"Here's the money, count it, make sure it's enough. If there's extra, leave it; if it's short, let me know," Thang Hoi signaled Hien Ha to hand the box to Ti.
Nodding, he said...
...
"That day, many of my friends were brought home by my uncle."
"It seems like I've changed houses."
"Staying in this place with my older sister and two others."
"It was already evening."
"That older brother noticed the scars on my back, seemingly very angry. He kept scolding my uncle, calling him a despicable person who dared to deceive something."
"Thinking about how my uncle always got beaten at home."
"I guess..."
"He might be feeling sorry for me!"
"Later, he spread a new mat on the ground for us, telling us to lie down cleanly and not get dirty, not nice."
"Because he said there wasn't enough space inside, so he asked my older sister to sleep in his bedroom together to avoid the cold as there weren't enough blankets."
"Although at night, in the big brother's room, we heard."
"The sound of my older sister crying."
"But it's probably because of the new home, my older sister is not used to it yet!"
"Then."
"I also ate a lot of things that I had never eaten before..."
"Compared to the previous place."
"I really like this older brother."
"I really like this new house..."
"Of course."
"That's just the beginning..."
...
In some village.
Thang Hoi had a cigarette in his mouth.
He glanced at the stack of money in his hand, determined that there was no issue, took two steps back, and at the same time, spoke to the middle-aged men standing in front of him with shabby clothes.
"Okay, the money is enough, take them away."
After speaking, Hoang Ly felt a strong push on her back, resisting the urge to take a few steps forward.
"So, shall we take her?" One of the middle-aged men with a scruffy face, slightly intoxicated, clasped his hands and looked at Hoang Ly with affection.
Today she wore clean clothes.
Her hair was neatly braided, with two cute pigtails hanging down her shoulders.
"Hey..."
Hoang Ly looked at this group of stout middle-aged men.
A bit frightened, she turned her head and spoke to her older brother behind her.
She leaned backward.
She pressed her body against Thang Hoi's body, as if this would make her feel safe.
"It's okay, go ahead. Didn't you say you wanted a birthday cake? These are your friends. Now, I'll go buy a cake for you, you go to their house to play for a while, and in half an hour, I'll come pick you up."
Thang Hoi said softly.
The smile on his lips somewhat reassured Hoang Ly.
After living with this older brother for two years.
Now she was ten years old, right at the cute and charming age of herself...
Hoang Ly glanced at the unfamiliar faces towering several heads above her. She still felt a bit frightened.
"Hoang Ly, why don't you listen? If this continues, I won't care about you anymore. I won't even buy pastries for you," Thang Hoi said, his displeasure evident.
Seeing Hoang Ly still tugging at the corner of her shirt, he expressed his dissatisfaction.
As if afraid that he would truly ignore her, she hesitated for a while before slowly taking small steps out.
At the same time, she looked up.
In a soft voice to Thang Hoi: "No, don't overlook Hoang Ly. She will obediently listen."
"Then you have to go home with your brother, don't run around, so I can find you when I come back."
"Okay, I'll obediently wait for you..."
Hoang Ly lowered her head, her small hands continuously fidgeting, fingers pointing at each other, going around in circles.
It seemed like this could relieve the worry and tension in her heart.
"Alright, let's go, little sister. I have a lot of interesting toys at home and plenty of delicious food," a middle-aged man said.
He stretched out his chubby and rough hands to hold Hoang Ly, winked at Thang Hoi, and said it was fine, he could leave.
After seeing Hoang Ly being held, Thang Hoi didn't hesitate, stuffed a wad of bills into his coat pocket, turned around, and stepped onto the car...
And Hoang Ly saw her brother getting on the car.
Tears in her eye sockets kept moving, as if they would condense into droplets and fall in the next blink.
"Brother, you have to come back a little earlier!"
She shouted from behind as the van slowly moved away.
Hoang Ly, with her cute ponytail, screamed.
However,
Apart from the dust spraying from the car's exhaust,
Only the rumbling engine noise remained, and the figure gradually shrank into a small dot...
No one answered her.
Only the wind mingled with sand and rocks swept across her face...
...
"After that."
"He never came back to see me."
"I was brought home by those uncles and locked in a small, dark, and damp room."
"Still the familiar mud houses."
"But no one was familiar..."
"No interesting toys, and nothing to eat."
"I seemed to go back to the time when I was always hungry..."
"They tied me with iron chains, which reminded me of the sister who didn't like to wear clothes when I saw her at his house."
"I don't know why they did this to me."
"I just know."
"Every time those uncles came to see me, they would strip off my clothes..."
"Blood, so much blood..."
"I'm terrified of blood, scared of the unsettling smells."
"It's been a while since that happened."
"What does that sensation feel like?"
"My entire body felt like death."
"Dying in the village, in that small, dark house..."
"I never had a birthday cake."
"No friends either."
"..."
"One day."
"I noticed my stomach getting bigger."
"At the same time, I felt more and more uncomfortable. Besides the pain, there were other sensations inside me that I couldn't explain."
"I don't know when I'll be able to escape. Whenever I cry, they grab a stick to hit me."
"..."
"I really want to get out of here."
"But I dare not..."
"In the following years."
"Later, I found out that I was sold by my older brother. The thing he got in return wasn't money to buy cake, but the money those uncles gave him after selling me."
"I hate money!"
"It's because of it that he sold me..."
"After that."
"I don't remember much."
"I only knew that when I forgot what the outside world looked like."
"When I couldn't see the future clearly."
"There was a sister just like me, pushing the door that I always wanted to escape through."
"She said to me."
"Her name is Tran Thien Nga..."
"She said she would take me out of this place and bring me to a world of freedom."
"I agreed."
"So, I walked out that door..."
"Into the worlds she spoke of."
"And Sister Tran Thien Nga also taught me a way to protect myself."
"She called that method..."
"Hypnosis, assimilation."