Chapter 10: Adults Can Lie

The steamed buns that Li Xiaoya brought back to Grandpa Li were thrown away by Grandpa Li in a fit of anger.

Grandpa Li yelled, "Where's the contract? Why didn't you sign it with me?"

Li Xiaoya was about to explain something when Sheng Yuxiao grabbed him by the waist and took him away.

"You haven't arranged a place for me to sleep yet." Sheng Yuxiao said.

Li Xiaoya thought the same and said, "Grandpa, wait a minute, I'll be back soon."

Uncle Li's anger suddenly got stuck in his throat and almost choked him to death.

Li Xiaoya took Sheng Yuxiao to visit the place where he slept.

This is a flat area covered with tiles relatively completely, and there are no holes in the adjacent walls.

First, lay two layers of cardboard from packaging boxes on the ground to keep the ground moist, then lay a layer of clean cloth, then cotton wool with holes in it, and then a layer of bed sheets, and the "bed" is set up.

Sheng Yuxiao took a look and wondered if the beggars under the overpass all slept more elegantly than this.

Fortunately, although Li Xiaoya's house was shabby, Li Xiaoya kept it very clean inside and out.

So is this "bed".

But Sheng Yuxiao was still very angry.

Because the only bed with four legs in the house was occupied by Grandpa Li.

Although Li Xiaoya is very young, he can only stay in a place like this and spend one difficult night after another.

"What should we do in winter?" Sheng Yuxiao's throat felt a little tight when he said this.

Li Xiaoya fell down and demonstrated to him.

She curled up into a ball, hugged herself tightly, and said, "It won't be too cold this way."

Like a skinny, pitiful animal cub.

He just knows it!

Li Xiaoya's family can't afford to pay for heating!

"Where is the coat I gave you?" Sheng Yuxiao asked.

Li Xiaoya pointed.

Sheng Yuxiao took a look and saw that his large coat had been washed clean and was hanging under the beam.

Sheng Yuxiao walked over and touched it, and it was still wet.

What a terrible weather.

Sheng Yuxiao said: "When it dries, you can wear it to sleep and it won't be so cold anymore."

Li Xiaoya nodded obediently, then asked, "Where do you want to sleep?"

Li Xiaoya's house is too small, and there is even a risk that it might collapse in the middle of the night while you are sleeping in it.

Sheng Yuxiao's eyes circled around, and finally landed on the empty space next to Li Xiaoya's "bed". He pointed and said, "Here it is."

A little starlight fell into Li Xiaoya's eyes.

She was somewhat happy, but that happiness was fleeting, as if she had been taught from birth not to indulge in happiness.

She went to make the bed for Sheng Yuxiao.

Sheng Yuxiao is a lazy and useless guy at home, but his basic male self-esteem and instinct to protect the weak make him move.

He and Li Xiaoya worked together to make a "bed".

After cleaning up, Li Xiaoya turned around and asked him, "How is it? Can you sleep?"

There was a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

Sheng Yuxiao swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue and said, "Yes, it's no big deal. The year I graduated from junior high school, I went to climb Triglav Peak with a few friends. The environment there... well, it was also pretty bad. We all had to sleep in tents, and the tents were very small, not even as big as your room..."

Li Xiaoya held her cheeks and listened to him carefully, listening to the completely different new world he described.

Sheng Yuxiao's desire to speak was fully satisfied by Li Xiaoya.

While he was talking, he lowered his head to glance at Li Xiaoya. The more he looked at her, the more he thought the child was lovable.

So good.

If he had a sister like this, his friends would be crazy jealous.

Li Xiaoya listened carefully for a long time before asking in a low voice: "What is Mount Triglav?"

Sheng Yuxiao was surprised that she could remember the name of the mountain in its entirety, without making a single mistake.

Then he came back to his senses, smiled and said, "That's a mountain."

[Triglav Peak, located in Slovenia, Europe, a well-known outdoor sports destination]

There are also some knowledgeable people in the barrage.

[Kids from wealthy families have it easy. As soon as they graduate from middle school, they can go abroad with their friends to climb mountains.]

[As expected of Young Master Sheng, Mount Triglav is very difficult to climb. People in his country believe that only those who can climb this peak are worthy of being called warriors. At that time, Young Master Sheng was only fourteen or fifteen years old.]

And Sheng Yuxiao didn't know what he was thinking, but suddenly he had an extremely strong desire.

He said, "I'll take you there when I have the chance."

The child in front of me, even though she grew up in such a dirty mountain village, the radiance in her can never be erased.

She deserves to walk out of here, to a wider world, and let everyone see her lovable side.

But Li Xiaoya just smiled obediently and said nothing.

"Dad will come back to pick you up."

"Little Duck, Dad loves you very much. You must believe in Dad. The world outside is very beautiful. Dad will go out and make a lot of money, and then take you away."

This is what Li Xiaoya's father said to her when he left.

She slept with tears on her face. When she woke up the next day, the villagers broke down their door and said that Li's father had run away with their money.

So she knew from a very young age that adults lie.

Sheng Yuxiao raised his hand and patted her head at this time: "Wash your face, brush your teeth, and go to bed."

Li Xiaoya raised his face and smiled at him: "Hmm."

[To be honest, Li Xiaoya's face is really beautiful. She doesn't look like a child who grew up in a mountain village at all]

[Ah, I can't stand her. She's really good at playing hard to get. Sheng Yuxiao said he wanted to take her with him, but she didn't respond and just smiled.]

[At a young age, he is very scheming]

Li Xiaoya didn't know what people were saying about her on the Internet. She and Sheng Yuxiao shared potatoes and eggs they brought back from school.

That's so sad.

After barely filling his stomach, he squatted outside the door to wash his face, brush his teeth, and then spit out the mouthwash in his mouth.

"Not as far as I can spit." Sheng Yuxiao smacked his lips and patted Li Xiaoya's head.

The comments were so funny: [Mr. Sheng can be so childish at times]

[Does that mean he is completely relaxed in front of Lai Siu-ya? ]

[… Stop praising Lai Siu-ya. ]

Off-camera, they all lay on their own "beds".

The only difference is that Sheng Yuxiao was covered with the duck down quilt prepared by the program team, while Li Xiaoya was still covered with her own torn cotton quilt.

In the dark night, she opened her clear eyes, without any resentment about her different circumstances.

Sheng Yuxiao had taken a nap in the principal's office during the day, so he wasn't very sleepy at the moment. Li Xiaoya watched him toss and turn, imitating the vague memory of her mother coaxing her to sleep, and sang softly:

"The stars in the sky are silent, and the dolls on the ground miss their mothers..."

The little girl's voice was so thin and soft that it was louder than the countless white noises that Sheng Yuxiao had heard.

Sheng Yuxiao closed his eyes, and strangely, he felt calm from head to toe... and before he knew it, he actually fell asleep.

【I feel like I’ve been healed.】

[Speaking of which, her father ran away with the money, so what about her mother? ]

[People in her village said on the Internet that her mother cheated on her husband and ran away with him.]

[…Fuck. ]

Combined with the faint singing voice in the dark camera, netizens' emotions became complicated again.

The next day, Sheng Yuxiao got up early, which was rare for him.

He stood up, straightened his wrinkled clothes, and then strode to Grandpa Li's bed.

Grandpa Li suddenly woke up and stuttered unconsciously: "What are you going to do?"

He kept shouting "contract" for a long time yesterday but no one paid any attention to him, so much so that Grandpa Li's voice is hoarse today.

"The program said it gave you a thousand dollars."

"What? You want to take it back? No way!" Grandpa Li said, swearing in dialect.