Sold into a ghost marriage? Four-year-old and his thuggish father go on a killing spree.

The flames in the stove crackled and popped, licking the blackened bottom of the pot.

Gu Niannian stood on a small stool, holding a pair of long chopsticks, and laboriously stirred the corn porridge in the pot, which was so thin that you could see your reflection in it.

This is the third day since Dad left.

This was also the third dinner she had eaten alone.

The room was quiet.

It was so quiet that the only sounds were the whooshing of the wind through the window and the bubbling of the corn porridge in the pot.

She filled a small bowl, sat on the doorstep, and sipped it slowly.

In the past, at this time, Dad would have come home from the brickyard, wiping his sweat and asking her with a smile, "Niannian, were you a good girl at home today?"

Now, I'm all alone.

For the past three days, Niannian has acted like a sensible little adult.

She gets up at dawn every day and goes to the well to fetch water herself.

She had to rest three times before she could carry half a bucket of water home.

She watered the vegetable garden in the yard neatly and helped Aunt Wang feed her clucking old hens.

As soon as it got dark, she would immediately bolt the courtyard gate and the house door, prop them up with a thick wooden stick, and then blow out the lamp and go to sleep early.

Aunt Wang visits her every day, bringing her warm cornbread and pickled vegetables.

As usual, Chen Zhiyuan waited for her at the warehouse entrance in the afternoon, teaching her new characters and telling her stories from books.

She looks no different than when her father was alive.

But only she knew that when the night was deep and quiet, and the whole world was asleep...

How unbearable is that kind of loneliness that seeps from the very bones?

At night, she would take out her mother's yellowed photo from under her pillow, curl up in bed, and whisper to the photo in a voice only she could hear.

"Mom, Dad went to the county town to make a lot of money. He said that when he makes money, he will buy me a pretty dress and meat buns."

"Niannian isn't so scared being home alone. Really."

"Grandma Wang was very good to me, and Uncle Chen was very good too. You and Dad can see that from heaven, right?"

……

That night, it got dark exceptionally early.

The dark clouds, like spilled ink, pressed heavily on the rooftops.

Niannian had just fallen asleep when she was awakened by a deafening clap of thunder!

"Boom—!"

The thunder seemed to explode right next to her ears, shaking the entire dilapidated house!

Immediately afterwards, large raindrops pounded against the roof tiles, as if a thousand horses were galloping.

"dad!"

In her extreme fear, Nian Nian's first reaction was to scream out the name that gave her the most sense of security.

However, all that answered her was the even more violent roar of the wind and rain outside, and another pale flash of lightning that ripped through the night sky!

The flash of lightning instantly illuminated the room.

It also illuminated the large hole in the roof that had been there for a long time.

Rainwater was pouring down through the hole with a "whoosh" sound!

"Tick-tock...tick-tock..."

The cold rain hit her blanket, quickly spreading into a dark stain.

Nian Nian shuddered, all her sleepiness and fear suppressed by her survival instinct.

She couldn't let the blankets get soaked!

This is the only blanket she and her father have. If it gets wet, they'll have nothing to cover themselves with!

She jumped out of bed, not even bothering to put on her shoes, and groped around barefoot in the dark.

She remembered the chipped wooden basin her father used to use.

She groped her way to the corner of the wall, found the wooden basin, and with great effort dragged it to the place where the leak was the worst.

"Thump...thump thump..."

Rainwater pounded into the wooden basin, making a dull thud.

Then, she gathered all the bowls and jars in the house and placed them in other leaky areas.

After doing all this, she realized that her precious blanket was already mostly soaked.

She gritted her teeth and used all her strength to drag the heavy, wet blanket to the driest corner of the room, propping it up with a few broken stools to prevent it from getting soaked in the water on the floor.

A person sat on a cold little stool, listening to the sounds of the wind, rain, and thunder outside, as well as the sounds of large and small bowls being filled with water inside the house...

She hugged her knees, buried her head in them, and her small body trembled slightly in the darkness.

She misses her father so much.

That night, she sat there with her eyes open until dawn.

The next morning, worried, Aunt Wang came over in the rain. When she opened the door, she saw a mess inside and Nian Nian sitting on a small stool with bloodshot eyes.

"My goodness!"

Aunt Wang was so heartbroken that tears immediately streamed down her face, and she hugged Niannian tightly.

"You silly child, why didn't you go find Grandma Wang! How did you manage to get through such heavy rain all by yourself!"

Niannian leaned against Aunt Wang's warm embrace, and after not crying all night, tears finally streamed down her face.

Just then, a gloating voice came from the doorway.

"Hey, isn't this the 'child prodigy'? Why are you crying? Are you missing your dad who doesn't want you anymore?"

It's Gu Xiaohe.

She stood at the doorway, holding a small floral umbrella, with her mother, Sun Xiufen, following behind her.

Sun Xiufen, holding her daughter's hand, said to Aunt Wang insincerely, "Oh, Aunt Wang, you mustn't get too close to this girl, she's bad luck! Look, her father just passed away, and the family has already suffered such a disaster, isn't that obvious?"

Gu Xiaohe imitated her, making a face at Niannian: "Poor thing, even Daddy doesn't want her anymore!"

Aunt Wang was so angry that she was trembling all over and was about to start cursing.

Niannian broke free from her embrace, wiped away her tears, walked to the crack in the door, looked at Gu Xiaohe outside, and spoke in a low but unusually calm voice:

"My dad went to the county town to make a lot of money."

"He'll be back soon to buy me meat buns."

Where is your father?

She tilted her head, her clear eyes holding a hint of cold mockery.

"He's still getting scolded by my grandma at home, who says he can't even be a deputy group leader?"

"You...!" Gu Xiaohe's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red, and she stomped her feet in anger.

Sun Xiufen was speechless and slunk away with her daughter.

Looking at Niannian's small but straight back, Aunt Wang felt both heartache and pride.

But none of them knew.

After Aunt Wang left, Niannian closed the door and went back into the room alone. She quietly took out the account book, which had been soaked in the rain, from under her pillow.

She turned to a new page and drew a small, crying face with the stub of a pencil.

Then, she forcefully smeared the crying face into a large, black dot.

Just then, she vaguely heard two villagers whispering outside the courtyard wall.

"Look, this is the place. Have you heard? Liu Cuihua said that this girl is incredibly unlucky; she killed her own mother, and now even her own father can't stay here, he ran away..."

"Really? No wonder he looked so gloomy, not like a proper child..."

"That's right, we should keep our child away from her in the future, to avoid catching some bad luck!"

Those vicious words, like poisoned ice picks, pierced through the thin door panel and stabbed deeply into Gu Niannian's heart.

Her hand suddenly gripped the small pencil stub tightly.

A "click" sound.

The pencil lead broke.