While she was showering, Han Yu sat on the sofa and opened the surveillance of Cheng Xiaorui's living room on his phone.
Although he had installed surveillance in the living room, he had no habit of peeping. He just checked it a few times daily to ensure Cheng Xiaorui was safe.
Upon opening the surveillance and reviewing the daily video footage, he was surprised to discover that every evening, after finishing her homework, Cheng Xiaorui would go out at 10:30 PM and return at 1:00 AM. In the morning, she would leave at 5:00 AM in casual clothes and return at 6:00 AM.
Han Yu randomly checked videos from over ten days within four months and was astonished to find that she did this every single day.
At that moment, he was thoroughly enraged.
He sat in the living room, silently smoking a muffled cigarette.
After a while, Cheng Xiaorui emerged from the bedroom, wearing the same faded gauze dress, which she had worn as sleepwear all summer.
"You're back so late, aren't you going home?"
Cheng Xiaorui approached him, gesturing with her hands.
The man lowered his head and continued smoking, ignoring Cheng Xiaorui. She could only stand there foolishly.
It wasn't until the cigarette in Han Yu's hand was finished that he pinched out the butt with his fingers, threw it into the trash can, and then looked up to face her, "Have you nothing to say?"
She shook her head.
"You don't know what to say, do you? Then let me ask you, for four consecutive months, you've been going out every night to collect scrap and leaving early in the morning to sell it. Is that right?"
Cheng Xiaorui was stunned, "You, how did you know?"
After gesturing, she belatedly remembered he was a police officer. These things were not difficult for him to discover.
Han Yu crossed his legs and leaned back on the sofa, his gloomy gaze fixed on her.
His look made Cheng Xiaorui's hair stand on end. After hesitating for a moment, she raised her hands and gestured, "I am very grateful to you for helping me so much, allowing me to return to school to study. You are like my older brother, and I consider you family. But..."
"Type on your phone, I can't understand."
Although Han Yu understood some sign language, Cheng Xiaorui's frequent and rapid gestures challenged his limits, and he ultimately couldn't understand much.
Helpless, Cheng Xiaorui went to fetch a laptop, a computer Han Yu had bought for her to facilitate her studies.
Even with the laptop, they had never video-called.
Opening the computer, Cheng Xiaorui opened a Word document and typed: "I want to say that I am very grateful that you allowed me to return to school to study. You have already helped me a lot. I later learned that you spent a lot of money because of me, and I want to... I want to earn money quickly to repay you."
There was another matter that Cheng Xiaorui dared not tell Han Yu.
It was that at school, because she was mute, she was often bullied by the students.
There were also several men who frequently blocked her path, demanding money. If she refused to pay, they would beat her, even threatening to post videos of her being beaten to expose her.
Fearing this, Cheng Xiaorui could only sell scrap late at night and live frugly, saving up money to pay them. Only then could she attain daily peace and continue her studies.
"But we've only met a few times, why are you helping me so much? I feel like I'll never be able to repay you in this lifetime."
"Who asked you to repay it?"
"We're not related, of course, I have to repay you. Debts must be paid, it's only right."
"Cheng Xiaorui, listen to me carefully. Me, Han Yu, helping you return to school is called sponsorship. I sponsor many students every year, and you are the most disobedient among them all."
His words were resounding, filled with his dissatisfaction with Cheng Xiaorui.
Criticized as she was, Cheng Xiaorui felt guilty. Her fingers nervously clasped together. After a long while, she gestured: "I'm sorry."