After that day's conversation, both Zuo Mu and Tang Tang clearly held the same opinion: the murderer was in an extremely unstable state at the moment, so they must be extremely careful.
"Remember, never confront Uncle Xiong directly. For one thing, it might provoke his ferocity. For another, the risk to you is too high. After all, he's a convicted murderer with a criminal record."
Zuo Mu had warned Tang Tang like this more than once.
Tang Tang was well aware of the stakes. Of course, keeping herself alive was the top priority.
Wherever she went, she always kept Zuo Mu's advice in mind and was determined not to take the lead.
It was the same this time.
Haohao was still shivering and hadn't recovered from the sound of the phone call.
Tang Tang felt pity seeing the poor child trembling. She took out a magical frog toy from her pocket and casually pressed the switch. The frog began to croak on its own.
Kids were just kids. They were easily distracted by such a novel toy. Tang Tang handed the cheerfully croaking frog to Haohao's chubby palm with a smile.
Taking the frog, Haohao started to play on his own.
The kids didn't know about the adult world or the troubles. They thought the teachers and the older sisters were just chatting and having fun. How could they know they were discussing such dirty human nature?
Huang Xiaoli seemed to be out of the loop. She'd just instinctively felt something was off. There seemed to be a secret between Tang Tang and Teacher Wang that they were hiding from everyone.
But she knew the stakes. Since it involved the kids, no matter what the inside story was, she trusted Tang Tang.
Tang Tang had been waiting for Huang Xiaoli to ask questions. She never expected that Huang Xiaoli, who was usually such a chatterbox, would keep silent this time, neither interrupting nor asking questions.
Had this girl changed her personality today?
After the conversation with Teacher Wang ended, Tang Tang looked at Huang Xiaoli with a bit of confusion.
Huang Xiaoli was quite calm. She was unhurried and kept her chattering mouth tightly shut. When she saw Tang Tang's curious look, she deliberately averted her eyes and turned her head to the other side.
Tang Tang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Was she angry because Tang Tang had kept it from her?
Helplessly, Tang Tang gave Teacher Wang an apologetic smile. Since Haohao was still there, she pulled Huang Xiaoli outside the office and told her everything that had happened recently in detail.
Maybe because there had been so many things happening recently, it took Tang Tang quite a while to fill her in.
From the moment Tang Tang started talking, Huang Xiaoli had kept her mouth wide open without moving.
Tang Tang even wanted to close her mouth for her.
But it was useless. She still stayed in that position.
The content was just too shocking.
It wasn't until Tang Tang finished that Huang Xiaoli kept her mouth open for a while. Her eyes rolled around. She looked back furtively at Teacher Wang and the playing Haohao, then looked back at Tang Tang. Looking into her eyes, she asked seriously, "Are you telling me a story?"
"Argh!!!" Tang Tang had taken so much trouble to explain, but it was all in vain. She was just getting angry when Huang Xiaoli quickly apologized, "Just kidding, just kidding. I'm just too shocked."
As she spoke, Huang Xiaoli even looked aggrieved.
"You're really something. We're supposed to be lifelong sisters, but you didn't tell me such a big thing. Maybe I could have helped." Huang Xiaoli complained.
Tang Tang was touched and quickly explained, "At first, Brother Zuo Mu was just making a guess. It wasn't a confirmed thing. And you don't know, that nurse in Zuo Mu's department took the kids to the police, but the police said there wasn't enough evidence to open a case."
It was so difficult.
After hearing the whole story, Huang Xiaoli finally understood what a ruthless and cunning opponent Tang Tang and the others were up against this time.
After all, this was a murderer who had committed a crime once but still hadn't been caught. It was far different from dealing with first - time offenders.
"No wonder you were talking about the murderer's behavior patterns just now. I thought I'd walked into a Conan movie set. I never expected that people around me would actually be involved like this." Huang Xiaoli still felt a sense of unreality when she thought about it.
Tang Tang found it funny. Her beautiful eyes curved into a smile.
She didn't know that Haohao, who had put down the frog in the distance, was already staring at her in a daze.
In no time, Huang Xiaoli had understood the situation pretty well.
Regardless of others' gazes, Huang Xiaoli was a bit shocked.
"So what's the situation now? Are you just waiting passively for the murderer to show up?"
"What else can we do? He's in the dark and we're in the open. Acting rashly is too dangerous. Moreover, he's a cold - blooded killer. How can we expect to come out unscathed when facing someone like him?"
Tang Tang explained patiently. Huang Xiaoli just nodded absent - mindedly. It was hard to tell if she'd listened.
The two of them stayed outside for a while.
The weather was nice today. The sun was shining brightly, warm and comfortable. It shone on the flower beds outside the orphanage, making them look particularly eye - catching.
It was a pity that a shadow now loomed over the informed teachers and kids, and there was much less laughter and joy than before.
Seeing such a desolate scene, Tang Tang felt indignant.
It was all the damned murderer's fault. Otherwise, did these kids have to endure all this?
The kids had done nothing wrong.
Tang Tang had dealt with the criminal investigation system for a long time. After seeing so much life and death, she'd become quite calm. But when it came to a criminal who targeted kids, she still felt a bit physically uncomfortable.
After a long time, Huang Xiaoli finally digested these shocking facts.
Tang Tang looked at the innocent smiles of the kids in the distance and fell into silence.
"Don't be so discouraged. I believe that with Brother Zuo Mu's intelligence and you, you'll surely handle this easily." Seeing that Tang Tang seemed a bit depressed, Huang Xiaoli couldn't help but comfort her.
"Do you really think so?" Tang Tang's eyes suddenly lit up. She didn't know which part of Huang Xiaoli's words had struck a chord with her.
"Yeah." Huang Xiaoli nodded firmly. Her unwavering belief really touched Tang Tang.
"Okay." After hearing someone's affirmation, Tang Tang felt much better.
However, Tang Tang wondered if it was just her imagination, but she always felt as if there was a hidden expectation in her for the murderer to show up.
"Why?" Huang Xiaoli was puzzled but didn't ask anymore.
After discussing for a while, seeing that it was getting late and the kids had played enough, Tang Tang turned around and went back to her post to play with the kids.
Time flew by quickly, and the sun was soon about to set.
Tang Tang cherished the happy time with the kids.
But time was limited. Soon, the kids had gathered around Tang Tang to learn new skills.
Surrounded by the kids and standing in the middle, Tang Tang was undoubtedly happy.
It was probably how many only - children in the city felt. Having siblings was really a blessing.
But the next moment, Teacher Wang blew the whistle to gather the kids.
The kids were quite cooperative. Hearing the sound, they all actively walked towards the classroom.