Chapter 130

Chapter 130

Qin Song stared at that line of text for a long while, at a complete loss for words.

He opened his contacts, intending to call Hu Heng, but then his finger froze.

He didn’t think it should be Hu Heng. Logically, it was self-contradictory.

If Hu Heng was the one repeatedly sending him threatening texts, why would he suggest blocking the number?

All this time, Hu Heng had played the role of a caretaker in Qin Song’s life. He had never brought him even the slightest bit of negativity. Qin Song truly couldn’t connect that tall, broad, overly nice man with the sewer rat on the other end of those messages.

Qin Song closed his eyes and began searching his memory for everyone with the surname Hu whom he had ever known.

When Qin Song was five, he had taken a crafts class where he learned to make cute little animals out of polymer clay. That crafts teacher’s surname had been Hu. She was the first person surnamed Hu Qin Song had ever known.

But when Qin Song was in elementary school, he heard that she had fallen ill and passed away. That teacher had still been very young, a famously beautiful woman in the local area. It was truly a pity for her to die so early.

The naughtiest boy in Qin Song’s elementary school class was also surnamed Hu. His nickname was Little Monkey, and he was so lively all day long it was as if he had ADHD. The teacher had arranged for him to sit by himself in the very front row of the classroom.

Qin Song basically had nothing to do with him. Little Monkey talked too much, and whenever he opened his mouth, he revealed two wide, oversized, sawtoothed front teeth slick with saliva. Every time Qin Song saw those two teeth, he felt a wave of physical revulsion.

After elementary school graduation, Little Monkey transferred away, while Qin Song stayed at the same school for middle school.

Too much time had passed, and they were too far apart. It couldn’t be him either.

Qin Song then remembered that the little punk who had taken the lead in making trouble for him back in middle school had also been surnamed Hu. Right, the one who’d called a bunch of people over to surround Qin Song – though in the end, the one who got beaten up was Hu Heng, not Qin Song.

That punk was named Hu Chaohong. Whenever Qin Song thought of him, only four words came to mind: vile to the core.

Because of him, Qin Song had come to believe that people with truly crooked hearts really did exist in this world.

Maybe because Hu Chaohong had done too much evil and bullied too many classmates, some measure of retribution had eventually caught up with him. Qin Song heard that in high school, he became addicted to betting on soccer and ran up a massive debt, even mortgaging his father’s only house.

Later still, Qin Song heard that he got into a group fight at a barbecue stall and smashed someone to death with a beer bottle, landing himself in prison.

But he had also heard that Hu Chaohong was the one who’d been beaten severely with a beer bottle, and that he was still paralyzed in bed to this day.

Who knew which version was true and which was false? In any case, he definitely hadn’t made it to college, and his life had only grown more and more disgraceful.

Qin Song felt that someone like him fit the image of a “sewer rat” in his mind quite well.

But the grudge between Qin Song and Hu Chaohong was already far too old. Ever since Hu Heng had taken that beating in Qin Song’s place, Hu Chaohong had never harassed Qin Song again. Perhaps because Hu Heng had been hit in the head and needed stitches at the time, causing a nasty incident, Hu Chaohong had also been punished by the school.

In short, from then on, Qin Song and Hu Chaohong had had no further connection.

Hu Chaohong had made enemies with far too many people. There were at least eight or ten people he got into physical fights with every month. Qin Song really didn’t think he would still be obsessed with taking revenge on him over some ancient conflict.

Even less likely was that Hu Chaohong had anything to do with Huang Yuanrui. Even if Huang Yuanrui wasn’t exactly a good woman, she would absolutely never look twice at someone like Hu Chaohong.

Who else was surnamed Hu?

A person suddenly flashed through Qin Song’s mind.

Hu Heng’s mother was also surnamed Hu.

The thought was absurd, but at this point Qin Song could only force himself to keep thinking along that line.

Hu Heng’s mother was named Hu Yonglan. She was a widow.

From the first time Qin Song met her, he had felt an inexplicable fear of her.

The woman had very large eyes, protruding eyeballs, sharp outer corners, and a high, hooked nose like the kind only men usually had.

When Qin Song was in school, he had learned a word: sinister.

“Sinister” meant treacherous and vicious. It could describe a personality, or it could describe someone’s gaze.

The first time Qin Song met Hu Heng’s mother’s eyes, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking of that word.

Although Qin Song’s own mother was also often forceful and unreasonable, she still occasionally carried a bit of softness unique to women. So somewhere in Qin Song’s subconscious, he had assumed that all mothers possessed that quality.

Yet Hu Heng’s mother had completely overturned Qin Song’s understanding. He couldn’t see the slightest bit of softness in her, not even the slightest hint of kindness.

Qin Song often saw her after school.

Back then, Qin Song and Hu Heng always went home together, and every time, Hu Yonglan would stand at the entrance of their residential compound like a signpost, waiting for Hu Heng. Qin Song had teased Hu Heng about it countless times – only elementary school kids needed their parents to pick them up.

Hu Heng never got upset over it. Qin Song thought Hu Heng was the very picture of foolish filial piety. He never raised a single objection to Hu Yonglan; he obeyed her in practically everything.

Once, the two of them were walking home while eating grilled sausages. Qin Song slung an arm over Hu Heng’s shoulder and said, “I’m telling you, if your mom ever does something that makes you uncomfortable, you have to learn to rebel. You have to fight back! I go against my mom all the time.”
Hu Heng shook his head. “No, better not. My mom was a single mother. She raised me all by herself and suffered a lot for it. If I don’t try to understand her, who will? Any demands she has of me are perfectly reasonable.”

Qin Song laughed. “Did your mom brainwash you or something? I bet she used that line on you all the time until you actually started believing it yourself.”

Hu Heng lifted his head and looked up at the sky. “What else can I do? I only have one mom, and she only has one son. We’ve depended on each other all our lives. That’s how it’s always been. Your family of four is so lively and complete. You wouldn’t understand how that feels.”

Qin Song stuck out his tongue. “I apologize.”

Hu Heng smacked the back of Qin Song’s head. “Come on, it’s fine. Don’t get all sappy on me!”

With that, the two of them went on walking, shoving and joking around like before.

Whenever they reached the gate of Hu Heng’s residential compound, Qin Song would tactfully wipe the grin off his face and walk with proper seriousness.

Hu Yonglan’s presence was simply too oppressive. Even if she was only standing there, saying nothing and doing nothing, Qin Song would feel cramped and uneasy.

Qin Song always felt as if her face were stiff, as if her features had been painted on. There was no expression there at all, let alone a smile.

At first, Qin Song would still greet her and say, “Hello, Auntie.” But she was like a deaf person. She gave Qin Song no response whatsoever and only stared straight into his eyes until his scalp prickled.

That was also what Qin Song found strangest – her son was coming home with Qin Song, but her gaze never fell on her own son. Instead, she stared fixedly at Qin Song, an outsider.

Every time that happened, Qin Song would be seized by a strange guilty conscience. He clearly hadn’t done anything wrong, yet Hu Yonglan acted as if Qin Song had stolen something, robbed something, or bullied her tall, strapping son.

Then there was the time of the sports exam for the college entrance examination. The students were on the field taking tests in the various athletic events, while the parents stood outside the fence around the track, holding parasols as they watched.

Qin Song wasn’t sure whether his parents had come, so when he ran past the fence, he tilted his head slightly and looked toward the crowd of parents.

One look was all it took for Qin Song to spot Hu Yonglan – and as luck would have it, Qin Song was running right past her at that moment.

Hu Yonglan stood pressed close against the fence, her gaze like a hook stabbing into Qin Song’s eyes. Her neck was stretched out long, her face almost poking through the fence.

She was wearing a black blouse and holding a black parasol. The umbrella hid her hair, leaving only her face visible to Qin Song.

With her hair covered, Hu Yonglan’s already exaggerated, sharp features looked even larger.

In that instant, the word “sinister” once again sprang into Qin Song’s mind.

He was so startled that he quickly turned his head back. Suddenly, he felt his strength drain away, and a sharp pain shot through his ribs – he’d gotten a stitch in his side!

That stitch seriously affected Qin Song’s speed. It was why, when he was nearly at the finish line, he couldn’t summon any strength no matter what he did. In the end, Hu Heng had practically dragged him over the line by force.

After crossing the finish line, Qin Song walked for a while along the path beside the track, his face pale, dry-heaving over and over.

He had also tried, in a roundabout way, to talk to Hu Heng about Hu Yonglan. He really wanted to learn some more human details about her from Hu Heng – whether she put too much salt in her cooking, for example, or whether she also nagged at home while washing Hu Heng’s socks.

Qin Song felt she was too rigid, so rigid it was frightening. He wanted Hu Heng’s descriptions to add a little flesh and blood to that terrifying woman, so the next time he saw her, he might be able to act a bit more relaxed and natural.

But perhaps Hu Heng also felt that his mother was somewhat different from ordinary people, because he only described her in a few brief sentences:

“My mom is a very proud person. She always puts on airs, even with me.”

“She’s also a very conflicted person. What she thinks, what she says, and what she does are always three different things.”

“Sometimes I hate her a lot, but I also love her a lot.”

“What can I do? I’m the only person closest to her.”

Hu Heng left it at that, so Qin Song couldn’t very well ask any further.

So, could the owner of this so-called Unknown Number, the one surnamed Hu, be Hu Yonglan?

Qin Song wasn’t sure.

Qin Song felt that the owner of this Unknown Number was a young person. They had even playfully given Qin Song a code word – bingo.

Did that sound like something a middle-aged or older woman would say?

Qin Song imagined Hu Yonglan wearing that zombie-like expression, glaring with her huge eyes as she said “bingo,” and for some reason found it funny.

Hu Heng sent him a WeChat message, asking whether Qin Song had gotten home.

Qin Song stared blankly at the chat window for a while, then simply turned off his phone.