Symbiosis - Chapter 10

Now, I can hardly remember what actually happened in the cage that day.

I only remember that I got the candy in the end.

When I finally clutched it in my hand again, it was almost entirely crushed. The wrapper was covered in blood.

A dreadful scarlet that made my eyes ache.

It felt as though every bone in my body had been broken and put back together. There wasn’t a place that didn’t hurt.

Several times I tried to stand, but couldn’t summon any strength. At last, I barely managed to brace myself against an upright bar and all but crawled out of the iron cage, thick with the smell of blood.

Shen Lin stood outside, looking down at me, waiting for me to crawl out.

I’d never seen him smile so happily.

In high spirits, he clapped twice, crouched down, and stroked my head. “Good boy.”

Then his eyes lowered to the candy in my clenched hand.

“Now it belongs to you.” He smiled more broadly, as though he’d enjoyed a marvelous performance. “That’s right. What you take is yours. Why pick up scraps?”

“You did very well just now, Xiao Yi. But wrong is wrong. I don’t want you coming home again.”

“There’s an empty room in the rear courtyard at 17 Qingteng Lane.” He patted my face. “Move there tonight.”

Covered in injuries, I slowly dragged myself to the address he’d given me.

The floor was damp, the wooden window frame eaten to pieces by insects. There was no furniture. The door creaked whenever I pulled it.

But this was good too. Much better than living with Shen Lin.

Exhausted and in pain, I had no strength to move anymore. I didn’t care that the floor was cold and hard. Still dressed, I curled up in a corner and fell asleep.

Before midnight, the cold woke me. I opened my eyes slowly, and the first thing I saw was the broken candy still clenched in my hand.

I hadn’t been able to throw it away.

I tried wiping the blood from the wrapper. It had dried and wouldn’t come off, so I stopped bothering. I opened it and cautiously tasted the candy.

Sweetness mixed with the taste of rust.

My first reaction was, strangely, a little laugh.

It was cloying. So sweet it tasted bitter.

Disgusting.

But before closing my eyes and forcing myself to sleep again, I carefully wrapped up what remained and put it away.

I couldn’t say why. I just couldn’t bear to throw it out.

After that, I worked even harder at school.

Two more years passed. Shen Lin became increasingly unwilling to bother with me.

Even the beatings and insults gradually stopped.

I could roughly guess why. Looking in the mirror, I could see it myself: I looked more and more like my mother.

I was still hungry and poorly clothed, so I began attending school by day and working at night. Occasionally, I took on fights for other people too.

One night, coming home very late, I heard faint sounds of fighting a little way ahead and to one side, near Qingteng Lane.

I kept walking as usual. Only as I passed did I casually glance toward the noise.

That one glance stopped me.

There were no streetlights here, but fortunately the moon was bright that night. In its light, I made out the scene in the dark alley.

Several thugs in shabby undershirts, their thin limbs betraying obvious malnutrition, had backed a boy into a corner.

He’d scraped a small patch of skin from his arm somewhere, and blood kept seeping from it. His white clothes were filthy. He looked utterly bedraggled.

But his face was still beautiful.

Even like this.