Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xia Ruoxin froze. She looked down into her daughter’s red eyes. She said they were bad, and they had beaten her. Did it mean that she saw everything? Had she remembered Li Manni’s face? And that Mrs. Li had slapped her?
“Rainy, how did you know that they are bad people?” She cupped her daughter’s face with her hands. She had been crying for a long time, and her eyes were bloodshot like a bunny’s.
“They are bad people.” Rainy pouted her little lips. “I don’t want to talk to bad people. I don’t want to talk to the Auntie who had beaten Mommy.” She continued to shake her head. When Rainy met with someone she didn’t like, she might not talk to them because she had a temper, too.
Sure enough, the child had seen everything.
Xia Ruoxin put on a stiff smile. “Rainy, that’s not true. That Auntie did not beat me. There was a mosquito on my face. She helped me to kill it. I don’t feel any pain at all.”
She pinched her daughter’s cheeks. “Look, you don’t feel the pain when I pinched you gently. You did not cry, right? Besides, I did not cry then because it was not painful for me. That Auntie was just hitting the mosquito.”
Rainy was confused as she listened. A mosquito? She cocked her head. Oh… remember. It was a mosquito.
“I still don’t like them.” Rainy rubbed her face against Xia Ruoxin’s chest. She had a stubborn streak, and her subjective awareness was strong. “Mommy, I am sleepy. I want to sleep now.” She rubbed her eyes and blinked constantly.
“Alright. Let’s sleep.” Xia Ruoxin kissed her poor daughter’s face and tucked the blanket around her. “Mommy, Dolly.” Rainy tried hard to keep her eyes open. She would not sleep without her doll.
“Here’s your doll.” Xia Ruoxin picked up the doll from the bed and placed it into Rainy’s arms. She clutched the doll tight as her eyelashes fluttered like a fan. Soon, her snoring could be heard.
“Rainy, hold on for a few more days. It’s just a few more days, and you’ll be fine. Mommy will take you and leave this place.” Xia Ruoxin placed her palm gently onto her daughter’s slightly cold skin.
Truly, it would just be a few days of suffering. She believed Rainy would be strong enough.
“Mommy…” Her tiny hands were hugging her doll tightly. However, she was calling out for her mother. They only had each other. Rainy only had her mother, and her mother only had Rainy.
The night was still. It was dark and quiet.
A huge wedding portrait hung on the interior wall. A man and a woman were sleeping in each other’s arms in an enormous bed. Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes. Her lips were quivering; her body, shaking.
“Lui, don’t die. No!” she exclaimed.
The bedside lamp was turned on abruptly. A dim light began to fill the whole room.
“Manni.” Chu Lui sat up in a hurry and took the shaking Li Manni into his arms.
“Don’t be afraid. I am here. It’s okay. Everything is okay.” He patted her back gently. Recently, she had been prone to having nightmares, and especially easy to be awoken with a start.
“Lui, don’t go for that operation. Please? I’m scared. I’m really scared.”
She was clutching Chu Lui’s pajamas so tightly, adamant of him going through with that operation. Her eyes were dull; her lips lacked luster. She looked like a flower, deprived of hydration and was withering.
