There are no feasts that last forever. Although both of them deliberately slowed their pace, they ultimately had to face the reality of parting.
Xia Chen was holding up relatively well; having been out in society for several years, he was quite mature mentally. Shi Yao, however, was different. Trapped in the dark, she desperately needed a warm ray of sunshine to illuminate her world.
Yet she dared not get too close. Compared to the disappointment of dashed expectations, Shi Yao preferred to leave herself with a beautiful illusion.
"Are you done eating?"
"Yes."
Seeing that the wontons and spicy soup on the table had been completely cleaned out by her own hands, Shi Yao could only nod silently.
"Alright, I'll go pay the bill."
"Okay, thank you."
Taking advantage of the moment when Xia Chen stood up to pay, Shi Yao stealthily pulled a small stack of banknotes from inside her clothes and slipped it into the pocket of his jacket.
Having done this, the young girl sat straight back down in her seat, obediently waiting for Xia Chen to return.
Shortly after the bill was settled, the taxi Xia Chen had called arrived, and the two of them got in together.
"Right, did you have a falling out with your parents?" Xia Chen asked tentatively inside the taxi.
In his memory, during the few days Shi Yao was hospitalized, she had never once voluntarily brought up her parents, and whenever he asked, she would stammer and hedge.
"I didn't." Shi Yao shook her head, her gaze involuntarily dropping.
Seeing that she didn't want to talk about it, Xia Chen didn't press any further.
The car quickly arrived at their destination. Xia Chen got out first and glanced around.
The place where Shi Yao lived was in the suburbs of Jiangxia City—to be precise, a rural district.
"The environment is actually quite nice, far away from the bustling downtown to enjoy the green life. Of course, that's assuming there are no typhoons."
Xia Chen put his hands on his hips and evaluated it to himself.
Stepping out of the car behind him, Shi Yao looked at the house—a place more familiar to her than anything else—without a trace of joy in her eyes. But seeing that Xia Chen seemed to like it here, the girl's aversion to this village diminished just a little in her heart.
"I'll be able to see you again in the future, right?" Unconsciously, Shi Yao walked over to Xia Chen's side and asked what was truly on her mind.
As long as Xia Chen said yes, then upon returning home, no matter how much Shi Jing beat or scolded her, she would stubbornly survive, because she wanted to see him again.Xia Chen rubbed his chin, pondered for a long time, and replied, "Probably. I've always felt the two of us are destined to cross paths."
His words acted like a shot of adrenaline, reviving the young girl's sinking heart.
Upon hearing this, the girl smiled, her smile as brilliant as spring blossoms.
"Thank you, you can drop me off here. I want to walk the rest of the way by myself."
Shi Yao smiled at him; she did not want Xia Chen to see her good-for-nothing, alcoholic brother.
Hearing this, Xia Chen shook his head and refused, "That won't do. A task must be seen through to the end. Since I saved you, I naturally have to take responsibility all the way."
"But..."
"No buts, be a good girl, Shi Yao."
Xia Chen had given this matter careful thought. No matter what, the little girl had been missing for several days, and as the person involved, he definitely needed to offer some explanation to her parents.
At the very least, he needed to let Shi Yao's parents understand that their daughter was, after all, just a young girl.
Next time, they shouldn't let her go out selling meat skewers all by herself. If she were targeted by people with ill intentions again, it would spell serious trouble.
Because the small town had no paved roads and suffered from year-round rain, only a long, narrow muddy path led to the village."Maybe you shouldn't go over there after all." Shi Yao pinched the hem of her clothes, a pang of self-blame welling up in her heart.
Xia Chen's lips curved into a slight smile. To an ordinary person, such a muddy path might prompt them to take a detour, but to someone like him who had grown up playing in the mud since childhood, this was nothing new.
Without another word, he scooped up the young girl beside him. The sudden embrace caught her completely off guard, leaving her with big, watery eyes that could only blink repeatedly to mask the excitement hidden deep within them.
"Are you kidding? Today I'm taking you out for a proper spring outing."
With that, Xia Chen held the girl tightly and sprinted forward. In his arms, the little girl slowly closed her eyes.
"So this is what it feels like to be held by someone. I'm so happy. If I could die right here in big brother's arms, it would truly be a blessing."
Once they crossed the muddy path, Xia Chen set Shi Yao down. By then, the cuffs of his trousers were thoroughly soaked and splattered with mud, but he was thoroughly enjoying himself. After all, it had been a very long time since he had felt this carefree.Shi Yao took a pack of tissues from her pocket, then squatted down and carefully wiped the stain off the hem of Xia Chen's trousers.
Xia Chen did not stop her, simply lowering his head to watch the young girl quietly.
"All done." The girl looked up and forced a sweet smile for him.
"Mm, then let's keep going."
"Okay, let's keep walking together."
The afterglow of the setting sun fell upon their faces, and at this moment, they each looked exceptionally dazzling in the other's eyes.
Led by Shi Yao, the two walked a distance and finally arrived in front of an old mud-brick house.
The house was truly built out of packed earth, surrounded by a courtyard enclosed by a high wall of red brick.
The plaster on the courtyard walls was covered in moss, bearing the marks of time.
"Is this where you live?"
Xia Chen glanced casually around the exterior of the house, his brow furrowing involuntarily.
It wasn't as if he had never been to the countryside before. In his impression, rural houses shouldn't be this dilapidated. This massive structure made of mud in front of him looked less like a house and more like a slum.
Shi Yao bit her lip, a look of reluctance in her eyes, but she nodded helplessly nonetheless.
"Yes. Let's stop here, it's very dirty inside." A smile still hung on the young girl's face, but her tone was stiff.
Not only was the house dirty, but the people inside were too, and that included herself.
Seeing that Shi Yao's expression was off, Xia Chen reached out and stroked her head, smiling. "I've even walked through mud, you think I'm scared of this?"
"But—"
"No 'buts', let's go. I'm not made of paper, I'm not that fragile."
Xia Chen had no intention of giving her a chance to refuse. Without another word, he grabbed the young girl's hand and pulled her toward the courtyard. The moment they stepped into the yard, the smile on Shi Yao's face instantly froze.
Unaware of her emotional shift, Xia Chen walked up to the door, raised his hand, and knocked. "Hello? Is anyone home?"
There was no response from inside for a long time. Just as Xia Chen thought nobody was there, the door suddenly swung open.The man inside the door had bloodshot eyes and an uncut beard, and a pungent smell of alcohol hung about him. Fortunately it was daytime; had this been dusk, popping out like that would probably have scared the living daylights out of someone.
"Big brother, I was kidnapped, and this big brother here saved me and brought me back." Xia Chen was about to speak and explain, but Shi Yao cut in first, as she had no wish to let this drunkard Shi Jing start a conversation with Xia Chen.
Shi Jing narrowed his eyes. Although he had been drinking, his mind was still quite clear, and he sensed that Shi Yao was feeding him information.
To avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble, he decided to play along for the moment with this "cheap sister" of his.
"Yaoyao, you're finally back! Do you know how worried big brother was about you?" Shi Jing pulled Shi Yao into a tight embrace, blubbering with a mix of snot and tears.
Shi Yao furrowed her brows in a deep frown. The heavy stench of alcohol radiating from him made her feel thoroughly uncomfortable, yet she had no choice but to play along.
For Shi Yao knew all too well that Shi Jing was a raging drunk, and when he threw a drunken fit, he was brutally violent—something she had experienced firsthand.
Every time Shi Jing came back after a drinking binge, he would subject Shi Yao to a vicious beating to vent his spleen; it had already become a habit for him.
Once, because he had lost money gambling, he came home and, without a word of explanation, grabbed a club and set upon Shi Yao. One of the blows struck her directly on the head, knocking the young girl out cold on the spot.
What sent a shiver down the spine was that when Shi Jing looked at Shi Yao lying motionless on the floor, teetering between life and death, his first reaction was not fear, but excitement. He hoisted the girl onto his shoulder and carried her up to the back mountain, intending to dig a shallow grave and bury the corpse right there on the spot.
Had Shi Yao not managed to regain consciousness halfway there, she likely would have been buried alive by Shi Jing.
Did Shi Yao hate Shi Jing? Most certainly. But even more than him, she hated her father, Shi Monan. It was precisely because of his deep-rooted preference for boys over girls that Shi Jing was able to bully and torment her with such utter impunity.
Shi Yao could never wrap her head around it: if girls were so unwanted, why hadn't they just shoved her into a pond and drowned her the moment she was born? Or was she brought into this world simply to serve as Shi Jing's punching bag and outlet for all his frustrations?
The young girl clenched her fists tightly, her delicate shoulders trembling incessantly. Her eyes held a mixture of terror and bitter resentment.