"The two of us were lucky to survive. The place where the plane landed was the park where you got bitten by a snake last ti. We landed in that forest, got lost in the forest for several days, and were finally kidnapped by so n, rember?"
"After that, we arrived at a place with many children. We had to go out to beg every day, and if we didn’t get money, we would be beaten. We lived in that place for about two years, rember?"
"We agreed to escape, tried many tis, and the last ti we decided to run away separately. If we succeeded, we were to et in the alley next to McDonald’s. That day..."
Ling Yin recalled their past bit by bit. He wasn’t detailed in his recounting, sotis speaking out of sequence, his mory vague, adding details as he rembered them.
The scenes Ling Yin painted were slowly being infused into Hua Hua’s mind.
Initially, Hua Hua had no impression, but as he envisioned the scenes Ling Yin described, they began to feel familiar. Listening to Ling Yin, it felt as if he had truly experienced it.
In his mind, there was a little girl and a little boy, together every day.
Suddenly, a flash of insight, it seed he saw several fierce youths swinging a stick at the girl. The little boy rushed over to embrace the girl, shielding her from the blow, the boy angrily confronting the youths, pleading, "Don’t hit my sister, don’t hit my sister..."
Another scene flashed by: the little boy cradled the little girl as they slept in a filthy warehouse. There weren’t just the two; there were many other children. The little girl was crying, wanting her parents. The little boy soothed her, saying, "Little Chu, don’t cry, Uncle Yuan will find us. Once Uncle Yuan finds us, no one can bully us."
More images surfaced in his mind...
Hua Hua suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Ling Yin, who was also watching him. Hua Hua shook his head again, then closed his eyes and reopened them a mont later, making a sound and suddenly jumping up, "I seem to rember sothing."
An excited Ling Yin asked softly, "What is it?"
"If you’re lying to , I’ll kill you!" Hua Hua threatened again.
Ling Yin only asked, "What exactly did you rember?"
Hua Hua felt his brain would burst from the effort. "I seem to rember that alley, the image is in my mind. Last ti, you took to that alley."
"And then?"
"I don’t like that alley," Hua Hua frowned deeply. "I kept squatting there, squatting and squatting... I was so hungry, cold, and scared, kept calling for brother, kept thinking of brother... then it was so hot, my head hurt... and then I fell asleep..."
"Did you have a fever?" Ling Yin guessed and asked.
Hua Hua shook his head, "I don’t know, can’t rember."
"Try to think again."
Hua Hua really couldn’t rember. After a long ti, he said, "A kind aunt fed , yes, she was a sanitation worker, I stayed at her house for a few days. But there were other people in her house who didn’t want there, so I eventually left. Oh, I rember, that kind aunt also gave a lot of money, enough to buy candy."
Hua Hua suddenly got excited, then felt foolish, but at the ti he really felt it was a lot of money, and he loved buying candy.
"And then?"
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