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墨書 Inktalez
Upon arriving at the designated location, I parked the car and stood at the entrance of the alley. The alley was shrouded in darkness, and a foul smell lingered in the air. As the night breeze blew, my head felt increasingly heavy. I wondered how Xiao Mo could end up in such a place and called out, "Xiao Mo?"
Immediately, someone responded from within the alley, "Over here, Uncle, we're here."
I followed the voice and walked over, trying my best to maintain my balance to avoid stumbling.
As I ventured deeper into the alley, my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. I could faintly see a person crouching ahead and another lying on the ground.
Was the one lying down Xiao Mo?
I hurried to their side and, with just one glance, confirmed that it was indeed Xiao Mo. I took out my phone, turned on the flashlight, and checked on her condition. Her face was pale, her eyes tightly closed, and her collar was torn, looking quite disheveled. My heart sank.
Before I could ask anything, the girl who was crouching said, "She hasn't woken up yet. I passed by here earlier and saw a few punks surrounding her. She was unconscious at that time. After I scared them off, I've been keeping watch here without daring to move."
Years of cautious habits made me instinctively ask, "Are you alone?" while turning to look at her.
The flashlight illuminated Xiao Mo, but in the dim alley, I could only make out the girl's silhouette and didn't pay attention to her appearance.
"Uh, yes," the girl hesitated.
"Thank you so much," I said briefly before handing her my phone. "Please hold this for me." Then I bent down and picked up Xiao Mo in a horizontal position, striding toward the car at the alley's entrance.
When I reached the car, I instinctively commanded the girl in an authoritative tone, "Open the door."
The girl appeared flustered; it was clear she came from a poor family. She struggled to pull the car door open several times without success. Finally mastering it, she managed to pry it open. Once inside, I laid Xiao Mo across the back seat and retrieved my phone from her. Anxious to drive away, I sat in the driver's seat but hesitated as I remembered that she had helped me. It felt wrong to leave her alone in this gloomy night. With a pang of guilt, I rolled down the window and leaned out to say to her, "Thanks to you this time. What's your name? Where do you live? I'll definitely come by to thank you another day."
"My name is Lin Ye, and I live in Shantytown. No need to thank me; I'm friends with Xiao Mo, so it's only natural for me to help." She lowered her head, looking shy.
Lin Ye... I vaguely recalled someone mentioning that the stubborn homeowner's last name was Lin. What was it again? The name was on the tip of my tongue, but I just couldn't remember.
So I asked, "Shantytown? What's your father's name?"
"Lin Zhiping."
That's him! Lin Zhiping, the stubborn homeowner. I can't believe the world is so small; the daughter of the stubborn homeowner saved Xiao Mo. "Alright, I understand now. You should head home early; don't let your parents worry."
"Okay..."
I didn't wait for her to finish and quickly started the vehicle.
As I mentioned before, Xiao Mo had serious health issues since birth. After long and complicated treatments, her condition stabilized, but she had been undergoing comprehensive heart examinations over the years and had a fixed attending physician, an old professor from Central Hospital. While driving, I called that old professor.
Perhaps it was late at night; the old professor had gone to bed, and no one answered the phone after several rings.
At that moment, Xiao Mo in the backseat let out a soft whimper and woke up. I glanced at her through the rearview mirror. "How are you feeling? Is anything wrong? We'll be at the hospital soon; just hang in there."
She looked down at her disheveled clothes, her brows tightly furrowed, biting her lower lip with her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm fine; there's no need to go to the hospital."
"That won't do! I'm calling Dr. Liu right now. What if there's a problem with your heart?"
"Really, it's not necessary!" She emphasized, glancing tiredly out the window. "I want to go home; there are medicines at home."
Over the years, I have always complied with her wishes. Seeing that her condition wasn't serious, I hesitated for a few seconds and said with concern, "Alright, but you must take your medicine when we get back. And if you feel unwell at all, you need to tell me immediately."
"I know."
Noticing her weary expression, I didn't want to say much. I had intended to ask what had happened tonight but decided against it.
The drive home was eerily quiet. The silence from Xiao Mo felt suffocating; while she could maintain a professional demeanor around outsiders, how should one act with family?
I wanted to be good to her, but I didn't know how.
My overwhelming guilt had no outlet, and it weighed heavily on my chest, making it hard to breathe.
As we neared home, Xiao Mo shifted slightly and suddenly asked, "How did you know where I was?"
"Oh, a classmate of yours called me using your phone."
"A classmate?"
"Yes, a girl named Lin Ye. Is she in your class?"
Xiao Mo's brows furrowed slightly in surprise as she lowered her gaze, seemingly lost in thought and did not respond to my question.
"Well... your classmate said you were attacked by a group of delinquents. What happened?"
Her expression was dim. "It's nothing, I just walked away."
If a girl encounters danger and her first reaction is to rely on her own abilities to solve it, then it is undoubtedly a failure on the part of her father. Xiao Mo's words left me feeling disappointed and powerless. I believed I had poured my heart and soul into her over the years, yet all my efforts seemed to dissolve into nothing with that one sentence. To put it bluntly, it felt like no matter how much I invested, there was barely any return, which made me feel both disappointed and angry.
Xiao Mo's intelligence shone through at this moment. She hesitated for a moment and said, "There are a few dropouts near the school who often harass students coming in and out." That was all she had to say.
I immediately understood that this was my oversight. At seventeen or eighteen, when looks matter most, Xiao Mo's beauty would naturally attract some unwanted attention. How could I have overlooked this?
When she enrolled, I wanted her to live at home, but she insisted on staying at school, so I went along with her wishes. Now that there was a problem, I took the opportunity to suggest, "Why don't you come home to stay? I can have the driver pick you up every day; it would be safer. Besides, the food at school isn't good for your health..."
"No need," Xiao Mo interrupted decisively before I could finish.
I sighed and didn't argue with her further.
The next day, under my strong insistence, Xiao Mo agreed to take a day off to go to the hospital for a check-up. The results came back fine, which relieved me.
There was one thing I had never told Xiao Mo: after dropping her back at school, I contacted a local group with some influence and initiated a thorough sweep against all the youth gangs loitering around the school, regardless of who had been harassing Xiao Mo.
That evening, when I got home from work and walked in the door, I saw Xiao Mo curled up on the sofa with a troubled expression, as if she were pondering some difficult problem.
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