That night, Cai Meiwen almost didn't sleep well. Her nerves were extremely sensitive. She always seemed to hear movement at the door as soon as she closed her eyes, so she immediately woke up.
The door was very thin. It was not made of solid wood, but two hollow layers of thin wooden planks glued together. It could be guarded against a gentleman, but not against a villain. An adult man would probably be able to smash a hole in the door. However, in order to avoid waking up the neighbors, it might be better to pick the lock. After all, the lock was very easy to pick.
It was not until dawn that she heard the sound of cleaners sweeping the street downstairs. Her tense nerves finally relaxed, and she fell into a deep sleep.
She slept past the normal school hours. She didn't wake up until her parents came home from the night shift.
In the past, she only secretly skipped classes. When her parents saw that she was still in bed, they thought that she had fallen to the extent of skipping classes. When they saw the broken bowls on the floor, they suddenly became angry.
Cai Meiwen panicked and told them what happened last night. She said that there was a strange man at the door, but their eyes were full of suspicion. They clearly took it as an excuse for her to skip classes and refused to believe a word. They told her not to think too much and to hurry up and go to school.
It was no wonder that they didn't believe her. She often lied and skipped classes. Her credibility had fallen to the freezing point, just like the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
The only thing that could prove that she didn't lie was a dog that couldn't speak.
She was about to go crazy. She hysterically yelled at them and angrily went to school without even eating breakfast.
The teachers were used to her tardiness and absenteeism. They took a laissez-faire attitude and pretended not to see it. Anyway, it had nothing to do with them how she would degenerate in the future. The teachers were also helpless. Once they were strict, the problem boys and girls would gather together and beat the teachers up. There was nothing they could do.
During class, Cai Meiwen told her best friends what happened last night and asked them for help.
Her best friends couldn't come up with any good ideas. Several of them laughed and scolded her for being oversensitive, while others were a little more serious. They asked her to inform them when her parents were on the night shift, and they would go to her house to spend the night with her. That way, she wouldn't have to be afraid.
She felt that it was reasonable. She became bolder with more people, so she didn't take it to heart anymore.
Even so, she should have thought of this earlier. Just like her at that time, the credibility of her best friends had almost fallen to the freezing point.
Later, when her parents went to work at the same time, the first time, three or four of her best friends came to accompany her. The second time, only two or three came. The third time, all of them found excuses to stand her up. After all, at that time, they were still junior high school students. The social atmosphere was not so open, and their movements were limited. If they always stayed out at night, their parents would definitely not be able to tolerate it. Some of her best friends even got beaten up by their parents.
The most important thing was that nothing happened during these few nights. Gradually, everyone didn't take it seriously anymore.
Cai Meiwen could only spend the night alone again. Her disappointment in her best friends had also quietly changed her mentality. The so-called best friends were just like this. Who else could she rely on?
As time went by, a faint estrangement appeared between her and her best friend. On the surface, they still had their arms around each other's shoulders and laughed every day, but after school, the phone calls between her and her best friend became less and less frequent. Even if they occasionally called, it was someone else who called her.
Her best friends also seemed to be aware of her laziness. Gradually, the number of times they looked for her also decreased.
She had a lot more free time. When she was really bored, she would reluctantly read a book. Especially at night when her parents were working at the same time, she didn't dare to sleep. She simply read Chinese or English texts aloud until she fell asleep.
She had become accustomed to the existence of the mixed hair dog. She no longer strongly rejected it as in the beginning. Although most of the tasks of feeding and walking the dog were done by her parents, when they really had no time, she would reluctantly help them. At least at night, when they were alone, it was a living thing that could breathe, wasn't it?
Slowly, she found that it was not so annoying. Except for its ugly appearance, it never barked, never bit, and was never picky. It ate whatever it had, so it was very easy to raise.
No matter how coldly she treated it, it never seemed to be angry at her. As long as she gave it some food and water, it would happily wag its tail at her and rub against her calf. It would only run away when she half-seriously warned it not to pee on her leg …
Her parents named the dog Guai Guai. She thought it was too old-fashioned, so she called it mixed hair every time. But no matter if she called it Guai Guai or mixed hair, it would run over happily.
As time went by, more than half a year had passed. Although she was still often scared at night when she was alone, nothing actually happened. So she began to wonder if she was really thinking too much.
In the past six months, her image and behavior had changed greatly. She had become estranged from the circle of problem girls, and was not accepted by the top students in her class. She had decided to live in seclusion and be alone.
After entering the third year of middle school, in order to prepare for the high school entrance exam and increase the enrollment rate of key high schools, her school, like most schools, also began to organize supplementary classes and evening self-study, and everyone was forced to participate.
The evening self-study session lasted from 6 pm to 9: 30 pm. When Cai Meiwen rode her bike home, it was often past 10 pm.
One day, she finished the evening self-study session as usual, rode her bike back to her family's neighborhood, locked her bike in the shed, and hummed a song as she entered the residential building.
She thought that today was just an ordinary day, with only her mother working the night shift, and her father at home watching a football game and drinking beer. But in fact, a few days ago, the factory received a new batch of orders, and her father's work group arranged for him to work overtime. She just didn't know that, because at that time, they didn't have cell phones.
Because of this, she didn't look up at the window before entering the residential building. If she did, she would have noticed that the lights in the house were off. If at least one of her father or mother was at home, they would definitely keep the lights on and wait for her to come back before going to bed.
Entering the corridor, she stomped her feet, and the voice-activated lights on the first floor turned on. She walked upstairs.
Then the second floor.
In the middle of the second and third floors, she stomped her feet, but to her surprise, the lights on the third floor were not on.
She thought that her voice was too soft, so she stomped her feet again, but the lights on the third floor were still not on.
At that time, the incandescent lamps heated the tungsten filament to an incandescent state to emit light and heat. The lifespan of the incandescent lamps was much shorter than the current LED lamps, and the tungsten filament would quickly break when it was switched on and off frequently. Besides, the light bulbs used in the corridor were not high-end goods. Not only were they often broken, but they were also often stolen home. It was very common for the voice-activated lights not to turn on.
She thought that the light bulbs were broken again, or maybe they were stolen. Really, so uncultured!
Such a thought flashed through her mind, and her footsteps only stopped for a second or two before she continued upstairs.
What else could she do?
Not to mention that she thought her father was at home, even if her parents were not at home, would she stay out all night just because the lights on the third floor were not on? Where would she sleep?
Anyway, she would be home soon, so she quickened her steps. Seeing that she was only a few steps away from reaching the third floor, she suddenly heard a dog barking above her head.
She immediately recognized that it was the barking of her dog. It was loud and angry, and it kept barking.
It had never barked like this in the middle of the night.
Like other dogs, Mixed Fur's hearing was very sensitive. Whether it was day or night, as long as a family member stepped on the first or second floor, it could hear the footsteps of a monk, and it would run to the door early to welcome them.
It must have heard her footsteps, but why did it suddenly cry out, and so loudly?
Cai Meiwen suddenly remembered that night that she had almost forgotten, and her heart trembled. She stopped and did not dare to go up again. Instead, she held the railing and looked up.
The loud and clear dog barking made the lights on the first, second, and sixth floors all lit up. Only the third, fourth, and fifth floors were dark.
With the weak light on the sixth floor, she seemed to see a figure on the fourth floor also holding the railing and looking down at her. She could only see a vague outline, but she felt great fear in her heart, as if she was being stared at by a poisonous snake.
The figure retracted its head.
Footsteps.
She screamed subconsciously, turned around desperately, and ran downstairs as fast as she could. She ran out of the corridor, and didn't stop until she reached the guard room at the entrance of the community.
Perhaps some people would sneer and think that she was too timid. If she blocked the corridor, wouldn't it be like catching a turtle in a jar? But as a junior high school girl, she was lucky that she didn't paralyze on the spot.
After listening to her crying, the guard of the community took a flashlight to check, but of course, he didn't see anything.
Some of the neighbors in the building heard her scream and went out to check the situation, but they also didn't see anything.
In this case, it was obviously useless to call the police. She didn't see anything, and there was no substantial damage. What could the police do?
The community guard called her parents, and her parents hurriedly asked for leave and came back. Although they didn't quite believe her words, seeing her crying like a pear blossom in the rain, they still felt very distressed. After comforting her for a while, they took her home to sleep.
Back at the familiar home, Mixed Fur was still waiting at the door as usual, wagging its tail at her.
To her parents' great surprise, she, who usually treated Mixed Fur coldly, suddenly held it in her arms and cried even more sadly than before.
Because in this world, only Mixed Fur believed in her, and only Mixed Fur would stand on the same side as her.
Since then, her relationship with Mixed Fur had become better and better. When eating, she often fed it the meat that her parents put in for her.
Her parents didn't completely disbelieve her, but there was a limit to what they could do. As long as they didn't work the night shift, they would always wait for her at the entrance of the family's quarters. They tried their best to avoid working the night shift at the same time as much as possible. Apart from that, as a civilian, there was nothing else they could do.
At night when her parents worked the night shift at the same time, Cai Meiwen would ask them to leave Mixed Fur in the guard room when they went out. After studying at night, she would pick up Mixed Fur from the guard room and go home together. As long as she gave the guards a few packs of cigarettes or two bottles of ordinary liquor every month as a favor, the guards would be happy to help.
After school and back to the community, she greeted the guards and locked the bicycle in the shed with Mixed Fur.
In that era, there was no such thing as walking a dog on a leash, and everyone didn't have this awareness. Mixed Fur ran around in front of and behind her. It wouldn't be too far away.
When they arrived at the downstairs of the unit, she waited at the door of the building and pointed to the corridor. Mixed Fur seemed to understand human nature. It ran into the building by itself and ran to the fourth floor in one go. After confirming that the building was safe, it ran down happily and went upstairs with her.
Later, on a weekend afternoon, she took Mixed Fur downstairs for a walk. She let it run and play by itself. She found a chair and sat down to memorize words.
After a while, she heard Mixed Fur barking. She looked up and saw that it was barking at a workmate. It was barking very fiercely.
The workmate was wearing ordinary work clothes. It was obvious that he had just gotten off work and hadn't changed his clothes. He was also wearing a cap, and his face was hidden in the shadow of the brim of the cap.
Mixed Fur stood a few steps away from him and barked at him. It even looked like it wanted to rush up and bite him.
The man was caught off guard and panicked a little, but that was normal. Who wouldn't panic when a dog barked at such a close distance?
It was dusk, and there were other workmates in the community who had just gotten off work. There were also many family members of workmates who were taking a walk. Some people also had dogs with them, and there were many women with children and babies.
The man wanted to shake off Mixed Fur and move quickly to the side, but Mixed Fur followed closely and continued to bark.
She didn't know if he was panicking or if he was doing it on purpose. Seeing that he couldn't shake off Mixed Fur, he ran to the side of the women with children and babies. He kept shouting, "What's wrong with this dog? Is it crazy? What's wrong with biting people? Whose dog is it? Is no one doing anything? "
The women were afraid that their children would be bitten by the dog. The timid ones carried their children and ran away. The bold ones rushed up to kick it and shouted at Mixed Fur to get lost.
Several of them also knew Mixed Fur. They knew that the dog was usually very obedient and never barked or bit people. However, once a dog went crazy, how could they be reasonable?
Cai Meiwen was stunned for a moment. She immediately jumped up from her chair and rushed over to pick up Mixed Fur. She apologized to the women around her and was reprimanded.
Some of the frightened women comforted her and said that it was okay. Some told her to take care of her dog, and some even pointed out her past as a problem girl. The implication was nothing more than — your family's upbringing is so bad. You can't even teach your daughter well, let alone your dog.
To be honest, if she was still a problem girl, she wouldn't be afraid of these gossipy women at all. Whether it was scolding them or rushing up to scratch their faces and pull their hair, she wasn't afraid. However, she was no longer her former self.
Surrounded by a group of women and accused her, even if Zhuge Liang was reincarnated, he probably wouldn't be able to fight with a group of women. Not to mention that Mixed Fur was still barking non-stop in her arms.
When she squeezed out of the crowd with Mixed Fur in her arms, Mixed Fur finally stopped barking. However, when she looked around again, she couldn't find the shadow of the workmate from before.
As a large state-owned enterprise, there were thousands of employees in the factory. It was easier said than done to find a person who couldn't even see his face clearly.
Moreover, so what if she found him? What bad things did he do?
The only person who knew the truth was a dog that couldn't talk.
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