“Catch the thief! Catch the thief!”
Someone in the crowd shouted, and then everyone ran in a panic. Ryder was afraid that Marina would fall, so he quickly pulled her to the back of the stall to hide.
It was almost New Year’s Eve, so theft happened often.
People had some extra money at the end of the year and it was the perfect time for thieves.
Soon, a middle-aged woman caught the thief who stole her wallet. It was a child who looked like he was in primary school. Although the child’s clothes were shabby, he was dressed neatly.
“You learned to steal at such a young age! How did your mother educate you?”
Perhaps the woman didn’t expect the thief to be so young, so she got her purse back and didn’t call the police.
Many people saw it all. Some people condemned this child. They said that since he started stealing at such a young age, when he grew up he might kill or set fire. Although some people sympathized with him, the boy did steal something, so no one said anything else.
After a while, everyone was almost gone.
The little boy in rags stood there, biting his lip and stubbornly holding back his tears. Marina observed carefully. He was still holding a handful of vegetable leaves.
The boy had no choice in order to survive. He was too young.
“In front are vendors selling vegetables. We don’t need them. Let’s go back.”
Ryder carefully protected Marina. Fortunately, she had been pregnant for three months. She did not have to walk with the help of others.
They went to the parking area. Ryder opened the trunk and sighed at the big and small bags in his hands. He shoved them hard into the trunk.
Marina was shocked to see the various bags that Ryder was carrying. She had bought too many things. But it was true that she hadn’t been out of the house for a long time. She had been to the mall almost only once or twice since she was pregnant.
Ryder hired a couple of maids to take care of her. In fact, it was a kind of surveillance. He was worried that she wouldn’t come back when she went out.
If she wanted to go out, she had to get Ryder’s permission. She wanted to take Nicole with her, but then he would tell Nicole to go somewhere else.
Just as they were about to get into the car, they saw the boy again. He lowered his head in a daze, as if he was looking for something. His cotton shoes were torn and his socks were exposed. On such a cold day, he was only wearing a thin cotton-padded jacket. He was shivering from the cold.
Suddenly there was a scream.
The little boy suddenly fell down. His palm touched a sharp stone on the ground. Blood dripped down, staining the ground red.
Perhaps the people around him knew that he was a thief. They looked at him coldly. No one helped him, but he didn’t cry. Even though the green vegetables in his hand were dyed red with blood, he still held on tightly and did not throw them away.
Marina couldn’t bear to see him lying on the ground, so she went over to him, picked him up and gave him a piece of paper to wipe the blood off his hands.
“Thank you.”
The boy’s voice was soft. He was thinner than she thought he would be. He looked terrible, probably because he was too cold or malnourished.
He bowed to Marina in silence to express his gratitude and walked away.
“I don’t know why, but I want to help him.”
Marina sighed. She couldn’t just let the boy go. He was polite, so he must have had a reason to steal that wallet. If she taught him well, he might succeed in the future.
“Do what you want.”
Ryder had no objection to this. When the little boy fell down, he seemed to see himself as a child. He was also stubborn and refused to admit defeat.
They followed the little boy to the old town of Jin City. There were all kinds of old courtyards here. Several families lived in one courtyard. This used to be a slum.
Outside the alley, there was a pile of old furniture from the eighties. They would make a fire with wood. There was no heating here, so they had to use the fire to keep warm.
“You found the vegetable leaves!”
This was a five or six-year-old girl. She ran over happily with a red rope tied in a ponytail. She smiled from the moment she saw the boy. But when she saw the boy’s hands covered in blood, she almost cried.
“Don’t cry. Don’t let mom hear you.”
The little boy stroked the little girl’s hair with his other hand. They walked through a dark and narrow door and into the courtyard.
Marina had suffered a lot when she was a child, but she hadn’t been to this place for a long time since her father’s successful business.
In her memory, even if her family was poor, her living environment was much better than this place.
There was a water well in the courtyard. The walls were made of red bricks with a lot of mud. The house looked like it was about to fall down.
Jin City was a paradise for rich people. For the poor, life was still tough.
Marina used to have a hard time. At least she had no worries about clothes and food. She occasionally did charity, but she did not pursue the whereabouts of the money.
“Why are you here?”
The little boy became nervous when he saw Marina. If his mother knew that he stole something, she would beat him. He must not let others know.
Marina shook her head and did not answer. Instead, she looked at the little girl. “How old are you? Is there anyone else here?”
“My name is Ellen. I’m six years old. My brother and mother are at home.”
Ellen was very curious. She hadn’t seen anyone else come here. She didn’t think they were bad people because the lady’s belly was a little big and she should be pregnant.
“I…”
The little boy paused and told them about his family. He was called Javon Kendall and was nine years old this year, in the third grade of primary school.
His father and mother both came here to work for money. His father carried bricks for construction sites, but he died in an accident last year. His mother broke down and became seriously ill, so he had to drop out and take care of her with his sister.
They used their savings to rent this house. The money was saved by his father during his lifetime. It was almost New Year’s Day, and he only had 10. He went to the market to buy meat, but he lost his money.
If he could not find that money, his sister and mother would not be able to eat meat in the New Year. He couldn’t bear to let his sister down. In addition, his mother’s health was very poor, so she did need nutritional supplements.
“Please don’t tell my mother. If she knew I stole something, she would be very sad. I’m worried she’ll be angry. I promise never to do anything bad again.”
The little boy finally couldn’t help but cry. When his father was still alive, he had never been hungry.
It had been almost a year since he left school.
The residents here were poor, so he could only wash clothes for others to earn money. Because he was a child, many people would use it to deduct his salary.
He should have a few hundred at the end of the year. Yesterday, he went to the laundry and found that it was closed. He didn’t know where the owner had gone. He went home in a trance, but he didn’t know how to tell his mother.