Chapter 40 Luo Xin 4- South Coast Time
As Luo Xin stood at the university gate, dragging her suitcase, sycamore leaves fell one by one, like countless gray butterflies. She touched the bank card in her pocket. Inside was 1,300 yuan, saved from part-time jobs—all she had in the world. "Where are you going?" The woman selling pancakes at the bus stop saw her standing there for a long time and couldn't help but ask. Luo Xin shook her head, unsure how to answer. She had no destination, no family, and didn't even know where her next meal would come from. She had long since blocked Xiao Yan's number on her phone, and she hadn't replied to Chen Yao's message—she didn't want anyone to see her current state of distress. "Looking for a job?" The woman flipped a pancake, oil splattering on the iron plate, making a sizzling sound. "The restaurant upstairs is hiring dishwashers. They provide food and accommodation, but it's tiring." Luo Xin's eyes lit up. What she needed most now was a place to stay. The restaurant was in a back alley, with the faded words "Home Cooking" hanging on the door. The boss, a bald, middle-aged man, studied her, his gaze lingering for a moment on her slightly bulging belly before he frowned. "Can you stay up all night?" "Yes," Luo Xin clutched the corner of her clothes. "Twelve thousand a month, no breakfast included, and you live in a cubicle in the back kitchen." The boss spat on the ground. "If you're willing, stay. If not, leave." The cubicle in the back kitchen consisted of a single camp bed, with a range hood overhead. Grease ran down the wall like streaks of black tears. Luo Xin shoved her suitcase under the bed and lay down on the hard mattress. Listening to the sound of finger-guessing games coming from the front hall, she suddenly felt a tightness in her throat. The water in the sink was always greasy, and the smell of detergent made her want to vomit. Once, while bending over to mop the floor, she felt a sudden pain in her stomach. She squatted on the ground, holding onto the wall, and cold sweat instantly drenched her back. "Can you still move?" The boss kicked her foot. "If you can't do it, get out. Don't delay things." Luo Xin gritted her teeth and stood up, continuing to wash the pile of dishes. She couldn't lose this job, even if the fumes here would make her cough in the middle of the night, even if the chef who cut the vegetables always looked at her with malicious eyes. "This is not a good place to live." One day after work, the dishwasher secretly slipped her two meat buns. "Your belly is getting bigger and bigger. You can't give birth in the kitchen, right?" Luo Xin ate the buns, tears falling on the plastic bag. "Let's go to Nan'an Village?" The aunt wiped the table. "It's out of the way, the rent is cheap, and it's full of migrant workers. No one says anything." Nan'an Village felt like a forgotten corner of the city. Low buildings were crammed together, and the electrical wires were like...
When Luo Xin stood at the university gate with his suitcase, the sycamore leaves were falling one after another, like countless gray butterflies.
She touched the bank card in her pocket, which contained 1,300 yuan saved from working - this was all her belongings in the world.
"Where are you going?" The aunt selling pancakes next to the bus stop saw her standing there for a long time and couldn't help but ask.
Luo Xin shook her head, not knowing how to answer. She had no destination, no relatives, and even no idea where her next meal would be.
Xiao Yan's number had long been blocked on her phone, and she didn't reply to the message from Chen Yao - she didn't want anyone to see how miserable she was now.
"Looking for work?" Auntie was flipping pancakes, oil splashing onto the iron plate with a sizzling sound. "The restaurant up ahead is hiring dishwashers. Room and board provided, but it's a bit tiring."
Luo Xin's eyes lit up. What she needed most now was a place to stay.
The restaurant is in a back street alley, with three faded words "Home Cooking" hanging on the door.
The boss was a bald middle-aged man. His gaze paused for a moment on her slightly bulging belly as he looked at her, and he frowned.
"Can you stay up all night?"
"Yes." Luo Xin clenched the corner of his clothes.
"1,200 a month, no breakfast included, and you live in a cubicle in the kitchen." The boss spat on the ground. "If you want to work, stay. If not, leave."
There was only a camp bed in the kitchen compartment, with a range hood above the head. Oil stains flowed down the wall like black tears.
Luo Xin stuffed the suitcase under the bed and lay on the hard mattress. Listening to the sound of finger-guessing games coming from the front hall, he suddenly felt his throat tighten.
The water in the sink was always greasy, and the smell of detergent made her want to vomit.
One time when she was bending over to wipe the floor, she suddenly felt a pain in her stomach. She squatted on the ground, holding onto the wall, and cold sweat instantly soaked her back.
"Can you still move?" The boss kicked her foot. "If you can't do it, get out. Don't delay things."
Luo Xin gritted his teeth, stood up, and continued to wash the pile of dishes.
She couldn't lose this job, even though the fumes here could make her wake up coughing in the middle of the night, and even though the chef who cut the vegetables always looked at her with malicious eyes.
"This isn't a good idea." One day after work, the dishwasher secretly gave her two meat buns and said, "Your belly is getting bigger and bigger. You can't give birth in the kitchen, right?"
Luo Xin ate the bun and tears fell on the plastic bag.
"Let's go to Nan'an Village?" Auntie wiped the table. "It's out of the way, the rent is cheap, and they're all migrant workers. No one says anything."
Nan'an Village felt like a forgotten corner of the city: low-rise buildings huddled together, electrical wires tangled in mid-air like spiderwebs, and the alleys were filled with the sour stench of garbage cans.
Luo Xin was walking on the cobblestone road dragging his suitcase. The roots of his sandals had broken, so he could only limp forward.
"Rent a room?" The old woman sewing shoe soles by the wall raised her head and looked at her with cloudy eyes. "There's a vacant room on the third floor. Four hundred yuan a month."
The room is only five or six square meters, and the window faces the wall of someone else's house, so the lights have to be on during the day.
Luo Xin touched the remaining money in his pocket and gritted his teeth: "Rent for one month."
On the day she moved in, she bought the cheapest mat and spread it on the floor, and folded the clothes in the suitcase and placed them in the corner - this was her new home.
In order to earn more money, she found a job distributing flyers. She would go out at six in the morning and come back at ten in the evening. She would take time to go back to the restaurant to wash dishes.
Her belly grew bigger and bigger, and it became increasingly difficult to bend over. One time, while handing out flyers, she suddenly felt dizzy and scattered them all over the floor. She squatted down to pick them up, tears streaming down her face. A passing woman gave her a piece of candy and said, "Girl, it's not easy, is it?"
This sentence made the grievances that she had been holding back for a long time suddenly burst out, and she squatted on the busy street and cried like a child.
The days just keep going on...
I met Yu Hao on a sultry afternoon.
After Luo Xin came back from distributing flyers, he hesitated for a long time in front of the wonton shop at the corner of the alley, but in the end he couldn't bear to buy a bowl.
Just as she was about to turn around, she heard someone behind her say, "Aunt Liu, two bowls of wontons, both with eggs."
When I turned around, I met a pair of clear eyes. The boy was wearing a washed-out school uniform. He was tall, with a healthy tan skin, and his smile revealed two small canine teeth.
"Here you go." He pushed a bowl of wontons in front of her, with chopped green onions floating on the steaming soup.
Luo Xin was stunned. "I don't know you..."
"My name is Yu Hao, I live next door." The boy scratched his head. "I saw you wandering around here several times."
It was the first hot meal Luo Xin had eaten in months. The wonton soup, peppered with pepper, was so spicy it brought tears to her eyes, yet it warmed her heart.
Yu Hao didn't ask any more questions, but just ate his bowl quietly, occasionally looking up and smiling at her.
Later, Luo Xin learned that Yu Hao was also an orphan. He grew up in Nan'an Village and was about to take the college entrance examination.
Perhaps it was because they shared the same suffering, or perhaps it was because of his inherent kindness, but this eighteen-year-old boy became the only light in her dark days.
He would bring her meat buns; help her carry heavy things; sit in her little room and tell her interesting stories at school and his dream of applying to the police academy.
"Being a policeman means you can catch bad guys?" Luo Xin touched her belly and laughed at his childishness.
"More than that." Yu Hao's eyes sparkled, as if hiding stars. "I also want to protect good people, protect those who care about me, and uphold justice." He paused and looked at Luo Xin's belly. "I can protect you and the baby in the future, too."
Luo Xin's heart skipped a beat. She subconsciously avoided his gaze and lowered her head to pick at the lines on the mat.
She didn't dare to trust anyone, especially those who were good to her - Xiao Yan's betrayal was like a scar that hurt at the slightest touch.
"You will pass the exam." She said softly, with a tenderness in her tone that she didn't even notice.
On the day Yu Hao finished his college entrance exam, he brought a bottle of beer to her cabin.
The two of them sat on the ground, eating a bag of peanuts, listening to him talk about the exam questions, how Uncle Zhang in the village had quarreled with someone again, and how Aunt Liu had added new seasonings to her wonton stall.
"I must call the police and the school." Yu Hao took a sip of wine, his cheeks flushed.
"That's great, you will definitely pass the exam." Luo Xin smiled.
That summer vacation was the most relaxing time for Luo Xin since she came to Nan'an Village. Yu Hao came almost every day, sometimes helping her sweep the floor, sometimes just sitting and reading, occasionally chatting.
Luo Xin gradually let down her guard. She would tell him about the strange things she'd encountered while distributing flyers, how the restaurant owner had withheld her wages again, and even jokingly said her baby was kicking her in the belly.
Yu Hao always listened attentively, his eyes shining, as if he was listening to some important secret.
"After I leave, if you have any problems, go find Uncle Zhang." The day before school started, Yu Hao left her his phone number. "He knows a lot of people and can help."
"Yeah." Luo Xin nodded and carefully put the note in his wallet.
"I'll come back often." Yu Hao looked at her seriously, "I'll come back during the holidays."
Luo Xin smiled and didn't take it seriously. She knew that college was a new beginning, and Yu Hao would meet new friends and start a new life. He would soon forget about the shabby little house in Nan'an Village and the pregnant stranger.
On the day Yu Hao left, Luo Xin went to see him off. The platform was bustling with people, and he, with his backpack on his back, looked like a bird about to spread its wings.
"Take care of yourself," he said, his voice choking.
"You too." Luo Xin turned her face away, afraid that he would see her red eyes.
When the train started moving, Yu Hao waved at her through the window and shouted something, but the sound was drowned out by the wind.
Luo Xin stood there until the train turned into a small black dot, then he slowly turned around and walked back.
When autumn came, Luo Xue was born. She was a girl, wrinkled like a kitten, but her cry was very loud.
Luo Xin held her and cried for a long time on the hospital bed - this was her daughter, her only relative in this world.
Her daughter not only looks like her, but also like her deceased mother. She often stares at her daughter with tears streaming down her face.
The day she was discharged from the hospital, she had only 23 yuan left in her pocket. The landlord was pressing for rent, she still hadn't found milk powder for her daughter, and she didn't even have money to buy a pack of diapers.
Luo Xin sat on the bed holding Luo Xue, looking at the falling sycamore leaves outside the window, and suddenly felt despair surging like a tide.
She could no longer wash dishes in the restaurant because her child was too young to be left alone; and the flyer-distributing job paid too little, not enough for the mother and daughter to make a living.
"Don't be afraid, Xiaoxue." She stroked her daughter's soft hair, her voice trembling, "Mom will find a way."
At this moment, there was a light knock on the door. Luo Xin was startled, thinking that it was the landlord coming to collect the debt, and hurriedly hugged Luo Xue tighter.
"Sister Luo Xin?" A familiar voice came from outside the door, with a hint of timidity and tentativeness.
Luo Xin was stunned. This voice...
She walked over and opened the door, and the moment she saw it, tears suddenly fell.
Standing at the door was Yu Hao, carrying a backpack, his face showing the fatigue of the journey, but holding a bulging bag in his hands.
"I... I took a leave of absence and came back." He scratched his head and smiled a little embarrassedly, "I brought some things for the baby."
Inside the bag were milk powder, diapers, and a few small baby clothes. Touching the soft fabrics, Luo Xin suddenly remembered what he had said, "I'll be back during the holidays." It turned out he hadn't lied to her.
"How did you..."
"Uncle Zhang said you gave birth." Yu Hao blushed, "I just took a day off." He walked into the room and looked at Luo Xue on the bed, his eyes brightening surprisingly, "She is so little..."
Luo Xin's tears fell even harder. At her most desperate moment, this boy whom she had only known for a few months actually came back.
The sunlight outside the window was just right, shining on Yu Hao's young face and Luo Xue's sleeping face.
Yu Hao went back that day. When he left, he left Luo Xin his living allowance at the police academy, a total of 1,200 yuan, which he had saved bit by bit.
After seeing Yu Hao off, Luo Xin burst into tears. She had longed to be loved since she was in the orphanage, but she had never been truly loved...
This boy, who had similar experiences to her, gave her the most direct warmth when she was in the most difficult time. This warmth became the only light in her life.
But she didn't know at that time that this eighteen-year-old boy would spend the next twelve years fulfilling his original promise - to protect her, protect her child, and guard this cautious warmth in his own way.
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