Bad Kids Read online

  “People play favourites all the time. That’s why he ignores you even though you’re both his children,” Pupu said scornfully.

  Chaoyang sighed. He hated his stepmother so much that even talking about her put him in a sour mood. “My mum says that my dad is afraid of my stepmother; that’s she’s a witch. As soon as he sees her, he is completely under her spell. And then whatever that witch says, my dad does. It’s no surprise that the girl is a spoiled brat, when you see how they dote on her. She always gets her way. My dad used to visit me more and give me money when I was younger, but then the visits stopped, because that witch kept fighting with him about it. So now I don’t hear from him at all.”

  Ding Hao clenched his fist. “I can’t believe that big bitch and her little bitch would treat you that way. If they weren’t in the way, your dad would still be living with your mum. But… I don’t see how I can help you.”

  Chaoyang gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Never mind. I just have to live with it. Oh, yeah, Pupu, I got a camera from my dad. It doesn’t take a charge very well, but it should do if we just want to take a few pictures. Then we can go to a shop and get them printed.”

  “Thank you, Brother Chaoyang,” she murmured.

  “Isn’t he the best?” Ding Hao said.

  “Mm-hmm,” Pupu said.

  Chaoyang felt a little embarrassed at their kind words.

  “Hey, Chaoyang,” Pupu said. “We can’t take down Big Bitch because she’s a grown-up, but if you knew what school Little Bitch went to…”

  “I just know she’s in second grade.”

  “Aww, if we knew what school she went to, we could beat her up there. That would show her!” Pupu said.

  “Yeah,” Ding Hao chimed in. “You could point her out to us and we would teach her a lesson. You wouldn’t even have to show your face. We could throw her in a rubbish bin and close the lid. She’d cry like a little baby.”

  Chaoyang laughed at the image.

  “Why stop there? I would take all of her clothes and put them in a dirty toilet,” Pupu said, a malevolent expression on her face.

  Chaoyang was surprised at her vehemence. Still, he had to admit that their plans sounded wonderful.

  Pupu clearly wasn’t joking. “I had a little brother. My mum loved him and completely ignored me. Only my dad was nice to me. Brother Chaoyang, your situation is like mine, but in reverse—your dad ignores you and your mum is nice to you.”

  “Are you still in touch with your brother?” Chaoyang asked.

  “He’s dead, just like my mum, I told you. And later on, I found out that he wasn’t really my brother. My mum slept with some other guy and got pregnant. That’s why Dad was framed for their deaths and shot in the head. I hate my mum! I hate my brother! I wish they could die again!”

  Chaoyang nodded in sympathy. He realized that his situation was similar to Pupu’s. Given what had happened to her dad, he could see why she was keen on exacting revenge on others.

  He felt a tinge of regret that it wouldn’t be possible to carry out this fantasy.

  10

  After they ate dinner, Ding Hao and Pupu both had showers. They told Chaoyang that when they ran away from the orphanage, they couldn’t find a permanent place to stay, so neither had had a proper shower in months. Afterwards, the three chatted all evening.

  “Why did you two want to run away from the orphanage, Ding Hao?” Chaoyang asked.

  “Because,” Ding Hao glanced at Pupu, “because the people were bad and we couldn’t take it any longer.”

  “Bad? What do you mean?”

  “It wasn’t always that way. An old lady used to run the place; she was nice to everyone. Then she retired and a man showed up. A fat slob.”

  “He was a pervert,” Pupu added.

  “A pervert? Seriously?”

  “He touched Pupu,” Ding Hao said.

  “What do you mean?” Chaoyang asked nervously.

  Chaoyang spent little time with his classmates and his knowledge of sex was limited to what he saw on television—holding hands and kissing.

  Pupu had no reason to be bashful and didn’t mince words. “He took me to an empty room, took off all my clothes and touched me.”

  “But… but… how could he do that?”

  “It happened a lot. He would take his trousers off sometimes and then put his dick in my mouth. It was so gross and hairy. I wanted to puke.” She retched at the memory.

  “Why would he put his dick in your mouth?” Chaoyang asked.

  “Dunno.”

  “Do you know why?” Chaoyang asked Ding Hao.

  “Me? Uhhh…” Seeing their ignorance, Ding Hao snickered and shook his head. “Anyway, it’s bad,” he continued. “Pupu told me about what that filthy man did to her, so the next time he went looking for her, I burst into the room before he had the chance to take his clothes off. He was real angry and locked me in a tiny closet for a whole day, without giving me anything to eat. When I grow up, I’m going to beat him to a pulp!”

  “It wasn’t just me, he did that to loads of girls,” Pupu explained.

  “Yeah, but Li Hong liked it! She said he was nice to her and bought her snacks. She wanted to marry him!” Ding Hao said.

  “She can do as she likes! I’m never going back. Ever!” Pupu said.

  “Same here. Once I snuck out to the internet café and the fat slob found out and hit me. He said I stole money from the orphanage.”

  “Why would he say that?” Chaoyang was mystified.

  “I went to play computer games and he said I took the money that was meant for the support workers. He said I couldn’t possibly have money otherwise.”

  “So… where did the money come from?”

  “Lots of people would come visit us and would give us cash. The greedy bastard told us to hand it over to him so he could buy us snacks. But he never gave us any, even when we gave him hundreds. So I hid the money the visitors gave me and used it to play games.”

  “Is the orphanage looking for you?” Chaoyang asked.

  The two nodded at the same time.

  “The nice lady told us every child at the orphanage has an ID number,” Ding Hao explained. “You gotta use it to buy train tickets, get a place to stay, all kinds of stuff. Someone can find out where we’ve been just by using that number. Right after we left, we were staying in a crummy hotel and saw our pictures on the news. That bastard was being interviewed, begging for us to come back. The worst thing would be if he caught us. I… stole his wallet right before we ran away. I had to though—if we didn’t have his four thousand yuan, we wouldn’t have made it this far. So, yeah, we can’t go back. The director definitely wants to kill me.”

  “If you didn’t run away, would you have to stay in that orphanage for life?” Chaoyang asked.

  “No, they kick you out at eighteen. But it’ll be like forever before we turn eighteen, so we couldn’t possibly stay that long. It was like a prison. We couldn’t go out. It was the strictest orphanage ever,” Ding Hao said.

  “That’s because all of our parents were murderers,” Pupu said. “They treated us as if murdering was in our DNA. As if we were a menace to society.”

  Poot.

  The accompanying smell made it clear that the little sound was a fart. “Come on, Ding Hao, can’t you give us a heads up before you float an air biscuit?” Chaoyang complained.

  Ding Hao glanced at Pupu, who turned her head. He made a face and said, “Fine, next time I will tell you three minutes beforehand.”

  The three giggled uncontrollably.

  When the laughter subsided, Ding Hao grew serious. “You’re so lucky. I know your parents are divorced, but at least you have a home, you can go to school, and you have classmates. Nobody wants us. We have nowhere to go.”

  The mood had darkened, but Zhu Chaoyang did his best to save it. “Don’t be jealous of me. I get bullied at school all the time.”

  “Who’s bullying you? I’ll skin them alive!” Ding Hao said, rea
dy to be a hero again.

  “Do you fight girls?” Chaoyang said.

  “Girls?” Ding Hao smiled a lopsided grin. “Guys shouldn’t fight girls, that’s not right. Pupu can take her though. Although, she’s only eleven, she might not win.”

  Pupu frowned at him.

  “It’s no use,” Chaoyang sighed. “Her dad is a cop, so nobody would pick a fight with her. It’s not the kind of problem that fighting can solve.”

  He told them how Ye Chimin had gotten him in trouble for things he didn’t do. Just because he was the best in their class, she did everything she could to make him suffer!

  “The teacher didn’t believe you?” Ding Hao asked.

  “Adults only listen to one side of the story—usually it’s the girl’s side. They’re so stupid!” Chaoyang exhaled sharply. “Adults think that children are simple, and that their lies are easily uncovered. They have no idea how wicked some kids can be!”

  Ding Hao and Pupu agreed.

  “Adults think that kids from the ages of one to eighteen are all the same. A five-year-old might tell a clumsy lie, but once he is a teenager, he can tell really convincing lies. Adults underestimate us,” Chaoyang added.

  “You think that’s bad. Grown-ups are the worst,” Pupu agreed. “You were burned by your classmate, but adults let me and Ding Hao down all the time.”

  “Really?”

  Ding Hao nodded, fuming.

  “After my dad died,” she continued, “my uncle said he would adopt me. But just a few weeks later, one of my classmates called me a murderer’s daughter, so I hit her. She asked me to stop, but I just had to let it all out. I kept hitting her until she cried and ran away. Then that night her family found her drowned in a reservoir. They said I pushed her in! The cops took me to the station and I stayed there for two whole days. I told them I didn’t do it, but nobody believed me. They let me go because they didn’t have evidence, but that stupid family kept bringing it up, and my aunt didn’t want me any more. So she dumped me at the orphanage and my family never spoke to me again.”

  “So…” Chaoyang said slowly, desperate to know, but also a little scared, “… did you push her?”

  Pupu looked deeply disappointed. “Of course not. I just beat her up and went home. I don’t know how she fell in the reservoir.”

  “When my parents were arrested, I wanted to stay with my family but nobody wanted me,” Ding Hao said. “I was on the streets all by myself, and some shop owner said I stole things. It wasn’t me, and they didn’t find anything on me, but the stupid guy wouldn’t let up. He got his son to box my ears, so that night I found out where he lived and smashed his window with a rock. I got caught and they put me in with Pupu.”

  The three were quiet for a moment, their faces filled with frustration and anger. All the injustice of the world seemed to have landed on their shoulders.

  Chaoyang changed the subject. “Hey, let’s check out the camera. If we charge it tonight, we can take photos tomorrow.”

  “Do you know how to use it?” Pupu looked expectantly at him.

  “No, but I think I can figure it out. There’s a computer under my bed. The government gave it to my mum for job training but she never used it much. Let’s see if it’ll turn on.”

  They pulled out the computer and tried everything, but eventually they had to ask a neighbour for help. He managed to boot the computer and showed them how to use the camera.

  Chaoyang was a quick study. He opened a folder to see the photos. They were all of his father with his second wife and daughter. They looked incredibly happy. His dad was always kissing his wife or hugging his daughter. Chaoyang started deleting files.

  “Wait,” Pupu said. “Leave a couple of photos so I can remember Little Bitch’s face. If I ever meet her, I’ll rough her up for you.”

  Chaoyang gazed at the happy family and remembered how terrible they had been to him that afternoon. He wasn’t happy about it, but he left a few photos as Pupu asked.

  “So you want a photo for your dad. Where do you want to take it?” Chaoyang asked.

  “Somewhere pretty?” Pupu ventured.

  Chaoyang thought about it. “Let’s go to Sanmingshan. My mum checks tickets there so we can probably get in for free. It’s a nature park, and there are a few places on the mountain that are good for photos.”

  “Yeah! I’ve never been on a mountain before,” Ding Hao said.

  “Yeah,” Pupu said, looking out the window. “I think my dad would like to see me hiking on a mountain.”

  11

  3 JULY

  The next morning Zhu Chaoyang and his friends woke up early. There weren’t any buses that would go there directly, so they took one into the city and then a two-hour bus ride to the nature park.

  When they arrived, Zhu Chaoyang pointed out his overweight mother to his friends. Zhou Chunhong’s bottom-heavy physique was emphasized by her short stature. “Wait here. I’ll go see if Mum can get us in for free.” He ran over to her.

  “What are you doing here?” Zhou asked.

  “I wanted to take my friends to see Sanmingshan.” Chaoyang pointed at Ding Hao and Pupu. “See? That guy was my classmate in primary school, but he then moved to Hangzhou. And the girl is his sister. I want to show them around today. Oh, and Mum—” He pulled out the 5,000 yuan from his backpack. “I saw Dad yesterday and he gave me money! You should take it.”

  “That’s a lot! When did he get a heart?” Zhou said, stuffing the money into her pocket.

  “He was playing cards with Uncle Fang and some other people. They made him give it to me. And then his new wife and their daughter showed up,” Chaoyang said.

  His mother saw that he was still upset by the meeting. “What did they say?”

  “Not much, but his daughter asked about me, and Dad lied and said I was Fang Jianping’s nephew.”

  “I can’t believe he would say something like that!” Zhou said, distressed at her son’s obvious pain. “That is completely out of order. It would be better if he didn’t even exist.”

  Chaoyang didn’t say anything.

  After her outburst, Zhou Chunhong tried to move on. “Your clothes are dirty, Chaoyang. I was supposed to go home tomorrow but I’m switching shifts with Auntie Li. I won’t be back for a few more days so you will need to do the laundry yourself. Don’t forget!”

  “OK. I’m going to go hang out with my friends now.”

  “Have fun and be a good host. You should take them out to dinner tonight—do you need money?”

  “It’s OK, I still have a few hundred yuan. Um, can my friends stay at our house for a couple of days?”

  “Of course,” Zhou said. She didn’t feel the need to set too many limits for Chaoyang: he followed all the rules and always did his homework.

  Chaoyang waved his friends over and they greeted Zhou Chunhong politely. Then they went to the enormous staircase that snaked up the mountain.

  Soon the three friends were inventing games and had forgotten their troubles. It was mid-week and they virtually had the park to themselves. After climbing halfway up the mountain, they took a break at a pavilion.

  “Wow! I want to come here every day!” Ding Hao said, stretching his arms over his head.

  Pupu stood next to him and took in the view. She spun around with a smile on her face. “Brother Chaoyang, do you think this is a good place to take a picture?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  Ding Hao moved out of the frame. Pupu made a peace sign and gave a brilliant smile. Chaoyang showed her the picture on the tiny monitor and they all agreed that it looked good. They took a few more from another angle.

  Now there was a man and an older couple in the background, but far enough away that the scenery was still good. Chaoyang took more photos.

  “What do you think?” he asked, showing Pupu the screen.

  “These are great!” she said.

  “You should be in some photos, Ding Hao,” Chaoyang suggested.

  “No, thanks,” Ding
said.

  “How about a video?”

  “You can take videos?” Pupu’s curiosity was piqued.

  “Yeah, I’ve hit record already, say something!”

  “What should I say?” she asked.

  “Watch this.” Ding put his hands together in the style of a newscaster. “Hello. You’re watching the news report, hosted by me, Ding Hao, a super-famous host. The top news today is that three genius kids visited Sanmingshan. Uh, then…”

  “Then what?” Chaoyang asked with a grin.

  “Mr Ding? Anything else?” Pupu added.

  “Then… then…” He gave up.

  Suddenly they heard terrible screams. In the distance the man was still there, but the couple had disappeared. Seconds later, they saw the man lean over the low wall, screaming, “Mum! Dad!” He turned to the people at the shops. “Help! Help! There’s been an accident!”

  The three kids ran to the edge of the pavilion.

  12

  Everyone who heard the screams came running. Soon park staff were frantically shouting into their walkie-talkies. The three friends leaned over the wall to try to get a better look.

  “I can’t even see them! Do you think they’re dead?” Ding Hao asked.

  “Yeah.” Chaoyang moved instinctively away from the wall.

  “Why did they fall?” Pupu wondered aloud.

  The wall was nearly two feet wide and people were able to sit comfortably without losing their balance. As far as Chaoyang knew, there had never been an accident here before.

  “Maybe one of them had a heart attack and lost consciousness, and the other one fell trying to help them?” he suggested.

  Ding Hao spotted the search team looking for the bodies below. “Let’s go down there!”

  “No way,” Pupu said.

  “But I’ve never seen a dead body before!”

  “Oh, come on. It’s going to be gross,” Chaoyang said, giving him a look.