The master and his disciple whispered to each other for quite a while not far away.
Just when Niannian's figure was about to disappear from sight, they finally finished their discussion and rushed to follow her.
After walking for about half an hour, they also sensed something was wrong.
At first, they thought Niannian's irresponsible parents had failed to watch over the child, allowing her to sneak out for a stroll.
But now Niannian's state didn't seem to be what they had thought.
For example, as the little tot was walking, she saw a cake shop and swallowed hard looking at the transparent glass display case.
When she saw a fried chicken shop on the street, she stopped for a long time, raising and lowering her arm as if wiping away saliva.
When had the master and his disciple ever seen Niannian like this?
On the mountain, the disciples, including Taoist Qingyun, all doted on the little tot.
Except for being strict about learning Taoism, they would give her whatever she wanted.
Not to mention letting the little tot go hungry.
This situation simply didn't exist.
"Fourth, I feel like something's off about your little junior sister. She wasn't this greedy on the mountain. Can these things be more delicious than what the second senior brother makes?"
Taoist Qingyun looked around, completely puzzled. With great self - restraint, he managed to suppress the urge to go up and ask. He whispered his doubts to Liu Chuchen beside him.
"Maybe it's because the things down the mountain are more novel? But why did Niannian come out this time? She never wanders around aimlessly."
Liu Chuchen had a faint premonition that didn't bode well.
This hunch matched Niannian's current situation perfectly, but he still couldn't quite believe it.
The Yu family was a wealthy family. After finally finding their own daughter and bringing her home, they couldn't possibly let the child go hungry, right?
That would be pure abuse.
If Niannian's parents were really the kind of people who would abuse a child, his master wouldn't have been able to let them take Niannian home with peace of mind.
"Let's keep watching."
Taoist Qingyun was completely at a loss and decided to keep observing secretly for a while.
Niannian stood in front of the fried chicken shop, wiped her saliva twice, and then left resolutely.
She knew that all these delicious things had owners.
Master said that if you wanted something that had an owner, you had to exchange it with money.
She had no money, so she definitely couldn't exchange for food.
Her stomach was getting hungrier and hungrier. Just looking at these things was of no use. It was more important to continue exploring this strange world and find something to eat as soon as possible.
Before she knew it, Niannian had wandered into a park.
In the park, old men were doing Tai Chi in groups to exercise, and old women were dancing square dances with their speakers.
Children were playing happily in the children's entertainment area, and the sounds of laughter and play could be heard from time to time.
As soon as Niannian walked in, she caught sight of a stall and her eyes suddenly lit up.
The stall had a small square wooden table. Behind the table sat an old man with gray hair.
There was a flag inserted beside the old man.
On the flag was written: "Divine Calculation, One Thousand Gold per Fortune - Telling".
Niannian could recognize the words on it, but what attracted her wasn't meeting a fellow practitioner. Instead, it was a copper bell placed on the square table.
The bell was engraved with ancient patterns, emitting wisps of spiritual energy, and there was also a bit of yin energy floating on it.
It seemed that this thing was undoubtedly a magic tool.
In all her years, Niannian had only been interested in three things: ghosts, magic tools, and food.
Especially magic tools she had never seen before. She always wanted to get her hands on them and study them herself.
When she encountered something she was interested in, Niannian suddenly felt that her stomach wasn't that hungry anymore.
She trotted straight up to the stall and greeted the old man very politely: "Hello, Grandpa. Can I take a look at this bell?"
Chu Dacheng was sitting there leisurely, waiting for customers.
Suddenly, he heard a tender and soft childish voice. He instinctively looked down.
He saw a delicate and cute little girl in a Taoist robe.
The little girl's eyes were watery, and her long, curly eyelashes fluttered as she blinked, looking like a delicate doll.
Facing Niannian's eager gaze, Chu Dacheng's throat tightened and he couldn't say no.
"Yes, but don't touch it casually. If you break it, you'll have to pay for it."
Chu Dacheng smiled kindly. He had been alone all his life, with no children. He hadn't thought much of it when he was young, but as he got older, he liked seeing children.
Especially such a cute and well - behaved little girl. He simply couldn't resist such a cute attack.
The little girl standing beside him wouldn't interfere with his business.
In his line of work, either he didn't get any customers for a long time, or he made a fortune in one deal.
Setting up a stall in the park was just a matter of luck. He didn't care if there were no customers. As long as the little girl was quiet and didn't bother him, he was willing to indulge her.
With permission, Niannian nodded obediently and showed a cute smile.
It almost melted Chu Dacheng's heart.
Just then, Niannian's stomach growled again embarrassingly.
Niannian blushed and put away her smile shyly, rubbing her stomach.
"Are you hungry?"
Chu Dacheng looked at her with amusement, and in his heart, he was already scolding the little tot's parents.
What kind of heartless parents were these?
Letting the child go hungry like this. Her stomach was growling, and they still didn't take her home for a meal.
Niannian answered every question obediently. She nodded and, thinking of her still - empty stomach, lowered her head dejectedly, looking extremely pitiful.
"Here, take this and eat first."
Chu Dacheng's heart softened. He took out a bread and a carton of milk from his backpack beside him and handed them over.
He spent the whole day in this park, so he always carried some food with him.
Sharing a little with the child was no big deal.
He just scolded the little girl's parents even more in his heart.
"Thank you, Grandpa."
Niannian was really hungry. She immediately took them.
Children didn't pretend to decline. They easily accepted kindness from strangers.
She opened the bread and milk and gobbled them down in a few mouthfuls.
After finishing, she even burped.
Taoist Qingyun, hiding in the park's bushes, was as black - faced as the bottom of a pot.
By now, how could they not see that Niannian had been drooling in front of all those food stores because she was hungry?
"Humph! Is this the family you worked so hard to calculate for Niannian?"
Liu Chuchen couldn't help but sneer. In his anger, he even forgot to use polite language.
Taoist Qingyun was just as angry. He wished he could call Yu Shanhe right away and scold him first.
He thought so and did so.
Yu Shanhe was in the middle of a meeting when he suddenly received a call. As soon as he answered, he was scolded.
???
What was going on?
Looking at the phone number information saved in his phone, Yu Shanhe swallowed back the word "crazy" that was about to blurt out.
It was this phone call that had led him to his daughter.
It was also the owner of this phone number who had raised his daughter until she was five years old, plump and healthy, seemingly without any suffering.
Although he had never seen the other person, out of gratitude for raising his daughter and not letting her die outside, he couldn't offend the person casually.
After patiently listening to the scolding, Yu Shanhe finally asked the question in his heart: "Why are you scolding me? Did you dial the wrong number?"
"Wrong number, my foot! Your daughter, my disciple! She's so hungry that she's almost begging on the street! If you'd told me earlier that your family was so poor that you couldn't even feed a child, I, an old Taoist, could have helped you out! Why are you starving my disciple? What's your deal? If you can't raise her, just send Niannian back to me right away!"