"This one, and this one, and this one..."
Hong Li carefully selected a book and handed them to Hong Ling's arms, with a look of reluctance and distress on her face.
"These should be enough for you to read for a while. Many of them are worth reading a second, third, or even more times. They are all my treasures!
You are my aunt, so I gave them to you. Usually even Hei Yang has to tell me if he wants to take these! "
"Ahaha...that's it..."
Hong Ling laughed a few times, and Xiaoli's appearance made her look like a villain who wanted to steal love, the king of children who stole candy from little girls.
"Well, actually, just give me a title and I can go to the bookstore and buy it myself. There's no need to be so reluctant to part with it, hahaha..."
"You can't buy it! Either it's out of print and no longer in circulation, or I just bought it from a small street stall...
This is my dear Hongli mother, who used her hands, one book at a time, to save these children from the cold and cruel world, and brought them back to my warm house to spend quality time together. "
Hong Li wiped her tears sadly and couldn't help but said loudly: "How can they buy such soulful people again!"
"Ah this..."
Hong Ling kept laughing: "So, so precious."
"The value itself is not high, but the broom itself is precious."
Hongli reluctantly glanced at her book and warned: "So, you must treat them well!
Don't bump or bump into each other. Use special bookmarks for marking. You can't hold corners, don't scribble, don't eat on them, and don't touch water, fire, metal, or earth...
In short, you must treat them well. They are just lent to you. Remember to return them to me after reading them! "
"Ah, I finally understand now..."
Hong Li spoke with emotion: "My mother is worried when her son travels thousands of miles away. It's like that mother sending her daughter off to get married. Who can empathize with this feeling!"
"Ah this, ah this..."
Hong Ling felt a sense of guilt rising from her heart. She coughed twice, smiled sheepishly, and promised: "Well, don't worry, Xiaoli, I will protect them well, and give them to them completely when the time comes." Send it back!"
"real?"
"real!"
"Then you swear..."
"Ugh, I swear!"
"You put your life as guarantee!"
"???"
"Do it! Sure enough, you hesitated, you are just fooling me, wuwuwu..."
"Alright alright……"
Hong Ling raised a hand as if surrendering and said helplessly: "I guarantee with my life that they will not be harmed and will be sent back safely."
"Ha! This is right!"
Hongli grabbed her aunt's neck and said with a smile, "I knew it would be okay to entrust them to my gentle aunt!"
"hehe."
Hong Ling rolled her eyes with disdain and whispered: "If you accidentally hurt them, you won't really have the heart to let your aunt pay for it with your life! It's just a joke, right?"
"I guess so."
Hongli's tone suddenly became cold.
"What the hell is that! Do you really have that idea?!"
"that's not important."
"No, that's important!"
"Ah, Auntie, your ideological consciousness is too low-end!"
Hongli looked at Hongling seriously.
"A truly confident person never considers the consequences of failure!"
"No, that sounds like a fool."
"Don't interrupt! It's too cowardly to think about how to make up for the failure before the war begins!
The punishment after failure is there, it doesn’t necessarily have to punish someone, but it serves as a sharp sword above your head to spur you to do every step. It is pressure and motivation, understand! "
"It seems to make sense, huh?"
"Of course, so you should cherish every day as the last day of your life, because maybe the next moment you will break the book or something..."
"So you're still threatening, right? You're not even pretending..."
Hong Ling rolled her eyes speechlessly, turned to look at the neatly packed book behind her, and couldn't help but sigh: "Seriously, Xiaoli, if others don't know that these are just idle books of yours, Your study is really full of culture."
"Hey, I am a great intellectual who has read thousands of books, okay?"
Hongli curled her lips and retorted: "What is Xianshu? You said Xianshu is Xianshu? Who made the rule? I'll beat him up!"
"Ah this..."
"Xiao Li——"
Lan Yuying's voice came from outside: "Come and take a look, these are your things, aren't they?
If yes, I will put it together for you. If not, I will throw it away! "
"No, no, I'm coming right now, don't throw it away!"
Hongli disappeared instantly, her voice still floating in the air.
"Those are my treasures and cannot be thrown away. The paper frogs given by Hei Yang, the little gloves given by Hei Yang, and others..."
"Well……"
Hong Ling froze on the spot and shook her head with a smile.
"This girl...is really..."
………
"Ha, thank you mom, thank you Xiaoyun, thank you Huihui, thank you Qiaoqiao..."
Hongli looked sincere: "Thank you for helping me pack. After all, I do seem to have a lot of things, hehe!"
Lan Yuying: "Who told me to be the mother?"
Hong Qiao: "You're welcome, sister!"
Hei Hui: "Hey, it should be, it should be."
"Eh?"
Xingyun tilted her head in confusion: "Sister Hongli, you were not so polite to me in the sect..."
Xingyun stared wide-eyed at Hongli, who suddenly pounced on her and silenced her. The latter's plain voice rang in her ears.
"Xiaoyun, now in front of my mother, I am a well-behaved and polite girl, so do you understand?"
"Uh-huh, uh-huh!"
Xingyun stared and nodded.
"Ha! That's good!"
Hongli smiled and patted Xingyun on the back, which was like saying hello to a friend in the eyes of the people around her.
"I feel relieved knowing that you are doing well these days, hahaha!"
"Um."
Lan Yuying looked at the scene of love in front of her and nodded with satisfaction.
"The relationship between Xiaoli and Xiaoyun is really good, so I feel more at ease."
Lan Yuying breathed a long sigh of relief and said with a smile: "After all, a well-behaved child like Xiaoyun always seems to be bullied by this guy Xiaoli. Now it seems that I have overthought it."
"Ha, how is that possible? Mom, you think too badly of me!"
Hongli hugged Xingyun's shoulders: "We are good sisters, right, right!"
"That's right!"
Xingyun nodded affirmatively. Whether it was sincere or threatened, this was her answer!
After Hongli noticed this, her conscience ached slightly, and she secretly thought about treating the child well in the future...
In fact, she has done a good job, right...?
Xingyun was not aware of Hongli's thoughts at all, so she hugged Gaga and ran out laughing with her two cousins, saying she wanted to teach Gaga how to fly.
After all, "other people's children" can already fly when Xiaohuo is so popular. Gaga can't be too far behind, right?
Well, this is the danger of involution. Originally, the little flamingo didn't need to start learning to fly until one year after it was born.
But now, it will be reduced to half a year, three months, one month...
In the future, maybe the little flamingos that are still unable to fly after birth will be thrown into an institution such as the "Vagrant Little Flamingo Shelter" with disgust, and will be eliminated by the hateful King Juan (sad).
On the other side, with the help of her mother, Hongli quickly packed up her belongings, loaded them on a wooden cart, and took them to the yard.
As for my father, Hong Xiaochen, he wasn't just drunk and lying around in the house. He went to work overtime at the City Lord's Mansion.
He had taken a long leave to find Hong Butian before. He planned to clear up all the backlogged things before the Chinese New Year, but he promised to come over and have dinner together in the evening.
Seeing her things being picked out and put together, Hongli couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
It wasn't until now that she fully realized that she was really leaving the home she had lived in since birth.
No matter how close her new home is to here, it can't change the fact that she has to leave here.
Suddenly, Hongli felt as if she had really grown up, and what she had always hoped for when she was a child seemed to have become a reality.
There was some inexplicable sadness in my heart. I gained a lot when I grew up, but I also lost a lot of precious things that can never be recovered.
At this moment, Hongli, like Heiyang, suddenly woke up: her childhood had passed away, and many people and things disappeared as she grew up, and were lost together with her lost childhood.
The old lady selling juice, the old gentleman teaching, and even the naive and innocent Xiao Hongli have quietly disappeared from her side and from life.
Not all goodbyes are heartbreaking.
Sometimes, we say farewell to others quietly and unconsciously, and we often think of that person again after a long time - perhaps many years later, or we simply forget about it.
Hong Li's nose felt a little sore, and she suddenly had the urge to turn around and throw herself into her mother's arms to cry.
Tell her mother that her Xiaoli doesn't want to be independent or go to a new home. She wants to continue living here with her parents.
It was as if in this way, time could be turned back and she could become the carefree child she once was.
But in the end, Hongli suppressed this impulse because this was the future she wanted.
It's just like saying goodbye to your friends from the Five Elements Sect when you go home, to welcome the hopeful future, you also need to say goodbye to some things.
"What's wrong?"
A warm hand pressed on Hong Li's head, and her mother's gentle voice, just like when she was a child, dispelled a lot of the sadness in her heart.
"Well, let mom guess."
Lan Yuying smiled and said, "My Xiaoli suddenly doesn't want to leave anymore and wants to continue living at home, right?"
"Mom, can you let me have a little secret?"
Hongli smiled helplessly, curled her lips, and whispered: "Actually, it's nothing. I just suddenly felt that I was so stupid when I was a child, that I expected to grow up early."
"Well, hum hum hum…"
Lan Yuying suddenly smiled evilly and ruffled her daughter's hair.
"Don't be sad. We've all been this stupid before. Come back whenever you want. It doesn't matter how long you stay."
"Oh, I know."
Hongli let her mother rub her hair into a mess, but then helped her comb it again. A hair comb appeared from nowhere and brought her to the mirror.
"To be honest, I don't know what's wrong with me recently..."
Hongli let her mother fiddle with her head without any resistance, while sighing: "I was obviously not so sentimental before."
"It proves that when you grow up, you start to think about things that you didn't think about before."
"But I didn't mean to think that way, I just wanted to be happy."
"Not caring doesn't mean you don't think about it. When people live in the world, they always have to communicate with the world."
"I don't want to communicate with the world."
"Then who do you want to communicate with? Are elders like mom and dad okay?"
"My parents can definitely... In addition to the elders, Xiaoyun and the others also count, but what I miss most is Hei Yang. I feel like I have endless things to say with him.
Whether it's nonsense, serious discussion, or even an angry quarrel, it's always interesting. "
"That's it..."
Lan Yuying smiled teasingly: "It seems that our Xiaoli has completely become a prisoner of love, and we can't even escape!"
"Ah...what...what!"
Hongli's face turned slightly red and she beeped softly.
"I, am I willing? Who would think of escaping!"
"I know, I know."
Lan Yuying chuckled and put her hand on Hong Li's shoulder.
"What do you think? Does it look good?"
"ah……"
Hong Li looked at the girl with a single ponytail in the mirror, shook her head, and her ponytail also swayed.
"Mom, you know, I don't have any sense of aesthetics in terms of hairstyle, clothes, etc..."
Hongli sighed and said helplessly: "I only have two requirements for them, convenience and comfort, that's enough.
As for beauty and fashion, they are not considered at all! "
"Then take a look again."
Lan Yuying pinched her daughter's shoulders with some dissatisfaction: "Look carefully, look carefully, and look at it with your heart. Don't Xiaoli think that if she changes her look occasionally, her eyes will light up?"
"Well……"
Hong Li's pale red eyes looked at her expressionless self in the mirror, but she still shook her head helplessly.
"No, I can't see anything at all, I just feel a little weird...
Oops, I don’t usually see myself anyway, so I don’t need these troublesome things! "
"Eh!"
Hongli received a light slap on the head, and her mother said in a tone of disdain: "You have to dress up not only for yourself, but also for others to see!"
"Here, show it to someone!"
Hongli frowned, looking aggrieved.
"If you can't see it yourself, why should you show it to others?"
"Who did you tell me to show it to?"
"Ah this..."
Hongli was stunned for a moment and quickly reacted.
"Hei, Hei Yang? Are you dressing up to show him?"
"uh-huh."
Lan Yuying nodded, showing a longing expression, and smiled: "You are obviously a little beauty and a handsome boy. Yiyi and I have always wanted to dress you up beautifully. Seeing you radiant together, just thinking about it Do you think that picture is beautiful?"
"Hey, you've exposed your secret. The so-called worthy of others is yourselves!"
Hong Li sighed, spread her hands, and showed a confident expression: "As for Hei Yang, no matter what style I look like, he will like me, so there is no need to dress up deliberately!"
"Hmph, so what if Yiyi and I want to watch?"
Lan Yuying snorted lightly and said straight to the point: "What's wrong with the children you gave birth to and you want to dress them up beautifully?"
Speaking of this, Lan Yuying felt a little unhappy.
Obviously other people's mothers can dress their daughters beautifully all day long, but here, there is only a little lazy insect buried under the quilt at home.
"Obviously mom bought you so many beautiful clothes!"
Lan Yuying grabbed her daughter's face unhappily and was very angry.
“Dress, little flower skirt, flowing fairy skirt, little dress... there are even beautiful cheongsams that are said to have come from other places!
As a result, you refuse to wear any of them and bury them all in the closet. Wow, do you know how wasteful it is?
Thinking about those poor children who can't afford new clothes during the New Year, aren't you ashamed of your behavior? "
"Uh uh uh..."
Hongli was used to having her face grabbed and her head being tossed around, and she was too lazy to resist.
"But, that's not what I wanted to buy at all. It was my mother's decision... ah ah ah..."
"..."
"Boom"
With a muffled sound, a large box was placed in front of Hong Li.
Lan Yuying hummed softly and opened the locked box. First, a special herbal scent came out - it was used to prevent moisture and insects.
Then, there was a pile of colorful and beautiful clothes, some of them sparkling, which almost made the red glass eyes dazzle.
"Every Chinese New Year, your mother and I will pick out some new clothes for you, hoping to show you off in front of your relatives."
Lan Yuying raised her head longingly and looked at the imaginary bubbles in the sky.
"Oh, whose girl is this? She's so beautiful!"
"Xiaoli is as beautiful as her mother."
"I really envy Yu Ying, she has such a beautiful and lovely daughter..."
"Oh ho ho ho..."
Listening to the compliments from her relatives and friends, and seeing their sour but forced smiles, Lan Yuying couldn't help but laugh out loud, intoxicated by the compliments from the beautiful women.
"But!"
Lan Yuying smashed the bubble of imagination and gritted her teeth viciously: "The reality is that every time I want to find you, you don't know where you are hiding.
The guy who feels sour inside but has to force a smile is your mother and me! "
"Ah this..."
Hongli turned her head away with a guilty look on her face, curled her lips, and whispered, "Mom, you also don't appreciate that kind of hypocritical and polite compliment..."
"Yes, what's wrong with mom just liking those kind of hypocritical and polite compliments?"
Lan Yuying snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Your mother and I are just so vulgar, just a big vulgar person, my ideological level is not as high as yours, what can you do!?"
Hongli: "..."
"Mom, you are cheating!"
"It's just a shame. What's wrong? Is Xiaoli so cruel as to make her mother unhappy?!"
"Ah this..."
The corner of Hongli's mouth twitched, something suddenly occurred to her, her eyes lit up, and she pushed the pot.
"Well, isn't there still Xiao Huo? You can take her with you, but it doesn't work, it really doesn't work..."
Hongli was in a hurry, and her clever little head was spinning rapidly.
"If that doesn't work, just say that Xiao Huo is your little daughter. Yes, they don't know that Xiao Huo is your granddaughter anyway, so it doesn't matter if you just say that she is your daughter!"
Hong Li nodded and gave a thumbs up, showing a pair of sparkling neat silver teeth.
"Well, don't worry, I will cooperate with you and not expose the secret!
At that time, the two of us will call each other, Xiaohuo will call me mom, and I will call her sister. How about this? This is a good idea! Ha ha ha ha!
Uh, why are you looking at me like that? It’s so scary..."
Lan Yuying: "..."
"boom."
The door was closed tightly, and Hong Li was so frightened that her whole body trembled.
"Well, Mom, calm down, don't be impulsive..."
"Xiao Li..."
Lan Yuying gently picked out a dark red dress from the box and turned to look at Hong Li sitting beside her.
"What do you think?"
"I……"
Hongli sweated on her forehead: "I, what do I feel?
Mom, let me tell you, I am a great monk now, and I will hurt you if I am not careful, so don’t be impulsive! "
"hehe."
Lan Yuying sneered and rushed forward: "Xiaoli, please wake up! Turn me into a beautiful little beauty!"
"No--"
A shrill scream squeezed out from the crack in the door, mixed with the laughter of a certain mother.
"Xiao Li, don't you want the people you like to see how beautiful you are?!"
"Hei Yang won't care about this!"
"Just wear it for a few days, and then change it out, okay?"
"I wouldn't have been fooled by this kind of tricking children when I was three years old!"
"Humph, then it's not up to you!"
"No! Top! No! Pants! No! And bra! Don't leave me!"
“If the old doesn’t go, the new won’t come!”
"Woooooooo..."
"..."
"..."
"so……"
Hei Yang looked at himself in the mirror with a suspicious look on his face. His hair was combed neatly and neatly. He was wearing a dark black gown, embroidered with water-like patterns, and paired with a sword on his waist, which made him look majestic.
"Mom, are you sure Xiaoli will like me dressed like this?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk..."
Qing Yiyi did not answer Hei Yang's words, but looked at Hei Yang with bright eyes and kept sighing in her mouth.
"Look, look, whose handsome boy is this!"
Qing Yiyi kept helping Hei Yang smooth the wrinkles on his clothes, with a look of excitement and pride on his face.
"Sure enough, only Miss Qing Yiyi can give birth to such a handsome son, oh ho ho ho, oh ho ho ho!"
"Mother!"
Hei Yang raised his voice helplessly: "You haven't answered my question yet. Will Xiaoli really think I look good if I dress in such a troublesome way? Why do I feel a little unreliable?"
"ha?!"
Qing Yiyi's eyes widened: "Are you questioning my mother's aesthetics?!
Or are you questioning the good looks inherited from your mother? ! "
"Ah, no, no."
Hei Yang narrowed his eyes and said with a sneer: "Let's just say, I'm not used to wearing it."
"Nonsense, who usually wears this..."
"ah?"
Hei Yang's eyes widened and he looked at his mother with a "You're kidding me" expression on his face. The latter spread his hands and told the truth.
"This kind of clothes is only for you to attend some banquet or during the Chinese New Year.
The purpose is to satisfy my eyes... ahem, I mean, to show you your most handsome posture.
As for daily life, who wears this? It gets dirty easily, is difficult to wash, is not convenient at all, and the cost is not cheap..."
"Well, you are really sincere."
"Do I need to lie to you, a brat like you?"
Qing Yiyi snorted softly: "Thank you for your cooperation, otherwise even if I use a hard one, your mother and I would have to put it on you today."
"Well……"
Hei Yang pulled out the corner of his mouth and sighed: "So?"
"So don't worry!"
Qing Yiyi confidently patted Hei Yang on the shoulder and encouraged: "That girl Xiaoli will be fascinated by you, her eyes will be full of love!"
Hei Yang: "..."
………
"ah……"
Hong Li lay slumped on the bed, looking down at the fire-patterned red dress on her body, with a look of despair on her face.
"Thank you, mom..."
Hongli sighed and said faintly: "Thank you for helping me get rid of my beautiful fantasies and memories about my family. Now I no longer have any reluctance or attachment!"
Right now, she just wants to drag her luggage out of the house right away, right now, and then go to her new home to find her lovely Black Sun, away from this scary adult world!
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
The sky was clear one second, and suddenly it was windy, rainy, thundery, and had power outages, which caused...
