I Deduce the Female Lead Likes Me [Transmigration into a book] - Chapter 27: Auntie
After the work under the overpass was completed, Kou Shuang was assigned to other areas.
Because the overpass project’s outcome was quite good, the deputy department head believed Kou Shuang could handle things independently and didn’t need to stay in the same group as her junior colleague, which relieved her. However, on the day her junior colleague returned from leave, she still sadly hugged Kou Shuang’s shoulder, complaining: “Now we can’t work and chat together!”
Kou Shuang: “…”
Her mentor, Zhang Zhiruo, still hadn’t appeared. Kou Shuang felt her decision to cling to her “thigh” at the time was a mistake. The other party rarely showed up, leaving her as an intern with no direct supervisor and an awkward position. Aside from the occasional tasks assigned by the deputy department head, no one else knew what to do with her.
This time, the work area was by the river, the foundation of the cross-river bridge.
The weather was great, the sun a bit dazzling. It was rare for early December, and Kou Shuang even took off her coat and worked in just a sweater.
She painted Inuyasha for a while. When her arm got tired and she was resting, she turned around and saw Xiaodie squatting by the paint bucket again.
Kou Shuang felt a little helpless and said: “You can’t eat this, okay?” She added a big, warm smile.
Perhaps because her voice wasn’t loud, Xiaodie’s reaction this time was calmer. She looked up at Kou Shuang for a while, then stood up and walked to Kou Shuang’s side.
Her big eyes blinked and blinked. She was still dressed as pitifully as last time. Kou Shuang squatted down, touched Xiaodie’s hand. It wasn’t cold, but warm, which put her at ease. She smiled and asked Xiaodie: “How old are you?”
Xiaodie hesitated for a long while and said: “Eight years old.”
Eight years old… Kou Shuang felt a little wistful. What was she doing when she was eight? Playing in the mud, carefree?
Looking at Xiaodie’s thin body and clothes, Kou Shuang felt a pang of heartache. She asked: “Would you like me to buy you food and clothes?”
Xiaodie paused for a moment, then nodded, then shook her head. “Auntie won’t let me.”
Auntie? What auntie?
She immediately realized it referred to the homeless woman she met last time. So it wasn’t her mother, but an auntie.
Kou Shuang was very interested in the homeless woman and asked: “Who is your auntie? Where is she now?”
The homeless woman was healthy and looked quite clean. Why was she homeless? Because she was lazy and liked to eat?
Kou Shuang instinctively had no good impression of this so-called “auntie.”
Xiaodie turned halfway, pointed towards the river, and said: “There.”
Kou Shuang stood up, saw the shimmering water and the empty beach. She turned to look at her unfinished Inuyasha, thought for a second, and said to Xiaodie: “Will you take me to see your auntie?”
Xiaodie nodded, took Kou Shuang’s hand, and walked forward.
Kou Shuang had only seen the river and boats earlier, not paying much attention to the beach. As they got closer, she realized that the homeless woman had spread her outermost military overcoat on the ground, wearing a thin knitted sweater, and was lying on it, leisurely sunbathing. Only then did Kou Shuang notice that the homeless woman had a slender waist and long legs, neither thin nor bloated, with a very good figure.
The homeless woman was pleasantly squinting in the sun. Hearing Xiaodie softly call “Auntie,” she tilted her head and opened one eye to look at Xiaodie.
Upon discovering Kou Shuang, the serene and content expression on the homeless woman’s face vanished entirely. She immediately sat up, looking at Kou Shuang guardedly, saying nothing.
Kou Shuang gave an awkward laugh, raised her hands, and said: “I want to talk to you.”
The homeless woman looked Kou Shuang up and down, then turned her head, completely ignoring her. She took a whistle from her pants pocket and blew it hard.
A sharp whistle echoed on the river beach, startling many birds.
One by one, four or five small children emerged from who-knew-where. They slowly gathered behind the homeless woman, looking at Kou Shuang with equally wary eyes.
Kou Shuang, facing so many raggedly dressed homeless children, suddenly felt a little panicked and unconsciously took a step back.
Was this a criminal gang? Was she going to be killed to silence her because she stumbled upon something?
No, what could a group of small children do?
Kou Shuang was now the one who was wary.
The homeless woman had now picked up her military overcoat and draped it over her shoulders. She stared at Kou Shuang for a long while, then bypassed Kou Shuang and walked away from the river.
The children were all dirty, following behind the homeless woman with strict discipline; their line didn’t even waver.
Kou Shuang watched the homeless woman lead a line of children away, and after a while, a chill crept into her heart. She had never seen a begging and abduction ring before. Had they already trained the children to be like this? Obedient, silent…
Logically, she deduced this somewhat bizarre conclusion, but strangely, Kou Shuang didn’t feel a dangerous aura from the homeless woman.
••••
It rained the next day, but the pillars under the cross-river bridge hadn’t been fully dealt with. When Kou Shuang arrived there, the first thing she did was look towards the river beach. As expected, she didn’t see the homeless woman or any of the children.
She couldn’t say why, but she felt a little disappointed.
Kou Shuang sighed, pulled out her small brush, and continued working on Inuyasha. When she reached a corner, she was startled to see a pair of eyes hidden in the darkness.
The pupils were pitch black, yet the whites of the eyes were incredibly bright. They looked like a wild beast’s eyes, or the eyes of a mastermind often seen in horror movies.
Kou Shuang was startled and instinctively turned to run.
Then the figure walked out of the shadows and stood in the sunlight.
Only then did Kou Shuang realize it was the homeless woman. Strangely, she wasn’t as scared as she had been just now.
Perhaps it was because the unknown was what caused fear.
Kou Shuang peeked around, trying to see if anyone else was hidden in that corner, but found it empty.
The homeless woman glanced at Kou Shuang and walked a bit further away. Kou Shuang thought she was leaving because she had been discovered, so she called out: “It’s raining outside; wait a bit longer before you go—”
To her surprise, the homeless woman stopped, turned, and carefully gazed at the Inuyasha Kou Shuang had painted.
This distance was just right, perfectly allowing her to take in the entire painting. Only then did Kou Shuang realize that the other person was looking at her graffiti.
Kou Shuang felt a little shy, so she spread her arms, blocking the giant graffiti, and loudly said: “Don’t look!”
Unfortunately, she was too small. Standing next to the giant graffiti, she vividly illustrated the idiom “a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot” (meaning futile resistance). The homeless woman ignored her, looked for a while, and said: “The proportions are wrong.”
“Huh?”
The homeless woman quickly walked to Kou Shuang, directly snatched the small brush, dipped it in paint, then with a wave of her large hand, drew a heavy stroke on the graffiti.
“Hey!” Kou Shuang was very angry now. This was her work; if a non-professional messed with it, it would add a significant burden to her, and she might have to repaint it later.
She already disliked the damp, cold air by the river and had planned to finish today and switch areas. Who knew this woman would appear midway and ruin her painting?
Kou Shuang rushed forward, trying to snatch the small brush back—until today, she finally experienced a bit of what painters felt when protecting their work. It was this kind of eagerness…
The homeless woman pushed Kou Shuang away and scolded: “Watch closely!”
Kou Shuang was startled. Only then did she realize that the homeless woman’s technique was not amateurish.
She seemingly casually expanded the area of some red paint, but it made “Inuyasha’s” clothes appear more flowing and beautiful.
“…”
Kou Shuang swallowed her criticism and obediently watched the homeless woman paint and revise her work. Half an hour later, the painting indeed looked much better; the overall composition was more harmonious.
Kou Shuang felt a little ashamed and asked: “Um… did you study painting?”
The homeless woman glanced at her and threw the small brush. Kou Shuang instinctively reached out to catch it, and her clothes got stained.
The homeless woman said nothing, walked back to the corner where Kou Shuang first found her, seemingly preparing to hibernate again.
Kou Shuang was curious about the homeless woman. She eagerly approached her and asked: “Why are you here?”
“You’ve studied painting? If you’re so good, why don’t you work? It must be uncomfortable staying here.”
“How old are you?”
“What’s your name?”
“Where are those children?”
“What’s wrong with them? Are they all homeless children?”
“When you blow the whistle, do they all come over?”
“Why don’t you send them to an orphanage? Winter is coming; wearing such thin clothes must be bad. If you don’t know how to contact one, I can recommend one to you.”
Kou Shuang thought of the orphanage run by Song Muxue’s parents. Just as she was thinking about whether to contact Song Muxue, the silent homeless woman suddenly spoke.
“I used to have a cat.”
“…” Kou Shuang couldn’t keep up. She said: “Huh? What?”
“A stray cat. I kept it by the roadside and fed it when I remembered. Luckily, the cat liked me a lot. Later, whenever I blew the whistle, it would come. This whistle is what I used to call it.”
“What happened then?”
“Then?” The homeless woman smiled and said: “Later, the cat disappeared. I looked for a long time but couldn’t find it.”
“And then?” Kou Shuang couldn’t help but ask.
“I liked that cat so much that I became it. I live where it lived, wanting to know what kind of world it saw, and also wanting to know… who took it away.”
“Took it away?” Kou Shuang asked curiously: “Are people still taking cats these days? Maybe it was adopted by an animal protection organization. You could check those places.”
Kou Shuang sincerely offered advice, but the homeless woman just gave a half-smile, saying: “Because someone saw its companion being taken away.”
“…” Kou Shuang was a little speechless and could only change the subject, asking: “Is this whistle what you use to call the cat? Now that the cat’s gone, you can’t use the whistle to call people. Are all those children without relatives? Why don’t you send them to an orphanage?”
“Have you ever noticed something?” The homeless woman interrupted her, staring directly at her, her eyes filled with seriousness.
“What?”
“The city has become increasingly clean recently.”
“Yeah, it’s the Graffiti Festival, it fits,” Kou Shuang pointed to the huge Inuyasha behind her.
“You use graffiti to cover up unsightly stubborn stains. Is someone also dealing with human trash?”
“Huh?” Kou Shuang was startled and said: “What do you mean?”
“Have you seen any other homeless people in the city lately?” the homeless woman asked, her tone cold, posing a question Kou Shuang had never even considered. Her face held a half-mocking, half-eerie smile, and her white teeth were crescent-shaped, making one shiver.
Kou Shuang was stunned. In the biting river wind, she was inadvertently led astray by the other’s thoughts.
Homeless people…? She had been wandering in the city’s corners these past few days and had indeed rarely seen homeless people. She wouldn’t have even thought about it if it hadn’t been mentioned.
Apart from the homeless woman and this group of children, there was only that homeless man who snatched paint downstairs from her company. Was there anything strange about this? Kou Shuang opened her mouth, just about to ask the homeless woman what she meant by saying this, when she came back to her senses and found that the other person had disappeared.
It was still raining outside the bridge, and she didn’t know how the other person left.
Kou Shuang called out “Hey” a few times but received no response. The other person must have truly left, not just hidden. Kou Shuang sighed and turned around, only to find that her umbrella, which she had left in the corner, was gone.
Kou Shuang: “…..”