Chapter 72: Side Story

The basement had only one small sealed window; daylight was sliced into strips by the iron bars, becoming the only source of light in the place.

Gu Zhao was curled up in a dim corner, a cold half-steamed bun clutched in his hand, swallowing it down bite by painful bite.

He could not remember how many days he had been locked in the basement. Every few days that person would open the iron door and toss down a little food and water, to make sure he did not starve to death.

Last time he had hidden behind the door, trying to rush out the moment the person opened it, but he had been starved to the point of having no strength at all. That person kicked him down the stairs and left, cursing as he went.

So for the past several days, all he had had to eat was steamed buns.

Gu Zhao leaned against the wall and lifted his face; his vacant gaze settled on the only small window.

The sky slowly darkened, and the single sliver of light vanished as well.

Another long night was about to descend. Gu Zhao wrapped his arms around his legs and buried his face in his knees.

Suddenly, he heard a single thud.

Gu Zhao jerked his face up, carefully trying to identify where the sound had come from.

A scattering of ding-ding-dong-dong notes gradually grew fluid — someone was playing the piano.

In the darkness, he closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep to the sound of the piano piece.

From that day on, a single sound appeared in Gu Zhao's dead-silent world, and the darkness did not seem quite so terrifying anymore.

The person playing seemed to have nothing else to do, playing the same piano piece all day and all night long.

Gu Zhao soon figured out the other person's daily rhythm, and could even judge their mood from the changes in the music.

Like tonight — he leaned against the wall, listening to the broken, intermittent piano piece, and guessed that the other person might not be very happy today.

Why not happy?

Was it because, like him, they too were locked inside the house and could not get out, so they could only play the piano over and over?

Gu Zhao began to imagine himself speaking to the other person, to imagine that the unbroken stream of music was answering him in another way.

Day after day passed, until one day the heavy iron door was broken open from outside.

Bright, blinding light poured into the dark, damp, cold basement. Gu Zhao, starved to the point of death, lay on the floor and struggled to raise one hand to shield his eyes.

Someone came running down against the backlight; he instinctively scooted backward, trying to hide.

Only when a familiar voice called his name did he see clearly who had come, and tears slid down his gaunt, hollowed cheeks: "Grandpa…"

Gu Zhao was taken away; the black sedan slowly pulled away from the basement that had imprisoned him.

Just as the car passed the neighboring villa, he suddenly sat up, twisted around, and pressed himself against the car window to look out.

He saw a small figure sitting by the window, quietly playing the piano.

As if sensing something, the person at the window also looked in his direction.

In that instant, in Gu Zhao's eyes the moment stretched infinitely long — long enough for him to clearly see the little girl with shoulder-length hair, her skin white as snow, her eyes as large as a doll's, and her lips more beautiful than flower petals.

The black sedan kept driving forward; Gu Zhao's whole body had turned, pressed against the rear window glass, his dark, bright eyes unblinkingly fixed on that window.

Until the car had driven farther and farther away, and the villa behind had shrunk to a tiny dot.

*

After summer vacation ended, Ji Su was taken back home and told about his parents' divorce.

Despite having had some premonition, when the moment truly arrived, he still cried.

"Susu, don't cry." Su Yuelan squatted down in front of him. "You're a little man now. Promise Mommy you'll learn to be strong, okay?"

Big fat teardrops rolled down; Ji Su cried so hard he could barely catch his breath: "No… Mommy, don't not want me, waaah…"

It felt as though a piece of flesh had been carved straight out of Su Yuelan's heart; the pain nearly made her unable to breathe.

She pulled her young son into her arms, barely holding back her sobs as she answered: "Susu, Mommy won't not want you. No matter what, Mommy will love you forever…"

Ji Su clutched her clothes tightly with his small hands, crying and begging: "Mommy, I'll be good, I'll be very good, don't leave me…"

"Susu, you have to be a good boy." Su Yuelan hurriedly wiped the tears from her face and gently promised: "Once Mommy has settled down over there, I'll come back to get you."

Ji Su, his eyes blurred with tears, confirmed: "R-really?"

"Really. Mommy won't lie to you." Su Yuelan hardened her heart and stood up. "Listen well to Daddy, and don't make him angry."

Su Yuelan drove away; Ji Su couldn't help running after her.

But he could not catch up with the speed of the car; he could only watch it grow farther and farther away from him.

He fell to the ground and called out one last time: "Mommy…"

After a long while, Ji Su climbed up from the ground and walked back, lost and listless.

Ji Zhenghai was on the phone in the living room. Seeing his son come home covered in dirt, he frowned: "What have you been up to now?"

Ji Su lowered his head: "Daddy…"

His palms and knees were both scraped, but Ji Zhenghai saw none of it, only impatiently announced: "Your mother doesn't want you anymore. She threw you to me."

"That's not…" Ji Su quietly denied. "Mommy didn't not want me."

"Your mother just doesn't want you — thinks you're a millstone around her neck!" Ji Zhenghai said viciously. "From now on, you listen to me, or I won't want you either. Understand?"

Ji Su pressed his lips together; the welling tears circled in his eyes but did not dare to fall.

Daddy had always disliked him crying — he said boys who cried were good-for-nothings.

Ji Zhenghai raised his voice: "Ji Su, did you hear what I said?"

Ji Su flinched in fear: "I-I heard, Daddy…"

Six-year-old Ji Su naively believed that Mommy would come back to get him very soon.

But half a year later, he had not waited Mommy back; instead, he had waited for the news of Daddy's remarriage.

Daddy's new wife was very young and very pretty, with a gentle voice. Daddy instructed him to treat Auntie as his own mother and respect her.

Ji Su was already in the senior kindergarten class; he knew what a stepmother meant, and he had heard his kindergarten teacher say that one little child had been secretly abused by his stepmother.

He did not like and did not want a new mother, but to win Daddy's favor he could only behave more obediently, more well-behaved.

Not long after, he accidentally overheard Daddy and Auntie talking about choosing a name for the baby that was about to be born.

A month after little brother was born, Qin Auntie finally carried him home.

This was Ji Su's first time seeing his little brother; he ran over, full of happy excitement, wanting to look at him.

Qin Auntie held a wrinkly little baby in her arms. He thought his brother looked a little ugly, but he did not dislike him; his small face leaned in and he carefully kissed him once.

Qin Auntie smiled and asked: "Susu, do you want to hold little brother?"

Ji Su nodded vigorously: "Yes!"

"Then you have to be careful." Qin Auntie gave a reminder, and placed little brother in his arms.

Ji Su held baby brother tightly with his thin arms, felt fondness welling in his heart, and lowered his head to kiss him once more.

But he was too small, his strength not yet enough; he did not hold brother securely.

Qin Auntie screamed, quickly bent down to snatch the baby back, and shoved him aside in one motion.

Ji Su fell onto the carpet, still not knowing what had happened.

Just then Ji Zhenghai walked in: "What happened?"

"Ji Su almost dropped the baby." Qin Auntie replied. "Scared my heart nearly to a stop."

Ji Zhenghai, hearing this, immediately strode to his elder son, hauled him up, and brought a hard slap down: "That's your own brother. Were you trying to kill your brother?"

Ji Su was slapped dizzy, instinctively apologizing: "I'm sorry Daddy, I-I didn't mean to…"

"Zhenghai, why are you laying hands on him?" Qin Auntie, her anger spent, tried to intervene. "Susu is still small — he definitely didn't mean it."

"He's exactly like his birth mother — crooked to the bone." Ji Zhenghai released him, sternly warning: "From now on you're not allowed to hold your brother again. Understand?"

Ji Su walked out of the house in a daze, his cheek burning with a fierce, stinging pain, but he paid it no mind; he just kept walking forward.

He was going to find Mommy. Mommy had never been willing to hit him; Mommy would not scold him fiercely either…

Ji Su did not know the way, but he clearly remembered the direction Mommy had left in.

He firmly believed that as long as he kept walking that way, he would certainly find Mommy.

When the sun was about to set, Ji Su arrived at an unfamiliar block.

The street was bustling — a stream of traffic, people coming and going. He stood at the intersection looking around in confusion, completely losing his bearings.

The sky grew darker and darker, and a fine, pattering rain began to fall.

Passers-by could not help glancing at the lone little boy — about six or seven years old, soaked through like a drowned rat, but unmistakably an exceptionally pretty child.

The rain grew heavier. Ji Su could not help crouching down, curling himself up beneath the bus stop sign.

At the same time, Gu Zhao sat in the car, looking through the window at the unbroken curtain of rain.

After coming out of the basement, he still could not bear small enclosed spaces. Every time he rode in a car he had to keep the window open, even though it was pouring rain outside.

Up ahead was a traffic light; the driver slowly pressed the brake.

Gu Zhao's cold gaze casually stopped at the bus stop sign; the moment it swept over a small figure, it froze.

The queue of cars began to move; the driver was about to release the brake when the car door suddenly opened.

The driver was startled: "Young Master?"

Gu Zhao, without a word, leapt into the curtain of rain and ran quickly toward the bus stop, his feet splashing in the water with a sharp pat-pat sound.

Hearing the movement, Ji Su raised his face.

He saw a very good-looking boy, with pitch-black eyes, pressing his lips together and staring at him intently.

Ji Su felt the other person looked somewhat familiar, but could not for the moment recall where he had seen him. Softly, he opened his mouth to greet: "Hello."

Gu Zhao took a step closer: "Why are you here?"

"I…" Ji Su's eyelashes trembled, and a crying tone crept into his voice. "I'm lost…"

He could not find Mommy, and he could not find his way home either.

Kindergarten had taught that lost children could ask Uncle Police for help, but he did not dare.

If Daddy knew he had run away from home, then once he got back he would face an even more terrible punishment.

Just then, the driver hurried over, an umbrella held above him: "Young Master!"

Gu Zhao said nothing, still looking at the tiny person crouching on the ground.

Ji Su's clothes were completely soaked; his black hair clung wetly to his cheeks, one side flawless and white, the other red and swollen — like an abandoned doll, looking pitifully wretched.

Gu Zhao extended one hand: "Come with me."

Ji Su's eyes were confused: "Do you know where my home is?"

"Mm." Gu Zhao responded, patiently answering: "I'll take you home."

Ji Su hesitated for a moment, then reached out and placed his hand in the hand extended toward him.

Gu Zhao firmly gripped that cold little hand and carefully pulled him up.

The driver hurriedly tilted the umbrella over, sheltering the two boys as they walked together toward the black car parked by the roadside.