Li Xiu didn’t sleep well that night.

All through the night, there were nightmares.

In his dreams, he seemed to have returned to the Xiao family villa at dusk.

Slimy, twisted monsters surrounded him, entangling him with their deformed tentacles. The stale smell of the fermentation of dust and mold in the room was like gangrene in the bones, and Li Xiu almost couldn’t breathe.

[Shhhh—]

Was this the sound of the wall covering peeling off? 

No, that wasn’t right…..

[Shhhhh…..shh…..]

It was the sound of something huge squirming, the moist sound produced by the friction between the mucus on the body and the ground’s surface.

Li Xiu opened his eyes wide and looked at the window of the old room.

The sun set in the west. Its light was red, and it stretched the tall, thin shadow of the school janitor outside the window. Then…..the janitor changed little by little before Li Xiu’s eyes, turning into something twisted and evil that could not be described.

It slipped in, and Li Xiu saw its mouth open slightly. Scarlet lips grinned all the way to the ears, revealing teeth that had been carefully cared for since childhood, exceptionally white and neat.

The monsters had already been eaten by it.

[Zzz…..A-Xiu…..]

A vaguely familiar voice sounded next to Li Xiu’s ear.

The voice was odd and mechanical, with the characteristic aspect of an animal imitating human intonation.

[A-Xiu…..my A-Xiu, ah…..]

[You look so good when you cry.]

The monster’s touch was cold, like leather dripping with sticky juices.

Li Xiu couldn’t move. 

He only felt that his body was being constricted by the other party little by little, and his consciousness within the nightmare gradually became blurred.

The last thing that stuck in his mind was a glimpse of the wall of the room he had seen before he was completely swallowed up by the monster.

In reality, behind the wall covering were densely-packed talisman papers pasted in number. But in his dream, Li Xiu saw countless eyes.

There were no whites in those eyes, just pure black pupils.

Every eyeball moved nimbly, staring at Li Xiu with intent.

*

“Wu, it hurts to death…..”

When he got up the next day, Li Xiu still felt that sticky feeling on his body left over from the nightmare.

He soon discovered the source of this unpleasant feeling—he had sweated so much last night that his pajamas were soaked.

Fortunately, the handful of pills he casually took the night before were effective, and when Li Xiu woke up, his low-grade fever had subsided. The pain that had even kept him from breathing too hard had faded quite a bit.

Even the bruises on the corner of his mouth and his forehead, which he had thought would turn shocking overnight, did not look too exaggerated at this time.

Li Xiu’s health was much better than he had expected the day before.

However, when he thought of having to face Fang Qian’an’s group again today, emotions as turbid and heavy as mud spread from the depths of the young man’s body like a levee.

He knew very well that if he didn’t leave quickly, there would be no way to ensure that he entered the classroom before those people stopped him, but his body refused to listen to him and stopped on the bed in the same position as when he sat up.

It wasn’t until there was a slight noise outside the door that the overwhelming “sleep paralysis” feeling finally dissipated.

Li Xiu was taken aback, thinking that his grandmother had come to wake him up. But in the last few years, as the elderly woman grew older, she rarely woke up so early anymore. There were an occasional few times when Li Xiu saw his grandmother in the kitchen when he woke up. It was likely because the old woman became confused again and misremembered the time.

He didn’t want his grandmother to notice anything unusual about him.

Li Xiu took a deep breath. He rallied himself, got out of bed, and walked out of the room.

“Grandmother, stop working, go to sleep—”

He lowered his head in order to prevent her from seeing the abnormalities on his face, planning to persuade his grandmother to return to her room and sleep.

But when he reached the door of the kitchen, Li Qiu was stunned.

The soundproofing in the old house was not good. Li Xiu had indeed heard the movement of dishes and chopsticks in the kitchen.

But now, the early morning light fell on a cold and silent kitchen.

“Hu…..hu….hu…..”

His grandmother was still sleeping.

In the poorly soundproof rooms, the old woman’s dull snores were clearly audible at this moment.

Li Xiu frowned and looked at the kitchen chopping board.

An empty bowl lay there.

That was a bowl Li Xiu could never mistake.

A bowl that only his “gege” could use.

Li Xiu clearly remembered that after “feeding” his gege the other day, he washed the bowl as always and placed it deep in the cupboard.

In recent years, his gege’s things had become more taboo to his grandmother, and the ordinary rice bowls used by their family to eat were always kept separate from his gege’s bowl. 

But presently, the bowl he had washed with his own hands had a layer of dried brown filth in the bottom of it.

Just as the neighboring auntie had complained to the tenant, Li Xiu’s grandmother was indeed a “witch” who set up a mourning hall in her own home.

As for the neighboring auntie calling her a fraud, Li Xiu couldn’t argue with her. After all, he could see more clearly than others that his grandmother was indeed pretending. 

But for so many years, his grandmother had struggled to support Li Xiu by relying on the meager funds she obtained through that pretending. 

Growing up, Li Xiu often saw his grandmother tinkering with all kinds of strange things at home, and had also seen many of the things she used to fool people.

So this morning, Li Xiu didn’t think too much about it after being dazed for a long moment, and directly came to the most reasonable explanation.

The noise he heard had probably come from next door, and as for the empty bowl with filth in it, it must be that his grandmother was confused again last night and accidentally took his gege’s bowl to mix something.

Although there was still a lingering chill on the back of his neck, Li Xiu’s instincts still led him to choose the most normal and reasonable guess to explain this morning’s episode.

Li Xiu pursed his lips and quickly washed the bowl again, putting it away. Then he carried his school bag and left the house.

Click—

The moment he closed the door, Li Xiu was in a trance, and seemed to hear some strange and off putting noise in the kitchen again.

He thought about opening the door to investigate, but when he glanced at the time, the uneasiness in his heart was replaced by panic. 

He was almost late.

*

Through the thin door, the boy’s panicked footsteps quickly disappeared.

In this dilapidated old house, only the old woman’s snoring remained.

Li Xiu was in a hurry to catch up with his morning self-study, and naturally had no idea that after he left, his grandmother’s bedroom door suddenly cracked open with a creak with nobody touching it.

In the pitch-black bedroom, the old woman’s originally regular snoring was suddenly replaced by wild, beast-like sleep talk.

“Rice is delicious. Come, little baby, come and eat, you will be full and fat…..”

“Eat more…..grow taller…..”

Although it was completely out of tune, if one listened carefully, it could still be discerned as a nursery rhyme.

Clink.

On the empty kitchen table, a clean porcelain bowl tipped onto it with a crisp sound.

*

Qiming Secondary School—

“Hey, cripple.”

A hand was placed on Li Xiu’s shoulder, nearly making him stagger.

Li Xiu abruptly stopped walking. Gasping for breath, he turned to look at the two boys beside him with a tense expression. 

Even though he had expected it, Li Xiu was still fretful when he was blocked by these guys downstairs because he had left too late.

“It’s strange, ah. Shouldn’t you be like a turtle with its head in its shell today?”

When he turned around, someone raised his feet and stopped in front of Li Xiu, blocking the way.

That boy was a head taller than Li Xiu and had hair like a mess of weeds. The odor of cigarette smoke in his mouth when he spoke made Li Xiu grimace.

Li Xiu knew this person. He was Wang Rongfa’s loyal little brother, named Song Cheng.

And behind Li Xiu was another “friend” of Song Cheng’s. This guy was just like Song Cheng. He was on the lower rung of this small group, and his characteristic was that his face was full of pockmarks. Li Xiu didn’t know his real name. He only knew that Wang Rongfa and the others all seemed to call him by his nickname, Amazi.^[1] 

Li Xiu kept his eyes lowered and didn’t look at him, for fear of making himself sick.

“Hey, speak up. Weren’t you really brave yesterday? You dared to bite Fang-ge.”

“That’s right, we haven’t settled yesterday’s account with you yet.”

In his impression, these two people were not qualified to be close to Fang Qian’an on normal days. Li Xiu could guess that these two were so invigorated and came to block him early in the morning just to please Fang Qian’an.

Li Xiu narrowed his eyes.

Surrounded by two guys with malicious intentions, Li Xiu took the time to glance around.

The bad news was that this place was in a blind spot, where few students would pass by. It would be difficult to attract the attention of a patrolling teacher even if he shouted at the top of his voice.

And the good news was…..

Other than Song Cheng and Amazi, there was no one else.

Fang Qian’an hadn’t come, and neither had Wang Rongfa.

This actually let Li Xiu breathe a small sigh of relief.

“What are you looking at, little cripple? Are you thinking of going to complain to a teacher?”

Song Cheng noticed Li Xiu’s small movements and sneered mockingly.

Li Xiu remained silent.

The young man’s expressionless face fell into Song Cheng’s eyes and made him even more agitated.

What he hated the most was how Li Xiu seemed to not care about anything.

He was just a cripple, yet acted so high and mighty.

“Hey, I’m talking to you.”

Song Cheng took a step forward.

Then he saw Li Xiu raise his eyes and look past him, his eyes lighting up slightly.

“Teacher Chen—” Li Xiu called.

Song Cheng subconsciously froze when he heard Li Xiu call to a teacher, and in the next second, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen as Li Xiu elbowed him hard. It could be said that this cripple was crafty. He knew he wasn’t strong enough, so he used an elbow instead of his fists.

Then, while Song Cheng was bent over in pain, Li Xiu picked up his school bag weighing dozens of kilograms and hit Amazi on the head. Seeing that Amazi had been dazed by the blow, he began to run while dragging his leg.

“Fuck your mother, you really have a death wish—”

Amazi covered his nose and wiped away the heat flowing from his nostrils. Furious and spluttering, he reached out to grab Li Xiu.

Li Xiu’s back tensed, and he felt his school bag being grabbed.

Then, as the strap of the school bag loosened, something seemed to be thrown out.

“Ahhhhh—”

He heard two screams.

Glancing from the corner of his eye, Li Xiu saw Song Cheng and Amazi flapping their arms as if frightened as they jumped on the spot.

This was…..wait…..

Li Xiu quickly realized that what had flown out seemed to be the bag of rice he had put in his school bag the day before and had planned to dispose of at school today.

Heaven knew what Song Cheng and Amazi thought of the rice, but it was clear that they were frightened.

Was it necessary to scream so miserably?

This thought flitted through Li Xiu’s mind.

He didn’t even look back. Taking advantage of the brief period where the two were scared, Li Xiu ran as hard as he could.

The crippled Li Xiu ran very slowly and staggeringly.

Fortunately, after escaping the blind spot, he immediately saw the grade supervisor doing inspections.

…..Likely for this reason, Song Cheng and Amazi huddling in the corner didn’t catch up in the end.

*

Li Xiu successfully arrived at the classroom before morning self-study began.

Unfortunately, he was stopped before entering the classroom.

Li Xiu turned around to see a handsome young face — this man had graduated from a top foreign school, and the principal had recruited him from a well-known elite school with great difficulty. Now, he was the head teacher of Li Xiu’s class.

Compared to other teachers, he was so handsome that he almost appeared out of place in the school.

But among the students, he was good-looking, his teaching was relaxed, and he had a humorous speaking style. Even online, the man could be considered an internet celebrity because of his appearance. 

He never put on airs as he taught, unlike other teachers. But when he saw him, Li Xiu’s movements reflexively tensed.

“Teacher Ouyang, good morning.”

As quiet as a mosquito, Li Xiu gave a quick hello and turned to slip into the classroom.

But Teacher Ouyang’s palm pressed down on his shoulder.

The man regarded Li Xiu with great concern.

“I heard that you had a dispute with some classmates recently?”

As always, the young teacher sensitively took into account the fragile and sensitive self-esteem of the adolescent students, and even the rumors of bullying he had heard became less harsh in his mouth.

Li Xiu avoided Ouyang’s gaze and said softly, “…..I didn’t.”

His resistance caused a look of helplessness to flash across the man’s face.

“En, that’s good. If you encounter problems in your studies or in life, you can come to me.”

“En, thank you, Teacher,” Li Xiu said quickly. “I’m really fine.”

Then he grasped his school bag tightly and inconspicuously shook off the man’s hand, walking swiftly into the classroom with his head lowered. 

Since he was a child, his physical disability had made him very sensitive to the gazes of others. Thus, he could clearly sense that after he turned around, Teacher Ouyang’s eyes remained focused on him for a long, long time.

Just like a good teacher who cared about his students.

*

“What’s wrong with you?”

When he sat down, the female classmate next to him caught a glimpse of Li Xiu’s unzipped school bag, then saw the injuries on his face.

The girl frowned as she questioned him.

“Did those two idiots go looking for you again?”

Sensing the girl’s concern, Li Xiu pressed his fingertips lightly but still shook his head.

“No.”

When his words fell, the boys behind them who had heard their conversation laughed.

…..It was practically an open secret that Wang Rongfa and several others bullied Li Xiu on campus. To them, Li Xiu’s answer just now sounded utterly ridiculous and pretentious.

Before Li Xiu could say anything, the expression of the girl at their shared table became ugly.

“Li Xiu, why not go and find a teacher? I can help you testify—”

Li Xiu opened his school bag with a rustle. When the wrapped up rice bag had become loose, rice mixed with ashes was scattered everywhere inside.

He gathered the rice with lowered eyes, tied the bag again, and took out his homework.

“Do you want to copy it?” he asked.

“Ahhhh, yesyesyes. Li Xiu, you are my god. My eternal god. How did you know I didn’t complete it—”

As expected, the girl’s attention was diverted, and she didn’t ask about Li Xiu’s bullying afterward.

For a girl whose hair pins cost several months of living expenses for Li Xiu, the things that happened to Li Xiu were indeed a bit too distant.

He breathed a silent sigh of relief.

*

Song Cheng’s and “Amazi’s” seats were empty until morning self-study ended.

Li Xiu didn’t care.

Whether it was Fang Qian’an or Wang Rongfa, the people in the small group around them were generally the same.

Either their family was rich, and it didn’t matter how well they did on the university entrance exam since they would be going abroad anyway, or their family was completely rotten and they didn’t care about it at all. As for the teachers of Qiming, they already let these people do as they pleased.

It was common for them to skip classes, and uncommon for them not to skip.

In any case, Li Xiu felt a little more at ease now that there were fewer people in class who were full of malice toward him.

The effects of the medicine subsided a little after he got to school. After the second class, Li Xiu realized that he once again had a low-grade fever. With his body feeling so uncomfortable, he really didn’t want to dedicate any more energy to such tedious people.

He was different from them.

He had no father, no mother, and no money.

He needed to work harder than normal people, and could only barely maintain this fragile life.

The debuff brought on by the low-grade fever was stronger than Li Xiu had thought.

He had originally planned to write half of his paper during class, but accidentally fell asleep.

Still, there were nightmares.

He dreamt of Song Cheng and “Amazi” still standing in the shadowy corner of the stairwell. Whining sounds came from the tall boys’ mouths, as if they were screaming and crying. However, their mouths were blocked by something, and all that came out in the end were indistinct whimpers.

As if they were aware of Li Xiu’s presence, the two suddenly turned their faces.

[Wuwu…..]

The boys’ faces were swollen and distorted. They really were crying.

However, what seeped continuously from their eyes were not tears. Instead, what fell were tiny maggots, squirming unceasingly in thick blood.

Groups of small bulges rose and fell under the boys’ skin.

Their mouths stretched open.

Even more maggots spurted out.

Li Xiu stepped back at once, and in the next second, fell into a cold embrace.

The person was much taller than him.

The other party’s body was so cold that Li Xiu couldn’t help but tremble.

The person placed their cold hands gently on Li Xiu’s shoulders.

[Zizi…..Ah…..Ah-Xiu…..]

He couldn’t say what that sound was.

It was low, gloomy, wicked.

But there was an indescribable familiarity to it.

Li Xiu froze entirely, instantly overwhelmed with terror.

[…..So pitiful…..so pitiful to be bullied, ah, A-Xiu.]

[My Ah-Xiu.]

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[1] To my uncultured beginner-Mandarin self, this seems like an acne joke. (阿麻仔) Like, A-Pockmark. Please correct me if I’m wrong. ⮐

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Chapter 5 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 7