A Promising Youth novel Chapter 6

We got into my brother's car that day, and on the way they kept saying how good the unit was, how good the pay was. My brother said he had gone to great lengths to help me find an expatriate job, and that I only had to work for a year, and then I could be a minor leader when I was back.

I was so sad to see my family's hypocritical faces. I was born of the same parents, why was I sold into the black coal mine?

Why had I been sent to prison?

How could my parents be so cruel to me?

So now, it was okay if they changed, but if they tried to harm me, I would never sit and do nothing!

I had to ask my parents why they treated me so unfairly all these years!

At noon, we went to the sales office, bought a house for my brother and paid the down payment. At that time, my brother really thought of himself as Matteo, all the contracts and identity documents used the name of “Matteo”.

After the formalities were done, we went to the restaurant for dinner. During the meal, my brother called the recruiters and asked them to take me in front of the restaurant.

They thought I was a fool. Instead of recruiting at the company, they came to take me in front of the hotel. What was this if not a human trafficker?

I put down my chopsticks, grabbed my brother's bag and said.

“I'm full, I am leaving.”

I turned to leave after saying that, but my father slapped the table and said in a cold, stern voice.

“Where are you going? The recruiter will be here in a minute, now you're not going anywhere!”

My brother followed suit, stood up, grabbed me by the shirt directly from behind and said.

“What are you doing with my bag? Put it down!”

I tilted my head and took a deep breath and after calming down, I turned to look at him and said with a bitter smile.

“Brother, this is my bag. The identity documents inside, the academic certificates, and even the contract to buy a house were all written in my name, Matteo Chan. How could this be your bag? How do you prove it?”

“Mother fucker.”

My brother suddenly glared at me with big bloodshot eyes and bared his teeth as he yelled.

“From this day on, your name is Jemima Chan, and I'm Matteo Chan! If you let it slip, I'll break your bones!”

“Brother, what you say doesn't count. This is a society under the rule of law, who is Jemima Chan and who is Matteo Chan, we have to talk about evidence!”

As I spoke, my palms were sweating with fear. The fear this family had brought to me, especially the hostility of my brother's grim face still haunted me.

But I had to resist. Master said that there were things not as scary as we thought, and that if I took the first step bravely, I might find something different.

I chose to trust him, so I took my courage and said.

“Why don't we take the police and go to the village and get the neighbors to see who exactly is Matteo Chan?!”

In fact, my brother and I grew up in the village, so the villagers could tell who was the timid and reticent Matteo and who was the wild and hideous Jemima just by listening to our voices!

Hearing me say that, the family all panicked!

For in their consciousness I had always been a slave at the mercy of others, afraid to resist. My father, still trying to frighten me with his majesty, got up and seized me by the collar and said.

“Have you made enough noise? You were all born to me. Whoever I say is Matteo, is Matteo!”

I pushed his hand away so hard that he stumbled, and I said.

“Dad, after five years in prison and being away from your family, I realized that my life isn't what you make it out to be! And the IDs and academic certificates in the bag are all in my name, I just got back what was mine, shouldn't I?”

Speaking here, I paused for a moment and added.

“As for this house, I will take it as your compensation for my five years in prison, it's not too much, is it?!”