The Hand of Confession – Chapter 85

Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School

Across the Street

That was a person

Her cheap mother [stepmother or foster mother] pinched Chen Meihen’s little face: “Go on then, auntie will take Maomao home too.”

Chen Meihen’s small hand clutched her father’s finger, saying goodbye in a milk voice: “Goodbye Aunt Shen, goodbye Maomao.”

The two families separated at the school gate, walking in different directions. Shen Maomao was led by her stepmother, holding her little yellow duck umbrella and looking back.

That man’s silhouette was straight, a black umbrella opened above his head, holding his daughter’s small hand as they stepped into the sea of people, quickly becoming submerged and disappearing into the rain curtain.

Since first seeing him, he hadn’t spoken a single word, like a silent lonely tower.

“What are you staring at?” her stepmother asked, “Missing Chen Meihen?”

Shen Maomao asked with feigned innocence: “Mama, why isn’t Chen Meihen coming home with us anymore?”

Mother Shen said: “Didn’t I tell you before? Her parents aren’t living together now, today must be her day to stay at her father’s house…”

“Oh.” Shen Maomao responded, looking back once more.

All she could see were raindrops forming lines, the father and daughter’s figures no longer visible.

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After returning home, Shen Maomao took out her little notebook from her schoolbag, sat at the dining table in the living room and began seriously doing her homework. To avoid raising others’ suspicions, she deliberately wrote in an awkward manner, making it look more like elementary school student handwriting.

The dark clouds hung low, thunder was deafening, rain recklessly beat against the windows, leaving rows of twisted water marks on them.

Their home was on the eighth floor, the top level of this building. Because of the heavy rain outside, the poorly maintained balcony began leaking, with water drops falling precisely into the basin Mother Shen had prepared in advance, making regular drip-drop sounds.

Mother Shen threw the chopped vegetables into the pot, the “sizzling” sound of oil immediately drowning out the sound of water drops. Shen Maomao finished her homework and, biting her pencil tip, fixed her gaze on the tear-off calendar [daily calendar where pages are torn off] hanging on the wall opposite the dining table.

Today was September 1st, 2004, fifteen years earlier than the real timeline.

Mother Shen came out of the kitchen carrying dishes, carefully avoiding her homework as she set the plate on the table, then poked her little head: “Don’t bite the pencil! Put away your homework when you’re done, go to your room to play with toys, and wait for dad to come home before we eat together.”

“Okay.” Shen Maomao stuffed all her homework back into her schoolbag and hesitantly pushed open the door to a room with a small rabbit doll stuck on it.

The room was very narrow, barely fitting a small child’s bed and a row of closets against the wall.

It seemed she had guessed correctly – this was her room.

Shen Maomao walked in, closed the door, then tossed her schoolbag onto the bed.

This room had a window directly facing the main road, with grayish light shining in from outside, bringing with it the noisy honking of cars and “dong-dong” sounds from somewhere below – perhaps foundation work or pipe hammering.

This room… wasn’t particularly suitable for children.

But Shen Maomao wasn’t really a child. She lay on the bed looking down for a while, didn’t notice anything unusual, so withdrew her gaze and turned her attention indoors.

First, she opened the closet, finding an ugly doll and a pile of plush toys; then she pulled open the small drawer under the bed, finding various scattered household items; finally, she restored everything to its original state, hugged the ugly doll while lying on the windowsill, pretending to be a real child.

After playing for a short while, she heard the sound of keys opening the door from her poorly soundproofed room, and immediately understood – this body’s father had come home.

Mother Shen called from the doorway: “Maomao, come quick! Dad’s home!”

Shen Maomao put on a happy expression, opened the door and rushed out, flying into her stepfather’s arms: “Dad, you’re home?!”

Father Shen grabbed her armpits and suddenly lifted her up to his head, frightening her into involuntary squealing.

“Don’t drop Maomao!” Mother Shen pushed the man, “Quick, go wash your hands for dinner!”

The family of three sat around the dining table, Shen Maomao carelessly scooped rice with her spoon while eavesdropping on the adults’ conversation.

“You know how Chen Meihen’s father said last month that daughters are money-losers [traditional derogatory term for daughters] and wanted to live with his son from the mistress, so why did he suddenly come pick up his daughter from school today?” After saying this, Mother Shen remembered her daughter was nearby and quickly said to Shen Maomao, “Maomao is mama’s little treasure~”

The TV was playing the 1986 version of Journey to the West, showing the part where Sun Wukong fights the White Bone Spirit three times. Father Shen stared blankly at the TV, answering absent-mindedly: “Maybe he suddenly thinks his daughter is good again?”

“I’m skeptical,” Mother Shen pursed her lips, “I heard that mistress isn’t easy to deal with either. Perhaps after staying there for a while, he found wild flowers [mistresses] aren’t so special and started missing his home flower [wife].” Father Shen grew impatient: “Why do you care so much? It has nothing to do with our family.”

“I’m just curious,” Mother Shen snorted lightly, “If you dare to keep the red flag standing at home while flying colored flags outside [having affairs while married], I’ll take Maomao and divorce you! I don’t want to be like Mrs. Chen next door, desperately waiting for that bastard to change his mind…”

Father Shen coughed dryly twice: “Enough, Maomao’s here. You’re saying everything that comes to mind – what if Maomao learns bad things?”

Shen Maomao moved her gaze from the TV, pretending she’d just heard her name called, asking innocently: “Huh? What is it, Dad?”

Mother Shen smiled and pinched her nose: “Why don’t you go into the TV?”

Shen Maomao giggled foolishly, while Mother Shen turned to complain about the weather to Father Shen.

After dinner it was dark, but the rain hadn’t stopped.

The family of three sat on the living room sofa watching Xinwen Lianbo [China’s main evening news program], Shen Maomao’s eyelids inexplicably grew heavy, and despite struggling a few times, she couldn’t fight off sleepiness, falling asleep as soon as her eyes closed.

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When she opened her eyes again, she didn’t know what time it was.

The rain was still falling, its intensity not lessening but growing stronger, thunderclaps came one after another, wind made the tree leaves outside rustle loudly, occasionally a car would roar past, its headlights casting changing shadows on the room’s walls.

Shen Maomao lay straight in her blanket, eyes wide open looking at the ceiling, her ears catching other sounds amid the rain—

Dong—

Dong—

That sound from the afternoon, like someone hammering steel pipes into the ground, was still there!

Shen Maomao became too scared to move, even wanting to cover her head with the blanket.

With such heavy rain outside, who would still be continuing construction work??

But avoiding it wouldn’t help find clues, Shen Maomao spent half an hour with mental construction [psychological preparation], finally crawled out from under the covers, climbed to the edge of the bed, and pressed against the windowsill to look outside.

The rain made the glass unclear, she had to press her face hard against the glass to see the situation below clearly.

The ground had large pools of water, the road was empty of cars, the streetlights were flickering, looking like they could break at any moment.

That “dong-dong” sound was still there, but there was nobody below.

Dong—

Dong—

One after another, beat by beat, striking against Shen Maomao’s heart.

She was terrified that someone might push her from behind while she leaned against the window, and then the supposedly secure window would come loose entirely, falling with her into the abyss…

Of course, that wasn’t the scariest part. The scariest would be: with her face so close to the window, a ghost face might suddenly appear outside, pressed against the eighth-floor window, smiling at her—or would a human face be even more frightening?

Her heart pounding wildly, she fought back her fear and looked down a few more times, then her gaze froze, and she quickly ducked behind the curtain.

Across the street below, there seemed to be something…

She hadn’t looked carefully before, always thinking there was just a promotional sign or billboard there, but after that fleeting glance, she realized the shape of that large dark shadow seemed wrong.

After calming her racing heart, Shen Maomao peeked her head out from beside the curtain again, finally seeing clearly what that thing was—

It was a person.

A person standing across the street facing her window, holding an umbrella in the fierce wind and rain!!

The moment after she realized it was a person, a lightning bolt split the sky, illuminating the entire ground. That person suddenly raised their head, staring intensely at her across the street and eight floors up.

That gaze was like two sharp arrows, piercing brutally into Shen Maomao’s brain. She fled in panic, practically scrambling as she pulled open the door and rushed into the living room, running to Father and Mother Shen’s room, breathing heavily with lingering fear.

With a “click,” Mother Shen’s bedside lamp turned on: “What’s wrong, Maomao? Had a nightmare?”

In that moment just now, Shen Maomao’s scalp had gone numb, almost scared to death. Now trying to recall the situation, she couldn’t even remember clearly what the man’s face looked like, only remembering his cold eyes, which remained clearly imprinted in her mind despite the distance.

So with her head getting hot [acting impulsively], she ran out in fear, wanting to stay somewhere with people around.

Mother Shen had provided her an excuse, and she immediately nodded while whimpering: “Mama… I dreamed there was a person standing downstairs staring at our home, it was so scary wuwuwuwu…”

Mother Shen and the slowly awakening Father Shen exchanged a glance, then she got out of bed and held her in her arms: “It’s all a dream, all a dream… dreams aren’t real. Don’t be scared, Maomao, mama is here, I will protect you forever, won’t let outsiders bully you!”

Although she was just an NPC, Shen Maomao still felt shamefully moved: “Mama, you’re so good, can I sleep with you and dad?”

Mother Shen smiled: “But there’s not enough space on the bed, how about we make dad sleep on the floor…”

“That won’t do.” Father Shen also lifted the blanket and stood up, turning on lights all the way to her room, glancing down through the window, and didn’t see any man with an umbrella, “Look Maomao, there’s nobody down there.”

Gone?

Shen Maomao pitter-pattered to her room, leaning next to Father Shen to look down.

The rain had stopped at some unknown time, the street across was empty, a lonely billboard stood by the roadside, and there was nothing else.

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The author has something to say:

The stockpile of drafted chapters is visibly decreasing QWQ

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