In October 2009, Qiu Qiang, the most brutal criminal in Huaizhong Province in the past twenty years, was arrested in Jiangxia City.
This man had fled across several provinces and cities, committing seventeen homicides. He didn't seem to be "picky" about his victims; the victims included the elderly, young girls, and office workers.
After killing someone, Qiu Qiang liked to prop a chopstick or a twig between the victim's teeth, making the victim look as if wearing a strange smile. Maybe it was just his perverse hobby at first, but later it gradually became his criminal signature. Some tabloids that aimed to attract attention called him the "Smiling Face Killer".
This series of serial murders had such an extremely bad impact that Huaizhong Provincial Public Security Department and the Ministry of Public Security successively dispatched nearly a thousand police officers. After a three - and - a - half - year pursuit, Qiu Qiang, who was disguised as a beggar, was arrested in Jiangxia.
Suddenly, all sectors were in an uproar, closely following the trial process of Qiu Qiang's case. Eventually, the court sentenced him to immediate execution.
One year after Qiu Qiang was executed, in a secluded alley in Wu'an City, a disheveled child was rummaging through the trash can for food to fill his stomach.
There was a restaurant beside the alley, so there were quite a lot of leftovers in the trash can. Naturally, this place had also become a gathering place for stray dogs. The arrival of the "intruder" made the stray dogs unhappy, and they barked constantly nearby to show their threat.
The child found a fish bone, hugged it and gnawed the meat on it. Then he grabbed a handful of leftover rice from a plastic bag and stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing a couple of times, he uttered "Pfft! Pfft!" and spat it out. It turned out that some customer had thrown a cigarette butt in the food.
The door beside opened, and there came a sound of "Cough - Pfft!". A gob of phlegm flew out and plopped on the ground.
A fat chef with a greasy body walked out. When he saw the child lying beside the trash can, he was startled. "I thought it was a ghost! Whose kid are you? Where are your parents?" He said in a condescending and interrogative tone instead of showing sympathy.
Frightened, the child grabbed half a bun and ran away in a flash.
The chef reported the matter to the manager and then called the police. Soon the police arrived. As it turned out, they were searching for a kid who'd fled the orphanage.
This child was none other than Qiu Yun, the orphan left behind by the murderer Qiu Qiang!
Few people knew that nine - year - old Qiu Yun had been bullied a lot in the orphanage. The kids there all called him "the child of a murderer". At first, they just isolated him, and later some boys started to bully him. The teachers just turned a blind eye to it.
Qiu Yun hated his own background more than anyone else. He really couldn't stand the life in the orphanage, so he sneaked out one night.
It had been half a month since he escaped. He had no money and no relatives. He could only wander the streets, scavenging for food in the garbage. At night, he would sleep under a bridge or in the park. He was originally very thin, and after these days of sleeping in the open and being constantly frightened, he caught an illness and kept coughing.
Qiu Yun was like an aimless little beast, wandering in this concrete jungle. Maybe one day he would collapse from exhaustion. For him, who was full of a sense of world - weariness, such an ending didn't seem unacceptable.
The police came to this neighborhood to search. Qiu Yun had to slip away quietly and hide under the Qili Bridge on Sheyang Road until it got dark.
After nightfall, it started to rain, and the temperature dropped suddenly.
Watching the raindrops pattering on the river, Qiu Yun felt a pang of sadness and shed a few tears.
He was hungry, tired, and his cough was getting worse. So, if he lay here for a whole night, he might not make it the next day.
He had to go out in the rain to find something to eat.
As he walked out of the bridge cave, there was a dilapidated neighborhood not far away. Maybe he could take shelter from the rain under the eaves. The residents in these old neighborhoods often fenced off a small plot of land in front of their houses to grow some vegetables. If he was lucky, he could pull out a radish or dig out a sweet potato to eat.
Qiu Yun clutched his tattered clothes tightly around himself and came to the old neighborhood. An old red - brick house with a tile roof caught his attention. The house was dark inside, as if no one lived there, but its window was open.
Qiu Yun tried a few times and successfully climbed into the house.
By the light of the street lamp outside the window, he saw a cup of tea on the table. He grabbed it and gulped it down.
There were also some leftovers under the gauze cover. Qiu Yun picked them up with his fingers and ate.
After he was full, he looked around. There was a smell of sandalwood in the room. The mahogany furniture was covered with a thick layer of polish, obviously very old. It was probably a place where an old man lived.
Old people usually go to bed early. Maybe the owner of the house was asleep...
Qiu Yun tiptoed into the bedroom and took a look. Seeing the empty bed, having not slept in a warm and soft bed for a long time, Qiu Yun lay on it for a while. Unexpectedly, being too tired, he fell asleep all at once.
In the middle of the night, a nightmare woke Qiu Yun up. He sat up suddenly and realized that something was terribly wrong. It would be bad if he was taken as a thief and arrested as he had actually fallen asleep in someone else's house.
He had to leave quickly!
It should be early morning at this time. The street lamps outside had gone out. Qiu Yun groped in the dark for his shoes, but instead, he touched a slippery stick.
Curiously, he felt up along the stick and touched a wrinkled hand. Looking up, he noticed a pair of eyes emitting a faint light in the darkness.
"Ah!" Qiu Yun shrank back in fear. "Sorry, grandpa. I didn't mean to steal anything. I'll leave now!"
"Where did you come from?" the old man sitting in the dark asked in a deep voice. Finding a stranger in his house, he didn't make a fuss. Instead, he just sat in front of the bed waiting for Qiu Yun to wake up. This man was really strange.
"I... I escaped from the orphanage," Qiu Yun dared not mention the orphanage directly, for fear that the other person would call the police.
"Stretch out your hand."
Qiu Yun was very afraid of this stranger. He stretched out his little hand. The old man felt his pulse. After a while, he said, "You've got a lung disease. Stay here and rest. I'll get you a dose of medicine!"
"No... no need. I'll leave now!"
"You might die."
Leaving this sentence behind, the old man got up and left. Qiu Yun wondered how he could see in such darkness.
After much hesitation, Qiu Yun thought that the old man didn't seem like a bad guy. He was just a homeless stray dog. If someone was willing to offer him a helping hand, he was naturally willing to stay.
He slept until dawn and was woken up by the noise in the outer room.
He timidly made his way to the living room and saw that there were porridge and pickled vegetables on the table. The old man was sitting at the other end of the table, standing there like an ancient pine tree, leaning on a walking stick. He said, "Go ahead and eat!"
Qiu Yun grabbed the spoon and gulped down the porridge with his dirty hands, leaving a black handprint on the bowl. Qiu Yun shamefully wiped his hands on his clothes, but the clothes were not much cleaner than his hands.
He furtively looked up at the thin old man with silver hair and bright eyes. However, the pupil of his right eye was white and seemed to bulge out slightly.
Qiu Yun also noticed that there were offerings on the side table, incense was burning, and a black-and-white photo of a young man was placed there.
Qiu Yun knew it was a posthumous photo, meaning the person had died. The old man noticed his gaze and sighed softly, "That's my son. He was killed. He died young. Now I'm the only one left here."
"Was the bad guy caught?"
"Yes, he was. His name is Qiu Qiang. He was executed by shooting a year ago."
With a "clank", the spoon in Qiu Yun's hand dropped back into the bowl...