Skin - Chapter 51

Chapter 51 – A Bystander

　　Meng Zhao originally thought that in this world, only he and Lu Chengze knew that he knelt down.

　　But what he didn’t know was that his sister Meng Ruoshu was actually standing behind the door and saw this scene.

　　What he didn’t know was that just across the window, there was another pair of eyes witnessing everything through the gap in the blinds, and that person was Lu Shichen.

　　No one knew if it was a coincidence, but at this moment, Lu Shichen, who was unconscious in the intensive care unit, also dreamed of this scene at the same time.

　　Lu Shichen had a very long dream. Perhaps it was because the last person he saw before being sent to the emergency room was Meng Zhao, so all these dreams were related to Meng Zhao.

　　He dreamed of that afternoon when he was standing in the lounge next to Lu Chengze’s office and witnessed the scene through the gap in the blinds.

　　Lu Shichen saw that even though the boy was kneeling on the ground, his back was still straight. Meng Zhao was very thin at that time, and his waistline and spine could almost be seen through the thin T-shirt. The spine was straight and looked hard and brittle, as if it could be broken with just a little force.

　　He saw Lu Chengze stand up and walk over, help the boy who was kneeling on the ground, pat his shoulder and sigh.

　　He saw Meng Zhao turn around dejectedly and walk to the door again, but this time he didn’t turn around. The little girl standing outside the door lowered her footsteps and ran away quickly before Meng Zhao came out.

　　Lu Shichen watched all this with no expression on his face.

　　Meng Zhao. He remembered the boy’s name because he picked up the dying dog in the middle of the road.

　　He thought again of the stray dog struggling with its limbs after being run over by a car.

　　He heard that the dog died in the end. So what will be the outcome for Meng Zhao after such a struggle?

　　After Meng Zhao left, Lu Shichen walked to the door, watched the boy’s back disappear around the corner of the stairs, and couldn’t help but follow him in light steps.

　　After leaving Lu Chengze’s office, Meng Zhao’s shoulders slumped. Only then did he realize that in this world, not all grievances could be cleared, not all trials represented justice, and not all struggles would bring the desired results.

　　He thought that by gambling everything he had, he would be able to help his uncle clear this injustice, but reality gave him a head-on blow.

　　‘Uncle Lu is right. Compared with the weak and feeble defense of innocence, a guilty defense with the purpose of reducing the sentence is indeed a better choice.’

　　‘But do we really have to compromise like this?’

　　Choosing to plead guilty would mean that his uncle would have to plead guilty in silence and bear the burden of this false accusation for the rest of his life.

　　To die standing up or live on his knees? He was unwilling to accept this. He believed that his uncle would not accept this either.

　　As he walked down the stairs, Meng Zhao wanted to find a place to stay by himself, or even to have a good cry, but he knew he couldn’t do that because Meng Ruoshu was still outside waiting for his good news.

　　He had to pull himself together. Meng Ruoshu had finally offered to go out with him. If he let her know that this attempt had failed, it might be difficult to get her to go out again in the future.

　　There was only one flight of stairs left. Meng Zhao took a deep breath and turned into the straight-shouldered, indestructible young man again.

　　He saw Meng Ruoshu sitting on the sofa in the lobby of the law firm, waiting for him.

　　Meng Ruoshu also saw him and raised her arm to wave at him.

　　He was almost afraid to face Meng Ruoshu. This little girl was very smart. Although she couldn’t speak now, she was sensitive to everything that happened. Meng Zhao couldn’t make sure he pretended that nothing had happened.

　　He walked towards Meng Ruoshu, and Meng Ruoshu stood up from the sofa.

　　”Let’s go home.” Meng Zhao tried his best to make his tone sound more relaxed.

　　After leaving the law firm, he took Meng Ruoshu to the store across the street and bought her an ice cream.

　　He handed the ice cream to Meng Ruoshu, bent down to look at her, and whispered, “Dad will be fine.” He didn’t mention anything that happened just now, for fear that Meng Ruoshu would find out that he was lying. “Let’s go sit on that wooden bench for a while. You finish this ice cream and brother can take a rest, okay?”

　　Meng Ruoshu took the ice cream, looked up at Meng Zhao, nodded, and the brim of her baseball cap swayed up and down.

　　She handed the ice cream to Meng Zhao’s mouth and asked him to take a bite first, but Meng Zhao said he didn’t want to eat it.

　　He took Meng Ruoshu to the wooden bench, sat down, leaned his back against the seat, and raised his head to lean on the hard wooden back. The setting sun shone on Meng Zhao’s face, so dazzling that he wanted to cry, so he closed his eyes.

　　As soon as he closed my eyes, all he saw was himself kneeling down and his uncle in the detention center.

　　He reached out and took off the baseball cap on Meng Ruoshu’s head: “The sun is very strong, lend it to me for a while.” Then he put the baseball cap on his face.

　　The hat was put on just in time, and it held back his tears the next second.

　　Standing at the door of the law firm, Lu Shichen looked at Meng Zhao across the road, still with no expression on his face.

　　Is he…crying? Lu Shichen wondered.

　　Then he saw the little girl who had been concentrating on eating ice cream next to him lowered her head and secretly wiped away her tears.

　　‘Meng Zhao.’ Lu Shichen repeated the name in his mind again.

　　He felt that Meng Zhao was just like his name, like a sharp and fragile long knife.

　　He remembered a few names in the class, but the only one he could match was Meng Zhao.

　　At first, he noticed Meng Zhao because he felt that Meng Zhao was of the same kind as himself.

　　After a long time, Lu Shichen gradually found that he seemed to be different from the people around him. He often observed the people around him and saw the rich expressions on their faces – smiles, laughter, anger, crying, sobbing – he knew the names corresponding to those expressions, but he didn’t understand why they laughed or cried.

　　He had tried to make these expressions, but he found that it was meaningless to him because he could not feel the emotions behind the expressions.

　　He seemed like a bystander who didn’t fit in. All the joys and sorrows in the world had nothing to do with him. Living became a very boring thing, so he often wondered why the car accident didn’t take him away.

　　Later, he found a similar person. The person sat diagonally behind him and seemed to have an even more boring life than him. Every day, he was late for class, skipped classes, and slept. When everyone in the class burst into laughter, only he and Meng Zhao remained indifferent.

　　Lu Shichen looked at Meng Zhao, just like looking at himself in the eyes of others. This feeling was very strange. He thought Meng Zhao was just like him, tired of this noisy world who felt that life was boring, and lived like a walking corpse.

　　Until Meng Zhao rescued the dog struggling in the middle of the road.

　　Lu Shichen remembered that when he looked at the dog that was run over by the car, he thought of himself in the car accident.

　　It’s really interesting to see life struggling to this point.

　　‘Could it be that when I was in that car accident, I also struggled to survive in this way?’

　　Rather than living such a boring life, it would be better to die completely in that car accident.

　　Lu Shichen looked at the dog in the middle of the road. He was waiting for the second car to run over the dog and for it to die completely.

　　But unexpectedly, his “kindred spirit” rescued the dog.

　　It was then that Lu Shichen realized that Meng Zhao might not be the same kind as him. Facing his fate, he was still struggling.

　　And now he once again witnessed Meng Zhao’s struggle with his own eyes.

　　It’s just that last time Meng Zhao was helping the wild dog struggle, but this time he became the struggling wild dog.

　　What would the face under the baseball cap look like at this moment? What would Meng Zhao look like when he cried?

　　Lu Shichen stared closely at Meng Zhao not far away.

　　After a while, the little girl next to him finished her ice cream and started to stare at the road in a daze. The scene seemed to be still.

　　Suddenly, Meng Zhao raised his hand, took off the baseball cap on his face and put it on his head. At the same time, he quickly raised his other hand to wipe away the tears from his face.

　　Although it was only for a moment, Lu Shichen saw Meng Zhao clearly at that moment.

　　The boy had dark eyebrows and his face was almost transparent under the setting sun.

　　So this is how he looks when he cries, Lu Shichen thought, does this expression represent… sadness?

　　At the same time, Lu Shichen also noticed a dull pain in his heart.

　　It was not real pain, but it seemed like something was sour and astringent in his chest, making him feel a little uncomfortable.

　　This uncomfortable feeling was very unfamiliar, but he suddenly felt as if he was a little more alive.

　　He saw Meng Zhao stand up from the wooden bench, raise his hand to lower the brim of his hat, and the little girl also stood up.

　　There were two people, one tall and one short, with their shadows stretching very long on the ground.

　　Then they walked forward, dragging their long shadows, until they reached a place where Lu Shichen could no longer see them.

　　‘What on earth was this feeling?’ Lu Shichen clenched his fist and pressed it against the area on his chest that felt sour and astringent.

　　This feeling seemed to tell him that he had to do something for this person.

　The sour, dull pain became more and more obvious. The unconscious Lu Shichen’s breathing suddenly became rapid, and his chest rose and fell noticeably.

　　Suddenly, he opened his eyes and returned to this world again.