Chapter 172: Shameless Harassment
"You worthless girl! I was wondering why you stopped sending money home recently. You go off to university and learn how to enjoy yourself? Buying such nice clothes for yourself, how much did that cost? Did you ever stop to think about your old ma and pa back home, struggling just to eat?!"
The two elderly people at the entrance had clearly been squatting there for a long time.
The moment they saw Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase come out, the woman lunged forward, grabbed Joanne’s hair, and forced her toward the ground.
Grace was shocked. Just as she moved to help, the man rushed toward her, ready to strike.
Grace frowned. Looking at the people in front of her, she called out to a security guard who wasn’t far away. "Security! Excuse me, could you please come help? They’re attacking a student right at the school gate! You can’t just ignore this, can you?"
The security guard, who was usually quite friendly to Grace, now looked thoroughly displeased. "I can’t get involved in that. It’s a family matter. How am I supposed to interfere?"
"Those two are student Joanne Chase’s parents. It’s perfectly natural for parents to discipline their child. How can I get involved in that?"
When Grace heard this, her heart sank, and her expression turned grim.
’Grace had heard plenty about Joanne Chase’s parents from her lately. They were utter scumbags whose only reason for having children was to sell them—sell their daughter for a good price to get a wife for their son. They didn’t see their child as a person at all, just as livestock.’
’In the Chase family, Joanne was a beast of burden; from the moment she opened her eyes, all she did was work.’
’Even after starting school, she couldn’t neglect her chores at home.’
’Now at university, she had to send her food rations back, along with her meager stipend. She sent every single cent home, leaving herself to survive on free soup and pickled vegetables from the cafeteria.’
"Everyone, come and see! Is this how you university students show respect to your parents? Leaving your parents back home to scrape by while you live it up in the city, spending what little money you have on clothes to make yourself pretty! You’re a student, who are you trying to seduce, dressing up so nicely?"
"Joanne Chase, have you no shame? You little slut, did you find some city man to latch onto? Are you planning to abandon us now?"
"Damn you to hell! I nearly died giving birth to you, and this is how you repay me?! I raised you for nothing, you ungrateful brat! How can you be so heartless? Your little brother and sister don’t even have enough to eat, and you have the nerve to buy new clothes?"
As she spoke, Joanne’s mother reached out to rip at Joanne’s clothes.
It was already May, and the temperature in Coronet had started to rise. Joanne was wearing a single long-sleeved dress. Pinned to the ground, her eyes were numb and vacant. She showed no reaction, not even trying to resist as her mother began to tear at her dress.
Grace Winslow rushed forward and pulled the woman away. "That’s enough! Knock it off! Can’t you talk things out properly? Why do you have to resort to violence right away?"
"And you! Stop right there! If you dare to touch me, I’ll scream sexual assault. Let me tell you, that’s a capital offense, one that gets you a bullet. Go ahead and try it!"
After yelling at Joanne’s mother, Grace shot a vicious glare at Joanne’s father.
The two of them were from the countryside and didn’t know much about these things. However, they knew that sexual assault really could get you shot. They had seen it happen back in their hometown, so for a moment, they were too scared to move.
Grace went to pull Joanne up, dusted her off, and fixed her hair before standing protectively in front of her. "If you have something to say, then say it properly. Joanne’s monthly stipend is only twenty-something yuan. Doesn’t she send all of it home to you?"
"And what about the food coupons the state gives to university students? She sends all of those home, too. Here at school, she survives on leftover soup from the cafeteria and the tough, unwanted pickled vegetable stems. This dress she’s wearing is mine. It’s an old one I was getting rid of. I gave it to her because I saw she had nothing to wear, just clothes covered in layers of patches."
"Is there anything else you want to say? Say it all right now. I’d like to see how else you plan to slander her."
Grace Winslow had a loud voice. The surrounding students who had been watching, and who had initially thought Joanne was in the wrong, immediately changed their tune toward her parents after hearing Grace’s words.
Standing behind Grace Winslow, Joanne Chase couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
No one had ever defended her like this before. Never.
’At home, if she wasn’t being beaten by her father, she was being beaten by her mother. Even her older and younger brothers could hit her whenever they were displeased.’
’In the Chase family, back in their hometown, a girl was worthless, no different from the livestock they raised.’
’Her only purpose was to be married off to a good family for a good price.’
’Even though she had worked so hard to get into high school and now university, in her family’s eyes, she was still just a commodity waiting to be sold. The only difference now was that her university education meant she could fetch a better price.’
But Grace Winslow... Grace stood before her, resolute and unconcerned with the stares of others.
Joanne Chase was so moved she was choked with sobs.
’Truth be told, Grace wasn’t feeling very confident herself.’
’The bit of amateur self-defense she knew was enough to scare people, but in a real fight, two fists are no match for four. She doubted she could take on two rural folks who had spent their lives working in the fields.’
’To make matters worse, the school security guard didn’t want to get involved, and the students around them were just gawking, content to watch the drama unfold without meddling.’
’She felt a surge of annoyance.’
’This was when she really started to miss her big brothers.’
"Y-you’re lying! She only sends twenty-six yuan home a month! I’ve asked around; the university stipend is more than that! And the food coupons—what good are so few coupons? It’s not even enough to feed our family. She must be trying to get out of supporting us! Why else wouldn’t she have come home in so long?"
"I don’t care! Joanne Chase, you’re coming back with us right now to get married. You’ve had your time at university. I don’t care what you say about marrying a good man or getting a good job later. Right now, there’s a rich boss in town willing to pay a two-thousand-yuan bride price for you to marry his son. Pack your things and come home with me now."
"What’s the point of more school? Can school earn you two thousand yuan overnight?"
After her brief moment of calm, Joanne’s mother lunged for Joanne again.
Grace blocked her. "Ma’am, she’s a university student! After she graduates and gets a job, she can earn two thousand yuan in just a few years, maybe even more!"
"And what good is that?! Her second brother needs to get married now! The girl’s family is asking for an eight-hundred-yuan bride price, plus the ’three rounds and a sound’! Where are we supposed to get that kind of money?"
"She’s the only girl in the family old enough to marry. And they’re offering a huge bride price! Not just two thousand yuan, but they’re also throwing in a television, a bicycle, a sewing machine, a radio, and a watch! What a great offer! She’ll be living a life of comfort. I’m her mother, would I ever harm her?"
"Joanne Chase, are you coming back with me or not?"
Joanne’s mother, her face a mask of impatience, raised her hand to strike Grace while roaring at her daughter.
Joanne Chase’s face filled with disappointment and despair. ’She could see her whole future laid out before her.’
’It would be nothing more than being dragged home by her parents, married off to some rich old man, and wasting the rest of her life away.’
’But did she really have to accept this fate?’