Si Teng (Rattan) – Five Years Later – CH10

“Xixi, what are you looking at?”

Xizhu’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly shoved the photo back in its place, peeling off the still-sticky plastic wrap. “Look at the photos,” she said.

As she spoke, she pretended to flip through the photos and turned around, holding the half-open album.

She saw Kong Jinghua wrapped in a bath towel, her head and body wet without a trace of wiping. Streams of water trickled down her skin, slowly forming a puddle at her feet.

The sound of running water continued in the bathroom. Xizhu looked toward the source and said, “Why didn’t you turn off the water after washing? The teacher said we should conserve water.”

Kong Jinghua didn’t move. “Mom just forgot. Why did Xixi suddenly want to look at the photos?”

Xizhu pointed toward the living room. “They said on TV, ‘Look at old photo albums and reminisce about the old stories.'”

She recited the words with exactitude, mimicking the tone of the TV. It was a commercial, but who knew? Maybe it was actually the Golden Years segment. Xixi always loved imitating TV. Didn’t Teacher Lin Juan also tell her to watch less TV to avoid imitating others in a weird way?

Kong Jinghua stared at the album in Xizhu’s hand. “Has Xixi finished reading it?”

Xizhu yawned at the right moment. “It’s nothing good.”

She flung the album onto the bed with a rather unruly air and scrambled down. Kong Jinghua frowned but restrained herself from scolding her. She leaned over to pick up the album.

Xizhu, standing behind her, suddenly blurted out, “Who’s this girl in there?”

Kong Jinghua shuddered subtly, then, trying to appear nonchalant, shoved the album high on the bedside table. “Xixi doesn’t know her.”

Xizhu let out a long, drawn-out “Oh.”

“I’ve seen this girl before.”

As expected, with a dull thud, the album fell to the ground from its perch.

Kong Jinghua’s tone changed, not even bothering to pick up the album. “Have you seen her? Where was it?”

Xizhu made up a random guess. “Right in front of the kindergarten. She gave me candy and complimented my name.”

With that, she trudged back to her room. If Yi Ru had really been called “Xizhu” before, then her words, “complimenting my name,” were profoundly meaningful.

As she closed the door, Xizhu stole a glance. Kong Jinghua was still standing there, motionless like a clay statue.

That night, Xizhu tossed and turned, unable to sleep. As soon as she closed her eyes, the photo of Yi Ru flashed through her mind.

The photo was utterly indecent, almost obscene. Yi Ru was naked, entangled with a man. Even more absurd, there was another person sitting nearby.

Including the person taking the photo, there must have been three people at the scene besides Yi Ru. How could Yi Ru have consented to such a photo being taken? Was it because she was young and ignorant at the time, or was it involuntary? Was she forced? Was she drugged?

Even more puzzling was the question of why Kong Jinghua, Yi Ru’s mother, would keep such a shameful photo.

Also, Qin Fang was with Yi Ru. Did he know about these things? Or, like with An Man, was he being kept in the dark?

The next day, Kong Jinghua seemed dazed and preoccupied. On the way to drop Xizhu off at kindergarten, she kept looking around nervously. Xizhu deliberately asked her, “When are you going back to your hometown?”

Back home? Kong Jinghua was stunned; she had completely forgotten about it. She forced a smile and said, “Mom still needs to pack. Maybe in a couple of days.”

In a couple of days? Xizhu lowered her eyelids and kicked a small stone away.

During lunch break, chubby little Gao Quanan ran breathlessly into the homeroom office, shouting in panic, “Teacher, teacher, Xixi is crying!”

No one in the office moved. Lin Juan checked with Gao Quanan, “Is it Xixi crying, or did Xixi hit someone and make them cry?”

Gao Quanan was absolutely certain, “It’s Xixi crying!”

The entire office was in an uproar, especially the male teacher who had been startled by Xizhu’s singing. “How is this possible?”

He even grabbed his phone, saying that if Xixi really cried, he would take a picture and upload it to his WeChat Moments.

Things always unfolded unexpectedly. What started out as an exciting and interesting event turned out to be something quite depressing.

Lin Juan held Xizhu in her arms, coaxing her while she rolled up her sleeves for the male teacher to take a picture. “Here, and here too.”

The wounds, bruises, and finger marks, crisscrossed and crisscrossed, were quite shocking. The male teacher’s hands shook with anger, and he kept muttering, “That’s too much!”

Lin Juan sighed, then lifted the back of Xizhu’s collar to peer inside. “There’s more on her back.”

The other teachers gathered together, discussing the situation.

“What should we do? Is there anything we can do about it?”

“Yes, this is child abuse. It’s not allowed for biological children, let alone Xixi, who’s adopted, so her situation is even more sensitive. Teacher Gao, search online and see if she can simply be stopped from raising the child.”

“I know. How many people in this world would truly treat a child as their own? Adopted children are so pitiful.”

A rare disagreement. “I heard Xixi is always disobedient. Could it be that she’s just being too much…”

“What do you mean by always disobedient?” the male teacher said excitedly, pointing at Xizhu. “Look at Xixi. How old is she? Even if she’s so young, it’s just her nature. How could she be acting maliciously?”

It seemed he had completely forgotten about being frightened by Xixi’s ghost singing.

Xizhu nestled in Lin Juan’s arms, tears welling in her eyes. She pitifully tugged at Lin Juan’s sleeve. “Teacher, I don’t want to go home.”

Lin Juan patted her head. “Xixi, don’t be afraid. You’re not going home.”

That was easy to say, but facing the enraged Kong Jinghua, Lin Juan was almost overwhelmed. She tried to reason with Kong Jinghua calmly. “It’s not that we want to take the child away, and we don’t have the right to do so. It’s just that Xixi is very scared right now. She’s been hugging me and crying for a long time, and no amount of persuasion is working. How about this? Xixi stays with me tonight. I’m a regular teacher here. I couldn’t kidnap Xixi and run away. When she’s calmer, you can take her back.”

Kong Jinghua wouldn’t listen. “I didn’t hit Xixi. What do you mean by taking those photos? Call Xixi out. I need to get to the bottom of this.”

The male teacher couldn’t stand it any longer. Kong Jinghua had nearly dropped his phone, and he was already furious. “We care about Xixi too. Xixi doesn’t want to go home and was crying her heart out. You want to drag her all the way back. How embarrassing! Teacher Xiaolin was just being kind and offering to take care of Xixi for the night. We all just want to resolve the problem.”

The more he looked at Kong Jinghua, the more suspicious he became. He was 90% certain she had hit Xixi. What would happen if she took her back? Wouldn’t Xizhu be crippled?

Other teachers also tried to persuade Kong Jinghua, and after much persuasion, they finally relented. To show her sincerity, Lin Juan even gave her her address. “Just for one night, just pretend Xixi lives on campus. Don’t worry.”

Kong Jinghua took the note without saying anything. She took two steps forward. Several teachers seemed to be blocking the office door. Inside, the lights were bright. Xizhu was being cared for by another female teacher, occasionally crying, but she refused to come out to see her.

Kong Jinghua suddenly raised her voice. “Xixi, did your mother hit you?”

Lin Juan took Xizhu back home.

She rented an apartment in an old residential complex, similar to the old staff dormitories, with many units per floor. However, many families had moved out, and the nights were unusually quiet.

Lin Juan lived in a one-bedroom apartment with double-hinged wooden windows, which let in a bit of draft. Even a child like Xizhu knew the house was old. “Teacher, this house is so old.”

Lin Juan smiled and pinched her cheek. “Teacher is poor. When Xixi grows up and earns money, buy her a big house.”

As she left the kindergarten with Xixi, Kong Jinghua’s question lingered in her mind. She felt as if the whole thing had nothing to do with Kong Jinghua. But now, as she chatted with Xixi, she began to think Xizhu was incredibly adorable and probably wouldn’t lie.

She was still just a child, and children were simple. One was one, and two was two, without all the scheming. If there was a problem, it was Kong Jinghua’s fault, but she concealed it so well, her anger seemed genuine. It was chilling to think about it.

A little after ten o’clock, the sky began to rain heavily, and there were a few thunderclaps. The building seemed to tremble. Lin Juan gave Xizhu a bath and took her to bed, peeling an apple for her before bed.

The bed wasn’t wide, but it was big enough for another child. Lin Juan, exhausted from a day’s work, fell asleep quickly. Her nasal breathing, mingled with the patter of rain, was remarkably rhythmic.

Xizhu couldn’t sleep, staring at the ceiling in thought. She’d been living and eating at someone else’s house for so long and even had to trick them before leaving. It really didn’t seem right…

But…

Her heart quickly hardened again. If she didn’t do this, who knew if Kong Jinghua would suddenly decide to take her back to some damned “hometown”? She was no different from a three- or four-year-old child now. She couldn’t fight, and she couldn’t run away. If she didn’t show some ruthlessness, she would be at their mercy.

In the end, it was all Qin Fang’s fault. He was meddling in other people’s business, not caring about so many runaways, yet he rushed to return her to her rightful owner. He even imitated the good deeds of others, doing it quietly and without a trace.

How capable he was!

Xizhu grew angrier as she thought about it. The rain outside seemed to echo her anger, intensifying. A counter-wind blew past, rattling the wooden windows. A cold breeze seeped through the cracks, pushing the curtains aside in a corner.

A pale hand slowly reached up from the cement windowsill, splashed with water droplets from the heavy rain.

Xizhu’s mind went blank for a moment. Teacher Lin Juan lived, she thought… on the sixth floor?

In just a moment, the curtains fluttered back. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky. The brightness outside made the room darker by comparison, and the figure on the curtains looked even more sinister.

The subtle sound of the window latch being pulled was almost inaudible over the sound of the rain. Xizhu reached out and groped around the headboard, struggling for a long time before finally finding the handle of the fruit knife. Just as she was stealthily moving the knife back, the window suddenly flew open, the curtains billowing high in the cold wind, revealing Kong Jinghua’s drenched body.

Xizhu’s mind was buzzing. She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, her grip on the knife handle tightening. Only now did a thought suddenly occur to her.

Kong Jinghua…was she human?

There was a noise nearby; it seemed like Teacher Lin Juan had woken up. She pushed herself up blearily and muttered to herself, “Why is the wind so strong?”

Xizhu didn’t open her eyes. She heard Lin Juan scream and collapse back onto the bed.

Had she just fainted from shock? She hoped she had.

Xizhu remained motionless. The patter of rain suddenly grew clearer, and the chilly air seemed to freeze before her. She felt a cold hand touch her cheek, accompanied by Kong Jinghua’s faint voice. “Xixi, did your mother hit you?”

Xizhu’s eyes snapped open, and with almost all her strength, she stabbed with her knife.

It seemed as if she had stabbed Kong Jinghua’s arm, but the tip of the knife couldn’t penetrate.

A thought flashed through Xizhu’s mind. Kong Jinghua’s arm was so tough.

But she didn’t have time to dwell on it. Almost as soon as the knife stabbed out, she leaped off the bed. Being small was also a small advantage. She rushed to the hallway, unlocked the door, and rushed out.

The corridor was pitch black. Xizhu ran barefoot toward the stairwell at the end of the hallway, panting, her heart pounding as if it were about to burst. As she reached the landing, she glanced back. Kong Jinghua’s dark figure nearly obscured the corridor’s only light, whispering her name softly. “Xixi…Xixi…”

Xizhu gritted her teeth and took a step down the stairs. Her stride was too big, and she missed the mark. She thought, “Oh no! I’m going to fall like a ball, bruised and battered.”

But she didn’t. Instead, she stumbled headfirst into someone’s arms.

Or rather, that person embraced her. He placed a finger to her lips and whispered a soft, hushing sound.

T/N: =͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪‧̣̥̇) It became a horror story!