True to his word, Dai Duo appeared at Shan Shan’s doorstep the next day—punctual, without complaint, as if he had scored a great deal. He faced Shan Shan with a cold, unfeeling expression that seemed to say, “Dare to send me away, and I’ll curse you out.”
After all, Dai Duo wasn’t a saint or a merciful deity. Under normal circumstances, no sane person would willingly wake up forty minutes early to take a taxi to someone else’s house, pick them up, and then share another taxi to school. It felt absurd, like living in Chongli but commuting to Beijing daily by high-speed rail.
Shan Shan’s modest resistance had driven him to do this. As Dai Duo knocked on the familiar door, he found the situation ridiculous—until the door opened from inside, revealing a familiar face. Large, dark eyes, round and unlike her brother’s, stared at him from the gap.
Dai Duo: “…”
He felt oddly satisfied.
Confident the door wouldn’t slam shut on him, he wedged his arm in the gap, easily widening it.
Dai Duo: “Ready?”
Shan Shan: “Huh?”
Dai Duo: “For school.”
As he spoke, he noticed the expressionless face looking up at him suddenly relax. Her lips quivered, then curved upward into a clear smile—so vivid he could see the small area below her eyes, perhaps called “wo chan,” come to life.
Dai Duo: “?”
Dai Duo: “…”
Dai Duo: “What are you up to now?”
Shan Shan’s smile faded slightly, her tone calm: “Nothing.”
Her composure prompted Dai Duo to give her a second suspicious look, scanning her up and down before slowly stepping back. “Nothing? Then why the sinister grin?”
Shan Shan: “…Sinister grin? Do I need to insult you to make you feel better?”
Dai Duo fell silent. He stared at her for a few seconds, then moved her wheelchair aside with one hand. Brushing past her, he entered the living room and slung her backpack over his shoulder.
Shan Shan’s gaze followed his movements, fixed on his back as he picked up her bag. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him that she had smiled because she was genuinely happy, and in her excitement, she had momentarily lost control of her facial expressions.
Damn it.
“What are you dawdling for?” The young man stood there, wearing the spring uniform of a second-year high school student, one hand holding the backpack, the other in his pocket.
“Dai Duo.”
“What?”
“You don’t understand a damn thing.”
Shan Shan suddenly spoke up. They stared at each other in silence for a moment.
“I might not understand much,” Dai Duo said expressionlessly, “but now I understand your eager desire to get beaten.”
“…”
They went downstairs together and took a taxi to school. The driver was a kind-hearted uncle who had arranged with Shan Shan’s family to charge only 400 yuan per month, despite rising fares, to take her to school punctually every day.
Their private high school was located in the city’s bustling area, surrounded by affiliated elementary and middle schools of the same brand. While the middle school was manageable, the elementary school entrance was chaos each morning, with countless private cars dropping off children. The small street was incredibly congested, with drivers vying for any available space.
No one knew that the inconspicuous taxi carried a passenger with a disability certificate. Often, when traffic was heavy despite leaving early, Shan Shan would choose to get off a block before the elementary school and wheel herself to school along the sidewalk.
Dai Duo didn’t know this. He had always been puzzled why sometimes, when he arrived early at the breakfast stall in front of the school, he would see Shan Shan slowly approaching in her wheelchair instead of being dropped off by a taxi.
Today, he got his answer. On a quiet, tree-lined path, the car stopped and the door opened. The young man got out first, helping the driver lift the wheelchair out before assisting the legless girl from the car into her seat.
As Dai Duo bent to close the door, he caught Shan Shan’s reflection in the car window, quickly pulling her short down jacket to cover her legs. He paused, then said nothing, expressionlessly slamming the door shut.
Turning around, he pushed Shan Shan towards the school, not forgetting to say, “Aren’t you cold? Down jackets are meant to be worn, not draped over your legs.”
“I’m not cold,” Shan Shan replied. “We’ll be at school soon.”
Dai Duo looked down at her, seeing no signs of shivering or chattering teeth. Unable to argue, he closed his mouth and continued walking, his face gloomy.
As they passed the elementary school entrance, numerous small children with backpacks rushed by. Near the gate, a rare vendor was selling steamed dumplings from stacked steamers. The plump, white dumplings looked appetizing, especially when drizzled with chili oil. Dai Duo asked Shan Shan if she wanted to eat those for breakfast.
Shan Shan was fine with anything he bought, so she nodded. Dai Duo parked her wheelchair under a tree at the side and went to buy the dumplings.
Shan Shan watched his retreating figure, observing how he stood out as one of the least competitive customers at the breakfast stall—
As she watched intently, a cold drop fell from above. She made a surprised sound and looked up.
She saw a squirrel darting from one branch to another on the tree, which had just begun to sprout new buds. The movement shook loose the last remnants of spring snow clinging to the branches…
Then, an avalanche.
A large clump of accumulated snow fell, landing squarely on her!
The girl in the wheelchair let out a shriek, reflexively grabbing the down jacket on her legs. Just as she was about to shake off the snow, she heard a childish shout from behind—
“Haha, it’s the crippled big sister!”
Her hand froze on the jacket. She turned her head to see three or five familiar children, about third-grade age, watching her from a distance with their backpacks.
“The crippled big sister is going to school!”
“Hahaha, she’s covered in snow, how stupid!”
“Wow, she doesn’t have legs, just like you said!”
“Look, when she lifts her clothes, you can see! She always covers up with clothes, sitting in that wheelchair. It’s so ugly—”
Gripping the raised-down jacket with one hand and the wheelchair armrest with the other, Shan Shan’s fingertips gradually tightened. Her neatly trimmed nails dug into her palm from the force…
Her mind went blank.
Her heart felt numb.
She knew that shouting or angrily scolding them might be effective, but it would also draw more attention. Then, strangers from all directions would point and stare—
Some might say, “Those little brats are so rude.”
Others might say, “Let it go, what do kids know?”
Some might advise, “Just leave, don’t come this way again.”
And others might ask, “What happened to you? How did your legs get like this? Oh, what a pity, how sad.”
But these were all just empty words. Those who scolded weren’t truly angry, those who advised didn’t fully understand, and those who sympathized just shook their heads and clicked their tongues…
The concept of “walking in someone else’s shoes” had always been a joke. After all, whose life wasn’t full of troubles?
Thinking about this made everything feel pointless—
Let them talk.
It wasn’t the first time anyway.
Her grip on the down jacket gradually relaxed.
“How about I break your legs and make sure you can’t even use a wheelchair, forcing you to crawl on the ground?”
A cold, contemptuous voice rang out nearby.
For a moment, the world fell silent.
Shan Shan blinked slowly, stunned. Before she could react, she saw the group of kids looking shocked.
A high school student in uniform walked out from behind her. As he came to her side, he stared straight ahead, dropping two packed breakfasts onto her lap—
The boy was truly handsome. Sunlight created a halo around his dark school uniform, making him look like the male lead from a Japanese anime or Korean drama, walking towards her in the light, shielding her behind him.
Under the shocked and bewildered gazes of onlookers, he grabbed one of the kids by the arm, lifting him and shaking him—
Amidst the child’s terrified wails, he asked expressionlessly, “Still want to run your mouth?”
These children, raised in the loving hands of parents and grandparents, had never encountered such a situation. Their faces turned pale with fear, scattering like frightened birds, abandoning their crying friend in the high schooler’s grasp!
One of them, after running a few steps, turned back with a sudden burst of conscience and shouted, “Murder is against the law!”
Dai Duo rattled off a string of English.
Then, facing the confused stare of the kid, he smiled, baring his white teeth: “Don’t understand? I said I’m a foreigner, Chinese laws don’t apply to me.”
The child believed him.
With a cry, he ran away in tears.
The chubby boy left in Dai Duo’s grip, his face wet and flushed from crying, was thrashing about—
Annoyed by the struggle, Dai Duo frowned and casually tossed him to the ground.
The child landed with a thud, backpack, and all, and began to wail loudly.
Onlookers watched, but no one intervened. Some had seen what happened and thought the kids deserved it, while others didn’t know the situation and were afraid to get involved.
Shan Shan, surrounded by people, looked at Dai Duo—
Before she could speak, he reached out and yanked her wheelchair towards him. She nearly toppled over from the sudden movement!
As she clutched the breakfast in her arms, someone roughly pulled her collar from behind, steadying her.
The crowd parted like the Red Sea, making way for them.
Dai Duo pushed her towards the school, the child’s cries fading in the distance but never fully ceasing.
Her fingers lightly traced the tightly sealed, slightly bulging plastic bag, watching as steam condensed into droplets on the plump, round dumplings…
She lowered her head.
“If I didn’t escort you, would you even know to tell someone?”
The calm, flat voice came from behind her.
Shan Shan turned back in confusion, meeting a pair of cold eyes—
His eyes were beautiful, but not friendly, with an exquisite upward slant.
Her heart skipped a beat. She nodded, then shook her head.
“Those little brats have done this before, haven’t they?”
She froze, staring at him wide-eyed, like a frightened deer caught in headlights on a dark highway.
Dai Duo didn’t press further.
He looked away, gazing straight ahead. The wheelchair rolled over the stone pavement, making a rhythmic, monotonous sound. She slowly turned her head back.
“Are you a Canadian citizen?” she asked, fiddling with the butterfly knot on the breakfast bag, trying to make conversation.
“Are you stupid?” he replied disdainfully. “How could a Canadian join the Chinese National Snowboarding Team? I was lying to them.”
“…”
Oh, right.
“But even foreigners are subject to Chinese law when they commit crimes in China,” Shan Shan added. “We learned that in middle school civics class.”
“That’s why I said it to elementary school kids. It worked, didn’t it? What’s the problem?”
“…”
The person behind her seemed so confident in his actions of “threatening and deceiving children” that Shan Shan was at a loss for words. That cold, hard question—”If I didn’t escort you, would you even know to tell someone?”—echoed in her mind…
If she had toes, they’d be curling inside her shoes right now.
Instead, she twisted the ears of the breakfast bag in her hands into a braid, then released them.
…
Before they knew it, they had reached the school gate. Usually, after buying breakfast and handing it to her, Dai Duo considered his daily task complete.
Normally, he’d let her wheel herself slowly into school—
But not today.
He maintained control of the wheelchair. As they approached the school entrance, more and more classmates appeared, casting curious and surprised glances their way. Yet the force pushing the wheelchair never wavered.
At the school gate, staff were checking student IDs, causing a crowd to gather. From the corner of her eye, she saw many people do a double-take when they spotted them, then start whispering—
It wasn’t even whispering.
Some didn’t even bother to lower their voices.
Look, it’s first-year Shan Shan and second-year Dai Duo. Are they together?
Why is Dai Duo with her?
Do they know each other?
They do know each other!
I heard Dai Duo often buys her breakfast in the morning. Looks like it’s true. I didn’t believe it before!
What about Deng Qiao? Damn, the rumors are true.
Wow, anyone can do two these days?
Shan Shan fumbled for her student ID in her pocket, her hand a bit cold. Taking advantage of her lowered head, she whispered to the seemingly deaf person behind her, “I can manage on my own.”
“What can you manage?” Dai Duo retorted. “Even elementary school kids can bully you.”
…Usually, when a disabled person says “I can manage,” people don’t respond with “What can you manage?” in such a strange way.
Shan Shan felt she couldn’t teach this person normal human behavior, so she pressed her lips together and looked up at him silently.
“Or are you worried your suitor will see?” Dai Duo said. “He has tattoos and an ex-girlfriend. He’s not normal, and you’re sick too?”
“…”
He stared at her.
A few seconds of silence passed.
Seeing no ripple in those cat-like black eyes at the mention of Deng Qiao, only a clear reflection of his sour face…
Though he didn’t know why, it made him feel better.
“Put on your ID,” he said expressionlessly. “I’ll take you in. Don’t think about unnecessary things—your brother said if you dare to date, he’ll break your remaining leg too.”
“…”
“He authorized me to do it personally.”
“…”