put down the basin containing the kneaded dough and, carrying his phone, went to the bedroom to look for Wu Minqi. He saw Wu Minqi, who was preparing to video call Mrs. Wu, also holding her phone with a confused expression.

“Qiqi, this group…”

“Fengfeng, this group…”

Both of them started to speak at the same time, then stopped, saying in unison, “You don’t know either?”

“I just took out my phone and found myself in this group,” said Wu Minqi.

“Wasn’t Ji Yue out on a date with Zhang? What’s she doing starting this group when she’s got nothing better to do? I need to ask her.” As Jiang Feng started to type on his phone, before he could finish his question, Ji Yue sent a message.

Beauty Ji: Are you guys free? @Jiang Feng @Wu Minqi

Beauty Ji: I think there’s going to be a fight here. [Smoking]

Beauty Ji: Sisterly showdown imminent, smoke all around, should I go out and hide? [Scared]

Beauty Ji: Anyone there? What are you two up to, not using your phones late at night? [Question]

Beauty Ji: Minqi, stop eating noodles. Your man is harming you, eating so many carbs late at night makes you gain weight quickly. [Curse]

Beauty Ji: No, I can’t stand the atmosphere at home; it’s too awkward. I need to come to your place and hide. [Scared]

Beauty Ji: I’m coming down. [Smart]

Almost at the same time they received the message, Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi heard a knock at the door from inside the house.

Jiang Feng went to the living room to open the door, with Wu Minqi following close behind.

At the door was Ji Yue, whose eyeliner had smudged from her date and from a distance looked like she was wearing smoky makeup.

“Did you see the messages I sent you? I just…” Ji Yue’s gaze glued onto Jiang Feng’s still-lit phone screen, “If you saw it, why didn’t you reply to me?”

Jiang Feng: …

“Your messages were too fast. I hadn’t figured out how to respond to the first one before the next one came in,” Jiang Feng explained.

Wu Minqi pointed to her own left eye, signaling to Ji Yue, “Yue, the eyeliner on this eye has run.”

“I know, I just got home.” Ji Yue used her phone as a mirror to check her eyes, “Seems like it’s smudged quite a lot this time. I was planning to remove the makeup as soon as I got home. But when I pushed the door open, do you know what I saw?”

“What did you see?” Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi asked together.

Ji Yue walked over to the sofa, sat down on the single seater, lowered her head, propped her forehead with her right hand, shielding her eyes. Thinking it over, she felt this wasn’t right, then she pulled out a tissue from the box on the table, gripped it in her right hand, and resumed the previous position.

“This is how I found Ji Xue when I came back, and then there was Ji Xia Research Center.” Ji Yue stood at the right side of the coffee table, tore the tissue in her hand, leaving only a small piece, and threw the rest on the floor. She clutched the small piece of tissue in her right hand, thumb of her left hand digging into her right palm, crouched down, staring at the floor, expressionless, biting her lip fiercely.

“Ji Xia is just like that,” Ji Yue believed she portrayed the scene quite vividly, picking up the tissue she’d just torn up from the floor and throwing it into the trash can. “When I walked in, her lips were all bitten white from nerves. Zhang and I were so scared we didn’t dare to speak. Ji Xia did glance up at us, but it looked like Ji Xue didn’t even notice we were there. Zhang gave me a look and ran off, and after standing at the door for two minutes, I felt like I shouldn’t go in, so I came here instead.”

“Didn’t say anything?” Wu Minqi asked.

“It’d be better if she had said something, but silence is terrifying. You have no idea what the atmosphere was like when I entered, I really thought they would come to blows any second.” Ji Yue paused, “Maybe it was wrong of me to just leave like that, what if they actually started fighting?”

“That’s impossible, Ji Xue’s temper wouldn’t…” Jiang Feng didn’t finish his sentence when a loud noise came from upstairs.

“Damn, they’re not really fighting, are they? Hurry, let’s go up, Ji Yue, do you have the keys?” Jiang Feng ran off, with Ji Yue and Wu Minqi following closely behind him.

“Got them, got them.”

When the three of them burst through the door upstairs, they didn’t encounter the chaos they had imagined – no shattered battlefield in sight. Instead, everything appeared calm, and there was no clue as to where the loud bang had come from.

This time, Ji Xue did notice them, and while wiping the tears from her face, she said, “Why did you all come back together?”

“Uh, Qiqi and I heard some noise upstairs and thought something had happened,” he explained.

“Then I ran into them at the door, so we all just came in,” Ji Yue spun some story, “Xue, are you okay? Hey, where’s your sister?”

“I asked Xiaxia to go freshen up. I just had a little fall; the noise might have been a bit loud, but it’s nothing serious,” Ji Xue struggled to smile.

Jiang Feng and the others exchanged glances, knowing Ji Xue was definitely lying but also knowing they shouldn’t expose her lies.

“Are you okay?” Ji Yue helped Ji Xue to the sofa.

“I’m fine, just hurt my knee a bit, and it’s a little sore,” Ji Xue only stretched her leg out straight without rolling up her pant leg to check the damage to her knee, overwhelmed by Ji Xia’s earlier accusations.

“What am I at home? Am I your sister? Am I mom’s daughter? Am I dad’s daughter? Have you ever really cared about me? Aside from grandma, does anyone else in this family care about me?”

“In fourth grade, while other kids from faraway villages stayed at school, I, who lived close by, also had to board. Other children’s parents would pick them up on weekends, but all I could look forward to was my grandmother or a message from the teacher saying your grandmother is busy, she will come for you tomorrow.”

“I know you struggled, you sacrificed, you dropped out of school and took jobs to provide for us all on your own. Everyone is sympathetic to you, everyone likes you, and you get a warm welcome whenever you come back; everyone praises you. When you aren’t here, all mom talks about and thinks about is you. But what about me? Mom only tells me how hard you work, she only instructs me on what I should and shouldn’t do. She never praises me, no matter if I’m washing clothes, cooking, cleaning, or feeding the chickens. Whether I was 8, 9, 10, or 11, her eyes only had you in them. You were her only good daughter, and I was just a burden to her, just like she was to you.”

“You all do this, you always just demand of me. Whether or not I meet your expectations, you just keep demanding. Usually you don’t care, you don’t even know what grade I’m in, yet every one of you feels entitled to criticize me. And you still think my favorite food is sweets, but ever since I had cavities as a child and suffered for months, I haven’t really liked sweets.”

“Sis, I beg you, can’t you just be like mom? After she found out I had run away from home, she worried and feared for a few days, brought me back, scolded me, and now she’s still indifferent, tossing me to you and going back to take care of dad. Isn’t it just like her to complain about my running away to everyone, crying about my thoughtlessness and then continuing to be all friendly and concerned with you, ignoring me?”

“She’s always accusing grandma of favoritism; isn’t her own heart biased? Can’t you just be like her, live your own life, she lives hers, and I continue to be the invisible man who can fend for himself, the robot that only exists to fulfill your demands. When convenient, I can be brought out for a round of blame; when not needed, I can be tossed aside and forgotten.”

“I’m begging you, just leave me alone,” she pleaded.

…

“Xue, I’m quite familiar with arguments, my brother and I used to fight almost every day, and it could even turn physical. During a fight, people say things without thinking, stuff that’s just exaggerated and nonsense; whatever you heard or said, just let it pass and don’t hold onto it,” Ji Yue thought Ji Xue was sitting there stiffly because she had a fight with Ji Xia and wanted to console her.

“But…” Ji Xue looked up and then suddenly hugged Ji Yue and started crying, “But I feel like everything Xiaxia said was true.”

Jiang Feng & Wu Minqi: !!!∑(°Д°ノ)ノ

Being an only child and stumbling into a family drama between sisters, what to do, whom to console, how to console, online now, quite urgent!