Now her eyesight is healed again. She doesn't know where she is now. She only knows that she has a master who treats her better than her parents. The master not only cured her eyes, but also taught her to read and count, gave her delicious food, and wore thick clothes. Many of the dirty comrades mentioned by the master were also very nice to her. She likes it here.

Every night, she could feel the scars on her body slowly falling off, and pink new flesh growing from inside, making her unable to resist scratching them. But her master told her not to, so she had to endure it. She had to be obedient. Her mother once said that adults like obedient children.

As long as she remains obedient and listens to her master, her master will never leave her and will always be with her.

The master is always hurt, so she has to learn to protect the master and prevent him from getting hurt again. The old man who always gave her candy and cried when he saw her died. She knew what dead meant. Dead means that the person who used to talk to you can no longer talk to you, no matter how you shout at him, push him, or call him.

That day she ran a long way and picked a small, oily flower and threw it into the fire with everyone. She hoped that the old man would receive it because the flower was as sweet as the candy he once gave her.

She didn't want her master to become like an old grandfather, so she wanted to follow him wherever he went. She was a child but that didn't mean she didn't understand anything. She could see something written on everyone's face, even if they were smiling. She had eyes and ears, and she could see and listen. Why do adults always think that children don't understand anything?

It seems that the master and his friends are going somewhere soon, a place that looks very dangerous, a place full of gasoline barrels. She has said many times that she wants to go, but was always rejected. She watched the shirtless guy chopping his accordion into pieces, and the serious-looking man let him join. She wondered what was the most important thing to her?

If she also chopped up the thing that was most important to her, would the master agree to let her go?

But the most important thing to her is to stay with her master.

The master said the place they were going to wasn't suitable for children, so she wondered if she could grow a little bigger, taller. Would the master let her go with him then? If she grew as tall as the master, would she be able to protect him and never let him get hurt again?

Dashan didn't know that she was still a child, and all she had now was just one bargaining chip, which was to be obedient.

So she thought, I will be obedient, I will listen to my master, then my master will like her and will not leave him like my parents did.

Dashan answered his master's words seriously while writing on the ground stroke by stroke. He wrote a lot, mostly names and ancient poems.

Shuoyu looked at Dashan who was writing seriously with her head down. He watched her write and helped her correct the order of strokes from time to time. Dashan was a good child, but his previous experience made him not talk much to people other than him. He actually had nothing to teach this child.

A person will go through three kinds of education in his life: education of love, education of death, and education of sex.

Only those who have experienced these three types of education are truly complete people. The meaning of completeness is that she is perfect and not defective. She can live well in this world on her own and she no longer asks for anything except herself.

Shuoyu was being roasted by the stove beside him. The stinging flames pressed against his skin underneath his clothes, it was very hot. The fire in the stove was gradually dying out because there was nothing cooking in the pot anymore. He glanced at Maodou who had squeezed into his body to find a place to sleep, and then looked at Dashan.

He just wanted to make the girl smile more. He told her half-truths while gently braiding her hair. Girls should always be cleaner than boys (just like what her father did to her when she was a child. Every time she was not awake, she would open her eyes in pain from the braids tied so tightly that they would dig into her scalp).

"Let's do it again."

"Oh, okay, Master. Heaven versus earth, rain versus wind. Continent versus sky. Mountain flowers versus sea trees. Red sun versus the sky. Thunder rumbles, mist thickens. Sundown versus the sky..."