I went.
Lily saw me as if she had seen a savior:
“Miss Deer, can you bail me out?”
I looked down at her: “I can.”
She sighed in relief: “Then please help me.”
I smiled: “But I don’t want to.”
Hearing this, Lily was stunned for a moment, her face suddenly changed:
“Why? You said you would protect me!”
“I said I would keep you free from worries about food and clothing,” I nodded, “Aren’t meals provided by the state in prison free from worries about food and clothing? You won’t have to worry about food and clothing for several years.”
She screamed hysterically: “Why are you doing this?”
I clapped my hands towards the door.
Mrs. Li walked in.
The moment Lily saw her, her face suddenly turned pale.
I asked her in a deep voice:
“You still remember who she is, right?”
14
From a young age, I knew how to make others like me.
This seemed to be an innate intuition, I was very good at perceiving others‘ emotions.
So, I had many friends and received praise from many people.
But I didn’t have any close confidants, but I didn’t care.
<
Being able to maintain surface–level peace was also a skill.
I thought I could maintain this state until the day I died.
Until the day I met Luna Li.
15
That day, I was scolded by my mother because I hadn’t practiced piano for a long time and had become rusty.
At that time, I was proud and arrogant, and I crouched in the garden and cried secretly for a long time.
After a while, I realized that a girl had been watching me from outside the fence for a long time.
Her eyes were full of curiosity.
For the first time, I couldn’t control my temper and shouted at her roughly: “What are you looking at?”
But that girl said:
“You’re so beautiful.”
I pouted: “What did you say?”
She reached her hand over the fence towards me:
“Do you want some candy?”
In her palm was a piece of candy, poorly packaged, the type I wouldn’t even glance at normally.
I shook my head.
The girl lowered her hand and said with a silly smile: “You’re beautiful even when you cry, but still, don’t cry anymore.”
Just as I was wondering where this strange girl came from, Mrs. Li, the maid, came running out in a hurry.
She quickly apologized to me: “Miss, I’m sorry, this is my daughter. I wasn’t watching her closely today and she followed me out.”
Mrs. Li then said to the girl: “Didn’t mom say you could only stand outside…”
It was then that I noticed the girl’s head was covered in sweat.
I looked up at the scorching sun.
Mrs. Li had been working for three hours, and the girl had been standing in the sun for three hours.
I interrupted Mrs. Li’s words:
“You, come in and play with me.”
The girl looked at Mrs. Li, then at me, with a delighted face:
“Can I really?”
I opened the fence gate.
And just like that, Luna Li burst into my life, from age eight until thirteen.
16
Luna Li had an intellectual disability, with a mental age of about six years old.
When her father saw that Mrs. Li had given birth to a daughter, and one with a disability at that, he ran away, leaving Mrs. Li to raise Luna
alone.
8:48 AM
When Luna was five years old, Mrs. Li went out to work to earn a living for both of them.
After I invited Luna to my house, she came every weekend.
My mother liked the well–behaved Luna very much and also invited her to play at our house.
She was very sensible and never touched my things unless I actively gave them to her to play with
The bus stop near Luna’s home was about a dozen stops away from the bus stop near my house.
It took her ten minutes to walk to the bus stop, and another ten minutes to walk from the stop to my house after getting off.
So it took her an hour each time to come to my house, this is what she told me.
But she never tired of it and came every week.
Even though each time she just listened to me talk about trivial matters.
I rarely shared my dissatisfaction with others, not even with my mother, but Luna was a great listener.
When listening to my trivial stories, she always sat cross–legged on the floor obediently, supporting her cheeks with her hands, never interrupting me.
Only when she heard something exciting would she clap her chubby hands and praise me:
“Rachel is so amazing.”
Luna had a pair of beautiful eyes, like those of a fawn in the forest, bright and moist.
Every time she looked at me with those eyes, I would feel guilty.
I never considered Luna as a friend because she was too simple–minded.
