In a daze, Ke Yongzhu had a dream.
He dreamt of the time when he was still in the orphanage.
At dusk, the children would gather in the courtyard behind the orphanage, either chasing and roughhousing or sitting together, playing with puzzles.
But he was never among those figures.
Ke Yongzhu could only pluck a blade of grass from the ground, silently sitting in a corner of the yard.
With his eyes cast down, he idly scratched the ground with that blade of grass.
Sometimes he would look up, pretending not to care, glancing at the children playing eagle catches chicks, envy flashing in his eyes.
He often hoped to be noticed.
But whenever he got a bit closer to the other kids, someone would throw stones at him, toss sand, shouting that the monster was coming and everyone should run away.
Ke Yongzhu would return each time dirty and would be scolded by the orphanage's nurse, yet he couldn't utter a single word of protest.
