Chapter 35 Extra Chapter 1: First Encounter in Childhood
Chen Jianjin, who was not yet seven years old, was sent to the ancestral home in Huaiqing Ancient Town after Feng Jing and Chen Zhanyue divorced.
The little boy didn't realize at first that he had been abandoned. He thought his parents were too busy to take care of him, so they entrusted him to his grandmother, who was a vegetarian and a Buddhist.
One afternoon, while taking a nap, he grew tired of the cold, coffin-like room and went to bask in the sun under the trees in the garden.
The sun was warm and balmy, making him drowsy, when he overheard the gardeners chatting idly as they trimmed the new soil.
"Hey... Sixth Brother, is this family just a grandmother and grandson? I've never seen the male and female owners before?"
The person asking the question was a young man who had just arrived and was trying to figure out the situation of his employer so that he could avoid certain pitfalls in the future.
"Shh, keep your voice down." The man behind him was of questionable character. Sixth Brother, who was speaking, lowered his voice and said, "This family is very wealthy. They settled in Beijing a long time ago. The whole family is doing very well in Beijing. There's only one old lady who is determined to return to her roots and refuses to leave. She insists on staying in Huaiqing, this ancestral home."
As he spoke, the slightly older man looked around and continued, "I heard... in Beijing, the son and daughter-in-law of this family are getting a divorce and neither of them wants the child, so they sent the child here."
"Huh?" The young man asked in surprise, puzzled, "This... it's not like we can't afford to raise it, why don't you want it?"
"Are you stupid?" the man analyzed logically. "Who would find a new job with a child in tow? Besides... it seems like that kid has some kind of problem."
The man pointed to his head, and the young man immediately understood, asking incredulously, "Sixth Brother...you mean, this family's child isn't healthy?"
"Anyway, I haven't seen this child speak even once in the few days he's been here. A child this age should be at an age where he loves to play and make noise, but he's very withdrawn. Maybe there's something wrong with him. Otherwise, why would his parents be so heartless?"
That makes sense.
The young man silently made a mental note that he should never mention the child's lack of talking or playing in front of his employer, lest he incur bad luck.
All of this was heard by Chen Jianjin.
So... Feng Jing disliked him because he was a burden and didn't want him anymore?
He wanted to go back and find out the truth.
The seven-year-old had no idea that Huaiqing was hundreds of kilometers away from Beijing. He only knew that he had taken a nap and was then sent to his grandmother, whom he hadn't seen in a long time. He thought that his grandmother's house was very close to his own.
So he went out alone, without taking anything with him.
However, misfortunes never come singly.
Little Chen Jianjin got lost and ran into his rival who was lying in wait.
Feng Jing's methods were ruthless, and in the power struggles, she inevitably affected innocent bystanders.
Chen Jianjin was kidnapped by a down-on-his-luck middle-aged businessman. Feng Jing had dismantled the man's protective umbrella, and he himself was forced into becoming a pariah.
At that time, Song Wan had been living in Huaiqing for more than half a year. Gradually, she had emerged from the shadow cast by Li Youde and began to make friends and play like other normal children.
She met several people her age in a park near her home.
A group of seven or eight children were leading a group of cool little girls with mushroom haircuts and androgynous style, named Yu Miao.
Yu Miao has an uncle who is a policeman. She has admired her tall and imposing uncle since she was a child and dreamed that one day she could be a policeman like her uncle and catch bad guys. Because of this, she is particularly enthusiastic about playing police and criminal games.
The girl possessed a confidence and flamboyance that Song Wan lacked. She found her cool and was unconsciously drawn to her, thus becoming one of her many followers.
That day, they played cops and robbers again.
This time, the mission was to infiltrate a base to rescue hostages, and Yu Miao distributed his hand-drawn map to everyone.
Although she admired her greatly, it didn't stop Xiao Songwan from thinking that her drawing skills were really terrible.
Xiao Songwan held the paper and turned it around, but she still couldn't figure out where she was.
So, I could only rely on my intuition to find it.
It looks like a dilapidated bungalow, with... this pillar with black lines sticking out should be...?
Xiao Songwan looked up and tried to search her surroundings.
Suddenly, my eyes lit up.
Ah! It's a telephone pole!
She found her!
Xiao Songwan went around to the door, but the door of the bungalow was tightly locked with a heavy iron chain.
She didn't give up and kept circling around. Persistence paid off, and she actually found the entrance.
It was an abandoned ventilation duct.
The louvered windows hung precariously on the exterior wall, more than a meter off the ground.
Song Wan carried bricks and tiptoed up the wind tunnel with great effort.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Chen Jianjin, with his small frame curled up in a ball, was in great pain all over his body after being brutally beaten, especially his stomach and abdomen, which had been kicked hard.
The middle-aged man had intended to use Chen Jianjin to threaten Feng Jing and avoid imprisonment, but he couldn't get through no matter how many times he called. Frustrated, he took his anger out on the boy. Enraged, he decided to kill and dismember the boy, but he had no suitable tools around.
The chill of the floor seeped into my thin clothes, and the penetrating cold crept up my spine, drilling deep into my bones.
Chen Jianjin was bound hand and foot, and was thrown into the corner of the room like a piece of scrap metal. He lowered his eyelashes, his mind was in a mess, as if he was thinking a lot, or as if he was thinking of nothing at all.
He tried to sort out his thoughts, only to find that he was doing nothing at all.
So he succumbed to his instincts and succumbed to his madness, letting the image of the middle-aged man with a fierce face and bloodshot eyes, who had punched and kicked him, overwhelm all his reason.
Gradually, Chen Jianjin accepted the status quo and the reality that he might be killed.
Strangely, at this moment he was no longer afraid, but calm to the point of numbness.
So when the first sound came, Chen Jianjin thought it was the man who had kidnapped him returning from buying tools, and he remained so quiet that he didn't even change his posture.
In the end, it was Xiao Song Wan who discovered him.
"Ah! Found it!"
A child's voice, tender yet clear and unfamiliar, entered my ears.
Chen Jianjin opened his eyes and saw a dirty, tattered little girl with a chubby face full of surprise.
This was the first time Chen Jianjin had ever seen someone else's eyes light up with joy when the other person saw him.
It wasn't until she helped untie the thick hemp rope binding his hands and feet that Song Wan belatedly realized that this boy didn't seem to be one of the people who often played with them.
"Are you new here? I've never seen you before."
Xiao Songwan, who was shorter than him, raised her head and looked him up and down while asking questions curiously.
Chen Jianjin remained silent, also carefully observing her.
Not getting a response, Song Wan quickly stopped dwelling on it.
Anyway... we'll know once we take him out and show him to our friends.
This was actually the first time she had ever won this game.
So Chen Jianjin followed behind her, climbed up the earthen stove in the kitchen to the ventilation duct, and then climbed outside along the ventilation duct.
After a series of actions, he was covered in dust.
The girl in front of me was even worse; her little face was covered in scratches, making her look like a little kitten.
However, she didn't seem to care and grabbed his hand, running towards a certain direction.
Soon, they arrived at a corner of the park.
"I've rescued them!"
Xiao Songwan excitedly raised the wrist of the person next to her and loudly announced the good news.
The group of children across the street looked over upon hearing this and remained silent for a moment.
Finally, one of the little boys broke the silence, saying, "Song Wan, what are you talking about? The awards ceremony is over, and Liu Jinlei is still the winner."
Chen Jianjin shifted his gaze back to the girl.
So... her name is Song Wan.
I just don't know which two characters they are.
Song Wan then looked at her friend Liu Helei, and sure enough, there was a star sticker on his chest.
The girl's frozen smile gradually faded, and she slowly let go of the hand she was holding.
Soon, some people became curious about the boy next to Song Wan and asked her where she got the person. She answered honestly that she found him in a bungalow next to a telephone pole, according to the picture.
"You mistook a tree for a telephone pole?"
Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter.
Song Wan had made a fool of herself and lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Alright, alright, let's get back to business." Yu Miao clapped her hands, steer the conversation back to the previous topic, "It's my birthday this Saturday, how about I treat you guys to dinner at the Pirate Amusement Park?"
"...Pirate amusement park?"
Whispers quickly broke out below.
Yu Miao clapped her hands to interrupt, asking impatiently, "Are you guys going or not?!"
"Boss, I have a problem!" The chubby boy raised his arm.
Yu Miao waved his hand and said, "Speak."
Having received permission, the boy finally voiced his doubts: "The pirate amusement park requires tickets, will this boss treat us too?"
"You wish!" Yu Miao immediately denied, "A ticket costs twenty yuan. I have to treat you to a meal and buy you tickets. I don't even have any of my New Year's money left!"
As she spoke, the girl waved her hand, "You'll have to figure out the tickets yourselves. Whoever wants to go should report to Little Glasses. I need to count the number of people and apply for funding from my mom."
Little Glasses is a refined boy who wears glasses and is the secretary and accountant of the small group.
Not long after the girl finished speaking, several children signed up.
Chen Jianjin noticed that after the child finished telling the story, the girl beside him, who was already silent, became even more so.
He could tell she wanted to go, so he didn't quite understand her current hesitation and reluctance.
So he stepped closer and asked, "Why didn't you sign up?"
Song Wan slowly raised her head, shook her head at him, and said honestly, "I have no money."
Chen Jianjin did not believe it.
He had lived a life of comfort and ease since birth, and naturally assumed that all children in the world were the same.
At that time, he was so short-sighted that he could blurt out something as trivial as "Why don't they eat meat porridge?"
Song Wan thought this person was very strange.
He appeared out of nowhere, pretending to be a victim or hostage in the bungalow she was searching. At first, he wouldn't say anything when she asked him anything, but now he's starting to make sarcastic remarks about her having no money.
Song Wan was already upset because she couldn't play with her friends, and when she remembered how he had deliberately teased her earlier, she became even angrier.
So she pushed the boy away and angrily wanted to go home.
However, Chen Jianjin refused to give up, grabbing her hand tightly and saying, "You still haven't told me your name."
"I'm not telling you my name!"
Song Wan tried to pry open his tiger's mouth, but even with her cheeks turning red, she couldn't budge him at all. After going back and forth, she was so anxious that she almost cried. Finally, when she was completely exhausted, she gave in and said, "My name is Song Wan. Can you let me go now?"
The little girl had two buns on either side of her head, each tied with a red ribbon. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she looked like a rabbit.
Chen Jianjin still didn't let go, but asked, "The 'Song' in Tang poetry and Song lyrics? Which 'wan' is it?"
Five-year-old Song Wan cannot write her own name yet. She only knows that her mother said her name Wan has the character for "grass" in it, and that she hopes that she will be as full of vitality as her name.
Wan...wan.
So that's the character.
Chen Jianjin understood. Since she had saved him, he generously said, "If you want to go to the amusement park, I can treat you. Let's meet here on Saturday."
However, Song Wan didn't take his words to heart.
On Saturday, Chen Jianjin had his driver take him to the agreed location, but he waited from day to night without Song Wan appearing.
It seems he's been abandoned again.
Chen Jianjin didn't tell anyone about the kidnapping.
Grandma thought he had sneaked out to play alone that afternoon and gotten lost, so the traffic police took him home.
No one knows how many times he, at such a young age, felt a surge of hope for survival in the dilapidated, decaying bungalow, in the shadows where sunlight never reached, and how many times his cries for help were cruelly cut off.
In the dead of night, he deliberately tortured himself by reliving the events of that day over and over again, forcing himself to remember the pain of the man's fists striking his body and the despair of being unable to survive.
His original intention was to remind himself not to have any expectations of kinship anymore, but unexpectedly, his self-loathing and self-abandonment also reached their peak with each repetition.
It was a scorching hot afternoon. He lay in a garden full of flowers, with the worst fortune slip he had drawn that morning when he accompanied his grandmother to the temple to pray to Buddha in the left pocket of his coat, and sleeping pills he had stolen from his grandmother's room in the right pocket.
Today is a beautiful day, perfect for dying.
Chen Jianjin had just poured out a handful of white pills and hadn't even put them in his mouth when he heard footsteps approaching from afar, followed by a soft exclamation: "So many sunflowers!"
With a slight twitch of his eyes, Chen Jianjin looked in the direction of the sound.
As expected, it was Song Wan!
More than a month later, he saw her again.
At this moment, Chen Jianjin had no time to wonder why she suddenly appeared here. He just wanted to understand why she hadn't kept her promise to go to the amusement park together that day, making him wait for nothing.
However, Song Wan did not remember him.
Five-year-old children are easily distracted, let alone someone they've only met once and haven't seen for over a month.
This made Chen Jianjin feel it was unfair, and he was very angry.
How dare she forget him?!
So, he gritted his teeth and gave her half of the handful of medicine in his hand, coaxing her that it was candy.
Xiao Song Wanxing had bright, round eyes, but she wasn't very bright and believed the boy's nonsense.
She carefully took the item and put it into her small knitted bag slung across her body, only taking one piece.
She remembered her mother's teachings and could only eat one piece of candy a day, otherwise her teeth would be eaten away by cavities.
Xiao Songwan was afraid of those large green caterpillars that crawled around like pupae, and she didn't want them to eat her teeth.
Under the boy's expectant gaze, she cautiously put the object in her mouth.
Seeing that she had eaten, Chen Jianjin felt relieved and started to put the handful of pills into his mouth. However, the next second, the girl slapped them away. Not only did she knock away his pills, but she also spat them out and wrinkled her face in disgust, saying, "This candy is spoiled. It's not sweet at all, and the taste is weird. I can't eat it."
As she spoke, she shook all the pills out of her handbag and onto the ground.
Chen Jianjin stared at the white medicine granules mixed with the soil, his molars grinding together, his face turning ashen.
However, the girl did not notice his abnormality. She only felt sorry for him, thinking that he had never eaten sweet candy and treated spoiled things as treasures, and was still feeling sorry for him.
Song Wan is a kind girl.
So she generously said, "I'll treat you to some candy."
And so, Chen Jianjin was pulled into a nearby convenience store by her.
As Xiao Songwan left the supermarket, she felt extremely distressed. The items there were so expensive. She had two yuan, which could buy four orange-flavored lollipops at the newspaper stand downstairs from her home, but at this store, she could only buy one.
The candy is exactly the same, but it costs four times more.
Xiao Songwan feels bad about spending her money.
She was almost reluctant to give the lollipop to the boy.
How can you go back on your promise to someone?
The thought of the boy trying to pick up those dirty and unpalatable candies made Xiao Songwan's heart soften again. She handed over the only lollipop she had, saying, "Here... take it."
She deliberately turned her face away to avoid looking, so as not to feel heartache and regret.
Chen Jianjin didn't stand on ceremony with her, took the food, opened it, and popped it into his mouth.
"Is it tasty?"
She asked again, her eyes shining.
generally.
Chen Jianjin opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he saw a gentle young woman calling out to them from the doorway of their house not far away: "Wanwan, come home."
Later, Chen Jianjin learned that the woman was an employee of the cheongsam shop that his grandmother frequented, and she had come to deliver the newly made clothes.
As he bit into the orange-flavored candy, its rich, sweet aroma filling his mouth, he inexplicably thought of the girl's almond-shaped eyes looking at him, like the shimmering surface of water reflecting the sunlight.
At this moment, Chen Jianjin wanted Song Wan to remember him more than to die.
Unfortunately, before he could even begin to implement his plan, he was taken back to Beijing to study.
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