ISBH - Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Concern
Mo Sheng?
Was that the little girl's name?
Mo Sheng had not been woken by the sound of the notebook falling. She had curled herself into a tight ball, and even in sleep her brows stayed tightly knitted...
"Ghost! Ghost, go away!"
"Don't follow me! I don't taste good..."
She seemed to be caught in a bad dream. Murmuring fitfully in her sleep, Mo Sheng curled herself even tighter...
Mo Sheng was far too thin. Today she had changed into a filthy school uniform. There was no telling how many years she had worn it, and large yellow stains blotched the cloth.
Moving a little closer, Han Tian could see the clear wounds on Mo Sheng's arms. Some old injuries had scabbed over, while fresh cuts still beaded with blood...
Han Tian forgot all about her inability to touch people. Her heart aching for the child, she reached out to stroke the top of the little girl's head, yet the moment her fingertips brushed the hair, a current with a 'crackle' ran through her body...
The little girl's hair was dry and yellow, soft as the fur of some small animal.
She could touch Mo Sheng now?
Han Tian's eyes widened!
She remembered trying to touch Mo Sheng yesterday, when her fingers had passed straight through the hair. How could such a change have happened in a single day...
Han Tian drew a deep breath, and with trembling fingers she touched the little girl's arm. Sure enough, a faint current tingled through her again...
Mo Sheng seemed to sense something. She stirred slightly and edged further inward...
Han Tian froze, then at once pulled her hand back!
Did that happen with everyone she touched... or only when she touched Mo Sheng?
In that instant, countless guesses rose in Han Tian's mind...
Han Tian did not want to touch Mo Sheng again to test her guess. The poor little girl looked as if she had not slept well for a long time, and now that she had finally fallen into a deep sleep, Han Tian did not want to disturb her rest.
It would be better to wait until Mo Sheng woke before saying more!
Looking at the furrow between Mo Sheng's brows, Han Tian sighed softly.
She could not touch the little girl, yet she felt she should do something for her...
Han Tian thought for a moment, then suddenly recalled a song Mo Sang had released one Children's Day, looking back on childhood.
It was a very gentle song, full of beautiful longing for the past. The first time Han Tian heard it, she had nearly been moved to tears.
Lonely people could find resonance with each other more easily.
Han Tian was completely tone deaf and usually avoided singing whenever she could. There were very few songs she could remember. Now, emboldened by the fact that no one could hear her, she began to hum that song clumsily...
Her singing could hardly be called pleasant. It was almost entirely off key, and she could not remember the lyrics, so she could only hum at random. Yet the tenderness hidden in the melody softened through her lowered voice and slowly carried outward...
The furrow between Mo Sheng's brows gradually smoothed away.
Han Tian breathed a sigh of relief.
While humming softly, she picked up the little girl's homework...
"Just this once! From now on you'll do your own homework..."
Han Tian stifled a yawn.
Problems that were extremely difficult for the little girl were child's play for Han Tian.
The candle grew shorter bit by bit. In the flickering candlelight, Han Tian copied the little girl's handwriting and bent her head to write quickly in the notebook...
The hazy light cast a soft glow over Han Tian. As the candle dimmed, in the instant the wick went out, beneath the messy hair, Mo Sheng's long lashes trembled and her eyes quietly opened...
In the fading light, the woman in the white dress bent over the homework was unbelievably beautiful in profile!
Han Tian had originally planned to test her guess while the little girl was at school, but when she woke the next day, she found Mo Sheng had already left for school, and she herself had fallen to the floor again.
An apple sat on the desk.
Han Tian reached out to touch it and found she could not touch anything again...
What happens once becomes easier the second time.
Han Tian did not dwell on it and simply lay down on the floor.
Probably because she had not slept well for some time, she slept very deeply this time. She did not open her eyes with a frown until the afternoon, when the sound of roughhousing came from outside.
Han Tian yawned and glanced at the clock in the room. It was already six in the afternoon.
"Little bastard!"
"Stinking trash..."
"Why don't you beg us to give your sculpture back, you little bastard?"
"Look at you! You're so dirty, who knows how long it's been since you washed! You stink up our whole classroom all by yourself..."
The noise grew closer and closer. Unable to bear it, Han Tian climbed up from the floor and drifted out through the closed wooden door with a frown.
Mo Sheng stood with her head lowered on the open ground, a small schoolbag on her back, while several little boys jeered at her and shoved her about...
The little girl's expression was blank, her hands clutching tightly at the hem of her clothes, as if she had long grown used to such treatment.
Watching the wounds on the little girl's arms split open again...
"Get away from her!"
Han Tian had always been gentle, but now she felt anger rush straight to her head. Forgetting that no one could see her, she charged toward Mo Sheng...
But Han Tian had forgotten that damned "ten meter rule". When she rushed to about two meters in front of Mo Sheng, she could go no further...
Han Tian had never felt so powerless as she did at that moment.
Those unruly boys pushed and shoved around Mo Sheng, pulling her hair, grabbing her schoolbag, and tearing up her notebook...
"What skill is it to bully a girl!" Han Tian clenched her fists and shouted. Professor Han felt she had never been so furious in her life, her face flushed red.
In that instant, Han Tian wished more than anything that she were solid, so she could rush over and shield that poor little girl...
Yet she was only a traveler who had strayed into past time and space. Her true body was across the ocean, and all these things had truly happened at some point in the past...
Only now did Han Tian understand where the greatest helplessness of this state lay. She could watch violence happen before her eyes, yet she could do nothing to stop it!
Han Tian lowered her head, and tears fell without her bidding.
Han Tian had never been someone who loved to cry. After all, compared with wasting time crying, she would rather use that time to solve problems...
But now Han Tian realized that apart from crying, she seemed to have no other way.
So be it, let her cry! No one could see her now anyway.
A little boy snatched Mo Sheng's homework and ran past Han Tian. Han Tian reached out on instinct, but her hand passed through the boy's body, and she felt nothing at all...
Han Tian gritted her teeth.
"Say something! If you talk, I'll tell you that we threw your ugly sculpture into the garbage pile..."
"The garbage truck already took it away! You will never get it back..."
"Stinky ugly Mo Sheng, your father is never coming back either!"
Perhaps because Mo Sheng stayed silent, the boys redoubled their taunts at the little girl with her head bowed. No one knew which remark finally drew a reaction, but the little girl lifted her head to reveal a pair of dark eyes and rushed over to bite hard into the arm of the boy who had been mocking her!
The others hurried over to pull her off, yet the little girl drew strength from somewhere and clamped down on the mocking boy's arm, refusing to let go no matter how the others kicked and hit her...
Just then, Han Tian felt some strength return to her body.
She lowered her head and tentatively picked up a stone, hurling it at one of the boys!
But Han Tian had not recovered much strength. After throwing a few pebbles without hitting anyone, she collapsed to the ground, panting...
Han Tian wanted to cry again!
But crying was no use. Looking at Mo Sheng being kicked and beaten by the boys, Han Tian drew a deep breath and picked up another stone...
This time the stone struck one of the boys on the head.
"Who hit me!" The little boy looked up, his eyes suddenly widening. "Is it raining?"
Before anyone knew it, rain had begun to patter from the sky, drop by drop, and it seemed to fall harder and harder...
It had been dry for over a month! At last it was raining!
The beating of Mo Sheng stopped, and everyone looked up at the sky.
At that moment, with a "wah" sound, whether from pain or fear, the boy who had been mocking her finally could not help crying out!
"A little mad girl bit someone!"
His crying acted like some kind of signal. The other boys did not dare to keep kicking, and scattered with shouts...
Only then did Mo Sheng let go of the arm she had bitten. She watched expressionlessly as the boy ran further away, then walked to her schoolbag and picked up the fallen books...
The little girl was bruised all over, her clothes filthy, and she looked utterly pitiful...
With tears streaming down her face, Han Tian walked sobbing to the little girl. Afraid of being noticed, she could only crouch beside her and watch with an aching heart.
After all that had happened that day, Han Tian had almost confirmed something. In this time and space she could only touch Mo Sang, and only by staying close to Mo Sheng could the strength to touch objects slowly return to her body.
To Han Tian, Mo Sheng was an incomparably special existence.
But what use was that specialness?
She could not protect Mo Sheng...
The rain fell harder and harder. Before the rain could soak all the books, Mo Sheng finally gathered them up and hid inside the house.
The roof leaked, and only the bed stayed dry. Once inside, Mo Sheng saw the apple left on the desk. Her lashes fluttered, and she found a spot where the rain leaked through to wash the apple with the rainwater...
"So smart," Han Tian praised softly beside Mo Sang. "Eat slowly and be careful not to choke..."
As if the wound at the corner of her mouth hurt, and just as Han Tian had hoped, the little girl did not wolf her food down this time, but finished the apple in slow small bites.
Her notebook had been torn to pieces, so Mo Sheng stopped trying to do homework. She moved a pile of scrap in the room to a spot the rain could not reach, and only then, as if utterly exhausted, curled up on the bed and fell asleep.
Just falling asleep like that?
Looking at the wounds on the little girl, Han Tian pressed her lips together in disapproval.
She glanced around, found a towel that looked less dirty, struggled to wet it with rainwater, then drifted over to gently wipe the grime from Mo Sheng's body...
Late at night, Han Tian controlled that strength and floated above the roof, doing her best to mend the tiles...
In the darkness, Han Tian did not notice that the little girl curled on the bed had quietly opened her eyes...
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