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◎Photo◎

Mu Heqing held up the yellowed photograph in his hand.

The photo shows two smiling women standing in front of a tower. They look young and are in the prime of their lives. The camera captured them in that moment.

The two women in the photo are Mu Heqing's mother, Li Hezhi, and Fangfang.

"Mom, look what I found!" Mu Heqing proudly showed the photos to his mother.

Mother Mu moved the photo a little further away to get a clear look at it. She laughed and said, "Oh my, Qingqing, where did you find this? This photo is almost thirty years old. You weren't even born yet back then."

“In that pile of boxes.” Mu and Qing pointed to a bunch of old, worn-out boxes.

They are cleaning Fangfang's house now. Fangfang has been away from Huacheng for too long, but she still has an old house. She has never sold the old house. After returning to China, Fangfang was too lazy to buy another one, so she lives in the old house.

However, since the house had been uninhabited for so long, Mu's mother couldn't bear to see it and brought Mu and Qing over to help clean it.

Yesterday, Mu and Qing contacted Lin Guo, who said he was not in Ancheng and would not be able to return for several days.

Since the annoying guys were all away, Mu and Qing came over with their mother to help with the cleaning.

"What, what, let me see." Fangfang heard the noise and came over. To make it easier to clean, she tied all her hair up, which made her look quite capable.

She took the photo from Mu Heqing's mother, a hint of nostalgia in her eyes, and said to Mu's mother, "Ah, this is the photo. It was the first time we left home, and we were so excited."

Fangfang then turned to Mu and Qing and said, "Little Qingqing, look, you look quite like your mother when she was young."

The photos were old, and Mu's mother and Fangfang's faces were a bit blurry, but Mu and Qing smiled and said, "Of course we look alike. I was born of my mother, how could we not look alike?"

“That’s right. Little Qingqing, what do you want to eat later? Auntie will treat you to a big meal.” Fangfang put the photo in her hand and asked.

"I'm fine with anything." Mu Heqing took a feather duster and walked into a room, preparing to brush the dust off the surface of the cabinet.

The room had no windows, so Mu and Qing had to turn on the light. The light in the house was old, and after the switch was turned on, the light flickered twice reluctantly before turning on.

A dark shadow flashed before her eyes, and Mu Heqing couldn't help but cry out in fright.

"What is that?"

Mu and Qing saw the scene inside the room: a thin girl was huddled in a corner, her yellow hair was malnourished, and she was hugging her arms and shivering.

"Qingqing, what's wrong?" Mu's mother and Fangfang rushed over upon hearing the noise.

"Mom, there's a girl here." Mu Heqing pointed to the girl in the corner.

Fangfang also came with Mu's mother. She seemed to know the girl. She walked up to the girl, squatted down, and spoke in a language that Mu and Qing could not understand.

The girl looked up and said a few words to Fangfang.

"Fangfang, who is this child?" Mu's mother asked.

Fangfang helped the girl stand up, took her hand, and sighed, "It's my fault. I didn't have a chance to introduce her to you. Her name is Maggie. She's an orphan I brought back from the Hunting Kingdom. She saved me there, and seeing that she was all alone, I brought her back."

Hunters of the Nation?

Mu and Qing examined the girl's appearance closely and found that she did not look like a native of this country.

After Fangfang returned to Huacheng without cleaning the house, she took Maggie to stay in a hotel. Today, she left Maggie alone in the hotel and came over to clean with Mu Ma. Unexpectedly, Maggie sneaked out by herself, thinking that Fangfang didn't want her anymore.

"This child looks so thin; she must have suffered a lot," Mu's mother said, looking at Maggie with heartache.

“Yes, she used to work odd jobs in a gang in the Hunting Kingdom. Later, the two gangs started fighting, and she escaped. You know, she was just a young girl, in that kind of gang, with no relatives or friends. She must have suffered a lot.” Fangfang patted Maggie’s head.

Fangfang led Maggie out of the room. Maggie, who had been terrified, was no longer afraid when she saw Fangfang. She looked at Mu and Qing and Mu's mother with curiosity.

Mu and Qing noticed that Maggie had another pair of beautiful, clear eyes.

She bent down and greeted Maggie with a smile.

Maggie smiled shyly at Mu and Qing, then looked up at Fangfang and said a few words to her.

Mu and Qing couldn't understand, so they asked, "What did she say?"

Fangfang said, "She said she didn't want to stay at the hotel and wanted to come and help with the cleaning. She said she was very good at cleaning."

"What a sensible child," Mu's mother said, feeling a pang of sympathy.

Fangfang patted Maggie's head and asked her to clean the balcony with Mu and Qing.

There were many dead leaves and dust on the balcony. Maggie looked thin, but she was very diligent in cleaning and swept the dead leaves and dust off the balcony in a few strokes.

"You're really amazing," Mu Heqing exclaimed.

Maggie didn't understand, but she knew it was a compliment. She smiled shyly, and suddenly, she excitedly pointed behind Mu and Qing, repeatedly saying a word.

Mu and Qing turned around and saw several black crows.

Maggie seemed pleased to see the crows. She walked to the balcony railing and reached out her hand, hoping to entice the crows to fly over.

"Danger." Mu and Qing pulled Maggie away. The balcony hadn't been repaired in a long time, and Maggie was leaning against the railing, which was really dangerous.

Maggie was still saying a word that Mu and Qing couldn't understand.

Mu and Qing had no choice but to call Fangfang over.

"Aunt Fangfang, what is Maggie saying?" Mu Heqing asked.

“She’s saying, ‘Crow, crow.’” Fangfang pulled Maggie away from the railing. “Little Qingqing, you don’t know, this child was almost killed by the gang. She told me that it was the crow that helped her kill the gang members so she could escape.”

"A crow?" Mu Heqing asked in surprise.

Fangfang gently stroked Maggie and said, "This child has never been saved in her life, and she treats a crow as her savior. It's really pitiful. How can a crow save people?"

Several crows outside the balcony flapped their wings and flew away; the black birds disappeared, and Maggie quieted down.

Mu and Qing thought, Aunt Fangfang is right, how could a crow save people?

An afternoon passed quickly. Mu's mother and Mu Heqing helped tidy up. The old house had been uninhabited for too long, and many of the furniture and appliances were unusable. Fangfang and Maggie would have to stay in a hotel for the time being.

After finishing the big meal Fangfang treated them to, Mu Heqing and his mother went home.

Mu Heqing took a shower and felt refreshed. As she walked out of the bathroom, she suddenly saw two figures outside the window.

"Mom, I'm going out for a bit, you go wash up." Mu Heqing hurriedly walked out the door.

Hearing Mu Heqing's words, Mu's mother, who was lying on the sofa, sat up abruptly and asked, "Where are you going out to?"

"Let's go downstairs and buy a popsicle!" Mu Heqing came up with an excuse. "I want to eat a popsicle!"

Mu's mother immediately said, "Have your dad go buy it."

“He doesn’t know what flavors I like to eat.” Mu Heqing put on her shoes and closed the door.

Hearing the noise, Mu's father came out of his room with his phone in hand and muttered to the closed door, "I know, how could I not know?"

Mu and Qing didn't hear her father's grumbling. They quickly went downstairs and saw two figures. One of them was as quiet as a ghost, with a black crow silently perched on a tree nearby. The other figure was the savage nightmare that they hadn't seen for a while.

"Battle Nightmare? Where have you been all this time?" Mu and Qing pretended not to see Yu Hai standing next to the tall Battle Nightmare.

Bao Yan was still shirtless, and Mu and Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that he wasn't wearing that ill-fitting shirt.

"He Qing, are you so concerned about where your brother is?" Bao Yan laughed smugly, patting Yu Hai beside him. "Your brother went to rescue him."

"Mu Heqing." Yu Hai's voice was very low, almost inaudible unless you listened carefully, but he emphasized each word of Mu Heqing's name.

“I have no intention of forgiving you,” he said.

He has always been so indifferent to Mu and Qing.

forgive?

Mu and Qing had no intention of forgiving these guys.

The pale-feathered skeleton continued, "I cannot forgive him for avoiding us for seven years and associating with the principal."

So it's because this is something that can't be forgiven.

She thought that Yu Hai was holding a grudge because she had instigated Bao Yan to kill him seven years ago.

“You should beg for my forgiveness, but you are unrepentant. Even though you know where I am these past few days, you still haven’t taken the initiative to contact me,” Yu Hai said in a low voice. He was wearing a long black coat that looked like a raven’s wing draped over his body, and he had a black feather-shaped earring on each ear.

"I'm sorry." Mu Heqing's attitude in admitting her mistake was good. She tilted her head and said, "I was afraid you would be angry with me. After all, what happened was too bloody and scared me."

Yu Hai stared at Mu Heqing with his cold eyes for a while, then said, "This is not like you."

He believed that Mu and Qing would not apologize for this.

Mu and Qing smiled and said, "Seven years have passed. People change."

Bao Yan and Yu Hai were quiet for a while in the darkness. They stood opposite Mu and Qing, with the lights of thousands of homes behind them. Occasionally, a few pedestrians who came out for a walk in the evening would pass by them.

"If you two have nothing else to say, I'll be leaving now." Mu Heqing didn't want to stand there staring at them.

She's going to buy a popsicle, and then she'll have to leave home.

Since they've come knocking on her door, she can't stay home any longer.

The two men didn't say anything, so Mu and Qing took it as a tacit agreement.

Mu and Qing walked into a convenience store, randomly picked out a popsicle, and took out their phones to pay when Yu Hai suddenly appeared behind them, pointed to a strawberry-flavored cream ice cream, and said, "I want this one," she said, paying for it.

"Then I'll take this one." Bao Yan appeared as well, took a watermelon-flavored popsicle from the freezer, tore open the packaging, and stuffed it into his mouth.

The shopkeeper stared at Mu and Qing, and Mu and Qing had no choice but to pay for the two guys.

After buying popsicles, the group walked to the roadside. Yu Hai sat on a bench by the roadside, tore open the ice cream wrapper, and began to eat the ice cream seriously.

"I haven't forgiven you yet, you're not allowed to leave on your own," he said while biting into his ice cream.

Several crows also landed on the bench behind him.

"Then what do you want? Come on, just kill me. Killing me will make you feel better." Mu Heqing brought his head close to Yu Hai's face.