Undoubtedly, Zhao Zhao had overrun her class again this time and was severely criticized by Teacher Liu for quite a while.
Finally, she carried a stack of test papers back with her.
When she was leaving, Teacher Liu walked her to the door. She waved goodbye to the teacher and repeatedly told Teacher Liu not to see her off before the teacher turned around and went back inside.
Watching the villa's courtyard gate close in front of her, Zhao Zhao also left.
However, she didn't go home immediately. Instead, she started looking for the greenhouse in the courtyard of the villa area.
She wanted to find the little boy and ask about the infant spirit by the way.
The buildings in the villa area were quite easy to distinguish. There were signposts every short distance. Zhao Zhao soon reached the area where the greenhouses were located.
However, there were quite a lot of greenhouses in this villa area, and she didn't know which one Zhuang Ming was in. So she had to search one by one.
When she reached the fourth greenhouse, she faintly heard the voice of a little boy and the meowing of a cat from inside.
"Caotou, you can't meow randomly at night from now on. If you disturb those people, they'll throw stones at you! It hurts a lot when stones hit you. You have to be a good boy..."
Zhuang Ming was kneeling on the ground, stroking the cat under his hand one by one. An old quilt was piled beside him, and there was a bowl beside his other hand with a few withered yellow vegetable leaves in it.
The environment was very shabby and dilapidated. Even as an on - looker, Zhao Zhao felt heart - wrenching, but Zhuang Ming, who was in this environment, didn't look sad or aggrieved at all. Instead, there was a very gentle smile on his face.
His face was dirty, looking like a completely different person from the one Zhao Zhao had seen in the hotel that day. But the orange cat under his hand was as clean as if it had been carefully taken care of. Its fur was shiny, and it meowed obediently.
"Zhuang Ming..." Zhao Zhao called out at the door. Somehow, she suddenly couldn't move her feet.
Zhuang Ming's expression was so relaxed, as if this small world was his home. One should ask for permission before entering someone else's place, and Zhao Zhao easily understood this principle.
She regarded Zhuang Ming, a little boy, as an equal. She didn't look at him with sympathetic eyes just because of his situation and experiences. She respected Zhuang Ming very much.
Hearing the familiar voice, Zhuang Ming turned his head. He was stunned for a moment when he saw Zhao Zhao, but quickly came to his senses and showed an innocent smile to Zhao Zhao: "Sister!"
"Can I come in?"
"Of course you can. Welcome, welcome." Zhuang Ming seemed very happy that someone was visiting his little territory. He picked up the cat and stood up, wanting to entertain Zhao Zhao. But then he realized that his place was too shabby and there was no place to sit, only an old and not very warm quilt.
The cheerful and lively Zhuang Ming just now suddenly showed an embarrassed expression. He lowered his head shyly and scratched his ear.
Zhao Zhao was sometimes very sensitive. She noticed Zhuang Ming's mood. She curved her lips into a smile and very naturally sat on the ground just like Zhuang Ming had done before.
"Ah!" Zhuang Ming let out a short exclamation when he saw Zhao Zhao's action. Then he quickly tidied up his quilt. With a pair of innocent and clear eyes, he looked at Zhao Zhao and said, "Sister, sit here."
Zhao Zhao waved her hand and said, "It's okay. I'll just sit here."
"Can I ask you some questions?"
Zhuang Ming nodded obediently: "Yes, you can."
"That little girl that day. What did you mean when you said she was taken away by her mother?" Zhao Zhao had previously guessed that Zhuang Ming's mother was from the world of mysticism or knew some esoteric arts. Maybe the little infant spirit had been sent to reincarnation after being exorcised.
But Teacher Liu had said before that his mother had already passed away. Zhao Zhao suddenly had some other guesses...
"She was just taken away by her mother. Mom hugged her sister and left." Zhuang Ming probably didn't quite understand what Zhao Zhao really wanted to ask. He just told what he had seen and known.
"Where did they go? Do you know?"
When asking this question, Zhao Zhao actually didn't expect an answer, because Zhuang Ming didn't seem to understand very well.
But unexpectedly, Zhuang Ming actually said, "They went under the big tree. The warm big tree will protect them, and many uncles and aunts will go there too."
"What?" Zhao Zhao didn't quite understand this sentence. "What big tree?"
Zhuang Ming shook his head. "It's just a big tree. Mom didn't say either."
It seemed that he really didn't know. Zhao Zhao changed the question: "Do you often see your mom?"
"Yeah." Zhuang Ming nodded heavily. "Mom often comes to see me. It's not convenient at home, so I like to live here."
Zhao Zhao roughly understood. After Zhuang Ming's mother passed away, she didn't go to the underworld with the ghost messengers. Maybe because she was worried about her child, she stayed in the world of the living.
But what did "it's not convenient at home" mean? What was in Zhuang Ming's home? And what exactly was that "big tree"? Things seemed to be getting more and more confusing.
This series of mysteries was a bit overwhelming for Zhao Zhao. She needed to calm down and sort things out.
Maybe she had to find someone to ask.
Regarding this, the first person Zhao Zhao thought of was Su Yuan, but she quickly denied it herself. Su Yuan didn't even want to talk to her now. If she asked him, she might not get an answer at all, and she would have to hear things like "keep your distance" and "give up" again.
Zhao Zhao didn't want to hear that, so she simply crossed Su Yuan off the list of people to ask.
Maybe she could go to Fu Feng? Zhao Zhao tilted her head and thought very seriously. Fu Feng was the Great Emperor of Fengdu, who was in charge of ghosts. He should know more about the situation of Zhuang Ming's mother.
"Sister, what are you thinking about?" Not hearing Zhao Zhao speak for a long time, Zhuang Ming carefully tugged at Zhao Zhao's sleeve and called out softly.
"Ah? It's nothing..." Zhao Zhao came back to her senses and asked Zhuang Ming, "Do you know when your mom will come to see you?"
She wanted to meet Zhuang Ming's mother. Maybe asking his mother would give answers to the things Zhuang Ming didn't know.
But Zhuang Ming lowered his eyes and shook his head, saying, "Mom won't come for a while. She's gone to the big tree. She told me it would be a long time before she could come to see me."
I see... Zhao Zhao had to give up this idea for the time being.
Her gaze fell on the quilt behind Zhuang Ming, and an idea popped into Zhao Zhao's mind.
"Zhuang Ming, do you want to go out and live with me?"
"Go out?" Zhuang Ming looked up at her with some confusion.
"Yeah. Come and live with sister for a few days. I'll send you back when your mom is about to come back. Okay?"
Zhuang Ming seemed very tempted, but after a while, he sighed and said, "I can't, sister."
"Why? Don't you want to? Sister's home is very nice. There are warm blankets, and there's a little brother about your age. You can play together. You can also bring your cat."
"I can't get out of here."
"What?" Zhao Zhao was very shocked. Why couldn't he get out?
She thought Zhuang Ming meant that his father wouldn't allow him to leave, so she simply grabbed Zhuang Ming's little hand and was about to go.
"Don't be afraid. I have a way to keep your father from finding out."
Zhuang Ming looked at her serious look, his lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.
Let's give it a try. Maybe this time it will really work.