TCFSRMR |Chapter 4

“The front is Shilipu. Where is your home? I’ll take you there.” Zhou Zheng tried hard to make his expression kinder, and gentler…

He had transferred from the army to the public security department, and because he always kept a stern face every day, children would always be scared into crying when they saw him.

This little girl in front of him was someone the old commander valued, so it would be best if he didn’t scare her into crying too.

Yet Shi Ying was not very afraid. She even looked up and obediently said thanks:

“Thank you, Uncle. It’s fine to just bring me here. I can go back by myself.”

Right now, she only knew that her biological parents might be in Shilipu. As for whether they really were Shi Guoan, she still didn’t dare to be one hundred percent certain.

He rarely encountered such a brave, polite, and likable little girl, and Zhou Zheng’s heart softened too:

“All right then, hurry home. Don’t run around outside, so your family won’t worry… I’m at the county public security bureau. If you have anything, go there and find me.”

No wonder the old commander liked her so much, the little girl really looked lovable and pitiful…

Even toward his own biological grandson, the old commander was very strict, but when he looked at the little girl, it was just like an ordinary family’s kind old grandfather, with nothing different at all. It seemed that to Commander Yu, the little girl was also an extremely important person.

“Okay.” Shi Ying nodded hard. No wonder she felt that this Uncle Zhou had a righteous air all over him, so he was actually a police officer? No wonder Wen Lan ge had entrusted her to him. Mm, decided then. If she really couldn’t find anyone here, then she’d go straight to the public security bureau to look for this Uncle Zhou.

After watching Shi Ying enter the village, Zhou Zheng then instructed the driver:

“Let’s go. Back to the bureau.”

After confirming that Zhou Zheng’s car had left, Shi Ying came out from a small alley. She looked around, but didn’t see a single person.

She walked a few more steps forward before she finally saw an eight- or nine-year-old little boy in a pair of little shorts run out from a courtyard.

“Little friend…” Shi Ying hurriedly chased after him.

The little boy stopped. When he found out that the one calling him was a little girl about the same age as him, with clothes that were also tattered and torn, he couldn’t help rolling his eyes:

“Who are you?”

And yet she was calling him little friend. How old was she, really? Clearly she was just a little girl about the same age as him.

“I want to find Shi Guoan. Do you know where Shi Guoan’s home is?”

“Shi Guoan?” The little boy froze. The next moment, he suddenly burst out laughing, and even turned his head to the courtyard and said, “Shitou, Shitou, come quick, there’s a little beggar looking for that idiot’s dad…”

Shi Ying first felt delighted. She had actually guessed right! In this Shilipu, there really was someone called Shi Guoan.

Then she felt a little dazed. A little beggar? It took a while before she understood that they were talking about her. Then what did that idiot’s dad mean?

Before she could react, another scrappy little boy rushed out from the courtyard. He and the previous little boy made faces at each other and ran forward in a hurry, shouting in a strange tone as they ran:

“Idiot, hey, idiot, the little beggar is looking for your dad…”

Faintly realizing that the “idiot” in the two of them was probably related to Shi Guoan, Shi Ying could only run after the two of them. She kept chasing them until they reached a big old willow tree beside the road at the south end of the village, where the two children finally stopped.

When Shi Ying followed them, panting, what she saw under the old willow tree was a boy who looked about the same age as Wen Lan, so skinny he looked like a skeleton.

The boy sat dazed in the sunlight. Because his head was lowered, she couldn’t see his face clearly, only a thin chin. From the side, the bone structure of his features was actually quite delicate.

It was noon now, and the June sun was unbearably harsh. The boy was covered in bead-sized sweat, and there were obvious marks of sunburn on his neck.

Now that he was being roasted by the blazing sun again, the sunburned neck had already turned red, as if it had been coated with a layer of bright red blood, looking painful just to see.

Shi Ying unconsciously stepped forward.

Somehow, this profile looked familiar.

Just as she was trying hard to remember where she’d seen it before, someone suddenly grabbed the collar of her clothes. The next moment, a burst of force came from behind her, and along with it came the laughter of that little boy called Shitou:

“Hey, idiot, let me tell you, this little beggar is looking for your dad!”

Shi Ying failed to stop her feet in time, and her whole body was pushed to the point that she fell onto the boy called the “idiot.”

The two little boys clearly had already anticipated this scene. While clapping, they jumped and jeered:

“Idiot, hit her, hit her…”

Shi Ying instantly panicked. She instinctively wanted to say “sorry,” but before the word “sorry” could even come out, someone forcefully grabbed her wrist.

It was because the idiot in the mouths of the two little boys had opened his eyes at some point, and his unblinking gaze was fixed on the tiny little cherry blossom on Shi Ying’s wrist.

Shi Ying was pulled by the boy, and in an awkward position she lay in the boy’s arms. Her wrist was hurting to the bone, and tears almost came out. While apologizing, she struggled hard:

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. Let go quickly, it hurts…”

Yet the boy looked so skinny that every bone was protruding, but his strength was huge. More than that, no matter what Shi Ying said, he seemed not to hear it at all, and just kept staring fixedly at that tiny cherry blossom.

The two little boys who were shouting and jumping clearly froze for a moment.

The idiot’s reaction usually wasn’t like this. If they threw something at him, the idiot either wouldn’t move at all and let them hit him, or he would just cry out乱七八糟 with “ah ah ah.” Why was he different today?

And he wouldn’t let go of this little beggar?

“Hey, tell me, what’s wrong with him?” The child called Shitou poked the other child.

That child froze. After a while, he grinned wickedly and said:

“Maybe he misses a wife? No shame…”

As he said that, he ran to the side, picked up a caterpillar, and threw it at the boy.

Shi Ying was startled. Before she could stop him, the boy suddenly moved. He actually bent over and, in a protective posture, firmly pulled her into his arms.

“Eh, the idiot didn’t cry today!”

“He’s even holding a little girl! He really does miss a wife!”

“So shameless, smash him!”

First they picked up a caterpillar and threw it at the two of them. When they couldn’t find the caterpillar, they started picking up clods of dirt. Attracted by their noisy laughter and jumping, a few more children of about the same age came over, and all of them followed suit and joined the group picking up things to throw over.

Now not only all of them, even Shi Ying was angry:

“What are you doing…”

She wanted to get up and drive this group of mischievous children away, but she was held even tighter. The boy even pressed her head down into his arms, not letting her lift it.

Pressed against that sweaty, thin chest, her hearing also became especially sensitive. She could hear various puff-puff sounds landing on the boy’s body, and there was even a caterpillar that slid off the boy’s body and fell onto the boy’s bare foot, then hurriedly wriggled on that foot, crawling upward.

Shi Ying was so shocked that the hair on her body almost stood up, but the boy seemed completely unaware, and instead protected Shi Ying even more forcefully in his arms, allowing all kinds of dirty things, clods of dirt, and insects to fall onto his body.

Just when Shi Ying was so anxious she was almost about to cry, a frantic voice came over:

“What are you doing? Younger brother…”

Seeing that someone had come, the group of children scattered in an uproar.

The girl who had spoken also ran up to them. When she saw Shi Heng still bent over on the ground and the little girl he was holding too tightly to make out her face, the girl’s eyes turned red. She hurriedly ran over:

“Younger brother, did you fall anywhere? Where did Xiaojie go?”

As she spoke, another set of footsteps sounded, and it was an eight- or nine-year-old little girl who came running over, holding two five- or six-year-old little girls by the hand.

Looking at how flustered she was, it was obvious that she was that Xiaojie.

“Big sister…”

“Didn’t I tell you to watch your older brother? Where did you run off to?” The girl was so angry she was almost crying. She had just gone to the fields to deliver water, and how had it ended up like this?

She pointed again at Shi Ying, who had been forced to nestle in the boy’s arms. “And who is she?”

“I, I don’t know.” Shi Jie reached out her black little hand and rubbed her eyes. Afraid of being scolded, she started crying in sniffling sobs. “I, I just left. When I left, big brother, big brother was still sitting there all by himself, very obediently. I also don’t know who she is…”

Seeing her cry, the two little girls following behind also all started crying in imitation.

Perhaps feeling that the danger had passed, the boy’s arms around Shi Ying finally loosened a little, but he still held on to Shi Ying’s hand and refused to let go.

Shi Ying barely managed to peek her head out. Looking at the boy, whose head and body were covered in dirt and whose exposed arms had even been hit with red marks, she felt embarrassed, and even more a little upset:

“I, my name is Shi Ying. I came to, to find Shi Guoan… ah!”

It was because a caterpillar suddenly burrowed out from under the boy’s undershirt.

The girl clearly saw it too. In her extreme nervousness, she even forgot that the name Shi Ying seemed somewhat familiar. She hurriedly reached out to help flick it off:

“Younger brother, don’t move. Big sister will help you smack the caterpillar…”

When this kind of earthy-yellow caterpillar with little fringes and lots of legs crawled over someone’s body, it hurt and itched at the same time, and the feeling was really awful.

Previously she could ignore pulling off the rotten vegetable leaf from his clothes, but now when she was going to touch his neck, the boy obviously didn’t like it. He actually leaned straight back and avoided the girl’s hand.

Shi Ying had also once had such a caterpillar fall into her collar, so she knew how unpleasant the feeling was. Although in her heart she was very timid toward this kind of many-legged insect, she still forced herself to reach out and hook it off:

“Big brother, don’t move. I’ll take it off for you…”

“Don’t touch him!” The girl was startled and hurriedly stopped her.

Although she was extremely shocked that Shi Heng had actually taken the initiative to hold another child, the girl still understood that it was one thing for her younger brother to be willing to hold someone else, and another thing entirely for someone else to touch her younger brother. After all, on normal days, even with her, her younger brother would not let her get close.

Only, she was a little too slow in speaking, and Shi Ying’s hand had already touched the boy’s neck. Then a strange thing happened. Shi Heng actually didn’t move. Until Shi Ying pinched the caterpillar on his neck and threw it away, he remained silent without any reaction at all.

The girl’s mouth instantly opened into an “O” shape, and she stared foolishly at Shi Ying:

“You, you…”

“I want to find Shi Guoan. May I ask, do you know Shi Guoan?” Shi Ying spoke again. If possible, she would rather get out of the boy’s embrace. But she was just too small. Unless the boy was willing, there was no way she could struggle free.

And in fact, the boy absolutely refused to let go.

“That’s my eldest uncle. Who are you? What are you looking for my eldest uncle for?” The girl looked at Shi Ying warily.

“My name is Shi Ying. I came to find him…”

“Shi Ying?” The girl finally sensed that something was wrong.

Shi Ying? Shi Ying!

Wasn’t her dead little younger sister also called Shi Ying!

“You say, what did you say your name was?” The girl was almost stuttering by now, and her eyes were practically glued to Shi Ying’s face. The next moment she suddenly lowered her head to look at Shi Ying’s wrist.

Only to discover that Shi Ying’s wrist was being firmly held in Shi Heng’s hand. She could faintly see a bit of a pink petal-like birthmark that Shi Heng’s slender fingers had not covered.

The girl’s eyes suddenly widened in terror. The next moment she suddenly turned around and ran wildly toward the fields:

“Uncle! Uncle! Little sister, little sister’s ghost has come back!”