Stray Dog

Jiang Ying was a stray dog, abandoned by his parents.

That's what everyone said.

When Yan Zhi was five, she went with her grandfather to visit relatives in their small town. A six-year-old boy wore an old, ill-fitting windbreaker. When he saw her, his gaze was so dark and sullen that Yan Zhi was frightened and hid in her grandfather's arms.

Then a group of older children surrounded Yan Zhi to steal her toy, and shoved her to the ground.

Suddenly, a dark figure rushed over. The filthy little boy slammed into the child reaching for her, then kicked him away with a fierce glare.

The other children froze in fright for a moment, then gritted their teeth and surrounded him, attacking.

Yan Zhi ran off to get help. When she came back, all she saw was the boy limping away.

The model manor her grandfather had given her was still safe and sound where she'd fallen, guarded carefully.

She stared blankly for a moment, then ran after the filthy boy and grabbed his sleeve.

"Big brother, Grandpa says you can't leave someone who's hurt all alone. Come home with me."

-

They met again at university. In an alley beside a bar filled with glaring lights and overlapping noise, the grown-up Jiang Ying, tall and long-legged, leaned against a streetlight with a cigarette between his fingers. A curvy woman pressed against his side, took the cigarette from his hand, and drew on it.

Through the haze of smoke, Jiang Ying's features came into sharper focus. His narrow eyes tilted up at the corners, and he wore a lazy, roguish smile as he let out a mocking laugh. The woman beside him raised an eyebrow at Yan Zhi, then turned to Jiang Ying with a grin. "You like her type?"

Yan Zhi froze for a moment, then was called away by a roommate who had come out.

Amid the din, she vaguely heard a hoarse male voice cut through: "She's no fun."

Her steps faltered, but she didn't look back.

She didn't see that, the moment she turned away, the young man expressionlessly pushed away the cigarette the woman offered him again. His eyes were as dark as ink, and his fingertips trembled.

A friend came out after getting his things. Seeing Jiang Ying's grim expression, he playfully bumped his shoulder. "What's up, Ying? What are you planning to do?"

Just when everyone thought he wouldn't say anything, Jiang Ying gave a vague answer, his voice hoarse and heavy.

"I want to go home."

He thought: I want to go home.

One day after she started working, Yan Zhi was roped into a game of Truth or Dare. For her latest call, everyone had to listen on speakerphone.

When the phone vibrated, Yan Zhi stared at the unfamiliar number for two seconds. Her eager colleagues answered and switched on the speakerphone for her.

At the sound of the voice, low and strained with drunkenness, Yan Zhi froze.

"Zhizhi."

Jiang Ying's voice was so heavy and repressed. After a long pause, he gave a drunken, muffled grunt and said fiercely, "You said you'd look after me for the rest of my life. You said it yourself."

But in the next instant, his voice choked up even more. "Don't stop looking after me. Please."

Theme: Uphold the core values of socialism