"Who taught you Mandarin?"
"Grandma."
"Where is your Grandma?"
"Dead."
Sheng Ning looked at him with heartache, a woman who had beco a mother naturally exuding maternal glow. Little Lin En liked her, feeling she was warm.
"My Grandma could make Chinese food."
"I can cook it for you in the future."
"Okay!" Lin En nodded silently. He didn’t talk much, completely different from typical children. Just as Sheng Ning felt strange, a knock ca from the door behind them.
Lin En’s face changed drastically, pulling her towards the back door. The house was small, but it had both front and back doors. Opening the back door led to a small courtyard, where a shack was built. The kind of slum you can imagine, the little shack was exactly that.
"Hide for now."
Lin En pulled Sheng Ning into the shack, and only then did she realize soone lived there. Cardboard was spread on the ground with a thin blanket.
"You live here?"
"Yes!" Lin En nodded, his bright blue eyes staring unstintingly at the closed back.
Inside, there were cheerful laughs from won and banter from n. Speaking in English, Sheng Ning could only pick up bits and pieces. Soon, there were ambiguous sounds coming out.
A drafty door had no soundproof effect; Lin En was only four years old but already unlike a child. At that mont, intense hatred erupted in his blue eyes, and Sheng Ning placed his hand in her palm, carefully comforting him.
Lin En turned his head, looking at her in surprise.
"It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t listen!" She reached out to cover Lin En’s ears, but the voices of the man and woman inside were too loud, blatantly continuing for over half an hour before stopping.
Less than ten minutes later, sounds of a dispute between a woman and man erged, Sheng Ning heard them ntion money. It seed the woman was complaining about the small amount, and the man was only willing to give just that.
Recalling the red lights inside the room and doubts in her heart, she suddenly widened her eyes.
Lin En was a very sharp little guy, noticing Sheng Ning’s change of expression, he nodded.
"And then?"
"The person inside is my biological mother. After Grandma passed away, I followed her."
Just after Lin En finished speaking, the back door opened, and a drunken woman dressed revealingly walked in. She was mixed-race, her eyebrows and eyes showing she was beautiful, but she was very skinny, her face looked pale and lifeless.
"You little bastard, why haven’t you cooked yet? Do you want your mother to starve to death?" The woman spoke in English, but Sheng Ning understood everything.
"Little bastard, why aren’t you coming out?" The woman suddenly lifted the curtain of the shack, seeing Sheng Ning inside. "Who is this?" She scread, her emotions extre.
This ti she switched to Mandarin.
"Hello, I’m Sheng Ning." She took the initiative to co out and introduce herself.
"Why are you in my house? What do you want?" Lin Lisha scrutinized Sheng Ning sharply, and when her gaze fell on Sheng Ning’s belly, there was disdain in her eyes, "Get lost! Don’t co to our house; you’re not welco here."
"Please take in! I can help you with many things." Sheng Ning was determined to stay; this was the only place that could help her for now.
"Do you have money? You must pay to stay."
"I do." Sheng Ning took US$ 50 from her pocket, "This is my last money, please take in!"
Lin En looked at Lin Lisha hopefully. He and his mother rarely communicated, most of it was beating and scolding or working. He knew that his pleading wouldn’t help.
Lin Lisha saw the money and snatched it away, "You can only live in the shack, I won’t provide food."
"Thank you, thank you!" As long as she had a place to stay, she would be satisfied.
Lin Lisha originally urged Lin En to cook, but having gotten the money, she naturally wouldn’t stay ho for dinner. She took the money and left.
User Comments
0 comments from readers