Chapter 46 - Gunshot Wound (1/2)

Chapter 46: Gunshot Wound

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

(Unedited)

“Mom.” He shouted again.

“Go away!” The woman was agitated by the word and shouted suddenly as she shook the boy’s hand off.

Little Li Sui was shocked, he reached out his hand again in a hurry to grab the rim of the woman’s skirt, “Mom, don’t leave me behind.”

“How many times have I told you? Don’t call me mom. Call me Aunt Li!” The woman glared angrily.

Little Li Sui was very scared, he didn’t understand why. She was his mother, so he called her “mom”. Everyone else had a mother, so why couldn’t he call his mother “mum”? But even if he was reluctant, he changed his words shyly, “Aunt Li.”

The woman seemed to be in good spirits after that and turned to the house. Little Li Sui trotted closely behind her.

This place was a huge traditional style complex with interconnected wooden buildings, it was a large place. A pond was in front the complex and a garden was behind it, in the middle was a tree with a trunk that had a circumference of three human arm-spans. The outermost part of the complex was surrounded by a tall wall, a dense and cold network of iron thorns atop the wall, making the house completely isolated from the outside world.

Li Sui had lived in the complex from the earliest moments of his memories, he remembered going outside was rare. Occasionally, he would go outside, but he was in a car and it was always with Mr. Xu.

Mr. Xu was a tall man in his fifties, he was a little fat, but always wore a suit that didn’t fit well, he looked like a man in an airtight bag.

When little Li Sui was still very young, Mr. Xu often came to see him. The man taught Li Sui how to read and write, bought him candies, gave him toys, and even took him out to see the lanterns. Those were Li Sui’s happiest childhood memory. Whenever the sun went down, little Li Sui would sit on the doorstep and wait for Mr. Xu to come pick him up.

In his eyes, although Mr. Xu was not as good-looking as other people’s father, he was more easygoing, he never forced Li Sui to do his homework, nor scolded him, he even took him on car rides. One time, when Mr. Xu came to pick him up, little Li Sui asked him in a tiny voice, “Are you my father?”

“I’m your father.”

“Then can I call you my father then?”

Mr. Xu smiled and said, “Yes”.

Little Li Sui slipped away from him and ran quickly in the front, he said, “I have a father!”

When he returned home that day, little Li Sui just couldn’t wait to tell his mother about it. Unexpectedly, when she heard it, she was furious. His mother threw all of his candies and toys into the lotus pond, even his favorite Monkey King action figure.

“If I hear that from you again, I’ll throw you in there too. Do you hear me?”

little Li Sui did not cry, but his tears were rolling in his eye sockets.

From that day onwards, he seldom saw Mr. Xu. He didn’t even come over for the New Years. Later, when he grew older and became more sensible. Li Sui heard fragments from the cooks working in the complex, he gradually pieced everything together to get the whole story.

His mother was a beauty in a remote town, and his father, Mr. Xu was a high-ranking official. When Mr. Xu accompanied another official on a visit to the town, he took a fancy to his mother. Mr. Xu already had a family at that time, but he was lonely and wanted to seek some excitement. He repeatedly hinted at the lady but had no results. So, at the end, he simply kidnapped his mother and locked her up in this complex, that continued for eight years.

Although his mother was not from a big city, she had a distinguished appearance and had dignity. Her family was neither powerful nor influential, so she could get angry and swallow her breath, she dared not voice out her anger. At first, she tried committing suicide, but she was always saved. Only to get more humiliation after retaliating. Later on, she gradually became tired, she just sat in the house in silence every day.

After around two years, Li Sui was born. He was born good-looking, with eyes like that of his mother’s. He had an adorable face, but for some reason was never loved by anyone working in the complex. In this walled-complex, besides Mr. Xu giving him a little warmth occasionally, no one wanted to be close to him, even his own mother thought of Li Sui as the proof of her humiliation.

Little Li Sui grew up to become six years old, growing in such a complicated environment. One day, the iron gate was smashed open. A large group of men in uniform rushed in, kicking down each and every door inside the house. At that time, Little Li Sui and his mother were in the backyard garden. Amidst the chaos, they heard some people outside shouting that official Xu had fallen, they were here to liquidate his assets and confiscate his dirty money.

All of a sudden, scores of people were in the backyard garden, everyone was hurryingly taking and moving things. Little Li Sui had never seen so many barbaric strangers running around before, so he was frightened. He did not even remember when his mother began to drag him out of the complex with her in the commotion. When Little Li Sui finally came to, they were already in a forest in the countryside.

It was getting dark, and little Li Sui ran for so long already, he was exhausted. little Li Sui tripped over the roots of a tree on the ground and fell down, feeling the sudden emptiness in her hands, his mother stopped and looked down at him.

It was around the time when people have lantern shows, the cold moonlight sipped through the gaps in the leaves, shining on both of their eyes. little Li Sui raised his head up from the ground with difficulty. When their eyes met, little Li Sui could see the intentions in his mother’s eyes, she didn’t want him anymore.

The next second, sounds of rapid footsteps echoed the forest. Looking at the person who fled alone in front of his eyes, an unspeakable fear rose in his heart. Almost instinctively, little Li Sui climbed up from the ground and chased her, he cried and ran.

little Li Sui was still so small, there was no way he could catch up with an adult so easily, he fell to the ground again.

little Li Sui cried till he was out of breath, he screamed with a hoarse voice, “… Mom!” He had no relatives, he only had his mother left, even if his mother didn’t treat him well, she was still his mother.

His voice echoed in the woods, when the woman in the distant heard the voice, she stopped suddenly and glared back at Li Sui fiercely.

little Li Sui was frightened and helpless, he couldn’t stop trembling. He lowered his head to wipe his tears, which was when he was knocked on the head. He was shocked, raising his head up, he saw his mother standing in front of him angrily. Her teeth were grinding so hard that little Li Sui could hear them.

His head was beaten hard again, “What did you call me? What did I say you should call me?”

little Li Sui was in a trance for a moment, he stammered and said, “Li… Aunt Li…”

“Hey, what’s going on over there? Are you kidnapping children?!” Two patrolling officers appeared on the side of the woods, they were probably attracted by the crying, and swung the flashlight over to them.

Both of them were shocked, thinking that someone was going to catch them. They escaped in confusion and dared not stay there any longer, so they left in a hurry.

They left bringing nothing, they had no money, no phone, and no ID card. Having been imprisoned for many years, Li Sui’s mother had long been out of touch with the world. She did not know how the world was now and whether she could turn to the police for help.

When the gate was broken, her first reaction was to flee, but after escaping, she realized that being imprisoned for eight years didn’t only apply physically, a wall was also gradually built around her heart.

To be safe, she decided not to go to the police but bring little Li Sui home with her.

Without money, she had to beg door to door to pay for the journey, for fear of being discovered by Xu’s family, she dared not go to crowded places. She only went to nearby villages and towns to seek food and travelling expenses. The people living there were mostly uneducated, they were traditional and conservative. Some men noticed her beauty and had evil ideas, they wanted to catch her to sell for money. Fortunately, several passing villagers rescued her.

Li Sui’s mother was frightened, she fled with little Li Sui overnight, not even daring to beg for money anymore. They walked along the route in her memories. When they passed through another village, all of their money was used up and they didn’t have food anymore. Li Sui’s mother was severely ill, she coughed all the time and could no longer walk.

Little Li Sui was scared and anxious, he went around the village asking for help. The barefoot doctor in the village was a nice person, he sympathized with little Li Sui and his mother. The doctor did a simple check-up on little Li Sui’s mother, upon checking, the doctor was shocked.

“This isn’t a simple cold, I think she might have something wrong in her lungs. I suggest you go get an X-ray from major cities,” The doctor said.

After hearing that Li Sui’s mother only shook her head, while little Li Sui said in a childish voice, “But we don’t have money.”

The doctor seemed to find this difficult as well, he pointed in a direction and said, “There are some people in the village buying blood, they buy blood with quite a high price. Maybe you can ask them about it?”

After hesitating a bit, Li Sui’s mother brought Li Sui to the selling booth with her. There was quite a line at the selling booth, mostly villagers from nearby places. This place was obviously unauthorised, they lacked even the most basic of hygienic precautions, the needles were often reused.

Even though she was isolated from the world for years, she still had basic public health knowledge. She was afraid of getting infected, but after asking around, everyone said there was no contagious disease outbreaks nearby. She only dared selling her blood after obtaining that information.

Technically, a patient like herself should not be selling blood here, but she couldn’t care about that now. If she waited any longer, they might just die here before they could ever reach home.

She got 400 Yuan for selling 600mL of blood, that bit of money was barely enough for road fares. Her gaze fell onto little Li Sui, he seemed to have sensed something and raised his arm up willingly.

The fake doctor doing the aspiration looked at little Li Sui in shock and said, “Aren’t this kid too young, are you sure you want me to take his blood?”

She hardened his heart and said, “Yes.”

Another person who was responsible for aspirating blood looked their way and said, “You need money that badly? We’ll do an examination on him first, if anything happens, we aren’t responsible.”

After that little Li Sui was brought into a dark room, there were a few people inside, both male and female. Throughout the whole process little Li Sui was in a trance, he only knew that the people hooked him up to some kind of machines, he also heard some weird dripping sounds for his whole duration in the room.

After the examinations, the fake doctor aspirated 100mL of blood from little Li Sui. He began feeling dizzy after that, his mother took the money and picked little Li Sui up, bringing him to have some food.

After resting for a night, they were planning on hiring a motorcycle near the entrance of the village. Just when they got to the village entrance, they were stopped by a pair of masked couple, they were clearly not good people.

“Will you sell your kid?” The man asked directly.