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Join the ServerThe child wore adult clothes.
The sleeves were too long, the pant legs dragged on the ground.
Bandages wrapped her arms, band-aids covered her knees, and gauze padded her ears.
The old woman slowed down, stared for a few seconds, opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it.
She quickened her pace and walked away.
After a few steps, she turned back to look, her expression complicated.
A young mother holding a child’s hand approached.
The child pointed at Su Yutao and said, “Mom, what’s wrong with that sister?”
The mother quickly pressed the child’s hand down and whispered, “Don’t point.”
She glanced at Lin Qingxue, then at the injuries on Su Yutao.
A flicker of suspicion crossed her eyes.
She pulled the child and hurried away.
Lin Qingxue felt those gazes.
She looked down at Su Yutao, who curled in her arms, wearing her clothes, as baggy as a sack.
Bandages on her arms exposed, band-aids on her knees glaring white, gauze on her ears wrapped tight.
She felt like she looked like an abused child.
A complicated feeling welled up in Lin Qingxue’s heart.
She remembered this morning: Zhou Ye had come, drunk, making a scene.
But were those injuries really caused by Zhou Ye?
No matter how much of a bastard he was, would he go so far as to burn someone with a cigarette?
She recalled the bite mark on Su Yutao’s ear.
The teeth marks were small, not a man’s.
She remembered the bruises on Su Yutao’s shoulder.
The grip-shaped marks didn’t seem like something a drunk person could do.
Her steps slowed, then quickened again.
She told herself to stop thinking. Just go to the hospital. The doctors would handle it.
The hospital arrived.
The smell of disinfectant hit them.
Su Yutao curled up tighter.
Lin Qingxue registered and sat with her on a bench in the waiting area.
Around them, children cried, old people coughed, nurses pushed carts, wheels rumbling over the floor.
Su Yutao buried her face in Lin Qingxue’s arms, not wanting to listen, not wanting to smell, not wanting to be here.
Their number was called.
Lin Qingxue carried her into the consultation room.
The doctor was a woman in her forties, wearing glasses, her hair pinned back, looking kind.
She looked at Lin Qingxue, then at Su Yutao in her arms, and frowned slightly.
“Put her on the bed.”
Lin Qingxue placed Su Yutao on the examination bed.
Su Yutao curled up, hugging Qiansui, refusing to lie down.
She just curled up, trembling.
The doctor approached and said softly, “Little one, don’t be afraid. Let auntie look at your injuries.”
Su Yutao shook her head, shaking it desperately.
She didn’t want to be touched, didn’t want injections, didn’t want to hurt anymore.
Lin Qingxue said softly beside her, “Xiaotao, be good. Let the doctor take a look. It will be over soon.”
Su Yutao still shook her head, huddled in the corner of the bed, hugging Qiansui, shaking like a leaf.
The doctor looked at her, sighed, and said to Lin Qingxue, “Hold her down. Let me look at the wounds first.”
Lin Qingxue walked over and gently pressed Su Yutao’s shoulders.
Su Yutao flinched but didn’t resist.
Not because she didn’t want to, but because she didn’t dare.
She was afraid the daytime her would get angry, afraid the nighttime one would come to settle accounts, saying she hadn’t been obedient again.
The doctor first looked at the cigarette burn scar on her arm and frowned.
“This is a cigarette burn. Who did it? That’s just cruel. To do this to such a young child.”
Lin Qingxue opened her mouth. “My friend… he was drunk last night…”
The doctor glanced at her, said nothing, then examined Su Yutao’s ear.
She gently lifted the gauze, revealing the bite marks beneath.
The bites were deep, some places had broken skin and scabbed over.
The doctor’s frown deepened. “Did your friend bite this too?”
Lin Qingxue’s voice was muffled. “Yeah, he was drunk.”
The doctor was silent for a moment, then moved to Su Yutao’s knees.
The scrapes on her knees had been treated, but the surrounding bruises were black and blue.
The doctor gently pressed on the bruise on her shin.
Su Yutao flinched in pain, letting out a choked sound.
The doctor paused, then continued the examination.
She lifted Su Yutao’s collar to look at her shoulder.
A large bruise, purple-black, stretched from her shoulder to her collarbone.
The doctor gently pressed on the bone, and her expression changed.
She looked up at Lin Qingxue, her voice low.
“This shoulder has been violently dislocated and put back in place, not just once or twice. And there are bruises on her abdomen, as if she was kicked. Who did this? He’s an animal.”
Lin Qingxue was stunned.
Dislocated? Put back?
She remembered Su Yutao’s hand being swollen a few days ago.
She thought it was from a fall.
It wasn’t a fall.
Someone had dislocated it and put it back.
She tried to remember more, but a sharp pain stabbed her head.
She shook her head, her voice hoarse. “I don’t know.”
The doctor looked at her, her eyes darker.
She examined the rest of Su Yutao’s body: arms, back, calves.
Bruises everywhere, some old and yellowing, some fresh and purple-black.
She stood up, pulled off her disposable gloves, and tossed them in the trash.
Her voice was calm, but each word carried weight.
“This child has been abused for a long time.
Malnutrition, developmental delay.
The injuries didn’t happen in a day or two.
Especially the shoulder, dislocated repeatedly. The joint capsule is loose.
If this continues, she’ll lose the use of that hand.”
She looked at Lin Qingxue. “Who are you to her?”
Lin Qingxue opened her mouth. “I… I’m her friend.”
“Friend?” The doctor’s voice held a hint of doubt.
“Do you know her name? How old she is? Where she lives? Does she have parents?”
Lin Qingxue was silent.
She didn’t know.
She only knew her name was Su Yutao, that she was picked up on the roadside.
She didn’t know her age, where she lived, or if she had parents.
The doctor sighed.
“This child doesn’t even have basic identification.
You don’t even know who she is, and you’ve just been keeping her?
Did you ever think about where her injuries came from?”
Lin Qingxue couldn’t speak.
She had thought about it, but hadn’t figured it out.
She thought it was Zhou Ye when he was drunk.
But the doctor said it was long-term abuse.
Not a day or two, but a very long time.
Su Yutao curled up on the bed, hugging Qiansui, trembling as she listened to these words.
She knew where the injuries came from.
They were from the nighttime her, the one who looked exactly like her.
The doctor wrote a few lines in the medical record, then looked up at Lin Qingxue.
“I’ll treat her wounds first, give her tetanus and rabies shots.
Her shoulder needs an X-ray to assess the joint damage.
Also, the malnutrition issue, we need a nutritional assessment.”
She paused.
“Also, I suggest you contact a welfare home.
This child’s situation is not suitable for private care.
She has no identification, no guardian, and her injuries are so severe.
We are obligated to report this.”
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Read : My Star, Your Star
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