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Chapter 83 – Three People Make a Tiger 19
Xu RenDong felt upset. He had no clue what was going on with Zhong Xiu. In desperation, he had to send others out first.
The dream of Rock Monk was simple. He sang rap while he was working and was chased and beaten by the family of the deceased. After running a few streets, he successfully found the elevator and got out cleanly. The others were similarly simple, because Xu RenDong had repeatedly emphasized the “elevator” in his story, so everyone had an elevator in their dream.
In the end, only Zhong Xiu was left.
Zhong Xiu lay on the big bed alone. She was sleeping quietly and her breathing was much smoother than before. Xu RenDong decided to try again so he closed his eyes and held Zhong Xiu’s hand again.
The familiar dizziness struck again and a powerful suction pulled him into a dream.
This time, before he opened his eyes, he could already hear the noisy voices around him, the sound of sadness mixed with joy.
This is a mourning hall and it is decorated in white everywhere. On the offering table was a gray and white photo of an old lady with a kind smile.
In front of the offering table, a girl wearing hemp was kneeling with filial piety in front of the copper basin and was burning paper money. This girl was thirteen-year-old Xiao Zhong Xiu. But the strange thing was that there were more than a dozen knives stuck in her back, all of which sank deep into her back and her blood soaked the sackcloth. All the while Zhong Xiu seemed to be unaware of this and just numbly threw paper money into the copper basin.
Xu RenDong turned his eyes and saw that outside the mourning hall, there were several men and women who looked like villagers and who were whispering.
“Actually hooking up with men at such a young age, tsk tsk tsk…”
“I’ve felt there was something wrong with her for a long time. She kept saying she only gained weight, but look what happened. What did I say, this little girl is a slut. Messing around with people everywhere and even made her stomach big…”
“I heard that the little misbegotten bastard was strangled by her when it was born. I don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl. This little slut is cruel…”
As the villagers whispered, imaginary blades flew over to Zhong Xiu one by one. Zhong Xiu turned her back to everyone and her slender back was slightly hunched. She remained silent as each blade was inserted into her back.
Xu RenDong stood in the darkness, biting his lip hard.
…Why do you have to endure it silently? You should refute them and tell them that this is not the case.
Why not protest? Is what they say the truth? Are you really…
Am I really a misbegotten bastard?
Xu RenDong knew very little about his own life. In fact, even the principal didn’t know what happened to Zhong Xiu that year. She only knew that when Zhong Xiu gave birth to Xu RenDong, she left him at the gate of the orphanage and did not even leave any token in the infant swaddling so that they could recognize each other in the future.
Although Zhong Xiu came to visit the orphanage several times after this incident, she never took the initiative to bring up what happened and so the principal also did not ask much. Therefore, Xu RenDong’s understanding of Zhong Xiu was limited to “she is my biological mother” and “she is dying”.
At this moment, Xu RenDong saw Zhong Xiu’s past experience in her dream. He felt both pain and hatred in his heart. He really hated that Zhong Xiu was only thirteen years old at the time and yet still had to suffer these rumors. But he also deplored Zhong Xiu for not refuting or resisting. Isn’t silence the same as acquiescence? Is what the villagers say really true? Is that what she is trying to express?
Xu RenDong couldn’t accept it.
The villagers were still pointing at Zhong Xiu. Xu RenDong’s blood surged up. He couldn’t watch it any longer and rushed out of the darkness. He angrily tugged at the collars of the villagers but, as soon as his fingertips touched the villagers, the scene in front of him changed. He actually returned to the darkness.
A man and a woman were quarreling behind him.
Xu RenDong turned around and found that the surrounding scene was no longer a mourning hall, but instead a small and crowded bedroom. The bedroom was full of clutter. It was well organized but the place was too small, which made people feel depressed.
A middle-aged man and woman stood by the bed and quarreled, pointing their fingers at each other and yelling at each other.
“It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t gone out to work, how could that girl do such a thing!”
“You still have the face to blame me? If it wasn’t for you who can’t make any money, why would I, a woman, need to go out to work so hard?”
“It’s you who didn’t teach her well!”
“This is your family’s seed! So if something goes wrong, blame me for not teaching her well? What about you!”
Are they Zhong Xiu’s parents?
That is, my maternal grandparents.
Xu RenDong watched all this in silence, with a complicated mood.
The pair of men and women quarreled fiercely. As the argument became worse, they picked up the sundries on the table and threw them onto the ground. The utensils fell to the ground, making a ping-pong sound. The sound was like a steel needle in the ear and it hurt Xu RenDong’s brain.
In the corner, the skinny girl squatted on the ground, already covering her ears with her hands.
Her body curled up into a small ball, leaning against the corner of the wall and was still shrinking inward, as if trying to find a safe place. But the next second, a big dark hand picked her up from the corner, grabbed her by the hair, and slammed her head against the wall.
“You bitch! You are so shameful, how will our family go out to see people in the future!”
“Shame! Go to hell! Go to hell!”
The rough male voice resounded like thunder. Zhong Xiu was pressed tightly and her head was slammed against the wall, making a shocking thud.
Zhong Xiu cried, “Stop hitting! Dad! Please! Stop hitting me! It’s not my fault! He forced me!”
Xu RenDong was taken aback.
He? who?
Xu RenDong pricked up his ears and wanted to continue listening. However, the man didn’t give Zhong Xiu a chance to explain. He tugged at Zhong Xiu’s hair and slammed her against the wall even harder. Soon there was blood on the wall. On Zhong Xiu’s forehead, blood and broken hair were stuck together.
The man was still scolding: “Our family’s face has been disgraced by you! Go to hell! Go to hell!”
Zhong Xiu struggled desperately, turned her head to the side with difficulty and asked the woman for help: “Mom! Help! Me! I was forced, I was bullied… I’m not…”
The woman sneered, “Then why does he bully you instead of bullying others? Isn’t it because of you!”
Zhong Xiu heard this sentence and her eyes widened in astonishment. The next second, those big eyes full of shock and pain were slammed into the wall. Zhong Xiu covered her eyes and screamed.
This scream was like the cry of a cub dying. Xu RenDong instantly recovered from his shock. Only then did he realize that he should save people, but when he reached out to Zhong Xiu, the surrounding scene changed again. He had jumped again.
This time, he arrived at a school. In the classroom, a dozen children surrounded Zhong Xiu and wanted to take off her pants. Zhong Xiu screamed, desperately pulling up her pants. Several boys pressed her on the desk, pressing her hands and feet firmly. The girls coaxed: “Quick, take off her pants! Look at what the ‘down there’ of a woman who has given birth looks like!”
“Can you smell anything? It stinks! My mother said that slut women will be rotten under the skin! The bottom of Zhong Xiu must have been rotten ages ago!”
Even though they were all teenagers, they spit out the cruelest words from their innocent mouths. Xu RenDong was heartbroken and rushed forward to pull away these little devils. But when he reached out, the children all disappeared.
In its place was a young woman with glasses.
Zhong Xiu lowered her head and stood in front of her, her face flushed red.
“Teacher, please, don’t make me drop out…”
The female teacher frowned in displeasure, pushed up her glasses and said, “No, the principal has already said that it is not good for you to stay here. The other students will learn bad habits from you.”
There was another knife on Zhong Xiu’s back. She bit her lip and whispered: “But, it’s not my fault… I really didn’t…”
The female teacher was full of disgust: “If you didn’t go out to be wild at night, why would these people be staring at you now? Huh?”
With tears in her eyes, Zhong Xiu explained with red eyes, “No, it’s because grandma was ill. I went to get a doctor for grandma…”
“Okay, don’t explain.” The female teacher was impatient. She waved her hands, “If you refuse to inform your parents, then I’ll tell your parents in person! What’s their phone number?”
Seeing the female teacher pick up the phone, Zhong Xiu was anxious and afraid. Kneeling in front of the female teacher, she grabbed the female teacher’s clothes with trembling little hands, Zhong Xiu cried and begged: “Teacher, no, please don’t… I promise you, I will tell them myself, I will tell my parents when I get home…”
The female teacher was satisfied. She took out the corner of her clothes from Zhong Xiu’s hand and said lightly, “This teacher doesn’t want to embarrass you…”
In the darkness, Xu RenDong felt unbearable heartache.
It turned out that so many things happened back then… She was only thirteen years old, why did she have to go through all this?
Xu RenDong only felt anger surging in his chest, making him want to roar, rush out and beat the female teacher to the ground. But he knew he couldn’t. For some unknown reason, he couldn’t interfere with Zhong Xiu’s memories. Once he gets his hands on it, the scene changes. He couldn’t help her at all.
The hostile anger surged in Xu RenDong’s body, causing his blood to rise up, almost making him spit out a mouthful of blood.
Zhong Xiu said goodbye to the female teacher and left the school with a small school bag on her back. Xu RenDong suppressed his emotions and followed her closely.
It was dark outside. Zhong Xiu raised her face and looked at the pitch-black sky, as if some bad memory had been awakened. She shivered abruptly and then walked quickly towards the house.
Outside the school was a dirt road with fields on both sides, densely planted with crops. When Zhong Xiu passed a cornfield, she obviously quickened her pace. The corn was taller than hers and it was like a forest in the dark, making people afraid to step into it.
Occasionally the wind blew and there was a rustling sound in the cornfield. Zhong Xiu was so frightened that her whole body froze, shaking all over and unable to move. It took a while for her to recover and continue to hurry along.
Xu RenDong followed her silently, feeling heavy in her heart.
Zhong Xiu finally returned home. Fortunately, her parents were not at home. No one was at home.
Zhong Xiu went straight to the mourning hall, wiped the black and white photo on the offering table, then sat on the ground and stared blankly at the photo.
There were dozens of sharp knives stuck in her back and the blood from the wounds had dried up. She just sat holding her knees like a little hedgehog, licking her wounds alone.
Xu RenDong’s heart was broken when he saw it. He couldn’t bear it any longer, and called out in a low voice, “Zhong Xiu.”
Zhong Xiu was shocked when she heard a man’s voice. She instinctively shrank back, looking in horror at Xu RenDong who walked out of the darkness: “You…you…”
Xu RenDong reassured: “Don’t be afraid,” His throat was bitter so his voice became hoarse and low, “I have no ill intentions, don’t be afraid.”
Zhong Xiu curled up in a corner of the mourning hall, her eyes still full of panic.
Xu RenDong sighed, put incense sticks in front of the black and white photo, closed his eyes again and bowed devoutly. Zhong Xiu saw that his expression was solemn and he was dressed like a man from the big city so her curiosity gradually prevailed over her fear.
“You… do you know my grandma?” Zhong Xiu asked timidly.
Xu RenDong thought for a while and nodded.
The two chatted for a while. Xu RenDong’s elegant and gentle conversation made Zhong Xiu gradually let go of her vigilance. The expression on her face relaxed. Probably because she has suffered indignity and violence for a long time, it is rare for someone to talk to her so politely, so she cherished it very much.
Xu RenDong felt that he had gotten a little closer to her so he carefully turned the topic around to that matter: “Why didn’t you call the police?”
Zhong Xiu lowered her head and looked at her shoes: “I only knew that I was bullied at that time but I didn’t know that I would have a baby. People often don’t treat me well and my grandmother always told me to be patient. She said to be patient for a while. Everything seemed calm so this time I thought I could endure it…”
She stroked her belly in a trance: “But my belly got bigger and bigger and it became more and more obvious. I didn’t feel right but I didn’t dare tell my grandma. Grandma still thought I was gaining weight and scolded me for being lazy.”
Xu RenDong was silent for a moment: “Then why did you give birth? Why didn’t you get rid of it?”
Zhong Xiu raised her face, her big eyes full of puzzlement: “What do you mean by ‘get rid of it’?”
Xu RenDong said, “I mean… abortion.”
Zhong Xiu tilted her head but still didn’t understand.
Xu RenDong was stunned for a moment and then he realized that Zhong Xiu didn’t know about abortion. He glanced at the offering table subconsciously and immediately understood the reason.
Zhong Xiu’s parents worked outside all year round and ignored her. Zhong Xiu was brought up by her grandmother since she was a child. Naturally, the old lady in the countryside didn’t know what sex education was and so Zhong Xiu didn’t understand what had happened after she was “bullied” and she didn’t even know that she could still have an abortion.
It was not until the pregnancy in October, when the fruit was ripe, and Zhong Xiu secretly gave birth to the child, that everyone understood what happened. So they came to accuse Zhong Xiu.
From the beginning to the end, no one asked who the hell actually had actually assaulted this teenage girl. Who the hell was it who dragged a girl who was looking for a doctor for her grandmother into the cornfield and committed a crime worse than a beast.
Zhong Xiu listened to Xu RenDong’s explanation of the meaning of the abortion, and nodded thoughtfully: “It turns out that it can still be like this.” She touched her stomach again, rather annoyed, “If I had known earlier, it would have been better to abort him. “
Xu RenDong felt bitterness in his mouth and was almost speechless. After a long time, he asked: “You hate him so much, why didn’t you strangle him to death as soon as he was born?”
Zhong Xiu suddenly smiled: “I thought about it.”
The fluttering words “I thought about it” were like a heavy hammer, hitting Xu RenDong’s heart hard.
Xu RenDong smiled bitterly. But then Zhong Xiu spoke again: “But look at him. So small, wrinkled and so pitiful. Forget about it, he didn’t do anything wrong.”
Xu RenDong was silent. Zhong Xiu looked up at him, suddenly remembered something, and asked with a smile, “By the way, I don’t know your name yet. What’s your name?”
Xu RenDong opened his mouth but couldn’t say a word. The emotions in his heart surged out and he could no longer face Zhong Xiu. So he turned his head and left the mourning hall.
After leaving Zhong Xiu’s house, Xu RenDong walked alone on the country road. The stars were low in the sky and there were no lights on the dirt road. He could barely see the road in the dim moonlight. The cornfields on both sides were sealed and rustled, reminding Xu RenDong of something very bad. He quickened his pace and left here.
After being blown by the cold wind for a while, he finally remembered his mission. He searched around the village for a long time but still found nothing.
There was no elevator.
In Zhong Xiu’s dream, there was still no elevator. What exactly was going on?