"... So, that's why the three of you chased a bunch of little boys across half of the neighborhood?"
Yu Lan, who had just sprayed with the parents of the little boys who had been beaten outside, looked at the three children standing in a row.
Yueming looked the most distressed, with mud all over his ripped clothes.
Yoyo is still the same as before going out, except that she was blown up and stood there in a daze because she ran too fast after cheering all the way, and she didn't show any signs of being bullied at all.
As for Gu Miaomiao who met on the way to learn the piano and ran down from the car decisively to join the battle—
She didn't even understand what was going on, so she picked up a twig from the ground and greeted those little boys who were bullying the less.
Of course, Gu Miaomiao, a little girl in kindergarten, couldn't beat the elementary school students, but after she made Yueming catch her breath, Yueming stood up and punched one of the children, causing three or four little boys to run away with their heads in their arms.
Yoyo, who doesn't think it's a big deal to watch the excitement, chased after her with short legs, and kept cheering for her brothers and sisters.
— It’s wrong to fight though.
— But what my sister did must be right!
Yoyo's firm eyes vividly interpret the quality of a fan.
"If you can't beat it, you just know to hide in your mother's arms and cry, it's useless."
Gu Miaomiao glanced at the little boys with big bags standing not far away, and snorted coldly.
Yu Lan: "You are promising. Now people are asking me for medical expenses, and I have to apologize to them. Otherwise, I will tell the paparazzi that I bullied others. What do you think?"
Of course Yu Lan was not really asking Gu Miaomiao what to do.
After she heard the ins and outs of the matter, she actually felt that Gu Miaomiao and the others did the right thing, but she couldn't encourage such behavior.
Just as she was about to make a phone call to call Gu Qizhou back to deal with the matter, Aunt Zhang who had gone out to buy vegetables came back.
"… How is this going?"
Aunt Zhang was a little dumbfounded when she came home from shopping for groceries, and looked at the messy people in the room, and then she took a closer look, and besides a row of little boys who hung up the banners, the one standing in the middle with her head bowed was none other than Yueming from her family.
Almost without thinking, Aunt Zhang subconsciously blamed Yueming for all her faults.
After all, this is not the first time Yueming has fought with other children.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, did our Xiao Ming do it? I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, we will pay for the medical expenses. What's the matter with you, Xiao Ming? Didn't I tell you not to fight? Why do you still..."
Just as Yue Ming was about to explain, he heard the woman across from him say in a strange way:
"Your child may have done it. Not only did he fight alone, but he also brought two little girls with him."
Hearing that Yue Ming still took Youyou and Gu Miaomiao to fight with others, Aunt Zhang's eyes went dark and she almost fainted on the spot.
"You child!"
She didn't wait until Yueming opened his mouth to defend herself, and slapped Yueming hard on the back.
"Why are you so ignorant!"
Aunt Zhang was in tears, trembling with anger.
She looked at Yueming's injuries and secretly felt distressed, but what she said was just the opposite.
And this slap completely slapped back all Yueming's justifications.
"What are you doing in a daze? Hurry up and apologize to others. Look, how have you beaten others up?"
Yu Lan didn't expect that Aunt Zhang would blame Yue Ming without asking why.
Yueming has long been used to it.
It was like this every time, as long as he was fighting or arguing with others, her mother would always be the first to ask him to bow his head regardless of the reason.
After the suppressed silence, a childish voice sounded.
"No apology!"
Yoyo anxiously looked at those parents, then at Yu Lan, stomped her feet and said aggrievedly:
"They bullied Mianmian! They smashed Mianmian! We were right!"
Aunt Zhang was taken aback.
... Why are there still things going on
Yoyo, who was complaining more and more, had a stomach full of reasons to say, but she was so angry and anxious that she couldn't speak out her stomach full of reasons.
A group of parents who were already very dissatisfied heard the words and became even more dissatisfied.
"what does it mean?"
"How do you teach children? It's still a little star, and that's the quality of a little star?"
"That's right, you must apologize for beating our child!"
Yoyo yelled: "No apology! We were right!"
"My family taught us that if we are beaten, we must fight back, and those who strike first deserve it. I thought these big brothers didn't have mothers to teach them, so I wanted to teach them for their mothers."
Unlike the repeater Yoyo, which is like a headless fly, when Gu Miaomiao opened her mouth, she seemed much more organized:
"I didn't expect them to have a mother, sorry, I didn't see it."
Gu Miaomiao had a good attitude and bowed in a very proper manner.
... It's just that this bow doesn't look like an apology, but rather a funeral for elders who don't know how to educate their children.
Yu Lan was the first one who couldn't help but want to laugh, but worried about her status as an adult, she pursed her lips and forced the corners of her mouth back.
When this kid has sharp teeth and sharp mouth, he is quite likable.
However, the group of mothers who were ruthlessly attacked by Gu Miaomiao didn't think so.
"You—you little girl, what nonsense are you talking about!"
"Don't think we can't hear you scolding us! Where did you learn these things at a young age!?"
"Is this the tutor of your Gu family? I want to expose you! Let everyone see what faces you celebrities have!"
Gu Miaomiao rolled her eyes, thinking that what kind of shit are you guys, what kind of face are you talking about.
"What do you want to expose? The monitoring of your children throwing stones at our pets?"
She looked at this group of unreasonable adults and felt it was funny.
"The last aunt who threatened us like this, her husband has divorced her now, do you know?"
What Gu Miaomiao was talking about was the one who broke the news about Yu Lan on the Internet and spread rumors about bullying her classmates.
At that time, there was a lot of trouble, and these idle and flustered ladies also paid attention to this gossip. When Gu Miaomiao said this, they were immediately persuaded a lot.
Aunt Zhang also noticed that these people started to lack confidence and were a little dazed.
So, these people were the ones who threw stones at Mianmian first, they were the ones who moved first, so did Yue Ming fight with them
"...Xiaoming, did you do it to protect Mianmian and the younger sisters?"
Aunt Zhang asked tentatively.
Yue Ming remained silent.
On the contrary, Yoyo was afraid that Aunt Zhang would slap her brother again, so she rushed over to block between the two, and looked at Aunt Zhang with tears in her eyes:
"Aunt Zhang, don't be cruel to brother. If brother is injured, he will be in pain."
The little girl's small arms can't protect the ten-year-old Yueming, but she still tries her best to open her arms to protect Yueming.
"I don't hurt." Yue Ming comforted the frightened Yoyo, "I have thick skin, it's okay."
When she heard Yueming say this, her heart became even more sour.
Actually, that's not what she meant, she was just worried that Yue Ming would provoke someone they couldn't afford to provoke and bring him more trouble.
It is not easy for them to gain a foothold in the big cities, and just messing with anyone powerful and powerful can make all their hard work go in vain.
So she asked Yue Mingyu to bow his head beforehand, was she wrong
"I have already called the security department, and he will come right away with the surveillance video of today's Swan Lake."
After being reminded by Gu Miaomiao, Yu Lan quickly took action.
She hung up the phone with a slight smile, and even signaled everyone to sit down and talk with a relaxed face.
"If it's our child who does it first, fine, we'll pay for the medical expenses, but if it's your child who flirts first, he'll be cheap..."
Yu Lan took her chin and pointed more and more loudly.
"Medical expenses, psychological expenses, and spiritual expenses must be doubled."
"Why double? Didn't our children smash a sheep? It's just a beast, and the little boy smashed it when he was naughty..."
Gu Miaomiao: "That's not what you said just now when you asked us for compensation."
...
Whose child do you call a beast
It's not that this group of ladies in their thirties don't want to scold back, but everyone is also a respectable person, and they can't hold back their shame and really seriously scold a six-year-old child.
... It's strange to say, where did this little girl learn all the movies, how could she not use dirty words when swearing
Yu Lan knocked on the table:
"What are you looking at? You admitted that your child did it first, apologize first and then pay, or ask the neighbors to come out and comment on the surveillance video together."
Yu Lan's attitude was tough, and the group of people looked at each other, and they all felt that they couldn't afford to lose this person.
So I had no choice but to pinch my son, watched my own child who had been beaten bruised and swollen, apologized to the beating party, finally gritted his back molars, tore up the check and handed it over, asking:
"... Are you satisfied?"
50,000 yuan per person for medical expenses plus mental expenses, a total of 200,000 yuan.
Although Yue Ming was also injured, he only bought some safflower oil for his injuries at most, and didn't even use a band-aid.
Yu Lan took the check reluctantly handed over, and put it into Yue Ming's pocket.
"Walk slowly."
These ladies glared at Yu Lan viciously, their eyes wished to peel off her young and beautiful skin, but there was still nothing they could do about her.
Before leaving, someone who couldn't swallow this breath stabbed a sentence:
"Little girl, your mother and sister are so eloquent. If they didn't look like each other, I would have thought your sister was born to your mother, and you were picked up in a trash can."
Yoyo stared blankly at this woman with a venomous expression, didn't quite understand her words, thought she was praising Yulan and Gu Miaomiao, so she echoed happily:
"Yeah! My mom and sister are super super super — amazing!"
"..."
The woman was almost killed on the spot by Yoyo's innocent expression, and hurriedly slammed the door and left in anger.
After the outsiders had left, Yu Lan said to Yue Ming:
"Does it still hurt?"
Yue Ming shook his head.
After all, she was injured to protect her daughter and her pets. Yu Lan nodded after carefully confirming that there was no injury, and said to Aunt Zhang:
"It's not the child's fault. The security guard watched the surveillance and said that the other party threw stones first and wanted to bully you, so Xiao Ming beat them. Although it was wrong to hit someone, it was not his fault. Don't misunderstand the child."
After hearing the cause and effect of the incident, Aunt Zhang also realized that she was indeed too arbitrary.
"...Xiaoming..."
Yue Ming didn't look at her, but took out the check from his pocket and returned it to Yu Lan.
"I'm fine, Aunt Yu. It's my job to protect my sister. I don't want the money."
The ten-year-old boy pursed his lips, his eyes shone with sincerity.
"You didn't misunderstand me, I'm already very happy."
As if shocked by the solemn thanks in his eyes, Yu Lan was slightly taken aback.
After hearing these words, Aunt Zhang was even more caught off guard, as if she was slapped on the spot by Yueming's simple words, her face was burning hot, and her heart shrank from the pain.
She has always felt that although she does not have a lot of money for her children, she has a lot of love.
But under Yu Lan's comparison, she was at a loss again.
Was she really right
If it was true, why did Yueming show such a sad expression
Aunt Zhang was in a daze all day, and after dinner she took Youyou and Mianmian to the park outside the community to play, watching Youyou squatting on the pedals as a swing.
She and Mianmian sat on the pedals on each side, dangling on them, inexplicably happy.
... Yueming seemed to have never shown such a smile.
"Auntie."
Noticing that Aunt Zhang was lost in thought from time to time, Youyou tugged at the corner of her clothes and asked her with puzzled eyes.
Aunt Zhang squatted down: "What's the matter? Do you want to go to the toilet?"
Yoyo shook her head, and poked her brow with her little finger.
"Auntie, don't frown, you have wrinkles, you're not pretty."
Aunt Zhang listened to the innocent and innocent words of the little girl, and smiled wryly:
"Yo, good boy, if only Xiao Ming was as sensible as you."
"Brother Yueming is very sensible!"
Aunt Zhang didn't think so.
If Yueming was really sensible, he would forgive her for being arbitrary, after all, everything she did was for his own good.
Yo Yo tilt your head:
"My sister said that adults lie to children when they are sensible. They just don't like children who cause trouble for themselves."
Aunt Zhang was startled when she heard this.
Yoyo, although she doesn't quite understand the deep meaning of the words, she still remembers what her sister said firmly.
"My sister also said that love is not an excuse, adults must... listen to children!"
She scratched her head, trying to think back.
"It's listening to the children's heart!"
Anyway, that's probably what it means!
Although I don't quite understand it, it seems that this is what Aunt Zhang wants to hear!
Aunt Zhang seemed to understand something, but she didn't seem to fully understand it.
After dinner, the children all went back to their room and were about to fall asleep. Aunt Zhang accompanied Yu Lan to watch TV in the living room.
This is a very popular drama recently, about family education.
"... This character is quite similar to you, Xiao Zhang."
Yu Lan is talking about a single mother in the film who hopes to become a daughter.
This single mother has good financial conditions and her child is very smart, but she still has strict requirements on her child. Even if the child behaves well, she is stingy with a word of praise.
If it is normal, Aunt Zhang will only substitute this mother, thinking that she is doing the right thing.
But maybe because of Yoyo's words today, she suddenly calmed down and tried to change places from the perspective of a child.
The daughter came second in the exam, and her mother scolded her why she did so poorly in the exam.
My daughter envied her friends who went to the summer camp during the summer vacation. She told her daughter that you are different from them, and you want to go to the best university.
Under heavy pressure, the day before the college entrance examination, the child committed suicide by cutting his wrist.
Aunt Zhang stared blankly, her face wet with tears.
Because from the beginning to the end, this mother's choice was no different from hers, and she put even more pressure on Yueming.
She couldn't imagine if Yue Ming would be like this girl, working hard according to her request meekly and sensiblely, while hugging the pillow and crying loudly in sadness in the middle of the night.
She suddenly woke up and realized that she couldn't go on like this.
She couldn't let his Xiao Ming, who was also burdened with her heavy love, go down such a desperate path in the future.
Aunt Zhang suddenly got up.
"I... I'll go to bed first today, Mrs. Yu, you go to bed early too, don't think it's too late..."
After Yu Lan confirmed that Aunt Zhang had knocked on Yueming's door, she calmly picked up the remote control and switched to her favorite movie.
—
On the night when Aunt Zhang and Yueming had a long talk, Yoyo, who hadn't dreamed in the middle of the night for a long time, couldn't sleep again.
And the dream this time was different from other dreams.
In the dream, raging fire spread along the mountain range, turning the entire sky a hellish red.
A man in a well-fitting suit stood on the observation deck, quietly watching the forest engulfed by the fire.
"...Mr. Yueming, the fire has completely ignited, and more than a dozen escaped monsters have been captured, but the figure of the forest master is still not found..."
His men glanced at the growing fire, beads of sweat dripping from their brows.
"Although catching monsters is also very important, if the fire continues to burn, it may be very difficult to end. Otherwise, we should clear the obstacles and let the fire brigade come in..."
"Not in a hurry."
The handsome young man who always greeted people with a smiling face was calm and relaxed, watching the terrible fire engulfing the entire forest in front of him.
"One day we don't catch the biggest monster, we can't stop for a day."
There was a smile on the corner of his lips and eyebrows, but his eyes were so cold.
"Even if this fire burns up the entire forest, he must be caught at all costs. This is to protect the safety of human beings."
Monsters shouldn't exist in the world at all.
It is a joke that humans and monsters coexist peacefully.
His men glanced at him.
Having said that... Only he himself knows how much of his selfishness in this is that he wants to use this to enter the political world.
Immediately afterwards, Yoyo's perspective kept changing, as if he had passed through this horrific fire, through the depths of an unknown dense forest, and saw a secluded cave that had not yet been burned by the fire.
"...the fire is out of control."
At the exit of the cave, a lion with a golden mane stood against the light, with a calm voice.
"The people outside are coming for me. You can follow me, but it's very risky. I can also show you a way. You can escape by yourself, but whether you can escape depends on yourself."
The girl just woke up, her mind was muddled, and it took a while to figure out what was going on.
During the graduation trip, the school took them to camp at Changze Mountain in City C. She was already physically weak, so she slipped down the hillside by accident, and she lay here when she woke up.
"...you saved me after I slid down the narrow track?"
"Yes."
Looking at the tall and majestic lion in front of her, she was shocked for a long time before she recovered her voice.
Although... there are indeed urban rumors that there are monsters that can eat people in Nagasawa Mountain, but this is different from what she saw with her own eyes.
She recoiled in fear.
"You, you are... a monster? The fire outside was... someone set it off in order to catch you?"
"That's right."
Normally, the monster alone would scare her into screaming, but now that the whole mountain is on fire, under the impact of successive accidents, the monster is not so weird.
Either be eaten by the monster, or go with him, the girl quickly made a choice.
"...Okay, I'll go with you."
The golden lion glanced back at her, and after a while, he bent his knees slightly, motioning for her to climb up.
It was the first time for the girl to see a living and talking lion. She tremblingly climbed onto the lion's back, holding on to his mane so that it would not fall off while running.
—The people outside are here to catch him.
—He is a terrifying monster, a species completely different from humans.
The girl had goosebumps all over her body.
The lion didn't know what he was thinking with the girl who was fleeing all the way, just when they passed through the flames by chance and were about to break through the slightly weak encirclement—
Something happened that the lion didn't expect.
"... I, I hit him!"
The girl whispered tremblingly with a hint of surprise for the rest of her life.
After throwing a sharp boulder at the lion's head with all his strength, the lion who was under heavy siege was caught in the weak spot, and a tranquilizer gun hit him thoroughly.
The lion crashed to the ground.
The lion who was running fast all the way inhaled a lot of thick smoke, and was already exhausted.
He also didn't guard against the girl lying on top of him at all, and he didn't even know when she hid such a big stone.
From the girl's perspective, Yoyo stared blankly at the lion, which had lost its resistance, being dragged away, and its hands and feet were restrained like an animal waiting to be slaughtered.
The man who set fire to the mountain came over after hearing the news.
"caught you."
The lion is dying.
Yoyo didn't know what they were going to do, but when she saw the big lion with beautiful golden fur being roughly dragged away like this, her heart ached.
...he looks so hurt...
... why should you hurt him... He also saved people, he is not a bad monster, he is a good lion...
But Yoyo couldn't move, and could only watch the lion being thrown into the trunk of the truck.
At the last moment when the box door closed, she met the lion's eyes.
Eyes as beautiful as amber.
Slowly, disappointedly, they closed.
Such intense sadness was clearly conveyed to her without words.
Yo Yo stared blankly, and realized after a while—
He was captured.
It was her who helped the bad guys who caught him.