Chapter 115

Chapter 115

The little boy seemed unaware that he was imprisoned. He remained pressed tightly against the window, following the faint ray of moonlight that slipped through the crack. A barely audible purr of contentment stirred in his throat, like an innocent young beast that understood nothing of the world.

Qiao Ying slowly approached the small figure from behind and reached out to touch his shoulder, but he did not react.

She bent down and spoke. “My name is Qiao Ying. What’s yours?”

The boy still gave no response. He could neither hear Qiao Ying’s voice nor feel her touch.

She seemed to be invisible.

Qiao Ying recalled Guang’en Temple. When a drop of muddy water entered her eye, she seemed to form a connection with the mud’s owner, Ding Ling. Through Ding Ling’s eyes, she witnessed the ten years Ding Ling had spent trapped.

Now, for some unknown reason, she seemed to have formed another connection with the person once imprisoned in this dark little room, allowing her to witness this distant past.

The past was made of events already fixed in place. She was only an observer and naturally could not change anything.

Qiao Ying watched the dirty tail swaying gently behind him and fell into thought. She reached out once more and touched the tip, whose fur was anything but fluffy. It did not feel particularly pleasant.

At night, he remained at the window, watching the moonlight.

By day, he still leaned against the window and stared at the ray of sunlight.

Time seemed to accelerate. Day and night cycled endlessly, and light and shadow shifted with them. No one knew how many days passed. No one else entered the room. Occasionally, someone merely opened a small hole in the wall and tossed in a few dirty steamed buns.

Only then would he climb down from the window and run to the corner amid the clatter of chains. He picked up the buns without even knowing to brush off the dust and stuffed the cold, hard food into his mouth in a few bites. His cheeks puffed out. Blood had stuck his white hair in tangled strands across his dust-covered face, making him look even more like a little beggar.

Through the turning days and nights, the wound where a piece of flesh had been gouged from his arm slowly healed. If not for the dried blood on his clothes, all the injuries on his body might have seemed like an illusion.

Qiao Ying crouched before him and studied his face. Curious, she gently brushed aside the hair pasted across it.

As if stirred by a faint breeze, the hair on the boy’s face shifted. He raised his head toward the direction from which the breeze had come.

His eyes were a clear blue. Beneath the faint, hazy moonlight, they were utterly clean, without the slightest speck of dust. Like a lake thawing in early spring, they held a crystalline clarity untouched by the world.

Meeting those beautiful eyes, Qiao Ying briefly lost herself. For an instant, she even had the illusion that he might be looking back at her.

The sound of the door opening disturbed the silence. The man who entered stared at the boy in the corner with eagerness and hunger in his eyes.

The man smiled. “Little fox, no one has come to see you for so long. With no one to talk to, you must be very lonely.”

The boy raised his face. He had not yet swallowed the bun in his mouth, and his puffed cheeks made him look even more dazed.

The man said, “Don’t be afraid. I worried you might be lonely by yourself, so I came especially to talk to you. Look, I even brought you a present.”

He opened his hand. A piece of malt candy lay on his palm.

The man smiled. “This is candy. It’s sweet, and children love it. I’m sure you’ll like it too. Go on, try it.”
The boy watched him for a moment, then slowly extended a small hand whose nails had not yet grown back. He looked at the man once more, snatched the candy with lightning speed, and stuffed it into his mouth, mixing it with the cold, hard bun he had yet to finish chewing.

The man crouched and asked with a smile, “Isn’t it sweet?”

As if afraid someone would steal his food, the boy guarded it fiercely, covering his mouth with both hands. After a long while, he nodded sluggishly.

The man said, “Look, I came to talk to you and even brought you candy. I’m treating you so well. Why don’t we become friends?”

Friends?

His two furry ears pricked up. His blue eyes watched the kindly smiling man, and he blinked slowly.

The man continued with a troubled expression, “It’s only that I’ve fallen ill recently, and my health isn’t very good. The doctor says I may never recover. I’m your friend. You wouldn’t stand by and watch me die, would you?”

The boy swallowed the food in his mouth with difficulty. The candy’s sweetness lingered and overwhelmed the rancid taste of the bun. He stared blankly at the man for a moment, then slowly nodded again.

The man smiled. “Then give me a little blood to cure my illness. We’re friends, and this is our secret. You must never tell anyone else.”

Qiao Ying sprang to her feet. “Don’t agree to that!”

The boy could not hear her. He obediently held out one hand and even raised his sleeve on his own, exposing the ugly scars on his arm that had yet to heal.

The fervor in the man’s eyes intensified. He took out a medicine vial and a dagger.

Qiao Ying placed herself in front of the boy. “Stop!”

But her efforts were futile. The man seized the boy’s arm and drove the dagger hard and deep through his fragile skin. Blood spilled out and filled the empty vial to the brim.

Once he had what he wanted, the man mercilessly flung aside the blood-covered arm. Before leaving, he smiled and said, “I’ll bring you more candy next time.”

The door creaked shut, plunging the room into darkness again. Only the faint sound of dripping blood echoed through the blood-scented air.

That man’s visit was only the beginning. Throughout the days and nights that followed, the door frequently opened and closed. Visitors came one after another, each carrying candy and each scrambling to become the boy’s friend.

“Little fox, you’re such a good child.”

“Look, I came to see you.”

“I brought you candy.”

“I’ll teach you to speak and write.”

“I’ll play games with you.”

“All because I like you.”

“If I didn’t like you, why would I leave so many marks on you, all so you could remember me better?”

“After all, I’m your friend.”

As the boy crouched in the corner, one tall shadow after another enveloped him. He held out his hands, offered his feet, and sometimes had his clothes lifted. More and more pieces of cheap malt candy were stuffed into his mouth.

When he finally tired of the sweetness and tried to spit it out, someone quickly forced more candy between his lips to block it.

“Don’t touch him! Don’t touch him!”

Qiao Ying tried to push away the men and women with twisted faces, but all her strength vanished into empty air. She could do nothing and change nothing.