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Chapter 160 – 1992-2020
In the afternoon of that day, Lian Qiao went to the school gate early to wait but RenDong didn’t come out for a long time.
As soon as the school bell rang, elementary and middle school students came out in groups of twos and threes. Some were picked up by the parents, others walked home together. Lian Qiao waited desperately but he couldn’t find the figure that he was missing.
… Nothing would have happened, right?
Lian Qiao went straight to RenDong’s class. There were still a few students on duty chasing and playing around in the class, Lian Qiao stopped one at random and asked him if he knew where RenDong was.
When the child heard RenDong’s name, the corner of his mouth curled up, revealing a weird smile.
“He’s in the toilet.”
Lian Qiao’s heart tightened at the sight of that weird smile and he hurried to the toilet. The toilet was located at the end of the corridor, and toilets for men and women are located on different floors. Lian Qiao ran to the nearest men’s restroom and shouted as soon as he entered:
“RenDong! Are you here? RenDong!”
The boys who were urinating in front of the urinal were startled by him and they all turned their heads with faces full of frightened expressions.
Lian Qiao’s eyes quickly swept over everyone, making sure that RenDong was not among them. The uneasiness in his heart became more and more intense, he grabbed another child, shook his shoulder and asked: “Where is Xu RenDong?! Have you seen him? Where is Xu RenDong?!” The boy was frightened all over.
Trembling, he asked, “Xu, what Xu? I don’t know him!”
Lian Qiao was extremely irritable and threw the child out casually. He threw the boy against the wall and he fell, screaming. The other boys trembled when they saw this and the timid ones were already crying.
Lian Qiao was even more impatient due to the crying. He kicked open the doors of every compartment angrily, missing one or both.
All the compartments are empty! RenDong was not here!
Was that little bastard lying?
A surge of anger rose in Lian Qiao’s heart. He quickly ran back to the class. The junior high school students who were chasing and fighting had already left, and the little brat was still sweeping the floor quietly with a broom.
Lian Qiao rushed up and grabbed him by the collar, lifted him up and off the ground.
“Where, Is, He!”
Every word seemed to erupt from the depths of a volcano, with uncontrollable rage and impulsiveness. Lian Qiao’s eyes were red as if he was about to drip blood and all the cells in his body were screaming crazily –
If he talks nonsense, he will be killed! kill him!
Unexpectedly, the junior high school student was not afraid at all, but laughed wildly with a distorted expression.
“I didn’t lie to you! Hahahahaha…” The junior high school student’s eyes were full of malicious ecstasy, “He’s in the toilet, he’s really in the toilet! He’s in—the women’s toilet—hahahahahaha!”
Startled, Lian Qiao subconsciously let go of his hand. The junior high school student fell heavily to the ground but laughed even more wildly.
Womens toilet? Why is it the women’s toilet?
Lian Qiao’s mind was blank for a while, unable to think. He walked out of the classroom stiffly, forcing himself to pull himself together.
The women’s restroom, that’s upstairs. But why would RenDong go there?
The alarm bells in his heart were ringing like a death knell. Lian Qiao felt cold all over and the malicious smile of the junior high school student kept flashing in front of his eyes. He stumbled and ran up to the second floor.
As soon as he passed the corner of the stairs, he saw a few girls talking and laughing, walking towards him.
Those girls were obviously only twelve or thirteen years old, but they deliberately imitated adults in their attire. One by one, with heavy makeup, looked like a female monster who had fallen into a makeup palette.
One of them, he had only seen a while ago.
The girls had obviously just come out of the women’s bathroom with water on their hands. When they saw Lian Qiao, there was a burst of piercing and sharp laughter. Pointing at him, as if seeing some big joke.
Lian Qiao suddenly had a terrible premonition in his heart. The premonition made him tremble all over, he couldn’t move, and stood on the spot like a wooden stake.
When the girls passed him laughingly, he heard the little monster tugging at the corners of his mouth, showing a contemptuous and mocking smile.
“You guys are really disgusting.”
Those five words, like a heavy hammer, severely smashed Lian Qiao’s heart.
You, guys, are, really, disgusting.
Who is ‘you guys’?
It was him—and RenDong—
The sneering laughter of the girls faded around the corner. Lian Qiao suddenly felt a tightness in his throat, and then his eyes began to darken, his body swayed and he almost couldn’t stand upright.
He was in so much pain that he couldn’t exert all his strength, so he had to hold on to the wall and walk forward bit by bit.
RenDong…was RenDong still there…
Is he…in the women’s bathroom…
Every time Lian Qiao takes a step towards the women’s room, the bright red female pattern cuts out a piece of flesh in his heart. After an unknown amount of time, he finally came to the front of the women’s toilet.
It was quiet inside, there was no sound at all.
No, it was not completely silent. There is the sound of dripping water. It’s the faucet that’s not turned off.
Was he in there? He’s not in there, is he? How could he be in the women’s bathroom?
Lian Qiao suddenly felt out of breath, as if a rope was strangling his throat. He covered his neck, so uncomfortable that he wanted to cry. But what made him even more uncomfortable was that he knew that he had to go in.
He has to… go find RenDong…
The feeling of suffocation was getting stronger and stronger. Lian Qiao felt dizzy, but still held on, leaning on the wall, and walked into the women’s toilet.
There are only cubicles in the women’s restroom. As he expected, there was a faucet that was not turned off properly and it kept dripping.
He didn’t know why but he went to tighten the faucet like an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The dripping sound died away. But the fear in my heart was still there.
Not here. He won’t be here.
“Squeak”. Lian Qiao pushed open the door of the first compartment.
He breathed a sigh of relief. RenDong is not there.
With an eerie feeling bordering on joy, he reached for the second compartment.
“Squeak—ah—”
The door was half-opened, but was blocked by something.
The thing behind the door is soft, and it can still be pushed open if it is pushed hard. But… but…
Terrible thoughts flooded his mind, and Lian Qiao felt the rope around his neck tightened, making him breathless. His heart was beating wildly, almost smashing hs chest. Panting with difficulty, he squeezed his body in through the crack of the door, into the small female toilet cubicle.
Then he saw RenDong.
Thirteen-year-old Little RenDong, wearing a red skirt, with his upper body naked and who had been hanged to death.
…
The elevator was running quietly and smoothly and suddenly it shook slightly.
This is something that happens 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 speak when RenDong’s expression darkened suddenly. He rushed up and grabbed him by the collar, shouting angrily:
“Don’t fall in love early! Don’t fall in love early! Don’t fall in love early!”
Lian Qiao: “???”
Before he recovered from the bewilderment, RenDong had quickly completed the shrinking process. There was only a wrinkled purple sweet potato essence left on the floor who was crying loudly and the sound was so loud that the sound waves bounced back and forth in the elevator, shaking Lian Qiao’s eardrums to shatter.
After a difficult parenting process, Little RenDong finally grew up to be three years old, at the age where he could speak.
The first thing he said was: “Lian Qiao, let’s break up for now.”
It took a full two minutes to realize – RenDong wanted to break up with him!
“Why, why?” Lian Qiao stuttered in shock, “You, you, no, I, what did I do wrong? Was the way I raised the child wrong? Can you forgive me? I’m inexperienced and I really don’t know how to take care of children…”
“No.” RenDong interrupted him coldly, “It’s not because of this.”
Lian Qiao: “That’s because of what?”
RenDong: “Because puppy love is not good. Yes, I want to study hard and get into a good school.”
Lian Qiao: “???”
At first, Lian Qiao thought that RenDong was joking—although he really didn’t know what was so funny about this terrible joke. But soon he discovered that RenDong was really alienating him!
He wouldn’t let him feed him, wouldn’t let him wash his clothes, wouldn’t even let him hug him!
Lian Qiao was going crazy. He silently wrote down what he had done in the past three days on the paper, studied it over and over a hundred and eighty times and still couldn’t figure out what he did wrong to make RenDong so angry.
Why do you want to break up?! I was wrong, can I change it? ! You tell me where I went wrong!
However, whenever he begged bitterly, RenDong would reply him extremely coldly:
“No. You haven’t done anything wrong. Don’t disturb me, I want to study.”
Lian Qiao: “Hey!”
What’s wrong with you, big boss! How did you turn into an unreasonable and troublesome girlfriend!
Lian Qiao couldn’t figure it out. He could only understand that RenDong had his own plans and had to alienate him for some special reason. Still, he was very restless.
His partner suddenly became his son, which was already a pain in the ass. Now his son has actually entered the rebellious period! It’s such a bad day!
Lian Qiao was restless, so restless he had to drink cold water to calm himself down. As a result, his death was very effective and he had diarrhea that night.
“Woo…” The intestines rumbled continuously, with convulsions and colic. Lian Qiao curled up on the bed with his hands on his stomach, coquettishly saying to RenDong, “RenDong, my stomach hurts!”
Little RenDong was reading at the desk. At this time, he was only four years old but he had already started to preview his primary school homework. Fortunately, there are textbooks left by other children in the orphanage, so Little RenDong has been studying at his desk for the past two days.
Hearing Lian Qiao’s call, he frowned and put down his pen, went to the bed and touched Lian Qiao’s stomach.
“Can’t you try to make me worry less?” Little RenDong complained, but his little hands rubbed Lian Qiao’s stomach round and round, so that he could feel better.
Lian Qiao was very grateful for this, contentedly like a dog lying flat and letting go.
“I’m so short of love that my stomach hurts!” As a patient, he acted coquettishly and confidently, “I’ll be fine if you pamper me!”
“…you obviously did it to yourself by drinking cold water.” Little RenDong’s face was helpless, but he still put his hands to his mouth, breathed lightly for a while, covered the heat with their hands again, and continued to rub Lian Qiao’s stomach.
“Hey hey hey.” Lian Qiao’s heart almost melted after being rubbed. RenDong still cared about it! That means his indifference these days is just PLAY! It must be part of some great plan!
Thinking of this, Lian Qiao couldn’t help being a little excited.
If it’s a plan, then…it doesn’t matter  it doesn’t matter if it’s tied up and handcuffed or something!
After all, the big picture is the most important thing! His concentration is so poor, what if he ruined the plan!
It’s a pity that before he formally made a suggestion to RenDong, his intestines suddenly convulsed, causing him to gasp in pain.
“Hiss – I want to go to the bathroom!” He almost jumped up from the bed, clutching his belly and ran to the bathroom.
Little RenDong shook his head and sighed. Just as he was about to sit back at the desk and continue reading, he suddenly remembered something.
Today is the fourth day in the orphanage. What happened on the fourth day last time?
Oh, it seems to be…
At the same time, Lian Qiao yelled from the bathroom.
“RenDong! There’s no—paper—in the bathroom—”