She saw two clear, ambiguous shadows overlapping each other.
Overt, covert, lingering, vibrant, fiery.
The boy wore a purplish-red, low-cut, coarse-knit sweater. On his left shoulder, a cluster of flowers, outlined in black thread, stretched out along the delicately crafted shoulder line and flowed smoothly down his back, exuding an irrepressible, dark, and alluring brilliance amidst the bright colors.
He stood in the lamplight, his back thin and frail yet bearing an unyielding and stubborn pride. His neck was slightly bent, and his arms were tightly embracing the long-haired girl whose face was blurred under the lamplight. His lips and teeth were intertwined with the person in his arms. The dark hair that brushed past his ears was vivid and slowly and unconsciously swept across his fair neck. That touch of jade color, soaked in the light and shadow, was fragrant, rich, and alluring.
If it were according to Ah Heng's usual behavior, she would definitely find seeing such a scene extremely embarrassing and awkward. However, at that moment, she even forgot to hide. With her schoolbag on her back, she looked at the boy with an open and meticulous gaze.
Yan hope. Aheng's lips curved slightly as she silently uttered the word, her heart filled with absolute certainty, a certainty that even she found absurd.
She never truly saw the boy's face clearly, never spoke a word to him, and even his name was pieced together bit by bit, yet it left such a clear imprint in her heart, a vaguely laughable sense of remembrance, plain yet slowly becoming enduring in her memories that carried clues and traces.
Suddenly, the boy felt a gaze behind him, released his arms from the girl's waist, turned around, and quietly looked at the unwitting peeping tom.
Ah Heng was startled by her own rudeness, and in her daze, she only saw the boy's eyes.
But suddenly, a deafening roar filled my ears, leaving only one sound, so familiar, like the sound of breathing I heard when I accidentally drowned as a child, everything vanished. That fear, despair, resentment, yet the realization that I was heading towards another kind of liberation surged over me.
The ink-black in the boy's eyes, swirling with the vibrant crimson of peach blossoms, added a touch of cold starlight to the watery hue, reflecting directly in her pupils—indifferent, arrogant, and nonchalant.
For a moment, Ah Heng even felt dirty, and in a panic, she left with her head down.
In a daze, she returned home after dark. Aunt Zhang had been waiting for her.
Ah Heng had been running all the way and was in a daze. He only felt extremely thirsty, so he picked up the tea on the table and poured it into his mouth, but it seeped into his nose and he coughed violently.
Siwan happened to come downstairs and saw that Aheng's face was flushed and she was coughing incessantly, so she patted her back to help her catch her breath.
After a long while, Ah Heng finally caught his breath and turned to see Si Wan.
"Did you choke?" Siwan asked gently, with a faint smile and politeness.
Aheng nodded. She was never good at speaking in front of the Wen family, and even when she did speak, she used the simplest words that she could pronounce clearly.
Siwan knew that Aheng felt uncomfortable seeing her, but she didn't mind. After exchanging a few polite words, she wanted to leave.
"Wait a minute..." Ah Heng had been preoccupied with something these past few days, and although embarrassed, she still called out to Si Wan.
"Hmm?" Siwan turned around, somewhat confused.
Ah Heng nodded, turned around and went upstairs.
A short while later, the girl came downstairs dragging a suitcase.
"What is this?" Siwan asked, puzzled.
“Her clothes…are here,” Ah Heng explained softly, pointing to the suitcase.
"Her?" Siwan's smile slowly faded, and her eyes turned cold.
"You need to wear clothes." Ah Heng knew he had misunderstood her, but she was at a loss for words and didn't know how to explain.
“You don’t have to do this.” Siwan knew that Aheng was referring to Er’er, and her expression became complicated.
Although he and Aheng were siblings, he still harbored suspicions about her because of Er'er. But seeing that she never mentioned Er'er, he gradually relaxed. However, now she had brought Er'er up in the open and was talking about Er'er's clothes in front of him. To Siwan, it felt like a malicious mockery of Er'er and another embarrassing expulsion.
Ah Heng held the suitcase in front of him, looked at Si Wan gently, and gestured for him to open it.
Siwan became furious, her face turning icy cold. She waved her hand, knocking the suitcase to the ground.
Aunt Zhang was heating porridge in the kitchen when she heard a loud noise. Without even taking off her apron, she rushed to the living room and saw clothes scattered all over the floor, most of which were unopened autumn clothes.
"What's wrong? Ah Heng, why did you take down all the new clothes that Yun Yi bought for you?" Aunt Zhang was confused. Looking at the clothes, she saw that they were all the ones Yun Yi had bought for Ah Heng a few days ago. The child hadn't said anything at the time, but he seemed very happy. But strangely, he had never worn them since.
Siwan was surprised and stood there stunned. After a moment, she gently picked up a piece of clothing from the ground, turned it to the label, and sure enough, it was Si'er's size. She looked up and saw Aheng's overly calm face, which made her extremely embarrassed.
“Mom, she…” Siwan tried to say something, but when her eyes fell on Aheng’s overly simple school uniform with worn cuffs, she couldn’t speak.
Her mother must know that Ah Heng is much taller than Bill.
For the first time, he was shocked to realize the unfairness between himself and his mother.
The mother intentionally or unintentionally retaliated against Aheng.
And he, smiling, fueled the flames.
The girl saw through it all, yet calmly accepted it with a smile.
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Since that day, Siwan has deliberately kept her distance from Aheng. Unlike her previous lukewarm attitude, she now seems to be avoiding him.
A few days later, Aunt Zhang took Ah Heng to buy autumn clothes, saying it was Si Wan's idea.
Ah Heng frowned and said to Aunt Zhang, "Grandma, I..."
Having lived most of her life, what couldn't Aunt Zhang see through? She patted Aheng's hand to comfort her, "I know you have no hostility towards Si'er, it's just that you don't understand how good that child is."
Ah Heng looked at Zhang Sao's somewhat helpless face and could only remain silent.
I imagine it must be very, very good.
Ah Heng thought about it, and felt a heavy weight in her heart, as if a stone had fallen into her chest, pressing down on her and making her feel suffocated.
She was separated from the world by a door called "Winsor".
But life goes on...
Who says that a wrong start will inevitably lead to a wrong ending?
Ah Heng took a breath and slowly suppressed the overwhelming sadness in her heart.
In her eyes, the world outside Wushui Town was a different world altogether, filled with her own expectations, yet distorted and comical by the pressures of reality. There was some loneliness, some solitude, but she needed a reason to embrace hope.
Often, the process of pursuing something is precisely what is called survival.
The first autumn rain fell gently along with the red leaves, dampening the white Western-style buildings. After the rain cleared, a faint mist lingered through the window, carrying the fresh scent of freshly washed earth, and a cool breeze swept in.
Ah Heng was inside, constantly working on physics problems. Feeling dizzy, she went to the window and peered outside. The maple trees outside, washed by the autumn rain, had glistening water droplets on their branches, reflecting the fallen leaves below. The droplets, glistening and sharp, swirled on the dazzling red leaves before slowly disappearing.
All around was quiet, except for the autumn wind carrying the bitter scent of leaves, making the sycamore trees rustle.
Ah Heng, propped up on her elbow, gazed into the distance, but was suddenly startled by a sharp, loud "chirp" sound overhead. Looking up, she saw a parrot with green and blue plumage on the white gravel roof. Its small, slightly hooked claws were stained with blood, and its bright black eyes looked pitifully out the window, at Ah Heng.
Ah Heng looked at the little parrot and knew it must be injured and trapped on the eaves. He held onto the window with his left hand, stood on tiptoe, and stretched out his right arm, only to find that it was a hand's width away from him.
"Hey, wait for me." Ah Heng felt a little apologetic, wondering to himself if the birds in the capital probably only spoke Beijing dialect, and hoping that his half-baked Mandarin could understand them.
Suddenly, the little parrot shrieked—"Braised meat! Braised meat!!!"
Braised meat?
Ah Heng was surprised and hesitated, inwardly cursing himself for being so talkative, and then said something that hit the nail on the head.
She didn't know if the bird could understand, but she tried to smile at its bright little eyes, then turned and ran away.
Siwan heard the urgent knocking, rubbed her eyes, opened the door, and saw Aheng. She was embarrassed at first, then blushed, and asked gently, "What's wrong?"
Ah Heng immediately said, "Braised meat, injured, eaves, can't get down."
With immense mental energy and a touch of guilt, Siwan stared wide-eyed and uttered childishly, "Oh, so Lu Rou got injured and is stuck on the roof, unable to get down, right?"
Ah Heng was sweating profusely, but when she saw Si Wan's bewildered expression as she agreed with her, she chuckled. The frustration she had been feeling dissipated, and her arched eyebrows looked beautiful.
She tugged at Siwan's sleeve and quickly led him to her room. Leaning out the window, she pointed to the pitiful little bird shivering on the eaves.
"Braised meat! Braised meat!" The little parrot screamed when it saw Siwan, its bright little eyes filled with tears and looking very aggrieved.
"Ah! Braised pork rice!" Siwan blurted out.
The boy was initially hesitant, but upon seeing the little parrot, he instantly took off his shoes and climbed onto the windowsill.
"Ah Heng, lend a hand." Si Wan frowned, bent down, and carefully approached the little parrot along the window. However, the posture was really tiring, and when she reached out to help the little parrot, she had nowhere to put her body.
Ah Heng quickly stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Si Wan's legs, looked up at the boy without blinking, and felt a strange tension rising in her heart.
The little parrot was quite clever, hopping slowly into Siwan's palm without missing a beat. The boy turned around and was surprised to see Aheng's arms wrapped around him. The posture was so serious that it seemed as if Aheng was going to catch him. He looked at it, paused for a moment, found it amusing, laughed, and easily hopped down.
Ah Heng smiled and took the little parrot, a hint of childishness appearing in her usually calm eyes.
"You... know it?" Ah Heng found some gauze and helped the little thing collect the bloodstains. Looking at its pitiful expression and weak cries, it seemed to be acting like a spoiled child.
"I know him." Siwan nodded, took out her mobile phone, and was about to dial when she heard the urgent doorbell ringing downstairs.
"Heh, here comes the master." Siwan smiled, revealing her clean, white teeth.
Ah Heng gently stroked the little bird's feathers, looking at it with affection. She thought to herself that the little thing was so pitiful, and its owner must have been extremely careless to let it out of its cage and get injured.
The boy came out of the room to greet the guest. Half a minute later, Ah Heng heard the clanging sound of people going up the stairs and the sounds of restless playful laughter.
A gentle breeze blew by, and when she looked up, she saw the handsome young man.
"You?" she asked, her voice trembling with rudeness.
"Who are you?" The boy's voice was lazy, with a strong, unyielding boyish hardness.
He doesn't remember Aheng.
"Ah Heng," Si Wan licked her lips and spoke.
"Oh." Yan hope nodded, glanced at Wen Heng indifferently, and smiled indifferently.
He looked down and saw the little bird in Aheng's hand. His eyes instantly brightened, and he poked the little thing's head hard with his slender, white fingers—"You little rascal, you ran around like that, and now you've suffered. Tsk tsk, you even hurt your claws. Serves you right!"
The little parrot was extremely intelligent. Looking at the boy, it had a wronged expression, its little wings covering its head, and its bright black eyes were filled with tears.
Yan hope laughed, his delicate eyebrows slightly raised, his domineering and unreasonable demeanor now vivid. He opened his mouth and cursed, "Damn it, stop pretending to be pitiful in front of the young master. Is that all the grit you have? You dare to run away from home. You think you've grown wings, huh, braised pork rice!"
Immediately, a beautiful hand grabbed the little parrot's wing, trying to pull it up. Ah Heng felt sorry for it and took a step back while holding the little parrot, causing the boy's hand to miss.
"It hurts!" Ah Heng looked up at the slender, tall boy, and spoke up as if protecting her little parrot.
Yan hope was stunned, took a step back, nodded, and kicked Wen Siwan beside him like a boss.
Siwan touched her nose with a wronged expression and said gently to Aheng, "This bird belongs to Yanxi. He always loves it the most and would never hurt it."
Yan hope sneered and kicked Si Wan's butt—"Young Master doesn't care about this brat. Once he's fattened up, I'll stew him into a super nourishing soup!"
Upon hearing this, the little bird, nestled in Aheng's arms, bristled, hardened its claws, and desperately wiped away tears, feigning death.
Ah Heng understood Si Wan's meaning and realized that she had crossed the line. Feeling a little embarrassed, she let go of the bird and offered it to Yan hope.