"What? What do I have to understand when I grow up? Isn't my birthday just a thing for me, a kid? Why is it an adult's business? Didn't Master say that as long as I solve the problems at home and repay the kindness, I can go back to the Taoist temple? But I've already solved them all."
Smart kids are not easy to deceive.
Smart kids with extremely strong logical thinking are even harder to fool.
Niannian's well - structured questions left Zhang Zicheng speechless.
I'm on my knees, junior sister! Please stop asking!
Zhang Zicheng wanted to be tight - lipped. As long as he kept silent, his words couldn't be used as evidence.
But who could resist the pitiful look in the little girl's eyes?
A pair of big, watery and shiny eyes were staring straight at you.
Her little face was full of grievance, longing and deep dependence.
Who could withstand such an expression and such a look in the eyes?
Zhang Zicheng couldn't.
He did want to lie.
But as a practitioner of both Taoism and Buddhism, a religious person should not tell lies!
He couldn't lie!
Zhang Zicheng pouted, extremely aggrieved.
He regretted not just sneaking a peek and then running away right away.
"Second brother, why don't you want to talk to me?"
Niannian pouted and looked as if she was about to cry.
An alarm bell went off in Zhang Zicheng's heart.
Oh my god! Junior sister, don't cry! I'll cut my head off for you to play with!
"Hey, I don't know where the senior brother and Master have gone either. Master just said that he had some important business to attend to down the mountain and then took the senior brother and ran away. As for the rest of us, Master just left us to our own devices and told us to go wherever we wanted to play. Anyway, we just couldn't stay in the Taoist temple."
Nor could they go to find you.
Zhang Zicheng didn't tell the whole truth but only said what Niannian could accept.
This kid might seem easy - going, but actually she was very sensitive.
Some villagers liked to make fun of kids.
When they saw such a cute little girl like Niannian, they would want to tease her.
They would say things like "Your master and senior brothers don't want you anymore. Come home with me."
Niannian would cry every time she heard such words.
She didn't cry loudly and throw a tantrum. Instead, she would shed silent tears, truly heart - broken.
It was heart - wrenching to watch.
They knew that those who made such jokes didn't mean any harm, but it was extremely hurtful to Niannian.
After they politely and tactfully threatened those people, no one dared to tease Niannian anymore.
But the kid was still extremely sensitive to such things.
The kid had known since childhood that she had no father or mother.
She was so afraid of losing these relatives of hers.
Even though she now had a father and a mother, she had almost no concept of parental love.
The only reason she could stay at home obediently was that Yu Shanhe was kind enough to her, and she wanted to repay his kindness by being obedient.
If the little girl knew that Master had said they were not allowed to look for her on their own initiative, god knows how much she would cry.
"Anyway, after Master finishes his business, he will definitely come to pick you up. If you miss me, just call me. You also have the number of your fourth senior brother, right? I'll give you the number of your third senior brother later. As for the eldest and Master, we can't get in touch with them either."
Zhang Zicheng didn't advocate speaking ill of their master behind his back.
They all missed Niannian so much.
People said that Niannian couldn't do without them, but weren't they the same way?
Anyway, Master wouldn't know if they met secretly.
They could just go back and kneel in front of the incense for a month.
"Okay then."
The little girl seemed very dejected. Zhang Zicheng felt sorry for her and hugged her in his arms. It took him a long time to coax her into smiling.
Fortunately, kids had small memories.
Their troubles came quickly and left quickly too.
The senior and junior siblings played in the room for an afternoon, and all the sad emotions were gone.
At night, Zhang Zicheng was lying in the bed in the guest room when he suddenly heard a woman's whispers.
There were also a few moans mixed in.
Zhang Zicheng suddenly opened his eyes. After sighing, he climbed out of the window and left the villa.
He had stolen half a day of joy, and now he had to run away again.
Zhang Zicheng thought he had left quietly, but actually, as soon as something strange happened around him, the little girl woke up from her dream.
She saw the back of her senior brother leaving and climbed out of the window too.
But when she reached the front door, she stopped.
She watched Zhang Zicheng's figure gradually disappear into the distance until it was completely out of sight.
"Alas~"
Niannian sighed, and her eyebrows frowned into a "chuan" character.
A cool breeze blew, and she felt a bit cold. The little girl walked back home a bit absent - mindedly.
This time, she walked through the front door.
Coincidentally, Yu Sheng, the lazybones, had fully recovered and crawled out of his room, ready to find something to eat.
The two siblings bumped into each other.
"Niannian? Why aren't you sleeping? Staying up late will make kids stop growing."
Yu Sheng looked at the time.
It was right. It was three o'clock in the morning.
"Humph! I won't stop growing. I just went to see my senior brother off!"
Niannian put her hands on her hips.
She was a bit resentful about her height.
Compared with kids of the same age, Niannian's height development was a bit late.
She was only taller than three - year - olds.
She was quite sad about it.
"Okay, okay, you will grow tall. Why did your senior brother leave in the middle of the night? Did he run into an emergency?"
Yu Sheng didn't feel his sister's resentment at all. He only asked about the things he was interested in.
"Sort of. Another seductive ghost came looking for him. Senior brother probably didn't want to cause any trouble for us, so he left."
Niannian pouted, looking very unhappy.
"A seductive ghost? Why does that thing always come looking for him? No way, is he such a lecher that he even flirts with female ghosts? Or has he caused too many love debts that even after they die, they don't want to let him go?"
Yu Sheng suddenly remembered the strange moans he had heard on the other end of the phone when Zhang Zicheng was on the phone that day.
As a teenager in puberty, he knew almost everything.
He couldn't help but think wrongly.
"No. And don't say such things in front of my senior brother. He will beat you up."
The little girl obviously didn't want to talk to Yu Sheng.
Although the annoying smell was gone now, this guy's mouth was still very unpleasant.
For Niannian, the senior brothers and Master in the Taoist temple were like the reverse scales on a dragon.
They were irreplaceable.
She wouldn't allow anyone to say a single bad word about them.
Nor would she allow anyone to poke at their wounds.
Especially the second senior brother.
The second senior brother had a special fate. Since he was born, he had been very attractive to evil spirits.
Especially seductive ghosts.
The name "seductive ghost" might sound harmless, and it seemed that being haunted by such a ghost wasn't a big deal.
But in fact, a seductive ghost could also lead to a family's ruin.
The second senior brother lost his parents because of a seductive ghost. If it weren't for a passing ascetic who saved him and took him in, the second senior brother might have died long ago.
But later, that ascetic also lost his life because of a seductive ghost that coveted the second senior brother.
The second senior brother wandered alone for five years until Master took him in and protected him, and then he could live a stable life.
The naive third senior brother used to make fun of the second senior brother like this.
He said almost the same things as Yu Sheng.
Then...
The third senior brother was beaten so badly that he couldn't get out of bed for three days.
At that time, she had a good relationship with the third senior brother and wanted to go and confront the second senior brother.
Master stopped her.
He asked her, "If Master died and someone said that you had a good relationship with the person who killed Master and that you were most attached to him, would you be happy?"
Putting herself in the second senior brother's shoes, she knew she wouldn't be happy. She would even beat up the person who said such things.
Since then, she had understood the second senior brother's pain.
Thinking of this, Niannian found Yu Sheng even more unpleasant.
She shot him a furious look.
She stomped upstairs angrily, looking extremely irritable.
Yu Sheng: ???
What did I say wrong again?