Chapter 233.2: IF Route 5 (Extra 7)
For the first time, the warmth brought in from outside didn’t dissipate quickly inside the house—it lingered all the way until bedtime.
He was in Wu Zhi’s room helping her with arithmetic problems. Although Wu Zhi was a bit slow, she was still sensitive enough to notice his unusual mood.
“Big brother, are you in a good mood today?”
“So-so.” Wu Heng placed her homework on her lap—it was all wrong.
Wu Zhi was very well-behaved in front of Wu Heng. She didn’t press further and went back to doing the problems again.
Wu Heng finished his task and left her room. His steps paused slightly when he reached the living room. Wu Shiming was watching the news, while Zeng Like was browsing her digital magazine. After thinking for a moment, he sat down on the single sofa nearby.
Neither of them noticed him at first. It wasn’t until the water cup beside Wu Shiming was empty that he instinctively looked for Zeng Like’s help—but then he saw Wu Heng was also there.
“Wu Heng, go get me a glass of water.”
Wu Heng stood up and went to pour a glass of water for Wu Shiming.
Wu Shiming’s hand seemed to be recovering, but he still couldn’t lift heavy objects or make large movements, so he still had to rely on others for many things. He hadn’t forgotten how his hand had been broken, which was why he had never looked at Wu Heng kindly over this period of time. On top of that, Wu Heng was not a particularly likable child at the moment, so the distance between them had only grown.
But tonight, the atmosphere felt different—like it had entered a setting where a casual family talk had to happen. Wu Shiming adjusted his glasses.
“How are your exam results?”
Wu Heng nodded. “Okay. Better than last time.”
“Just maintain it. Don’t overwork yourself.” This time it was Zeng Like who spoke. “Putting too much pressure on yourself isn’t good either.”
Wu Heng’s fingers moved slightly on his knee. His voice was usually emotionless, and he knew it himself, so this time he deliberately softened it.
“Mom, I have something I want to tell you.”
Zeng Like looked up from her tablet. “What is it?”
“I… want to stay at a classmate’s house.”
Zeng Like then asked again, “This weekend? Is his house far from the school? Don’t let it affect your classes.”
“Not the weekend,” Wu Heng said, lowering his eyelids. “Until the college entrance exam, I want to live at his house.”
After saying that, his face began to burn uncontrollably. This feeling was different from before. In the past, it was always a boiling mix of resentment and hatred caused by the anticipation of slaps or fists. But now there was also a trace of embarrassment. The joy he felt from being invited resurfaced again, and each time it appeared it stirred something deep inside him. So much so that he almost forgot he had always been standing in a deep well.
Zeng Like’s eyes widened in shock. Wu Shiming had clearly been listening the whole time as well; he frowned.
“Why do you suddenly want to live at someone else’s house? Is something wrong with home?”
“For you two, it should be fine, right?” The words came out of Wu Heng’s mouth without any thought.
The moment he said it, he stood up abruptly, as if facing a great enemy.
“Wu Heng, what are you saying?” Zeng Like said in a reproachful tone.
At the same time, Wu Shiming took off his glasses and looked at him calmly. “Say that again.”
The heat on Wu Heng’s face faded. His complexion turned deathly pale. Something had taken root deep inside his body—without his own awareness, it had already grown into a towering tree. At certain moments, he didn’t even realize that he was now slightly taller than Wu Shiming.
He tried to open his mouth, as if he could shake that tree loose. But the moment he did, a black object flew straight at him. A tablet smashed into his forehead, and his vision went dark as his body tilted and nearly fell.
Before he could even get back up, objects from the coffee table were hurled at him, striking various parts of his body. He could hear Zeng Like shouting, and then Wu Zhi came as well—but none of it did much to restrain Wu Shiming’s fury. In the midst of the chaos, Wu Heng grabbed a cigarette ashtray and threw it back casually.
The ashtray struck Wu Zhi.
The house instantly fell into even greater chaos. The concern on Zeng Like’s face became more genuine, and when blood began to run down Wu Zhi’s face, she even started crying.
Immediately, the couple helped Wu Zhi out the door. Wu Shiming grabbed the car keys. “I’ll deal with you when I get back.” He left behind those cold, gloomy words.
“Big brother, I’m okay. Big brother, come too—we’ll go see the doctor together—” Wu Zhi’s voice grew fainter and fainter as she was taken away.
—
Wu Heng pulled out a suitcase from the cabinet and took out the stack of cash he had saved over the years, along with his bank card. He took almost everything he could possibly carry, because he knew that once he left, he would never come back.
If things didn’t go well with Xie Chongyi—if their lifestyles clashed and the other party threw him out—these things would still be useful.
He even went downstairs to borrow another suitcase from Lin Mengzhi. When Lin Mengzhi heard he was running away from home, he was overjoyed and immediately brought over a few woven plastic sacks to help him pack.
Lin Mengzhi’s packing style was nothing like Wu Heng’s orderly and rational approach. He swept up everything that could be taken from the living room, bathroom, and study—daily necessities, school supplies—stuffing them into five huge sacks.
“After this cleanup, your place actually looks much bigger!”
“…”
“I told you to leave earlier. If you’d left sooner, you wouldn’t have been beaten for so many years. It’s not like I can’t afford to put you through school anyway. It’s just that I won’t be getting married anytime soon…” Lin Mengzhi kept rambling until he tied up all the sacks. “Wait here, I’ll find someone to drive you.”
It was an old residential complex, and everyone knew each other’s situations very well.
When people heard Wu Heng was leaving, a young guy whom Lin Mengzhi found dropped his chopsticks and came over immediately. “Go, go, go—let’s run!”
After he told Lin Mengzhi, everything that followed was no longer under control—but at the same time, it unfolded with an odd sense of natural inevitability.
Wu Heng was shoved into the passenger seat of a small cargo truck. Lin Mengzhi leaned against the window.
“You send your friend’s address to him. I won’t go with you—I still need to help out at my master’s birthday banquet. I’ve got to go lend a hand, and then, and then…”
Wu Heng hugged his backpack. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t moved. Just as he thought Lin Mengzhi was about to say something deeply heartfelt, the other scratched his head and lowered his voice.
“And then when those two beasts realize you’re gone, they’re definitely going to make a fuss. I’ll film it and send it to you on WeChat, hahaha.”
“…”
Wu Heng curved his lips slightly. “Thanks, Mengzhi.”
“Thanks for what? Hurry up, go. Run. Don’t come back. You turned eighteen two months ago anyway—police can’t really control you anymore. Go far away.”
The forty-to-fifty-minute drive left Wu Heng’s mind in chaos. This was the first time he was acting purely out of emotion, so he still didn’t send any message to Xie Chongyi. He told Lin Mengzhi’s friend to drop him off at the entrance of the residential area; the driver even received a 50-yuan cigarette tip. The entrance was still far from the building where Xie Chongyi lived.
He sat among a pile of woven plastic sacks and several suitcases, still needing time to think things through.
It was already very late. This area was a well-known affluent district, with very little traffic.
Only patrol cars slowed down every time they passed him, shining flashlights at him—his appearance really did look like a poor relative come to freeload.
After circling him seven or eight times, they eventually stopped paying attention altogether.
If there was nothing to freeload, they would naturally leave.
The night grew deeper, and the air grew colder. Not enough to be freezing, but enough to feel uncomfortable. Wu Heng had already used a dry stick to poke through the cracks in the ground beneath him until not a speck of dust remained.
Xie Chongyi’s phone was on Do Not Disturb while he slept, and by now he was already asleep—but the residential staff still had ways to contact him if necessary.
The entrance screen requested a video call for the third time. Xie Chongyi walked to the door with a clearly annoyed expression and answered it.
“Hey, I’ll show you,” the security guard in the booth pointed the camera toward the road and the large pile there. “Do you recognize this person?”
Half-asleep, Xie Chongyi thought it was just a pile of trash.
“It’s not something I threw out. Ask someone else,” he said, already about to hang up.
Seeing this, the guard panicked and told him to wait.
On the screen, a uniformed figure moved hurriedly, the camera shaking erratically. Xie Chongyi looked on in confusion.
“You—yes, you. Look up.” The guard steadied the camera. His voice was rough and loud. “Take a look and see if you recognize him. I remember he came into the residential area with you yesterday…”
The image on the screen froze on a boy’s small, dazed face. He still didn’t understand what was going on.
“Is there something wrong?” he asked, like a stray cat being suddenly tugged at the ear while it was daydreaming.
