Yuan Yuan pressed his whole face tightly against the thin window paper. His skin took on a deathly pale and bluish tint. The window paper bulged slightly inward under his pressure, forming a blurry and eerie outline.
His inky-black eyes were now staring motionlessly through the gaps in the window lattice into the room.
His gaze moved slowly, inch by inch, around the room, from the gorgeous toys in the corner to them, his "old companions" in the middle.
In those overly black eyes, there was a glint of a strange light, as if he were carefully distinguishing if there were any strange movements in the room. Or rather, he was waiting, waiting for one of the toys to move again involuntarily.
In an instant, everyone felt goosebumps rise all over their bodies! The air solidified into thick amber, and even time seemed to stop flowing.
I don't know how long it had passed. Just when everyone was almost suffocating, the face outside the window suddenly disappeared.
The sound of the wheelchair rang out again. Yuan Yuan retrieved the knee blanket and was pushed back into the room by the maid.
The maid turned around woodenly and exited the room. The heavy wooden door creaked shut, completely isolating this world from the outside. In the huge room, there was only Yuan Yuan left. Apart from the occasional sound of the wind outside the window, nothing was left. It was so quiet that one could hear the echo of their own heartbeat.
Yuan Yuan seemed to be already accustomed to this suffocating silence. He skillfully arranged the four toys carefully in a small circle and started a game of house - playing that only he was involved in.
His small hand gently stroked the rough edges of the paper figure Zhong Shengwan. He carefully stuffed the cotton that was showing from the cloth doll Dongfang Xiao back in, gently wiped the smooth glaze of the porcelain doll Shen Cuiyu. Finally, he leaned his small body against the silent wooden general doll, as if it were his firmest and only support.
"Daddy... Mommy... Big brother... Big sister..." He finally spoke very softly, his voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, with an uncertain probe, as if he was afraid of disturbing this hard - won and illusory family reunion. "You tell me... When will I be able to, like Huzi at the alley entrance, run to the river to catch fish and dig out bird nests from the trees?"
The almost disappearing afterglow shone through the window lattice on Yuan Yuan, gilding his pale little face with a fragile and illusory golden light. He looked up at the floating clouds outside the window, his eyes full of longing and confusion. He was so quiet that there was not a single sound, as if he was breathing carefully, afraid of breaking this momentary tranquility.
I don't know how long it had passed before he silently picked up the medicine bowl that had long since gone cold and took small sips.
The pitch - black medicine juice smelled bitterly pungent, but Yuan Yuan seemed to be already used to it. Only occasionally would he wrinkle his little face due to the extreme bitterness, but he wouldn't even let out a single complaint.
He would only comfort himself in a very soft voice over and over again: "Take the medicine quickly. After taking it, the illness will be cured. When it's cured, Daddy and Mommy will take Yuan'er out to fly kites..."
Hearing this, Zhong Shengwan and the others felt a wordless desolation well up in their hearts.
This was Yuan Yuan's mental prison. This scene must have been a memory that he had experienced repeatedly and engraved deeply in his mind before his death.
These few innocent words carried his heaviest and purest expectations.
But everyone present was clear about the cruel truth - Yuan Yuan's illness never got better. He quietly passed away in the winter when he was seven years old.
Although birth, old age, illness, and death are just the cycle of the Heavenly Way and a common sight in the eyes of the Heavenly Masters, it was too cruel when it happened to such an innocent child who was longing for life.
He was like a flower bud that had not yet bloomed. Before it could fully bloom in the world, it withered silently in the cold winter too early...
Dongfang Xiao hesitated to speak, but finally just let out a soft sigh in her heart.
Just then, the indistinct but clearly audible whispers of the maids came from outside the house, like cold vipers slipping through the cracks.
"I don't think the young master's illness will ever get better... The pile of medicine dregs in the back yard is almost taller than a person. It's really inauspicious!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down! I heard that the master and the mistress are planning to have another son recently. This time, they must have a healthy one to inherit the family business. This sickly child is probably..."
Yuan Yuan's small body stiffened imperceptibly. He seemed not to hear and stubbornly continued to play with the toys in his hands. But his big eyes quickly filled with tears, and finally the tears rolled down uncontrollably, dropping one by one on the already pitifully rough paper figure in his arms, spreading dark, sad marks and making it look even more ragged and ridiculous.
Finally, Yuan Yuan suddenly reached out and hugged all the toys tightly in his arms. He buried his hot face deeply in the cold quilt. His thin shoulders trembled slightly, and he let out a suppressed, little - beast - like whimper.
"... You tell me, will I die? Will it hurt?"
"After I die, will Daddy and Mommy forget me..."
"It's okay, it's okay..." He seemed to be talking to the toys and also trying to convince himself desperately. "No matter where I go in the future, you'll still be with me..."
In this false world he had constructed with toys, there was no endless illness, no bitter medicine juice, and no whispers of the servants. He had many companions who would never despise him or leave him.
At this moment, Shen Cuiyu finally thoroughly understood Yuan Yuan's obsession - he didn't understand why he had been tortured by illness since birth. He longed to grow up healthily like other children.
He didn't understand what death was and was even more afraid of the unknown world.
Most importantly, Yuan Yuan was afraid of being forgotten.
The paper figure Zhong Shengwan suddenly trembled violently. A wave of emotions mixed with boundless anger and endless sorrow swept away all his rationality.
In an instant, all the rules of the mental prison and the safety of his spiritual consciousness were thrown to the back of his mind. There was only an extremely strong thought left in his heart - How could they treat Yuan Yuan like this?!
And he himself had distanced himself from Yuan Yuan back then, making him experience the feeling of being forgotten again...
Zhong Shengwan felt a lump in his throat and finally couldn't hold back.
Only to see the paper figure, wet with tears and looking even more tattered, gently and carefully touch Yuan Yuan's cold little face covered with tear - stains with its rough edges.
"Xiao Yuan," Zhong Shengwan's voice came out difficultly through the paper. It wasn't very loud, but it clearly reached Yuan Yuan's ears. "Don't cry."
The entire courtyard suddenly fell silent. The floating clouds in the sky stopped moving, the gentle breeze stopped blowing, and all things became terrifyingly silent.
"Something's wrong!" Dongfang Xiao's spiritual consciousness thought to herself.
Sure enough, the maids who had been whispering outside the house just now suddenly distorted and deformed!
Their faces became hideous and terrifying, their eyes bulged out, and their mouths were opened to an inhuman arc. They let out inhuman screams and started to ram and beat the doors and windows crazily with their bodies, trying to break through the obstacles and rush into the room!
"Crash -!"
At this critical moment, Shen Cuiyu suddenly shook the porcelain doll's body forcefully, making it roll out of Yuan Yuan's arms and smash heavily on the ground, shattering into pieces instantly!
Taking advantage of the impact of the momentary breakage of the carrier, Shen Cuiyu's spiritual consciousness managed to break free. Without a moment's rest, she quickly made a complex spell gesture in the void and shouted clearly, "Freeze!"
Just one second before the illusion began to collapse violently and countless fragments flew and disappeared, Zhong Shengwan subconsciously looked at Yuan Yuan -
There was no expected rage and venom. For the first time, there was a crack on the child's cold and silent face.
He looked deeply at Zhong Shengwan one last time with an extremely complex look in his eyes.
Then, everything was completely swallowed by the distorted light and shadow.