Chapter 58

  The TV screen on the bus was rolling out boring ads repeatedly. The scorching air on the road surface drilled into the carriage, and people's bodies steamed out sweat, with pungent smells wandering between skin and skin. Yoyo gazed at Cheng Yitian sitting beside her, eyes half-closed, plugging in earbuds to listen to blurry lyrics.

  She heard her own heartbeat, like a lonely mute wanting to pour out thousands of words. Those words, those sentences had only one theme: will you like me?

  She hesitated for a while and couldn't say it out loud. At this moment, her phone suddenly rang.

  Cheng Yitian beside her slightly opened his eyes to look at her, then closed them again and continued listening to the song, still with an expression of indifference to everything around him.

  Youyou put her phone up to her ear.

  It was Aunt Fang who called. Aunt Fang had something to do today and couldn't go to kindergarten to pick up Lezi, and Dad hadn't finished work yet, so only Youyou could go pick Lezi up.

  It's said that Aunt Fang and Father were classmates in middle school, and coincidentally moved into the same old building, becoming neighbors. Aunt Fang lives alone, but she actually has a husband and son. Youyou has never seen her husband and son, always hearing rumors that Aunt Fang's husband had an affair, taking their son and mistress abroad.

  Youyou often heard Fang Auntie softly calling out her son's name in the evening, that was a mother's deep longing for her son. Youyou thought Fang Auntie was very pitiful, she was actually a good woman, still elegant and warm-hearted, one of the few residents in this building who had good relationships with others. Her ex-husband, on the other hand, was notorious in this building, just his infidelity and separation from his own flesh and blood were enough to make him a laughing stock.

  Mrs. Fang often holds Lezi and says that her son Xiaoji left when he was about the same age as Lezi. Every time she mentions this, there are always faint tears in the corners of Mrs. Fang's eyes. Probably because of this, Mrs. Fang is especially good to Lezi, treating him like her own biological son Xiaoji. So no matter how naughty Lezi is, Mrs. Fang will not get angry.

  There was only one time when Le Zi cried and ran back from next door. He said he saw a doll on Fang Ayi's bed, but Fang Ayi wouldn't let him touch it and even hit him. The reason why Le Zi made Fang Ayi angry was probably because the doll was her son's favorite toy. So she didn't want anyone else to touch her son's treasure. For this, Dad even specially went to apologize to Fang Ayi.

  Perhaps due to their shared loneliness, the single father and Fang Auntie gradually found comfort in each other's company as time passed. Youyou thought that they would eventually get married, and she and her brother would have a new mother.

  She thinks Fang Auntie would make a good new mom too.

  After getting off the bus, I wandered into a quiet street next to it. The trees cast dim shadows, and in the slightly cool summer air, tiny shades floated, with tired breath slowly dissolving along the deep and shallow textures. It seemed like the residual image of night still lingered in this forgotten corner of the city.

  The sunflower kindergarten is located in a residential area 2 miles away, surrounded by tall buildings, and the cold walls of the building surround this not very lively kindergarten. Even the female teacher's expression was gloomy. She stared at Youyou, with a dark face, and said in a tone of blame:

  "Le Zai is in trouble again!"

  Her heart tightened and her face turned red as she asked: "Is he urinating in the classroom again?"

  "This is just a small problem!" The young female teacher, with her petite face and freckles, had an intimidating gaze that made one feel uncomfortable. Her overbearing demeanor was about to swallow Yu Yu whole. "Your little brother bullied another kid again!"

  "This......" Yu Yu was stunned for a moment, "This can't be possible, right?"

  It's common for Le Zai to be bullied by others. How could a timid and afraid person like him bully others?

  "How can that be?! The female teacher's angry reaction to Youyou's questioning became even more furious, her sharp fingernails like a witch's claws almost pointing at her nose. "Lezi snatched other kids' toys! And he ruined them all! He also pushed the kid who argued with him to the ground! This little rascal is just like a bully, if he continues to be so reckless, we won't want him anymore!"

  "Teacher, could there be some misunderstanding here?" Youyou still didn't quite believe that Leizi would do something like this.

  The female teacher, seemingly too lazy to argue with her anymore, waved her hand impatiently and said, "If you have any questions, go ask Leizi about it when you get back. Anyway, I'm putting an end to this conversation today. Honestly, kindergarten isn't your family's private property, if Leizi continues to act so domineering, other parents will also have opinions."

  The female teacher finished speaking and turned around with a somewhat disgusted look in her eyes, then walked back. After a while, she brought Leizi out again.

  Lei Zai lowered his head, his face slightly hidden in the shadows. When he raised his head, his eyes were like dark abysses, an eerie aura that made people feel suffocated. Youyou only felt her throat tighten, as if a current connected all the circuits in her body. Her brother was standing right in front of her, but it made her feel strange and inexplicably frightened.

  "Sister, let's go back."

  Le Zi walked over and grabbed her hand. Her hand trembled slightly. Le Zi's small hand felt icy cold, grasped in hers, and she couldn't help but think of the corpse lying in the morgue, covered with a white cloth, cold as ice. The air around her seemed to change instantly into the musty smell of the mortuary, softly brushing against her ear, covering her entire body in an instant.

  She slightly lowered her head with a nervous heart, and Le Zi happened to lift his head and smiled at her.

  A walking corpse's smile.

  "Luo Zai, you... what's wrong with you today?" Youyou felt that the hand holding hers was not her own brother, but another child. Several times, she wanted to shake off his hand, but each time it seemed futile. His hand and hers seemed to have merged, connected, their bones and nerves tangled together.

  Laozi raised his head and revealed pale teeth, a faint smile seemed to be floating on his pale face.

  "Sister, I'm fine."

  Yu Yu swallowed another mouthful of saliva and continued to ask: "But, but the teacher said you bullied other little friends... is that true?"

  "I didn't," Liao shook his head. "It was all done by Ah Lian."

  "Alan?" The name immediately made her fall into a dark and cold place like an icy cave, and she felt an unprecedented fear. "Did Alan go to kindergarten with you?" She asked in astonishment.

  "Really." Leizi nodded, his eyes rolled up to show the whites, staring at her with an eerie expression, as if something else was attached to him. "Those toys were snatched by Ahlian, she pushed down those little friends. It's not my business, sister, really not my business."

  Luo Zai continued to say.

  His lips slowly opened and closed, the world seemed to have lost its voice, shadows quietly crept into his narrow eye sockets, making his eyes a deep black. Youyou felt as if she was suddenly controlled by his gloomy eyes, her heart had an inexplicable sense of unease spreading from the bottom of her stomach.

  She quickened her pace, holding her brother's hand as they walked out of the quiet street. The bustling crowd on the road gradually dispelled the dizziness in her mind. The scorching sun made her feel at ease. She slowed down and inadvertently turned to glance at the storefront window beside her.

  His eyes froze. Fear stagnated in his blood vessels, forming a blood clot like a potentially fatal tumor at any time.

  The glass surface reflects the bright outline of the city and the dark tree shadows, with the flow of cars rapidly rotating behind. All the flowing lights and shadows around her and her brother's still outlines. She wears light blue clothes, while her brother wears a yellow raincoat...

  No, the yellow figure in the glass window was not her brother. It was another child, holding her hand, and with the other hand hugging a red leather ball. Barefoot, his whole body dripping wet. The world in the mirror was like it was raining heavily.

  Yu Yu let out a sharp cry and released her brother's hand as if she had been electrocuted.

  She stiffened her mouth with a chill and turned to look at her brother. Leizi looked at her curiously and asked, "Sister, what's wrong?"

  "I, I... you, you..." stuttered out incoherently, when she looked back at the window glass again, she saw her panicked expression and her brother's figure. Her brother was wearing a white vest. The world reflected in the glass, basked in sunlight.

  No yellow raincoat, no rain.

  Everything disappeared so quickly, as if it were a brief dream.