Night returned to silence.
Yanluo embraced the exhausted Su Qing and they drifted off to sleep.
...
So, we've had too many peaceful days; it's time to get a bit more intense.
The timeline goes back five years.
It was also the height of summer.
Under the scorching sun, Duan Feng, a migrant worker wearing a yellow hat, and his wife Wang Hui were working at the construction site.
However, Wang Hui was a laborer at the construction site next door.
Luo Daming met the couple during this period.
Luo Daming was from Hubei Province. He was tall, strong, and healthy. Seeing that Wang Hui, a woman, was having a hard time, he kindly helped her.
Duan Feng heard that his wife often received help from this man, so he invited Luo Daming to go out for a meal together.
After a few rounds of drinks, Luo Daming gradually opened up.
Luo Daming lost his mother at a young age and his father in his youth. His wife, whom he married when he was young, ran away with someone else because she thought he was poor.
I came to work in Guangdong Province all by myself, and I rarely get a hot meal. I usually just grab something quick at a cheap, hole-in-the-wall restaurant.
Wang Hui was very grateful to Luo Daming, so she made the suggestion.
“Brother Da Ming, my wife and I rented a room nearby. The people in the room next door just moved out. If you don’t mind, you can come and rent it and live with us.”
“We usually cook for ourselves after get off work, so it’s just a matter of having an extra pair of chopsticks.”
Her husband, Duan Feng, chimed in, "Yes, Brother Daming, it's more lively with more people."
At this moment, Duan Feng could never have imagined that his agreement had brought such a demon into his home.
Luo Daming took a bite of food, scratched his head, and said embarrassedly.
"Then I'll take my leave."
His honest and simple appearance made the couple lower their guard.
After several days of searching, Luo Daming found the landlord and rented the room next to Duan Feng and his wife's.
For a while at first, Luo Daming didn't show his fangs and lived a quiet and law-abiding life.
To repay Luo Daming for his help, Wang Hui cooked delicious meals for him every day.
About a week later, during dinner one evening, the summer breeze gently blew into the rented room, mingling with the wind from the old fan as the three of them ate.
On his way back, Luo Daming bought a dozen ice-cold beers at the convenience store.
Duan Feng, who doesn't drink alcohol, was forced to drink two bottles by Luo Daming.
Wang Hui was also invited to drink a bottle.
The three chatted happily, from interesting stories on the construction site to trivial matters at home. Wang Hui even said she would introduce a good wife to Luo Daming.
Little did they know that Luo Daming's evil clutches were reaching out to the couple that very night.
After taking a shower, Duan Feng and Wang Hui, feeling drowsy from the alcohol, fell asleep on the bed without realizing it.
Luo Daming leaned against the wall, and when he heard no more noise from next door, he barged into Duan Feng and his wife's room.
The frail Duan Feng, half-drunk and half-awake, watched as his wife was harmed by that demon.
Duan Feng was known for his honesty on the construction site. Even when people teased Wang Hui, he never talked back.
To put it bluntly, he is inherently cowardly.
Duan Feng has two children back in his hometown. Luo Daming threatened them that if they dared to call the police, he would go to their hometown and spread the word about the three of them.
Wang Hui didn't want her two children to be affected in their hometown, so she had no choice but to endure it.
What's infuriating is that the husband didn't even bother to say anything.
Luo Daming gradually went too far, and whenever he wanted, he would forcefully drag Wang Hui from their room into his own.
At work, he would often talk about this with his coworkers.
Wang Hui could only work silently on the side, not daring to speak.
The workers brazenly stared at the woman at work.
Wang Hui was in her thirties, the prime of her life, and even in her dirty work clothes, she still drew disgusted looks from those men.
The news spread from Wang Hui and Luo Daming's construction site to Duan Feng's construction site next door.
Duan Feng, pushing a cart full of red bricks, was pointed at and whispered about by the surrounding workers, but he did not utter any rebuttal.
Because that was the truth, and he dared not say anything to refute them.
Duan Feng silently pushed the cart away from his coworkers.
Wang Hui also wanted to run back to her hometown, but her salary was paid annually, and if she left now, she would lose her salary.
Moreover, Luo Daming's threat prevented Wang Hui from taking any action.
This continued until the winter break of the following year.
Duan Feng and Wang Hui's daughter, Duan Xiaoyu, came to stay at the three's rented house for a while.
Duan Xiaoyu and her younger brother live with their grandmother in their hometown because their parents work away from home and they only see each other a few times a year.
Before Duan Xiaoyu arrived, Wang Hui would stay in Luo Daming's room every night to pray that Luo Daming would not harm her daughter.
Unfortunately, she underestimated the extent of Luo Daming's perversion.
It was the third day since Duan Xiaoyu moved in.
Wang Hui thought Luo Daming would back down, but she had clearly underestimated him.
As night fell.
Luo Daming brazenly barged into Duan Feng's room.
Tie the thin and small Duan Feng to a chair.
Wang Hui sobbed, unwilling to face the current situation.
Enraged, Luo Daming slapped Wang Hui twice, then turned and dragged her in front of Duan Feng.
Duan Feng's hands and feet were bound, but even though he couldn't see, he could still hear.
The cries of Wang Hui and her daughter, along with Luo Daming's loud laughter, echoed in the middle-aged man's ears.
From then on, Luo Daming threatened him that if he dared to close his eyes, he would go to the construction site and tell everyone that even his daughter had not been spared.
Every winter and summer vacation thereafter, Duan Xiaoyu would be forced to come to this small rented room to endure the devil's brutality.
This phase lasted for five years.
On this day, in the building at the construction site, Wang Hui cried as she put on her clothes, surrounded by her familiar fellow workers who were also getting dressed.
Wang Hui couldn't take it anymore; she couldn't bear this suffocating situation any longer.
Wang Hui harshly rebuked her husband for his incompetence, and then jumped into the river and committed suicide.
Duan Feng was completely dumbfounded, and resentment and regret welled up in his heart.
What Duan Feng found even more unacceptable was that his wife had been dead for less than two weeks.
That devil actually asked me to bring Duan Xiaoyu, who was still studying in his hometown, over.
Duan Feng broke down, and in his anger, he picked up a kitchen knife and charged at Luo Daming.
Luo Daming had anticipated this, kicking the knife out of Duan Feng's hand and tying up the frail Duan Feng, locking him in the room he shared with his wife.
The next day, before going to work at the construction site, Luo Daming asked Duan Feng for leave.
Duan Feng had not eaten or drunk anything since last night, which made him feel drowsy.
As evening approached, Duan Feng heard the sound of the iron gate of the rented house opening.
Then came the sound of my room door opening.
When the door opened, Duan Feng's eyes widened, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Duan Xiaoyu, in the prime of her youth, was standing behind Luo Daming.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com