HNYWEF -Chapter 19 Abnormal

Zhou Yi was the one who finally broke the silence.

“Uncle Cheng.”

Cheng Yaojin lowered his head.

Looking up at him, Zhou Yi asked:

“What was my father like before?”

Cheng Yaojin froze for a moment.

He looked at the child.

His mouth opened slightly, wanting to say something.

But he didn’t know how to say it.

Zhou Yi looked at him and waited for a while.

Then he remembered what he himself had said earlier, when Cheng Yaojin had asked about his mother.

“My father told me my mother died during the war.”

That was what he had said.

But when the words left his mouth, even he had paused for a second.

Because something was wrong.

Mother died during the war—that was what Father had told him.

But the way those people had looked at Father just now, the way Father had looked at them, the way he had rushed into the inner room—

Something wasn’t right.

Or maybe… not entirely right.

Father had lied to him.

He was a thoughtful child.

Zhou Yi said nothing more.

He turned around and walked toward the inner room.

The curtain swayed slightly.

That small figure disappeared behind it.

Everyone in the main hall stopped and looked toward the curtain.

No one spoke.

Cheng Yaojin stood in the courtyard, staring at the curtain.

Without moving.

When Zhou Yi lifted the curtain, the room inside was dark.

Much darker than outside.

The windows were shut. A sliver of light slipped through the crack in the curtain and fell across the floor like a white line carved by a knife.

He blinked.

Then he saw his father.

His father was crouching in the corner.

Both hands clutching his head.

His head hung so low it was nearly touching his knees.

His whole body curled tightly into itself.

Completely motionless.

Zhou Yi stood at the doorway.

He didn’t move.

He stared at the corner.

It was a version of his father he had never seen before.

Usually, his father didn’t speak much, but when it was time to stand, he stood. When it was time to sit, he sat. When it was time to work, he worked.

His father had never been like this.

Never curled himself into a single tiny point.

As if he wished he could disappear from the world entirely.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi felt that room was enormous.

So enormous it felt hollow.

His father crouched in the corner, so small.

Small like a stray cat driven into a dead end.

Small like he might be swallowed by the darkness at any moment.

Zhou Yi didn’t dare walk closer.

He simply stood at the doorway, staring at the corner.

The room was silent.

Silent enough to hear dust falling to the ground.

His father crouched there without moving.

No sound.

No movement.

Like a clay statue.

Zhou Yi remembered the expressions on those men’s faces earlier.

The way those uncles had looked at his father.

It wasn’t the kind of look he had imagined.

It wasn’t happiness.

It was something else.

He couldn’t explain what.

But he knew that fleeting expression in Father’s eyes when he saw them—

That had been fear.

Father was afraid of those people.

And now Father was crouching in this corner, clutching his head.

As though what had happened earlier hadn’t been an old friends’ reunion at all, but some kind of public denunciation.

And his father—

was the one being denounced.

Zhou Yi stood at the doorway.

Looking at that corner.

That pale strip of light fell across the floor, far away from his father.

His father crouched in the darkness.

Without moving.

Outside, people were still carrying things in and out. Cheng Yaojin paid them no attention.

Suddenly, he felt that something was missing.

Missing what?

He turned his head and glanced beside him.

Empty.

Zhou Yi was gone.

Cheng Yaojin froze.

He looked around again.

Nothing.

He took a step into the main hall and craned his neck to look inside.

Still nothing.

His heart skipped violently.

He strode toward the inner room and yanked the curtain aside—

Then he froze.

The room was dark.

The windows were shut, and a line of light slipped through the gap in the curtain onto the floor.

Zhou Yi stood by the doorway without moving.

And in the corner—

Cheng Yaojin saw Zhou Xiong.

Crouching in the corner.

Both hands clutching his head.

Head lowered so far it nearly touched his knees.

His whole body curled into itself.

Cheng Yaojin’s mouth opened.

He wanted to curse out, “What the hell are you doing?”

But the words stuck in his throat.

They wouldn’t come out.

So he simply stood there, mouth hanging open, staring at the person in the corner.

Was that Zhou Xiong?

Was that Bear Blind?

That person crouching in the corner, clutching his head, curled into a ball?

For the first time, Cheng Yaojin suddenly felt like maybe he had mistaken him for someone else.

Who was this person?

Did he just happen to look too much like Bear Blind?

Was he only similar in appearance, while actually being someone completely different?

Cheng Yaojin stood there blankly, staring at the corner.

He had known Zhou Xiong for a long time.

More than ten years ago, there had been that young man on the Shandong mountain road who saved Shan Xiongxin, grinning as he cursed people with carefree ease.

Ten years ago, there had been that fool in Wagang Fortress who showed off his son to everyone he met, cursing people’s ancestors for eight generations straight while stitching wounds.

Nine years ago, there had been that departing figure carrying a child in his arms, leaving without a single word, never once turning his head back.

And then later, there had been the man who opened the door, glanced at him once, and shut it again.

But afterward, the door had opened once more.

That was Zhou Xiong.

That was Bear Blind.

But this person crouching in the corner before him—

Cheng Yaojin didn’t recognize him.

He had never seen someone like this before.

Suddenly, he wanted to ask:

Who are you?

But he didn’t say it aloud.

He simply stood there, staring at the person curled into a ball.

After a very long time.

So long that even he no longer knew how much time had passed.

He lowered his head.

And saw Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi was looking up at him, his eyes dark and bright, but holding something inside them—not fear, but something else.

Cheng Yaojin bent down.

He reached out and picked Zhou Yi up.

Zhou Yi said nothing, simply letting himself be held.

Cheng Yaojin turned around, lifted the curtain, and walked out.

He didn’t look back.

He didn’t dare look back.

He was afraid that if he looked at that corner again, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from cursing.

But who would he curse?

Curse Zhou Xiong?

Curse the man curled into a ball?

Curse the stranger he didn’t even recognize?

Holding Zhou Yi in his arms, Cheng Yaojin crossed the main hall and walked into the courtyard.

Outside, the sunlight was blindingly bright.

Bright enough to make his eyes sting.