It's late at night.
The chirping of insects around them became increasingly noticeable.
The four of them sat in the abandoned train station, quietly sharing their childhood memories.
When Dong Yike brought up this matter, it was indeed a painful memory.
"I have lived in a very dilapidated rural area since I can remember."
Dong Yike slowly said, "It was very backward there. We couldn't even get enough to eat every day. In winter, I didn't even have any clothes to wear. My mother could only go out and pick up scraps of cloth that others didn't want, and sew them up to make clothes for me."
"And what about your dad?"
Feng Linhao asked.
"he...."
Dong Yike's tone became even more somber. She clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. "My mother was abducted by human traffickers when she was a child and sold to a disabled person in a mountainous area to be raised as a child bride."
“Before my mother, his family had already arranged a marriage for him, but that wife had given birth to several girls in a row and was often beaten, so they later bought my mother from human traffickers.”
"So as far back as I can remember, I've had two mothers. I know which one is my biological mother, but I was too young and didn't understand back then. I thought it was normal for everyone to have two mothers."
“Ever since my mother gave birth to me, when that family found out it was another girl, she started being beaten and couldn’t even get a full meal. She even had to go to work the next day.”
“Every time it got dark, my mother would be beaten by that family. Ever since then, I have been terrified of the dark.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Mobai's eyes were filled with astonishment.
He never knew, nor did Dong Yike ever mention, that she had suffered such an ordeal during her childhood.
The thought of this girl's usual carefree and cheerful demeanor suddenly caused him a pang of pain in his heart.
I can't imagine what that scene must have been like: a woman who had just given birth wasn't even allowed a day off and had to go out to earn work points.
The surroundings grew quieter and quieter, and Dong Yike became more and more engrossed.
She stared blankly at the ground and continued, "Later, my mother heard that they were going to buy another woman. She couldn't stand it, so she and another woman planned to run away."
"On the day she escaped, the woman told the family about her plan, just in order to get a full meal. As a result, my mother was beaten again and it took her more than a month to recover."
"The injury on my arm was also from that time."
She gently pulled up her sleeve, and in the darkness, the scar was particularly glaring.
Yu Mobai and Tong Kong suddenly shrank back.
He remembered that Dong Yike hadn't said that before; she said it happened on the second day after she transferred schools, when she got into a fight with someone.
So, it turns out that his finding her in the neighborhood behind the school was an accident.
He silently looked at Dong Yike, the girl who had been with him for two lifetimes.
Only now has he fully understood her past.
It turns out that she often got into fights with others since she was a child, and she could even tolerate him seeing other people.
It's always been influenced by something that happened when I was a child.
"After my mother recovered from her illness, she took me away again, and this time she escaped."
Dong Yike suddenly raised her head, two lines of clear tears on her cheeks that were heartbreaking to see. "She ran for a long time before she found a place to stay. She worked several jobs a day. But I was greatly affected when I was a child. Elementary school was okay, but starting in junior high school, I started fighting all the time."
“My mother was called to the school every few days, and I watched her humbly beg the teachers and the principal not to let me drop out.”
"Later I started to study seriously, but fighting was still a frequent occurrence."
“I am very talented, and my academic performance is among the top in the whole school. Even after I got into a fight, the school never mentioned expelling me again.”
"After that, I went to elementary school, middle school, and high school. I was fighting almost every day until I transferred to No. 81 Middle School, where I met you all."
Tears dripped down her cheeks and onto the ground, glistening in the moonlight.
Yu Mobai looked at her small face and felt very sorry for her. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but someone was faster than him.
Ji Mushu reached out and hugged Dong Yike's trembling body, gently comforting her, "It's all in the past, don't think about it anymore, be good."
"Blame the fat guy."
She glared at Feng Linhao and said, "Why don't you hit him to vent your anger later? He's tough and can take a beating."
"Yes, yes, you should beat me up."
Feng Linhao didn't know what to say to comfort her, so he could only pat his chest to signal her to hit him there.
"I'm fine now."
Dong Yi wiped her tears haphazardly with the back of her hand, but she couldn't stop them. This was the first time she had revealed her past to someone else.
Let her cry.
Yu Mobai's voice came from the side, "After keeping it bottled up for so long, it's time to let it out."
"Yu Mobai, you son of a bitch, I don't want to cry!"
Dong Yike yelled at him fiercely, but her voice was trembling with tears, "I'm really okay!"
Yu Mobai didn't speak, just looked at her quietly, his eyes full of heartache.
This woman, who had loved her for two lifetimes, finally understood her completely at this moment.
At the same time, he was filled with regret, wondering how this strong girl had gotten through it all.
He still remembered clearly that in his previous life, whenever he was in a bad mood and sought out Dong Yike to vent, Dong Yike would never say anything to comfort him, but would just let him cry it out, and then he would feel better.
She once said, "If one day I really come to you and cry, please remember to hug me."
This girl, whether in her past life or this one, is so strong it breaks your heart.
Dong Yike raised her head with teary eyes and met Yu Mobai's gaze in mid-air.
She understood something from his eyes.
She suddenly laughed, a laugh mixed with tears.
She understood one thing from a young age: as long as you have a strong fist, no one will dare to bully you.
But she would never forget the sight of his back as he stood in front of her during that fight outside of school.
That was the first time a boy had actually stood behind her and protected her.
It was also the first time she understood that there was nothing wrong with a girl being a little weak.
Unless, of course, there is a boy who is genuinely willing to protect you.
A firefly flew in from who knows where, wobbling all the way until it reached Dong Yike and landed on her hand.
This tiny glimmer of light may seem insignificant in the darkness, but it's enough to spot it immediately in the vast night.
The boy in front of her was like a torch that had fallen into her gloomy life, warming and illuminating her.
It warmed her once cold heart again.
Yu Mobai had no idea how important his appearance was to Dong Yike.
At that moment, he gently walked up to Dong Yike, slowly squatted down, looked deeply into her eyes, and handed her a tissue.
"From now on... no one will bully you anymore."
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