Chapter 9: Portraits

At noon the next day, Xiao Xia came to the door of Lu Yan's house again with a large bag of things.

Yesterday she inadvertently hurt Xiao Tong, and she has been feeling guilty all the time, and she really wants to make amends. She knew that Lu Yan was on the morning shift today and would not go home until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so she was going to come to play with the children and have lunch together.

Lu Yan said that usually when she goes to work, she will prepare the meal in advance, and when the child is hungry, she will bring it to eat by herself.

These words made Xiao Xia's heart throb. The boy is too precocious, he is only five years old! At this age, many children are playful and refuse to eat seriously, and parents will do everything possible to coax their children to eat, while children not only cannot play with children of the same age, but also learn to take care of themselves.

Thinking of Xiao Tong's situation, Xiao Xia made up her mind to help her mother and son!

She stepped into the small, dark and old three-story building, and as soon as she entered the doorway, she felt a burst of shade in her face. In the hot summer sun, it was quite comfortable to feel this cool feeling, but Xiao Xia always felt that the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the building was too large, which made the skin of her arms have goosebumps, and she couldn't help but shiver.

Moreover, the corridor is very dark.

The last time she came with Wanli and them, she thought it would be so dark at night, but today she found out on this sunny day that it was the same during the day. The windows at the staircase and around the corner were already small, and there were many miscellaneous items piled up, blocking the light from the outside, and the white walls were so gray and black that they could not be seen in their true colors, and because of the small number of residents and the closed doors, the silence in the long corridor was so quiet that people could feel like walking in the depths of the crypt.

Squeak-

A sound of the door opening sounded, startling Xiao Xia. She had just climbed to the second floor, so she unconsciously looked deeper into the hallway, but she didn't see any doors open, and the end of the long hallway was blurry and unclear. She wanted to get out of here quickly, but she didn't expect to make a mistake in her busyness, the thing she was holding in her hand didn't hold it steady, and it fell to the ground, and the bag of fruit rolled everywhere.

She hurriedly crouched down to pick it up, one, two, three, and when she picked up the many bags of food and toys again, and began to pick up the fruit, she suddenly found herself running to the middle of the hallway.

Wow -

Another strange sound came, like shaking the chain that locked the door, so close that it seemed to be in his ears, and Xiao Xia stood up suddenly.

The corridor is still empty. The two black doors in front of her were locked, and the iron chains on the doorknobs did not move, but Xiao Xia inexplicably felt a chill hit her heart, feeling that something was watching her inside the door!

She was so frightened that she turned around and ran, and stopped picking up the fruit that was still scattered on the ground. But as soon as she ran to the corner of the stairs on the third floor, she felt something tripped on her feet, causing her to stumble and drop a few bags of things in her hands!

Subconsciously, she picked it up again. As soon as she bent over, she saw a pair of eyes staring at her in the pile of debris in the corner!

Is there anything hiding there?!

In fright, she suddenly had a sense of courage, reached out to pull the pile of debris away, and saw that someone had drawn a smiling girl's head on the gray and black wall, and there was a pair of black eyes without whites and pupils on the irregular melon seed face!

It turned out to be a painting! She let out a sigh of relief and warned herself not to scare herself, it was better to find the child as soon as possible!

She hugged her things tightly, settled her mind, and turned to the third floor. However, behind her, the 'squeak' and 'squeak' sounds sounded again, regularly, neither close nor far away, making Xiao Xia feel that something was always following her, forcing her to run!

Facing the door of Lu Yan's house, her cold sweat broke out! She suddenly realized that she had made a mistake, the child was so young and still in a wheelchair, she would definitely not open the door to anyone, she should go to Lu Yan to ask for the key before coming. But she came so boldly, and now she can't get into the room, does she have to go out?

Squeak-

A shrill voice sounded behind him, Xiao Xia jumped, and when he turned around, he saw Xiao Tong sitting in a wheelchair, one small hand still pulling the doorknob.

"Little-child!" Xiao Xia shouted softly in surprise.

"I hear someone outside." Xiao Tong smiled shyly, "Hello Auntie, Auntie please come in!" ”

Xiao Xia Ru was amnestied, hurriedly broke in, threw things on the table, and ran to tie the door tightly.

"Auntie, don't lock the door." Xiao Tong's delicate little hand pulled the corner of Xiao Xia's clothes, "Then I can't open the door for people." ”

"Has anyone come to see you?" Xiao Xia asked suspiciously.

"I don't know." The child said innocently, "I always hear people running in the corridor, calling my name and telling me to go out to play, but as soon as I open the door, there is no one, probably hide and seek!" But my mom won't let me out, I want to be obedient! ”

Xiao Xia's hairs are all standing up!

Did anyone knock on Lu Yan's door? Why can't children see it? Could it be that there is something strange about this building?

"Auntie! Aunt! Xiao Tong tugged at the corner of Xiao Xia's clothes again, interrupting her guess.

"Listen, boy." Xiao Xia squatted down and said seriously, "There are a lot of bad people in this world, don't open the door in the future no matter what you hear, except for your aunt, and of course your mother, remember?" ”

"But- I want to go out!"

"No, the boy should be an obedient and good child." Xiao Xia hurriedly held Xiao Tong's thin little shoulders, "If Xiao Tong is lonely, at most Aunt will promise you that she will often come to play with you in the future, do you hear?" ”

"Really?"

"Really!"

"That's good, boy obedient!" The boy nodded happily.

Seeing that Xiao Tong was so well-behaved, Xiao Xia reached out and stroked his little face, but in an instant, she saw that Xiao Tong's eyes changed again, becoming gloomy and excited, as if a wild beast had caught its prey! This scared her into taking a step backwards and almost knocking over the table!

Shake your head and take a closer look. Where have the child's eyes changed, they are still so innocent and lovable! She must have been frightened into hallucinating by what had just happened! Fortunately, she didn't make a fuss this time, otherwise she would have felt even more guilty for hurting the child.

"Auntie is fine, just a little dizzy." Xiao Xia explained to the puzzled child, "Look at Auntie brought you a lot of delicious and fun things, I hope it didn't break." Let's take a look. ”

Because of the idea of protecting Xiao Tong, because he is staying in a sunny room now, because those strange voices are not remembered anymore, so although Xiao Xia's heart is still a little uneasy, he can finally stabilize his mood, make a hearty meal for Xiao Tong, and then accompany Xiao Tong to watch cartoons for a long time.

"Now that mom is coming back, shall we take a break?" Xiao Xia asked with the child in her arms.

Lu Yan's family didn't even have a TV, so she brought a laptop. Seeing that the little boy who had always been very docile was a little unsatisfied, and he was shy and didn't dare to object, Xiao Xia relented and opened a software, "In this way, let's do a magic trick, and we have to rest when it's over, okay?" ”

As soon as he heard that there was a game, the boy nodded happily and agreed.

It's an app that can depict what people look like in old age, and you can change all kinds of clothes by simply entering a photo into your computer. A few days ago, Xiao Xia jokingly took Bao Datong's photo to do an experiment, and in order to make Xiao Tong happy, she brought out Bao Datong's photo again, made a portrait of him in old age, and put a crown on him and made a little beard.

"Fun, right?" Xiao Xia lowered her head and asked.

This time, Xiao Tong did not answer, but leaned closer to the computer and looked at it very seriously.

His expression was too serious to be the appearance of a five-year-old child, but because Xiao Xia was holding him in front of him, he didn't notice it at all, only noticed his unexpected silence.

"What? Unrecognizable, right? ”

"Yes, it's Uncle Bao!" The boy smiled and tapped his index finger at the screen.

"Yes, the boy is so smart."

"I'll recognize him as he becomes!" The boy raised his head happily.

In the game, time passes quickly, and after Lu Yan goes home, Xiao Xia should also go back. However, she didn't dare to go downstairs alone, so she asked Lu Yan to send her. Oddly enough, nothing strange happened this time. This made Xiao Xia begin to suspect that what she had just seen and heard was just one of the various abnormal conditions after her illness, and it was possible that she had auditory hallucinations similar to tinnitus.

Standing at the door of the building, the sunshine swept away the haze in Xiao Xia's heart. She watched Lu Yan go upstairs, then observed the surroundings, thinking that maybe she should change the house for their mother and son. Just looking at it, suddenly a figure broke into Xiao Xia's eyes.

It was a little girl, about five or six years old, wearing a very retro short-sleeved floral dress, with long hair that obscured her face because her head was lowered. She sat alone in the old carport downstairs, playing intently with a few fruits in her hand.

I don't know why, when Xiao Xia saw her, she suddenly felt that the sun was not so hot, at least on the little girl, and the few fruits she was playing with seemed to have fallen on the second floor by herself! At this time, the little girl also seemed to realize that someone was looking at her, and slowly raised her head.

Melon seed face, smiling Mimi, a pair of black eyes are big and round. It's just that although these eyes are beautiful but different, they have no whites and pupils, like two black stones inlaid on a blue and white face!

Play with me!

A voice was sharply conveyed to Xiao Xia's heart, which surprised her, and she instinctively ran backwards, but she didn't expect that a motorcycle happened to come behind her at this time, and Xiao Xia couldn't dodge it for a while and was hung to the ground.

The hot pain temporarily distracted Xiao Xia a little, and when she came back to her senses and looked up again, the little girl was gone, and only a few fruits were placed on the floor of the carport. She didn't care that her knees and palms were still bleeding, and she almost fled this place!

Wanli hasn't gotten off work yet, and there are only Ruan Zhan and Bao Datong in the bar.

"My Taishang Laojun, are you fighting with someone?" Bao Datong walked over and hugged Xiao Xia, "Both knees are broken, oops, the palms are also bruised!" Let's go, go to the hospital. He screamed in surprise, making Natsu a little embarrassed.

"It's a skin injury, just apply a little potion, you scream like I'm going to hang up soon!" Xiao Xia handed over the laptop on his shoulder to Bao Datong and sat on the edge of the bar by himself.

Ruan Zhan stood inside tidying up his things, but he didn't even raise his head, not knowing what he was thinking.

Natsu was a little disappointed.

Yesterday he almost kissed her, and although she was unconscious at the time, she remembered it clearly afterwards. This made her quite confused, and if he had feelings for her that were beyond friends, it was normal for him to want to kiss her, after all, they had been separated for a while. But when she learned that he had given her the room to live with Bao Da and lived in a haunted house in thousands of miles, she felt that he might not have such strong feelings for her.

Or, he couldn't help it for a while, and then regretted it a little, so he moved away for fear of causing embarrassment!

This made her a little angry, she felt insulted, she didn't like her if she didn't like it, could she avoid her? Could she still rape him? Just like now, she was considered a wounded person, but he didn't even raise his head, and he didn't seem to care at all.

He doesn't love her! He ignores her!

Xiao Xia's eyes swelled with a layer of moisture, and it happened that Bao Datong was clumsily disinfecting her with alcohol at this time, and the burning pain at the wound made her scream softly, and she didn't have to hide her tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Bao Datong hurriedly apologized, "I'm not used to taking care of girls." ”

There was a 'bang', and not far away, a cup fell to the ground.

"I'll clean up." Ruan Zhan still didn't look up, turned around and walked to the kitchen in the back.

"You're stupid, aren't you a dragon and a tiger cultivator? Neither will take care of women! Xiao Xia took the opportunity to jump off the chair, "There is a medicine box in the bathroom, I will handle it myself." She said and ran upstairs.

Bao Datong looked at the kitchen door, then looked at the stairs, hesitated, and finally entered the kitchen. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Ruan Zhan rushing at the pool, and a wisp of blood was taken away from his palm by Qing Shui.

"If you have something to say, why are you playing with the cup, crushing the cup and cutting your hand, you can't draw more!" He sighed softly.

Ruan Zhan didn't look back and said, "Won't you be light?" ”

"Distressed? Then why don't you go and help her yourself? Bao Datong said, with some provocation in his tone, "You two are really awkward, one is hesitant and doesn't dare to ask clearly, and the other obviously likes it to death, but refuses to say." I finally understand the difficulties of Wanli, and how difficult it is to be caught between the two of you. ”

"Did you run in to scrap that?" Ruan Zhan still didn't look back.

He has his difficulties, it is easy to dare to love and hate, but for the sake of the other party, how difficult it is to pull away from the continuous abandonment, only he knows. Wanli is his confidant, he can tell him what is in his heart, but Bao Datong is only his temporary partner, and he has no need to explain to him.

"No, I'm telling you." Bao Datong took a few steps forward, "I've never had much resistance to women, so -- that—haha, you understand!" ”

"You're so confident, but I don't think it's possible for Natsu to fall in love with you."

"Really?" Bao Datong raised his eyebrows, with an evil and innocent look on his face, "Are you so sure?" I'm not afraid to tell you that Xiao Xia wants to learn spells, and I have already taken her as an apprentice on behalf of my father. Not only is she your sweetheart and soul baby now, but she is also my junior sister, oh, between this senior brother and sister-"

Before he finished speaking, he heard an exclamation from upstairs.

Bao Datong didn't move, and Ruan Zhan rushed upstairs first. I saw Xiao Xia sitting on the edge of the bed, with a medicine box next to him, but he was holding a newspaper in his hand, and his eyes were staring straight at a missing person revelation on it.

Beloved daughter Zhang Jialin, five years old, height xx, melon seed face, big eyes, lost ten days ago, please contact xxxxx if you see it, heavy pay.

Next to it is a picture of a little girl.

"What's wrong?" Ruan Zhan leaned down and lifted Xiao Xia's chin.

Xiao Xia looked at him with a frightened expression, and his body trembled because of his touch, "I saw this girl just now, but she's gone!" ”