Chapter 197: The Little Girl

Chu Peipei peered outside through the peephole and saw a frail little girl. Her tone softened a bit:

“I’m not your mom. Do you need something?”

The little girl pouted. “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

Chu Peipei frowned. This child seemed a little slow, not understanding what she was saying.

She repeated, “I’m not your mom. You’ve got the wrong person.”

With that, she turned to go back to her room.

The little girl’s lips trembled, and she started to cry. “Mommy, don’t you want Xiaoguai anymore?”

Chu Peipei froze in her tracks, her hand instinctively going to her stomach.

Her unborn child had been called Xiaoguai.

She’d been only a few months pregnant, not far enough along to pick a name, but her husband had always liked to rest his head on her belly, calling “Xiaoguai, Xiaoguai.” Over time, she’d started calling the baby that too.

Outside, the little girl was still crying. “Mommy, Xiaoguai hurts.”

Hurts?

She remembered her own child, the one that had been kicked out of her body.

He must have been in so much pain, too.

If her Xiaoguai hadn’t died back then, he’d be just old enough to call her “Mommy” now...

The little girl’s cries outside the door, calling “Mommy” again and again, tugged at Chu Peipei’s heart.

She pressed her face to the peephole, checked that no one else was around, and slowly opened the door.

The little girl’s eyes lit up. She took a few steps forward and threw herself into Chu Peipei’s arms. “Mommy!”

Chu Peipei looked around warily once more, then crouched down.

“Let Auntie see—where does it hurt?”

The little girl lifted her baggy pants. “Here.”

Chu Peipei looked down. The girl’s right calf had been badly burned by acid rain.

She said quickly, “Wait here and be good, okay? I’ll go inside and get you some medicine.”

The little girl clung to her sleeve. “Mommy, don’t leave me.”

Chu Peipei patiently explained, “Xiaoguai, just wait here for a moment. I’ll get you medicine. Once we put it on, your wound will heal and it won’t hurt anymore.”

Reluctantly, the little girl let go. “Mommy, hurry back.”

“I will.”

Chu Peipei went back to apartment 1401. As she opened the door, the little girl caught a glimpse of the supplies stacked inside, but only for a second before the door shut tight.

The little girl lowered her eyes and stood obediently in place.

Soon, Chu Peipei returned with bread, ointment, and water.

She tore the bread open. “Eat something first.”

The little girl seemed to have been starving—she devoured the bread ravenously.

While she ate, Chu Peipei rolled up her pant leg and rinsed the wound with clean water.

The girl was so focused on eating that, though tears streamed down her face from the pain, she didn’t make a sound.

Chu Peipei’s heart ached for her. She gently applied burn ointment to the wound.

Given the circumstances, this was the best she could do. She only had the ointment because she’d traded for it with Er Kui and the others. It wasn’t exactly the right medicine, but it was better than nothing.

The little girl quickly finished the bread, licking the wrapper and crying out, “It hurts!”

Chu Peipei comforted her softly, “Hang in there. The medicine will keep it from getting infected.”

The little girl nodded obediently. “Thank you, Mommy.”

Then her gaze shifted to the leftover water from rinsing her wound. “Mommy, can I drink that?”

Chu Peipei nodded. “Of course.”

She handed her the bottle.

The little girl finished the water and was about to say something when a frantic figure rushed over.

“Xiaoguai!!”

“You devil woman, let go of my Xiaoguai!”

Seeing the woman charging toward her, Chu Peipei instinctively reached for the gun at her back.

“Don’t move!”

But the woman didn’t seem afraid at all. She kept shouting, “Let go of my daughter!”

Chu Peipei glanced at the little girl in surprise. “She’s your daughter?”

Then she thought, since the woman knew the child’s name, she must be telling the truth.

Her tone softened. “Your daughter’s burn was pretty bad. I just put some medicine on it for her.”

The woman saw the ointment in Chu Peipei’s hand and finally relaxed a little. She whispered, “Thank you.”

She pulled the girl into her arms, her voice full of concern. “Xiaoguai, are you okay?”

The little girl shook her head.

Seeing that the child’s mother had come, Chu Peipei turned and went back inside, closing the door.

The little girl looked longingly at the closed door.

As the woman carried her downstairs, she scolded, “Didn’t you hear what the uncles said? That devil woman is dangerous! How could you go up there?”

The little girl shook her head. “Mommy, that devil auntie isn’t scary at all.”

The woman frowned. “You can’t judge a book by its cover. You still have to be careful...”

She paused, then asked, “Weren’t you sleeping in my arms? When did you sneak out? I woke up and you were gone—I was scared to death!”

The little girl didn’t answer. Instead, she asked, “Mommy, what will you do if the rain never stops?”

The woman looked at her, surprised by how grown-up she sounded, and said gently, “Xiaoguai, don’t worry about that. Mommy will take you home.”

The little girl didn’t reply. She turned her head to look up at the fourteenth floor, now far behind.

She muttered, “But there’s no food at home either!”

The rain outside was so loud that the woman didn’t hear her. “What did you say?”

The little girl lowered her eyes. “Nothing.”

Two more days passed, and the rain still didn’t stop.

Those who’d been badly injured at the start had already died.

The rest of the people waiting in the building grew more and more anxious.

The rain outside couldn’t be drunk, and they had no food. There was nothing edible in these empty apartments.

If this went on, they would either die of thirst or starve.

The woman and her child huddled together in a bedroom on the eighth floor for three days.

The little girl lay in her mother’s arms and sighed. “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

The woman began to cry. “I’m sorry, Xiaoguai! Just hold on a little longer—maybe the rain will stop tomorrow.”

The little girl stared at the ceiling. “But what if it doesn’t?”

The woman choked up and didn’t answer.

The little girl sighed again.

Two more days passed. The door on the fourteenth floor was knocked on once more.

Chu Peipei quickly came out.

It was the little girl again.

Chu Peipei asked, “Where’s your mom?”

The little girl looked innocent. “You’re my mommy!”

Chu Peipei said, “I mean your real mom.”

The little girl tilted her head, puzzled. “What’s a real mom?”

Chu Peipei was a little exasperated. “The woman who came to get you a couple of days ago.”

The little girl seemed to understand. “She went out to get food. She hasn’t come back.”

Chu Peipei was shocked. “She went out? But it’s acid rain out there!”

The little girl nodded. “There’s no food or water here. She said she had to go home to get some.”

Chu Peipei asked, “How long has she been gone?”

The little girl thought for a moment. “Several days.”"