The delivery person handed her a list and pointed to an item: “This keyboard hasn’t been paid for.” Foster mother immediately understood, shouting angrily: “Meng Qing, come here!”
Meng Qing came out, looking slightly afraid.
Foster mother waved the keyboard box, scolding: “You secretly used my account to buy a keyboard when I didn’t want to buy one for you?”
“I really can’t get used to the keyboard on the tablet…”
Meng Qing said softly, walking to his foster mother’s side, looking up at the cardboard box in her hands with eager eyes.
Foster mother snorted heavily. The keyboard wasn’t expensive, and it was already bought, so let this little brat use it. If it could speed things up, it would be good – if he worked slowly, she would be scolded too. “Why didn’t you choose online payment?”
“I don’t know…”
Now’s the moment!
Meng Qing took a breath, crouched and slipped past the delivery person, rushing to the fire escape, straddling the staircase railing and sliding down. They lived on the fifth floor, so this was faster than the elevator.
In the blink of an eye, he was on the ground floor, hearing his foster mother’s angry and sharp scolding from above. Meng Qing smiled triumphantly, jumped off the railing, and pushed open the fire escape door.
He escaped!
He ran on the street, out of the residential area, into the subway, pulling out a handful of coins he’d secretly saved over the past few months, taking one or two at a time without them noticing. He bought a ticket to the North District, only relaxing after entering the train carriage, finding an inconspicuous corner to sit.
An hour later, he arrived in the northern city, left the subway station, and hesitated at the bus stop, not taking the bus to the North District orphanage. She would definitely call his foster father, who would go to the orphanage to look for him. What if the orphanage didn’t believe him and wanted to send him back?
The nine-year-old boy stood on the street edge for a while, bewildered and helpless.
He had only thought about escaping. Over the past year, he’d considered various escape methods but couldn’t implement them. During that moment when his foster mother was wiping the floor yesterday, he made a decision, unexpectedly succeeding in escaping. But what next? He hadn’t actually thought that far.
He missed Teacher Yu. If she knew about his situation, she would definitely help him.
Meng Qing opened his tablet, searched for nearby wireless networks, found the strongest signal, and easily cracked the password. He entered the orphanage’s internal network and left a document named “qing” on Teacher Yu’s computer.
He should buy some food and find a place to stay overnight.
Before dark, he wandered around the abandoned factory, discovering a wall hole in a corner of the warehouse where he spent the night.
The next day, Meng Qing continued roaming the factory’s surrounding alleys, familiarizing himself with the terrain and searching for wireless network signals. There was no signal in the factory area, and the nearby streets were poor, so he couldn’t find a network to connect to. Only after leaving this district, near a convenience store, did he find a signal.
Meng Qing entered the convenience store, and the signal indeed strengthened. He again entered the orphanage’s internal network, checking the document and finding no reading or modification records. He didn’t dare leave the document on the desktop, instead placing it in Teacher Yu’s commonly used folder, hoping she might not notice the suddenly added document.
The store clerk glanced up while he was online. The boy was dressed decently, looked clean, and was holding a tablet, so he probably wouldn’t steal anything. Seemingly just using the network, the clerk shrugged indifferently and returned to his phone.
Meng Qing closed the tablet, looked up at the clerk still absorbed in his phone, and hesitated while looking at the bread on the shelves. He didn’t have much money left.
Meng Qing stood in front of the shelves for a few minutes before finally picking up the cheapest bread and paying at the cash register.
His money wasn’t completely spent.
Teacher Yu would find him; she always could find him, so she would soon discover that extra document. If he had really stolen something, how would he tell her when she asked how he had spent these days?
On the third afternoon, when Meng Qing entered the orphanage’s internal network again, he discovered the document had been modified. His heart raced as he opened the document.
The first line was the text he had left two days ago: Teacher Yu, please don’t tell the two people who adopted me that I found you. Can you come find me?
Below this line was Teacher Yu’s response.
Meng Qing? Is that you? Where are you? Your mom and dad are almost crazy with worry. Why didn’t you tell them you found me? Come home quickly to put their minds at ease, and you can come find me at the orphanage. — Teacher Yu
Meng Qing continued typing: Teacher Yu, they beat me. They are the ones who did something wrong, not me. They forced me to steal money from the bank. If I didn’t do it, they would beat me.
After saving the modified document, he waited in the convenience store, constantly refreshing the page. After more than ten minutes, he finally noticed the document’s last modified time had changed and quickly opened it to check.
Sure enough, Teacher Yu had replied: Where are you? I’ll come find you. Tell me the details.
Meng Qing knew she was sitting in front of the computer, so he remotely controlled her computer.
Teacher Yu was surprised to find the mouse moving without her operation, moving to a document named “Qing”, which then automatically opened, and text began to appear in the blank space: Teacher Yu, have you told them that I found you?
Teacher Yu quickly replied: No. They don’t know yet.
Meng Qing left the convenience store’s address.
Half an hour later, Teacher Yu arrived at the convenience store. As soon as she saw Meng Qing, she noticed the marks on his face. A look of compassion flashed in her eyes as she gently touched his cheek: “Come with me.”
Meng Qing nodded. Teacher Yu led him out of the convenience store, asking: “Where have you been staying these past few days?”
“In an empty warehouse,” Meng Qing said flatly.
Teacher Yu felt distressed, gripping his hand tighter, “Let’s go back to the orphanage.”
Meng Qing suddenly stopped, forcefully breaking free from her hand, shouting: “I won’t go back! They’ll find me!”
Teacher Yu walked back to comfort him: “Don’t be afraid. They’ve been to the orphanage, but they’re not there now. They don’t know you’ll come back. We’ll call the police as soon as we return. There are so many teachers at the orphanage; they won’t let them take you.” She reached out to pull him.
Meng Qing stepped back, dodging her, still looking stubborn: “The police won’t believe me. I’ve reported before.”
Teacher Yu patiently persuaded: “The teachers will believe me, right? You can tell me the details on the way. I’ll also tell them about your abilities at the orphanage. They’ll believe.”
Meng Qing mumbled: “But I did those bad things. The police will arrest me too.”
Teacher Yu knelt down and hugged him: “You’re still young. You were forced. The police will only arrest them, not you.”
Meng Qing was silent for a moment, then nodded.
Teacher Yu hailed a taxi and took him back to the orphanage.
After the car stopped, Meng Qing got out first. Looking back at Teacher Yu in the taxi, his arm was suddenly grabbed and pulled forcefully toward the front of the taxi. He saw the familiar face that made him both afraid and hateful.
Meng Qing struggled desperately, but the strength of a thin nine-year-old boy was no match for a grown man. He was dragged further away.
