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Ji Yuning lives in the attic.
Before she moved in, the attic was where Fang Bai stored miscellaneous items.
Upon opening the door, one is greeted by a pile of boxes, a single bed squeezed against the wall, the blankets folded into neat squares, and the sheets without a single crease.
The oddly shaped boxes were arranged in a neat and orderly fashion by Ji Yuning, becoming a decoration in the room.
The only drawback is that the only window in the attic is mostly covered by cardboard boxes, resulting in insufficient light. Even at noon, the room is dark and dim.
Ji Yuning didn't think about moving the box. Instead, she enjoyed the simple, cramped, and dark feeling. Before her mother passed away, she was an angel who roamed the clouds and could touch the sunlight at will, which was what gave her strength.
Now... Ji Yuning avoids sunlight like the plague, as prolonged exposure to it will burn her.
That's why she likes the dark.
She fell into the abyss, needing no sunlight.
There was a piece of clothing lying on the bed, the one Ji Yuning had changed out of, with the flour-covered side facing up. Ji Yuning looked at it, bent down and picked it up.
Ji Yuning doesn't have a wardrobe; all her clothes are kept in a cardboard box next to her bed. Fortunately, she doesn't have many clothes—besides her school uniform, she only has two or three spare outfits, which fit perfectly in the box.
Ji Yuning pulled out the washbasin from under the bed and threw her clothes in it.
Ji Yuning couldn't use the washing machine; she washed all her clothes by hand.
Once, Fang Bai caught her doing laundry and kicked the laundry tub, breaking it. After that, Ji Yuning would only do laundry after Fang Bai took a nap.
There was still a while before Fang Bai's afternoon nap, so Ji Yuning put the washbasin aside.
A mirror hung on the wall opposite the bed. It wasn't big, but it was big enough to reflect Ji Yuning's entire body from the chest up.
Ji Yuning turned her back to the mirror and looked at her reflection.
Then, Ji Yuning crossed her arms and grabbed the hem of her shirt to take off the short-sleeved shirt she was wearing.
A person wearing a tank top appeared in the mirror.
Ji Yuning was indeed malnourished. The areas where fat could easily hide, such as her chest, stomach, and waist, were not only devoid of any excess fat, but she was so thin that her hip bones and collarbones were particularly prominent.
Ji Yuning took off her clothes to see the injury on her back.
When Ji Yuning threw the clothes onto the bed, her gaze returned to the mirror, and she saw the purplish bruises under her underwear.
"Knock knock knock"
After three knocks, Wu Mei's voice came through the door and into the room, "Xiao Ji, are you there? Open the door."
Abruptly interrupted, Ji Yuning didn't look at her injury again. She walked to the bedside, picked up her clothes, and put them on before pulling the latch and opening the door.
Wu Mei stood in front of the door holding a square plastic box. When she saw the door open, she stepped forward and called out, "Xiao Ji."
Ji Yuning: "Aunt Wu."
Wu Mei asked, "Is your injury any better?"
Ji Yuning nodded: "Okay."
After hearing this, Wu Mei asked in a deep voice, "Are the ones from a few days ago all better?"
Ji Yuning: "Mm."
“Well,” Wu Mei paused, then asked worriedly, “did the young lady hurt when she hit you? How about I give you some money so you can go to the hospital to get it checked out?”
"…fine."
“How could nothing be wrong! Lift up your clothes and let Aunt Wu see.” Wu Mei said, squeezing into the room with her suitcase.
The space was already cramped, and the air felt thinner when Wu Mei's slightly plump figure entered.
Ji Yuning subconsciously distanced herself from Wu Mei, her back against the door, and whispered, "No need."
Seeing this, Wu Mei didn't want to force Ji Yuning. She simply put the box aside and said, "It's fine if I don't need to look at it. I'll find some medicine for you, and you can apply it yourself."
The square box is a medicine box.
As she spoke, Wu Mei rummaged through the medicine box, but she couldn't find any ointment for treating bruises, only a scar remover.
Wu Mei straightened up and handed the scar-removing ointment to Ji Yuning, "You apply this first. The other one might be missing somewhere. I'll go look for it."
“Aunt Wu,” Ji Yuning called out to Wu Mei, and as Wu Mei turned to look at her, she whispered, “Thank you.”
Wu Mei was taken aback. Ji Yuning's thanks, at that moment, stirred up her heart like a stick, disrupting her faint sense of guilt. Wu Mei said helplessly, "No need to thank me, it's..."
Whenever Wu Mei saw Ji Yuning and her injuries, she could see Ji Yuning's cowardice and weakness.
Wu Mei's remorse towards Ji Yuning prevented her from going upstairs to find Ji Yuning, let alone bringing her medicine.
Two minutes ago, Wu Mei came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes, and Fang Bai asked her to take the medicine box upstairs to deliver the medicine to Ji Yuning.
Wu Mei paused for a moment, then told the truth: "Miss asked me to bring the medicine box up."
Ji Yuning lifted her eyelids, then lowered her eyes. "Mm."
Ji Yuning did not believe Wu Mei's words.
Fang Bai wouldn't have such a conscience.
Ji Yuning assumed that Wu Mei didn't want to be implicated, so she went to the trouble of explaining again.
Wu Mei stood there for two seconds, and seeing that Ji Yuning had nothing to say, she turned and left.
Ji Yuning closed the door. This time, she didn't take off her clothes. Instead, she lifted them up to her shoulders and used her neck and shoulders to hold them in place to prevent them from falling.
Squeezing the ointment onto her fingertips, Ji Yuning hugged herself from behind, reaching her hands behind her back to apply the ointment to the scar on her lower back.
The injury wasn't caused by Fang Bai, but rather she was accidentally scratched by a wire while escaping.
If Fang Bai hadn't sent people to chase her, she wouldn't have been so panicked as to not notice the barbed wire.
Just as she thought of Fang Bai, Fang Bai's voice reached Ji Yuning's ears.
Ji Yuning was stunned for a moment before realizing she wasn't hallucinating; Fang Bai was right outside the door, calling her name in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft.
"Ji Yuning".
This is the third time the woman has called her by her full name today.
Completely different from the usual "Hey," "biaozi," and "dog," calling her by her full name made Ji Yuning feel like she was a person in her eyes.
Ji Yuning wasn't so grateful as to be called by Fang Bai's full name; she just thought the woman was playing some new game.
Ji Yuning slowly wiped away the remaining ointment from her fingertips, then gently lowered her clothes over her shoulders.
The clothes covered the wounds, concealing the fragility of Ji Yuning's body.
She met the gaze of the person in the mirror, watching the turbulent emotions in her eyes instantly subside, then lowered her head, threw the tissue into the trash can, and opened the door.
Seeing the person appear at the door for the first time in three years, Ji Yuning's eyes were calm as she called out in a flat voice, "Miss Fang."
Chapter 3
Upon hearing Ji Yuning's call, Fang Bai nodded slightly, "Mm."
It was a very normal reaction, but it seemed a bit strange to Fang Bai, since the original owner had never treated Ji Yuning with such a calm emotion before.
Ji Yuning kept her head down after opening the door, and didn't notice the woman's unusual behavior.
Ji Yuning rarely looks directly at women.
Firstly, he felt disgusted and averse to it. Secondly, every time he made eye contact with a woman, it was like flipping a switch on her, causing all sorts of nasty words to spill out of her mouth, and then Ji Yuning would inevitably get a beating.
Ji Yuning's injuries were still painful. If she got beaten up again, she might not be able to go to school tomorrow.
This is something Ji Yuning didn't want.
Only by going to school can I avoid seeing Fang Bai.
Ji Yuning lives at school, and five days a week can be considered a living life, although the injuries that heal in those five days will be aggravated in the remaining two days, making her feel like a walking corpse.
Ji Yuning pretended to be weak and scared, lowering her head. Fang Bai just looked at the top of her head and sighed inwardly.
Ji Yuning stood ramrod straight, her aura completely devoid of the humble and timid demeanor she had feigned. Instead, she resembled a hungry wolf lurking in the darkness, waiting to strike.
Right now, it's just an immature wolf cub.
Because of her lowered head, Ji Yuning immediately noticed something in Fang Bai's hand: a white plastic cylinder.
What? Not satisfied with just hitting her with the rolling pin? Changed weapons? But you're using this to hit her? Is that it...?
Ji Yuning looked at it again and realized that the white column looked like a medicine bottle.
Fang Bai stared at Ji Yuning's braid for two seconds, then raised his hand and held it out in front of Ji Yuning. "Sister Wu went out on business, so I came to bring you medicine."
The items were revealed to Ji Yuning as Fang Bai opened his hand.
It's a spray for treating bruises.
Ji Yuning's thick eyelashes trembled, and she looked up, certain that the woman was about to start a new game.
Beat someone up and then give them medicine? Isn't that like slapping someone and then giving them a piece of candy?
However, Ji Yuning still couldn't figure out what kind of games women wanted to play.
But since she wanted to play along, she could only play along to the end, as a "gift" to repay the woman who supported her.
Ji Yuning pursed her lips, took the spray from Fang Bai's hand, and whispered, "Thank you, Miss Fang."
The soft murmur of thanks sounded like a compromise with the enemy, or like someone willingly becoming a slave after defeat...
It's all an illusion.
Fang Bai thought of a passage from the book:
After experiencing Fang Bai's abuse once again, Ji Yuning's attitude changed completely. She no longer confronted Fang Bai or argued with him. When Fang Bai hit her, she remained silent and never resisted.
Fang Bai thought she had finally trampled Ji Yuning's self-esteem underfoot, making the person in front of her a true punching bag. But Fang Bai didn't know that the price of each of her abuses was her own lingering life. Ji Yuning was just playing this game with her life on the line. If Ji Yuning hadn't been played to death by Fang Bai, the ending would have been the opposite.
“…”