Ms. Liu's husband works in the financial industry, so their family is quite wealthy. And Ms. Liu herself is a highly paid tutoring teacher. Naturally, the place they live in is of the best.
When Zhaozhao walked into that villa area against the slight chill of the early winter evening, she somehow thought of Su Yuan.
She remembered that the big house Su Yuan once took her to was quite similar to these in front of her eyes. However, it had been a long time since she last saw it.
The wind was a bit cold, making her cheeks icy. Zhaozhao pulled up her scarf and buried her face in the soft fabric, forcibly pushing the thoughts of Su Yuan out of her mind.
She didn't want to think about Su Yuan for the moment because it was useless and only added to her troubles. She was going to have a class later, and thinking about him would lower her thinking ability.
She was not very good at learning the knowledge subjects in the human world in the first place. If she couldn't concentrate, she didn't know how long it would take.
She still had to go back and do the live - broadcast with Taotie at night. Lu Chukong said that they were just starting out, so she and Taotie had to be more diligent.
There were many ginkgo trees planted in the villa area's courtyard. Normally, by this season, the leaves should have all fallen off. But for some reason, there were still a few leaves hanging on the trees.
Zhaozhao rarely saw such a scene in the human world, so she couldn't help but take a few more glances.
The phone in her coat pocket rang. It was Ms. Liu calling, worried that Zhaozhao might not be able to find the exact location.
After answering the call and saying that she could find the place, Zhaozhao hung up, stomped her feet, and walked towards Ms. Liu's house.
When passing by those trees, two faint meows suddenly came from the nearby bushes. Zhaozhao instinctively glanced inside.
Just this one glance made her freeze.
"You... Why are you here?" Zhaozhao stared wide - eyed at the dirty - faced little boy who crawled out of the bushes holding a cat.
It was the little boy she and Nanjia had met on the top floor of the club when they went to steal the Bu Ye Ding.
The little boy looked at Zhaozhao, his hand still covering the cat's mouth to stop it from meowing. Then he hesitated for a moment and called out "Sister".
Zhaozhao remembered the infant spirit she had given to the little boy at that time. Because many things had happened later, she hadn't had time to take care of the infant spirit, and she didn't know where the little boy had sent it.
No matter how weak the infant spirit was, it was still a little ghost. It wasn't a good idea to leave it in the human world. Now that she had met the little boy, she naturally had to solve this problem.
Moreover, this little boy was born with the ability to communicate with spirits. She didn't know how many ghosts he had seen in his daily life, and Zhaozhao wanted to help him.
"I'm sorry. I encountered some things after I left that day and couldn't come back to find you. I'm really sorry." Zhaozhao squatted down and brushed the dry grass from the bushes off the little boy's clothes, looking apologetic.
"It's okay." The little boy shook his head obediently while holding the cat.
Zhaozhao looked down at the cat in his arms. A strange feeling flashed through her heart, but it was so fleeting that she couldn't catch it.
"Do you still remember the little girl that day? Where did you take her?"
The little boy looked up with a pair of clear and clean eyes. "Mom took the little sister away."
"What?" Zhaozhao was a bit confused by this senseless answer. What did it mean that the little girl was taken away by his mom? Was the boy's mom from the mysterious world? Or did she know some mysterious arts?
She wanted to ask more, but the little boy suddenly seemed to see something. His pupils shrank, and with some unknown strength, he pushed Zhaozhao away and ran off with the cat in his arms.
"Hey, you—"
"Zhaozhao!" Ms. Liu walked over from the path in front. When she saw Zhaozhao, she immediately let out a sigh of relief. "What are you squatting here for? I thought you got lost."
"I didn't..." Zhaozhao stood up and shook her head, looking a bit dazed in the direction where the little boy had run off.
"What are you looking at?" Ms. Liu was a bit dissatisfied with her student's distraction. Looking at her watch, she found that a lot of time had passed since the scheduled class time. Ms. Liu always had a strong sense of time.
"Since you're here, come with me to have the class quickly. We've already wasted a lot of time." After saying that, she turned around and walked forward, urging Zhaozhao to follow.
Zhaozhao lowered her head and kept thinking about the meaning of the little boy's words, and obediently followed behind.
"Ms. Liu, can I ask you a question?" Zhaozhao looked up, trotted a few steps to walk side - by - side with Ms. Liu, and asked, looking at her sideways.
Ms. Liu was quite happy that her student took the initiative to ask questions. "What do you want to ask?"
"You saw that little boy just now, right? Do you know which family he belongs to?" She wanted to find out clearly so that she could look for him after the class. She had to figure out the whereabouts of that infant spirit.
Hearing Zhaozhao mention this, Ms. Liu suddenly sighed. Of course she had seen the little boy just now. There were few people in this villa area who didn't know him.
"That poor kid." Ms. Liu's expression showed a bit of sympathy and sadness. "His name is Zhuang Ming, and he lives in Building 3 over there."
"Poor?" Hearing Ms. Liu use this word, Zhaozhao thought of the little boy's appearance just now. "Why do you say so?"
"His mother passed away last year, and his father remarried. His father and step - mother treat him badly. They often beat and scold him and don't give him enough to eat. The people from the Women's Federation have come several times, but it's still the same." Maybe because she also had a child, Ms. Liu's eyes were filled with tears as she spoke.
She wiped them away and continued, "Once, his father threw him out of the house in the middle of the night. I couldn't bear it, so I took him home for one night. That child is very polite. Later, he was probably beaten by his father and was too scared to go back. He brought his little quilt and slept in the flower house in the courtyard with a cat in his arms."
Zhaozhao remembered the little boy's appearance and thought he was so young. She asked, "Can't anyone do something about it?"
Do something? How could they? The child had no other relatives and was so young. Since his father was still alive, he couldn't be sent to the welfare home. He had to stay with his guardian. The police and the Women's Federation could only come regularly to warn and advise his father, but they couldn't do much in fact.
In this world, everyone has their own difficulties.
However, considering Song Yao's words about Zhaozhao's situation, Ms. Liu thought that Zhaozhao might not understand even if she explained, so she didn't say much. She just patted Zhaozhao on the shoulder and led her into her house.
During the class that night, Zhaozhao wasn't distracted by thoughts of Su Yuan, but her learning efficiency was still very low.
She always couldn't help thinking about that little boy.
Such a small child, living alone outside, and being born with the ability to communicate with spirits. She didn't know if he had seen any wandering ghosts at night.
She was naturally soft - hearted and always felt sad when facing some hardships.
She wanted to help him.