Birthday
The machines in the factory were humming. The workers who had arrived at work at seven o'clock in the morning had already changed into their work clothes and were busy. Since noise pollution was inevitable during production, Yu Xi put on the earplugs that Ding Dayong had prepared in advance.
This wasn't the first time she'd walked into a factory's production workshop. The layouts were different, but the work required repeating the same monotonous and tedious actions, which was exhausting.
"Mr. Yu, as you can see, the progress has been accelerated to the maximum. I guarantee that this batch of fabric will be delivered to you before the deadline."
As Yu Xi walked and looked around, she finally stopped before the last process. She reached out and touched the finished product. Its delicate and smooth surface and its brightness and color met their requirements.
Looking at the silk fabric in front of her, Yu Xi recalled that painful memory, and the stinging scars were reopened once again.
She was abandoned by her parents when she was young and spent her days in a local orphanage. The director treated them very well. When she was five years old, she watched as the children around her were taken away one by one, and Yu Xi couldn't help but feel a little lost.
Every time the parents came to choose a child, she would stand by the porch with her doll, observing them quietly without saying a word.
The adults seem to prefer boys, and they also prefer girls who can act sweetly and obediently in front of them.
She alone was neither a boy nor would she take the initiative to flatter anyone.
She simply insisted, "I have a mom and dad, they will come to pick me up."
Often at this point, boys who were a little older than her would laugh at her, saying, "If you had parents, why would you be living here like us?"
"The children living here were all abandoned by their parents; nobody wanted them."
Yu Xi, holding her doll, rushed out of their encirclement, tears welling in her eyes. She ran away quickly with her short legs, saying, "No, my mom and dad didn't abandon me."
She always liked to run to the evergreen tree in the corner of the backyard garden, hug her doll, hide behind the tree, and just as tears were about to well up in her eyes, a mint appeared in front of her.
"Here, take this."
Yu Xi looked up in alarm, too preoccupied with her sadness to notice when the boy had appeared. He unwrapped the candy and stuffed it into her mouth. "They are the bad kids who don't have parents. Don't be sad."
"This is for you." The little boy said, tying a pink silk hair tie to her ponytail and making a bow. "This is a reward from the headmistress for helping her clean."
“My name is Chen Miao.” Chen Miao said, extending his hand to her. “I’ve known about you for a long time, Yu Xi.”
"This reward is for you, I hope you like it," Chen Miao continued honestly. "I know it's your birthday today, so I wanted to give this to you."
Perhaps afraid she would push him, Chen Miao quickly pulled out a handful of mints from his pocket. "Happy birthday, don't be sad, these are all for you."
He said this and quickly turned around, fleeing in a panic.
Children adopted from orphanages don't have specific birth dates; the day they are adopted is their birthday. Yu Xi, though young, understands this.
The dean takes their birthdays very seriously, always buying a cake for each child and having everyone gather together to sing "Happy Birthday."
But Yu Xi just doesn't want to celebrate her birthday. Every year on this day, she comes to this so-called secret base and refuses to leave no matter how the dean looks for her or calls her.
She doesn't hate birthdays, but she hates not having her parents with her.
"Stop right there." Yu Xi peeked out from behind the tree, surrounded by bushes taller than herself. "Don't tell anyone I'm here. This is my secret base."
Without turning his head, Chen Miao replied, "I promise, I will absolutely not tell anyone."
In the end, Yu Xi still went out to attend the birthday party that the dean had organized for her. For no other reason than that, suddenly, she really wanted to hear Chen Miao sing her a birthday song.
Here, besides the dean, he was the first person to remember his own birthday.
So, on that day, a little girl wearing a birthday hat closed her eyes and sincerely made a wish in front of the cake, while the little boy singing "Happy Birthday" to her didn't look at the camera, but instead stared intently at her.
Amidst the fluttering ribbons, time seemed to stand still.
This is the only birthday photo of her before she met Meng Chou, a group photo in which she is smiling happily.
—
Memories flooded back like a tidal wave, and the overwhelming dampness filled her nostrils, making it hard for her to breathe.
The childlike face in my memory is extremely similar to the person now, except that the childishness of the past has faded, and the person has grown up, gaining a touch of unruly youthful spirit.
Yu Xi touched the silk fabric, a lump forming in her throat. The heavy feeling made her lose her balance and stagger forward.
Ding Dayong rushed to help her, but she raised her hand and refused, saying, "I'm fine, it's probably just too stuffy here."
"Then Mr. Yu, come with me outside the workshop for some fresh air."
"No, take me to that production line." She casually pointed to a row of machines, and Ding Dayong began to introduce them.
She needed to buy Chen Miao enough time to dig up the remains under the jujube tree in Ding Dayong's house. Only by obtaining the remains could they prove that Ding Dayong had abducted and trafficked the victim and was suspected of murdering her.
Chen Miao learned from Huang, the executive, that Ding Dayong never left his house for ten days or half a month at a time, and that the only person in his house besides him was that woman. So he came up with the plan to have Yu Xi and Huang go into the factory to observe, while he went to Ding Dayong's house to dig up his remains.
Just as he and the driver pried open the lock and arrived at Ding Dayong's house, the woman peeked out from behind the door of the main room upon hearing the noise. Seeing the two of them, she ran towards Chen Miao like lightning, still trying to say something urgently.
Chen Miao grabbed her and turned to the driver, instructing, "Take her away quickly."
"Huh?" The driver looked puzzled. Chen Miao only told him that he was going to take him to do something important, and didn't say anything else.
He couldn't understand why they would take him to pick someone's lock right away and make him take the person away.
"We won't do anything illegal or disorderly. I'm already so old, I can't let my children down when I'm old," the driver said emphatically.
Chen Miao whispered a few words in his ear, and the latter instantly showed a shocked expression. Without asking another question, he grabbed the woman's wrist and immediately said, "Don't be afraid, girl, I'll take you away."
"Leave this place immediately, and don't go to the town's police station either; they might be in cahoots."
The driver's expression was firm. "The old man understands this. Don't worry, I'll risk my life to ensure this girl's safety."
When the woman heard him say he wanted to take her away, she nodded repeatedly with tears in her eyes, and tremblingly pulled a piece of paper from her pocket.
The driver took the crumpled piece of paper; the words were written in soot from the fire, and touching it inevitably left his fingers stained with black ash.
The note read: 'Save me, I've been abducted. My name is Hong Huazhu, I'm 23 years old, and I live in…'
The detailed home address, parents' names, and their phone number were written in crooked, broken handwriting, as if it had been written for a very long time...
Now he was even more certain that the woman in front of him had been abducted, and he completely believed what Chen Miao had said.
Without the slightest hesitation, he took the woman's hand and walked outside.
"Wait a minute." Chen Miao said, taking off his coat. He had deliberately worn a long coat today. "Put this on, so the chances of being recognized will be lower."
The woman obediently did as she was told. She put on the coat, which covered her entire body, and her messy hair was hidden under the hood, making it impossible to see her face.
"Hurry up!" he urged, and only after seeing the two get into the car parked not far away did he close the gate of Ding Dayong's house again.
Chen Miao took out a shovel from his backpack and started digging at the base of the jujube tree. He had just dug one shovelful when the female ghost he had been chatting with a few days ago appeared.
“Yes, I remember it was right here that I was buried.” She floated beside Chen Miao, pointing excitedly at the ground. “I was stabbed in the head with a kitchen knife and bled to death. Ding Dayong is a truly wicked beast.”
"If he dies, he will surely be torn to pieces and boiled in oil in the underworld."
Chen Miao didn't dare stop for a moment, digging downwards with all his might, shovel after shovel, "Yes, someone like him will definitely get his comeuppance."
"I will definitely seek justice for you."
The female ghost tilted her head, puzzled. "Why are you helping me?"
Chen Miao: "I am helping Yu Xi and upholding justice."
"Yu Xi?" The female ghost murmured the unfamiliar name, then suddenly clapped her hands. "I know, you're doing good deeds for your girlfriend, aren't you?"
"When ghosts do good deeds, the blessings they receive can stay with them, and they can also transform into good fortune for their families."
Chen Miao didn't reply, a faint smile on his face. Beneath the shovel, stark white bones were exposed. He switched to a stiff-bristled brush and continued digging.
After working for an unknown amount of time, the black plastic bag was filled with bones. Just as he was about to tie the bag up and walk out the door, the door was pushed open.
Ding Dayong strode in menacingly. He immediately spotted the jujube tree that Chen Miao had chopped down, and his eyes flashed with a murderous ruthlessness. "You knew everything?"
"Pah, that old hag's voice was ruined by me scalding her with boiling water, and she still complains to you. I should have broken her legs. She's just causing me trouble."
"I knew it was suspicious that the woman kept delaying my arrival, and I guessed right."
Chen Miao keenly grasped the meaning behind his words and asked in a deep voice, "What did you do to her?"
Seeing his gritted teeth, Ding Dayong laughed and said, "What? Feeling sorry for her? You like that woman?"
"I asked you what you did to her?" Chen Miao said, throwing a punch that landed squarely on his face.
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