Ning Junyan decided to act first and say something later. After he sold the house, he went back to find Shu Rong with the money. He sat on the sofa in the living room, pushed the bank card on the coffee table in front of Shu Rong, and said, “I sold the house, take this money and use it first.”
Shu Rong was sitting opposite Ning Junyan, originally looking at the bank card on the table, when she heard the words she jerked her head up, “You sold the house?”
Ning Zhanghong was sitting next to Shu Rong, with a surprised expression on his face, “Why did you sell the house?”
Now Shu Rong’s financial situation was difficult to turn around for a while, but neither of them thought that things had reached the point where they needed their son to sell the house, it was just a matter of putting in more effort to raise the money.
Ning Junyan replied calmly, “Originally, you guys bought the house for me. Since Mom needs money now, I will return the money to you first.”
Shu Rong’s emotions flared up because of his words, “What do you mean? Are you trying to separate yourself from us?”
Ning Junyan was still very calm, “Of course not. You raised me from a young age, and what I owe you can’t be repaid with a house. I have no intention of cutting ties with you.”
Perhaps because of anger, Shu Rong’s eyes and cheeks were flushed red as she glared hard at Ning Junyan, “Then what do you mean?”
Ning Junyan said, “It’s nothing. It’s just that you need money to turn around, and this house is not necessary for me now, so I sold it.”
“It’s not necessary?” Shu Rong asked, “Then where do you live now?”
Ning Junyan answered her, “I live with Yuncheng.”
The redness from anger on Shu Rong’s face disappeared in an instant, and she turned slightly pale, and asked Ning Junyan, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you? You just came to show off to me!”
Ning Junyan looked at her and said slowly, “It’s really not like that. It’s just that I don’t have a house to live in now, but he does, so I’m just staying at his place. It’s no different from when he used to stay with me before.”
Shu Rong didn’t speak.
Ning Junyan then continued, “I don’t understand your prejudice against Chen Yuncheng, I just want to tell you that he is not unworthy of your son. He is smart, kind, responsible, has a career and can make money, he has no parents and is not highly educated, but he is better than most people, and none of us have the right to look down on him.”
At this time, Ning Zhanghong couldn’t help but said softly, “It’s not that we look down on him, it’s just that you are both men. Have you really considered how to live together?”
Ning Junyan looked at his father, “I was almost killed by human traffickers when I was young, do you still remember? If it wasn’t for Chen Yuncheng, I wouldn’t have survived at all.”
At that time, Ning Junyan, who was fourteen years old, gradually recovered his memory. He was getting taller and stronger, and his personality was so strong and withdrawn that his foster father felt that he was becoming more and more difficult to deal with and was tempted to kill him.
That night, the foster father brought back a big box of milk and gave it to Chen Yuncheng.
Unaware that the milk contained sleeping pills, Chen Yuncheng shared the milk with Ning Junyan and Zhou Yan, and when he saw Zhou Yan was wanting more, he gave him a glass of his own.
In the middle of the night, the foster father came into their room, took Ning Junyan, who had drank the medicine, dragged him out of bed, wrapped him in a sack, and put him on a tricycle.
Chen Yuncheng was still young at that time and was sleeping soundly at night. He suddenly woke up when his foster father opened the yard door with an ear-piercing creaking sound and noticed that Ning Junyan was gone. So he got up and quietly went to the door, just as he saw his foster father riding out on a tricycle with a sack in the back as if it was filled with a person.
Chen Yuncheng put on his tattered sneakers and chased after him in horror. He didn’t dare to get close and was afraid that he would lose him if he went too far. He kept chasing after his foster father carefully until his foster father stopped the car, dragged the sack off and headed for the barren hills.
The foster father found a messy bamboo forest, threw the sack on the ground, and then went back to get the shovel on the tricycle. He planned to knock Ning Junyan to death with the shovel first, and then dig a hole to bury the sack directly.
When he walked up to Ning Junyan and raised the shovel high, someone rushed from behind and grabbed the shovel in his hand tightly.
Twelve-year-old Chen Yuncheng was still very thin because of poor nutrition and had not grown quite yet. He was not as strong as his foster father, but he tried his best to grab the shovel, and finally, the two of them fell to the ground.
By the moonlight that filtered through the forest, the foster father saw his face clearly, and called a name with a ferocious expression, “Chen Yuncheng!”
Chen Yuncheng didn’t speak and tried hard to grab the shovel, and finally, the wooden handle of the shovel hit the foster father’s head, who let go and Chen Yuncheng snatched it away from him.
He stood up and backed away with the shovel in his arms.
The foster father quickly got up, looking like a demon in a nightmare in the bamboo forest, hunched over and approached Chen Yuncheng step by step, stretched out a hand covered in mud, “Be obedient, give the shovel to Dad.”
Chen Yuncheng shook his head.
The foster father soon became impatient and rushed towards Chen Yuncheng to grab the shovel in his hand.
Chen Yuncheng didn’t know where the courage came from; he raised the shovel and knocked on the foster father’s head, knocking him down in the mud all at once. He clenched the shovel tightly and did not dare to let it go. When he saw that his godfather was lying on the ground moaning, not losing consciousness, and his feet were moving, he raised the shovel again, but he still couldn’t bear to knock it down. Finally, he walked to Ning Junyan with the shovel in his arms, untied the sack and tried to wake him up.
The dosage of sleeping pills seemed to be heavy. Ning Junyan was drowsy and never fully woke up.
Chen Yuncheng had no choice but to carry him on his back and walked outside with difficulty.
They were very familiar with this area, and Chen Yuncheng was afraid that his foster father would get up and chase them, so he didn’t dare to go back the same way, but took a detour around the hills and went to the nearest street.
Ning Junyan was tall, but fortunately, he was thin because he didn’t eat well like him. However, he still weighed heavily on his back, and every step he took was very difficult. As he walked, Chen Yuncheng bursted into tears. He was very sad, but he couldn’t explain why.
Chen Yuncheng was picked up by his foster father and foster mother when he was very young. At first, he was too young to be aware of theft and human trafficking, so he didn’t think about it and didn’t dare to go to the police; later, as he grew older and more aware, he knew he was a homeless orphan. His foster father and foster mother treated him badly, but they were not bad. He asked very little and was content with a little care. He vaguely knew that it was wrong for him to steal things. Although no one taught him, he always felt very uncomfortable when he saw people who lost their wallets looking for them in a panic. This kind of discomfort often tortured him, but it still never occurred to him that he should go to the police.
Today was the first time that Chen Yuncheng realised that he had to make a choice, and he could no longer cower in his tortoise shell.
He cried and carried Ning Junyan to the nearby town street and found the street police station to call the police.
The police on duty drove them to the town hospital, and some of them went to the wild bamboo forest in the hills to find their trafficker foster father.
Ning Junyan woke up on the way to the town hospital. He opened his eyes and saw Chen Yuncheng who was sitting next to him crying all the time. He reached out and touched his eyes with his fingers, “Why are you crying?”
Chen Yuncheng didn’t know, he just vaguely felt that he might lose everything he had now and never get it back.
Ning Junyan struggled to raise his hand to hug him, “Don’t cry.”
Chen Yuncheng buried his face in Ning Junyan’s arms and didn’t say a word, and only making occasional sobbing noises.
The police actually told Ning Zhanghong and Shu Rong about their experience, but at that time the couple were immersed in the intense sorrow and joy of finding their missing son and did not pay much attention to the little boy who saved their son’s life. All they know was that their son had almost been killed by a human trafficker and was lucky to have survived.
So Ning Junyan was taken away and was taught not to think about the life of being trafficked and to not mention Chen Yuncheng. Over time, Ning Junyan himself thought that he had forgotten the past until the moment he saw Chen Yuncheng again. He suddenly realized that many years ago, his life belonged to Chen Yuncheng, and now, he wanted Chen Yuncheng as a person to belong to him as well.
Ning Junyan felt that this was their destiny and they should be together. Shu Rong wouldn’t understand, and she thought he was crazy. He thought he might be, but so what? All the gentle compromises he made with Chen Yuncheng were to hold Chen Yuncheng so tightly in his hands that no one could let Chen Yuncheng go, including Chen Yuncheng himself.
So now, he was sitting here and telling his parents, “My life was saved by Chen Yuncheng, it’s not too much to take a lifetime to pay it back.”
The author has something to say:
I’m going to be out all day tomorrow, and I guess it will be quite late when I come back after dinner, so I probably won’t be able to make it!
Notes:
I can picture little Yuncheng crying hopelessly, knowing that the moment he reported his foster parents was the moment he would never be able to go back to his previous reality
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Can’t believe there’s still story left about their past. That was brutal for them kids, for Yuncheng 😭 If mc didn’t give away his milk, he would’ve lost yanyan forever. He was so brave for trailing after them, for fighting an adult even if he was greatly disadvantaged, and for carrying a heavy ml and going straight to the police with future bleak and somewhat uncertain. For freeing them from that life. Mc shouldered a lot when they were kids and when growing up. Mc is always shining 🥺
Little Chen Yuncheng was so brave… My heart hurts seeing him cry like that!! He really had nobody to rely on. Thank you for the translation!