"ah?"
Wanwan expressed her surprise in a daze, drawing out a cute upward glissando for a long time. A few strands of her messy hair were still stuck to her face, and her little hands had left faint marks on her face. One side of her cheek was rosy, and her eyes were wide open in a daze.
"Wanwan's house collapsed?" Wanwan repeated slowly, then reluctantly slid off the bed, refusing to take the hot porridge Xiao Qi was holding. She slipped her shoes on and headed towards the Wan family's house with her hair all messy.
The ground was wet after the rainstorm. Wanwan dawdled as she returned home. The Wan family stood in a circle in front of a pile of rubble and broken stones, which was the house where Wanwan used to live.
It really collapsed!
Wanwan quickened her pace to catch up, but she was moving too fast and one of her shoes got stuck in the mud and she almost couldn't pull it out.
Wan Suizhou slowly stroked his beard, his gray eyebrows furrowing. Wan Yuekui and Wan Yuechi, the two children, crossed their arms like little adults, leaning back slightly with bitter expressions on their faces.
"Grandpa!" Wanwan, her legs covered in mud, ran over waving her little hands. Wan Suizhou didn't care about the mud on her body and opened his arms to hug her. The little mud girl immediately snuggled into her grandfather's arms.
"Wanwan, your little house collapsed. Grandpa and your brothers will build you another one, okay?" Wan Suizhou hugged Wanwan, looking at her with loving eyes, every wrinkle on his face filled with warmth.
"No," Wanwan refused in her childish voice.
Wan Suizhou's white beard twitched, but he didn't rush to ask any questions. His face still held a gentle smile, and his aged eyes were almost narrowed into slits as he looked at Wanwan.
“Wanwan doesn’t want to live in the new house alone,” Wanwan’s obsidian eyes sparkled with great seriousness. “Grandpa is going to build a new house for Wanwan, so why don’t we renovate the big house as well? Wanwan can come and help.”
Wanwan's answer was exactly what Wan Suizhou wanted to hear. He couldn't help but stroke his beard and laugh heartily. "Alright, alright, let's do as Wanwan says. Shall we go to the stone quarry to choose stones today?"
Upon hearing this, Wanwan jumped up and down excitedly, "Wanwan wants to pick the biggest and prettiest one!"
Xiao Tuanzi's decision was unanimously approved by the Wan family. On that day, Wan Suizhou personally led Wanwan to pick out stones, Wan Kongshan and his two sons went to pick out timber, and Zhang Xiu went to invite bricklayers and carpenters.
The renovation of Wanjia's house was carried out in full swing. The workers worked extra hard, and Wanwan also helped out. In less than three days, Wanjia's new house was completed.
The whole family happily moved into their new house.
Wanwan was overjoyed, so she told her friends about her new house when she was in the private school. The kind and innocent children congratulated her, but Wan Qiusui remained silent and even clenched her fists so tightly that her long nails almost dug into her flesh.
That day, after finishing her private lessons, Wanwan went home with her friends. After parting ways with them, she skipped and hopped home alone in the soft sunlight of dusk.
Unexpectedly, less than twenty feet away from Wan's new residence, Wanwan spotted a strange little figure slipping out of Wan's gate.
The man was acting suspiciously, taking one step and then looking back, and even after walking a long way, he kept looking around as if to make sure no one was around.
Wanwan was fortunate to be standing in his blind spot, so she didn't have to deliberately hide herself. Her mermaid bloodline gave her powerful observation skills and eyesight, so while the person in the distance couldn't see her face, Wanwan could see him clearly.
That person was Wan Qiusui.
Wanwan tilted her head and thought for a while, wondering what Wan Qiusui wanted to do here. However, judging from his guilty look, Wanwan guessed that he must have taken some small amount of money from the Wan family.
This wasn't the first time Wanwan had seen him nervously peering out from her front door. Every time this happened, it meant he had stolen coins from when they bought groceries or meat, or small items like pots and pans.
Anyway, Grandpa has always turned a blind eye to Wan Lao Er's family, so there's no need for me to report to Grandpa over such a small amount of money and upset him.
Thinking of this, Wanwan didn't dwell on it any longer. Just like before, she concluded that Wan Qiusui's appearance was nothing out of the ordinary and continued humming an off-key tune as she walked home.
The sunlight at dusk is especially precious. The temperature it feels on people is just right, neither as bright and dazzling as midday nor as dull and unpleasant as the morning sun. It warms people's hearts and makes them reluctant to let go as it sinks into the west.
The setting sun stretched the crescent-shaped figure longer and longer, and the sound of the cowherd's bamboo flute grew ever more distant.
It was getting late, so Wanwan quickened her pace and soon burst into Wan's house.
Like other elementary school students who didn't like writing, she put down her books and went out to find her friends.
She played until evening before being notified to go home by a child sent by the Wan family.
Wanwan had been staying at the Wan family's house for so long, and there had never been a time when the Wan family had told her to go home. A sense of foreboding flashed through her mind, and she left her friends behind and ran home as fast as she could.
The front door was ajar, and the courtyard was deserted and eerily quiet. Wanwan listened intently and heard faint sobbing sounds coming from the inner courtyard. Her heart tightened, and she dared not delay any longer. She hurriedly ran to the inner courtyard, quickly found the direction of the sound, and pushed open the door to go inside.
A group of people had gathered in the room. Wan Kongshan, Wan Yuechi, and Wan Yuekui all had ashen faces. The two children still had obvious tear stains on their faces, while Zhang Xiu was wiping his eyes.
"Wavy..."
Upon seeing her, the men's expressions immediately became even more serious, yet they all seemed hesitant to speak. Wanwan was truly anxious. She pushed her brothers aside to peek inside, and when she saw the scene before her, her heart sank!
Wan Suizhou lay unconscious on the bed in front of them.
His lips were stained with dried, dark blood, his lips were purple, and his face was pale. He always looked at me with loving eyes that were tightly closed.
"Grandpa!" Wanwan's defenses crumbled instantly. Her little heart felt like it had been punched, both painful and suffocating. She immediately buried her face in her hands and began to sob.
"We've had the doctor examine him, and he said Father has been poisoned and there's no antidote. If this continues, I'm afraid his life will be in danger," Zhang Xiu explained, sobbing, her voice trembling, and she sniffled several times.
Wan Kongshan couldn't bear to disturb Wanwan, and knew he couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he led his wives out of Wan Suizhou's room and instructed them to find a few more doctors.
When the news reached Xiao Qi's ears, he immediately brought the best medicine to visit his teacher and inquire about her condition. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Wanwan still lying on the bed, crying her heart out.
Wanwan cried for a long time, until she was completely exhausted. Her shoulders trembled, and she hiccuped from crying. Her ribs ached as well. Whether from exhaustion or worry, she fell asleep by the bedside, tears still streaming down her face, murmuring "Grandpa..." in her sleep.
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