The small hand in the palm habitually grabbed his finger. At this time, the sky had not lit up. Chu Lui had not slept a wink the whole night, but Rainy still had not woken up.
…
“Hurts…” Xia Ruoxin opened her eyes and felt pain all over her body. She was in pain everywhere and felt discomfort all over the place, especially her left arm.
“You’re awake?” Shen Wei took the cup and passed it to her. “Luckily, this isn’t that boat which was too stingy to even give water. There is plenty of water here, and you can drink yourself to death if you wish.”
“They treat me pretty decently. At least they gave me water.” Xia Ruoxin picked up the cup and drank a mouthful. Her memory was not blurred enough to forget that she was hit before all over her body.
The reason why she could still laugh now was that she could not do anything other than that. Should she cry? She could not do it; it was not because it did not hurt or that she was not sad or upset… it was just that tears were of no use here. If she wanted to survive, she had to endure it; at any time, she had to suck it up.
“Fat hope.” Shen Wei poured another glass for her.
“Where is this from? It’s not pee, right?” She jokingly said, but her one movement caused her entire body to ache.
Shen Wei rolled her eyes. “I’m not that powerful to give you pee to drink. Is there not a river outside? You drink however much you want.”
“Actually, I’d rather drink pee.” Xia Ruoxin held the cup in her hands tightly; the more she thought of it, the more she could not drink.
“Why?” Shen Wei passed the medicine she had saved for very long to her. Luckily, there were a few pieces left. Hopefully, it was usable.
“Why?” Xia Ruoxin took the tablet and placed it in her mouth straight. She ate it and squinted her eyes lightly before sighing. “Did you forget? It has my period blood.”
Shen Wei really wanted to beat her up, but this was a patient. If she suffered any more beatings, she had to be buried.
“Shen Wei…” Xia Ruoxin held her face up, and though her whole face was swollen like a pig’s face, she could still smile.
“Yes? What’s the matter?” Shen Wei did not have much of an expression as she pulled the moldy blanket and sat on top of it. She looked like she did not sleep the entire night.
“I got something to ask you.” Xia Ruoxin lay her head down on a roll of tissue paper. “My birth mother’s last name is Shen. Yours is Shen, too. Do you think we are biological sisters?”
Shen Wei held the broken blanket in her hands tightly and placed her chin between her knees. “I wish so. At least they’re still around, but I’m a single child. My parents had turned into a black-and-white photo a long time ago.”
She turned around and found Xia Ruoxin asleep, but her eyebrows were still tightly knit together. They were trembling slightly; obviously, she was not sleeping securely.
“Don’t worry. No matter what, I’ll find a way to get you out of here.” She lay down, and when she closed her eyes, it was all the things she did not want to remember about.
This whole life, she did not want to meet anymore. In the next life, she did not want to love anymore.
When she loved someone, she regretted it.
Yes, she was starting to regret it.
At some point in time, she fell asleep too; but she did not know that Xia Ruoxin beside her did not sleep the whole time as she was in too much pain to go to sleep.
She moved her left arm. “It still can be used if I force it, too. Luckily, it didn’t break.” She mocked herself.
The other people were all asleep except for her. To her, even turning around was a problem as every part of her body felt pain as she had broken a bone. She licked her dry and bloody lip. Then, she sat up with much difficulty and got off the bed barefooted before taking the cup beside her and walking out.
It was cold at night, and the cold breeze gushed past her thin body from time to time, as if it was going to blow her away. She held her clothes tightly, and when her legs gave way, she fell onto the ground. She did not crawl up and used her cup to take some water from the not-so-clean river to drink; it could not kill people, right?
Her dry throat finally got some hydration; even though the water was hard to drink, it was still water. She seemed to be able to see Venus; just that she did not know how far it was from her home country. How long must she walk to reach there? How long must she wait to go back?
Chu Lui, you must take good care of our daughter. I’m not around; you’re her only family member left.
The light in the room darkened, and she could not help but to cry and feel sour. At this time—in this soulless night, she dared to express herself. Her tears only dared to drop in this silent night.
She did not dare to show weakness and her being a coward.
She wanted to go home. She wanted to see Rainy…
She held the wall and stood up with much difficulty before holding the cup and walking inside. Sleep… no matter what, she had to continue sleeping.
When the familiar sound of getting their lives sounded on the door, Xia Ruoxin was already awake. She sat up and took her clothes to wear.
“You can go?” Shen Wei asked her worriedly. She was already in this state; could she go down to the river?
“I’m fine.” Xia Ruoxin wanted to smile, but she did not dare to have big movements. A simple expression could make her face hurt like crazy.
However, Shen Wei was still worried about her. “Do you want to lie down for a while more?”
“It’s okay. There are some things where we can’t do whatever we want.” Both of Xia Ruoxin’s legs were already on the floor, barefooted. She was used to it already.
She no longer had the right to haggle with someone and the right to recuperate. If she wanted to survive here, she had to work for it and give them gold.
She did not think that she had some special treatment as she knew that these people were heartless. Since they could buy slaves with money, they could beat them, scold them, and even kill them however they wanted; no one could stop them.
As expected, when she walked out, the fat woman’s laser eyes scanned her from head to toe, clearly.
When she took her tools and went down to the water, the coldness of it pricked her legs like needles. She endured it.
She raised her left arm and used all the strength she could muster. After a while, she broke out in sweat; and this day, she did not get much reward.
These people were obviously defensive against her as she had to be searched once again by these people who would touch her reputation away. She swallowed back the tears in her eyes.
She would not say that justice was in the hearts of the people as there was simply no justice to speak of in this world. The person who talked about justice was long dead.
