Recently, Jin Xin had started school, though she didn’t attend regularly and seemed to have little interest in studying. During a unit test, Jiang Mu heard that Jin Xin only scored 36 points in mathematics. While Jiang Mu wasn’t particularly good at math herself, this comparison made her feel like a mathematical genius—at least when she was Jin Xin’s age, she could still achieve perfect scores.
Initially, Jiang Mu thought the little girl might have some learning difficulties, but she soon discovered this wasn’t the case. When Jiang Mu wasn’t home, Jin Xin would fiddle with the learning device, but whenever Jiang Mu was present, the little girl would deliberately throw it on the ground. Sometimes Jiang Mu would buy snacks and get an extra portion for Jin Xin, but the little girl showed no gratitude. Following the principle of keeping their distance, Jiang Mu usually treated her like air and eventually stopped trying to interact with her.
As for Jin Chao, while he had intended to have a conversation with Jiang Mu, an urgent matter delayed his plans. Before he could intervene in their budding relationship, Tong Gang was hit by an unexpected downpour.
That Saturday, school let out early. Jin Qiang hadn’t returned from work yet when Zhao Meijuan received a phone call shortly after Jiang Mu got home, telling her to go out for a while.
Not long after, several shocking lightning bolts illuminated the night sky. Jiang Mu, sitting at her desk, jumped in surprise. As she looked up, several thunderclaps boomed, making her hair stand on end. She feared thunder—ever since that rainy night nine years ago when her father left home with Jin Chao, such stormy weather always left her restless.
But then Jiang Mu remembered Jin Xin was still home. She dropped her pen and opened the door. A small lamp lit the living room, but Jin Xin was nowhere to be seen. She called out twice with no response. After checking the kitchen, she found Jin Xin huddled under the dining table. Though the girl was somewhat peculiar, seeing her curled up under the table softened Jiang Mu’s heart. She approached Jin Xin and said, “Don’t be afraid, come out.”
Just as she was about to bend down, she caught sight of the learning device on the table from the corner of her eye. The screen was on, showing challenge questions. Usually, correct answers would earn stars that could unlock fun mini-games.
Intriguingly, Jin Xin, who supposedly couldn’t solve simple additions like 4+7, had reached level twelve in the second-year workbook. Shocked at seeing the ticking timer on the screen, Jiang Mu yanked Jin Xin out from under the table and pointed at the device, demanding, “Did you solve these problems?”
Jin Xin suddenly grabbed the learning device in panic and, catching Jiang Mu completely off guard, smashed it against the wall. With a loud bang, the device fell to the ground, and its screen shattered. Jiang Mu asked incredulously, “What are you doing?”
As Jin Xin turned to flee, Jiang Mu’s temper flared. She grabbed Jin Xin’s arm and pressed down on her shoulders, demanding in a low voice, “You know how to solve these problems. Why are you pretending you can’t? Why won’t you do well on tests? Why won’t you go to school?”
Jin Xin completely ignored Jiang Mu’s questions and began struggling violently. For an eight-year-old girl, she had considerable strength. Jiang Mu, whose physical condition wasn’t particularly robust to begin with, soon found herself sweating profusely. Jin Xin’s nails left bloody scratches all over her hands. As Jiang Mu’s lower abdomen cramped, she shouted, “Does your mom know you’re like this? I’m going to tell her.”
At the mention of Zhao Meijuan, Jin Xin’s already prominent eyes sparked with an eerie light. She forcefully stomped on Jiang Mu’s foot, causing her to cry out in pain. Jin Xin seized the opportunity to break free and ran into her room, slamming the door shut.
Limping to the door, Jiang Mu tried the handle, but Jin Xin had locked it from inside. She pounded on the door, shouting, “Stop hiding! Come out!”
After knocking for a while with no response from Jin Xin, a surge of inexplicable anger rose from her abdomen to her heart. Jiang Mu’s legs weakened, and she leaned against the wall as an overwhelming sensation rushed through her lower body. She stumbled to the bathroom for a quick fix, then hurriedly returned to her room to grab her phone, keys, and an umbrella before rushing out into the rainy night toward the nearest convenience store.
Along the way, fierce winds repeatedly inverted her umbrella, and rain pelted the shop signs until they became increasingly blurred. Jiang Mu’s mild myopia usually didn’t affect her daily life, but on this dark and rainy night, it made progress even more difficult.
Disregarding her soaked clothes, she ran most of the way, spending about fifteen minutes searching before finally finding a convenience store. After making her purchase, she stood at the entrance for another fifteen minutes, clutching her increasingly painful abdomen while watching the unrelenting rain. Taking another deep breath, she plunged back into the downpour to head home.
When Jiang Mu finally made it back to the residential complex, she saw two police cars and a fire truck parked inside, with many people standing in the rain. Not knowing what had happened, she walked toward Jin Qiang’s building only to find yellow police tape cordoning off the area. Her heart suddenly sank as she heard a familiar voice crying out in anguish, “You’ll be the death of me!”
Following the voice, Jiang Mu saw two police officers restraining an almost hysterical Zhao Meijuan. Everyone was looking up at the building. When Jiang Mu raised her umbrella to look, she dropped both it and her plastic bag in shock. Through the pounding rain, she could see a small figure on the fifth-floor balcony—Jin Xin’s heels were completely over the edge, her hands barely gripping the railing. With the relentless downpour and strong winds, she could fall from the fifth floor at any moment.
Jiang Mu felt blood rush to her head as she pushed through the crowd, only to be stopped by police near Zhao Meijuan. Her eyes, filled with terror, remained fixed on the small figure above. Several firefighters had already rushed up and were trying to reach Jin Xin from the neighboring balcony.
Another team of firefighters was setting up a rescue air cushion below. The chaotic scene, the torrential rain, the crying, the urgent commands from police and firefighters, and the approaching ambulance sirens—everything made Jiang Mu’s head spin.
She held her breath watching the scene above as the firefighters, secured by safety harnesses, climbed out onto the neighbor’s balcony. Just as they were about to reach Jin Xin, in a split second, the small figure plummeted. The crowd screamed, and Jiang Mu felt her vision darken and her heart stop—the whole world went black.
Afterward, Zhao Meijuan broke free from the police and rushed forward as countless people gathered around the air cushion. Someone called for doctors, another for family members. A group in white uniforms pushed through the crowd as police used megaphones to disperse people. Soon, a tiny body was placed on a stretcher and rushed to the ambulance as a doctor shouted, “Family members, follow us!”
Jiang Mu didn’t know how she ended up following Zhao Meijuan into the ambulance. The entire way, she was in a daze. She had never experienced anything like this before, or rather, she had only seen such things in the news. She had never witnessed someone fall from a building right before her eyes. Her heart was racing uncontrollably; fear, terror, and shock caused her mind to spin like a pendulum, making everything before her eyes blur.
Jin Qiang, having received the news, arrived at Tong Gang First Hospital almost simultaneously with the ambulance. When Jin Xin was brought in, Jin Qiang and Zhao Meijuan followed the doctors into the hospital, with Jiang Mu trailing behind. Her legs wouldn’t stop shaking, and she fell while climbing the stairs, but quickly got up to catch up with them.
Jin Xin had landed on the air cushion and was unconscious. She was immediately taken for examination upon arrival at the hospital. The doctors asked for one family member to handle the paperwork while the others waited outside.
Jin Qiang rushed downstairs while nurses and other patients in the corridor craned their necks to look, and Zhao Meijuan, blocked outside, covered her face and wept bitterly.
Jiang Mu stood several steps away in the corridor, rainwater dripping from her body onto the floor beside her feet. She too stared anxiously at the emergency room doors.
Just then, as if suddenly remembering something, Zhao Meijuan whirled around and glared fiercely at Jiang Mu. She walked back and stood before her, demanding, “Why did you leave Xin Xin alone at home? Where did you go?”
Where did she go? She couldn’t tell Zhao Meijuan in front of so many people that she went to buy sanitary pads, but her brief silence only fueled Zhao Meijuan’s anger. She shouted, “Were you meeting that boy? Running out late at night, have you no shame? If anything happens to Xin Xin, you better get out!”
Countless judgmental gazes felt like slaps across Jiang Mu’s face. She no longer understood what Zhao Meijuan was ranting about. She only felt the corridor lights swimming before her eyes, with just one thought in her mind: she wanted to leave this place, buy a ticket immediately, and return to Suzhou. Even though there were no relatives left there, she wanted to go back. She didn’t want to stay here—not for a moment, a minute, or a second longer.
A figure strode rapidly from the end of the corridor. Seeing that Jiang Mu still hadn’t responded, Zhao Meijuan’s anger finally erupted. She raised her hand and shoved Jiang Mu backward hard. With weak legs and no strength, Jiang Mu’s body flew uncontrollably toward the wall. The figure flashed by, and Jiang Mu’s back landed in the crook of an arm. She looked up to see Jin Chao, who had rushed over. He held a black umbrella, his brows furrowed as he pulled Jiang Mu aside. Stepping forward, he said to Zhao Meijuan, “That’s enough. How is Xin Xin?”
Zhao Meijuan sobbed, repeatedly describing how Jin Xin had jumped, saying that if anything happened to Xin Xin, she wouldn’t want to live either. Jin Chao’s expression was grave, his eyes containing a frightening light that Jiang Mu had never seen before, making her afraid to even approach him.
Shortly after Jin Qiang returned with the completed paperwork, Jin Xin was transferred to a regular ward. After leaving the ward, Jin Qiang and Jin Chao went to the doctor’s office. Jiang Mu followed Jin Qiang but stopped at the office door, hearing the doctor say that the child was not in any life-threatening danger. The fall had given her quite a shock, causing temporary unconsciousness, but she was now awake. Additionally, her right index finger had a minor fracture that had been treated and wasn’t serious. However, the child’s emotional state was unstable, and family members needed to provide much comfort and support.
When Jin Qiang and Jin Chao emerged from the office, Jiang Mu stood against the wall a short distance away. The dim light above cast shadows over her, and perhaps due to her completely drenched state, she looked like a piece of paper that could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
Jin Qiang sighed and said to Jin Chao, “She’s probably quite scared too. You take Mu Mu home first.”
After saying this, Jin Qiang walked up to Jiang Mu and patted her shoulder: “You go back first, everything’s fine here now.”
Jin Qiang returned to the ward after giving his instructions. Jiang Mu kept her head lowered as a shadow fell across her, blocking the corridor light. She felt Jin Chao’s warmth but lacked the courage to look up.
Up close, Jin Chao saw her pale face and arms wrapped around herself, still trembling slightly. He asked her, “Are you cold?”
She didn’t answer. He said, “Come with me.”
She still didn’t move.
He turned and walked away, the warmth before she vanished. She frantically turned to look at him, and after a few steps, he stopped and turned back to face her. In the empty corridor, in the silent night, his eyes held no warmth—they were hollow, cold, and dark.