Chapter 122 Turning Our Gaze to the Past
When Xin Que came down from the teaching building, the Luo family members were smiling and greeting the children in the front yard, surrounded by bodyguards.
The couple at the very back were dressed in understated yet visibly luxurious attire, and their demeanor was distinctly different from the others.
The charity event continued until evening, when the Luo couple, surrounded by bodyguards, finally said goodbye to the director.
Xin Que glanced at the time on the dean's phone.
Is she currently in a time before Luo Huayi was adopted?
When Xin Que reached the gate of the welfare home, she realized that the gate was roughly the boundary of this space.
No matter how long you walk, you will never reach it.
After giving up on approaching the main gate, Xin Que walked towards the cafeteria as the mealtime bell rang.
There were no suspicious people or items in the cafeteria.
Just as she was leaving, Xin Que saw the child who had climbed a tree to secretly sleep at noon to avoid the Luo family.
Jin Cheng probably had just woken up not long ago. He hurriedly ran over from the backyard path, full of the energy unique to children, and rushed towards the cafeteria.
"I overslept... I overslept!!!" Jin Cheng yelled as he rushed up the stairs outside the restaurant, running towards the cutlery cabinet in three steps at a time. After grabbing a plate, he slid towards the nearest window.
The cafeteria lady was speechless.
"You won't go hungry," the auntie retorted. "There's still food."
Jin Cheng, panting heavily to calm himself, grinned when he heard what the cafeteria lady said. Ignoring the sweat that had soaked his forehead from running, he didn't care.
Satisfied, Jin Cheng carried his tray to an empty seat, and soon disappeared into the crowd of children in the restaurant.
Xin Que withdrew her gaze and turned to leave.
After one fruitless day, Xin Que, with his hands in his pockets, walked listlessly to the backyard.
Night silently swallowed the setting sun.
But there are quite a few stars in the night sky here.
Unable to leave and finding no clues, Xin Que had time to calm down and look up at the starry sky.
The backyard had quieted down, but the teaching building a few dozen meters away was brightly lit.
When evening classes ended, Xin Que sat on a bench by the brick path in the backyard and saw Jin Cheng walking out chatting with his companions once again.
“The new one cried for a long time,” the child said, head drooping, eyes and nose red, probably from crying. “Whenever she said she missed her parents… I missed them too.”
Now, having traveled to the heavens, I feel out of place among these people.
"Jincheng, aren't you sad?" another child asked him. "Don't you miss your parents?"
Jin Cheng remained calm and collected until his companion called him to stay, at which point he finally came to his senses, asking, "Who are my parents?"
The group was taken aback, then fell silent.
Then came the sound of uniform sobbing.
Now, following the "..."
He genuinely didn't know.
Fortunately, a teacher who happened to be passing by heard the increasingly loud sobbing and rushed over.
"Sixth grade now," the teacher said, leading the group back home. "Soon you'll be little adults heading to junior high..."
"Hey, Jin Cheng?" The teacher turned around and looked at Jin Cheng, who was standing alone. "Class is about to start, aren't you going back to the classroom?"
Jin Cheng shook his head. "My stomach hurts. I need to go to the restroom."
Looking at Jin Cheng's path, which was completely opposite to that of his teacher and companion, Xin Que could roughly guess the child's temperament.
I'm just naturally averse to being in groups.
Jin Cheng strolled around for a couple of steps, then plopped down in the chair Xin Que was sitting in, pulled a small pirated comic book out of his pocket, and carefully flipped through it in the light of the street lamp.
It was probably bought with pocket money. Xin Que leaned over for a look, but the pictures and printing were not very clear.
Xin Que glanced at the page of storyboards that Jin Cheng was looking at, and her expression hardened.
[You must defeat the Demon King, the Practitioner, who is about to descend upon this world!]
The exaggeratedly drawn old man weeps bitterly, grabbing the male protagonist's hand and speaking earnestly.
The protagonist of a shonen manga frantically tries to comfort the old man, asking, "Old man, who exactly is the Demon King...?"
The image of the old man, printed on rough paper, is righteous and stern, his gaze seemingly trying to penetrate the paper to see Xin Que. [Her surname is Xin… and her given name is Que.]
Xin Que instinctively reached for the comic book in Jin Cheng's hand.
I initially thought this comic book, like other objects, was untouchable by humans, but...
Xin Que's fingertips hovered over the paper, preventing Jin Cheng from turning to the next page.
Now, following the "???"
Was something pressing down on his book just now?
Or is it just my imagination?
Jin Cheng turned the page again.
This time the movement was very smooth, and there were no further obstacles.
Just as he breathed a sigh of relief and continued reading...
"Where did you get this book?" Xin Que asked, frowning, unsure if the other person could hear her.
Now, following the "..."
He stiffened, glanced back at the empty space behind him, slowly closed the comic book, then trembled as he fell from the chair to the ground. After scrambling to his feet, he fled.
Xin Que "..."
This kid's fear of ghosts looks so much like...
Luo Huayi?
Is this Luo Huayi when she was a child?
Xin Que immediately wore an expression that was hard to describe.
Jin Cheng sprinted into the teaching building, his legs almost leaving afterimages, but he managed to hold back a single howl.
He was afraid of being the center of attention, which would make it difficult for him to be alone with others in the future.
"That's really something," his deskmate whispered to him, "This is the first time I've seen you not late for evening class."
Jin Cheng forced a smile and absentmindedly opened his workbook.
When his hand accidentally touched the comic book in his pocket, Jin Cheng immediately pulled his hand away as if he had been burned.
But then he thought about it, and realized that he had painstakingly saved up money to buy those comic books...
Don't even mention ghosts liking to watch; even if the King of Heaven himself came and tried to snatch it from him, we still wouldn't give it to him!
Jin Cheng gritted his teeth and, taking advantage of the teacher's inattention, took the comic book out of his pocket, looked around suspiciously like a thief, and finally carefully hid it at the very back of his desk.
He was one of the tallest students in the class, so he sat in the last row.
After carefully tucking everything out of the desk drawer and placing it in front of the comic book, Jin Cheng finally relaxed a little.
Xin Que, who had followed all the way: "..."
Kids' thoughts are so easy to guess.
After the school bell rang, signaling the end of evening classes, the children noisily walked out as their teacher led them.
Jin Cheng was no exception. He was probably afraid that his hidden comic books would be stolen, but he was also afraid that he would be targeted by something dirty if he carried the comic books with him. He walked slowly out of the classroom, looking back every few steps.
"Snap." The teacher turned off the light switch.
Only when the classroom was empty did Xin Que walk to Jin Cheng's seat to look for the comic book he had hidden.
But no matter how she tried, she couldn't reach those books and miscellaneous items.
When her hand passed through his desk again, Xin Que gave up trying.
But why can I find his comics in the backyard?
Xin Que frowned slightly. Could it be because Jin Cheng was holding that comic book that she was able to run into him?
"Jin Cheng?" the other kids in the dorm teased him. "You're already washing up? Aren't you going to the backyard tonight?"
After washing up, Jin Cheng immediately climbed into bed and buried himself under the covers. "I'm not going. I'm going to sleep!"
Xin Que was standing outside the dormitory building, about to step inside, when she heard the gentle voice of the teacher in charge from inside the dormitory, "Have you all finished washing up?"
"After you've washed up, go to sleep quietly and don't make any more noise, okay?"
Xin Que paused in her steps.
She thought, "Never mind, I can go find Jin Cheng during the day."
The woman turned and left, gradually disappearing into the lonely night.
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