Shallow Fate (Lily ABO) mute A - Chapter 30
Cough after cough made Xie Yuefeng think of her mother, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis.
She hated her.
She doted on her, but couldn’t dote on her for a lifetime.
In her final days, the woman didn’t seize the time to impart any last words of wisdom, guiding her wayward daughter back to the “right path.” She just lay slanting on the opium couch all day long, her dark, gaping mouth open.
Sometimes some medicinal soup was poured in, sometimes wisps of opium smoke were exhaled, but most of the time, she coughed, as if she was trying to cough up all her internal organs.
Coughing up yellow phlegm and… bl00d.
Even though they were far apart, Xie Yuefeng still pulled out a handkerchief to cover her nose and mouth.
“Report, Young Marshal, the person has fainted.”
“Is she still breathing?”
The soldier bent down and checked the breath of the human-shaped bloodstain, “Yes.”
“Throw her outside the city, the farther the better.”
••••
Fang Yu had a very long dream.
In her dream, she walked silently and soundlessly on a dark and quiet broad road. At the end of the road was a large hall, the plaque hanging above it was exactly the same as the one in the village school. Upon closer inspection, it was shockingly the three characters “Hall of Yama”.
She was taken aback, because she didn’t believe in Buddhism, Taoism, or Christianity, and naturally she didn’t believe in any Hall of Yama. Suddenly, a hand pushed her, and in a flash, she was floating and hanging in the center of a raging fire. *Crackling*, she heard the sound of bones being roasted. The flames were drilling into her heart and digging into her lungs, and she couldn’t help but howl.
The scream penetrated the realms of yin and yang, pulling her back to reality.
First, she smelled a foul odor, and then the excruciating pain of her skin, flesh, bones, and tendons spreading, as if she had really been subjected to fire torture. Slowly lifting her swollen eyelids, she realized that reality was even more terrifying than the underworld.
Where was this place?
A mass grave?
At least a mass grave has nameless mounds of earth, but here… there are only piles of corpses… human piles made of corpses… She shouldn’t have fainted for too long. There was only a male corpse pressing on her body. The foul odor she had just smelled was emitted by this male corpse.
Fang Yu pushed away the male corpse, propped herself up on her elbows and crawled out of the pile of corpses. Her bundle was scattered not far away, the money inside was long gone, leaving only a pass and something wrapped in calendar paper.
Opening the package, it was a pair of woolen gloves.
When Shen Zhimo left home, they were not yet finished. When she arrived at the Xie’s house, even if they were finished, there was no chance to give them away.
Why didn’t she give them?
Fang Yu stared blankly at the gloves, for a long time, for a long time, and suddenly burst into tears.
Because Shen Zhimo wouldn’t want them.
Shen Zhimo never wanted her affection, only her money.
The gun barrel had cleared her head. At this moment, she finally saw clearly how her girlish feelings were so wrongly placed.
From the very beginning, Shen Zhimo had planned to leave. From the very beginning… Shen Zhimo had no affection for her.
Only disgust.
“Fang Yu,” “Cousin,” “B1tch.”
“Yuefeng,” “Madam,” “Wife.”
Isn’t it obvious enough? It was she who was foolish.
She also remembered the time she went to school to give Shen Zhimo money.
Even a hug, she had to take advantage of no one around, before she was willing to give it to her.
Tears were still falling.
Fang Yu didn’t stop the tears, letting the tears soak the gloves.
Cry! Cry enough! Cry it all out! After today, don’t shed any more tears for that person.
Before the setting sun, Fang Yu dragged her battered body out of the mass grave. She didn’t know where to go, and suddenly remembered that she still had a home to return to, so she slowly walked towards the nearest train station.
The station had stopped operating due to the war.
Fang Yu leaned against the station pillar and fell into a daze.
A group of refugees moved slowly along the railway tracks. When they reached the end, a familiar female voice called out her name:
“Xiao Yu? Why are you here?”
It was Aunt Mo.
[Auntie, I plan to go home.]
Fang Yu struggled to make a few gestures.
“Go back? What’s the point of going back! Fortunately, you weren’t home. The village is catching strong men to join the army. Your Uncle Mo was taken away! Damn it… I took the children and barely escaped here…”
Home… can’t go back… then where can she go…
“Why are you so injured? What happened?”
Fang Yu shook her head, then rested her chin on her hugged kneecap and continued to stare blankly.
Aunt Mo stood in place for a while with a complicated expression. The smallest child beside her started crying, so she had to pick up the child, and while walking, she looked back at Fang Yu worriedly.
She wanted to, but couldn’t say to Fang Yu, “Come with me.”
In famine years, it is difficult to protect oneself, and one more person means one more ration.
“Xiao Yu! Take care of yourself! Don’t go back! Did you hear that!”
This time, Fang Yu neither nodded nor shook her head, just swayed and stood up, staggering in the opposite direction of the refugee team.
She didn’t know how long she had walked, and before she saw the plaque of the King of Hell’s Palace, her strength was exhausted. Her head sank, and she fell straight down—
Before losing consciousness, she heard someone shouting:
“Boss! Someone has fainted at our door!”