The person squatting there all alone was none other than Chen Bing's little cousin, Liu Xiaoxiao.

But what's she doing here? And what happened to her hair? Why is it cut so short?

Filled with all sorts of questions, Chen Bing squatted down in front of Liu Xiaoxiao.

Upon noticing someone approaching, Liu Xiaoxiao pouted and glanced at Chen Bing and the other person. Then, she gave a soft hum and turned her head back.

Huh? Don't you remember who I am? Can a four-year-old's memory be that bad? You came to my house just a month ago.

Shang Yunmiao had no idea that the "boy" in front of her was Chen Bing's cousin. She was slightly frightened by his cold demeanor.

Since she was an acquaintance, Chen Bing couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Thinking this, she prepared to strike up a conversation with her cousin.

"Why are you here all alone?" Chen Bing patted Liu Xiaoxiao's shoulder, and when she didn't react, he stood up and walked to the direction where Liu Xiaoxiao had turned her face away, and squatted down again in front of her.

"Hey, you should listen carefully when others are speaking."

When Liu Xiaoxiao saw that she had squatted down facing her, she immediately turned her head back. From the side, her round cheeks were even more noticeable.

"Why are you here all alone?" Liu Xiaoxiao muttered to herself after turning her head away.

"What?" The sudden question startled Chen Bing, but he quickly realized that the other person was indicating that he had been listening attentively to what was being said.

It seems the child is just sulking for no apparent reason, but is actually still willing to communicate with others.

Chen Bing checked the time; it was getting late. Liu Xiaoxiao was squatting there alone, looking sullen. It was obvious that she had a fight with her family.

To be on the safe side, let's take her home and talk to Liu Yue, and let her handle it.

Thinking this, Chen Bing reached out her hand to her cousin: "Come on, come home with me." Seeing that the other girl didn't respond, Chen Bing grabbed her hand and half-forcefully led her towards home.

Standing there, Shang Yunmiao was completely bewildered by what she saw. A moment later, a terrifying word her mother often used to tell her suddenly popped into her mind—child abduction!

What should I do? Should I call the police? But what if the police arrest Chen Bing after I call them?

Seeing Shang Yunmiao standing there dumbfounded, Chen Bing turned around and called out to her, signaling her to hurry up and come over.

Faced with a difficult decision, Shang Yunmiao briefly shut down her mind. She instinctively obeyed Chen Bing's words and followed him obediently.

When she came to her senses again, she realized that the three of them had unknowingly arrived at their doorstep.

"Chen, Chen Bing..."

As Chen Bing was taking out his keys, preparing to open the door, he heard Shang Yunmiao's weak voice behind him.

"What's wrong?" Chen Bing took out her keys from her pocket and turned to look at Shang Yunmiao, who was tugging at her clothes.

"How about we bring him to my house?"

[In this way, the person who kidnapped the child would be herself, and Chen Bing would be safe.]

This suggestion was clearly baffling to Chen Bing. Not knowing what the other person was thinking, he naturally refused.

"Let's talk about it next time. You should go home now, the Balala the Fairies show is about to start." After saying this, Chen Bing opened the door and went in with Liu Xiaoxiao, leaving Shang Yunmiao standing there blankly, not knowing what to do.

Speaking of which, Liu Xiaoxiao was quite quiet the whole way. Apart from not communicating with me, she was quite like a normal girl in other aspects.

I guess it was because it was getting dark that they were afraid and didn't dare not come with me.

"Yueyue, I'm back! Look who I brought back!" Chen Bing called out towards the living room as soon as she entered the door.

Liu Yue, who had come over after hearing the sound, originally wanted to teach Chen Bing a lesson for not being filial, but when she saw the little girl with a pouting mouth standing next to him, she swallowed her words and didn't say anything.

Who... is this?

After a moment of stunned silence, Liu Yue finally recognized the short-haired girl in front of her as her niece, Liu Xiaoxiao.

After a moment of hesitation, Liu Yue warmly took her niece's little hand from Chen Bing and then led her to sit down on the sofa.

She first asked her son what was going on, but unfortunately, Chen Bing didn't know much either. Then, she asked Liu Xiaoxiao, but the girl remained silent, her pretty little mouth pouting.

In this situation, the only option is to call her parents.

However, Liu Yue only has her younger sister's phone number, and her sister is currently working in the south and probably doesn't know anything about the child. What should she do? Should she call her and ask for the child's father's phone number?

After hesitating for a moment, Liu Yue suddenly remembered that Chen Shichao might have the child's father's phone number, so she called him while he was still working at the store.

After making one phone call, Liu Yue dialed her father's number.

After explaining the situation, the other party said that he was currently out of town and didn't know how the child had run away. He then read his home phone number to Liu Yue and hung up, looking like a very busy person.

Liu Yue was furious at the other party's irresponsible behavior. What kind of parents were they? Their child had run away and they didn't even bother to ask about it.

Chen Bing didn't have any particular thoughts on this.

Parents are, after all, human beings, and humans are very complex creatures. Just as some parents do it well and are very responsible, there are bound to be others who do it poorly and are irresponsible.

Let alone those who neglect their children, there are also people who do even more despicable things.

For example, a drug addict leaves her one- or two-year-old child at home and goes out to play video games, not returning for a week and causing her two daughters to starve to death; a father abuses and rapes his eight-year-old daughter and doesn't feed her, while the mother ignores the situation after finding out; a mother pours hot oil into her daughter's mouth and then sews her mouth shut with needle and thread; a father throws his child off the balcony to pretend it was an accident so he can be with his mistress...

It's fair to say that some children's lives are truly unfortunate; they've done nothing wrong yet have to be born with such parents. Therefore, Chen Bing is very grateful to Liu Yue and Chen Shichao for raising him so well. At the same time, he genuinely respects every normal, responsible parent.

Getting back to the point, after muttering a few bad things about her father, Liu Yue still dialed the phone number on the note and called Liu Xiaoxiao's grandparents.

"Hello! Who is it?" came an old woman's voice from the other end of the phone.

"Hello, are you Liu Xiaoxiao's grandmother?"

Instead of giving a direct yes or no answer, the other person asked directly, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Liu Yue frowned slightly, but still told the other party about the cause and course of events.

When Liu Xiaoxiao's grandmother heard that it wasn't her child who had caused the trouble and that someone else had come to their door, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, I understand."