Chapter 127 I Was a Scumbag! (1/2)
After a long time, the patient's body gradually relaxed.
He took a deep breath and said, ”No need.”
”Go on. I can bear it.”
Then he went on and said, ”When human beings are wicked, they can commit all manners of crimes. I was one of those people.”
”How wicked are you?”
Fang Qiu asked curiously, but his action did not stop; his hands were still carefully touching the bones, looking for an angle to set them.
”I was born in the countryside.”
When the middle-aged man immersed himself in his memory, his eyes gradually blurred.
”I did a lot of bad things in the village in those years.”
”In my village, every family farmed and raised livestock, and so did my family, but I never farmed. When I was hungry, I would look for food at home. If I could not find it, I would steal it. Where there was good food, I would go there. At first, I just stole food to eat. But after several times, I became bolder and bolder. I even went so far as to break into other's homes to rob things.”
”Old Li lived in the east of our village, and his legs were fragile. His wife died early, and he was alone. On holidays, his two sons would bring him some delicious food and drink. I thought he couldn't eat or drink so much. So I broke into his house once when he was not at home and ate all his good meat, wine, and tonics.”
”When I had finished eating, I wrapped everything up and was going to steal it back to enjoy myself. But I didn't expect Old Li to come back just as I was getting ready to leave.”
”Guess what had happened then?”
At this point, the middle-aged man suddenly gave a self-mocking laugh.
He continued, ”I knew that Old Li had poor legs and could only walk on crutches. So when he came back, I hid behind the door. And when he came in, I took his crutch, broke it, and ran. He was so angry that he threw his broken crutch at me.”
”I was furious. I used a match to burn the firewood stack in his yard while nobody was there, and I almost burned down his house. I was nine years old at that time.”
When Fang Qiu heard the words ”nine years old,” his hand suddenly stopped moving.
However, it only lasted for a short while.
”Old Li is just one of the people I've hurt. I had chickens and ducks in my own house, but I never ate them. When I wanted to eat chickens, I stole them from the village.”
”One day, after drinking the liquor stolen from Old Li, I ran to Aunt Jiang's house and killed all the ten chickens, three geese and seven ducks she raised.”
”Taking the chicken stolen from Aunt Jiang's house, I ran all the way to the field of the village secretary and prepared to roast the chicken. At that time, the crops in the fields were ripe for harvest. But I set them on fire. I was eleven then.”
”I also robbed Mr. Yang's child of all his belongings.”
”I beat Sun Dazhuang.”
”I charged protection money from primary school students.”
”During the day, I looked around for food. In the evening, I felt very bored, so I carried firecrackers and made trouble for every family. If anyone bothered me, I would go to their fields and spoil all their corps... ”
”The angrier they got, the happier I was.”
”No one could control me. If anyone beat me, I would make trouble for them without them noticing!”
”My parents couldn't control me either. If they dared to control me, I would threaten them that I would commit suicide. I am their only son...”
The more the middle-aged man talked, the more he was absorbed in the past.
He was so absorbed in the memory that he seemed to forget the pain.
”Crack.”
Fang Qiu acted.
This time, the middle-aged man did not grunt.
However, he just shivered, and his muscles stiffened. Then he relaxed and went on.
”I didn't know why I was so wicked. I was happy when other people were miserable. I did bad things every day.”
”I didn't know how many bad things I'd done.”
”Until I was twenty years old.”
”There was a fool named Gaogao in our village.”
”He was born stupid, but everyone in the village was very kind to him and took good care of him.”
”I was trying to fool him. So I took him to the edge of a biogas digester outside the village and incited him to jump in just for fun.”
”He was stupid, but he didn't listen to me. He knew he couldn't jump into it.”
”I was anxious. To make him jump, I used firecrackers to scare him. As a result, he was scared to the edge of the biogas digester before I even lit a firecracker.”
”But even so, he was unwilling to jump.”
”I was so angry that I lit a firecracker and threw it at him.”
”As a result, it was this small firecracker that ignited the whole biogas digester.”
”I can never forget that scene as long as I live. A terrible wave of fire shot up into the sky. The huge impact of the explosion blew Gaogao away in a second.”
”He fell to the ground, motionless, and never got up again...”
”He died, and I was scared silly. I really just wanted to play a prank on him for fun. I didn't really mean to harm him, let alone kill him. That was the first time I felt guilty.”
Speaking of that, the middle-aged man suddenly stopped.
Tears ran down his face.
After a long time, he suppressed his emotions and continued.
”Then I was arrested by the villagers and taken away by the police.”
”On the day I was arrested, there were deafening sounds of firecrackers and cheers all over the village. Even my parents cheered. I remembered all the happy faces. The village was even busier then than during the Spring Festival.”
”I knew they hated me. Everyone hated me.”
”But it was because they hated me that I became outraged. It was a fit of irrepressible rage.”