8/Mobile Phone
Chen Mian rarely dreams, but tonight is an exception.
Perhaps it was because Song Ai mentioned her mother.
She dreamt of that night six years ago, when Ruan Yanmei held her and whispered in her ear, "Even Mom can't help you."
She chose to embark on a new life, leaving Chen Mian in the stagnant, dark mud.
Chen Mian was having difficulty breathing, as if her throat was blocked with cotton. A dry and bitter feeling made her feel like she was about to die. Just then, it seemed as if someone had chiseled open a hole in the night, and the light of day leaked in.
The rain was pouring down, the streetlights were dim, and the boy stood at the bus stop looking at her covered in mud, and reached out his hand to her.
Chen Mian looked at those hands; the light-colored mole on the knuckle of the thumb looked like a decimal point left on it.
Just as she was about to grasp it, she was suddenly awakened by a loud noise outside the door.
The phone next to my pillow showed 3 a.m.
Outside the door, Chen Song's drunken voice swore, "What are you doing putting this chair here? Huh?!"
No one paid him any attention. The air was filled with the smell of alcohol emanating from him. Through the thin wall, Chen Mian seemed to hear Song Ai's rapid breathing.
Chen Songru muttered to himself, "Ah, my daughter and wife are both at home, so who should I look for?"
He chuckled after he finished speaking.
The suffocating feeling from her dream carried over into reality. Chen Mian wanted to get out of bed and move a chair to block the locked door, but her body felt stuck to the bed. It was as if tiny insects were crawling up her stiff back, gnawing at her flesh and sucking at her marrow.
Footsteps echoed in the living room, sometimes near, sometimes far. Chen Song's breathing was heavy, and each step felt like a slap to Chen Mian's face.
"Chen Mian—"
Bang, bang, bang.
The banging on the door sounded like a murderer on a rainy night smashing an axe against Chen Mian's pillow.
She huddled under the covers, afraid to make a sound, her teeth clenched tightly around the back of her hand.
"Mianmian, why aren't you opening the door? It's Daddy!"
Bang bang bang—
"Why did you lock the door! Chen Mian! Why did you lock the door!"
The sounds of kicking and banging on the door rang out simultaneously.
"Oh, look how confused Daddy is! Daddy has the key!"
Chen Mian's body trembled. She hurriedly got up from the bed, but looked around the room and couldn't find any tools to protect herself.
There was no money in the desk, so anything hard would become a weapon that Chen Song could snatch and use to hit her, given the difference in their physical strength.
She stood there, lost in a profound sense of bewilderment.
I could hear the crisp sound of the keychain rattling outside the door.
Then he closed his eyes.
Just as the feeling of cement being poured over his head returned, the sound of the master bedroom door opening came from inside, and Song Ai's laughing voice shattered all the darkness.
She said, "Come on, Chen Song, come at me."
Chen Mian closed her eyes briefly.
Chen Song released the key as expected. She heard Chen Song spitting on the ground and heard him chuckle from his throat. That was the prelude to his domestic violence every time. A man with no other skills, apart from the temporary intoxication of alcohol, the only way he could prove his strength was by bullying women who were naturally weaker than him.
Chen Song is trash.
But this scumbag is her father, with whom she cannot sever ties by blood. Ruan Yanmei can start a new life with a divorce certificate once she sees his true colors, but she cannot. The father-daughter relationship on the household registration book is like a brand from a devil, making every step she takes outside leave her bleeding profusely.
Outside the door, Song Ai was sobbing as she was beaten.
Chen Mian sat by the bed until dawn.
At 7:30, Chen Song was still fast asleep in the master bedroom.
Song Ai was lying on the sofa and smiled at her when she saw her come out.
She was still wearing that black slip dress and said to Chen Mian, "Chen Mian, I'm also counting down."
Chen Mian silently took out the thousand yuan that Chen Yin had given her last time from the inner pocket of her schoolbag and placed it in front of Song Ai, "Go to the hospital."
Song Ai, with a cigarette dangling from her lips, looked at her and laughed, "You little beast, can't you even say something that shows you care?
Chen Mian lowered her eyes, neither speaking nor looking at her. Her gaze lingered on the broken beer bottle on the ground for a moment before she opened the door and walked out.
Outside, however, it was a bright and sunny day.
Everything that happened last night seemed to become a secret known only to her the moment she stepped out of the corridor.
The sunlight shone gently down, and the classroom, which had not yet started morning self-study, was filled with laughter and chatter. The girls chatted about the latest gossip, and the boys discussed their favorite sports stars. Chen Mian stood at the back door and suddenly reached out her hand. She saw the sunlight fall into her palm and burn her like a firework.
Fallen from hell to earth.
Zhao Lili had just returned from fetching water when she saw Chen Mian standing at the back door, staring blankly at her palm. Curious, she leaned over and took a look. "Are you telling your own fortune, Mianmian?"
"No." She withdrew her hand and followed Zhao Lili back to her seat.
"By the way, there's more to what happened yesterday. Lin Lin told me that this time it felt really different."
Zhao Lili is a gossip queen. She survives at school by gossiping and she gets quite excited about it.
“I didn’t really care about the girls around Shen Yu before. It was like the girl was the one who was infatuated. But this time it’s not like that at all. Just last night, Lin Lin was crying to me on WeChat, saying that Shen Yu drove his motorcycle to take the girl from the art class home.”
"Wow, have you ever heard of Shen Yu taking someone home? Is he serious this time? Is it his real girlfriend?"
Zhao Lili chattered away.
Liu Junjie, who was in the front row and had just finished paying, yelled without turning his head, "Sister Li, keep your gossip down, it's disturbing people's sleep."
"Stop sleeping! Morning reading is starting soon!"
"My deskmate isn't here, and I'm not afraid of being late, so what's there to be afraid of if I'm just taking a nap!"
...
Chen Mian, who hadn't spoken a word, was still on page thirty-two of her textbook.
A draft of cold air blew in through the slightly ajar window, making the pages of the book rustle as it turned.
Chen Ke walked over and said to Chen Mian, "Chen Mian, the Chinese teacher said that those who have registered for the competition need to go to the office."
Chen Mian got up and followed Chen Ke outside.
The senior high school teachers' offices are in the building opposite, with a corridor connecting the two sides.
Chen Mian and Chen Ke walked one after the other.
Chen Ke asked her, "Have you decided which competition topic you'll choose this time?"
"Yes, life is about addition and subtraction."
"What a coincidence, I was also planning to choose this one."
When I arrived at the office, the art class's female protagonist, whom Zhao Lili had been nagging about all morning, was also there.
There was some paint on her school uniform jacket. She was listening to the teacher with her head down, her slender neck was fair, like a swan's.
Chen Mian stood at the end of the line, told the teacher the question, took the materials, and before she could leave the office, she was stopped by the grade leader who suddenly came in.
The class monitor, who had spoken to Chen Mian at the entrance of the science class, spotted her immediately.
He was also holding a metal scanner.
The Chinese teacher smiled and said, "These are students preparing to participate in a writing competition."
The class monitor nodded, took the list, glanced at it, and then read out Chen Mian's name.
Chen Mian stopped, and Qiao Zhiwan, who was at the front of the group, also suddenly stopped.
Qiao Zhiwan's friend tugged at her arm, "Come on, let's go back to morning self-study."
"Okay." Qiao Zhiwan looked away and followed them out of the classroom.
"Chen Mian." The class monitor held out his hand to her and, under the somewhat puzzled look of the Chinese teacher, said to her, "Hand over your phone."
*
"Damn it, the black cat is checking my phone again."
"What's going on? Wasn't there a round of checks just a few days ago?"
"They said they found a cell phone in a female student's room in the humanities class, and now they're searching the whole grade. It's quite a big operation."
"A liberal arts major? You're so stubborn! How did you get caught bringing a cell phone?"
"Who knows? Stop talking nonsense, bro, where the hell are you hiding your phone?!"
When the news reached the science class...
You Huai happened to come out of the music class to find Shen Yu.
He sat down directly in the chair next to Shen Yu and said to him, "Have you heard? Chen Mian from the liberal arts class had her phone confiscated and was told she'd be disciplined. She's standing in the office right now."
Shen Yu didn't speak, he just looked at him coldly.
You Huai immediately raised his hands in surrender, "I really didn't mean to test you, it's just quite interesting. Do you know who told Black Cat about this?"
Shen Yu reacted coldly, leaning back in his chair and glancing at him with his eyes raised.
A guy in the front row, frantically trying to hide his phone, overheard the gossip and asked, "Who is it, Brother Huai? Reporting someone for carrying a phone? That's a death sentence! What kind of bastard would do something like that?"
You Huai immediately laughed, "This bastard, you actually know him? Didn't you just get into a fight on the basketball court a while ago?"
"Damn, Chen Ke?"
"Yes, it's him."
*
One of the laws of the animal kingdom is the survival of the fittest.
Chen Ke held a pen and wrote his name on the essay competition materials.
Each stroke, every line, is a masterpiece of calligraphy and painting.
He looked down and saw his faded canvas shoes.
Someone in the classroom exclaimed in surprise, "No way? Chen Mian brought a cell phone? Isn't she a student from a poor family?"
"It must have been given to her by Chen Yin. I've seen Chen Yin come to her with her phone several times."
"Are we really going to get a disciplinary action? Surely not, don't all those guys from Shenyu carry cell phones?"
"You yourself said it's those people from Shenyu, how can Chen Mian be compared to them?"
"Who went to complain? That's so shameless!"
Chen Ke lowered his eyes and crossed out Chen Mian's name on the list of participants in the essay competition.
Chen Mian said that they were not from the same world.
Then, no, it can't be.
*
In the office, the teacher was called in for a surprise phone check.
Chen Mian stood there alone, watching birds circling low above the window.
She walked to the window, looked down, and saw Shen Yu standing by the tree.
He had a cigarette between his fingers, and as if sensing something, he looked up, his eyes meeting hers.
Time seemed to stand still.
Chen Mian watched him silently, seeing the scarlet flame on the cigarette between his lips leap up like a raging fire, devouring the sunlight.
Not far away, a girl was calling out Shen Yu's name.
Shen Yu coldly withdrew his gaze and prepared to leave.
"Sinking Domain".
But then they heard Chen Mian's voice.
She has a pitiful-looking face, but her temper is as hard as her bones.
Calling his name now is met with indifference.
Not far away, Qiao Zhiwan was holding a drawing board, watching Shen Yu stand there without moving.
She looked up and saw Chen Mian standing by the window.
Suddenly I remembered seeing Chen Mian's name somewhere before.
It's the one pinned to the top of Shen Yu's phone.
Chen Mian didn't look at her; she just looked at Chen Yu and then spoke to him.
"Ten thousand, can you afford it?"
That night at the karaoke bar, Shen Yu asked her how much money she could get for a kiss.
Back then, Shen Yu had Chen Song kicked out of the mahjong parlor and Song Ai taken the beating for her as a warning. He used this method to tell her that he was the one who gave her the strength to breathe, and that she should know better than to refuse.
After all, they made love, but it was just a kiss.
Back then, Chen Mian was full of stubbornness, but now, she lowers her eyes, and there are dark circles under her thin eyelids.
Through the swaying shadows of the trees and the sound of students reading aloud.
She stood in the future that could take her away, and gave Shen Yu an answer.
-
I've been focusing on the plot and haven't written any explicit content, so I'm too embarrassed to ask for votes. But, if you like it, could you please vote for me? I don't know what it's for, but (stretches out confidently) (I want some!)
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