CH 54

They were talking about becoming millionaires as they traversed to the playground.

When their third class began, it was already way past ten o’clock. At this point, it was still early in the afternoon, and the sun shone on the children’s faces, dyeing their cheeks with a rutilant glow.

They soon reached the playground. Miaomiao placed her water bottle to the side of the playground. The P.E. teacher had already summoned everybody to gather there.

“Classmates, line up!”

Miaomiao pulled herself together and ran up to him.

A breeze blew against her, and the weather was warm and pleasant.

Miaomiao didn’t understand why, but she simply felt a sense of comfort within her heart. She and Zhou Yuan both participated in an open class today and answered some questions. As a reward, they were gifted with two red flowers.

Even at the end of their class, Zhou Yuan still didn’t take off the school uniform that he donned.

The P.E. teacher quickly called everyone over and said, “We will only do two sets of exercises today; then, you’re free to play amongst yourselves, but you’re not allowed to leave the playground.”

The students were so excited that they shouted in unison, “Yeah!”

Everyone could play on the playground as long as they didn’t leave the school premises. Frolicking together in such a large place was the best thing for children.

Since the P.E. teacher was extremely busy today, he didn’t ask anybody to lead the exercises.

At first, Miaomiao was looking forward to leading the exercises, but she was a little disappointed when she couldn’t.

Eventually, they finished both sets of exercises, and everyone was free to play.

One of their classmates ran over to them and asked, “Jingjing, Miaomiao, would you like to play with us. We’re short two people.”

Jingjing dragged Miaomiao away to play with them. They found out that they were playing the blindfold game.

A person would cover their eyes with a cloth and then head off to find the others.

Miaomiao shook her head and said, “I don’t know how to play.”

“It’s very simple. I’ll teach you,” Jingjing replied.

Miaomiao followed Jingjing’s lead. She was a little nervous at first since she didn’t know what to do. But children had a certain ability to have fun with others as long as they found the game enjoyable.

They started playing together. It wasn’t long before Miaomiao was caught, and then it was her turn to be blindfolded.

Zhou Yuan didn’t like to exercise very much since exercise caused him to sweat, which made him feel uncomfortable.  

Therefore, he relaxed, sat back, and watched the others as they frolicked around the playground.   

The sun’s aurulent rays cascaded down from the skies above and bathed the world below in golden light. Everyone felt the intensity of the sun’s rays and its warmth as it was very hot today, and the students’ uniforms completely sheathed their bodies, so everyone was drenched in sweat as the blistering heat assailed them. Some children had already slipped out of their outer garments, revealing their short-sleeved shirts underneath.  

Miaomiao also took off her outer garments.

Miaomiao wore a short-sleeved shirt with an image of a lively and beautiful rose on it today.  

When she finished removing her sportswear, the children immediately directed their attention to her arms, which were trellised with scars that resembled centipedes.

This shocked her classmates, and they gawked at Miaomiao’s marred arms with vacant expressions.  

Miaomiao didn’t know that her wounds looked hideous because no one had ever told her; therefore, she didn’t think much about it.

But now that her classmates were goggling at her with a sort of indescribable vagueness, a feeling of dread and shame began to engulf her. She very…very much…wanted to cast her eyes downwards and tread back to class.

Zhou Yuan shot up instantly when she removed her sweatshirt, and then he raced over to her, “Miaomiao?”

At this moment, Jingjing tried to divert everyone’s attention, “Miaomiao, I’m hungry.”

Her classmates surrounded her and muttered, “Miaomiao…you…”

Then, Zhou Yuan stepped in front of Little Miaomiao and peered at her helpless face. Looking at her, he felt a pang of pain within his heart. He said, “I’ll also play with you.”

Their actions bewildered Miaomiao.

One boy, who stood next to her, regained his senses and asked, “Miaomiao, is that a tattoo on your arm?”

Miaomiao was incognizant of tattoos, so she answered with uncertainty, “It shouldn’t be, right?”

“Then…this is a scar?” The boy had never seen anything as horrifying as this.

Miaomiao recalled the incident for a moment. Then, she touched her scar and said, “This is a scar I got when I was beaten up by a bad man.”

The children were stunned. They remembered Zhou Yuan telling them about the bad guys who captured Miaomiao.

However, they all only caught a glimpse of the small scars on the back of her hand. But this scar was so large, so frightening…

Zhou Yuan wanted to stop them from discussing this topic, but he never expected Miaomiao to begin speaking about it.

“Did it bleed?” Children mostly believed that injuries could only lead to bleeding.

Miaomiao nodded and responded, “A lot…I couldn’t hold the bowl to eat from it when I tried…”

Imagine Miaomiao trying to hold a bowl, and then…

That scene…

Zhou Yuan: “…” I’m beginning to feel heartache for the first time. I want to laugh with rueful humor.

Miaomiao continued, “So when you head out, hold your mother’s hand. If the bad guys catch you, you’ll be injured like this…”

The children stopped playing and sat down with Miaomiao. They began to beleaguer her with questions.

“What do the bad guys look like?”

“Did your mother beat them up?”

Miaomiao pondered for a moment before replying, “The bad guys looked very scary and dangerous…When you hear the door creaking, just hide in a corner and don’t move. You won’t be noticed and beaten!”

Suddenly, Miaomiao recalled being beaten even when she remained still, so she changed her statement to “Don’t be separated from your mother.”

Miaomiao’s face flushed in the sun as she spoke solemnly about it.

When she thought about it, she did not immediately realize that she was now speaking candidly about these grim events, which caused her to tremble with fear, with her classmates.

“They’re terrible! How did you escape, Miaomiao?” asked one of the boys.

Miaomiao tried to recall how she escaped. All she remembered was that she shed a lot of blood that day. Since her vision was doused with blood, all she saw was red. Then, she heard someone say, “Oh my God, there’s a child here…she lost a lot of blood. Hurry and call an ambulance!”

Then, she saw her mother.

“Mom saved me.” Miaomiao believed that her mother had to have rescued her.