Meng Qing shouted: “Even if you beat me to death, I won’t help you! Just connect my computer to the internet, and I’ll expose everything about where you live and what you’ve done.”
The adoptive father became more enraged, “Let’s see if your bones are harder or my fists are.”
After that sentence, Meng Qing was silent, enduring the adoptive father’s beating until his consciousness gradually blurred.
—
When Meng Qing regained consciousness, he found himself lying in bed, with a woman in her thirties sitting beside him. Seeing him awake, she handed him a glass of water.
The warm water going down his throat made him realize how thirsty he was. Holding the straw, he drank the entire glass in one go. He then carefully looked around. An unfamiliar room, an unfamiliar caregiver.
“Who are you?” he asked.
The woman smiled softly, simply saying: “I’ll take care of you from now on.” She stood up and left the room, returning shortly with a steaming bowl of porridge. She scooped a spoonful, blew it cool, and fed him. The porridge contained chopped meat and smelled delicious.
Due to the pain from his torn lip and extreme hunger, Meng Qing swallowed the meat porridge almost without chewing. The woman promptly offered a second spoonful of porridge.
For over half a month, the woman carefully tended to him, never leaving his bedside until his wounds had mostly healed. However, no matter how Meng Qing asked who she was or where he was, she never answered. As his condition improved, Meng Qing tried to leave, but the door was locked, and the windows were sealed shut. The woman never went out, with food and water delivered twice daily.
One day, another stranger appeared in the room. Wearing all black, thin and pale, his expressionless face had terrifyingly cold eyes. He walked directly to Meng Qing’s side and placed a tablet computer in front of him.
Meng Qing looked up at him, coldly saying: “I won’t do that kind of thing anymore.”
The man in black laughed and left without saying anything.
For the next two days, Meng Qing didn’t eat anything, only receiving water. The gentle woman was replaced by two men who guarded him, eating various fragrant foods in front of the hungry nine-year-old boy.
