Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Wang Zhusheng's brother strode menacingly toward Shen Juanjuan, rolling up the sleeves of his cotton jacket as he walked.

"Shen Juanjuan, you're bullying my brother again."

"I didn't. I, I, he, he's a thief," Shen Juanjuan stammered in explanation.

Wang Zhusheng's brother pointed at him with a fierce expression: "Trying to pin something on my brother? I'll beat your mouth to a pulp today!"

Shen Juanjuan continued to explain: "I didn't pin anything. I didn't even take out the basin."

Wang Zhusheng stopped crying and looked at Shen Juanjuan smugly, then pointed at Lin Duozhi: "And him, the one with six fingers."

Seeing Wang Zhusheng's brother getting closer, his towering figure seemed like a mountain to Shen Juanjuan, making it hard for him to breathe and think. He mechanically repeated, "I didn't, I didn't."

Lin Duozhi was also frozen until Tang Yuanyuan whispered beside them, "Run! You need to run."

Shen Juanjuan's mind finally started working, processing Tang Yuanyuan's words.

In the next second, he turned and bolted, with Lin Duozhi following closely behind.

Shen Juanjuan ran for his life, almost colliding with someone coming out of the dormitory. All he could hear were the sounds of footsteps, the thuds of basins hitting the ground, Wang Zhusheng's brother's angry shouts, and Chen Hongliang's loud voice: "Make way, make way, everyone move aside..."

Shen Juanjuan dashed out of the corridor, heading straight for the back courtyard without looking back. He didn't dare turn around, knowing only that Lin Duozhi was right behind him and Wang Zhusheng's brother was closing in.

Fear propelled him to run at breakneck speed, reaching the pile of broken tables and chairs and quickly crawling into the smallest hole at the bottom, moving deep inside.

Shen Juanjuan lay on the ground, gasping for breath, his throat making wheezing sounds. Lin Duozhi followed him in, while Wang Zhusheng's brother rushed to the pile of furniture and bent down to crawl in. But the hole formed by the furniture was too small; he couldn't even fit his shoulders through.

He squatted in front of the hole, reaching in, causing Shen Juanjuan and Lin Duozhi to scream in terror and push themselves further back.

"Hiding here, huh? Think you're safe from me?"

Wang Zhusheng's brother stood up, climbed onto a separate table, and began removing the top layers of furniture. Other children also ran to the back courtyard, with Wang Zhusheng helping his brother, while Tang Yuanyuan and the others stood far away, not daring to come closer.

Despite the cold weather, Shen Juanjuan was drenched in sweat. He took off his cotton hat and peered through the gaps in the furniture, seeing Wang Zhusheng moving an iron stool to the side, while his brother threw an iron table to the ground.

Bang!

The loud sound made Shen Juanjuan shudder, and Lin Duozhi, pressed against him, began to cry softly.

"We're going to die. Wang Zhusheng's brother will drag us out and beat us to death."

Tears streamed down Shen Juanjuan's face as he sniffled and reached out, trying to make the gesture for a mental attack but realized he still held half a bag of chocolates.

"We're about to be dragged out. Let's eat them all," he choked out.

Lin Duozhi nodded painfully: "Okay, we're going to die anyway."

The two children stared outside, tears streaming down their faces, trembling with every thud of furniture hitting the ground, but kept stuffing chocolate into their mouths, chewing vigorously.

Wang Zhusheng moved a few more iron stools, lying on the ground to look inside, laughing smugly: "My brother is going to catch you. Ha ha... What are you eating? Hey, what are you eating?"

Shen Juanjuan didn't respond, wiping his tears on his shoulder, chewing chocolate, and carefully folding the empty wrappers before putting them in his pocket.

Wang Zhusheng watched his actions silently, then suddenly burst into tears. His brother, already frustrated, yelled: "What are you crying about now?"

"They ate it all... I saw the empty wrapper. They've eaten it all... Wah..."

Wang Zhusheng's brother realized he couldn't move the pile of furniture and jumped off the table, patting Wang Zhusheng's shoulder: "It's okay. If they're gone, let's go to the cafeteria for food."

"I don't want food. I want that, I want that." Wang Zhusheng rolled on the ground, kicking and pounding the floor.

His brother, exasperated and angry, shouted: "I'll kick you if you don't get up."

"I want that..." Wang Zhusheng continued rolling, using his buttocks as a pivot, kicking the ground with each foot, spinning like a top: "They ate it all. They've eaten it all..."

Wang Zhusheng's commotion was so loud that Shen Juanjuan forgot his fear and crawled out a bit to see better, sticking his head out of the hole.

Wang Zhusheng's brother had been moving furniture and was infuriated by Wang Zhusheng's tantrum. Though he was usually quick-tempered, he couldn't bear to hit Wang Zhusheng. Seeing Shen Juanjuan watching with a smile, he lunged forward but missed, then squatted in front of the hole and shouted: "Shen Juanjuan, if you have the guts, stay in there. As soon as you come out, I'll beat you to death."

He then dragged an iron stool leg, thrusting its sharp end into the hole, his face twisted with rage: "See this? If I catch you, I'll break your bones and stab you through."

After his threats, he tossed the iron bar aside and dragged Wang Zhusheng up: "If you keep this up, I'll beat you too. Let's go eat."

Once Wang Zhusheng and his brother left, the other children gathered around, asking: "Did he try to stab you with the iron bar?"

"I was actually secretly using mental attacks. He must have felt it because he looked over, and I pretended I wasn't doing anything."

"Can you come out? He said he'd beat Shen Juanjuan if he saw him."

"Let's report it to the supervisor."

"We can't report it. The supervisor will punish him, and then he'll beat Shen Juanjuan even harder."

Tang Yuanyuan thought for a moment: "Lin Duozhi can come out. He didn't say he would beat Lin Duozhi. Shen Juanjuan should stay hidden."

Shen Juanjuan sat cross-legged in the hole, nodding: "Then I won't come out. I'll stay here."

He and Lin Duozhi hadn't finished the chocolates and offered the remaining three pieces: "You can have these."

Shen Juanjuan spent the rest of the day in that small space, never venturing out.

The children at the welfare home had classes every day, and a schedule was posted neatly beside the classroom door. However, they didn't have dedicated teachers; all the lessons were taught by the caretakers of the home.

Most of these caretakers came from Keke Town and had no idea how to teach, so they just taught whatever came to mind. Once, Shen Juanjuan recognized the teacher as a kitchen helper who usually peeled cassava.

The welfare home was severely understaffed. The infants on the second floor needed constant care, and the biggest challenge was ensuring everyone was fed and clothed. Whether or not classes were held didn't matter much. The classroom often had very few students, and the caretakers were quite lenient about it, sometimes dismissing them for free play when there were too few.

So Shen Juanjuan spent an entire day hiding in the backyard without any caretaker noticing.

He didn't feel lonely, playing with his treasures inside a tin box, leaning against the table leg. He placed a chocolate wrapper on top of the stack of papers, smoothing it out carefully. He had urinated twice, crawling from under the table to another corner to relieve himself.

Lin Duozhi would come to play with him and help bring food, carrying two small bowls first to Shen Juanjuan before returning to queue again. Other kids from the dormitory would occasionally visit, updating him on Wang Zhusheng's brother's latest activities. Wang Zhusheng came several times during the day, mainly to check if Shen Juanjuan was still under the table, then squatted down to argue with him.

When Wang Zhusheng's brother wasn't around, only Wang Zhusheng was there, and Shen Juanjuan felt fearless.

"Come out, if you dare."

"Come in, if you dare."

"You can't stay in there forever."

Shen Juanjuan lay half-reclined, looking thoroughly content: "It's so comfortable in here." He then asked Lin Duozhi, who was with him, "Comfortable?"

Lin Duozhi's eyes were half-closed: "I don't even want to leave."

Wang Zhusheng stormed off in anger.

As evening approached and the sky darkened, Shen Juanjuan began to feel uneasy.

"Are you going to sleep here tonight?" Tang Yuanyuan squatted in front of the hole, looking around. "This is the backyard, you know."

The piles of tables and chairs and miscellaneous items looked harmless during the day, but at night, they cast deep, frightening shadows, and the table holes seemed like gaping black mouths of monsters.

Chen Hongliang spoke in a rare hushed tone: "There are ghosts here at night."

"Yes, many ghosts. The older kids have seen them."

Shen Juanjuan never felt scared here during the day, but now, influenced by the atmosphere, he broke out in goosebumps, nervously looking around.

Lin Duozhi, sitting beside him, gripped his arm tightly.

Chen Hongliang, with his neck tucked in, said, "They say those ghosts eat children. They grab the children—"

One child, frightened, stepped back repeatedly, then suddenly turned and ran toward the dormitory. The others, who hadn't moved yet, let out terrified screams and followed suit.

Lin Duozhi and Shen Juanjuan, not knowing what had happened, were terrified and quickly crawled out of the hole. Lin Duozhi ran off immediately, while Shen Juanjuan took a few steps before remembering Wang Zhusheng's brother and his threat to stab him through with an iron rod. He stopped, torn between fear of being beaten by Wang Zhusheng's brother and fear of the particularly eerie ghosts at night, unsure of what to do.

Seeing Lin Duozhi about to leave the backyard, Shen Juanjuan felt overwhelming panic and despair, thinking he was the only one left in the world, and burst into tears.

"Don't run, don't run away..."

Lin Duozhi, who had been running, stopped and jogged back to Shen Juanjuan.

"Don't cry, don't cry, I'm back."

Shen Juanjuan cried with his eyes closed: "I'm scared here..."

Lin Duozhi said, "Let's go back then."

"But I'm also scared of Wang Zhusheng's brother..."

Lin Duozhi thought hard amidst Shen Juanjuan's sobs and finally patted his arm: "Why don't you go to the landfill, stay in your office for a few days."