The Lost Lamb's Trap - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Moon (1)

On the first night they went to look for the cats, Lin Ke was brutally beaten by Duan Jiayang. When she couldn’t take it anymore, Lin Ke would push her away. When she pushed too hard, Duan Jiayang fell to the ground. Then, Duan Jiayang pounced on her, screaming loudly and venting all her anger. Lin Ke punched Duan Jiayang back. Duan Jiayang sat on the ground and cried, her shoulders trembling.

At that point, Lin Ke went to hug Duan Jiayang again. Duan Jiayang held onto her sleeve tightly, crying until her chest was soaked.

Lin Ke held her gently.

Her face, which had just been cleaned, was now dirty again from the crying. The smell on her body was unbearable. Duan Jiayang got up and continued to search for the cats. Lin Ke accompanied her. They rummaged through all the trash cans in the neighborhood and then went outside to continue their search, from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. the next morning.

They sat at a bus stop. People were lined up to get on the bus. A young female office worker came over and asked them what was wrong. The two of them pursed their lips tightly.

Duan Jiayang didn’t give up. She got up and continued to search. Lin Ke went with her. They were close to walking from the villa area to the bustling downtown. The streets were winding, and people came and went. Even if they knew where they had been dropped off, the cats would have run away without a trace after being startled.

By noon, they were both exhausted and thirsty. Their lips were cracked. Duan Jiayang looked at Lin Ke. “I hope your mom still has some humanity and left Little Black and Little Orange together when she abandoned them so they can have a companion while they’re stray. If she intentionally separated them and threw them away, Lin Ke, I hope your mom dies a horrible death. I hope your mom gets hit by a car and dies!”

She rubbed her eyes. Her eyes were so dry they had no more tears left, and they were a fiery red. She started walking back, staggering with every step. She prayed in her heart, “Please don’t be separated. If you really are… Little Black, you have to find Little Orange quickly. It’s so gluttonous and clumsy. What if it starves to death?”

Adults were so detestable. Too detestable.

They made her, at such a young age, learn to curse and to hate.

Duan Jiayang lowered her head, and all the remaining moisture in her body rushed to her eyes. “I wish I hadn’t taken them back to raise them…”

Lin Ke followed behind her. Did she regret it?

Her emotions fluctuated with Duan Jiayang’s.

If… she had only known what the adults would do, or if she had hidden them better, the cats wouldn’t have been sent away.

She was surrounded by sadness.

Lin Ke was at a loss. They got on the bus. Duan Jiayang held onto a hanging strap, her back hunched. She intermittently wiped away tears on the shaky ride. She kept her head down. Lin Ke stood next to her, holding onto a chair, and kept looking at Duan Jiayang’s hand.

When they arrived at the stop, Lin Ke held her wrist and helped her off the bus. Duan Jiayang’s hand was slender and soft, and it felt warm in her palm.

A phrase, “Should we still look?” was stuck in her throat.

Because she turned her head and saw a pathetic “Little Lamb,” so well-behaved, her clothes dirty, and her eyes black, bright, and clear as she looked at her. In that moment, she felt that Little Lamb was treating her like a god.

Her heart swelled and ached, an indescribable feeling, like a sour plum juice in the hot summer, both sour and sweet. It was also as if Duan Jiayang had struck a match in a cold winter night, holding a bright light in her hands and walking toward her. Just as she was captivated, Duan Jiayang shook off her hand and rushed into the neighborhood. Lin Ke snapped back to reality… It was summer.

When they got home, Lin Wan and Duan Litian were sitting on the sofa. They looked at her. Construction was going on upstairs. Two workers were installing a monitor outside Lin Ke’s room. Duan Jiayang’s room was locked.

“Xiaoke, where did you go?” Lin Wan asked.

Lin Ke didn’t answer and walked up the stairs. Duan Litian asked, “Wasn’t Duan Jiayang with you?”

Lin Ke stopped. She hadn’t come back?

She lied. “No.”

Duan Jiayang had gone to the Lan family’s house. Lan Yao drove her around to look for the cats. Once, they saw a “Missing Cat” poster on a trash can and a few trees. It had a phone number on it. Duan Jiayang searched for it on her phone. The WeChat name was: LK.

The posters were put up farther and farther away. Duan Jiayang didn’t know when Lin Ke had put them up because every time she came home, Lin Ke was sitting quietly at home, reading a book.

It wasn’t until the day they received their class schedule at the end of August that Duan Jiayang walked over and snatched the book from Lin Ke’s hands. She saw that the book Lin Ke was holding had a library tag from the provincial library.

“Stop putting them up. I’m not looking anymore.”

Lin Ke asked her, “Why?”

Duan Jiayang said, “Sister Lan Yao is going to study abroad. Even if I found them, I wouldn’t have a place to keep them.”

After saying that, Duan Jiayang went back to her room and didn’t come out for another day and night. Lin Ke returned all the borrowed library books and didn’t make any more copies of the missing cat posters.

The two of them were extreme. When Duan Jiayang was sad, she wouldn’t eat, acting as if she wanted to starve herself to death. Lin Ke would eat. When she stopped eating, it was as if she had figured things out.

Duan Jiayang knew that Lan Yao was going abroad. She knew that Lan Yao was excellent, and her family had been grooming her. She didn’t go to see Lan Yao off that day. Lan Yao had called her, and the housekeeper had called for her several times, but she didn’t answer once.

The day Lan Yao left, she specifically came to look for her. Duan Jiayang didn’t see her. She had gone to school to register early, with her backpack on, riding her bike. She rode for half an hour in the hot summer wind to get to school.

There weren’t many people in the classroom. When they arrived, they went out to the food street to shop for all sorts of things. Duan Litian called her, but she didn’t answer. She received a message from Lan Yao.

Lan Yao: [My flight is this afternoon. Are you coming to see me off? It’s okay if you don’t. I’ve prepared a gift for you and left it at your house. You can call me later. My number won’t change.]

Duan Jiayang stood up. The chair behind her was pushed far back. She rushed out. At the door, she crashed into Lin Ke. Lin Ke had blocked the doorway at some point.

Duan Jiayang stared at her, then turned around and went back. She lay on the desk, her forehead resting on her arm. The scorching sun fell on her face, and her nose was sweating.

Lin Ke moved from the doorway to the window. Duan Jiayang slept all afternoon, and Lin Ke blocked the sun for her all afternoon.

This time, after returning to school, they had another exam. Duan Jiayang did terribly. She had climbed to 25th place, getting into the middle ranks. This time, she fell to almost 40th.

Within three days of the exam, the school began analyzing their grades. The top students were put in the advanced class, the middle students were put in the regular class, and the ones at the bottom were all pulled into the slow class.

Duan Litian didn’t call the school. Based on her grades, Duan Jiayang was placed in the middle class, but the homeroom teacher had her placed in his own class.

He Xiao was separated from her and went to the advanced class, the same class as Lin Ke. Lin Ke’s mom, on the other hand, had always been concerned about Lin Ke. After seeing her recent report cards, she locked her in her room and lectured her for many days. On the day of class placement, they also moved from the second-year building to a secluded third-year building, far from all the supermarkets and restaurants. The third-year students were completely isolated and would no longer participate in any activities except for the 100-day oath ceremony.

Everyone was moving things that day. The school was filled with cars. Duan Jiayang rested her hand on her chin. Duan Litian’s secretary came to handle her miscellaneous tasks. Several people were moving her books. The secretary asked her if she wanted to go to the advanced class. He Xiao, worried about her, also said, “Jiayang, be in the same class as me.”

Lately, Duan Jiayang had been acting like a different person. She was often spaced out in class and didn’t turn in her homework on time. He Xiao secretly helped her with her homework a few times.

After moving to the third-year building, Duan Jiayang sat in her former homeroom teacher’s classroom. The secretary couldn’t persuade her. He Xiao told the secretary that she wasn’t in a good state and wondered if she had fought with her dad.

This wasn’t a matter of an argument. It was a matter of pride. After she found out Lin Wan was pregnant, she stayed at the Lan family’s house and didn’t come back. Now that Lan Yao was studying abroad, she was back home and hadn’t said a word to Duan Litian.

The secretary told Duan Litian, but Duan Litian was even more stubborn and said to let her be, not to care about her, and to let her do whatever she wanted.

The secretary was an outsider. As long as he did his job well, what did the future of the boss’s daughter have to do with him?

After all… there was a son in that belly.

…

In their busy third year of high school, Duan Jiayang became silent. She tried to find He Xiao to talk to her, but He Xiao was busy doing practice questions and was exhausted. She barely had time to eat. Her family was different from Duan Jiayang’s; they were an ordinary family that had to cross the bridge of the college entrance exam.

Duan Jiayang didn’t dare to bother her. She suddenly wanted to skip class. In their third year, very few people skipped class. It was already at the single-plank bridge of the college entrance exam. Those who used to fly around now began to learn how to walk on their own in the oppressive atmosphere. According to the teacher, those who still flew around were “naturally wicked, unrepentant, and hopeless.”

The homeroom teacher spoke with a heavy accent, his teeth clenched, and his front teeth trembling. Duan Jiayang rubbed her fingers hard, leaving marks on her index finger.

Her desk mate saw it and quietly asked, “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

Duan Jiayang swallowed and pinched her knuckles again. Her desk mate said, “Take some time off after class and go to the hospital.”

Duan Jiayang nodded.

She didn’t pay much attention in class. Watching her homeroom teacher go back to the office, she slowly walked toward the office, her steps heavy. As she passed Lin Ke’s office, there was a click, and Lin Ke opened the window.

She lingered outside the office door for a long time, afraid to go in.

It was the principal of Class 8 who saw her and kindly brought her in. The homeroom teacher asked, “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well? Go to the hospital?”

Duan Jiayang still pinched her fingers. “Yeah…”

The homeroom teacher signed a leave slip for her and said, “Come back soon. Now, all the normal people outside have come back to study. Only those with wicked natures are still wandering around. Leave me your phone number.”

She wrote down Duan Litian’s number.

Duan Jiayang wasn’t sick at all. She ran out of the office with her head down. Her eyes felt sore. This was the first time she had skipped class. She didn’t know where to go. Holding a leave slip, she thought of herself as a wicked demon, a person with a wicked nature. After wandering for half an hour, she went into an internet cafe and took a seat between two people with red hair. The air was filled with smoke, and the smell was disgusting. She went and topped up both of their accounts with 100 yuan each. The two red-haired people just kept playing their games, the keyboards clacking loudly. Their headphones were on their heads, and they didn’t notice her.

An hour later, she started looking at Taobao. In the end, she left, still holding the leave slip. She still didn’t know where to go. She hailed a cab and went to a swimming pool.

She lingered at the swimming pool for a long time but didn’t go in. She went to other places and then went back to school. No one knew where she had gone, and no one asked. She specifically bought some cold medicine. She was not sick, but she made a pack for herself, waiting for someone to care about her.

He Xiao asked her what was wrong. She said it was just a small stomach ache. It seemed everyone accepted her lie. Duan Jiayang was depressed and sad. Sometimes she would take a leave of absence, and sometimes she would just run outside.

On Saturday, she went to the swimming pool with her new classmates. She turned her head and saw Lin Ke. Lin Ke had somehow gotten there. She was sitting quietly in a chair, watching her. Duan Jiayang walked over and forcefully threw her bag on the ground. Lin Ke looked at her, picked up her bag, and placed it on her lap. Her eyes were black, but they seemed to brighten a little when they landed on her.

Duan Jiayang paid for everything. Her classmates were in their own groups, splashing water on their friends and laughing. No one was around her. After swimming, they didn’t say goodbye and just changed and left. Some thanked her, but it was all copy-and-pasted in the group chat, with a simple “+1” and no one bothering to type a word.

Only she and Lin Ke were left at the swimming pool.

Lin Ke was holding her bag. She was in a one-piece swimsuit, barefoot, standing in the shimmering water, looking lost. She dived into the water and then went to the changing room to change.

Duan Jiayang didn’t have a good social circle. Without He Xiao, she had to play by herself. She started to become withdrawn and spent money lavishly. Everyone was used to it, thinking that she was a young lady and should pay for everything and save face.

The next week, Duan Jiayang went to the swimming pool again. This time, she wasn’t with her classmates. She was with people who had dyed hair.

She didn’t know when, but delinquents started to appear around her. They were the same ones from the internet cafe. They weren’t necessarily bad, but they loved her money and treated her like an ATM.

At first, she wanted to get noticed, to throw a tantrum and be unreasonable. Later, she didn’t want anyone to find out, so she let others lead her.

She treated them to the internet cafe a few times. She was good-looking and had money, so they were all willing to hang out with her and say nice things to her.

She just jumped into the water and swam with the group. She paid for all the fees.

One guy asked her, “Who’s that girl following you?”

She swam wildly in the pool. When she was tired, she just doggy-paddled, but she didn’t reply to them.

Who was she?

She was Lin Wan’s spy.

Duan Jiayang was so tired she felt like she was drowning. Lin Ke’s eyes were on her. She climbed out, dripping wet, and kicked Lin Ke. “Are you sick? If you follow me again, I’ll choke you to death. I’ll have my friends kill you.”

Duan Jiayang had thought about it. When the time was right, she would have these friends beat up Lin Wan and Duan Litian. She looked at Lin Ke, pointed at her head, and said, “Including you.”

Lin Ke slowly took back her leg and handed her a dry towel. She said, “Are they your friends? Then why did they come over and ask for my WeChat?” She took out her phone. There was a list of friend requests on it. Duan Jiayang leaned over, took the phone, and threw it into the swimming pool without a second thought.

Plop. The phone sank.

Lin Ke pursed her lips and lowered her eyes. Duan Jiayang felt incredibly satisfied and jumped back into the water, swimming madly.

The 17-year-old girl was radiant and beautiful. Her body wasn’t fully developed, but she was like a budding flower, a youthful temptation.

She didn’t know how many lecherous men were crouching by the pool. The friends she had made were squatting in the pool, their eyes glowing. They were uncivilized, and their eyes were either on her waist or her wet, long legs.

Duan Jiayang waved her hand, paying 5,000 yuan for everyone’s fees. The two red-haired guys ignored the staff’s warnings and smoked. They nudged each other with their elbows. “Bro, are you going to make a move? Duan Jiayang seems pretty innocent. If you don’t pursue her, I will.”

“Her dad seems a little powerful… Wait, there’s another one next to her. Her best friend looks good too.”

“That’s Lin Ke… the number one student in her grade. Who would dare?”

“What’s so great about being number one? That girl from Fuzhong was also really smart, but she went crazy and hung out with some shady guys. She slept with them for a night and even posted photos on Tieba. Her family didn’t dare to say a word.”

Duan Jiayang came back after paying. The two guys smiled and said, “Duan Jiayang, you should go back to school. Don’t hang out with us. We’re all losers.”

Duan Jiayang dried her hair with a towel and said, “Let me treat you to dinner. What do you want to eat?”

“We heard there’s a popular restaurant on Beichang Street. We’ve never been. Can you get us in?”

That restaurant had a Michelin-star chef. The minimum cost to get in was five digits, and the final bill would be at least six digits.

Duan Jiayang’s monthly allowance.

She hesitated and nodded. The two red-haired guys then said, “We’re just kidding. No matter how rich you are, you shouldn’t spend money so carelessly.”

The tall one patted her on the shoulder. “Jiayang, you’re too easy to trick. You don’t have to treat us.”

“Yeah, just send us a red envelope to pay for our internet time. We’ll take you to a barbecue place. You can eat all you want.”

“Call your best friend too. It’s not safe for her to be alone.”

Duan Jiayang didn’t want to deal with Lin Ke at all. “No, just leave her be.” She walked over and fiercely snatched her bag from Lin Ke.

After wandering outside for a long time, she was addicted to this feeling. Some people were well-dressed but had vicious hearts, while others were rebellious and called delinquents, but were actually very kind.

Duan Jiayang found a sense of connection. She wildly sent red envelopes to her new friends.

She paid for the barbecue as well. The two red-haired guys praised her to the heavens. She turned her head and found that Lin Ke was still following her, her steps slow and light. She stopped, and Lin Ke stopped. Lin Ke didn’t eat anything. She sat in an empty seat and just drank the free water on the table.

Duan Jiayang was a little annoyed. When she went back, Lin Ke was still following her. She asked her, “What do you want?”

“You threw my phone away. I don’t have any money to get a cab.”