Lin Shuyue was a bit surprised. She hadn’t expected Ah Hao to come looking for her.

Li Mingfang looked at Ah Hao’s face and said sensibly, “Is this your younger brother?”

Before Lin Shuyue could speak, she added, “Since your brother is here, I won’t go with you. I’ll go over there and have some fried rice. I’ll just eat with Zhang Yue from Shengda Trading next door.”

Zhang Yue from Shengda Trading, who was walking in front of them, stopped when she heard Li Mingfang’s voice.

“Okay, I’ll treat you to coffee sometime,” Lin Shuyue said to Li Mingfang. Li Mingfang gave an OK sign with her hand and walked away with Zhang Yue with light steps.

Lin Shuyue then walked towards Ah Hao after Li Mingfang left. “Why are you here? Have the wounds on your body healed?”

Ah Hao smiled obediently at Lin Shuyue. “These little injuries are nothing, I’m much better now. My grandma knows it was you who helped me get out of that place. She cooked a meal at home and insisted that I invite you home to eat.”

Thinking of his grandmother who had gone to buy groceries early in the morning, Ah Hao felt a little embarrassed. “She really wants to thank you, and I couldn’t stop her. She even gave me an ultimatum, saying that if I couldn’t bring you back, she wouldn’t let me into the house either.”

The last sentence was obviously made up by Ah Hao himself.

Lin Shuyue looked at Ah Hao, who was scratching his head and looking very embarrassed as if his experience at the internet addiction school hadn’t affected his life at all.

She said, “Okay, but you have to wait for me to go to the post office to mail a few letters first.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll go with you.”

The post office wasn’t far from Dingsheng Building, where the newspaper office was located. It was just across the road and around the corner.

Walking this distance wasn’t boring. Without Lin Shuyue even needing to ask, Ah Hao told her about what had happened after he came out of the internet addiction school. He focused on telling her about his mother, who had sent him to the internet addiction school.

“The Public Security Bureau called her last night. It was already midnight when she came to pick me up. It was okay with the police present, she didn’t say anything and even thanked the police officers, but as soon as we left the Public Security Bureau, she started scolding me fiercely.”

“She felt that I had made her lose face. She and her current husband are also remarried, and his previous children are all very successful. They either got into very good universities or went abroad to study.”

“Compared to them, I became useless. I not only skipped school but also spent all day in internet cafes. She said that whenever she mentioned me to her current husband, she felt her face burning and felt ashamed to face people.”

“She’s getting old. She’s been married to him for so many years, but her current husband won’t let her have children. She accepted her fate and just wanted to take me over to take care of her in her old age, but I’m too embarrassing, so she said sending me to the internet addiction school was something she had no choice but to do.”

“She also told me that it doesn’t matter if this school is shut down, there are others in other cities. She’ll contact them in the next few days and send me over again. I must be reformed so that her husband will like me and leave me more property in the future.”

When Ah Hao talked about his mother, he changed from his cheerful demeanor in front of Lin Shuyue. Thinking of his mother’s calculating look, his expression became mocking.

He added, “Do you think I’d listen to her talking such nonsense? What does her husband’s money have to do with me? Am I so poor that I’m counting on his little bit of money?”

“I turned around and went back to the Public Security Bureau, asking the police to call her husband in front of her. Her husband is also someone with status and influence, and he immediately called her back.”

“I never thought about going back to live with her. If it weren’t to put my grandmother’s mind at ease, I wouldn’t even let her into my house.”

“My grandmother said that from now on, she won’t have any more hope for that woman. This morning, that woman came to find me, but my grandmother didn’t let her in and chased her away with a broom.”

Lin Shuyue listened quietly, and then bought an ice cream and shared it with him when they passed a store.

Ah Hao ate the cold ice cream, looking at the sister beside him who had saved him from hell, feeling that his body and mind were healed.

After mailing the letters, Lin Shuyue said to Ah Hao, “I received many letters today. Most of them were written by students who came out of internet addiction schools. Some of them have been unable to get out of the shadow of the internet addiction school, while others have already come out and have expectations for the future.”

“Ah Hao, you’re still young. The internet addiction school is just one of many experiences in your life. Let it go and look forward. There are still many days ahead. You will encounter many, many things. There will be good and bad, don’t let this matter trap you.”

“Instead, turn this experience into nourishment for your life.”

Ah Hao’s eyes turned red in an instant. He felt that the experience at the internet addiction school would follow him for the rest of his life.

In the two days since he had come out of the internet addiction school, he kept dreaming about being inside. The instructors holding rulers and Dragon Whips, Xiao Changxin holding an iron and an electrotherapy device, they would come at him baring fangs and brandishing claws, and no matter how he tried to escape, he couldn’t.

He would always be startled awake in the middle of the night, and then he wouldn’t be able to sleep for the rest of the night, keeping his eyes open until dawn. To avoid worrying his grandmother, he didn’t dare to show it.

For his grandmother’s sake, he had to move forward step by step. But it was too difficult. Those days, those memories were like a monster, always catching up and taking a bite out of him when he least expected it.

His soul was bitten until it bled profusely.

He reached out and covered the tears that fell. After a while, he finished the ice cream in big gulps and said to Lin Shuyue, “The sun is really strong today, it’s very dazzling.”

Lin Shuyue didn’t expose him. The two went to Ah Hao’s house in Wu Jiao Village.

Ah Hao’s grandmother had already cooked and was waiting for them. Seeing Lin Shuyue, she stepped forward and warmly took Lin Shuyue’s hand. “It’s you, young lady. Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, who knows how many terrible things Ah Hao would have experienced.”

As Ah Hao’s grandmother spoke, she was about to kneel down to Lin Shuyue.

Ah Hao’s grandmother thought of the wounds all over her grandson’s body when he came back, and tears fell.

She had lost her husband in her youth and her son in middle age. Her daughter-in-law had also left her young grandson and left. Ah Hao was raised by her single-handedly. Without exaggeration, Ah Hao was her life!

Starting last year, she had felt her health getting worse and worse, but Ah Hao was still young, and she was worried about leaving him alone in this world. If something happened, there wouldn’t even be anyone to talk to.

So when Ah Hao’s mother came back to acknowledge Ah Hao, she suppressed her disgust for this former daughter-in-law and let her in. She did this also to leave Ah Hao with a relative who cared about him.

Who would have thought that just this once she softened her heart, it would cause Ah Hao to suffer so much! She hadn’t slept a wink in the days Ah Hao was away from her. When Ah Hao returned with these injuries, she hated her useless self for being old and unable to protect her grandson, and hated herself for being powerless to stop Ah Hao’s mother from sending him to that hellish school!

The more guilty she felt, the more grateful she was to Lin Shuyue for rescuing Ah Hao.

How could Lin Shuyue let her kneel down? “Granny, what you’re saying makes me ashamed. Ah Hao helped me a lot.”

Lin Shuyue couldn’t enter the infirmary. Her every move was watched by instructors at all times, and someone was on duty inside 24/7. It was very difficult for her to get close. If it weren’t for Ah Hao, it would have taken Lin Shuyue a lot of time to get those images.

“Grandma, I’m hungry,” Ah Hao said, interrupting. He wasn’t used to this kind of situation where both sides kept thanking each other.

Granny Ah Hao immediately said upon hearing this, “Reporter Lin must be hungry too, right? Hurry, hurry, come inside. I’ve already prepared the meal.”

Granny Ah Hao led Lin Shuyue to the living room. The table in the living room was already full of good dishes, including boiled chicken, roasted goose, stir-fried clams, and a plate of crisp and shiny stir-fried vegetable hearts.

“They’re all just home-style dishes, Reporter Lin, please don’t dislike them.”

“How could I? These dishes look delicious. I should be thanking you, Granny. You don’t know, the food at our workplace is very bad. It’s the same old three dishes every day. If you go late for an occasional extra meal, there’s only soup left,” Lin Shuyue said very sincerely.

“Then come to our house for meals more often. Anyway, it’s not too far. I’ll ask Ah Hao to pick you up then.”

The two had just sat down when Ah Hao came in carrying a bowl.

Granny Ah Hao introduced herself to Lin Shuyue, saying her surname was Fang and asking Lin Shuyue to call her Granny Fang. She also immediately familiarly called Lin Shuyue, Ah Yue.

Ah Hao had already served the rice and placed it in front of them.

At the dinner table, Granny Fang talked to Lin Shuyue a lot. Lin Shuyue also learned that the reason why Ah Hao always skipped school to go to internet cafes was because he had taken on the job of power-leveling in games to earn money online.

“I used to be in good health and could earn some money. In recent years, as I’ve gotten older, my health has gotten worse, so I can only grow some vegetables and sell them at the village entrance to earn a living.”

“Ah Hao is sensible and felt that I was working hard, so he found such a job himself. He earned a lot of money, and my medicine expenses all depended on him. His studies didn’t suffer either. If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have let him stay in internet cafes all the time.”

When Granny Fang said this, her eyes were particularly proud when she looked at Ah Hao. She couldn’t figure out no matter what how his mother could bear to send such a good child to that kind of place. Even after he escaped from there, she wanted to send him to another such school for the second time.

Ah Hao was the flesh that fell from her body! Ah Hao was her only child in this life! How could she be so cruel? Granny Fang didn’t understand and couldn’t figure it out.

“Granny, I really envy you for having such a good grandson. I think Ah Hao will definitely be successful, just wait and enjoy the good life!”

Lin Shuyue’s words made Granny Fang beam with joy. “I’m enjoying happiness now. It would be even better if he could focus more on his studies and get into a good university to show me in the future.”

Lin Shuyue looked at Ah Hao. Ah Hao smiled at her and then promised his grandmother, “Grandma, I won’t go to internet cafes anymore. I will listen to you, study hard, make progress every day, and get into a good university in the future to bring honor to you.”

Ah Hao knew that people in the village had seen a lot of jokes because he used to go to internet cafes every day. Some people even went to his grandmother to stir up trouble. Ah Hao felt that his mother must have heard those things when she came to find him.

He wanted to strive for honor even if he failed to achieve material gain. He used to not care what others said, as long as he and his grandmother were doing well, but now his thinking had changed.

Granny Fang glanced at her grandson and then smiled. “Then Reporter Lin has to be my witness. If you don’t keep your word, I’ll be angry.”

“Okay, I’ll be your witness.”