Incurable Chapter 40 Part 1

Chapter 40 (1/2)

Mu Wan had not returned to the Mu family home in six or seven years.

It was not a place worth remembering, and so her sense of time was only approximate.

As far back as she could remember, she had been living there with her mother. The Mu house was built in the southern courtyard style, with a main hall, side halls, and a garden at the back. She and her mother had lived in one of the side wings behind that garden.

The Mu family dealt in textiles, but the business had only flourished because of the family’s tailoring. Her grandfather had been a true master craftsman. Back in Republican-era Xiacheng, nearly every society lady of consequence had owned at least one qipao made by Master Mu of the Mu family in West City.

Her grandfather had one son and one daughter.

Mu Qing’s father had grown up learning the craft from him, but his heart had never been in it. He had neither talent nor spirit for the work. Mu Wan’s mother, on the other hand, had possessed a real gift. She had inherited eight-tenths of her father’s skill.

While her mother was still alive, she had never spoken to Mu Wan about her father. The Mu family, too, had kept their mouths shut and only said that he was dead.

Mother and daughter did not stay in the Mu household for free. After her grandfather passed away, the Mu family’s workmanship and reputation had effectively rested on her mother’s shoulders. Mu Wan had grown up watching her mother make qipaos.

That skill was precisely why the Mu family never dared treat them too badly.

While her mother was alive, Mu Wan had suffered some cold mockery whenever her mother was not around, but otherwise, she had been well protected.

Her grandmother favored sons over daughters. After her grandfather’s death, everything in the Mu family passed to Mu Qing’s father, Mu Yatang. Mu Yatang married Yan Mei, the daughter of the Yan family, and together they had Mu Qing.

None of them was a particularly good person.

Mu Yatang only wanted to use her mother’s craftsmanship and reputation to prop up the family business. Yan Mei, meanwhile, believed that Mu Wan’s mother had disgraced the Mu family by becoming pregnant out of wedlock and then raising Mu Wan under the Mu roof. After Mu Qing was born and as the two girls grew older, it became increasingly obvious that Mu Wan was prettier and cleverer than Mu Qing. Yan Mei’s resentment only deepened, and she began picking faults with Mu Wan over everything.

Mu Qing herself had been raised with money poured into her from the start. Yet her natural ability was limited, and in front of Mu Wan, she rarely had the chance to hold her head high. Over time, she became both insecure and vain. In her heart, Mu Wan had become the shadow and enemy of her entire life.

Under those circumstances, Mu Wan and her mother had still managed to live quietly in the Mu household. One reason was her mother’s skill. The other was her mother’s temperament. She wanted only to raise Mu Wan quietly, without competing or fighting, without chasing wealth or glory. A comfortable, peaceful life was enough.

To a certain degree, Mu Wan’s attitude toward life had been shaped by her mother.

Back then, Mu Wan had been young and obedient. At home, she stayed by her mother’s side and rarely went to the front courtyard. At school, she and Mu Qing acted like strangers. She was like a little fox, crouched quietly beside her mother. Even if her mother was not truly powerful, she could still shield her from wind and rain.

Mu Wan’s life had been peaceful, even happy.

But that life had not lasted long.

The summer she graduated from primary school, her mother fell gravely ill. The illness dragged on and never improved. In the end, she died.

Before she passed, she told Mu Wan that if Mu Yatang and the others ever tried to drive her out of the Mu family, then she should threaten them with her true identity.

By then, the Mu family had already declined. Another scandal would affect Mu Qing’s reputation and damage her chances of marrying well.

When her mother died, Mu Wan was only twelve. Both parents gone, no relatives to rely on—her mother’s only hope had been to leave her daughter with a roof over her head, a chance at education, and the ability to grow up normally. Even if she had to endure mockery in the Mu household, that was still better than being adrift outside with nowhere to go.

The moment her mother died, Mu Wan’s protection vanished, too.

In the Mu family house, what she endured after that was not just mockery. Yan Mei and Mu Yatang beat her. Mu Qing was violent toward her, too.

The cruelty that adolescent children can dream up is often worse than that of adults. Mu Wan’s life turned pitch-black.

At that time, she was still so young, and she had only just lost her mother’s protection. Her mind was not yet fully formed. But life lived on thin ice forced her to become stronger, little by little. By the time she reached high school, if the Mu family tried to harm her again, she would threaten them with the secret her mother had entrusted to her before her death.

But in truth, that was all it was—a threat.

She never truly wanted to expose it.

A teenage girl with a fierce sense of pride, she could not bear to drag her mother’s name through the mud, even to protect herself.

Mu Wan grew older. She stopped giving way to Mu Qing the way she once had. She became like a lioness with her fur bristling, the beginnings of an attack in her bones. The Mu family gradually became more restrained with her.

Then, after graduating high school, Mu Wan entered film school, hoping to make money as quickly as she could and cut ties with the Mu family completely.

Occasionally, Aunt Wu would visit her at school and tell her about Mu Qing’s situation. Mu Qing had failed her college entrance exams and been sent abroad by Mu Yatang to study dance. From what the Mu family had implied, they had long intended for her to enter the entertainment industry.

If she could not marry into a truly elite family, then once she became famous in show business, marrying a rich man would do.

In that respect, Mu Yatang’s calculation was not wrong.

After returning from overseas, Mu Qing met Shen Cheng. Not only did he come from exactly the kind of wealthy family the Mu family had dreamed of, but he was also utterly devoted to her. The Mu family had successfully attached itself to the Shen family, and the gloom of their decline had finally lifted. They had reason, at last, to hold their heads high.

Mu Wan stared out the taxi window, lost in thought.

The car stopped at the mouth of the alley, and the driver glanced at the meter and reminded her, “Miss, we’re here.”

“Right. Thank you.”

Mu Wan drew her thoughts back, paid the fare, and stepped out.

After Xiacheng developed, the western district had never really been carried forward with it. This entire area was full of old Xiacheng architecture. One narrow alley, a handful of homes, each with its own blue-tiled roof and whitewashed walls.

The alley was just wide enough for people, not cars. Even the streetlights were fixed directly into the walls.

When she was little, whenever her mother picked her up from tutoring class, she would buy her a small pastry at the alley entrance. Mu Wan would hold it in one hand and her mother’s hand in the other as they walked home.

The road was old. Long too.

It held too many of her memories.

Even though the years after her mother’s death had been painful, whenever she walked this road again, what came to mind first was still the time she had spent with her mother.

Her eyes tightened slightly.

Then Mu Wan walked to the Mu family gate.

The front gate was already open. Mu Wan pushed it wider and stepped inside. She passed the screen wall, and the main hall came into view. Before she even saw anyone, she heard Yan Mei’s voice first.

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