CH 133

Chapter 133 – 1992-2020

The two rushed to the front of the small courtyard of the bungalow, only to see that the courtyard door was locked tightly and there was an unknown dark mass on the ground at the door.

Little Apple couldn’t help but slow down. Lian Qiao was overjoyed when he saw it and ran over like crazy.

“RenDong!”

He rushed over to pick up the baby but his face suddenly changed. Little Apple leaned over and asked curiously: “This is your son?”

Lian Qiao didn’t answer but just patted the baby’s face lightly. He said with a trembling voice: “RenDong… RenDong, wake up…”

Little Apple turned to the baby. Look, the baby’s eyes were closed and it was already purple with cold. The entire little face was wrinkled into a ball, it was ugly as hell.

No matter how Lian Qiao called it, the baby remained motionless, as if dead.

Little Apple patted him on the shoulder: “I’m sorry.”

Lian Qiao ignored her. All his attention was on RenDong and he was terrified.

Little RenDong never responded. Lian Qiao tremblingly reached to measure his breathing but couldn’t feel it because his fingers were too cold. He bit his lip and reached into the jacket that wrapped the baby. On the slender neck of the little RenDong, he actually felt a slight pulse that was almost non-existent.

RenDong was alive!

Lian Qiao showed ecstasy, quickly tore off his coat and stuffed RenDong into it. Then he raised his foot and kicked the courtyard door.

“Open the door! Open the door quickly! Open the door!” 

In the brightly lit small bungalow, there seemed to be a figure flickering in front of the window. Lian Qiao couldn’t wait, took out a crowbar and smashed the door lock and ran into the house.

Little Apple was stunned by these actions and thought: Lian Qiao was really violent. Wouldn’t this trigger a death trap?

The baby was so frozen that it is obvious that he can’t live anymore, but Lian Qiao still doesn’t give up, which shows that a father’s love is like a mountain!

She guessed it was probably the only son left by his deceased wife…

Little Apple was thinking about it and was about to raise her legs to follow, when she suddenly felt her feet go numb. An unspeakable coldness rushed straight from the soles of her feet to the sky, making her want to shiver, but—

She couldn’t shiver.

Not only her feet, but her hands, her face and her lips couldn’t move at all. The biting cold froze her whole body and she clearly felt that her heartbeat was getting slower and slower, and the oxygen in her blood was getting less and less.

The whole world seemed to freeze. Whether it’s herself or Lian Qiao who was running wildly.

In the yard, the two people stood fixedly in place, like ice sculptures.

Snowflakes were still falling, landing on her eyelashes and on Lian Qiao’s hair. However, the snowflakes will not melt anymore, because the body temperature of these two people was lower than that of ice and snow.

The last scene she saw was a middle-aged woman coming out of the bungalow, with a kind and frightened face.

Then. Click.

Click, click, click, click.

Both ice sculptures were broken.

…

The elevator was running quietly and smoothly, and suddenly it shook slightly.

This was something that happened every time and Lian Qiao was used to it. But RenDong couldn’t seem to get used to it, because every time the elevator vibrated, he would gasp in shock.

It was the same this time.

Lian Qiao looked at RenDong, meeting his dazed eyes. Lian Qiao was about to comfort him but then RenDong opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

Lian Qiao stopped and waited for him to speak.

However, after waiting for a long time, RenDong only moved his lips, unable to say anything. There was an unspeakable emotion in his eyes, as though thousands of words lingered on the tip of his tongue but in the end he only said one inexplicable sentence.

“Do you still remember why I couldn’t forgive Zhong Xiu?”

Lian Qiao was in a daze when he saw that RenDong suddenly began to shrink. In the blink of an eye, he shrank into a baby.

Lian Qiao: “???”

Little RenDong lay naked in the pile of clothes, crying like a purple sweet potato. It took Lian Qiao a while to come back to his senses and convince himself that this dry piece of purple potato was his precious RenDong.

He bent down to pick up the purple sweet potato, his heart trembled inexplicably.

It was so light.

Was RenDong so thin when he was born?

He remembered that his mother said that a normal baby should weigh 6 to 8 catties at birth. Lian Qiao weighed him and it felt like RenDong didn’t even weigh 5 catties. Was he a premature baby?

A sudden flake of ice on his cheek interrupted Lian Qiao’s reverie. He reached out to touch it in surprise and felt cold water drops on his face.

…Snow water?

Lian Qiao raised his head, only to realize that the elevator door had opened at some point. The wind and snow from outside blew in and fell on his face and turned into snow water.

Probably the baby’s crying covered up the sound of the elevator door opening, so he didn’t notice the door opening.

Although RenDong was light in weight, his voice was still very loud when he cried!

With an inexplicable sense of joy, Lian Qiao hugged RenDong tightly, walked out of the elevator with a smile on his face.

However, the moment he stepped out of the elevator, his hands were empty. The baby in his arms disappeared.

Lian Qiao: “???”

He stood in the snow in a daze, looking at his empty hands in a daze.

What about my partner? What about such a big object that was here just now? !

It wouldn’t shrink into a fertilized egg would it?!

…

After some philosophical speculation, Lian Qiao once again judged that the RenDong just disappeared and did not become a fertilized egg that died tragically on the spot. He calmed himself down for a while, and soon noticed the erratic small western-style building in the heavy snow and subconsciously walked towards the western-style building.

Although he was worried about RenDong, the bigger doubt hanging in his mind was—why did RenDong say that?

“Do you still remember why I couldn’t forgive Zhong Xiu?”

Zhong Xiu was RenDong’s mother, who had already died in the copy of “Three People Make a  Tiger”. Why did RenDong suddenly mention her? Is it because seeing the number 1992 reminds me of his birth?

… and there was something else.

Wasn’t the reason why RenDong couldn’t forgive his mother because she abandoned him?

He remembered that RenDong said that his mother abandoned him at the gate of the orphanage on a winter night. That winter night was so cold that he barely made it through. The director of the orphanage named him “RenDong”, hoping that he could endure the first cold winter in his life.

A winter night… the winter of 1992…

Could it be…? !

Lian Qiao’s heart tightened and he started running towards the bungalow.

He recognized it! That two-story bungalow was the orphanage where RenDong stayed!

If the dungeon prompt this time really was pointing to RenDong;s life, then the baby RenDong must be at the gate of the orphanage!

He would freeze to death!

With shortness of breath and beating heart, Lian Qiao ran all the way, chasing after the bungalow. The bungalow would change its location every few minutes and, without even thinking about it, he turned around and chased after it like a hound.

There seemed to be a few figures flashing by on the road and some people wanted to stop him, but he ignored them. He didn’t even have time to care about the inexplicably extra bloodstains on the ground.

There was only one thought in his mind: Hurry up and save RenDong! He was going to freeze to death!

The wind was fierce and cold. The ice and snow poured into his lungs, and the lung tubes were frozen and painful. This was nothing, his lungs were cut by a real wind blade.

Lian Qiao ran almost out of breath, chasing the two-story bungalow all the way. After an unknown amount of time, the bungalow was finally in sight.

Lian Qiao caught a glimpse of the lonely little figure on the steps of the courtyard door and his heart was pulled violently, the pain was so painful that his heart was about to break.

“RenDong!” He rushed over to pick up the little RenDong, nervously confirming the safety of RenDong.

RenDong was so cold that his eyes were closed tightly, his little face turned purple and he was a little more lifeless than before. He was cold all over,and there were still snowflakes on his face. Lian Qiao hurriedly unbuttoned his shirt, put RenDong inside and then pulled up the jacket again, wrapping the whole body of RenDong inside.

Fortunately, Lian Qiao ran wildly just now and part of the physical energy consumed was converted into heat. His chest was burning hot and the temperature was quickly transmitted to RenDong. Little RenDong lay on his chest and gradually recovered. But his swollen eyelids couldn’t be opened, so he could only open her mouth and cry,

“Waa… waa wa…”

Lian Qiao’s heart was broken when he heard it. While coaxing RenDong, he frantically knocked on the door of the orphanage. The door was almost knocked down by him before the principal finally ran out wearing a cotton jacket.

“Who are you? What are you doing here so late? – Oh! This child!” The principal was suspicious at first, but upon seeing RenDong in Lian Qiao’s arms, her expression turned from suspicion to worry and she quickly led Lian Qiao into the room. “Quick! Come in and warm up! This child is dying!” 

The principal was kind-hearted and she didn’t care about the identity of the big and small person. After welcoming the two, she quickly boiled water. While it was cooking, she also took the time to bring a set of clean clothes.

The snow on Lian Qiao’s body has melted and the jacket is already soaked. At this time, he took the clothes prepared by the principal and was very grateful.

Little RenDong gradually regained his body temperature in his arms. His complexion was still extremely bad, purple and red, like a little mouse whose eyes hadn’t opened. Lian Qiao stood beside the crib worriedly, while the other children in the orphanage gathered around one by one and looked at them curiously.

Lian Qiao didn’t have the heart to take care of other things and focused on RenDong. According to the principal, newborn children can only drink milk. But he didn’t know if it was because RenDong was too cold because, as soon as he took in the warm milk powder, he spit it out with a “woooo”.

Lian Qiao couldn’t prevent himself from getting spit all over. He didn’t care about his dirty body so he hurriedly slapped RenDong on the back first. Little RenDong choked for a while, his face turning blue. The principal couldn’t stand it anymore, rushed over and hugged RenDong upright, giving him comfort with a special technique. Only then did Little RenDong calm down slowly.

Lian Qiao stared nervously, while silently remembering the principal’s technique.

“That’s good.” The principal returned the little RenDong to Lian Qiao and instructed him how to hold the baby to make the baby comfortable. Lian Qiao suddenly realized that it was no wonder that Little RenDong was always crying in his hands. It turned out that he was holding the child incorrectly.

It’s hard for him to say it but he’s an old maid…uh no, he’s a gay guy and didn’t plan to have a baby, but now he’s forced to nurse his partner. Before the shock of becoming a father was over, he had already become a full-time dad. Although Lian Qiao’s mental strength was strong, he can’t stand this roller coaster-like chain of stimulation.

Therefore, Lian Qiao was still in a daze until now, without a sense of reality.

RenDong was too small and fragile. Even in thick swaddling clothes, he was still so small. Lian Qiao was holding a large quilt, with the small ball of RenDong wrapped in the middle. This dumpling was not the white and tender kind, but a dry purple potato dumpling. It looked pitiful.

If you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes, who would have believed that this ugly baby could grow into the beauty RenDong!

Under the scientific feeding method, Little RenDong finally finished drinking the milk powder and fell into a deep sleep. Lian Qiao drove away the onlookers and the room suddenly fell silent.

Little RenDong was lying in the cradle, still tiny. Lian Qiao gently pushed the cradle, and gradually calmed down.

So be it. No matter how ugly it is, it was still his precious RenDong, the one he loves most.

But RenDong actually looked like this when he was a child…

Lian Qiao watched, the corners of his mouth raised slightly. If you look closely, you can see that his eyebrows and eyes are a bit like he was when he was an adult. Little RenDong’s face was just a little wrinkled and his complexion was a little pale. His eyelashes are still quite long, and his facial features are also well-formed.

He still sucks his mouth when he sleeps! Cute!

Lian Qiao, who was equipped with his own beauty filter, looked more and more at Little Purple Potato and couldn’t help feeling happier.

As soon as his mood relaxed, the fatigue rose up. Lian Qiao soon couldn’t open his eyelids and even the little cradle became so heavy that it was hard to push it.

The principal has already prepared a clean bed for him. Lian Qiao pulled the cradle to the head of the bed, within reach of his hand and lay down on the bed by himself. He closed my eyes and lay down for a while, but felt empty in his heart.

What was missing was self-evident.

So he got up again, carefully picked up the little RenDong from the cradle and put him on his bed beside him.

Little RenDong slept very deeply and was not disturbed at all. Lian Qiao listened to the strange, slightly rapid breathing on the pillow, and finally his heart settled down again.

It’s RenDong. It’s his RenDong.

Lian Qiao raised the corners of his mouth, gently embraced the baby, and soon fell asleep.

Half an hour later.

Little RenDong opened his eyes in a state of depression and was shocked to find that Lian Qiao’s arm was pressing on his chest, which was as heavy as Mount Tai.

“Wuuuuuuu!” Little RenDong could not speak. The five little fingers that could not be opened were clenched into fists, pushing and shoving Lian Qiao weakly.

However, Lian Qiao slept like a dead pig. Instead of waking up, he even habitually reached out and hugged Little RenDong deeply into his arms.

RenDong: “…”

So… stuffy…!

His little head was completely covered by the quilt and blocked by Lian Qiao’s chest muscles, so he couldn’t breathe at all!

Little RenDong struggled desperately under the blanket but was crushed to death. The struggle consumed more oxygen, and soon he became dizzy and didn’t even have the energy to cry.

“…”

Little RenDong weakly opened his mouth wide, breathing heavily like a fish being dragged ashore.

It’s horrible.

Although he was unable to speak, Xu RenDong, whose mind was still normal, thought desperately and angrily at this moment: It’s too miserable, was going to be smothered to death by Lian Qiao!

Lian Qiao was such an idiot! Do you really know how to raise a kid!?

*******

The author has something to say:

Lian Qiao: No I don’t!