1 The trials of Liu Xinran

"Flower, Flower, Fresh flowers just picked up,"

"Brother, buy a flower for your girlfriend."

A voice of a sixteen-year-old boy was heard in the crowd.

"Brother, I tell you, your girlfriend will be happy!" Liu Xinran urged the man to buy flowers from him.

"No need, get out of my sight," the man said in a black suit, with a laptop in his hand.

Clearly, he was annoyed and disgusted by the bad smell of the unclean dirty clothes.

Liu Xinran, with bright eyes, understood and stopped arguing with him. He stood there without speaking about selling flowers.

The flowers he picked up early in the morning from a garden started to dry.

"What a bad smell! Feels like I'll throw up at any moment," a girl standing beside said.

"Mom, what's wrong with his clothes?" A kid with a backpack and school uniform asked his mother.

"Shh! Don't talk," the lady said.

Liu Xinran looked at the kid and was thinking if he were with his parents, he would have been in high school now. But what a strange fate he has!

Some people were holding their noses and waiting impatiently for the traffic signal to turn red. Because of Liu Xinran, the pedestrian crossing was in chaos of ill-smelling.

How long has it been since he took a shower? It's not like he's intentionally didn't shower for months, but in this modern era, people like him can't even afford drinking water, let alone showering water.

He would drink a full glass of water and take a shower when it's raining once in a blue moon.

Finally, the signal turned red and the cars stopped. Everyone standing there hurriedly started to overtake each other.

Liu Xinran didn't hurry but waited for everyone to go early so that his smelly body doesn't touch those higher-class people.

"Today, I didn't sell anything. I hate to beg," Liu Xinran uttered to himself.

Even though Liu Xinran was abandoned at the age of five, he was a smart boy. After his parents said to him that they would return in the evening and wait for them, they didn't return, so Liu Xinran contacted the police.

The police investigated his parents' whereabouts. Mr. and Mrs. Liu said to the police,

"We are not his real parents; we adopted him when the doctor said I can't become a mother, but after some time, I gave birth to my daughter and Xinran was a headache to us," Mrs. Liu said, holding a baby in her arms.

"That's right, if you are kind enough to raise a person who has no identity, no blood of a real man, then adopt him, don't ever come back to us regarding this matter," Mr. Liu said and shut the door in front of the police.

How can parents abandon their adopted son? The police didn't take any action because he loves money.

Mr. Liu paid the officer a large amount of money to keep his mouth shut.

Liu Xinran didn't get any help or response from the police either. Since then, he started to live all by himself, selling flowers. But in the shantytown, some beggars used to beat him and make him beg for them.

What can a five-year-old boy do? Abandoned by his own parents, he was trying his best to save his life.

Well, everyone crossed the road. Xinran walked carefully not to touch some people.

After crossing the pedestrian, he directly went to the shantytown.

In a dark place where people of a higher class throw away their everyday garbage, a group of people lives there.

"What's up? How much money did you earn today?" A twenty-nine-year-old man was sitting on a broken wall, lifting his legs.

Liu Xinran didn't even look at them and went straight.

"Wait. How dare you? How dare you ignore my question?" Zhao Haoyu said, standing.

Liu Xinran stopped and turned back.

"What's there to answer a dog's barking?"

Out of anger that someone like Liu Xinran now talks back and said he was a dog who barks without any reason, Zhao Haoyu immediately grabs Liu Xinran's torn collar.

"What did you say? Say it again."

Liu Xinran grabs Zhao Haoyu's hand strongly and throws it away, giving a cold glare,

"I said, what's there to answer a dog's barking?"

"What did you say?" As soon as he finishes his words, Zhao Haoyu closes his hand and gives Liu Xinran a forceful hit with a fist on his right cheek.

Following the lead of Zhao Haoyu, everyone, those who are loyal dogs of him, jump over Liu Xinran and beat him until they are satisfied.

Sitting on top of Liu Xinran's chest and grabbing his neck, Zhao Haoyu asks again.

"Tell me, how much did you earn today?"

"I said, I don't answer to a barking dog."

There's a reason Liu Xinran called Zhao Haoyu a dog. Zhao Haoyu used to beat him and make him beg. He was so cruel that he once broke his fingers.

He would snatch away all his earnings or food. Even if it's not much. Zhao Haoyu's gang will hunt him. People call Haoyu the king of beggars.

What a prestigious title he gained!

Liu Xinran has always been enduring his torturing because he was sure one day his parents will come and take him away. He was following his fake mother's advice to not fight back even if someone backstabs him.

What a great mother she is!

But now, he understood that no matter how long he waits, they won't come; he decided to fight back and live as he likes.

Well, hearing the word dog again, Zhao Haoyu bursts with anger and started to hit his face violently.

After hitting Liu Xinran to his heart's content, Zhao Haoyu stood up and ordered his followers to search for money.

They searched every corner of his clothes and body. But alas! They found nothing.

"So, you didn't earn a penny, what's with your attitude?" Zhao Haoyu said and spit onto him.

They all followed Zhao Haoyu and spat onto him. He was laying on the ground. His tired body was not moving.

They left him alone. He closed his eyes, spread his arms on the ground. Blood on his lips and bumps on his face.

He couldn't fight against seven people. Even if it was Zhao Haoyu alone, he wouldn't stand a chance. After all, he's been starving for two days.

Suddenly, raindrops started falling onto him slowly.

"HAHAHA, HAHAHA. HAHA."

He let out a cruel snicker, sharp and mocking, cutting through the silence like a knife.

What was he laughing at? This world? These so-called people who demand themselves as modern? Or himself?

Mocking the situation he is in.

Abruptly, his laughing sound turned into crying. A sound of melancholy.

Why does he have to go through this harsh reality of this world?

He uttered something more strange. "I wish I wasn't born."

"I saw people talking about transmigration. It's all a lie, there's no such thing that exists. Even if it does, I wish I wouldn't transmigrate to suffer like this again."

"This world has nothing for me."

Sure enough, he was tired of this world and its creations. Furthermore, what does this world give him?

Nothing special! Just a little heart which hurts from people he doesn't even know.

He opened his mouth, the raindrops falling into it. His body is covered with mud.

The blood from his clothes washed away by water. The flowers were already dry and scattered on the ground. Flower petals floating on the rainwater.

....

["The flow of winds high in the atmosphere that steer weather systems has been making a beeline for us – spinning up areas of low pressure, including a number of named storms, and sending them in our direction. And low pressure tends to bring heavy rain. It will rain for three or four days. Stay warm and don't forget to bring an umbrella."] A news reader on TV or Mike announces.

How will this homeless boy survive?

....

After three days of heavy raining nonstop, the sun is shining brightly in the blue sky with white cotton clouds.

The streets are clean as the rain took back dirt along with it. People are going to their own work with warm smiles on their lips.

But what about Liu Xinran? Is he still alive?

In the corner of the dustbin in the shantytown, Liu Xinran was leaning against the plastic bags. His lips are dry, he's shaking. The clothes are wet.

The wounds of that day are still visible. People walk past him and look at him with strange expressions, as if they are wishing he were dead.

In this cruel reality, there are still some kind-hearted creatures that exist. A dog was sitting before him. Moving its tail, it sticks out its tongue.

"Are you hungry?" Liu Xinran asked the dog with a low voice.

*Bow-wow* the dog replied, confirming that it doesn't want food.

"But I don't have food on me." Liu Xinran didn't understand the dog's language.