Seeing that Miao Xiaoxian reacted, I lit a cigarette and said calmly, "You think I'm talking about you? Actually, I'm talking about myself!"

Miao Xiaoxian continued to stare at me without saying a word.

“I’ve lived with my grandfather ever since I can remember! I don’t know who my mother is, or who my father is! At least you’ve met your dad, but as for me… I’ve never met him!”

I continued to tell my story slowly: "My family was very poor when I was a child. Before I started elementary school, I would run around in the alley with a group of friends every day. Looking back now, those were the happiest times of my life!"

Later, all my friends gradually disappeared. I searched everywhere but couldn't find them. Later I found out that they had gone to kindergarten! At that time, I kept pestering my grandpa to take me to kindergarten, but he refused!

So I experienced loneliness at a very young age. Back then, I would always sit alone in the alley, waiting for my friends to get out of kindergarten. But when they came back, they would never play with me again! Because I couldn't sing the songs they learned in kindergarten, nor could I play the games they learned there.

Because we couldn't afford cable TV at home, I would listen to them laughing and joking while they discussed cartoons, and then use the plots that one child described to discuss with the next child, completely filling in the blanks with my imagination!

Even so, they were unwilling to accept me because I couldn't recite Chinese pinyin and didn't have any little red flowers from kindergarten. From the age of six, I felt lonely. I resented my grandfather, hated him for not getting cable TV for our family, and hated him for not sending me to kindergarten!

Miao Xiaoxian wasn't moved by what I said: "At least you have a grandfather who loves you. In my grandfather's eyes, I'm just a burden. The day my father's remains were brought back, he said I was a jinx. He didn't even let me see him one last time, and he even left a will forbidding me from attending his funeral! You just feel that your spiritual world is empty, but I don't even have any friends! When you were six years old, you were thinking about how to make yourself happy, while what I faced was how to survive!"

“I don’t deny that your living conditions when you were a child may have been worse than mine, but putting aside your tragic experiences, I don’t think you did anything wrong in this series of events. It’s just that you lived in a distorted environment, and Uncle Qi was just one of the few good people in that distorted environment.”

I looked at Miao Xiaoxian's innocent face and took a deep breath: "Have you ever thought about it? If you hadn't been born in Ping'an Village, but had better medical conditions, perhaps your mother wouldn't have died! And your father wouldn't have had to risk his life to hunt for a bite to eat. In that case, the tragedy you suffered could have been completely avoided."

Miao Xiaoxian remained cold and aloof: "What does this prove? Don't you, an outsider, know that life can't be relived?"

Miao Xiaoxian and I looked at each other: "The past can't be undone, but the future can be changed! Haven't you ever thought about leaving Ping'an Village to pursue your own life?"

After hearing my words, a strange emotion flashed in Miao Xiaoxian's eyes.

Fear, longing, anticipation, disgust.

In that brief moment, I felt as if I experienced several different emotions.

I asked this question not because I truly felt sorry for Miao Xiaoxian, but because I wanted to see if she knew anything else besides that Uncle Qi was secretly hunting, and whether she had any intention of leaving Ping'an Village.

If she also harbors resentment towards Ping'an Village because of Uncle Qi's death, perhaps I can extract other information from him.

Unfortunately, the emotion in Miao Xiaoxian's eyes was fleeting before she calmed down again: "Not interested."

I continued to gently persuade him: "You're still so young, haven't you ever thought about taking your life into your own hands and seeing another world beyond this cage?"

Miao Xiaoxian asked coldly, "Is the outside world necessarily good?"

"I have never said that the outside world is perfect, but I think you should at least see the outside world in order to make choices and know what kind of life is right for you, instead of being born as a jinx and living under the judgment of others!"

I flicked the ash from my cigarette: "Everyone only has one life. We can't change the length of life, but we can broaden its scope! If you're born as a human being and spend your whole life trapped in this small village, relying only on imagination to understand the outside world, don't you think your life is a bit too tragic? How are you any different from me back then, who relied on imagination to guess the content of cartoons?"

"Enough!"

Miao Xiaoxian suddenly interrupted me with a shout, then stood up and said, "I came here only to investigate the cause of Uncle Qi's death. Since it has nothing to do with you, I'll be leaving."

"Little Fairy, wait a minute!"

Seeing that Miao Xiaoxian was still so wary, I stopped talking to her about leaving Ping'an Village and changed the subject, asking, "When will Seventh Uncle's funeral be held?"

Miao Xiaoxian seemed surprised that I would ask such a question: "You don't need to know about this."

"I meant no harm. It's just that according to the customs of my hometown, if an elder in a friend's family passes away, we are supposed to go and pay our respects, bringing incense and paper money to express our condolences and respect!"

I paused for a moment: "You are our only friend here, and Uncle Qi is someone who is so important to you. I just want to express my feelings and pray for Uncle Qi."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but our village doesn't have this custom."

Miao Xiaoxian waved her hand: "I'm not in the mood to wander around with you today, so don't run around too much, lest you break any taboos."

After Miao Xiaoxian finished speaking, she left alone. Her petite figure walked along the long street, looking particularly lonely.

After Miao Xiaoxian left, Monkey asked me, "Young Master Duan, judging from Miao Xiaoxian's words, Uncle Seven's funeral should be held today. When do you think we should go to the village over at Willow Forest?"

I stubbed out my cigarette: "Let's stick to the plan. Keep an eye on the people of Ping'an Village first. When they hold a funeral for Uncle Qi, we'll meet up with Wei Shengnan and the others outside the city, then take a shortcut to ambush them! No matter what, we must capture the chieftain of Ping'an Village today and get information about the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace from him!"