Just Blame Me For Being Blind In the Beginning

Ch 12. Mom

It'd been too long since she'd heard her given name. Pei Ying didn't react. After a moment, she finally said, "Oh, Mom. Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing really. I just saw you on TV last night. You're already so famous?"

Pei Ying's brows twitched. "No, not really. I just did a walk-on."

"Don't lie to Mom. I know that the drama is very famous. All the neighbors are watching it. Our Xiujuan is showing such promise."

Pei Ying chuckled without responding. Her mom spoke about a few trivial things and then seemed to stumble on her next words. "What was that... Your (younger) brother called last night again and said he's out of money. We just helped pay his tuition fees for the semester, so we don't have any money left. Do you think you could give him some money for living expenses?"

"Oh, is that so. I got it. I'll send it later."

"Ah! That's good. Then I won't bother you anymore."

"Mm..." Pei Ying's expression dimmed briefly and then she heard the other end hang up.

Ren Shanshan, who had been eating, put down her chopsticks. She looked at Pei Ying, face full of indignance. "What did your mom call for? Did she ask you for money again?"

Pei Ying put away her phone and then glanced at her. "Don't make it sound so bad. She's not some stranger. She's my mom."

"You can treat her like your mom, but she has to treat you like her daughter too!" Ren Shanshan was entirely angry. "Don't tell me you don't know. She's asking for money for your brother! She gave birth to both of you, but how can she be so biased?! Even with your names, Pei Xiujuan and Pei Xiuran. Do they seem like the same set of parents picked them?! He'd have to be named Pei Dazhu at least for it to sound like he's your younger brother!" (Note: Sorry, I don't really get why the names are supposed to 'feel' different- Maybe Xiuran is a more learned-sounding name than Xiujuan? Or it makes him sound older? In any case, I don't think Dazhu is a good name at all)

Pei Ying, "..."

Who exactly was she ridiculing here?

Seeing that Pei Ying didn't say anything, Ren Shanshan continued to express her own anger. "You're the only one foolish enough to send money every time. It's not like your money falls from the sky! You came to the big city all on your own to work hard, but have they ever worried about you? They only think of you when they need money! If it were me, I'd have cut off our relations long ago. And they still want money. Pah!"

Pei Ying waited until she finished venting all her anger. Then she said slowly, "Do you know how many baby girls get abandoned in the country each year? What about how many baby girls that never had the chance to even see this world? It's true that my parents didn't want a daughter, but they didn't abandon me or bury me somewhere either. I'm actually pretty thankful to them."

Ren Shanshan, "..."

This Pei Ying really was something.

Pei Ying continued, "Although they're prejudiced, they never mistreated me. They provided food, clothes, and schooling for me. I should at least repay them for that much, shouldn't I?"

Ren Shanshan curled her lips. "Sure, they provided for your schooling. When you got into a tier-3 school, didn't they say it was too expensive and tell you to go to a technical school instead?" (Note: As far as I'm aware, tier 1-3 schools are regular four year programs, compared to more specialized and probably shorter technical school programs; tier-1 are the top schools and tier-3 are less lauded schools)

Pei Ying bit her lip. Her performance in school was pretty average. When she started her final year of high school, her mother had told her that if she could get into a tier-2 college, they would let her go there to study. If she only got into a tier-3 college, they they could only send her to a technical college. With Pei Ying's grades at the time, it would have been really hard for her to get into a tier-2 school. It just so happened that an aviation school that was looking for students from their grade. There was even a tuition waiver policy. So she happily went to try out, but then her English...