16 June before 12:00
Xiao Mo hung back the melon knife and continued his work downstairs. Issues like a youth buying knives were a small matter to him, it would soon be forgotten.
Back at the counter, he turned off the noisy doorbell. So long as he was at the counter, he would turn the noisy little thing off.
While he was working on the computer, he heard a voice of a small boy: “How much is this phone charger?”
Xiao Mo jolted in shock, since when was there a customer? Why didn’t he feel him coming in at all?
He lifted up his head and small a small boy around the same height as the cabinet looking at the charger displayed inside it.
Yo, another familiar face! This was the same boy sleeping on the bench at the park.
These two boys coming in one after another, was this all planned?
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&dcpr;Dkys Ys oyp pvyavkdt vs clzklhl vbyv vbl vos csup xktbv byhl jdsod lynb svbla.
“Bbx, usw oydv vs cwu vbl rbsdl nbyatla?” Tl oyp dsv y hytaydv yqvla yzz? Dkys Ys qlzv vbyv bl oyp pwnb y fsjla, zwnjkzu vbl rszknl yde vbl qyxkzu sq vbl csu eke dsv nsxl vs qkde vaswczl qsa bkx.
Mblu csu zssjle wr yv bkx yde dseele.
Dkys Ys vbswtbv vs bkxplzq, vbkp jke’p ryaldvp olal ps kaalprsdpkczl, pwnb y pxyzz nbkze yde ulv vblu zlv bkx pzllr sd vbl ryaj’p cldnb yv pwnb yd lyazu xsadkdt? Ohld vbl jke’p nzsvblp olal kzz-qkvvle yde ekavu.
“Gal usw cwukdt kv qsa uswa ryaldvp?”
Mbl csu pbssj bkp blye.
“Mbld obs ypjle usw vs nsxl?”
“Jas, obyv’p okvb yzz vbl iwlpvksdp?”
Xiao Mo was startled. What was going on, why did this child talk like an old gangster?
“You sell, I buy. Why do you care so much who is asking for this?” The child continued to shock Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo so astonished that he turned speechless.
Alright, it was obvious that he had encountered an outstanding boy that had a high IQ and loved acting like an adult.
“Do you know what type are you looking for?” Xiao Mo decided to entertain this little customer, shaking his head as he walked to the cabinet, bending down and pointing to the items in it.
“The kind with the solar charging ability.” The boy pointed to one of them in the cabinet.
“Are you sure? Although it says that this model can charge anything, but it isn’t compatible for the older and very new models…”
“I am aware. As long as it can charge up the Ye Fei 320 model it is fine!” The child interrupted Xiao Mo’s words and pointed towards the glass cabinet impatiently, “So do you intend to sell or not? How about five dollars?”
“Five dollars?” Xiao Mo smirked, “Hey kiddo, are you sure you weren’t sent here by your parents to act cute and take advantage of me?”
“Brother, why are you so talkative! Five dollars, are you selling or not?”
“…”
“Hey, are you mute?” The boy puffed up his cheeks, impatiently pointed at the display again.
Xiao Mo suppressed his urge to stretch out his hand to squeeze the boy’s face.
“Cough, the price for this model is fixed at fifty. This one is branded goods of excellent quality, even though it is second hand, we offer three months of warranty. Basically, as long as you take good care of it, it can last for about three to five years… Ah, why am I telling you all this?”
Xiao Mo groaned, this was exactly why he disliked doing business with kids, not only could they not identify good quality goods, they also did not intend to pay the correct price at all. Some kids even reject without reason. Kids aged eight and below were especially the worst.
“This is just a piece of broken tech, so five dollars is very justifiable,” the kid mumbled. “Leave it, do you have any broken or irreparable solar chargeable appliances?”
“Why would you want those broken appliances?” Xiao Mo could not be blamed for being this alert; the kid really did not sound like his age.
“Why do you care so much…”
Screech!
Suddenly, there was a screeching sound of the car tyres braking on the pavement.
At the same time, “Ahh-“ Someone screamed sharply.
Back at the shop, the both of them peered out.
“Someone’s been killed! The truck crashed into a kid and killed him!”
Following the loud scream, the Shan Nan Jia Wan shopping street started bustling. One after another, the doors of the shops opened, letting out both the shoppers and the sellers, all of them crowding around the road junction.
The shopping street was just fifty meters away from the traffic lights and the main road.
Child? Xiao Mo darted out of his chair and approached the door, but he dared not step out.
Could it be… No, it can’t be.
He finally decided to go out and take a look. Perhaps, the boy would only suffer a minor injury, and he could drive him to the hospital!
“You, wait for me here and don’t run about!” Xiao Mo instructed him while rushing out of the counter.
“Hey… hey!”
Xiao Mo did not turn back; he did not even lock his store.
The kid pouted. He stood there and thought for a while, before carrying his small backpack and darting out too.
The truck was stopped right in the middle of the crossroad junction.
The crowd became very thick by the time Xiao Mo reached the junction. The passers-by seemed to have choked up the road, causing the cars trying to pass to sound their horns to no avail, making the traffic come to a stand stop.
“What a poor boy”, “It’s a kid”, “Such a tragic death”, “No chance of survival” the crowd started commenting.
Xiao Mo heard the comments and became even more anxious. He managed to squeeze himself through the crowd and dug out his phone to report to the police. He might not have been the first to call the police, but one would never know; it was always better to be safe than sorry.
“Hello, this is the southern zone no.6, at the end of Ning Gu drive, there is a serious accident! A child has been hit and his status is unknown, please send the ambulance and police. What’s my name? I am Xiao Mo, please hurry and send the ambulance over first, the child might still be alive!”
Xiao Mo finally managed to push through the crowd whilst calling the police.
The boy’s body was all curled up. His face was only a few inches away from the wheel and he was wearing his school uniform and carrying his backpack. A large pool of blood flowed out from the boy’s body.
Someone decided to check his pulse and bent down to put his finger below the boy’s nose. He then shook his head.
Xiao Mo squatted next to the boy’s head and placed two fingers on his neck- no pulse.
“I didn’t knock him down! It was the green light but he dashed out onto the road! I didn’t knock him down, it’s not me…”
So, was it a suicide or an accident?
Xiao Mo gathered his courage and looked at his face.
This was his second time looking at the face of a dead person.
His mom’s early death would always be Xiao Mo’s eternal anguish. He would never forget the very moment when he opened door of his parent’s room and saw his mother’s tortured expression.
Liu Ying, his mother, was fifty-one when she passed away five years ago. Indirect cause of death- stroke, direct cause of death- Asphyxia.
When the stroke occurred, his mother had symptoms of vomiting, but because of the loss of control of bodily functions, it caused her to be unable to call for help, even more so vomit out the bile in her mouth. This was also why he did not hear a single sound even though he was just next door.
Death due to asphyxiation- the most painful way to die.
His mother’s horrendous expression caused him to run out of her room. He did not even dare check whether she was still alive.
Closing his eyes, the memory that had been purposefully suppressed appeared in front of his eyes yet again.
Why was the memory still so sharp, was his brain going through a second growth? In a way that his memory was getting clearer instead of regressing?
Xiao Mo focused on the youth’s face as he got preoccupied in his thoughts.
He had no clue why he was so concerned with the teen’s face and his expression in death, even going as far as to force himself to examine closely.
The boy’s eyes were wide open, and due to hyperaemia, they were bloodshot. His left eye even had blood drip out. 1an excess of blood in the vessels supplying an organ or other part of the body.
Xiao Mo could not help but used his finger to gently wipe away the drop of blood from his face.
The droplet of blood was gone the moment Xiao Mo wiped it away. The moment he took back his finger he felt a chill down his spine.
He realised… the youth’s mouth was open in a little gap, as if he was smiling.
Xiao Mo took a look before hurriedly averting his gaze. Other than folks with more unique occupations, nobody would keep staring at a dead person’s face, unless he was a pervert.
Xiao Mo stood up and took another look at the teen.
He was right; the youth was indeed smiling.
Rather than a pained expression, it seemed more like a look of relief of having broken off some form of control.
Xiao Mo looked at the helpless and panicking driver with a face full of tears, and came to the conclusion.
The driver was an honest person, a forty years old man crying till his eyes had turned red, his hands trembling more so due to fear.
He looked up at the CCTV at the crossroad, contemplating. If the youth really wanted to suicide, the CCTV should have evidence.
“Ding, new recycler found, activating the recycling system.”
What? Xiao Mo turned his head and only heard the police sirens.
He rubbed his forehead, perhaps this time the dead person’s impact was too huge on him and caused him to hallucinate.
He would report everything he knew about the youth to the police without concealing any details. Oh, he could hand in the CCTV footage to save himself from the questioning.
Suddenly, Xiao Mo felt something. He looked around at the crowd.
He saw a small figure looking at him apathetically, and when he saw Xiao Mo gazing at him, he turned his head to look at the corpse instead.
Xiao Mo felt angry suddenly. Where were his parents? Who was it that let such a small kid squeeze in? How was such a scene like this suitable for a small child to see?
Xiao Mo wanted to grab hold of the kid, but he suddenly slipped away and disappeared into the crowd.
Xiao Mo followed suit and squeezed out of the crowd, but after looking left and right for the kid only to no avail, could only huff in frustration. He did not want to return to his shop, so he sat beside the flower bed next to the crossroad.
The traffic had already started forming. All three lanes were blocked, so no matter how hard the drivers honked, the crowd just did not back away. Even if people left, more came, filling up the newly vacated gaps.
Xiao Mo wasn’t really sad, but he felt pity for the kid, even a little remorse and regret.
Perhaps if he had held the teen, or perhaps if he had sold the knife to him, would the teen be still alive?
No wonder transmigration and reincarnation were so popular with everyone.
Who doesn’t want to correct a past mistake made?
Who doesn’t wish to avert their loved ones from a dangerous situation?
Who doesn’t crave for honour and glory, to alter an act of sin into an act of kindness, to chase again the missed opportunities?
“Hey! Isn’t this Liu Wang’s kid? Oh my gosh! What happened?” someone recognised the kid.
Immediately, someone started contacting Liu Wang but to no success. A few kind-hearted people who knew Liu Wang even went to look for Liu Wang at his home.
The police and ambulance finally rushed to the scene, causing the crowd to finally disperse.
Xiao Mo saw the youth’s corpse being carried away, and voluntarily went up to the police to report on his encounter with the youth in his shop.
A policeman surnamed Guo that looked around his age went to his shop to collect the CCTV footage and inquire about the details.
The kid stuck his head out and took a peek. Seeing that Xiao Mo was still busy, he turned around and went upstairs. That brat, since when did he sneak back into the shop?
It sure is hard to find stories with a male mc