Chapter 8 Li Sheng's hands were covered in blood...
The wasp nest was in a deserted, secluded little house filled with garbage. The wasps made their home there, but were frequently harassed by a group of annoying children.
Seeing them run over, Li Jiacong asked, "Won't you get stung if you knock down a hornet's nest?"
"Rarely, they hit and run."
"A bunch of unlucky kids."
Li Sheng laughed and said, "There's not much to do here, only these are the games, but they're very exciting."
As soon as he finished speaking, screams erupted from the other side, and a group of people ran back frantically. Li Jiacong glanced at them: "You did that when you were a kid too."
Li Sheng nodded, and Li Jiacong said, "Boring! What's so exciting or fun about swatting a hornet's nest?"
Li Sheng countered with, "So what did you play with when you were a kid?"
Li Jiacong paused, momentarily unable to recall what he had done. His mother was very focused on cultivating his talents, so she enrolled him in countless extracurricular classes—chess, roller skating, and even practiced singing Peking Opera for a while.
These things don't count as playing. In front of his parents, he pretends to be very obedient, rarely expressing different opinions except for showing a disapproving look, but this doesn't stop him from secretly being himself.
"There wasn't much to be happy about when I was a child. Growing up is so much better; there's so much more to do and so much more excitement."
Li Sheng: "What is it?"
Li Jiacong hissed, "That's too much. You just didn't catch the right time, when I had good stuff..."
He grinned mischievously, his eyes gleaming with smugness, but Li Sheng's expression was excessively innocent as he blinked his dark eyes at him, still waiting for his next explanation.
Li Jiacong was taken aback: "Really? You haven't seen it?"
After a moment of stunned silence, Li Sheng quickly understood what he meant, mumbled something in response, and brushed it off.
The children's voices echoed through the grass, sometimes near, sometimes far. The group of children chased after them again and ran back, but Li Ai seemed to only then realize who the two people were. Suddenly, she stopped running, wrapped her fingers, and stood in front of them.
"What are you doing?" Li Jiacong asked in a harsh tone.
"I want to eat black rice!"
Li Jiacong frowned, his eyelids twitching: "What is 'black rice'?"
Li Ai pouted: "Wumi is Wumi!"
Li Sheng explained, "It grows on sorghum."
Li Jiacong: "And then?"
Li Sheng: "She wants you to pick one for her, but she can't reach it."
It was rare that Li Sheng understood Li Ai's thoughts, but Li Jiacong wanted to refuse after hearing it, so he said indirectly, "Don't you have any adults in your family?"
Li Ai shook her head: "Mom and Dad are at work and don't come home, Grandma is tired! And Grandma is short too!"
"That's none of his business," Li Jiacong said. "Well, I'm tired too..."
"Can I help you?" Li Sheng said.
Li Ai hesitated, rubbing her fingers together as she considered.
Li Jiacong glanced helplessly at Li Sheng, a hint of reproach in his eyes. Seeing Li Ai hesitating, he urged, "If you don't need him, hurry up and leave."
Li Ai immediately compromised: "Use it!"
The sorghum field was dense and thick, its pointed tops swaying in the wind. Li Sheng crawled inside, clinging to the sorghum stalks and looking up.
Li Jiacong then realized that not only could a child as big as Li Ai not reach it, but finding such a broken thing would also be troublesome, and she would definitely come out covered in things after crawling in.
"You're asking me for this?" Li Jiacong squatted on the path, saying incredulously, "Do you think I'd find it for you?"
Li Ai pouted and said defiantly, "Take it or leave it!"
Li Jiacong asked, "Why didn't you ask Li Sheng for help?"
Li Ai: "My grandma wouldn't let me play with him."
Li Jiacong blurted out, "Why?"
"I'm not playing, it's dangerous!"
Li Jiacong couldn't understand. Li Sheng was not associated with any danger at all. What was wrong with Li Sheng? The villagers didn't care about him, and he himself was very cautious, afraid of crossing the line.
The "dangerous" figure emerged from the sorghum field, holding a piece of black rice wrapped in green husk. Li Ai ran up, took it, excitedly peeled it open, and took a bite. She skipped away without even a thank you.
Li Jiacong: "Is this delicious?"
Li Sheng: "Shall I find one for you?"
Li Jiacong waved his hand: "Never mind."
Li Sheng: "These are snacks for kids. You don't get these in the city. Want to try some?"
Li Jiacong hesitated for a moment, then Li Sheng, with a smirk, went back inside and quickly returned with another one. Li Jiacong took a bite, and it tasted like chewing on a mouthful of coal ash—extremely dry and hard to swallow. Only village kids would eat something like this as a snack!
Li Jiacong's cheeks twitched, his expression contorted: "This thing is called a snack? It's awful!"
Li Sheng laughed, revealing his tiger teeth. Li Jiacong then realized that Li Sheng was teasing him; he knew this stuff wasn't very good. Li Sheng glanced at him, then suddenly clutched his neck, pretending to choke. Li Sheng anxiously leaned over and patted his back: "He threw up, he threw up!"
When it was Li Jiacong's turn to laugh heartily, his mouth was full of black rice. Li Sheng breathed a sigh of relief and watched as Li Jiacong swallowed the black rice bite by bite.
Li Jiacong: "Why are you staring at me like that?"
Li Sheng's eyes flashed, and he said, "The way you eat is very similar to..."
"What?"
"My sheep."
"screw you."
Li Jiacong laughed and pushed Li Sheng down into the sorghum field.
Upon arriving home, Li Jiacong and Li Sheng parted ways. It was already noon. At the doorstep, Li Jiacong ran into his grandmother, who was heading off to play mahjong again. Li Jiacong held out his hand: "Where's lunch?"
Li Jiacong's grandmother: "You little brat, you're quite the kidnapper! Do it yourself!"
Li Jiacong put his hands in his pockets and sighed deeply, saying, "The abuse started on the thirteenth day after I came to Xiuying's house."
Li Jiacong chuckled in his childish voice, "There's something cold in the pot, let's heat it up."
Li Jiacong: "I don't know how."
Li Jiacong's grandmother ignored him, turning her back on him and saying, "Let Li Sheng help you!"
Li Jiacong hissed, turned around, and looked in the direction of Li Sheng's house.
Less than five minutes after they parted, he changed into dry clothes and reappeared at his door. This time, he didn't knock and just walked in without saying hello. Through the window, he saw Li Sheng eating a dry piece of bread.
Li Jiazong knocked on the window. When Li Sheng looked up at him, he was holding two plates of food and said, "Just eating flatbread is too dry. Let's add some side dishes—nobody's going to heat it up for me."
Li Sheng smiled, a hint of helplessness in his expression.
After the meal, the two lay down in Li Sheng's small room. Li Sheng could have moved to the main room or removed the partition in the middle, but he didn't move it, seemingly wanting to leave it as it was.
His little room had a narrow single bed covered with a faded blue quilt with worn-out pilling. The walls, slightly moldy, were adorned with posters of the Fuwa mascots.
Li Jiacong casually lay down on Li Sheng's bed, and Li Sheng handed a plastic ashtray to the small windowsill.
"You're too thoughtful. I'll have to take care of my wife." Li Jiacong took a cigarette out of his pocket.
"Smoke less, it's bad for your health," Li Sheng said.
"I don't smoke much, I basically don't smoke when I'm at school, it's just that I'm too bored here," Li Jiacong lit a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and shook the lit cigarette in his hand. "Do you smoke?"
Li Sheng shook his head.
Li Jiacong's eyes lit up with interest: "Never smoked before, have you?"
Li Sheng looked up, his eyes bright: "I'm not that bad."
Li Jiacong chuckled. He had indeed thought too much of Li Sheng, making him seem too innocent and proper. But that wasn't the case at all. He took out his Walkman, gave him an earphone, and continued listening. Last time it was female vocals; this time he was sharing some English songs with Li Sheng.
Li Jiacong: "This is a song I really like. It's quite old. You like to read the lyrics, but there's no Chinese version of it."
Li Sheng said, "I can probably understand."
Li Jiacong: "What do you mean?"
Li Sheng: "This is very simple—"
If we can never see each other again, how can we talk about forever?
No matter where you go,
No matter what you do,
I will wait for you here.
Li Sheng: "My translation is very straightforward, but that's roughly the meaning."
Li Jiacong was genuinely surprised this time. He had been studying English for over ten years and was still practically mute and deaf, yet Li Sheng, who only graduated from junior high school, could understand him so clearly.
He played the next song and tested Li Sheng again.
Li Sheng adjusted his headphones and asked him, "How is the name Bressanone translated?"
"Bressanone".
Li Sheng nodded and translated sentence by sentence, even adding some embellishments: "I am in Bressanone, the sky is full of stars... I am going in another direction, the train will take me away, but my heart will stay here."
Two songs, one about waiting, the other about leaving.
"Wow!" Li Jiacong gave a thumbs up. "You're talented. Were you a good student in junior high?"
Li Sheng: "I got into high school."
Li Jiacong was shocked. This was no ordinary situation; in this rural area, only the top student in junior high school could get into senior high school. He sat up and exclaimed, "If you've already passed the exam, why aren't you going to study?!"
“It’s very expensive,” Li Sheng said.
“Ah, right,” Li Jiacong lay back heavily on the bed and sighed, “It’s such a pity. If you had gone, we might have been classmates.”
Li Sheng didn't say anything more.
People tend to get sleepy in the summer, and the two fell asleep after chatting for a few minutes. When they woke up, Li Jiacong felt a pain in his neck because he hadn't been in the right position when he fell asleep; he was half-leaning against the headboard. Li Sheng also had a backache; he was sleeping with his body twisted up and his legs dangling on the floor.
Li Jiacong opened his eyes and saw Li Sheng, nudging him: "Hey, get up, it's time to herd the sheep."
Having spent these past few days with Li Sheng, he knew Li Sheng's daily routine all too well. Li Sheng sat up, shook his head, and asked, "Are you going back?"
Li Jiacong rubbed his eyes: "I'll go with you."
…
Sheep are not cute.
In Li Jiacong's eyes, this was how it was: these sheep pulling black balls ruined his love for bubble tea. Just as Li Sheng had let them out of the sheepfold, a ram charged at him.
Li Jiacong felt it was undignified to run away, so he tried to do a cool somersault, but ended up sitting on the sheep's back behind him, almost flipping himself over. Li Sheng, on the other hand, very coolly grabbed the sheep's horns, his long, slender arms flexing their muscles, and pulled the sheep back.
It was that same grove of trees again. The two of them sat on a large rock, and Li Jiacong said, "Your sheep have mad sheep disease."
Li Sheng: "No."
"Tch, of course it is!"
"No."
Li Jiacong yawned: "I want to go check out the hornet's nest."
Li Sheng chuckled: "Didn't you find it boring?"
Li Jiacong: "Yeah, I must have been incredibly bored to do something so pointless."
He looked at the small house. He thought he had just caught a glimpse of someone in that direction, but now there was no one there. The group of children must not be there, otherwise they would have been in a chaotic mess.
Li Jiacong: "Let's go, let's pick up some pebbles."
Li Sheng dusted himself off and got up with him.
As I approached the small house, I heard a chilling buzzing sound. When I got to the door, the hornet's nest, about the size of two volleyballs, was right under the eaves.
"Wow! What must it be like to get stung like that? Has no one cleaned it up?" Li Jiacong exclaimed, but Li Sheng didn't say anything. He turned his head and saw Li Sheng "shush" him. He was staring seriously at the broken window of the small house.
To Li Jiacong, it was still pitch black in front of him.
Li Jiacong whispered, "What? Are you worried about wasp sleeping inside and waking them up? Let's go, it smells bad."
Li Sheng shook his head, and before Li Jiacong could speak, Li Sheng suddenly rushed inside.
Li Jiacong, confused, followed him inside. The room reeked of mildew, the floor was filthy, the ceiling let in sunlight, and in a dark corner, a middle-aged man was forcefully embracing a girl…
Little girl...
It's... Li Ai!
Li Jiacong instantly understood what was happening. Li Sheng rushed forward and kicked the man. The kick landed squarely on the man's stomach, causing him to fall backward and release his grip. Li Jiacong then grabbed Li Ai and straightened her clothes.
In the filthy, cramped dilapidated room, Li Sheng and the man began to wrestle, their white clothes instantly becoming stained. Li Sheng's punches were unusually heavy and precise, and screams echoed throughout the room. The man struggled fiercely, grabbing Li Sheng's collar with his head and face covered, and retaliated. Li Sheng kicked him again, knocking him to the ground. The man howled, blood spurting from his mouth and nose. Li Sheng was about to strike again when Li Jiacong stopped him, saying, "Li Sheng, that's enough. Let's call the police!"
The man froze for a moment, wiped his face, and then recognized the person who had hit him. He exclaimed in shock, "Damn! Li Sheng? You hit me?"
Li Sheng stared coldly at the scum on the ground. The man, clutching his bleeding nose, suddenly laughed: "Why did you hit me? Don't you understand me?"
Li Jiacong frowned. What's the same?
Li Sheng's expression was icy cold at this moment. He remained silent, a side of him Li Jiacong had never seen before. The man continued, "Stop pretending! Don't you know how you got here?"
Li Jiacong cursed, "Stop talking nonsense, just wait to go to jail! You..."
"—The rapist's child!"
Li Jiacong's words were interrupted by the man. In an instant, some memories flooded back into his mind. He suddenly remembered the idle talk of the adults when he was a child, and some vague rumors.
The man ran out along the wall, while neither Li Jiacong nor Li Sheng moved.
Li Jiacong looked at the boy standing in the shadows, his hands covered in blood, which trickled down between his fingers and dripped from his fingertips, raising a cloud of decaying dust. His gaze was fixed on his feet.
After a long pause, Li Sheng said, "Take her home."
A note from the author:
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