In the courtyard of Leo's house, Xiaolan had just finished doing gymnastics with Leo and a few others, and several people were sitting on the grass to breathe and rest. Anna was lying in Xiaolan's arms, her eyes were full of reluctance, and she said: "Sister Xiaolan, I will miss you, what should I do without you, if you are not there, Leo will not bully me to death." ”

"Hey, hey, you can't bear Sister Xiaolan yourself, don't always talk about me, just your temper, without Sister Xiaolan, I don't know who is unlucky!"

"Can't you stop arguing, Sister Xiaolan will leave in two days, can't we talk to Sister Xiaolan more?" Mason finally couldn't help but say.

Xiaolan looked a little confused and said, "It's okay, it's actually very good, I'm used to it." I'm coming home now, and I'm not as excited as I was when I first found out I had biological parents. I'm a little scared now, I don't know what my family is like and what my family will do to me. And I can't bear you, in my heart you are my dearest relatives, closer than real relatives. ”

"Sister Xiaolan is also our closest person, Sister Xiaolan is my own sister, Mason is my own brother, Anna ......" Leo deliberately lengthened his voice and did not say it, Anna asked in a hurry: "What am I yours?" "You, you are my daughter-in-law, hahaha......" Leo said with a smile.

Xiaolan couldn't help but smile and asked, "Leo, who did you hear about the word daughter-in-law, do you know what daughter-in-law means?"

Leo said: "I don't quite understand the exact meaning yet, but I know that it means the closest relationship other than relatives, right?"

"Yes, the word does mean a very intimate relationship, sometimes even closer than a loved one," Xiaolan said. Then Anna, do you agree to be his daughter-in-law in the future?"

"I'm fine, although we always quarrel, he's not too bad, and it's not bad to be his daughter-in-law in the future," Anna replied.

Leo said unconvinced: "What is not too bad, I am a very good person, right?" If you don't want to, pull it down, in the future, there will be more people who want to be my daughter-in-law, not one of you, hum!"

Xiaolan knew the meaning of this word, but she was also helpless when she looked at their childlike words. At this time, Merilin returned to the villa, "Children, come to the house, I have something to tell you, Xiaolan and Anna are also here." The children looked at Merilin's somewhat serious face, and knew that something was about to happen, so they obediently followed Merelin into the house.

Merelin followed the children into the house, turned around and closed the door, and locked it. This action is never happening, because it is absolutely safe in a small town, and this action also raises everyone's nervousness a little, and they don't know what is going to happen.

After Mei Ruilin and several other children sat down on the sofa, he said to the children in a solemn tone: "Children, please believe me, I will never hurt you." What I am going to say next, no matter what you decide, I will respect your choice. I don't care what you choose, I want you to promise not to say what I said today to outsiders, including your mother," she said at the end, looking at Ran and Anna.

Xiaolan and Anna were a little at a loss, and Leo hurriedly said, "We all believe that you won't hurt us, will you hurt Xiaolan's mother?"

"Of course not, they are also my closest sisters, how could I want to hurt them?" Looking at Xiaolan and Anna's relaxed expressions, Merilin knew that his words just now had misunderstood them. She gathered her thoughts, and in a more relaxed tone, told the children about the whole thing, including how their experiments were different from others, and the doctor's plans, and what the doctor owed to them and their families. Although the children are still young, they are very intelligent, and their understanding and judgment are higher than ordinary people, so they don't have to worry about communication barriers with them.

After Merilin finished speaking, she looked at the children, but the children's reactions were somewhat unexpected, they did not show worry, fear and confusion, but their eyes were full of excitement.

Anna hurriedly asked, "Does that mean that we don't have to be separated, we will always live together?" Merrilin replied, "Yes, you should all be together until the age of 18." ”

As soon as Merilin finished answering, Leo, Anna, and Mason jumped up and shouted happily: "Great, we don't need to be separated from Sister Lan, we will always be together." Anna saw that Xiaolan was still a little hesitant, obviously struggling with whether to be with the little ones or return to her parents. On one side are her friends who have been living together, and on the other hand, her parents and sister who have never met her, both sides are a little inseparable for her, and choosing either side means giving up the other, which makes her in a dilemma.

Anna hugged Xiaolan and said: "Sister Xiaolan, don't be separated from us, we can't do without you, you just can't go home for the time being, it doesn't mean that you can't go back in the future, we will go back with you later." ”

Xiaolan still didn't make up her mind, she thought about more things than Leo and them, and some things were still not at ease if she didn't ask them clearly, and finally raised the question in her heart: "Merelin, you said that we would leave here together, so does my family know where I'm going? If not, will they be very worried? Can we go home in the future?"

Mei Ruilin looked at Xiaolan and said solemnly: "You will disappear for a while, your parents may receive the news of your disappearance, and they will be very worried." But don't worry, Gryan won't be with us this time, he'll stay to help us deal with the aftermath, and he'll come to your home and tell them some information about your safety. Since he feared that he would also be scrutinized, he also did not know where we were going for our safety. He was only responsible for sending us out.

Xiaolan, I know what you're hesitating about, we can't help you make a decision, and we can't decide for you, so think about it yourself, no matter what your choice is, we respect your choice. ”

Xiaolan nodded and said, "Thank you for trusting me so much, I just want to be alone and quiet now, so I'll go back first." Xiaolan saw that Anna also got up to go with her, so she said, "Anna, you don't have to accompany me, you can be here first, I want to go by myself." ”

Although Leo and they don't understand why they have to hesitate to be with them, each other is the most important thing in their hearts, as for those parents and family members who have never met, they really don't have much feeling, and it's just a title. But they know to respect Xiaolan's choice, which is what small-town life has taught them.

When Xiaolan was about to go out, Merilin told her not to talk about it to her mother, the fewer people who knew about it now, the safer, and when they were all settled, they would take them to live together. Xiaolan nodded in agreement and walked out of the house by herself.

Leo and the others watched Xiaolan go out, and the excitement just now disappeared, and the three of them sat on the sofa without speaking. Xiaolan's performance today made it difficult for Leo to understand, and in the end, he couldn't help but ask Mei Ruilin: "Sister Xiaolan, why does she think that her parents and sisters who have never met will be better than us, they have never met, she still thinks about them so much, why is this?"

Merilin touched Leo's head and cute little face, and said softly: "It was our parents who gave birth to us so that we could come to this world, how could we be without them." Although you were sent here shortly after you were born, they sent you here for the sake of your better, and they were very reluctant at the time. Leo was picked up by me personally, and when your mother sent you to me, her tears never stopped, she was so reluctant, she didn't want you, but she couldn't come to see you. Actually, I should have told you these things earlier, in the small town all of our families are not really related by blood, although we may be more like relatives than real family, but we cannot replace your biological parents.

Most of the kids in the town have forgotten the real family ties just like you, and I don't want to see you think badly about your family as well. You must know that blood and family ties are irreplaceable, and maybe you can understand it when you see your own family.

So I can understand Xiaolan's attitude, she knows that having a childbirth family affection cannot be parted. No matter what Xiaolan chooses in the end, we have to respect her, okay?"

Leo and the three of them all nodded in agreement, and after Merelin's story, they all had a faint expectation for their families in their hearts, and they were no longer as completely indifferent as before.

All the courses are continuing, although they now have a very high level of mastery of all subjects, Leo and they have studied almost all the American elementary and junior high school courses, and have specialized in music, art, physical education, etc., and have achieved certain results in each aspect.

But when I was doing Anna's gymnastics today, Xiaolan didn't do gymnastics with them, but went straight back to her room and locked herself in the house and didn't know what she was doing. After Leo finished the exercises, he told Anna and Mason that he was going to see Sister Xiaolan and let them practice something else first, and then walked to Xiaolan's house.

Leo came to Xiaolan's room, knocked on the door and said, "Sister Xiaolan, are you inside? It's me Leo!", and then Xiaolan's beautiful voice sounded inside: "Please come in!"

"Why are you here, did you finish the so quickly?" Xiaolan got up from the chair next to the desk and came to Leo's side.

"Yes, we just finished our exercises, and I have something I want to talk to you about, okay?" asked Leo.

"Okay, what do you want to tell me," he said, taking Leo's hand and sitting side by side on the edge of the bed.

Leo looked at Xiaolan's eyes and said seriously, "Sister Xiaolan, I'm here to persuade you to go home." ”

Xiaolan looked at Leo with a surprised gaze, not knowing if he was telling the truth, and asked, "Why don't you want me to be with you?"

"Of course I hope you can be with us, we both like Sister Xiaolan, and we are reluctant to let Sister Xiaolan go. But I know we can't be so selfish. Yesterday Merelin told us about our family, and when I knew that my mother was very reluctant to send me away, I didn't have any resentment against them. So I also decided that when I was 18 years old, I would also go home and have a look, and they should be waiting for me to go back. I know your family will really want you to go back to be with them.

Sister Xiaolan, don't worry about us, we will be fine, and when we can go back, we will definitely go to you, because we want to know who took Sister Xiaolan away from us. As he spoke, Leo narrowed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and clenched his fists, as if he wanted to settle accounts with Xiaolan's family.

Leo's expression amused Xiaolan, who smiled and said, "Thank you for understanding me, I have been imagining what will happen when I go home, although it will be warm to have family at home." But I know that I will not get more happiness at home than with you, so I have decided to go with you, and we will live together forever, and when we can go home, we will take you back with me to see what my house is like. ”

Leo couldn't help but say excitedly: "Great, thank you Sister Xiaolan, well, I'm going to tell you the good news," and kissed Xiaolan hard, turned around and ran out. Xiaolan touched the wet face kissed by Leo and smiled happily.

Leo ran back to the villa, took a few deep breaths at the door, calmed his fast-beating heart, and walked inside. Anna and Mason saw Leo walking back with an expressionless face, and asked nervously, "What did you say to Sister Xiaolan?"

Leo said solemnly: "I didn't persuade Sister Xiaolan to go with us, I persuaded her to go home, told her that her family also missed her, and said that we would go to see her in the future." ”

As soon as Anna heard Leo's words, her eyes instantly turned red, and tears couldn't help but fall, and she shouted at Leo: "How can you say that, don't you want her to be with us? You have Merilin, a mother, and Mason, a younger brother, and I am a relative of Sister Xiaolan, what should I do without her, no, I have to talk to Sister Xiaolan and let her stay with me." After saying that, he turned around and was about to run out. Mason noticed Leo's expression of some uncontrollable laughter, and hurriedly caught Anna and said, "Don't worry, Anna, listen to Leo finish speaking, what did Sister Xiaolan say?"

Leo laughed loudly and said, "However, Sister Xiaolan decided to go with us, she said that she really didn't worry about having a crying and mischievous sister, so she had to take care of her."

Anna immediately burst into tears and laughed when she heard this, turned around and walked out, without worrying about Leo's sarcastic words, and only shouted loudly after running out: "Bad guy Leo! you wait, today's business is not over!" Mason looked at Leo with helpless eyes as if to say, "I her off again, it's good for you", Leo tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders, and the corners of his mouth rose as if to say, "It doesn't matter, it's not the first time anyway, let her come."