That night, Cai meiwen didn’t sleep well the entire night. She was extremely sensitive, and she would always wake up when she heard movement at the door the moment she closed her eyes.
The door was very thin. It was not made of solid wood, but two layers of hollow thin wooden boards that were glued together. It was a defense against gentlemen but not against villains. An adult man could probably knock a hole in it with force. However, to avoid waking the neighbors, picking the lock might be a better way. After all, the lock was easy to pick.
It wasn’t until dawn that she heard the sound of cleaners sweeping the streets downstairs that her tensed nerves finally relaxed and she fell asleep.
This sleep had caused her to sleep past her Normal School hours. She only woke up when her parents came home from the night shift.
In the past, she had only secretly skipped class. When her parents saw that she was still lazing in bed, they thought that she had fallen to the extent of skipping class openly. When they saw the broken bowl pieces on the floor, they were instantly furious.
Cai meiwen told them about last night’s incident in a panic, saying that a strange man was loitering at the door of her house. However, their eyes were full of suspicion. They clearly took it as an excuse for her to skip class and didn’t believe a single word. They told her not to think too much and to hurry to school.
It was no wonder they didn’t believe her. Her usual lying and skipping classes had already made her credibility drop to the freezing point, just like the story of “the wolf is here.”
The only thing that could prove that she was not lying was a dog that could not speak.
She was so angry that she almost went crazy. She shouted at them hysterically and went to school without even eating breakfast.
The teachers were already used to her being late and skipping classes, so they let her do whatever she wanted and pretended not to see it. Anyway, it didn’t matter to them how bad she would become in the future. The teachers were also helpless. Once they were strict, the problem boys and girls would gather together and beat the teacher up without any reason.
During the break, Cai meiwen told her best friends about last night’s incident and asked them for help.
Her best friends couldn’t come up with any good ideas either. A few of them laughed and scolded her for being overly sensitive. The other best friends were a little more serious and asked her to inform them when her parents were working the night shift at the same time. They would go to her house to spend the night with her so that she wouldn’t have to be afraid.
As soon as she heard that, she felt that it made sense. The more people there were, the more courageous they would be. She no longer took this matter to heart.
Having said that, she should have thought of it earlier. Just like her at that time, the credibility of her best friends was almost at the freezing point.
Later, when her parents worked the night shift at the same time, the first time they came, three or four best friends came to accompany her. The second time, only two or three came, and the third time, all of them found excuses to break the appointment. After all, they were still junior high school students at that time, and the social atmosphere was not so open, so their movements were limited. If they kept staying out all night, their parents would definitely not be able to bear it. Some of their best friends even got beaten up by their parents because of this.
The most important thing was that nothing had happened during the last few nights, so gradually, everyone did not take it seriously.
Cai meiwen could only spend the night alone again. Her disappointment with her best friends had also quietly changed her mentality. The so-called best friends of the same spirit were only so-so, who else could she rely on?
As time went by, there was a subtle estrangement between her and her best friend. On the surface, they still hung out with each other every day, but after school, she had less and less phone contact with her best friend. Even if she did call occasionally, it was someone else who called her.
Her best friends seemed to have noticed her laziness and gradually looked for her less.
She had a lot more free time. When she was really bored, she would reluctantly read a book, especially at night when her parents were working the night shift at the same time. She did not dare to sleep, so she simply read aloud the Chinese or English texts until she fell asleep.
She had gotten used to the existence of the mottled dog and no longer rejected it as strongly as she did at the beginning. Although most of the tasks of feeding and walking the dog were done by her parents, when they really couldn’t find time, she would reluctantly help. At least, it was a living creature that could breathe when they were alone at night, right?
Slowly, she realized that it wasn’t that annoying. Other than being a little ugly, it never barked, never bit, and was never picky about its food. It ate whatever was available and was easy to raise.
No matter how she treated it coldly, it never seemed to be angry with her. As long as she fed it some food and water, it would happily wag its tail at her and rub against her calf. It only ran away when she half-seriously warned it not to pee on her leg …
Her parents had named the dog “goody,” but she thought it was too uncouth and called it “mottled hair” every time. However, no matter whether she called it “goody” or “mottled hair,” it would always run over happily.
As time went on, more than half a year had passed. Although she was still often scared when she was alone at night, nothing had actually happened, so she began to wonder if she was really overthinking it.
In the past six months, her image and behavior had changed a lot. She had distanced herself from the circle of problem girls and was not accepted by the top students in the class. She simply lived alone.
After entering the third year of junior high school, in order to prepare for the high school entrance examination and increase the enrollment rate of key high schools, her school, like most schools, began to organize supplementary classes and evening self-study sessions, and it was compulsory for everyone to attend.
The evening self-study session lasted from 6 pm to 9:30 pm. By the time Cai meiwen got home on her bicycle, it was usually past 10 pm.
One day, she finished her evening self-study as usual and rode her bike back to the family District. She locked her bike in the shed and hummed as she entered the building.
She had thought that today was just an ordinary day, with only her mother working the night shift and her father watching a football game and drinking beer at home. But in fact, a few days ago, the factory had received a new order, and her father’s work group had been arranged to work overtime at the last minute. She had to work the night shift tonight, but she didn’t know that because they didn’t have mobile phones at that time.
Because of this, she didn’t look up at her window before entering the building. If she had taken a look, she would have noticed that the light in the house was dark. If at least one of her parents was at home, they would have turned on the light and waited for her to come back before going to sleep.
After entering the corridor, she stomped her feet. The sound-controlled lights on the first floor corridor lit up, and she strode upstairs.
Then, it was the second floor.
In the middle of the second and third floor, she stomped her feet, but to her surprise, the lights on the third floor were not on.
She thought that the sound was too soft, so she stomped her foot harder, but the lights on the third floor were still not on.
At that time, incandescent lamps were powered by tungsten wires to an incandescent state to emit light and heat. Their life span was far worse than the LED lights today. The tungsten wires would break quickly after frequent turns on and off. Besides, the light bulbs used in the corridor were not high-end goods. Not only were they often broken, but they were often stolen home. It was common for the voice-controlled lights to not light up.
She thought, the light bulb was broken again, or someone stole it? Really, he was too uncultured!
This thought flashed through her mind. She stopped for a second or two before she continued to go upstairs.
What else could he do?
Putting aside the fact that she thought her father was home, even if her parents were not home, was she going to stay out all night just because the lights on the third floor were not on? Where should I sleep?
Since she was going to reach home soon, she quickened her pace. Just a few steps away from the third floor, she suddenly heard a dog barking from above.
She immediately recognized that it was the barking of her dog. The sound was loud and angry, and it kept barking.
It had never called out like this in the middle of the night.
Like other dogs, mottled hair had a very sensitive hearing. Whether it was day or night, as long as a family stepped into the first or second floor, he could hear their footsteps and run to the door to welcome them.
It must have heard her footsteps, but why did it suddenly cry out, and in such a loud voice?
Cai meiwen suddenly remembered that night she had almost forgotten, and her heart shivered. She stopped and didn’t dare to go up. Instead, she held the railing and looked up.
The loud dog barks lit up the lights on the first, second, and sixth floors, leaving only the third, fourth, and fifth floors dark.
With the help of the faint light on the sixth floor, she seemed to see a figure on the fourth floor holding the railing and looking down at her. She could only see a vague outline, but she felt a great fear in her heart, as if she was being stared at by a poisonous snake.
The figure retracted his head.
The sound of footsteps.
She screamed subconsciously, turned around, and ran as fast as she could. She ran out of the corridor and stopped at the guard room at the entrance of the community.
Perhaps some people would scoff at her and think that she was too timid. If she blocked the entrance of the corridor, wouldn’t she be like a turtle in a jar? However, as a middle school girl, she was already very lucky that she didn’t collapse on the ground.
After hearing her complaint, the guard of the neighborhood took his flashlight and checked, but of course, he didn’t see anything.
Some of the neighbors in the building heard her scream and went out to check the situation, but they didn’t see anything.
In such a situation, it was obviously useless to call the police. She didn’t see anything clearly and there was no substantial damage. What could the police do?
The security guard of the neighborhood called her parents, and her parents hurriedly took a leave of absence to come back. Although they didn’t believe her words, seeing her crying like a Pear Blossom bathed in rain, they still felt very distressed. They comforted her a little and took her home to sleep.
When she returned to the familiar home, mottled hair was still waiting at the door as usual, wagging his tail at her.
To her parents ‘surprise, she, who was usually cold to the mottled fur, suddenly held it in her arms and cried even more sadly than before.
Because in this world, only mottled hair believed her, and only mottled hair was on her side.
Since then, her relationship with mottled hair had gotten better and better. She often fed it the meat her parents had given her when they were eating.
It was not that her parents did not believe her completely, but there was very little they could do. As long as they did not work the night shift, they would always wait for her at the door of the family compound after evening self-study and try their best to avoid working the night shift as much as possible. Other than that, as a civilian, there was no other way.
When her parents worked the night shift at the same time, Cai meiwen would ask them to leave Zha Mao in the guard room when they went out. After night study, she would pick Zha Mao up from the guard room and go home with him. As long as she gave the guards a few packs of cigarettes or two bottles of ordinary white wine as a favor every month, the guards would be happy to help.
After school, she returned to the neighborhood and beckoned to the guards. She locked her bicycle in the shed with mottled hair.
In that era, there was no need to leash dogs, so no one had this awareness. Mottled hair was running around in front and behind her, so he was not too far away.
When she arrived at the unit, she waited at the door and pointed to the corridor. The mottled hair seemed to understand her and ran into the building by himself. He ran to the fourth floor in one breath and only ran down happily after confirming that the building was safe. He went upstairs with her.
Later, on a weekend afternoon, she took mottled hair downstairs to walk the dog and let it run and play by itself. She found a chair to sit down and memorize some words.
After a while, she heard mottled hair bark. She looked up and saw that it was barking at a colleague, and it was very fierce.
The colleague was wearing an ordinary work uniform. It was obvious that he had just gotten off work and had not changed his clothes. He was also wearing a cap, and his face was hidden in the shadow of the brim of the cap.
The mottled fur stood a few steps away from him and barked at him. It even looked like it was going to rush up and bite him.
The man was caught off guard and panicked, but this was normal. Who wouldn’t panic when a dog barked at such a close distance?
It was dusk, and there were many family members of the other workers who had just gotten off work in the community who were taking a walk. Some of them were holding onto their dogs, and there were also many women with their children and babies.
The man wanted to shake off the mottled hair and quickly move to the side, but the mottled hair followed closely and continued to bark.
No one knew if he was panicking or deliberately doing it, but seeing that he couldn’t shake off the stray hair, he ran specifically to the women with the children and carrying the babies, and kept shouting,””What’s wrong with this dog? Had he gone crazy? What did it mean to bite someone? Whose dog is this? No one cares?”
The women were afraid that their children would be bitten by the dog. The timid ones ran away with their children, and the bold ones rushed forward to kick them. They also shouted at the dog to get lost.
Several of them also knew mottled hair. They knew that this dog was usually very obedient and never barked or bit. However, how could a dog be reasonable when it went crazy?
Cai meiwen was stunned for a moment. She immediately jumped up from her chair and rushed over to pick up mottled hair. She repeatedly apologized to the women around her and was even reprimanded.
Some of the frightened women comforted her and said that she was fine, while others asked her to take care of her dogs. Some even pointed at the Mulberry and scolded her, digging up her past as a problematic girl. The implication was that ran ran’s family upbringing was just like this. If she couldn’t even teach her daughter well, what more a dog?
To be honest, if she was still a problem girl, she wouldn’t be afraid of these gossipmongers at all. She wouldn’t be afraid whether they were scolding each other or rushing up to scratch her face and pull her hair. However, she was no longer the same person as before.
Being surrounded by a group of women and criticizing him at the same time, even if Zhuge Liang were to be reborn, he would probably not be able to win against a group of women with his words, not to mention that the mottled hair was still crying out in her arms.
When she squeezed out of the crowd with Zha Mao in her arms, Zha Mao finally stopped screaming. But when she looked around again, she couldn’t find the shadow of her previous colleague.
As a large state-owned enterprise, there were thousands of employees in the factory. It was not easy to find a person who did not even see his face clearly.
Moreover, so what if they found it? What bad things had he done?
The only person who knew the truth was a dog that couldn’t speak.
