I owe you an Oscar

I can talk a little, but it's my mom who gets all the work done.

My house has five rooms, upstairs and downstairs, but only three beds, all of which are already occupied by my family and my second uncle, Binbin. There's also a 90-centimeter-wide folding bed in the storage room, which has been covered in dust for years and I don't know if it's still usable. I haven't slept well for the past few nights; I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, and I have no idea how busy my mother is with feeding and sleeping all these people.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, I woke up refreshed and drowsy, only to find that someone had been quietly placed in my bed.

She was curled up at the foot of the bed, wearing my old hoodie and sweatpants, her hair a mess covering her face, shivering from the cold, and she didn't dare pull the blanket up to herself. Her posture clearly indicated she was deliberately avoiding taking up my sleeping space; her submissive appearance was heartbreaking.

She's just a girl about my age, and she always acts all high and mighty when we meet. Suddenly she's a homeless child, beaten and frightened by those three mentally ill men for days. I wonder how much psychological trauma she'll suffer. I sighed, got out of bed, turned on the electric blanket, wrapped her in it, and tiptoed out of the room.

After washing up, I stood on the stairs and listened to the snoring for a while before going downstairs. As I passed by Zhou Yi and Han Bo, who were fast asleep on the sofa and under the sofa in the living room, I saw that my hardworking and virtuous mother had also gotten up early and was sitting on a small stool in the yard cutting sausages. In the corner of the porch, someone was using tongs to pick out the coal briquettes one by one from under the plastic sheet.

The rain that had been falling for half a day and all night finally stopped. The humid air was mixed with coolness. The heavy rain took away the heat, and the temperature returned to early spring.

My mom saw me and beckoned to me: "Why didn't you sleep a little longer? You must have been tired yesterday."

I scratched my head, my eyes never leaving the man who was intently picking up coal briquettes: "Aren't you tired? What are you doing before dawn?"

My mom answered naturally, "The gas is almost gone. We need to light the stove to cook lunch today. I asked Xiao Yu to help me spread out the coal briquettes to dry in the sun. I'll see if the sun comes out."

"Xiao Yu?" I walked over to my mother with a sullen face and squatted down next to her, whispering, "Mom, do you even know who he is before asking him to do chores? Don't be so familiar with everyone, there are a lot of bad people these days."

My mom looked disapproving: "Your dad told me last night that your workplace is full of zombies. Staying there is just waiting to die. Xiao Yu and the others are also anxious, so what's wrong with helping them out? Don't be so intolerant."

I just don't understand how my mom's thought process works. She used to seem like a very shrewd person, but now she doesn't seem to have any sense of caution at all? I couldn't help but whisper in her ear, "Mom, we have to be selective about who we help. Those three brothers can't be simply categorized as good or bad. They're crazy."

“I don’t think it’s a big problem,” my mother said dismissively. “Depression or something. If those people were really crazy, would they still be able to speak and act smoothly? So many people in your compound have died. The fact that they survived means they’re smart. And you know what, Xiao Yu is indeed quite smart.”

"What's wrong with you?" I was a little annoyed. My mom was praising me now. What happened while I was still asleep? I was so upset that I didn't hold back and said directly, looking at Yu Dandan's back, "I've helped them, I've brought them out, if they're so clever they can go out and cause trouble. Judging from your words, you still want to support them?"

My mom looked at me, puzzled: "What are you babbling about? When did I say I was going to support them?"

"Then what's the meaning of you constantly speaking up for outsiders?"

My mom threw down the sausage, her face darkening. "Hey kid, did you eat too much last night and are you still feeling puffy? Coming here with me this early in the morning, didn't you bring these people back? You told me to feed them and find them a place to sleep, but they brought so much food. Who's going to feed whom? Besides, didn't you tell Xiaobo a few days ago that you wanted to find some living people to gather together? Wasn't that why you brought all these people back? Huh? You brought them back and then didn't care about anything, just like a hands-off manager. And now you're giving me attitude. Do you really think your mother is some old maid? Get out, all of you get out! I'm not putting up with this anymore, you're just like that every day!"

When my mom lost her temper, I was stunned; she's even more grumpy than me when she wakes up. It sounds like there's some kind of misunderstanding here?

It's my dad's fault for not explaining the whole story to her clearly, but of course it's even more my fault. Last night I just abandoned her and ran away. What does my mom know?

In just a few words, the two people in the living room woke up, rubbing their eyes and clutching their stomachs as they came out of the room, looking at us groggily, wondering what had happened.

"Ahem." I coughed to cover my embarrassment. "The weather is nice today, it's so nice that it's not raining. Um, Xiao... Xiao Yu, I need to talk to you about something after dinner."

Yu Dandan hadn't said a word from beginning to end, but now she turned around, smiled sweetly at me, and nodded: "Okay."

He changed into my dad's clothes, I don't know where he dug them out from: khaki pants and a blue cotton jacket, too big and ill-fitting, hanging loosely on his tall and thin frame. He wore a pair of old, light red cotton slippers, and with his messy hair, pale face, flickering eyes, and the fire tongs in his hand, his appearance was quite astonishing—more like a mental patient than a mental patient.

I hadn't taken two steps after turning around when I heard Yu Dandan say softly, "Auntie, please don't be angry with Xiao Qi. She's a really good person. She used to take good care of me, and she saved me this time. I'm very grateful to her. Here, your scissors... let me cut them for you. When I was little, I especially loved eating the sausages my mom made. Alas, it's a pity my mom passed away early, and I haven't had them for many years."

Without turning around, I knew my mom's eyes were red. She said with emotion, "It's so hard for children without mothers. My Binbin is the same. It's okay. When you get to Auntie's house, Auntie will cook for you whenever you want to eat."

I felt like I was choking on my own blood, and my eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets.

My dad watched over my second uncle all night, and Binbin took over in the morning. After eating some food, he went to catch up on sleep. I sat on the sofa with a gloomy face, legs crossed, watching people gradually get up and walk around in front of me wearing various familiar old clothes. Some were yawning and spacing out, still half asleep; some were holding paper cups and waiting for the bathroom; some were touching and looking around curiously at everything; and some were sensible enough to help my mom serve porridge and steamed buns.

As Liu Meili set the table, she kept glancing at my expression. Whenever our eyes met, she quickly looked away, like a thief caught in the act. Thinking of her pitiful state sleeping at the foot of my bed, I softened my sharp gaze and asked, "Meili, how's my second uncle?"

Liu Meili trembled, her lips trembling as if she were about to cry: "I gave him two IV drips last night, but... Xiao Qi, I'm so sorry, your second uncle really can't do anything. He's too sick. The wound has healed, but an infection has formed. This infection is very strange. He has a rash on his skin, like poisoning, or like sepsis caused by parasites. There are no testing methods, so I can't be sure..." She lowered her head and said honestly, "I can't do anything."

"Hey, what are you afraid of?" I gave her a reproachful look and reassured her, "I was just asking. I know Uncle's condition is serious, and I'm not trying to blame you. Just do your best."

Liu Meili twisted her fingers and whispered, "I'm not afraid you'll try to take it from me, I'm afraid you won't. I want to go home, but my home is in a neighboring city, and I can't live alone. You have a lot of family members and elders, and I wish you could take me with you if you ever leave. If... if your second uncle passes away, please don't send me away, okay?"

I sighed: "You're overthinking it."

During the meal, Yu Dandan and Li Tonggu behaved like normal people, eating quietly and obediently. Only Zhao Zhuobao kept casting affectionate glances at Liu Meili and me, which completely ruined our appetites. Throughout the meal, I diligently called out "Mom," hoping Zhao Zhuobao would blurt out "Mother-in-law," so I could immediately turn on him, flip the table, and kick him out. Unfortunately, he didn't.

After dinner, standing on the rooftop, I watched Liu Meili helping my mother carry the stove in the yard. Zhou Yi, I don't know where he found a whetstone, sharpened every tool in the house that could be sharpened. I locked Zhao Zhuobao and Li Tonggu in the storage room on the second floor, threw in a laptop, and they both seemed quite happy.

The sky, washed clean by the rain, was a clear, deep blue, with a few wisps of orange-red dawn in the distance. The sun hadn't yet risen, but it was undoubtedly a sunny day. As far as the eye could see, there was no sign of zombies, only rubble and the silhouettes of distant high-rises; the silence was like that of a dead city.

Han Bo nudged my arm and offered me a cigarette. I shook my head: "I've quit."

"When?"

"today."

Han Bo laughed, lit a cigarette and took a puff, "We're running low on stock."

I looked to my right and saw Yu Dandan gazing at the sky with great interest, occasionally taking a deep breath, looking completely absorbed in the moment.

"You should leave," I said to him. "I called you up here just for this. My family can't keep you here. You should leave."

Yu Dandan tilted her head: "Why?"

I spoke frankly: "Because you are sick, and so are Zhao Zhuobao and Li Tonggu. I can't just stay here all day doing nothing but guarding against you. What if you have a relapse and hold a knife to someone's neck? My parents are old and can't take the shock."

Yu Dandan smiled: "You're just holding a grudge against me for threatening you yesterday."

I said, "It's not that I hold a grudge, it's that I'm afraid of you. I remember Yu Dandan should be a relatively gentle person, but yesterday you still grabbed a knife without warning. You should know your own condition very well. When it flares up, you can't control it. Right now, you're Yu Dandan, so we can still have a few words. But what if you turn into a serial killer tomorrow and refuse to listen to advice?"

Yu Dandan smiled a little wider: "I don't know the killer."

I shook my head: "Don't play games with me. In these chaotic times, it might seem a bit heartless of me to let you leave, but this is my home, and I can't ignore my family's safety. As the old saying goes, you can't force someone to do something you don't want. Yesterday, you released zombies to threaten us, and I took you with me, but I was very unhappy and didn't want to team up with you. Even if you held a knife to my throat, I couldn't do it. The reason I haven't kicked you out of the house yet is because I don't want to scare my parents. Zhao Zhuobao and Li Tonggu both listen to you. With your abilities, whether you stay in the military or go out and make your own way, it's better than staying here being watched, right? Let's part ways amicably and go our separate ways. What do you think?"

Yu Dandan raised her delicate fingers, tucked her hair behind her ear, and sighed softly: "You came at an inopportune time yesterday. If you had met me first, I would have spoken to you nicely and wouldn't have made you angry. By the time I woke up, you were already leaving. I only resorted to this because I was in a hurry. Actually, I was afraid even with the knife in my hand. I've never even killed a chicken before. Please forgive me, okay? I apologize to you."

I chuckled: "Chickens have never been killed, but people have."

"I didn't do that."

"Alright, alright, what are you talking about?" I said impatiently. "I've already told you everything. You can walk out of the hospital by yourself, so why do you have to follow me? If I hadn't gone yesterday, you would still be there perfectly fine. Now you should leave. Troubled times breed heroes. You might just become a mountain king and create a new world for yourself. Anyway, the law couldn't touch you before, and now there aren't even any doctors left. You're completely free, isn't that great!"

"How could you bear to send a weak woman like me into the mouth of a zombie?"

"Tch! If you're a weak woman, then I'm Lin Daiyu."

“I don’t want to leave, and I have nowhere to go. Your family is good, your parents are good, I just want to stay here. Otherwise, I can let you use the Li Tonggu, you can use it however you want!”

Han Bo chuckled, looking at Yu Dandan with wide curiosity, completely oblivious to my furious expression. I asked him to join my team to hunt monsters, but he just watched like a spectator.

"Pah! Keep it for yourself! Let me tell you, I have a bad temper. If you keep arguing with me, I don't care who you are, I'll still slap you across the face! Get out! Get out of here right now!" I said fiercely, raising my voice.

When Yu Dandan saw that I was really angry, she pouted and didn't say anything. She looked at me with resentment for a long time, bit her upper lip, then bit her lower lip, and suddenly squatted down on the ground, covered her face and cried.

"Waaah, how can you be so heartless? We've known each other for a while now. When you came to ask me to go for treatment, I never made a fuss. I always cooperated with you... Waaah, why can Liu Meili stay but I can't? You just look down on me. You look down on mental patients. We're human too. It's not like I wanted to be sick. You just want to force me to my death. I lost my mother when I was three and my father when I was four. Can't I even crave family and love? Waaah."

My heart is so tired, so very tired. I look up at the sky, expressionless, ignoring Yu Dandan's cries.

Han Bo was dumbfounded: "What's wrong with him? Why is he crying? Sigh, he's so pitiful."

I scoffed at his sympathy. "Pity my foot! This act only fools ignorant people like you." I pointed at the back of Yu Dandan's head. "This kid is a psychopathic killer with multiple personality disorder. He's killed more than one person. He's always kept in a single room in our compound, with someone watching over him, you know?"

Han Bo exclaimed, "Wow! Isn't multiple personality disorder just one person with several souls living inside? That's so cool!"

Yu Dandan looked up with teary eyes: "Yes, I've had a very hard time."

"One soul! The rest are all figments of Yu Yu's imagination, including you, Yu Dandan. Stop pretending, I have too much to do today, so get the hell out of here!"

The ignorant Han Bo was clearly attracted to him: "How effective is his treatment? If he can maintain a stable personality for a long time, it's not impossible for him to live with others."

I rolled my eyes: "They just changed yesterday, from male to female, like Sun Wukong."

Han Bo curled his lip and spread his hands at Yu Dandan: "I can't help you. You're too dangerous. Who knows what you'll do next? You should just leave."

Yu Dandan sobbed for a long time without any effect, then wiped her eyes and stood up again, sniffing and saying, "I am not in any danger at all. Although my other personalities have not disappeared, they will never be as chaotic and unpredictable as before. Lu Xiaodou has been treating me for more than two years, and it's not like there was no effect at all."

"What kind of therapeutic effect? ​​Didn't you change your mind so easily yesterday?"

"That's impossible! Didn't I have an epileptic seizure before the change?"

"Huh?" I was taken aback. Epilepsy? A sudden, dramatic leap?

Yu Dandan was silent for a while, as if she had made a great decision. She pursed her lips and said, "I shouldn't have said this, because it's my weakness. When I have an attack, I'm always unconscious. If I encounter someone who is hostile to me, they can take this opportunity to kill me. But I really want to stay in your house, so... this is my sincerity. I agree that you can control me when I'm in a transformation until I come back next time."

I listened to him without comment. "I really didn't kill anyone, but I can only take the blame because of this body. If you can find Lu Xiaodou, he can prove to me that I won't hurt anyone."

"You were holding a knife to me and Liu Meili yesterday."

"That was because they were pushed to the limit. And did I cut you? I was just trying to scare you."

It must be said that Yu Dandan is very deceptive and persuasive. He speaks sincerely, is good at showing weakness, and his attitude of "I've given you my heart" can make people want to let him off the hook without realizing it.

For example, Han Bo, an ignorant young man, was yet another victim. After listening to Yu Dandan's words, he immediately felt that this person's danger level had been greatly reduced—she seemed non-aggressive and had clear and normal thinking and logic, not at all like a lunatic. If she ever had a personality change or epileptic seizure, he could just tie her up.

Then he dragged me aside and said, "Isn't having more people a good thing? I'm telling you, this overreaction is pathetic. I thought about it yesterday. We can't just stay here wasting resources without any income. We need to find more supplies, not only to fill our stomachs but also to arm ourselves, reinforce the walls, and prepare for the future. Whether we stay here or move elsewhere, without supplies, we'll just be vulnerable. The zombies have come out, what are mental patients compared to them? This kid and that big oaf down there are no pushovers. If you take them in, just make them do what you want. They'll be grateful to you, you know?"

I stared blankly at Han Bo's mouth as it opened and closed, and heard Yu Dandan muttering, "What's wrong with me? I've told you everything. If Yu Yu finds out you kicked us out, she'll definitely get revenge on you, cause you trouble, and make you suffer inside and out. Humph, she's not as kind as me."

Suddenly, I understood what Yu Dandan was up to.

When I was receiving caregiver training, the head nurse sternly warned us: try not to talk to the alternate personalities of patients with multiple personality disorder. They will use communication to constantly improve themselves, which is not conducive to the recovery of the main personality. In severe cases, it may even completely suppress the main personality until it is swallowed up.

He wants to get rid of Yu Yu and take his place!

Their strong desire to stay stemmed from a wish to connect with more people and maintain the stability of their personality development; their deliberate exposure of weaknesses was an attempt to use us to suppress other personalities. The thought alone is chilling—a fabricated alternate personality wanting to kill the primary personality—what's the difference between that and patricide? What a treacherous scheme, what shameless exploitation!

What reason do I have not to grant his wish?