Exhausted, she waved her hand, "Mom, I don’t know these people, and I didn’t do anything wrong. I only did what I was supposed to do, rest assured."
"Don’t know them? How could people you don’t know curse you like this? Or is it really your fault? Little Sha, in your line of work, the most important thing is to hold onto truth. You must stick to it! You can’t go against your conscience!" Shu Hui had always been strict with herself. She didn’t understand the state of online public opinion, and the overwhelming curses baffled her. If her daughter hadn’t made a mistake, how could the world hold so much malice against her? Her first thought was that it must be her daughter’s fault.
Tu Hengsha understood Shu Hui, but even her own mother doubted her. She still felt ntally exhausted, too tired to even explain. She only said, "Mom, I really didn’t do anything wrong, I swear! I’m tired and want to sleep for a while!"
"Not eating?" Shu Hui pressed on.
She shook her head and rushed into the bathroom.
Even though she had already washed once at the newspaper office, she still felt her body was covered in the stench of oil and gri. Especially the places on her body that the man in the subway had brushed against, she felt even filthier!
She gave herself a thorough wash from head to toe, especially her chest, scrubbing repeatedly with a bath sponge. Finally, she applied body lotion. In the floating, light scent, she felt she was barely clean.
The body lotion she used was lavender-scented. She had no special preference for these products and picked them randomly at the supermarket. Last ti it was wild chrysanthemum, and maybe next ti it would be jasmine. But at this mont, she was reminded of another particular scent — the green grass scent on him. She didn’t know how it ca about. Did he use cologne? Or did he also use body lotion? Neither seed quite suitable for him. Subconsciously, she couldn’t quite accept him as such a ticulous and fastidious man.
She would ask him next ti.
She thought this. Then she rembered she hadn’t seen him all day and wondered what he had been busy with, feeling a bit dazed.
Reaching for her clothes, she realized she hadn’t prepared a change before dashing into the bathroom.
Not wanting to ask her mom for help, she wrapped herself in a towel and went out. Her mom was probably in the kitchen, so she went straight back to her room. With her hair still wet, she crawled into bed and fell asleep imdiately.
Emptying her mind, or perhaps she was truly too tired, she indeed fell asleep in no ti.
She felt cold, as if her entire body was frozen.
She was running through a dark, deserted alley, with soone crazily chasing her. She scread for help. She rembered that once she ran through this alley, she would see Grandpa Pang’s fried dumpling shop. But this alley was so long, it seed endless.
The person chasing her laughed nacingly and shouted insults. All around were words insulting her: Look how slutty she is! Look how shaless she is! Look how much she craves n!
She wanted to ask the people around her for help, but no matter how she looked, she couldn’t see anyone. Only sounds buzzed around her, like flies, like bees, making her head ache, while the person chasing her got closer and closer. Finally, soone grabbed her collar, "rip," and her clothes were torn. The chill penetrated her body, and the roaring noise enveloped her. Everyone was shouting, "Rape her! Rape her..."
She was genuinely scared. She wanted to escape but couldn’t. Her hair was also grabbed, and the pain at the roots was excruciating. She was in utter despair. In the distance, she seed to see a beam of light following a round-faced little boy running with a lollipop. She shouted, "Help! Xiao Xu! Save ..."
"I’m here! I’m here! Did I hurt you?"
It sounded like a voice from the heavens.
She groggily opened her eyes. Only a desk lamp was on, adjusted to the lowest brightness, but it was enough to see his silhouette. In the soft, dim light, his eyes were dark and bright.
He held a hairdryer, which wooshed softly, and his fingers gently wove through her hair.
She seed still in her dream, seeing her little boy in her mont of despair. She flung herself at him without hesitation, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, sobbing, and only then did she think of saying, "Why did you take so long? Why did you take so long?"
Slightly stunned, he then gently pulled up the blanket to wrap her and pulled her and the blanket into his arms together.
"Don’t be scared, don’t be afraid, I’m here." He whispered softly in her ear, his lips gently brushed against her earlobe and cheek.
"There was a bad guy! A bad guy was chasing ..." The words she dared not tell Shu Hui, she revealed after awakening from the nightmare, entrusting all to him.
"I know, I know..." His voice was as gentle as a warm breeze that brushed past the night-blooming jasmine, "Don’t be afraid. There won’t be any more in the future. I’m sorry I ca late..."
"He wore a hat, wore a mask, and had an awful smile... I kept running and running... I wanted to reach Grandpa Pang’s shop... but it was so dark, the road was endless... no matter how I ran, I couldn’t find Grandpa Pang’s shop... they all laughed at ... insulted ..." She seed confused, mixing reality and dream in her description.
"Who? Who was chasing you?" He couldn’t quite understand, so what she had experienced was much more terrifying than what he saw?
"Later, I saw you... holding a lollipop... you ca to save , right? But you were so small, short and plump, how could you beat them, what to do..." She was completely imrsed in her own world, ignoring his words.
"..." He finally understood, she was sleep-talking. It even haunted her dreams! He hugged her tighter, "Silly child, I can beat them; I can beat them. Don’t be afraid anymore, and no one will co again."
She closed her eyes, inhaling the green grass scent on him, her heart gradually calming and becoming clearer. She finally understood that she was in her ho, lying in her bed, and the person holding her was her boy, now all grown up.
"Xiao Xu, what’s that sll on you? Is it cologne or lotion?" She rembered she wanted to ask, "It slls like green grass. When I was a child, I followed Grandma next door to pick wild vegetables in the morning, and the grass was just this scent. There were dewdrops hanging on the grass blades, shining, with the sun reflecting rainbow colors, so beautiful."
"..." He thought she would cry and complain to him about how terrible her day had been. Unexpectedly, after waking from the nightmare, she described such a beautiful scene to him.
He tidied the blanket, wrapping her more securely, pulling her entirely into his arms, and letting her sit on his lap, gently explaining the scent’s origin, "This sll isn’t cologne, nor lotion. It’s the scent of aftershave. My dad used it often when I was a kid, and in my mind, it’s my dad’s scent. Later, when I grew up and had to shave, I accidentally found this old brand of aftershave still available, so I bought it and have been using it since. I don’t know why, but from frequent use, this scent lingers on ."
Reviews
All reviews (0)