Everyone Regrets It After My Death - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The One Who Was Kind to Him

At the age of seven, Su Mingran was smothered until he lost consciousness. When he woke up, he found himself in a dilapidated, filthy vehicle. Inside were over a dozen other children, even smaller than him, both boys and girls.

Children so young, thrust into such a strange and terrifying environment, were overcome with fear; the air was filled with the sound of crying.

Little Mingran curled himself into a ball, too terrified to make a sound, his tears flowing incessantly.

They didn’t know how long they had been traveling, but eventually, unable to withstand the stifling, foul stench inside the van, little Mingran vomited. Finally, the vehicle came to a stop.

All the children were ordered to get out. Disobedient children were forcibly dragged out and thrown to the ground; those who wailed were slapped until they could no longer make a sound.

Terrified and trembling, the children could only do as they were told and stand in a line.

There was more than one adult involved in their kidnapping. Su Mingran remembered the leader—a very tall, heavy-set, and muscular man. He spoke with such ferocity that all the children were terrified of him.

He herded the children into a dark room where no sunlight could reach. He then instructed a thin, small woman who emerged from another room to prepare food for them.

The man called the woman “Xiao Ling.”

Half an hour later, Xiao Ling brought in a large wooden basin filled with meat and vegetables, along with a washbasin piled high with white rice.

The children had been hungry and terrified for an entire day. Some rushed forward desperately for food, while others remained wary and refused to eat.

Little Mingran hugged himself. He smelled foul; vomit had soiled his collar. He stared at the food timidly, not daring to eat. He had been taught at school never to take food from strangers.

Xiao Ling appeared to be in her twenties. She had a small, delicate face that showed no signs of being weathered by the elements, and her voice was very gentle.

“Children, eat more. You need to be full to find a way back to your parents.”

She spoke softly, as if afraid the men outside would hear her.

After a day of terror, the children were drawn to this gentle, kind-faced older sister. They cautiously moved forward to eat. Feeling his empty stomach, little Mingran shuffled over and joined them.

It was only much later that Su Mingran learned Xiao Ling had also been bought by that large man to be his wife. She loathed what the men did but was powerless to stop them. Her freedom was also controlled by them, so she did her best to provide food and comfort to the terrified children.

Over the following days, the children remained locked in the sunless room. Xiao Ling was the only one who came daily to deliver food.

One day, the man threw open the door, scanned the room, and dragged three children out. Gradually, the number of children dwindled until little Mingran was the only one left in the room.

The other children had been sold. Little Mingran was left behind because the man mistakenly believed he was a mute.

During that time, Su Mingran truly couldn’t make a sound. Even when he cried, it was silent. He wanted to speak, but he had lost his voice—likely due to the severe shock.

The man considered him “bad luck.” Since he couldn’t be sold, the man decided it was a waste to keep him idle and began forcing him to beg on the streets.

As the days passed, the man only cared about whether Mingran brought back money; otherwise, he ignored him. Xiao Ling, however, continued to care for him meticulously.

After the man sold the other children, a violent dispute broke out between him and the other men over the division of the money. They parted ways on bad terms, and the kidnapping business was temporarily forced to a halt.

With Xiao Ling protecting him, little Mingran no longer went hungry, and the beatings became less frequent. Slowly, his voice began to return.

“A-Ran, you must never speak in front of him,” Xiao Ling warned him. “If he knows you can talk, he’ll sell you. I don’t know where you’d end up. Besides, you’re older now; many families won’t want a child your age.”

The children the man usually kidnapped were very young. Because little Mingran was short, the man had mistaken him for being younger when he snatched him.

Little Mingran nodded and continued to pretend he was mute.

As they endured the days, the man’s temper grew increasingly volatile. Beatings and verbal abuse toward Xiao Ling and little Mingran became routine. Life became harder as their money ran out, and the man returned to his “old trade.”

New children began appearing in the man’s house. His former associates had all “washed their hands clean” of the business, leaving the man to kidnap toddlers alone.

Batch after batch of children came and went—all treated as “goods” by the man—until one “item” was returned.

Su Mingran was nine that year. He was still very short when he met a boy significantly taller than him.

The boy had been specially selected by the man. He was exquisitely handsome and clean. He had been sold to a foreigner, but the foreigner brought him back the very next day.

In broken Chinese, the foreigner shouted angrily, “He bites! Refund my money!”

The man was furious. He had gone to great lengths to kidnap such a beautiful boy. Because the boy was older, he was hard to sell domestically, making a foreign buyer the best option. Selling a child abroad meant they could never return, eliminating any future trouble.

But the boy was stubborn. He didn’t just bite; he had tried to escape several times.

The man refused to refund the money. He locked the boy in a room and began a physical brawl with the foreigner. The foreigner was large, but he wasn’t as vicious as the kidnapper and was quickly overpowered.

The foreigner threatened to bring a group of people back to beat him. Sensing danger, the man fled the city overnight with the woman and the two boys.

After settling in a new location, the man used the same methods to lure four more children—two boys and two girls.

Because the environment was new and his resources were limited, the man had no way to sell the children. Instead, he forced them to beg on the streets.

The “returned” boy with the exquisite features was named “Xuan-xuan.” He had been wearing a school uniform when he was kidnapped, and his name was written on it. Little Mingran only recognized one of the characters.

Xuan-xuan had a stubborn temperament. He never spoke to them and refused to submit to the man’s control. He was constantly trying to escape, only to be caught, beaten, and denied food.

Seeing this, little Mingran begged Xiao Ling to let him secretly deliver food to the boy.

Their daily meals were strictly rationed. The man wanted to starve the boy, and while Xiao Ling didn’t dare defy him openly, she secretly helped Mingran.

Mingran would eat the vegetables but hide the steamed buns. At night, after the man and the other children had fallen asleep, he would crawl out of their small shed and head to the window of the other room to hand food to the boy.

Since they had just moved, the door the man used to lock them in wasn’t properly fixed yet—it was just blocked by a large wooden board. Being small and thin, Mingran could squeeze out.

“Xuan-xuan, catch this! I brought you a bun!” Mingran whispered.

After a few minutes, a bruised and purple arm reached through the window.

“Do you want some water? Should I get some for you?”

“Don’t fight him. When we’re a bit older, we can find a chance to run away. He won’t be able to handle all of us at once.”

“Even though that man beats us, Sister Xiao Ling is very good. She gave me extra food today and the biggest bun. She’s even keeping watch for me.”

“Sister Xiao Ling is a good person. She just can’t go outside. The man is afraid she’ll run away, so he locks her in the house whenever he goes out.”

Mingran talked a lot, trying to comfort and persuade Xuan-xuan.

That night, the man caught Mingran sneaking out and beat him severely. Xiao Ling knelt beside them, begging for a long time before the man finally stopped.

The next day, Xuan-xuan became much more compliant, and the man let him out.

“You must each get 100 yuan today. If you don’t, don’t bother coming back!”

To prevent escapes, only one or two children were sent out to beg at a time. The man had considered breaking the children’s arms or legs to make them easier to manage, but Xiao Ling had begged him desperately, enduring several beatings herself to talk him out of it.

Xuan-xuan was sent out to beg with little Mingran. Xuan-xuan clearly didn’t know how, so Mingran taught him while keeping his back to the man who was watching them.

“Don’t tell him I can talk, or he’ll kill me.”

“Just stay behind me and copy how I hold the bowl.”

There weren’t many people on the street that day. They were short by about a dozen yuan. Mingran put the 100-plus yuan into Xuan-xuan’s bowl and bore the man’s beating himself.

The man had a terrible temper when he drank. His slaps were loud and heavy, leaving Mingran’s face feeling numb and unrecognizable.

The other children in the small room stayed silent, watching as the man grabbed Mingran’s head and slammed it against the wall.

Over and over, the blows landed harder. Xiao Ling heard the sounds and, knowing Mingran was being hurt, pounded on the door, crying for mercy.

Finally, Xuan-xuan couldn’t take it anymore. He lunged forward and hugged Mingran, using his own body as a shield. He begged the man to stop. The man kicked Xuan-xuan hard, spat on him, and finally gave up.

Life continued this way. When they weren’t begging, they were locked in the dark room. Begging became a rare opportunity to breathe outside air.

As time went on, Mingran received special care from Xiao Ling and was occasionally let out to do chores. Xuan-xuan also became less guarded and started talking more, though only to Mingran.

Xuan-xuan was very good to Mingran and looked after him. When Xiao Ling wasn’t around, the two of them relied solely on each other.

Whenever Su Mingran recalled those times, he felt they were among the few warm moments of his life. Even though he was imprisoned and beaten, he felt the warmth of a “family.”

Every time the weather turned cold, Xiao Ling thought of him, risking a beating to add extra layers of clothing to his frame. Xuan-xuan, who was resistant to the cold, would secretly help him with his chores.

When he was sick, Xiao Ling would cook something nice for him behind the man’s back. Xuan-xuan would use the gaps when the man wasn’t looking during begging sessions to dash to a nearby pharmacy, steal medicine, and secretly press it into Mingran’s hand, only to be caught and beaten later.

When Mingran turned thirteen, the man became gravely ill. He began planning an even more horrific trade, eyeing the children’s organs.

When Xiao Ling found out, she was terrified. She waited until the man was at his weakest and risked everything to release the remaining children.

Su Mingran remembered Xuan-xuan holding his hand as they fled. He saw Xiao Ling desperately clinging to the man’s legs. The man beat her savagely. No matter how much force he used, Xiao Ling did not let go.

“Run! Take Xuan-xuan and run!”

Mingran was pulled away by Xuan-xuan. The last thing he saw was Xiao Ling covered in blood.

They ran for a long time, wary of every stranger. Eventually, they found a man in a police uniform. The police took them to the station and filed a report.

Later, Xuan-xuan was picked up by his family. The man was arrested and sentenced to over a decade in prison for his many crimes. As for Xiao Ling, Mingran asked many people, but her whereabouts remained unknown.

He remembered the case being handled by Su Mo, as Su Renhua found it too troublesome. Mingran had begged Su Mo, telling him that Xiao Ling was innocent and asking him not to make things hard for her. Su Mo had agreed.

Mingran also wanted to find Xuan-xuan. He figured that once Xuan-xuan returned to his real family, the kidnapping would become a closed chapter of the past. Xuan-xuan likely had a new life and wouldn’t want to be disturbed.

But Xiao Ling was different. She had no family. He wanted to find her and take care of her.

During the summer after his senior year of high school, Mingran searched for her but found no trace. He hoped to rely on Su Mo’s help. That year, Su Mo had just taken over the Su family business and was in high spirits, promising to grant his siblings one wish.

Su Mingran begged Su Mo to help him find Xiao Ling. Su Mo agreed.

Many years had passed, and Su Mingran didn’t know if Su Mo had ever found her. He continued to wait; it was the only reason he stayed with the Su family.

Now, he could no longer stay in the Su household. The Sus were not his home, nor were they his family. In this world, only Sister Xiao Ling had ever treated him like family.

He wanted to find an opportunity to ask Su Mo once and for all: Is there any news of Sister Xiao Ling?