"Huff, huff, I need to hurry home!"
Four-year-old Ai Yunqi grasped tightly onto a bag of instant noodles just purchased from the convenience store. Her little legs, sprightly as if wound with springs, bounced towards home in a hurry.
"Mommy is waiting for me to bring her these noodles!"
She must be very hungry by now.
But before she could reach the doorstep, she saw her mother tugging and pulling with a middle-aged man on the roadside from afar.
Just when she wanted to shout "Mommy," she froze.
Because her mother was pleading with what seemed to be a not so decent-looking middle-aged man, “Mr. Zhang, have mercy please, I am short on cash, I have delayed the rent for days now, I will starve if I can’t pay it!”
The middle-aged man was about to retrieve his mobile phone when suddenly a plump woman rushed out, shouting indignantly, "You siren, trying to seduce my husband again!"
The two women instantly fell into a scuffle!
Ai Yunqi stood aside looking shockingly as her mother's hair was gripped tightly by that woman.
Her mother screamed, a shrill, desperate shriek.
Ai Yunqi wanted to step forward to help, but remembered her mother's words echoing in her ears: when she was with other men, she was not allowed to intervene.
Ever since she could remember, she knew her mother had a shady reputation.
Not long after her mother gave birth to her, she was sent to prison. Ai Yunqi was a child raised in an orphanage, where her playmates would call her "the child of a criminal."
Despite this, she was still excited to meet her mother.
At last, when she was four years old, she was brought home by her mother.
Currently, she was watching her mother brawling with that woman. Afterward, her mother was frantically running towards the outside of the community.
The woman was right behind her, cursing heavily, "Why are you running, you cheap wench!"
Ai Yunqi, holding onto her instant noodles, panting heavily, trailing behind, yelled loudly, "Mom! Mom!!"
Her mother didn't look back.
She darted towards the road, her red skirt like a vibrant flower, all of a sudden—
A car hit her and sent her flying!
Amid the loud noise, Ai Yunqi stared in shock, watching her mother soar and then fall to the ground.
"Thump!!"
Within the moment, chaos reigned around her.
People were whispering into their phones, some others were coming up close to watch, only the woman who had been chasing her mother was scared pale, and she left running with the greasy man.
Ai Yunqi's mind was buzzing, she went over to her mother's side and squatted down: "Mom... are you okay?"
Her mother was lying in a pool of blood, staring blankly at her with wide eyes.
Her mother's body was convulsing.
In a disoriented state, Ai Yunqi held up the noodles and said, "QiQi bought the noodles home, can we go home? Can we go eat?"
Blood kept flowing from the corner of the woman's mouth as if she was trying to say something.
He squatted close to her, hearing her say with difficulty, "What will you do... I have left you behind... What will you do..."
As soon as she finished speaking, the light in her eyes suddenly disappeared and she was silent.
Ai Yunqi blinked her big eyes, gently shaking her mother with her small hand, "Mom, mom, wake up!"
Her voice was childish, carrying a hint of a teary tone.
It was quiet all around, no one answering her call.
The owner of the car involved in the accident was circling anxiously, "Kid, your mom suddenly ran out, it’s really not my fault! Where is your dad? We need to talk about this seriously."
She ignored him, just kept slapping her mother's face with her small hands, her voice filled with urgency, "Mom, mom, wake up quickly, don't scare me!"
