Miao Jing's eyes were vacant, having completely settled into stillness—a burden was a burden, just as she had been in childhood, so she remained in adulthood.
Where to go?
To live with two adults who had taken the money and run off to a completely unfamiliar place? Or return to her hometown and endure the humiliation of living under someone else's roof again?
She could have attended the best high school in Tengcheng. All she had ever wanted was the most ordinary life of a middle school student, not to be alone at school, fabricating endless excuses to evade the questions from classmates and teachers.
"I know," Miao Jing said calmly into the phone. "Let's wait until the end of the semester. Final exams are coming up..."
When the semester ended, the school would close for winter break, and everyone had to leave campus—Miao Jing hadn't figured out where to go, and truly had nowhere to turn. She wandered outside the school for a few days, spending her first night trembling with fear in an internet cafe.
The internet cafe attendant, seeing her clutching a backpack and sitting quietly in a corner—not looking like a rebellious student but more like a well-behaved girl who had run away from home—came over several times to ask what was wrong, urging her to go home early. Miao Jing wandered the streets aimlessly with her backpack and, under the pitch-black night sky, eventually returned home—she had always kept a key.
She stood downstairs, gazing up for a long, long time. The windows were dark, no one was home. She crept upstairs silently, opened the door, and not a sound could be heard. Miao Jing switched on a light—the room was in complete disarray. Wei Mingzhen and Chen Libin's belongings were piled in a corner of the living room, a layer of dust covered the dining table, and the freezer still held the meat and vegetables Wei Mingzhen had bought before leaving. The coffee table was littered with cigarette butts, half-empty water bottles, and a blanket on the sofa... It was unclear how long Chen Yi had been absent.
Miao Jing went to her room. Her space hadn't been cleared out by Chen Yi—whether he hadn't had the time or simply couldn't be bothered.
The kitchen still had rice, flour, and various seasonings, all left by Wei Mingzhen before she departed. Regardless of whether they were expired, Miao Jing wiped them clean and arranged them neatly—she had lived frugally at school this semester, spending every penny carefully, and hadn't had a proper, hearty meal in a long time.
Living on edge, Miao Jing stayed at home silently for four or five days, and Chen Yi never returned.
Chen Yi rarely came home—sometimes he was at school, sometimes hanging out with friends, sometimes playing games at the internet cafe. On the rare occasion he did return, he happened to catch Miao Jing sweeping the floor.
Hearing the noise behind her, she froze, gripping the broom tightly, too terrified to move. Chen Yi stared at that frail back, thinking he was seeing things.
"You, turn around."
Miao Jing slowly turned her body, her panicked eyes meeting Chen Yi's utterly incredulous, damn-it-all, what-the-hell expression.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" he roared at her, hands on his hips, boiling with rage. "Goddamn it, are you out of your mind?"
Miao Jing clutched the broom tightly, shrinking her body as if to make herself smaller, pressing her lips together without a word. Chen Yi stormed over, grabbed her by the sleeve, and shoved her out the door. "Get out, get the hell away from here."
Tears welled in her dark eyes, red-rimmed and glistening, her gaze both stubborn and fragile as she looked at him. Chen Yi's face was dark with anger, his teeth clenched, as he slammed the door shut with a thunderous bang.The iron door slammed shut in front of her, its frame shaking loose a shower of dust that settled on Miao Jing’s long, upturned lashes and drifted into her eyes with the air current. Suppressing the itch, she bit her lips tightly, tears as large as beans pattering down, soaking into her clothes and splashing onto the back of her hand—first scalding hot, then icy cold, like the chill of winter.
Miao Jing sat outside the door all night, her hands and feet numb from the cold, her entire body frozen stiff.
The next day, when Chen Yi stepped out, he saw the figure huddled on the doorstep. His mind buzzed, his vision darkened, and fury surged through him. His voice turned hoarse and rough as he snarled, "Why the hell are you still here? What are you doing here? What does this place have to do with you? The person’s gone, the money’s gone—how dare you come back?"
She had been thrown out, still in her slippers, with nothing on her. Where could she go?
Miao Jing’s eyes were swollen and red. She wiped the tear stains from her face, her throat too choked to speak. Chen Yi’s expression darkened as he strode down the stairs, grabbing her to toss her out again. A sharp, pitiful cry escaped Miao Jing as she stumbled, clutching at the hem of his clothes, only to collapse weakly onto the steps.
"My leg… it’s numb," she rasped, her voice dry and hoarse, gasping as she lay on the steps. "It hurts so much."
Chen Yi frowned deeply, hauling her up. She felt as light as a feather. "Sitting here all night and still not leaving? Are you fucking asking for it?" he spat coldly. He went back inside and threw her backpack at her, his voice vicious. "Get lost. Don’t you know I’ve been more than patient with you?"
Miao Jing buried her head in her chest, hugged her backpack, and changed into her canvas shoes. Limping, she supported herself on the stair rail as she made her way down. The iron railing was rusty and grimy, coating her slender, pale hands in black dust and cobwebs. The sliver of her face visible between her fingers was sallow and parched, yet the delicate curve of her swan-like neck still held a trace of youthful innocence and quietude.
Chen Yi watched her coldly as she descended, until only her stubborn hand gripping the railing was visible through the gaps in the stairs. After finishing a cigarette, he finally went downstairs, seized her solitary, slender figure, and saw the shimmering tears of panic in her eyes. Cursing under his breath, he threw her onto his motorcycle and took her to the train station.
Miao Jing clung to the fluttering edge of his jacket in the cold wind.
"Got any money on you?" Chen Yi shoved five hundred yuan into her grimy hand, his tone harsh. "Go back to your hometown, find your mom. Just go."
She stood there in a daze, watching him turn away, put on his helmet, swing his long leg over the motorcycle, and start the engine. His black-clad figure merged with the machine, sharp-edged and cutting through the wind like a blade.
—
Miao Jing lingered at the train station for a long time. News and weather reports from various regions scrolled across the TV screen, updating travelers on their journeys. Tilting her head back, she saw that her hometown was snowing again—a cold front moving south, bringing days of low temperatures, rain, and snow. Ice had formed on the trees, and it was bitterly cold. Memories of her long-unseen aunt’s family surfaced, fragments from her childhood that were sparse yet vivid. Turning away from the screen, she went to a nearby convenience store to call Wei Mingzhen. She dialed the number over and over, but for some reason, it wouldn’t connect. She waited at the station for hours, trying the number again every few hours, from one day to the next, but no one ever picked up the receiver.
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