As soon as Bao Han heard the door open, he immediately got up from the ground and ran outside.
Su Yan pushed open the door and came in just in time to see him standing in front of the dining table, panting and looking frightened.
"What's wrong, Hanhan? Did I scare you when I opened the door?" she asked softly.
Bao Han pretended nothing was wrong, shook his head, climbed onto a chair, and started eating his hamburger by himself.
Su Xiaoyu changed into slippers and stared blankly at the table full of fast food.
She turned to look at Su Yan, as if seeking a reasonable explanation.
When Su Yan met her gaze, she hesitated for a moment before softly explaining, "Xiao Yu, Han Han has been asking for this, and haven't you been wanting to eat it too?"
Upon hearing this, Su Xiaoyu showed no joy whatsoever; instead, her face instantly fell.
She didn't even glance at the food on the table before turning and walking back into her room.
Su Yan was stunned for a moment, then quickly chased after him.
"Little Rain!"
The two of them froze at the doorway of the room.
Su Yan stared in astonishment at the mess on the floor of the room.
"What's going on?"
Su Xiaoyu slowly walked into the room. Colored crayons were scattered all over the floor, and the discarded sketchbook and the poor teddy bear were covered with marks from the crayons.
She bent down to pick up her sketchbook, but the original drawing was no longer recognizable; it had been covered in colorful paint.
Su Yan noticed Su Xiaoyu's unpleasant expression and then looked at the sketchbook in her hand. With her sharp eyes, she recognized it as the sketchbook that Su Xiaoyu had always treasured.
"Xiaoyu, I'll go ask Hanhan right now."
She turned to look for Bao Han, "Hanhan, did you go to Xiaoyu's room?"
Bao Han wished he could bury his head under the table. Looking at Su Yan's slippers on the floor, he knew he couldn't escape it, so he said in a muffled voice, "It wasn't me, I didn't go!"
Seeing that he was still so self-righteous even at this point, Su Yan's face turned cold.
"Hanhan, go apologize to Xiaoyu. How could you just go into Xiaoyu's room like that? And touch her things without permission! That's not a good behavior."
It's unclear what remark triggered Bao Han, but he suddenly became agitated.
He stood up, leaned on a stool, looked Su Yan straight in the eye, and retorted loudly, "You're a bad woman too! A bad woman who stole me away!"
Bao Han turned his head and stared at Su Xiaoyu with eyes full of hatred, pointing at her and roaring angrily, "She's a little bastard!"
Su Yan was completely stunned by his words and slapped him without thinking.
The slap was so loud that even Su Yan was stunned.
Bao Han staggered and fell straight off the chair, crashing to the ground with a dull thud that startled Su Yan.
He covered his face, sat on the ground, and burst into tears.
"You hit me! I want to go home! I'm going to tell my mom, you bad woman! Bad woman!!"
His eyes were filled with unyielding hatred as he looked at Su Yan, as if she were his mortal enemy.
Su Yan's hand, which had hit him, began to tremble. She looked at Bao Han's swollen face in disbelief and wanted to go forward to comfort him, but Bao Han shoved her away.
"Get out of here! I don't want you near me! I want to find my mother, I want to go home and find my mother!"
Su Yan felt like her head was about to explode.
She could only patiently coax Bao Han: "Hanhan, be good. It was Mommy's fault. No matter how angry Mommy is, I can't hit you, Hanhan."
No matter what Su Yan said, Bao Han wouldn't let her touch a single finger of his.
Su Yan was so panicked that she almost burst into tears.
"Hanhan, I'm sorry, Mommy was wrong. No matter what you do in the future, Mommy will never hit you or scold you again. Don't cry, okay?"
She was so focused on comforting Bao Han, who was crying his eyes out, that she completely forgot about Su Xiaoyu behind her.
Su Xiaoyu stood blankly behind her, watching her frantically try to coax Bao Han, then slowly walked forward and closed the door.
Su Yan didn't know how long she coaxed him or how many sweet words she said before Bao Han finally stopped crying and started eating his hamburger.
Su Yan breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that his emotions came and went quickly, but when she saw the redness and swelling on his face, she felt full of regret.
After carefully applying the ointment to Bao Han, she turned to look for Su Xiaoyu.
Su Yan quietly pushed open the door and saw that small body lying on the bed with its back to her.
"Xiaoyu?"
She called out, and the little figure on the bed stirred slightly, but then remained still.
Su Yan knew she wasn't asleep, and was about to walk over when she glanced at the trash can and noticed it was full of crumpled paper.
She frowned as she picked one up and unfolded it, revealing a large, colorful face painted on it.
Fortunately, black is the darkest color, so you can still make out what's drawn on it.
The image shows a woman holding the hand of a little girl in one hand and a little boy in the other, the three of them surrounding a huge birthday cake, which appears to be covered with fruit, such as strawberries.
Su Yan couldn't help but smile when she saw the painting.
She took the painting, walked to the bedside, and called out again, "Xiaoyu."
Su Xiaoyu stood with her back to her, motionless, not even willing to glance at her, her eyes tightly closed.
Seeing her like this, Su Yan didn't know what to do.
How can she possibly balance the needs of both her children?
"Xiaoyu, Mommy was wrong about this. Mommy should have told Hanhan earlier to respect Sister Xiaoyu. Mommy was wrong. I'm sorry, Xiaoyu."
She changed the subject, "But Xiaoyu, as the older sister, shouldn't you protect Hanhan? Why did you push him at kindergarten? Didn't I tell you? Hitting other children is wrong."
Su Xiaoyu still didn't make a move.
Su Yan took a deep breath. "Xiaoyu, can you say something to your mother?"
The response was a long silence.
Su Yan felt a lump in her throat. "Xiaoyu, Mom really doesn't know how to be a good mother anymore."
She lowered her head, concealing the sadness in her eyes.
“I’m dealing with both of you at the same time. If I take care of him, I forget about you. If I take care of you, I forget about him. I want to take good care of both of you, but I’m not a superhero. This is my first time being a mother.”
Hearing her choked voice, Su Xiaoyu's eyelashes trembled twice, and she slowly opened her eyes.
“Xiaoyu, as you know, Mom went to many countries and went through a lot of trouble to find Chenchen before finally finding him. Mom really wants to make up for the maternal love he missed over the past four years, so I will pay more attention to him.”
After emphasizing this repeatedly, she pleaded in a trembling voice, "But Mommy absolutely doesn't mean it's because I don't love you. Xiaoyu, can you please understand Mommy?"
Su Xiaoyu lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, then turned around and gently wiped away the tears on her face.
"Mom, Xiaoyu will protect you."
Upon hearing this, Su Yan's tears flowed even more uncontrollably.
She lovingly stroked Su Xiaoyu's hair, saying over and over again, "My Xiaoyu has grown up."
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