In her twenties, Chu Tang graduated from university, completed internships, and started full-time employment.
She had dated two boyfriends and made several like-minded friends.
Barring any unexpected events, her future would involve pursuing her dreams, earning money, getting married, and traveling…
An ordinary life, yet uniquely her own.
The foundations were just laid, and her future development was only just beginning.
But then, a sudden, unforeseen accident.
When she woke up in the hospital,
Her family was gone, and she herself was blind.
The world,
Had turned dark.
…
Chu Tang had excellent hearing.
But after going blind,
For a period, her ears were almost deaf.
She felt the world was too noisy, the sounds of people talking, the operation of various machines…
Even the music she once loved became piercingly harsh.
So noisy.
It felt as if every syllable was stabbing her ears with a small knife.
The world buzzed.
And her heart, too, felt blinded.
She just wanted to hide in her own home.
Afraid to go out, afraid to hear any sound.
She plugged her ears with earplugs and locked herself in her room with a key.
Everything once familiar now felt utterly strange.
She tripped over small stools, cut herself with a kitchen knife, and the bathroom floor became treacherously slippery.
She couldn't grasp chopsticks, couldn't find her mouth,
And couldn't see the path ahead.
In her world, there was no longer day or night.
The alarm clock no longer woke her at six in the morning.
No one knew who she was.
She didn't know who those people were either.
“Do you want to go to a nursing home?”
“I know an auntie, she’s very kind, perhaps she could look after you?”
“There’s a very cute dog, it could guide you…”
Others’ greetings and concern felt jarring to her.
As if reminding her again and again,
You’ve become useless.
You’re ruined.
You still want to travel, to see mountains and rivers?
Dream on.
The wonders of this world are no longer connected to you.
Because you can’t even walk properly.
…
She drove everyone away,
And shut herself in a dark little room.
Chu Tang touched the tears on her face, asking herself in her heart.
How did it come to this?
How did I become like this?
Is this still me?
They are clearly concerned about you.
How can you treat those who care about you like this?
What kind of person are you?
Chu Tang,
Are you really this fragile, this ungrateful person?
How can you be so detestable?
Do you truly want to be abandoned by everyone?
But… what can you do?
You’re blind, and you can no longer hear those beautiful melodies.
You have nothing left.
You have nothing left.
…
“Ding ding ding ding ding ding~ Ding ding ding ding ding ding~”
In the dim room, the phone screen lit up.
A cheerful birthday song played.
Immediately after, a clear voice rang out.
“Happy birthday, Mom! Hehe~ We must spend every birthday together as a family from now on!”
A woman’s voice laughed, “We all have to work, how can we have so much time to gather together.”
The clear voice pouted, “I don’t care, I don’t care, I’ve already planned it, next year I’ll write a song specifically for you… Dad, you agree, right?”
“Hahaha,” a man’s voice said, somewhat heartily,
“I think it’s a good idea! Your mother says that, but she actually nags me every day about when you’ll have time off, hahaha…”
The woman: “Oh, you talk too much!”
After a burst of playful banter,
The birthday accompaniment music ended.
Silence returned to the room.
Chu Tang, lying on the bed, stirred. Her body, like a dead fish, slowly sat up.
She had to do something.
At least, go visit the cemetery…
Buy a bouquet of flowers?
What kind of flowers? She couldn’t see…
This was the first time since the accident that Chu Tang had proactively contacted her friends.
She wanted to try, to go out.
After returning from the cemetery,
She accepted her friends’ suggestions, got a guide dog, and hired a nanny.
Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction.
But only she knew that it wasn’t.
She still had no self-care ability.
Once, the nanny fell ill and took an unexpected leave.
The dog also seemed sick.
She tried to go out alone to buy something, asking for help from passersby.
She tried hard to listen to other people’s footsteps, following them to cross the road.
But she was startled by a suddenly approaching cyclist and fell onto the ground.
The honking was deafeningly close.
She almost peed herself.
Later, she couldn’t remember how she got back.
She only remembered,
The nanny returned the next day and took the guide dog to the vet.
Days passed by like this,
She was very reluctant to go out,
The nanny didn’t force her, only taking the guide dog out for walks every day.
But Chu Tang inexplicably felt something was strange.
Sometimes in the middle of the night, she would hear strange sounds, and what the nanny said was often odd.
Because she was afraid the dog would trip her, she had barely touched the guide dog.
The world seemed to be growing more and more lonely.
But fortunately, her hearing seemed to be gradually improving.
The sounds she heard became clearer and clearer.
Until one day,
She heard a very strange sound, very faint, as if carried by the wind:
‘She’s lying to you.’
‘Are you stupid? You can’t even tell this.’
‘Your belongings, and the dog, the valuable ones have been exchanged for cheap goods by her.’
‘If it were me, I would have beaten her up and sent her a lawyer’s letter!’
The voice drifted in her ears, not very clear.
It was as if… she had misheard in a daze.
…
When it was time for dinner,
The nanny said that the prices of vegetables in the market had risen again, and the monthly living expenses might need to increase by a few hundred.
As she finished speaking, that ethereal voice reappeared.
‘This woman is all about money!’
Chu Tang wondered if she was hallucinating,
And calmly said to the nanny,
“Yes, I’ll tell my friends, and they can transfer the money to you.”
After dinner, she suddenly remembered something and asked,
“Auntie Wang, have you put away those rabbit figurines on my bedside table?”
In the darkness,
Auntie Wang’s voice sounded a little flustered, “Ah? Rabbit figurines? Oh yes, yes, I put them away. I was afraid they might fall and trip you.”
Chu Tang nodded, “That was a graduation gift from my dad… Is it red? I can’t quite remember.”
Auntie Wang: “It’s yellow.”
“I had forgotten.”
She murmured, slowly stood up, and walked towards the room.
That voice… it probably spoke the truth.
That night,
Chu Tang slept very restlessly.
She dreamed that she exposed Auntie Wang’s lies on the spot and argued with her.
She even said she would sue her.
But just as she was about to act, her vision suddenly went black.
Auntie Wang’s appearance also turned into a patch of darkness.
She had taken only two steps when she was tripped.
Auntie Wang came from behind, holding a vase, and said menacingly,
“You forced me to do this!”
Bang!
The vase shattered, accompanied by a violent headache.
Then, she was tied up.
Auntie Wang made her call her friends, forbidding her to complain, and demanding more money.
Otherwise, she would kill her.
Chu Tang was tied to a chair, completely unable to fight back.
And so, little by little, little by little,
She was imprisoned, humiliated, unable to live, unable to die.
…