Facing Xu Xiaoxiao's confusion, Lu Yao did not answer directly, but asked: "Do you regret it?"
Xu Xiaoxiao shook her head: "I don't know."
Lu Yao held her hand and said, "It's almost time. Let's go back first."
Back at the cram school, Xu Xiaoxiao stood up and said, "I'm really back. What exactly is your ability? You can actually do something like this."
After saying that, Xu Xiaoxiao suddenly remembered something: "Where's Alfred? Didn't they say that I can see him during tutoring?"
Lu Yao took out his key and told Xu Xiaoxiao to sit down again. "The formal tutoring will start soon, and you can see him."
The silver key opens the small silver ball, and childhood tutoring enters the second stage.
Xu Xiaoxiao only felt a bright white light in front of her eyes, and when she came to her senses, her perspective became lower.
She looked down at her hands and clothes, and the bag that now lay open-mouthed on her knees, and soon realized that she seemed to have returned to her ten-year-old body.
Xu Xiaoxiao felt her shoulder being tapped and she turned around. Her mind was in a daze and she forgot everything. When she looked up again, she saw a little black dragon flapping its short and thick wings.
"Hello, I'm Alfred, your tutor." The black dragon introduced himself.
Xu Xiaoxiao couldn't help but reach out her hand and gently touch the smooth scales on Alfred's paws. Her eyes lit up: "It really is a dragon! So cute! But why are you here?"
Alfred: "Because I'm your tutor."
Xu Xiaoxiao was puzzled: "I didn't sign up for a cram school."
Alfred flapped his wings and moved closer, pulling her up. "There's no rush for my business. You'll get used to it slowly. You should have more important things to do, right? Come on, I'll accompany you."
As Xu Xiaoxiao put on her schoolbag again, she remembered that she had left her pencil bag at school and had to go back to get it.
The school was empty after school, the guard room door was open and no one was there.
The man and the dragon entered the school smoothly, went to the classroom of Class 1, Grade 4 to retrieve their pencil cases, and left by taking the stairs on the other side.
As soon as I turned the corner, I heard a girl's crying mixed with unclear sobbing coming from the bathroom.
Xu Xiaoxiao stopped, turned her head and looked over, without moving her feet.
Alfred flew on the other side and asked, "It seems like someone is crying. Do you want to go check it out?"
Xu Xiaoxiao hesitated, and shook her head after a moment, "You heard wrong, there's no one in the school anymore. Let's go back quickly, I'm hungry."
Xu Xiaoxiao grabbed Alfred's short and thick paw, held him in her arms, and ran downstairs quickly, as if something was chasing her.
Alfred was not surprised to find that the consciousness of the adult Xu Xiaoxiao was guiding his younger self.
If you make different choices now than you did back then, your life will definitely be different.
The adult Xu Xiaoxiao firmly believes this.
When they got home, Alfred and Xu Xiaoxiao separated.
During dinner, Xu Xiaoxiao was unusually silent. She did not tell her parents about the interesting things that happened at school as she usually did.
After dinner, Xu Xiaoxiao sat in the living room for a while and said she wanted to sleep.
Her parents just thought she was tired from playing at school and didn't suspect anything.
After washing up, she lay down on the bed. The night light at the bedside was on. Xu Xiaoxiao stared at the dim ceiling with wide eyes, not wanting to sleep at all.
"Boom boom boom."
There was a knock on the window, followed by a familiar voice: "Xiaoxiao, it's me. Alfred."
Xu Xiaoxiao sat up suddenly, jumped off the bed and opened the curtains. Sure enough, the black dragon was outside.
"Teacher Alfred, where did you go just now?" Xu Xiaoxiao let Alfred in.
Alfred: "I have to go home and finish my meal, too. Can't you sleep?"
Xu Xiaoxiao nodded, "I don't know why, but I can't help but think back to the voice I heard at school this afternoon."
Alfred was carried to the bed by Xu Xiaoxiao. They lay side by side in the bed, looking at the ceiling.
Alfred: "Are you saying I heard it wrong?"
Xu Xiaoxiao lowered her eyelids, remained silent for a while, and whispered: "I'm sorry, I lied."
Alfred turned over, crawled into Xu Xiaoxiao's arms, arched his back to find a comfortable position, closed his eyes, and whispered, "There is no regret medicine in life. Since the decision has been made, don't think about it anymore. Because no matter how much we care about it afterwards, we can't go back to the moment we made the decision. Go to bed first, and we'll go to school early tomorrow."
At this time, Xu Xiaoxiao still couldn't fully understand the meaning of the teacher's words. She just felt that Teacher Alfred's tone was very gentle and kind, but there was an indescribable severity.
However, Teacher Alfred in her arms was small, soft, and still warm. Sleepiness gradually came over her, and Xu Xiaoxiao slowly closed her eyes.
The next morning, when Xu Xiaoxiao woke up, Teacher Alfred had already left.
There was a note next to the pillow: I'm waiting for you downstairs.
Xu Xiaoxiao got up immediately, packed her things, quickly finished her breakfast, and ran downstairs.
She looked around and spotted Alfred among the bushes in the flower bed.
Xu Xiaoxiao put Teacher Alfred in her schoolbag and carried him to school.
The first thing Xu Xiaoxiao did when she arrived at school was to go to the women's bathroom next to the classroom with her schoolbag on her back.
There was nothing unusual in the bathroom, so she slowly felt relieved.
Time passed day by day, and no noteworthy events happened around.
But one day when Xu Xiaoxiao went to the office to deliver her homework books, she heard the head teacher chatting with the teacher of Class 3. They said that a girl in Class 3 had asked for leave and had not come to school for a week.
Xu Xiaoxiao returned to the classroom, with this matter still on her mind.
After school, she went home and counted back on the calendar, and found that the girl from Class 3 had asked for leave the next day after that afternoon.
A few days later, Xu Xiaoxiao heard something at school.
The girl from Class 3 who had asked for leave suddenly fell ill and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, but she could not be saved.
That day, Xu Xiaoxiao returned home and went to bed without eating.
In the evening, Alfred came to see her.
Xu Xiaoxiao sat in the classroom with a gloomy look on her face: "Teacher Alfred, was she the girl who cried in the toilet that afternoon?"
Alfred shook his head: "I don't know either."
Xu Xiaoxiao's thin shoulders slumped and she looked listless.
Alfred continued, "Do you regret it?"
I didn't go to see it that day.
Xu Xiaoxiao nodded: "Yes."
Alfred stood up and gently touched Xu Xiaoxiao with his stubby forelimbs: "Tutor number two, Xu Xiaoxiao, the first tutorial is over."
Xu Xiaoxiao was stunned and suddenly became dizzy.
When they woke up again, they were back at the Childhood Tutorial Center in Sanhua City.
Xu Xiaoxiao held onto the table with her hands, gasping for breath, with fear and regret still lingering in her eyes.
After a while, Xu Xiaoxiao calmed down and looked up at Lu Yao: "If I had chosen to ignore it back then, would the future really turn out like that?"
Lu Yao: "The future has many possibilities. The past you experienced this time is the future automatically generated by your mind key based on your choices. But this is only one of the possibilities, because after that day, you actually have many more opportunities to choose and guide the future in different directions."
Xu Xiaoxiao raised her hands and hugged her head, her voice full of self-loathing: "Do you think I shouldn't have turned a blind eye to her cries for help?"
This experience not only brought Xu Xiaoxiao back to her shadowy childhood, but also made her have an even darker and more terrifying dream.
Lu Yao shook his head: "You were only ten years old at the time. Even if you had superpowers, it would be difficult for you to surpass adults mentally. Besides, the other party was also very likely to be a superpower. Listening to your story about your childhood experience, I was actually worried for you. Fortunately, the other party was strong on the outside but weak on the inside, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous. I have no right to blame you for the decision you made this time, and I will not blame you. The appearance of such an adult in such a place is the failure of the education system and the society. It is far from the turn of a child like you to bear the responsibility. Even if you did not choose to save her, no one would blame you."
Xu Xiaoxiao lay on the table and cried bitterly. She couldn't sort out her feelings and just felt so wronged.
The tears that hadn't been shed for more than ten years seemed to all burst out in an instant.
Lu Yao patted Xu Xiaoxiao's back gently without saying anything.
Xu Xiaoxiao cried for a long time. When she stopped, her eyes were swollen and only a slit remained. "Shopkeeper, did I fail in this tutoring?"
Lu Yao shook his head: "At least you know. Even if you chose to turn a blind eye, you would still regret it. This is also a kind of progress, isn't it?"
Humans have rational thinking and the power to determine their own words and actions.
If you take the wrong path, you will keep regretting whether you should have chosen another path.
But when you really choose another path, you will find that it is not a good path either.
The best path is never in front of you.
Xu Xiaoxiao couldn't help crying again, "Lu Yao, when does the second tutoring session start?"
Lu Yao wrapped ice cubes in a mesh bag, then wrapped it in a towel and handed it over: "You can't cry anymore, your eyes are almost gone. The next tutoring time will be in three days."
Xu Xiaoxiao cried enough and fell asleep again.
When I woke up, my eyes were so swollen that I couldn't see anything.
Lu Yao sent her back to her residence and met Xiao Ze who was throwing away garbage in the corridor of the apartment.
Xiao Ze was a little surprised and went downstairs with Lu Yao: "Xu Xiaoxiao is also taking tutoring classes?"
Lu Yao nodded: "She is the second tutor."
Xiao Ze didn't know what he was thinking. He nodded and said, "It's too late. I'll take you back."
Lu Yao said no.
Xiao Ze knew that Lu Yao was a very powerful superpower user, but her ability was not combat-related.
There were many unsafe factors on a night like this, but Xiao Ze insisted on sending her off.
Lu Yao refused twice but it was useless, so he stopped refusing.
Walking on the narrow sidewalk, Lu Yao was in a relaxed mood: "Tomorrow is the third tutoring session, you may have to consider one thing in advance."
Xiao Ze had never heard the owner say this before, so he asked in confusion: "What?"
Lu Yao put his hands behind his back and walked slowly: "I think your tutoring is effective and you don't need a fourth one. So tomorrow's tutoring will be the last one. If you have anything you want to say or tell your little self that you won't see for a long time, it's best to think about it in advance or write it down."
Xiao Ze was even more confused: "Isn't he me?"
Lu Yao nodded: "He is indeed you, but not completely you now. Don't you want to see if he will make different choices in the future? Live a completely different life?"
Xiao Ze looked shocked: "Can I see it?"
Lu Yao neither confirmed nor denied it, but simply said: "As a 22-year-old, what kind of advice can you give to your younger self? Please consider it carefully."
The next day, Xiao Ze arrived at the Childhood Tutorial Center on time.
This time, the time and space coordinates they were heading to were the year when Xiao Ze was in the second grade of grade two. It was the third day after his sister's superpowers awakened for the second time. His mother packed Xiao Ze's clothes and luggage and sent him to the school to go through the boarding procedures.
When Alfred appeared, Xiao Ze's mother had already left. He was sitting alone in the dormitory's small room, holding a little dragon doll that looked a bit like Alfred in his arms.
"Little bean, long time no see." Alfred said.
Xiao Ze raised his head suddenly and asked in surprise: "Teacher Alfred, where have you been for so long?"
Tears gathered in the little bean's eyes, and he hugged Alfred tightly: "Mom doesn't want me anymore. No matter how hard I try, it's useless."
Alfred stretched out his short forelimbs with great effort, but he couldn't even reach Xiao Ze's armpits.
He sighed and said in a mature manner, "Little Bean, you have grown up a lot."
Xiao Ze complained: "I've celebrated three birthdays, and you never came."
Alfred spread his dark and glowing wings and slowly hugged Xiao Ze: "Little bean, I'm here to say goodbye to you."
Ignoring Xiaoze's panic and helplessness, Alfred took out a bulging envelope from under his wing: "I told you before, there is someone who loves you very much and has been looking forward to your growing up. This is the letter he asked me to bring to you."
Douding Xiaoze hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take the envelope.
Alfred flew up and stroked Douding Xiaoze's soft hair: "See you when you are 22 years old."
When Xiao Ze woke up, he found himself back in his childhood cram school.
He looked at Lu Yao in surprise: "Alfred gave the letter I wrote to me when I was a child. Could it be that the person who loved me the most was..."
So that's how it is. Xiao Ze's heart suddenly felt empty.
He had waited for so long, but in the end, there was no one in the world who loved him.
All lies from the store owner.
His disappointment was palpable.
Lu Yao looked at him for a while and said, "Don't be so disappointed yet. Wait until you see him next time and then make a judgment."
There was confusion, suspicion, and struggling expectation in Xiao Ze's eyes.
Lu Yao packed up his documents and locked them in the drawer. "I have to go out tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow is for Xiaoxiao's tutoring. Come back in two days."