Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Shen Juanjuan chose to dig in the backyard.

He planned to dig from inside the table hole so that Wang Zhusheng's brother wouldn't catch him, but it happened that behind the table hole was an old earthen wall. Many parts of the wall were already crumbling, and the bricks would crumble at the slightest touch.

"The bricks on that wall are loose; I even took out half a brick last time," Tang Yuanyuan declared decisively. "Let's dig there."

Ten minutes later, Shen Juanjuan and Lin Duozhi each held a metal spoon, scraping the wall with the edges of their spoons, chipping away at the already loose bricks.

The space deep within the table hole could only fit two people, while the other children peered in from outside.

"We're moles."

"Shen Juanjuan and Lin Duozhi are the moles; we're the other family. We'll be eating when they dig through, hahaha."

"Come on, let's pretend to eat and wait for them to dig through."

...

Chu Ya watched the three military vehicles head towards the orphanage and remained rooted to the spot, gazing unblinkingly in the direction of the orphanage. If not for the occasional blink, he would have looked like a frozen statue.

Time passed excruciatingly slowly, making the wait agonizing. After a long while, dust rose again on the road, signaling the return of the three military vehicles.

However, as the vehicles passed through Mixin Town, they stopped. The doors opened, and several officers peered into the barbed wire enclosure, lit cigarettes, and stood chatting about something.

Their relaxed demeanor suggested to Chu Ya that his presence had not been detected, though he wondered what they were doing there.

In the next moment, several dark shadows emerged beside the officers and quickly solidified. Seven or eight quantum beasts appeared, led by a chimpanzee, swiftly climbing over the barbed wire and rushing into the town.

Chu Ya immediately realized that although they didn't know he was there, they were searching Mixin Town.

A slight tremor in the air indicated that several sentinels' mental powers were forming a giant web, spreading rapidly throughout the town.

He saw the quantum beasts running swiftly through the streets, entering empty buildings, and leaping to nearby houses.

Chu Ya, still on the tenth-floor spiral path, saw the quantum beasts approaching and wheeled himself into the nearest door.

This building used to be the cultural center of the town, housing a library, art museum, and café lounge from bottom to top. After entering the door, Chu Ya saw seats and a stage, indicating it was likely a small theater for town events or performances.

The theater was empty and dimly lit. He wheeled himself into the darkness, hiding behind a row of seats, hearing the low growls of quantum beasts ascending the spiral path.

Chu Ya held his breath, steadying his heartbeat, feeling the sentinel mental web slowly pass over the building. A thread of mental power slithered in through the side door, moving between the rows of seats.

Though his mental domain was destroyed and he couldn't release mental power, he could sense its movements, feeling it getting closer. The quantum beast that entered the building also reached the tenth floor, stopping at the side door as if sensing something unusual.

Chu Ya remained motionless in the darkness, watching the jackal standing at the door, his hand gripping the broken iron armrest of a nearby seat.

The theater was deathly silent. The jackal slowly approached Chu Ya, and the mental thread probed toward him.

Chu Ya gripped the iron armrest tightly, ready to break it off, when suddenly a small black shadow darted out from under a seat and rushed toward the door. The jackal chased after it, and the mental thread followed.

"Meow..." A sharp cat's meow echoed from behind the wall outside.

The cat's meow quickly faded, and neither the quantum beast nor the mental thread returned. Chu Ya remained hidden until they were gone, then slowly exhaled.

Mixin Town had no living creatures, so this wild cat must have come from Keke Town or the mine, usually living in the theater and scavenging food from the garbage dump. By chance, it had inadvertently averted a dangerous situation.

Just as Chu Ya began to relax, he worried about the signs of habitation in the tin shack. Fortunately, the town was large, and the officers did not think anyone was truly hiding here, so their search was not thorough. The quantum beasts circled the streets once and soon disappeared.

Ten minutes later, the sound of vehicles roared away. Chu Ya returned to the spiral path, feeling a chill on his back as the wind blew, revealing his sweat-soaked shirt.

Boom...

A distant rumble echoed across the sky. Although it was only noon, the sky was darkening as if night had fallen, with a heavy rainstorm imminent.

Chu Ya did not return to the tin shack but remained in his wheelchair, quietly watching the direction of the orphanage.

"This stone is too hard. Can you make it softer? Don't be so hard..."

Shen Juanjuan was still digging in the table hole, his butt sticking out and his head buried, using a spoon to chip away at the wall. He had dug a round indentation in the wall, and a pile of mud and stones lay beside him.

"Shen Juanjuan, it's time for lunch. Let's eat first; I'll help you dig," Lin Duozhi whispered from the hole's entrance.

"I won't eat; I'll dig first."

Tang Yuanyuan, squatting beside Lin Duozhi, said, "At least get your lunch, or it will be gone later."

"Oh, right." Shen Juanjuan immediately put down his spoon and backed out. "I'll get my lunch and come back to dig."

Lunch was bean cakes and radish soup. Shen Juanjuan grabbed three bean cakes and filled a bowl with radish soup. A white piece of radish floated in the soup, and he swallowed hard before pouring the entire bowl into a water bottle and tightly sealing it.

Without wasting time, he continued digging in the table hole, holding a spoon in one hand and a bean cake in the other, ignoring the dirt in his mouth.

After Lin Duozhi and the others finished eating, they came to help him dig in turns, while the rest chatted at the hole's entrance.

"Did you dig a hole? I just pried out half a brick."

"There's a hole, but it hasn't gone all the way through yet."

"Get Wang Zhusheng's brother; he can punch right through."

Chen Hongliang dramatically mimicked jabbing with an iron rod, and the children found it amusing, laughing and imitating him.

"Punch right through, punch right through."

"Punch Shen Juanjuan right through."

In the midst of his busy digging, Shen Juanjuan pressed his hand to his chest. "Ah!"

"Shen Juanjuan, have you dug through yet?"

"Almost, almost." Shen Juanjuan panted as he backed out of the hole, shaking off the dust from his head, and took a few gulps from his water bottle before crawling back in to continue.

Suddenly, thunder rumbled in the sky, and within moments the light dimmed, with distant areas shrouded in dark fog—rain had already started falling outside Cloud Peak.

Lights came on in the school building, and an announcement blared over the loudspeakers, instructing everyone to go to their classrooms. The children in the backyard also headed for the school, but Shen Juanjuan stayed behind to keep digging.

"Class Two, cheer up, Class Two, cheer up... I must dig through, so Shen Miaomiao can eat carrots... I need to hurry, Shen Miaomiao is starving—"

With a crisp sound of metal breaking, Shen Juanjuan stopped talking to himself. He backed out of the hole, looking at the broken spoon in his hand, panting heavily.

"Ah!" He roared, smashing the spoon handle on the ground and stomping on it twice.

After venting, Shen Juanjuan stood there sulking for a while before finding new tools. Fortunately, the backyard was littered with old scrap metal, allowing him to find a small iron rod and resume digging under the table.

Time passed slowly; his palms turned red, and two spots on his fingertips were worn raw, making it painful to grip the iron rod. The dim light in the hole made his eyes water, so he closed them, relying solely on touch to continue mechanically.

When his small iron rod broke through a brick, the wall finally gave way. He quickly discarded the iron rod and used his hands to break away the mud, creating a hole.

Dirt cascaded down as a dirty little boy crawled out from under the fence. Facing the small mound, he spat out the dirt in his mouth, put on his hat, and then crawled back in to retrieve his bag and water bottle.

The streetlights along the road to the landfill flickered on, signaling that it was now night. Shen Juanjuan walked unsteadily, his heart filled with anxiety.

Images flashed through his mind: Shen Miaomiao crying from hunger in a wheelchair, Shen Miaomiao lying on the ground crying from hunger, Shen Miaomiao nearly dying from hunger.

Shen Juanjuan began running, sweat pouring down his face. He stumbled and fell, ignoring the pain in his hands and knees, and quickly got up to continue running.

He heard the sound of rain and felt the cold air turn damp. In the distance, heavy rain descended like a gray curtain between heaven and earth, dividing the ground into dry and wet halves.

Shen Juanjuan ran forward without hesitation, plunging into the rain.

His cotton cap soon became soaked, and rainwater trickled down his neck, like icy snakes slithering along his spine. His eyes stung, making it hard to see, and he fell and got up repeatedly on the slippery road, stumbling toward the landfill.

Water seeped into his shoes, freezing his feet, but his rain-soaked hands clutched tightly onto the bag, protecting the bean cakes and sweet potatoes inside.

When Shen Juanjuan finally reached the barbed wire fence, he looked like a mud-covered monkey, his entire face smeared with dirt, revealing only his eyes.

As he hurried along the fence, he suddenly heard a familiar voice through the rain: "Shen Juanjuan... Shen Juanjuan..."

Shen Juanjuan stopped abruptly, looking in the direction of the voice. Through the gap between two buildings, he saw the familiar figure sitting in a wheelchair.

They gazed at each other from afar, separated by the barbed wire and the pouring rain.

Shen Juanjuan, who had been holding back his emotions, suddenly burst into tears: "Shen Miaomiao, Shen Miaomiao..."

Chu Ya tried to push his wheelchair through the gap between the buildings, but it was too narrow, and he got stuck. He shouted to Shen Juanjuan: "Come around... come in..."

Shen Juanjuan rushed to the landfill entrance, while Chu Ya followed on the street, pushing his wheelchair urgently, looking for Shen Juanjuan through every gap between buildings.

"Shen Miaomiao... wah..."

"I'm here... don't cry..."

"Shen Miaomiao."

"I'm here."

"Shen—ouch!"

"Slow down! Don't run, slow down!"

After several more falls, Shen Juanjuan finally reached the landfill, and Chu Ya arrived at the entrance in his wheelchair.

Shen Juanjuan ran straight to Chu Ya, almost unable to stop, steadying himself and catching his breath as he looked at him.

Chu Ya was drenched, silently staring at Shen Juanjuan, his black hair hanging over his forehead, making his face appear even paler and his eyes deeper and darker.

Rain streaked Shen Juanjuan's face with brownish-yellow marks. He pouted, then smiled through his tears, showing a missing tooth. He patted his bag, his voice trembling: "I brought food for you, you must be hungry, good food, sweet potatoes—"

Before he could finish, his arm was grabbed, and he was pulled into a wet but warm embrace. Shocked for a moment, he instinctively tried to struggle but immediately relaxed, leaning against Chu Ya's chest.

Chu Ya held the child tightly, resting his chin on the wet head, ignoring the rain and the mud covering both of them.

He had been waiting on the tenth floor of the activity center, watching the orphanage's direction.

When he thought the child might never appear again, a sense of isolation and fear overwhelmed him. The rain soaked his clothes, seeping into his body, cold and piercing.

He stubbornly waited upstairs, stubbornly watching the end of the road, until darkness fell and the rain intensified, leaving him numb with cold.

When the small figure appeared in his sight, his mind went blank for a moment. As the figure drew closer, he recognized the tiger-head cap, feeling his eyes heat up and his heart start beating again, warming his cold body.

He rushed downstairs, nearly losing control of his wheelchair, and when he finally held the child in his arms, tears mixed with rain streamed down his face.

"Shen Miaomiao, are you starving?" Shen Juanjuan asked, chattering his teeth.

"I'm not hungry," Chu Ya said hoarsely, releasing him. "Let's go back quickly."

Chu Ya placed Shen Juanjuan in front of him and pushed the wheelchair back to the tin shack, slightly hunched over to shield him from the rain. Shen Juanjuan rummaged in his bag and soon offered a sweet potato to Chu Ya: "Eat quickly, eat quickly."

Seeing Shen Juanjuan squinting through the rain but still anxiously watching him, Chu Ya leaned down and took a big bite of the sweet potato, swallowing it with the rain.

Shen Juanjuan sighed in relief, continuing to feed Chu Ya until the sweet potato was finished, then patted his empty hand contentedly: "Now you won't starve."

Back at the tin shack, Chu Ya quickly heated water and insisted on giving Shen Juanjuan a hot bath despite his protests and groans.

Chu Ya sat in a chair, pouring hot water over himself. Shen Juanjuan sat cross-legged in a basin of hot water, lathering bubbles on his belly and chattering nonstop.

"I dug my way back," he shook his wet head.

"Digging a hole?"

"Yeah, I dug with a spoon and a metal rod, made a hole in the wall, and crawled out." Shen Juanjuan demonstrated the digging motion with his hands in front of his chest.

Chu Ya involuntarily stopped what he was doing, holding the water ladle and staring at Shen Juanjuan in a daze.

Although Shen Juanjuan didn't know what Chu Ya was thinking, he could sense some of his emotions and immediately started whining in a cutesy voice: "I was so tired from digging; my arms almost fell off. Ouch, it hurts so much."

Chu Ya put down the ladle and gently massaged Shen Juanjuan's slender arms.

"I couldn't even lift my arms to bathe; they were completely useless." Shen Juanjuan spoke in a high-pitched voice, squinting his eyes.

Chu Ya remained silent and bent down to help him bathe.

After the bath, Shen Juanjuan burrowed into the blankets, and Chu Ya turned the bird nest heater to its maximum setting, quickly warming up the small tin house.

"You should eat something more, there are still sweet potatoes and bean cakes in the bag." Shen Juanjuan urged from under the blankets.

The outer layer of the bag was plastic, keeping the contents dry. Chu Ya took out the sweet potatoes and bean cakes and placed them on the heater to warm.

"There's also radish soup; I packed some for you."

Chu Ya unscrewed the thermos cap, and the steam carrying the scent of radish filled the room.

"This is called radish. Have you had it before? Oh, right, I brought it for you before; you've tasted it. I saw big and small radishes in the bucket; the manager gave me a big one." Shen Juanjuan sat up in bed, telling Chu Ya happily.

Most of the food in the welfare home was easy to store, and vegetables were scarce. Shen Juanjuan spoke with a face full of appreciation, even swallowing once.

Chu Ya silently took two bowls and chopsticks, pouring the radish soup into them. He said to Shen Juanjuan, "Come sit by the bed."

When Shen Juanjuan moved to the edge of the bed, Chu Ya picked up a piece of radish and offered it to him: "Open your mouth."

"Ah, this radish is for you to eat."

"Come on, open your mouth."

Shen Juanjuan opened his mouth and took a small bite of the radish, but Chu Ya did not withdraw his hand, insisting that he finish the whole piece.

After finishing the radish, Shen Juanjuan looked at Chu Ya with bright eyes: "Shen Miaomiao, you're so nice. You let me eat the radish; you're really good."

Chu Ya withdrew the chopsticks, pursed his lips, and murmured softly as he turned away: "Silly."

They shared the pot of radish soup and ate the warm sweet potatoes and bean cakes. Shen Juanjuan's nose was beaded with sweat. Chu Ya felt the room had warmed up enough and Shen Juanjuan wouldn't catch a cold, so he allowed him to sit up in bed and play.

Feeling warm all over, the frostbite on Shen Juanjuan's hands began to itch, and he kept scratching and rubbing them. The itching became unbearable, and after a while, he suddenly got angry, grabbing a stuffed bear and slamming it onto the bed: "Ah!"

Chu Ya was washing dishes at the door and turned around when he heard the noise: "What's wrong?"

"My hands are so itchy!!" Shen Juanjuan was both angry and uncomfortable, taking out his frustration on the stuffed bear, hitting it a few more times and whimpering as he shook his hands.

Chu Ya put down the clean dishes, dried his hands, wheeled over, and pulled Shen Juanjuan away from the bear: "Let me see."

He had seen the child's hands before; the fingers were swollen with frostbite, like short, fat little red radishes. Now, those little red radishes bore clear nail marks, some even looking like they might have bled.

"Stop scratching; if you break the skin, it will get infected."

Shen Juanjuan's face twisted as he gasped: "It's itchy again, ah, it's itchy again. Scratch it, pinch it, quick, pinch it."

"Don't pinch, just hold on, wait a moment," Chu Ya said.

Chu Ya quickly filled a basin with warm water, added two spoonfuls of salt from the supermarket, and placed it beside the bed on a stool, holding Shen Juanjuan's hand and submerging it in the water.

"Aah! It's itchy, I need to scratch it."

Shen Juanjuan tried to pull his hand back, but Chu Ya held it firmly, soothing him: "Don't move!"

"Whine..." Shen Juanjuan writhed like an uncomfortable worm.

"Once upon a time, there was a quantum beast. It went to play in the forest. Do you know what it saw?" Chu Ya's gentle voice sounded.

"What did it see?" Shen Juanjuan asked through clenched teeth.

"It saw... it saw another quantum beast." Chu Ya, who had never told a story before, improvised: "It saw another quantum beast."

"Was that quantum beast beautiful? Whine..."

"Beautiful."

"What did the beautiful quantum beast look like?"

Chu Ya looked towards the door, his gaze distant: "It was the most beautiful quantum beast in the world, like a big kitten, with a speckled face and tiny ears."

Shen Juanjuan: "What? Don't quantum beasts have flat mouths?"

"Not all quantum beasts do," Chu Ya patiently explained. "Not only ducks can be quantum beasts."

"Oh, then what kind of quantum beast are you talking about?"

"It's a raccoon," Chu Ya whispered.

"A raccoon, a raccoon is the most beautiful quantum beast?"

"Yes, it's very, very beautiful."

Chu Ya suddenly fell silent, no matter how much Shen Juanjuan pressed him. After a moment, he turned to tidy up, and Shen Juanjuan, with his hands soaking in the salt water, no longer felt the itch and quieted down.