Meng Qing struggled with her thoughts for a long time before heading to the bedroom. A bedside lamp was on, and the dim light gave the room an indescribable sense of warmth.
For a moment, Meng Qing was in a daze, which reminded him of the life he had longed for when he was a child.
When Meng Qing was a child, she didn't know that she wasn't her biological child. Like other children her age, she longed for her parents' attention and love.
When he was four years old, his adoptive mother fell ill and was lying in bed with a high fever. His adoptive father had gone off to gamble somewhere, and there was no medicine at home. So he went door to door, hoping to borrow some fever-reducing medicine from his neighbors.
However, the adoptive parents had a very bad reputation in the village, and everyone avoided them if they could.
In the past, the villagers were kind-hearted, lending oil, rice, or small tools. They would promise to return it right away, but every time they would drag it out until we came to urge them.
They either say they don't have it, or they say they don't remember, or they blame others for being stingy, saying they only borrowed such a small thing and kept nagging them every day.
Completely forgetting that when borrowing from someone, he used all the nice words he had, and his retort, "Why should I return what I borrowed through my own ability?" immediately enraged the person.
They even started fighting, completely disregarding everything else. Anyway, I'd already eaten the food, and I'd lost all those odds and ends gambling.
He had no money, but he could take his life. After saying that, he stiffened his neck and leaned straight towards the other person.
The villagers had already been robbed of their money, and everyone was disgusted by the couple.
Just consider it bad luck and think of this as feeding the dogs.
From then on, the couple's reputation in the village was ruined, and no one wanted to associate with them, not wanting to get themselves into trouble.
Meng Qing knocked on doors one by one to ask, but when people learned that it was the couple's child, they immediately closed the door and wouldn't answer no matter how much she knocked.
After being turned away countless times, Meng Qing could only return home dejectedly.
Looking at his adoptive mother, who was still lying in bed in great pain, he knew that although she hadn't treated him well, she was his only family at that time.
He thought that things would get better eventually, and that his adoptive mother had only hit him today because she was in a bad mood.
When Meng Qing saw the bed her adoptive mother had placed on the dining table, she thought that since no one in the village would lend her medicine, she could buy it herself at the village clinic.
He had no money of his own, but seeing some on the table, young Meng Qing carefully tiptoed, took a 10-yuan note, and ran towards the village entrance.
Fortunately, the clinic at the village entrance was still open. Meng Qing went in and saw an old doctor who, before he could even speak fluently, stammered out his request.
"Fever...medicine...money..."
The old Chinese medicine doctor didn't recognize Meng Qing and assumed it was someone's child who had come to pick up medicine. So, based on the keywords he provided, he asked, "Are you here to buy medicine to reduce fever?"
Meng Qing nodded vigorously. The old Chinese medicine doctor, leaning on a cane, shakily went around to the back of the counter and gave Meng Qing a few pills.
"money……"
Meng Qing handed over the money she was clutching tightly in her hand.
The old doctor shook his head and said gently, "No need, take the medicine and go home quickly."
The old doctor felt sorry for the child, who was dressed in tattered clothes. In such cold weather, his shoes had holes in the front that let in the wind, and he didn't even have a pair of socks.
I guess someone in the family is sick, and they're worried.
A few pills won't cost much; let's just consider it a good deed.
Seeing that the old doctor wouldn't accept his money, and that he was in a hurry to go back to see his adoptive mother, Meng Qing bowed several times, politely said "thank you," and then turned and ran home.
When he ran home, his adoptive father had already returned. The first thing he did upon seeing Meng Qing was to throw the empty beer can he was holding at him.
"You good-for-nothing, where have you been so late at night? Can't you see your mother is sick?"
"Your mother's illness is all because of you, you unlucky and jinxed thing! Since you came into this family, not a single good thing has happened!"
"If it weren't for supporting you, would we be going through all this trouble?"
"What bad luck today! I haven't won a single game all night, damn it!"
...
Meng Qing didn't understand these things, but based on his previous experience, when his adoptive father scolded him, he just had to stand there and not talk back, otherwise he would be beaten.
He glanced at the bed inside the room; his foster mother still had a high fever and was groaning softly in pain.
Meng Qing raised her hand, held the medicine in her palm, and whispered, "Dad, the medicine."
The drunken adoptive father looked at Meng Qing's palm with his unfocused, drunken eyes.
Upon discovering that he was still clutching money in his other hand, she angrily snatched it away and shouted:
"You've even learned to steal money now?"
"So, you unlucky thing, is this how you repay me?"
"You can't even earn money, all you do is eat all day. You can't even keep an eye on a sick person, and now you're stealing money!"
Learning from him, he picked up the spatula hanging on the wall and hit Meng Qing directly with it.
"I'll beat you to death for stealing money! You stole money!"
"All the money in this house belongs to me! How dare you take my money!"
"I knew there weren't that many kids to pick up. I think you're a jinx, that's why you were dumped in this godforsaken place!"
"I should have just sold you for money! I'll beat you to death!"
Meng Qing had no chance to speak before his adoptive father grabbed a spatula and started hitting him with all his might. When the spatula flew away, he grabbed a rope from the door and started whipping Meng Qing with it.
Meng Qing was still a child, and she was no match for him. She was beaten to the point of near death and lay on the ground.
When Meng Qing woke up the next morning, her adoptive mother, without even asking what happened, started cursing him as soon as she heard that he had stolen money.
Meng Qing spoke softly, saying that she had taken the money to get medicine at the village entrance.
The foster mother frowned and shouted, "What nonsense about prescribing medicine! I don't need medicine when I'm sick. Thank God, I'll be fine after a good night's sleep!"
"I think you just want to steal money. You're such a bastard, an ungrateful wretch."
...
Meng Qing hadn't eaten dinner last night, and had spent the whole night trying to borrow and buy medicine. She was also beaten half to death by her adoptive father, so she was completely exhausted and had fainted.
When he woke up again, it was already dark, and no one was home.
He was still lying in the same spot where he had fainted during the day when his adoptive mother, as soon as she recovered, went gambling again with his adoptive father.
After this ordeal, Meng Qing realized that he was not his biological son, and he finally understood why his adoptive parents had always treated him so badly.
Because he is not their child at all.
From then on, Meng Qing completely lost hope in the couple and no longer sought their love.
He would only occasionally pass by the house of a child about his age at the village entrance and see the warm scene inside under the dim light.
I was always envious. His house was often empty, always dark at night, and the lights had long been broken.
As he grew older, many of his memories faded, leaving only that dim, yellow light.
Meng Qing snapped out of her reverie and saw Shi Qian, nestled under the covers with most of her face showing, bathed in the dim light.
In a corner of my heart, it seems as if a lamp has been quietly lit.
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