“My luck’s been rotten ever since I married you... You’re nothing but bad luck.”

“Have you no shame? You damn gambling addict. How many times have you gambled away the family’s savings? And now you’re blaming me...”

“...”

The boy stood at the doorway. The door was open, but inside it was pitch-black. He couldn’t see anything, only hear two people arguing.

He’d already spent quite a while playing at Xu Yuting’s house, but his parents were still fighting.

“How can I make them stop arguing?”

Zhao Anqing’s mood sank all over again.

Even though he didn’t want to step into that dark house, the boy still bravely walked in.

His parents were still in the main room. He could already make out their vague silhouettes.

“Do you even want to keep living like this? If not, then get out. I don’t care to live with you anymore.”

Zhao’s mother seemed fed up with this meaningless argument too. With a cold face, she threw out that harsh line.

“...”

Zhao’s father didn’t answer right away. In the darkness, there only came bursts of choked sobbing, as if he were desperately holding back his tears.

“Dad...”

The boy trotted over to his father’s side and used his little hand to hold his father’s big one.

Actually, every time they fought, Zhao Anqing already knew how it would end.

His dad would lose.

And in the end, he would give in.

It had happened many times already.

As long as Zhao’s mother said those self-destructive things, the kind that didn’t care about this family at all, the one who always yielded was Zhao’s father.

“Heh... Xiaoqing, let’s... let’s eat. You must be starving.”

Zhao’s father’s voice was full of bitterness. He first wiped away the tears gathered in his eyes, then finally switched on the flashlight he had kept off the whole time.

At last, light appeared in the dark little house.

But the weak light cast long shadows over everyone in the room, making them look a little twisted and frightening.

“Hmph...”

Seeing that Zhao’s father had already surrendered without a word, Zhao’s mother lifted her dark face. It was as if she had found a victor’s thrill in bullying her husband. She gave a light snort and put a cigarette between her lips.

“Come on. Dad’ll take you upstairs to eat.”

Zhao’s father swept the flashlight around, then finally found the boxed meal on the floor, long since gone cold.

He tucked the meal under his arm, wrapped one arm around the boy, held the flashlight up with the other, and walked toward the even darker second floor.

“Mm.”

The boy answered softly and obediently followed his father.

They carefully made it through the dark staircase again, one without any railing.

“Anqing... you must be starving, right? You eat first.”

In the second-floor living room, there was a broken table and a few stools missing legs and backs.

By the flashlight’s beam, Zhao’s father found the most intact stool and motioned for the boy to sit and eat.

“Dad, I made a new friend. She took me to her house to play, and I already ate there. I’m not hungry. You should eat.”

Zhao Anqing didn’t sit down. He tilted his face up and looked at his father.

Zhao’s father looked terrible. Exhaustion, hunger, and misery were all written across his face.

The boy’s heart twitched along with his loved one’s emotions, and he felt even worse.

“A new friend? A boy or a girl? Heh, my Xiaoqing is really amazing. You just got here and you already made a new friend. You’ll definitely have a bright future.”

Zhao’s father’s cracked lips moved. Smiling, he rubbed the boy’s head and praised him.

“A girl. Her name is Xu Yuting. She’s really pretty, and she lives right across from our house...”

The boy excitedly introduced his new friend, carrying a little pride from being praised.

Only praise from family could make him feel proud.

“The one in the building across from us?”

Zhao’s father had a deep impression of that fancy little house, the one decorated so luxuriously that even the outside walls were covered in ceramic tiles.

“Mhm, that one.”

The boy nodded nonstop as he answered his father.

“Xiaoqing... we can’t be friends with... rich people like that... Don’t keep seeing that girl anymore.”

Zhao’s father knew it was wrong for a father to say something like this to his child, but he still forced himself to say it.

He was afraid the child would get hurt even more.

It was better to cut things off yourself than be coldly cast aside.

“...Yuting won’t look down on me. We pinky-swore.”

The moment he heard that, the boy’s little face turned anxious. He hurriedly explained, trying to make his father understand this friendship between children.

He remembered the pinky promise he had made with the girl not long ago, their vow to be friends forever.

If he went back on his word, Yuting would definitely be heartbroken.

The boy didn’t want that, so for once, he didn’t want to obey his father.

“Be good. Listen to me. You’re still young. When you grow up, you’ll understand your father’s good intentions.”

Like many adults, Zhao’s father didn’t take the boy’s explanation to heart. He simply made the decision himself and dressed it up with a perfectly proper reason.

“Dad, I want to be friends with Yuting.”

Zhao Anqing’s eyes had turned red, like a stubborn little beast.

“Listen to me.”

Zhao’s father said the same words again, but his tone was much harsher.

“I...”

In the end, the boy was only a child. Faced with an adult’s stern face, he still shrank back and didn’t dare make a sound. He lowered his head.

“Xiaoqing, that girl playing with you was only acting on a whim. Maybe... maybe tomorrow she won’t even talk to you anymore... That’s why Dad doesn’t want you to expect too much from this friendship.”

A trace of remembrance flashed through Zhao’s father’s eyes.

Once, he had also been good friends with a boy from a rich family.

He had treasured that friendship just as deeply.

But as time passed, they had less and less to talk about.

In the end, that rich boy found a group of friends from families just like his.

And he was left all alone.

“Mm...”

The boy answered softly, downcast. He hadn’t taken any of it to heart.

“Dad, I’m sleepy. I want to go to bed. You eat. Good night.”

His nose felt sour and uncomfortable. He wanted to be alone.

“This child...”

Zhao’s father shook his head and held up the flashlight to light the way for the boy until he returned to his little room.

Click.

The boy closed the door.

Inside, it was completely dark.

Only the patch near the window held a trace of light.

The boy felt upset, but being alone in the little room still made him afraid.

He didn’t go out to seek his father’s protection.

Instead, he ran over to the window.

Moonlight shone in, and at the same time drove away the fear in the boy’s heart.

But even after the fear was gone, two tear tracks still slid down the boy’s delicate face.

“Wuwu... I want to be friends with Yuting...”

Zhao Anqing sat on the floor with his back against the rough wall, sobbing in a low voice, not daring to cry too loudly.

To the boy, his father’s words were an imperial decree he could never disobey.

His father wouldn’t let him be friends with Xu Yuting.

Then the boy had to obey.

But that wasn’t what Zhao Anqing wanted. He wanted to be friends with the girl.

The clash between those two things made this little boy feel awful. He cried until he could barely catch his breath.

He didn’t know how long it went on. Only after crying himself tired did he drowsily lie down on that hard wooden bed.