"Bai Chen! Where is mom?"
That little brat was bossing him around again, he thought.
She has a lot of ideas and hasn't gone to school yet, so she doesn't know what to do there. Her parents didn't take her seriously, but it was difficult for him to ignore it - because after all, two people lived in the same room at the same time, and they couldn't close their eyes or plug their ears forever.
"Outside." He didn't want to get too involved and answered truthfully with his eyes closed. "I went to do laundry with my neighbor's aunt. I'll be back in about seventeen minutes." This was calculated based on time. If there is an error, it should be because I met other companions with whom I could chat on the way back.
The sound of footsteps running out was very clear, and the sound of footsteps running back was also very clear. My sister doesn't go out. After all, she has no legitimate reason to go to school. Every morning when she goes out, the door is locked and cannot be opened without the key.
In fact, he knew exactly what his sister wanted to do. After they were three years old, they no longer lived in the same room with their parents. Instead, they were assigned to separate small rooms one by one, with each person occupying half of the designated bed.
As for the clarity, it was because the blood, tears and painful wails reached their ears across the wall every day and every night.
The little brother and sister lived in the same room, squeezing each other into a cramped space, and the broken table in the middle was used to put his school bag. Maybe a year from now, my sister's schoolbag will also be placed here.
But at least for now, my sister is still the little thing who only runs around the house - in the eyes of her parents, but not in reality. He had always seen the truth, but he said nothing about it.
In fact, it's not that she has never been outside her home, it's just that she doesn't go outside the door but through the window. That was the only window that could be easily opened because the security window was forgotten to be locked. But she always travels late at night and will not let herself be discovered by others, because as long as outsiders see the child, this small passage will be cut off by the parents.
He turned a blind eye to it. After all, I rarely have travel restrictions, so I can only use this method if necessary.
And the "treasures" collected by his sister cannot escape his sight. After all, the child has never avoided his existence. The ring that was carelessly discarded was hidden in the gap behind the table, a note filled with insider information was posted on the inside of the curtain, and the blood-stained handkerchief was placed at the foot of the bed... He remembered that the most hidden crevices of his schoolbag seemed to have been stuffed as well. Something had been put in, but he had never opened it to look at it.
Because once you see it, its nature changes.
He knew that the girl did this on purpose. As long as he truly exposes his knowledge out of curiosity, this will no longer be a one-man game.
In that little girl's adventure, she was just a silent accomplice who could withdraw at any time.
He had also thought about whether there would be any new changes in his life if his sister really completed the final steps.
But that day, my father went out with his sleeping sister in his arms, and then came back alone.
After a while, his sister disappeared, and he had the room to himself as he wished.
In fact, the family is not short of money. My mother was very generous when buying schoolbags. She was willing to be beaten and scolded to prevent the man from causing trouble outside, but she was not completely temperless. And the money is precisely in her hands - she doesn't give him money for drinks, which is why the man is angry most of the time. So he gambled with others outside and forced them to pay off his debts.
It's just that after my sister disappeared, the number of wine bottles to be thrown away at home increased faster for a while. He learned arithmetic very early, and probably inherited his mother's intelligence and father's deception, so he has always had some talent.
His sister is similar to him, but in his concept, he always selectively ignores the times when he is slightly defeated during their comparison, so that he can gain an overwhelming probability of victory.
He later opened the crack in his schoolbag, and once climbed into the stiff and cold quilt late at night, facing his reflection in the drafty window, and read a few letters on the thin layer of dust.
He probably couldn't understand those letters when he was in elementary school, and the same was probably true for his younger sister who hadn't even gone to school yet. But there were a lot of enlightenment books piled up at home. Although they remained brand new in plastic for a long time before they could read them, they became their only pastime.
Maybe they should thank their mother - there was a time when, on a whim, they started to be good teachers and teach their children to read in person outside of whitewashing the peace. Although it was only the first few months, the subsequent progress was all due to the "motivation chart" caused by the brother and sister competing with each other. powerful".
The secret hidden in the schoolbag comes from the safety brochure distributed in the village, which is just a low-quality black and white photocopied leaflet. But he recognized what was inside the flyer. It was the scratch paper of his deskmate. It fell into the hands of his sister at some point. On it, he practiced a crooked SOS. Later, he deliberately went to the teacher to ask, as if he wanted to ask for help. .
The average child doesn't understand, and may just think that if she says help, she will definitely get help. If she has watched cartoons, she should be able to imagine the scene in the story where Superman flies like lightning. It's a pity that no one has read the most profound book in their family since the first page was heavily stained with wine. It is difficult for them at a young age to truly understand this luxurious imagination.
But they are never ordinary people. They seem to be able to learn some more practical methods without a teacher, such as absorbing more valuable nutrients from rarely obtained experiences. He didn't know if his sister wanted to ask for help in the end, after all, she had disappeared. The mother is in danger. Anyway, for him, from beginning to end, all external objects seemed to be suitable for watching indifferently.
As for himself, as long as he is still the indifferent child. Smart and well-behaved, he got 100% in the test. After finishing his homework, he hid in his quilt and ignored his sobs and vague roars. The next day, he would repeat his life as usual. He would still be the only Miaomiao in his father's mouth, the precious treasure of Lao Bai's family. descendants.
Not to mention receiving extraordinary favors from others, at least he can live a good life.
But my mother didn't do anything, even if she saw her slumped by the kang in the morning with lifeless eyes, her messy hair mixed with broken wine bottle fragments mixed with blood and endless tears. Then after school was over at noon, he still saw her smiling and chatting with women from the same village. Her pale but beautiful face was calm and pretty, and the layers of wounds and scars under her long-sleeved clothes seemed to be just stains that would come off as soon as they were washed, and had nothing to do with them.
Nothing useful. He had already seen this clearly, and then he laughed in his heart as always at his sister who had been fighting with him for a long time, silently telling her who didn't know where she was that if this woman refused to admit it, everything we did would be in vain.
I'm smarter than you, he imagined himself proclaiming to his dumber sister.
Dad is a liar and so is mom. After all, she is so smart, so beautiful, so enviable, and there is nothing wrong with her.
So he went back, erased the letters on the window with the back of his hand, and hid under his quilt. The ashes on his hands rubbed on his sister's bedding - she wouldn't come back anyway, he knew.
Then he met the person who changed his life.
