Be a person first

The old lady hugged the snakeskin bag tightly and answered in a whisper: "No."

"Give it to me!" He Dayong roughly snatched the bag from her arms, took out every brick and smashed them in half, then tore the bag apart angrily.

As he tore it, he shouted: "He Kang, come out! Act like a man!"

There was dead silence all around. The old lady didn't dare to look at him. He Dayong ran away.

After He Dayong ran far away, the old lady dug Chen Yingsheng out and put her on the ground: "Run quickly."

"Thank you for saving me." Chen Yingsheng asked again, "Do you know where the exit is?"

"This is a surreal world, and there is no exit from the surreal world." The old lady picked up the snakeskin bag on the ground and stroked the crack with heartache.

Chen Yingsheng ran up to the fifth floor.

Zhang Xiaona and He Cuifeng were busy preparing the dishes. Zhang Xiaona asked anxiously: "Where's the water? The water for cooking spicy hot pot is gone!"

When she saw Chen Yingsheng, she said in surprise: "Kang Kang! Find some water for Mom!"

"Where is the exit?" Chen Yingsheng asked directly.

"Go get some water for mom, and I'll tell you."

Chen Yingsheng ran downstairs and rushed into the sea of ​​fire.

It would be a miracle if I could find water for her from the sea of ​​fire, Chen Yingsheng thought as he ran.

She didn't see a ghost, but only saw Lolina walking home alone with her schoolbag on her back. She grabbed Lolina and said:

"Lina, listen to me, we will be friends in the future, I can prove it! Your mother's name is Luo Chunxi, she runs a rice noodle stall in Shuguang; your best friend is Xiaoxiao, she works as a receptionist in a script-killing store; Xiaoxiao's boyfriend——"

"Okay!" Lolina interrupted her, "I trust you, what do you need me to do?"

Chen Yingsheng's mind went blank.

She really hadn't figured out what she wanted Lolina to do, she was just busy thinking of a bunch of excuses to make Lina believe her.

Lolina's eyes sparkled: "I'll help you, what should I do?"

Chen Yingsheng's eyes felt a little sore, she almost forgot that her original intention of entering He Kang's Ghost Story was to save A Ku.

She asked: "Where is the exit?"

“There is no exit from the surreal.”

Chen Yingsheng was a little frustrated after getting three identical answers from three questions. She decided to try her luck and went back to Zhang Xiaona with some water.

"I need water."

"Water" Lolina thought for a while, she laughed, "I believe you are a fish."

Lolina's two hands spread out like a nimble fish tail, and she sent a heartfelt wish: "Little fish, little fish, swim quickly, and be free in all directions."

Chen Yingsheng was gently lifted up by the buoyancy and turned into a small fish wrapped in water, flying into the sky on a bubble-like water ball.

On the ground, Lorena was waving goodbye to her.

Chen Yingsheng swam back to He Kang’s home on the 5th floor.

"Kang Kang, you're back!" Zhang Xiaona couldn't wait to take the water ball away and continued to prepare the dishes, ordering He Cuifeng around.

“Where is the exit?”

"Where is the exit from the surreal world?" Zhang Xiaona glared at Chen Yingsheng as if she was looking at a child, "Give me the fans over there."

Chen Yingsheng didn't hand it over, she turned and left.

"Hey, kid! Why are you still giving me a bad face?"

Chen Yingsheng ignored her completely.

Zhang Xiaona suddenly became angry. She grabbed Chen Yingsheng's clothes and tore everything she saw without any care.

"Who do you think has been supporting you all these years?" A blue vein was exposed on her forehead.

Chen Yingsheng replied: "The debt collector is right, your whole family is a liar."

Zhang Xiaona smiled and tucked her hair behind her ears:

"Can I tell the truth to a child? I will coax him if I can and lie to him if I can. Look at Cuifeng. She lived a good life even though I lied to her. If it weren't for me, she would have married an old bachelor in the village."

He Cuifeng was busy peeling potatoes, as if she didn't hear what Zhang Xiaona said.

Chen Yingsheng kicked over the iron basin containing potatoes and pulled He Cuifeng up.

She commented on Zhang Xiaona bluntly: "Even if He Kang didn't have autism and was a good person, he would have been driven crazy by you."

Zhang Xiaona yelled: "Then go and have the baby! You will definitely treat him like this when you have the baby!"

Chen Yingsheng apologized hypocritically: "I'm so sorry, He Kang, who has autism, is not worth your deception."

"Why didn't He Kang die back then?" Zhang Xiaona murmured, "He died in that fire..."

"What fire?"

Chen Yingsheng keenly captured the key words. Zhang Xiaona was about to continue speaking when she was interrupted by He Dayong who suddenly broke in.

"He Kang!" He Dayong chopped the kitchen door with a knife.

Chen Yingsheng quickly locked the door, but the thin wooden door could not hold out for long.

She asked He Cuifeng: "Where is the exit or is there any way to get out of here?"

He Cuifeng shook her head blankly.

"Bang!"

He Dayong's second knife cut through the wooden door. The blade was less than ten centimeters away from Chen Yingsheng, and the kitchen knife was deeply embedded in the door panel.

He Dayong raised his eyes covered with excess skin from his sweaty hair: "I took you to the hospital that day and not only checked your development, but also checked whether you were my biological son."

Chen Yingsheng looked straight into his eyes through the gap that was cut.

"Bang!"

He Dayong punched the wooden door, and the splinters pierced his palm, but he seemed unaware.

"You are! You are my son! Why are you my son?"

"Why should I, a man, have a son like you who is not only sick but can't even keep a child!"

Chen Yingsheng looked at his distorted face indifferently: "Be a human being before you become a man."

Zhang Xiaona choked up behind her: "Then tell me what we should do. Have we ever let you down?"

"Your family must have received autism subsidies, why don't you use the money to pay for He Kang's treatment and correction?" Chen Yingsheng asked.

"Can it be cured by spending money on you?" Zhang Xiaona shed tears.

Chen Yingsheng was speechless.

She couldn't really answer that question.

When a person has not personally experienced the pain of others, all words are pale and powerless.

He Dayong pulled out the kitchen knife that was stuck in the door panel and chopped at the door lock frantically.

Zhang Xiaona watched all this while crying and laughing, as if she was expecting her husband to break in and hack her son to death.

Chen Yingsheng grabbed Zhang Xiaona and asked: "What was the fire back then?"

The fake girl's burns were definitely from the fire.

Zhang Xiaona didn't say anything, so Chen Yingsheng decisively said to He Cuifeng: "Make a wish."

He Cuifeng looked at her blankly.

"Make a wish. Make the same wish you made the first time."

Tears filled He Cuifeng's eyes.

He Cuifeng lowered her head, not daring to look into Chen Yingsheng's eyes. She whispered:

"I completely treat you as my sister. I hope you are a healthy little girl. I will pick you up from school and we will discuss what to eat on the way home."

There was a final loud noise outside the door. He Dayong broke the door lock and rushed into the kitchen holding a kitchen knife with a curved blade, a twisted smile on his face.

Chen Yingsheng raised his head.

He Cuifeng's wish came true and she turned into a fake human girl.

The pseudo-human girl's mouth corners, which could not heal after being burned, seemed to be pulled by an invisible force and fixed into a strange arc that was neither happy nor sad, as if it was a mockery of everything in the world, and also like an acceptance of her own fate.

After seeing the fake girl clearly, He Dayong's kitchen knife fell to the ground and a look of physiological fear appeared on his face.

The fire devoured everything.

Chen Yingsheng was caught in the flames and thrown high into the sky. She and Xiao Hekang at the end of the sea of ​​fire looked at each other from a distance.

That is the real He Kang, the master of strange stories. He is not in the absurd and terrifying non-reality, nor in the baseline reality that is indistinguishable from the real, and he is even more unwilling to stay in the painful surreal layer. He is in...

Little He Kang is surrounded by film-like fragments, in which he is a baby, a genius, and a pseudo-human girl.

He stood in his own memory.

Chen Yingsheng fell towards the mountain range of stacked films, and she plunged into the gray and black memories.

She saw the baby He Kang lying in a wooden crib. He didn't cry or make a fuss, just stared blankly at the ceiling.

Zhang Xiaona and He Dayong set up a table in the living room and smoked and played mahjong with their friends.

Baby He Kang could not get any response from the outside world. He believed that there was no one else in the world but himself.

Other babies can cry, laugh, be caressed and hugged, but He Kang's world is filled with only greasy ceilings.

When He Kang grew from a baby into a child who could crawl and walk, Zhang Xiaona and He Dayong suddenly transformed themselves into three-good mothers and serious members of society.

He Dayong borrowed money from everywhere to start a vending machine business, and Zhang Xiaona found a job as a cashier in a supermarket.

The reason is simple. He Kang is a little genius who has appeared on TV shows. He recognized 2,000 Chinese characters at the age of 3 and could recite 500 ancient poems at the age of 5. Everyone said that he would become a scientist in the future.

Although He Kang was not talkative and looked as dull as a little robot at this time, he was much better than when he curled up his hands and said nothing later.

Scientists, geniuses with high IQs, are more or less eccentric, and everyone can accept that.

In the blink of an eye, He Kang was 8 years old. He had no friends at school and he didn't even talk to his parents when he went home, but his sensitivity to numbers gradually emerged.

An experienced teacher suggested that He Dayong take He Kang to have his IQ tested.

The teacher was quite tactful: "He Kang is a very talented child. The teachers all think he is very smart. We can test his IQ and then look at other things."

He Dayong took He Kang to the hospital in a suit and tie. He believed that even if the child was sick, he was a legendary genius, and those teachers were jealous of him.

In the hospital, one doctor did the scale and another doctor examined Xiao Hekang, and finally came to a preliminary conclusion:

"No eye contact, unable to respond to others' calls, refusing to communicate, difficulty understanding language, very likely autism, go get another X-ray and an EEG."

He Dayong was stunned: "How is it possible that he has an excellent memory since he was a child and is also very good at mathematics!"

"Some autistic people are like this, they are good at mechanical memory and sensitive to numbers."

Little He Kang suddenly raised his hands toward the window and started dancing.

The young doctor said patiently:

"You see, this is a typical butterfly hand, a repetitive stereotyped behavior. He can't express his emotions, and can only replace normal laughter or crying by raising his hands up and shaking them like butterflies."

He Dayong thought He Kang was pretending to be sick, so he kicked He Kang on the butt and yelled at the top of his lungs:

"The more the doctor talks, the more excited you get! You even installed it here! Do you think you don't have to go to school if you are sick?"

The doctor stopped him: "Parent, please be careful! This is a hospital, don't hit the child!"

He Kang was kicked down in public, but he didn't cry or make a fuss. He slowly got up and got over his previous emotion.

Their noise attracted the department director and nearby nurses and security guards, and everyone gathered around.

He Dayong was a little flustered, but he quickly came up with an idea.

He pointed at the young doctor who had just stopped him and said: "Are you saying this just to make money?"

The young doctor looked surprised.

He Dayong complained to the senior director:

"Are you her boss? Your hospital is so shameless that you made my son undergo a bunch of messy tests just to make money from my hard-earned money. Let me tell you, I'm not a fool. I won't take the film!"

The young doctor had never seen such a shameless person. The anger that had been accumulating since she saw He Kang being beaten was about to explode, but was stopped by the director.

The director said: "Generally, autism will appear in infancy. The earlier the intervention, the better the effect. How old is your child?"

He Dayong was stunned: "At 8 years old, the baby can still be autistic"

The director smiled kindly and brushed off the gray footprints on He Kang's pants. She asked He Dayong: "Have you heard of the cliff experiment?"