This time, He Zhiyao didn't give Qin Shuang any chance to react, and directly dragged her downstairs and shoved her into the car.
Qin Shuang was in a daze, but still subconsciously resisted He Zhiyao, "Where are you taking me? You liar, I will never believe you..."
"Oh, a liar?" He Zhiyao sneered, patting her face, "I'm about to show you clearly who the real liar is."
He Zhiyao instructed the driver, "Go to Wutong Li."
Qin Shuang's foggy consciousness suddenly cleared up a lot.
Wutong Li in the western suburbs of Jiangcheng, was an old and dilapidated district, also, it was where her home was.
Was he, finally willing to take her home?
Qin Shuang looked at He Zhiyao with both wariness and disbelief, uncertainly asking him, "Are you really going to send me back?"
He Zhiyao kept a cold face, not sparing her an extra glance.
Qin Shuang bit her lip and shrank to the other side of the car seat.
Propping up her sleepy body, she tried hard to keep her eyes wide open, looking out the window, firmly thinking that this man must be deceiving her, her mother must be at home waiting for her.
Maybe it was her cousin, Qin Ming, who had tricked her into coming here, it must be so.
Not until Qin Shuang's eyes were so sore she could hardly keep them open did the car finally stop in Wutong Li.
Only, the once familiar neighborhood now seemed somewhat unfamiliar.
The street was still very old, but the uneven old houses that used to stand have now become pieces of rubble, and several large bulldozers were operating non-stop, pushing down her memories of the past decade, bit by bit...
She tried to open her eyes a little wider, and then a little wider, but still felt she couldn't see clearly.
Instinctively, she shook her head, mumbling, "Wrong, wrong, it's not here, ..."
She suddenly looked at He Zhiyao, defiantly and resentfully glaring at him, "This isn't the place, you've deceived me again!"
He Zhiyao got out of the car, walked around to the side Qin Shuang was sitting, opened the door, and pulling on her arm, yanked her out with a light tug.
Qin Shuang was running a high fever and already felt weak. Being pulled out like this, she fell uncontrollably to the ground, her knees hitting the stone slab on the road, causing her a sharp pain.
"I told you, I don't have the patience to train you slowly. You wanted to go home, didn't you? Go on, see if you still have a home!"
He Zhiyao let her go and got back into the car.
He looked at the woman who had fallen to the ground outside the window, somewhat irritably taking out a cigarette from the box, putting it between his lips, rolling down the window halfway, and blowing the smoke out.
Qin Shuang took a while to prop herself up from the ground. She had been dragged down the stairs barefoot by He Zhiyao and now stepping on the sun-heated cement, her toes curled involuntarily from the heat.
Yet she seemed senseless, helplessly searching her field of vision, attempting to find some trace of familiarity.
After a long search, she finally saw an auntie pushing a cart and picking things up. Her eyes brightened, and she rushed over, "Aunt Zhang, what's going on here? Why is..."
Aunt Zhang was startled by her appearance, stared at her for a while before recognizing her, "Shuangshuang, are you on holiday? How come you're not wearing shoes? About our neighborhood, it's been demolished, people nearly all moved out over a month ago, didn't your parents tell you?"
Qin Shuang blankly stared at her, asking, "My... my parents, have you seen them?"
Aunt Zhang shook her head, "No, your family moved out quite early, I heard they were among the first to leave, ..."
Qin Shuang stood there like an idiot for quite some time before she timidly asked, "Aunt, could I, could I use your phone?"
Aunt Zhang found it strange but still lent her the phone.
Qin Shuang dialed every family member's number, and all were unreachable.
Aunt Zhang had things to do, took her phone back, greeted Qin Shuang, and left.
Qin Shuang was left standing on the road like a fool, watching the place she had lived for over a decade become rubble, while her family, as if overnight, became impossible to contact.
The bulldozers' rumbling noise echoed in her head endlessly.
She felt the world spin around her.
Without control, she fell backwards into an icy embrace.
He Zhiyao scooped her up horizontally, stuffed her into the car, and pulled off her pants.
"What are you doing..." Qin Shuang cried out in alarm, shrinking back in fear.
But He Zhiyao took several wet wipes from the storage box, held one of her ankles, and vigorously wiped the dust off her feet.
Qin Shuang had never been touched like this by anyone and struggled frantically to curl her foot back, but she couldn't match He Zhiyao's strength, and no matter how she fought, she had to resign herself to having her feet rubbed with the wet wipes.
After cleaning her feet, He Zhiyao grabbed her hands and cleaned the dust off them, just as he had done with her feet; his grip was so strong that it made her hands turn red.
Qin Shuang was increasingly confused about what he was trying to do.
Not until He Zhiyao leaned over her and unfastened his belt with a "snap" did she suddenly wake up, reaching out to push him, only to have her lips forcefully sealed before she could even raise her voice.
Without hesitation, he ripped away the slight barrier and aggressively barged into her world, ...
"This time I won't hold it against you for being sick, but next time clean yourself up."