Ni Duoduo didn't say anything.
I continued, “When your father asked me to take care of you, I saw this photo. I thought you must be a very cute little girl, but after meeting you, I was quite disappointed.”
Ni Duoduo raised an eyebrow: "That's my business! Don't pretend to be so innocent in front of me! I don't think you're any better! Look at how badly you beat those guys in the karaoke room today! Do you think you're a good person?"
I snorted and stared into her eyes: "If I hadn't beaten those guys to a pulp today, you'd probably be finished!" I sighed, thought for a moment, and then took out a cigarette and offered it to her.
Ni Duoduo paused for a moment, then took the light and lit it. She took a puff.
I shook my head and told myself not to rush things. I had to take it one step at a time.
"Do you know what your male classmate did today?"
"I don't know." Ni Duoduo didn't look me in the eye.
I sneered, "While you were in the restroom, they were discussing how to drug you in the private room! When I went in, there was a packet of hallucinogenic drugs on the table. Do you know what happens after you take that stuff?"
"Tch! How would I know!" Ni Duoduo exclaimed, "I've never eaten it."
I felt a little relieved. Thankfully, she hadn't touched that kind of stuff. Hallucinogenic drugs and ecstasy are both narcotics. The fact that Ni Duoduo hadn't used them meant she wasn't that bad, which was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.
“That stuff, if you eat it, you’ll become delirious… um, like you’re drunk, and then you’ll lose your sense of judgment, and you’ll do whatever anyone tells you to do… and… you’ll…” I thought for a moment, but still didn’t say the words “sexual urges.” I only hinted that “you’ll be taken advantage of without even realizing it.”
Ni Duoduo thought for a moment, then remained silent.
"You've never met those guys before, have you? These petty thugs are nothing special; they'll just drug you and maybe rape you. If you encounter someone more ruthless, they might have a few men gang-rape you, take photos or videos, and then blackmail you endlessly! Some might even inject you with drugs to make you addicted! You'll become a drug addict, and when you're in cravings, they'll show up in front of you and try to sell you drugs! Your life will be ruined, you know that?"
Ni Duoduo listened quietly to me finish speaking. To my surprise, she didn't interrupt or argue with me this time. However, after I finished listening, a hint of indifference appeared in her eyes, and she snorted, "So what if it's ruined? My life is already ruined anyway, what's there to be afraid of..."
Although it was spoken in a stubborn tone, almost like a child, there was a hint of desolation in its words… a feeling that sent a chill down my spine…
Looking at this heavily made-up girl sitting across from me, silently smoking, her expression indifferent, I felt a pang of helplessness...
“Ni Duoduo…why did you do this?” I asked.
"What?"
I looked her in the eyes, not letting her look away: "I'm asking... why did you become like this? That photo proves that at least a few years ago, you shouldn't have looked like this, right?"
I stood up and looked around the living room.
This apartment is clearly a family apartment built in the early 1990s, with two bedrooms and a living room. It's not very big, but it's big enough for a small family to live in.
There are two rooms. I just went into one of them, which is Ni Duoduo's room. The other room's door was tightly closed, so I went over and pushed it open to take a look.
This was a rather small room, and judging from the style of the furniture, it must have been lived in by an older person… because the furniture was clearly handcrafted from the 1960s or 70s, with a very dark paint color, and the bed was a traditional springboard bed. This type of bed is almost extinct now. The room was very clean, the bed sheets had a rather conservative pattern… and there was a lacquered wooden chest in the corner.
All of this suggests that the person living here must be an elderly person.
"I heard you lived with your maternal grandmother a few years ago?" I turned to look at Ni Duoduo. Ni Duoduo's facial muscles twitched slightly, but she quickly replied coldly, "What's it to you?"
I shook my head: "I was just asking."
Then I approached her: "When...did she pass away?"
“Two years ago,” Ni Duoduo said quickly, then took a deep drag on her cigarette.
I nodded, then changed the subject: "It should be noon now...Are you hungry?"
Ni Duoduo glanced at me sideways and said, "If you're hungry, you'd better leave! You're not welcome in my house!"
I ignored her and went into the kitchen to search through everything, but the refrigerator was empty. There was no food in the kitchen cabinets, not even a single grain of rice!
"Let's go, I'll take you out to eat." I sighed.
"I'm not going! I'm not eating!" Ni Duoduo refused to get up from her seat.
I smiled and said, "I'll treat you to dinner. I'll leave after we eat, okay?"
"Really?" Her eyes lit up.
"real."
Ni Duoduo then stood up, ran to the door, and called out, "Open the door! Let's go out for dinner!"
As I opened the door, I asked, "What would you like to eat?"
"Korean food, I want barbecue and tofu hot pot." Ni Duoduo's expression softened slightly when she mentioned food: "You said you were treating! I've caught you, so don't be upset!"
I patted my pocket: "Did you forget I have a card here? This is all your money. How much you eat will be deducted from this card!"
Ni Duoduo immediately wilted, her spirits gone: "Then let's go downstairs and eat noodles!"
I initially thought she was just saying it casually, but after I went downstairs and was about to drive, she actually took me to a small noodle shop at the intersection.
This is a very ordinary noodle shop. The shop is very small, with only three or four tables that are greasy and dirty. Newspapers are pasted on the walls. The roof is made of simple plastic materials, and the four corners of the tables are covered with stainless steel.
Ni Duoduo skillfully found a corner table, sat down, and loudly ordered two bowls of beef noodles.
"What are you looking at!" Ni Duoduo glared at me angrily when she noticed me looking at her strangely.
"You're actually eating noodles here?" I found it somewhat amusing.
The noodles arrived quickly, two steaming bowls of beef noodles, a generous portion. Fragrant scallions floated on the surface of the soup, and several pieces of braised beef were placed on top of the noodles. Ni Duoduo picked up her chopsticks, compared them, forked a few noodles, and slurped them into her mouth. Then she chewed on the beef.
I was a little surprised to see her eating so heartily: "Is the food here really that good?"
"Yes, I've been eating here for years." Ni Duoduo didn't have time to talk to me and mumbled, "When my grandma was hospitalized, I couldn't cook, so I ate here all the time."
I put down my chopsticks and quietly watched her.
The girl sitting in front of me had an afro. She had an arrogant and unruly look on her face, and her makeup was heavy. But for some reason, this image popped into my mind:
A pretty little girl with long hair, wearing a school uniform and carrying a backpack, sits in a small noodle shop eating noodles. She does this every morning, noon, and evening.
How did she get through those days?
Looking at the bowl of noodles in front of me, and the steaming hot liquid... I felt as if I were recalling the pork rib soup my master would make for us on nights when we stayed at his house to practice our martial arts.
"You ate all three meals a day here back then?" I asked in a low voice.
"Nonsense!" Ni Duoduo pouted, picked up a noodle with her fork, and blew on it. "If I don't eat here, are you going to support me?"
I quietly took a bite of noodles... To be honest, the taste was good, the noodles were chewy, and the soup was fragrant, but I didn't have much of an appetite. I put down my chopsticks, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
The girl didn't have a big appetite. After a few bites of noodles, she focused on eating the beef. Most girls don't like to eat meat, but Ni Duoduo seemed different. She ate the beef with great relish, but how much beef was in a bowl of beef noodles? She finished it quickly.
I put down my cigarette, picked up my chopsticks, and carefully picked out pieces of beef from my bowl and put them into her bowl: "You eat it, it's clean. I didn't touch it."
Ni Duoduo's expression remained stiff for a moment. She suddenly raised her head, gave me a deep look, and then remained silent. She lowered her head and ate her noodles voraciously.
She made a lot of movements, even making some rather unrefined snoring noises... but in less than a minute, I discovered her secret... she was making those noises on purpose! Just to cover it up!
Ni Duoduo's head was hanging low, but I noticed that she was crying!
Noticing that I was watching her, Ni Duoduo suddenly threw down her chopsticks, pushed away her bowl, and buried her face in her arms, sobbing.
She started crying softly, but gradually her sobs grew louder, until her body was trembling uncontrollably. I sat beside her and seemed to reach out to pat her shoulder, but halfway there, I hesitated, unsure whether to actually do it.
At this moment, Ni Duoduo had already raised her head. She quickly wiped away the tears and snot on her face and still glared at me coldly: "Why are you looking at me! Haven't you ever seen a woman cry before!"
She glanced at the bowl of noodles in front of her, then shoved it away forcefully, slammed her hand on the table, and shouted, "I'm not eating! The beef you ate is filthy!"
After saying that, she stood up and walked outside. I took out my wallet, put the money on the table, and followed her. Ni Duoduo walked very fast, but she was heading home. I didn't follow her immediately, but walked about two steps behind her.
As I silently walked to her building, Ni Duoduo suddenly stopped, turned around, and glared at me angrily: "Hey! I've already eaten with you! You should keep your word! Go away, don't follow me!"
I smiled and said, "Okay, I won't follow you anymore. You can go home."
"Hmph!" Ni Duoduo immediately turned around and walked into the stairwell.
I walked to the car, got in, randomly picked out a CD and put it on, lit a cigarette, listened to the music, and silently smoked through the open window.
About five minutes later, just as I finished smoking a cigarette, I saw Ni Duoduo rush out of the building entrance angrily, run quickly to my car, and bang on the car door.
I smiled and asked, "What's wrong?"
"You broke your promise!" Ni Duoduo shouted angrily, "You said you'd leave after dinner! Why are you still here!"
"I only said I'd leave after eating... I meant leaving your house, I didn't say I couldn't stay downstairs, did I?" I smiled, then asked in return, "How did you know I was still here?"
"I was watching you from the hallway!" Ni Duoduo regretted saying that as soon as she finished speaking, her face turned bright red.
I got out of the car and stood in front of Ni Duoduo, scrutinizing her for a long time. She seemed a little uncomfortable under my gaze, glaring at me as if she was about to yell at me. But I suddenly reached out my hand to her and whispered, "Don't move!"
Then I quickly flicked a small piece of beef jerky from the corner of her mouth, took out a tissue to wipe the grease off her mouth, and sighed: "Don't you ever wipe your mouth after eating? Where are your hands? Let me see your hands!"
Ni Duoduo froze. She mechanically raised her hand like a wooden statue. I grabbed her hand and vigorously wiped the beef broth stains off her palm: "Remember to wipe your mouth and wash your hands after every meal!"
Ni Duoduo seemed stunned. Her mouth opened and closed for a long time, but she couldn't utter a single word. She looked me up and down, her gaze softening slightly, before finally reverting to her angry expression and shouting, "What are you doing! Who do you think you are! Who do you think you are to me? My affairs are none of your business!! None of your business!!"
After saying that, she forcefully pushed my hand away, threw the tissue on the ground, stomped on it twice, and then turned and rushed into the stairwell.
I still smiled. I just shook my head.
They're still young after all... they only know how to use anger to mask the shock in their hearts.
I sat on the hood of the car and waited quietly for a while... Actually, I had already noticed. Ni Duoduo didn't go upstairs; she was in the second-floor hallway, hiding behind the wall and peeking at me.
I didn't call her out on it. Instead, I took a bottle of mineral water from the trunk of the car, took a sip, and stretched leisurely.
Ten minutes later, Ni Duoduo finally came out again.
This time, however, she didn't rush out like a whirlwind. Instead, she lingered as she walked out of the stairwell. Reaching me, she seemed somewhat helpless: "Uncle, what exactly do you want? Either you leave, or you come upstairs. What kind of person are you, staring at me downstairs?"
I chuckled. This little girl is still just a little girl. No matter how hard a young child tries to hide it, they can't hide their inner emotions as well as an adult.
I knew Ni Duoduo had softened. My seemingly subtle actions just now had successfully opened a tiny crack in the girl's heart... a very, very small crack, but it was enough.
To be honest, she was actually conflicted. Deep down, she might have felt a little bit that she didn't want me to leave.
This feeling might be hard to explain... but I remember very clearly that after my master took me away from the gate of the detention center, for a long time I felt like a fledgling bird clinging to my master's side. I was even afraid that my master would leave my sight!
When a person who is all alone suddenly finds someone genuinely kind and sincere to them, even if it's just a little bit of warmth... then they will instinctively feel a sense of attachment and reluctance to part with them!
People living in a cold world are actually very fond of warmth!
It's like why I used to like hanging out in those noisy and chaotic places... Actually, a big reason was that I was afraid of the cold feeling of being alone at home, while in the disco, countless people were shouting, screaming, and partying wildly, which gave me a lively feeling... That's the feeling I was obsessed with!
I didn't answer her question, but just smiled gently: "I'm hungry. I didn't eat that bowl of noodles. Let's go out and find a place to eat. That noodle place was pretty good, but I don't really like noodles."
Then I got into the car myself and opened the passenger door: "Get in."
Ni Duoduo stood in front of the car, staring at me for a while, then looked down at her toes for a moment before finally getting into the car. She slammed the door shut with a loud bang, as if in a fit of anger, and said in a harsh voice, "Where are you going! Let's go!"
Many years later, I asked Ni Duoduo why she hid in the stairwell to watch me that afternoon, and why she got into my car.
Her answer was: apart from her deceased mother, no one had ever done what I did that day, wiping the meat scraps from her mouth with tissues, wiping the grease from her hands, and then scolding her in that seemingly nagging woman's tone.