Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The tin shack wasn’t large, but the door was wide enough for Shen Juanjuan to push the cart right in. He looked at the tall metal bunk bed and circled Chu Ya twice, gesturing with his hands, wondering how he could get him onto the bed.

After several failed attempts, Shen Juanjuan had no choice but to pull off the fleece blanket from the bed, maneuvering Chu Ya to roll over, and laid the blanket on the cart.

"Now you can sleep. This is a cart-bed, yes, a cart-bed." Shen Juanjuan nodded contentedly, pleased with his new term.

He wanted to cover Chu Ya with a blanket, but his clothes were half-wet, so he started to undress him: "You can't sleep in wet clothes; it's very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. The management would scold too."

Struggling, Shen Juanjuan managed to remove Chu Ya’s hoodie, exposing the youth’s upper body to the cold air. His skin was smooth yet pale, covered by a thin layer of muscle on his bones.

Next, he tried to take off Chu Ya’s pants but couldn’t budge them, realizing that Chu Ya wore a belt, not the elastic waistbands they usually wore. After some pondering, he figured out how to unbuckle the belt and pulled it out.

Shen Juanjuan grabbed Chu Ya’s pant legs and pulled down. When he reached the thighs, the unconscious Chu Ya suddenly groaned in pain, his hands tightening at his sides.

Shen Juanjuan stared at Chu Ya, waiting a moment to see if he would wake up, then continued pulling the pants.

This time, Chu Ya’s body jerked violently, and cold sweat quickly broke out on his forehead.

Scared, Shen Juanjuan stopped, looking at his own hands, then at Chu Ya: "Do you not want your pants off? But they’re wet. Can I take them off? I’ll do it gently, very gently, so you can sleep."

Shen Juanjuan carefully removed the pants, gradually exposing Chu Ya’s legs to the light.

His thigh bone had been broken by Gu Lin. Although there was no visible wound externally, the thigh was noticeably swollen, and the skin had an abnormal dark hue.

Shen Juanjuan noticed something was wrong. Once, he had slipped in the washroom and twisted his ankle, which had swelled up just like this leg, turning the same color.

"Did you twist your ankle? Did you fall on the garbage? Is that what happened?"

Shen Juanjuan blankly recalled, then suddenly remembered pushing Chu Ya down the garbage pile. He abruptly raised his hand to cover his mouth, his expression turning panicked.

"It was me, me, did I do this to you? Oh, how, oh..." He crouched beside Chu Ya, stuttering.

A gust of wind blew, bringing Shen Juanjuan back to reality. He continued to remove Chu Ya’s wet pants, finally covering him with a blanket, and carried the wet clothes outside, laying them on a stack of cardboard boxes under the eaves.

"I’ve hung your clothes to dry. I’ll go to the welfare home to find medicine for you. Last time when I twisted my ankle, I used a plaster and took some medicine." Shen Juanjuan smacked his lips, pinching two fingers together, "That medicine was big, sour, and delicious. The medical supervisor made me drink water to swallow it, but I didn’t want to. I savored it bit by bit."

Shen Juanjuan leaned closer. "The pills are delicious. When it gets light, I’ll go back to the welfare home and get more medicine for you to taste."

Perhaps due to the warmth, Chu Ya’s complexion improved slightly, no longer as pale as paper, and the blanket on his chest began to rise and fall gently.

Shen Juanjuan finally got a good look at him, touching his face and holding his hand, feeling increasingly delighted.

"How did I find you? Are you here to look for me?" He chuckled shyly, tucking his neck, "I didn’t even know you were looking for me, and you didn’t tell me."

Chu Ya lay motionless, but his face turned flushed, his body trembling, and his clenched teeth chattering faintly.

Shen Juanjuan noticed the change, reaching out to touch his face, finding it burning hot.

"Ah, you have a fever! You're sick!"

Shen Juanjuan had always been healthy since he was young and rarely fell ill. Even when he caught a cold, it would only last a few days with some sniffles and coughing. However, Lin Duozhi often had fevers. When he did, his face would turn bright red, he would shiver under the blankets, complain of thirst, and say he felt cold, sleeping for most of the day.

Now, Chu Ya was showing the familiar symptoms of a fever that Shen Juanjuan recognized. He suddenly realized that Chu Ya wasn't just sleeping deeply; he was sick.

When the children at the orphanage got sick, it usually meant a wave of illness. During flu season, half the orphanage would fall ill, and even if the caretakers had six arms, they wouldn't be enough. The children would then take care of each other.

Shen Juanjuan had taken care of Lin Duozhi before, so he wasn't panicked. With a serious expression, he told Chu Ya, "Just focus on getting better. Lie down and rest. Do whatever you need to get better, and I'll handle everything else."

He wiped the sweat from Chu Ya's forehead and hurried out of the room. The enamel cup he had placed on the ground was now full of rainwater. He brought the cup back to Chu Ya's side, propped up his head with a small stool, and shakily held the cup to his lips.

"You need to drink water when you have a fever, do you know that? So you need to drink lots and lots of water."

Chu Ya's teeth were clenched tightly, and the water Shen Juanjuan tried to feed him dribbled out from the corners of his mouth. He tried every method he could think of, sweating profusely, until he finally managed to pry open Chu Ya's teeth with a small spoon and get some water into him.

Chu Ya's body was burning hot, and he was shaking uncontrollably, more frightening than when Lin Duozhi was sick. Shen Juanjuan thought that drinking water alone wouldn't be enough; they needed medicine. He had originally planned to return at dawn, but now he had to leave immediately.

"Stay here and wait for me. I'm going back to the orphanage to get medicine for you. I'll be right back, so don't wander around."

Seeing that Chu Ya was sweating, Shen Juanjuan slightly pulled back the blanket, put on his cotton cap, and gave Chu Ya a few more instructions before rushing out of the tin shack.

Learning from the puppy's previous experience, Shen Juanjuan not only closed the door tightly but also moved a stone to block the hole in the wall.

After walking a short distance, he quietly returned and pressed his ear against the door. Hearing no movement inside, he finally felt relieved and quickly made his way toward the garbage dump, squeezing through the broken fence.

Shen Juanjuan followed the path outside the fence, soon leaving the lighted area of the garbage dump behind and entering complete darkness. He paused at the edge of the light, shivering as he looked ahead and then back at Mixin Town through the fence.

The buildings in the town were faintly outlined by the dim light, tall or low, cold and silent, with each dark window seeming to hide a terrifying monster.

Taking a deep breath, Shen Juanjuan wrapped the tie around his neck a few times. Holding one end of the tie, he lifted his round, cotton-shod foot and stepped into the darkness.

He walked unsteadily along the path, his neck and back stiff. He didn't want to look at Mixin Town, but his head kept turning in that direction as he hurried forward, muttering to himself.

"...You won't eat kids, right? You only eat bad kids, right? I'm not a bad kid... I only took a sweet potato from the cafeteria once. Some older kids took them, and when I saw, they gave me one and told me not to tell the caretakers... They made me do it, it's not my fault, right?"

A gust of wind blew, and eerie sounds came from the houses, like someone crying. Shen Juanjuan clutched the tie tightly, his hair standing on end, gasping repeatedly.

"And, and I really stink, I haven't bathed for one, two, three years. I'll fart at you, pfft pfft pfft! It's really smelly, too smelly, you'd better ignore me."

Seeing a long black shadow on the road, Shen Juanjuan thought it was an iron rod and bent down to pick it up, only to find it was a soft piece of plastic rope.

He gripped the rope tightly. "If you dare come near me, I'll tie you up. Don't bother me, please don't, we little kids can be very vengeful. Just pretend you didn't see me, and I'll pretend I didn't see you, I won't grab you."

Shen Juanjuan usually didn't feel much passing this way, but now it seemed like the road would never end.

Creak creak creak...

A gust of wind blew, and from a nearby building, there came the sound of a door slowly opening, rhythmic and clear in the still night, sending chills down his spine.

Shen Juanjuan stopped in his tracks, looking in that direction with terror, gasping for breath.

Bang!

The sound of a door slamming against the wall startled Shen Juanjuan, causing him to scream and run forward.

"Wa wa ah..." He stumbled over something and fell to the ground with a thud, then quickly got back up and continued running frantically.

Fortunately, a dim white light appeared ahead, the streetlight by the main road. Shen Juanjuan finally saw hope and rushed toward the light.

The old streetlight was poorly maintained, its wiring faulty, and the bulb flickered as if about to die at any moment. In the next second, the weak light gradually faded away under Shen Juanjuan's gaze.

"Aaaaaah..." Shen Juanjuan let out a long, terrified scream, and the bulb slowly brightened again with resilience.

Shen Juanjuan dashed to the streetlight, and the imagined ghostly shadows were dispelled by the light. This area was hidden from Cloud Peak, the ground dry and firm. He sat down on the ground, panting and coughing from running too fast.

The area illuminated by the streetlight felt so safe, and Shen Juanjuan wanted to stay there forever. But he was still worried about Chu Ya, who was sick, so after calming down a bit, he stood up again.

The road ahead was dark, with only a faint light far in the distance. But as long as he followed this road, he would reach the welfare home soon.

It was particularly difficult for Shen Juanjuan to step back into the darkness after reaching the light.

He paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, then finally stood still, tied the hat strings under his chin, and swung the plastic rope, making a whistling sound through the air.

"I'm not afraid of you! I'm not scared at all! I need to get medicine for my brother. If you dare to bite me, I'll stab you one, two, three times!" He shouted into the darkness ahead, making a mental attack gesture with a fierce expression: "Mental attack! Everywhere! Attack yourself!"

With this burst of courage, Shen Juanjuan walked into the darkness, his eyes alert, not missing any movement.

He suddenly frowned and scolded to the left: "Are you hiding there? Don't come out, or I'll attack you, hide well!" His eyes darted to the right, and he turned sharply: "What are you doing? I said don't come out, are you thick-skinned? No matter how I punish you, you're not afraid? Then no food for you!"

Shen Juanjuan kept shouting fiercely, bolstering his courage, only revealing his inner panic when nearing the next streetlight, running hastily in fear.