"This is my friend. You can't bully him, understand?"
Zhao Xiaoxiu gave Feiji a fierce warning.
Seeing it let out a few soft "coo-coo" sounds as if it understood, it lifted its foot and waved its hands, saying, "Go away!"
Freed from its restraints, the rooster flapped its wings and used all its strength to escape, disappearing in front of the cowshed as if fleeing.
Zhao Xiaoxiu patted the chicken feathers off her hands, dusted off her clothes, and then sat back down on the wooden post. She picked up her water cup and took a big gulp to quench her thirst.
Seeing this, Youyou also picked up the cup in front of her and took a sip of water.
The two guards had strange expressions and seemed hesitant to speak.
Sure enough, the next second, Youyou "poof" spat out all the water he had drunk.
Her little face scrunched up, and she said, looking aggrieved, "This water tastes awful."
The male guard immediately took the water bottle from his waist, opened the lid, and handed it to him. Youyou drank two big gulps, and his little face finally relaxed.
When he turned to look at Zhao Xiaoxiu, he saw her staring at the wet ground with a regretful expression.
"Zhao Xiaoxiu, what's wrong? This water tastes awful." He repeated it again.
Zhao Xiaoxiu looked up at him irritably, "This is already the best filtered water. Of course it won't taste very good if it smells like medicine."
"It cost my dad ten points! It's just a small bottle, and most of it is in your cup. I usually can't bear to drink it!"
The more she talked about it, the more painful it became. Thinking about how she herself drank river water directly, Zhao Xiaoxiu angrily snorted and took all the remaining water in the cup back to the cowshed. "I'm not giving you any more."
"Huh?" Youyou was struck dumb. "No, Zhao Xiaoxiu, don't be angry, I will never waste it again."
Zhao Xiaoxiu carefully poured the water from the cup back into the thin plastic bag containing the water, ignoring him.
Youyou got anxious, "I'll pay you back, okay?"
“Okay.” Zhao Xiaoxiu immediately handed over the empty glass after pouring water. “Half a glass.”
Youyou quickly looked at the male guard and hurriedly waved her hand, saying, "Give it to her right away."
The male guard sighed helplessly, opened his water bottle, and poured in half a cup of water.
“Is that enough?” he asked.
Zhao Xiaoxiu glanced at him, wondering what he meant by that. Did he think she was deliberately trying to take their things?
An hour passed in the blink of an eye.
As Youyou reluctantly got into the motorcycle bed to leave, Zhao Xiaoxiu stood by the vehicle and waved.
Youyou immediately obeyed and lowered her head.
He had just received her forgiveness and didn't want to upset her again.
She whispered in his ear, "I don't like either of them. I only like you. Next time we play together, you'd better be alone, otherwise I don't want to play with you anymore."
As she spoke, seeing that Youyou was about to blurt out in a panic, Zhao Xiaoxiu quickly made a shushing gesture and warned with her eyes: "Don't tell anyone, this is a secret."
Youyou looked up at the two guards beside him, then looked back at Zhao Xiaoxiu who was smiling and waving at him. He nodded heavily, knowing what to do.
"Xiaoxiu, see you tomorrow!" Youyou waved vigorously.
Zhao Xiaoxiu stood by the roadside and watched him go.
"Did you have fun?" Zhao Gang asked with a smile from behind.
Zhao Xiaoxiu shrugged. "It's alright, but those two guards..."
When he realized what she was worried about, Zhao Gang gently stroked his daughter's face with his large hand and said, "You have to trust your father."
Zhao Xiaoxiu sighed, "Okay then." Hopefully, they won't go back and tell Yang Mei anything.
"Come on." Zhao Gang suddenly picked her up and carried her to the entrance of the cowshed. "Dad found something good."
"What is it?" Zhao Xiaoxiu's attention was instantly drawn.
Zhao Gang placed her on the wooden stake and, as if by magic, produced a pair of shoes from behind his back.
The shoes were old and covered in mud; you could vaguely tell they were pink children's sneakers, smaller than Zhao Gang's palm.
“It’s the size for kosode,” Zhao Gang said happily.
Fearing she would find it dirty, they immediately took her to the riverbank to wash it. Several tentacles worked together, stirring the river water into a rapid whirlpool, and in no time the pink shoe with cartoon animal patterns was clearly visible.
Pick them up and shake them a few more times; the uppers are already half-dry. They'll be ready to wear after a short while.
Zhao Gang enthusiastically gestured with his palm to indicate Zhao Xiaoxiu's small feet, saying, "I'll make Xiaoxiu another pair of clean new socks later."
They acted immediately, as if providing new clothes, shoes, and socks for the cubs was some great undertaking.
He grabbed the still-surprised Zhao Xiaoxiu with one hand and picked up the half-dried children's shoes with the other, then rushed into the cowshed.
"It seems there are no needles, thread, or scissors."
Although she didn't want to dampen her father's enthusiasm for making socks, Zhao Xiaoxiu had to remind him.
Zhao Gang, who had been turning out the white cotton cloth and having all sorts of wonderful fantasies, froze in his tracks.
The two vertical pupils, which had been spinning rapidly, gradually dimmed...
Zhao Xiaoxiu smiled sweetly: "But it's okay. Wearing old socks first will help me get used to the new shoes. What if they rub my feet? Dad, you agree, right?"
The two dim, vertical pupils started spinning again, full of energy.
Just as Zhao Xiaoxiu was trying to encourage her adoptive father, a loud, trembling sound came from the cowshed.
The father and daughter paused for two seconds before realizing what was making the sound. They immediately rushed to the bedside and grabbed Zhao Xiaoxiu's small backpack.
Upon opening it, the satellite phone inside flashed its screen briefly before turning off again.
"It's a text message!" Zhao Xiaoxiu excitedly reminded her.
Zhao Gang suspiciously took out his phone, unlocked it, and sure enough, there were two small red dots on the message box icon.
Upon opening them, I found a notification text message from Taoyuan Base and another from Hope Base.
The content is basically the same: we hope the base will notify all survivors to gather on the east side at 9:00 AM tomorrow to read out the latest resettlement plan.
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