"Really?" Xu Chacha's eyes welled up with tears. She sniffed and pursed her lips, trying hard not to let the tears fall. "Do they still want Chacha?"
"Yes, of course I want to." Wen Mubai pinched her cheek. "Your parents have never given up looking for you, so don't overthink it."
"Mmm!" Xu Chacha buried her face in her neck, and the moment she hid her face, tears streamed down her face.
Wen Mubai felt the warm liquid on his neck and silently patted Xu Chacha's thin back to comfort her.
"Take him away." The policewoman gestured to Wen Mubai.
Wen Mubai nodded, mouthed "thank you" to her, and carried the sobbing little crybaby back to his room.
Xu Chacha was still holding the book of Andersen's fairy tales in her hand, but she put it back on the table next to her because she thought it was in the way.
Wen Mubai guessed her feelings and simply sat quietly holding her.
Xu Chacha cried for a while, then felt that her acting was enough, and finally raised her head.
She rubbed her eyes with her hands, her tear-stained eyelashes sticking messily to her eyelids.
Wen Mubai silently picked up a tissue and wiped away her tears.
"Thank you, sister." Xu Chacha sniffed and patted Wen Mubai's collar with her little hand. "Chacha got you dirty."
"It's not dirty."
“Sister, you have so many little red spots on your neck…” Xu Chacha suddenly squinted her eyes, leaned closer to Wen Mubai’s neck to look, and pointed at it with her finger. “Sister, you have so many little red spots on your neck.”
"Hmm." Wen Mubai leaned back, creating some distance between them. "Were you scared?"
"No, it doesn't." Xu Chacha's tone was serious, but that seriousness on her childlike face made people unable to help but laugh. "Does it hurt?"
"It's just a slight allergic reaction, it doesn't hurt." Wen Mubai didn't want the conversation to linger on him any longer. "What about Cha Cha? Is she still upset?"
"I'm not sad." Xu Chacha shook her head, her voice a little uncertain, "I'm just scared..."
"What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid...they don't like me."
"Silly girl, no one cares whether you like me or not. Your parents will only love you even more and won't let you suffer any injustice," Wen Mubai said softly.
"Then, sister, can I wear Hello Kitty to meet Mom?" Xu Chacha asked.
"Why."
Xu Chacha lied without blushing at all, "Chacha thinks Kitty Cat is the prettiest and wants to wear pretty clothes to meet her mother."
After all, she didn't know the personalities of the Xu couple and their adopted daughter yet, so she decided to play the victim to gain some sympathy and at least make her life a little easier.
The above are the lessons Xu Chacha learned from the seven years she lived with her aunt and suffered losses.
Wen Mubai remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, "Okay."
She didn't choose to correct Xu Chacha's aesthetic sense by telling her that the ripped short-sleeved shirt wasn't as pretty as the princess dress she was wearing.
It will only increase the child's inferiority complex.
The clothes had been washed and dried yesterday and were hanging on a hanger. Wen Mubai took them down and handed them to Xu Chacha. The little girl happily hugged the clothes and ran into the bathroom to change.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Wen Mubai's phone rang.
Xu Chacha, who had been lying on the sofa and dozing off, suddenly sat up straight and stared at her with wide, nervous eyes.
"It's nothing." Wen Mubai patted her, then answered the phone and put it on speakerphone, "Hello."
But the voice on the other end of the phone wasn't that of Butler Zhang; her voice sounded a little breathless, probably because she had just run.
"Mu Bai, this is my Aunt Xu. I... I'm at the door."
Xu Chacha looked up and met Wen Mubai's gaze. She nervously bit her lower lip and gripped his hand tightly.
Wen Mubai gently squeezed Xu Chacha's hand and said to the person on the other end of the phone, "Chacha is in the room. I'm coming to open the door for you now."
Standing outside the door, Xu's mother heard footsteps coming from inside the room, gradually approaching the door, followed by the sound of someone gently turning the doorknob.
She swallowed hard, feeling her heart tighten along with the sound, making it difficult to even breathe.
"Aunt Xu." The door opened, and Wen Mubai's familiar, handsome face appeared before her.
Mother Xu held her breath and looked down at the little dumpling whose body was mostly hidden behind Wen Mubai, whose little hands were tugging at her trouser leg, and whose head was only timidly peeking out.
"Tea?"
Xu Chacha blinked her moist eyes and shrank back, looking like a frightened little animal, naturally evoking feelings of tenderness and protectiveness.
“I am your mother…don’t you remember?” Xu Chacha was only three years old when she went missing, so it’s normal that she doesn’t remember.
"Mommy?" The little boy pondered the word carefully, his misty eyes looking up at the elegant woman. "Do you want more tea?"
"How could I not want it!" Xu's mother said almost without time to react, but she didn't dare to approach Xu Chacha rashly. She could only squat down and look at her gently. "You've suffered all these years. I will definitely make it up to you."
Xu Chacha finally had the courage to lean out a little. Her mother could see that she was wearing a faded, worn-out short-sleeved shirt with a hole in the collar, and even the cartoon pattern on the chest had been washed away.
She had only heard Zhang the housekeeper's report over the phone that the couple who bought Xu Chacha were not well-off, but seeing Xu Chacha's pitiful and destitute appearance in person was a completely different experience.
This is the little princess she carried for ten months and gave birth to. How could she... how could she suffer so much?
"That's good." Young Xu Chacha seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but then her words tightened her mother's heart again, "I thought... I was an unwanted child."
Tears streamed down Xu's mother's face almost without warning. Her brows furrowed tightly, and she covered her mouth with her hand.
She felt as if someone was slowly torturing her heart with a dull knife, and a wave of guilt and regret washed over her, eventually turning into heartache for the child in front of her.
She finally couldn't hold back anymore and hugged Xu Chacha tightly, saying, "My poor child, Mom will never let you suffer even a little bit in the future!"
Xu Chacha didn't expect her mother to react so strongly. She could feel her mother trembling as she hugged her, so she raised her hand and patted her mother's back, just like Wen Mubai often did to her.
"Don't cry, don't cry."
Her voice was still childish, but her soft tone carried the comforting tone of a little adult.
Xu's mother realized that she was being comforted by a seven-year-old child, who was her daughter who had been lost for many years.
Contrary to her expectations of "what ifs," Xu Chacha did not hate her or distance herself from her. Instead, she looked at her like a pitiful little puppy, with eyes filled with worry about being abandoned, and even comforted her after noticing her sadness.
Touched by the softest spot in her heart, Xu's mother couldn't help but cup Xu Chacha's cheeks and kiss her.
"My baby is simply a little angel."
Xu Chacha, with a bright red lipstick mark on her cheek, stared blankly.
Okay, at least I still have my first kiss.
Chapter 8
After completing the formalities, Xu's mother planned to take Xu Chacha home that same day.
"Can I say a few words to my sister?" Xu Chacha tilted her head up and asked her mother.
"Of course you can, baby." Xu's mother affectionately patted her head.
"Okay! Chacha will be quick." Xu Chacha let go of her hand, ran to take Wen Mubai's hand, and shook her arm, "Sister."
Wen Mubai understood, bent down to pick her up, walked to the balcony and closed the glass door, leaving the two of them space to whisper to each other.
"Sister, can Chacha still come to play with you after we go back? I won't bother you too much, it's just..." She tugged at the hem of her clothes behind her back, "...it's just that Chacha will miss you."
"Of course." Wen Mubai smiled at her and slipped a folded piece of paper into her pocket. "I'm leaving you my address and phone number. Just open it when you want to visit me."
"Okay!" Xu Chacha almost suspected that Wen Mubai had mind-reading abilities, otherwise how could she have already written the note before she even asked for his contact information?
“And this too.” Wen Mubai took out another item.
It is a hand-woven red bracelet with a brown wooden bead in the middle, on which the character "福" (fortune) is engraved.
Xu Chacha remembered this; it was the bracelet Wen Mubai bought at the morning market that day.
"Isn't this a gift your sister bought for your mother?"
Wen Mubai lowered his head and remained silent, pinching the buckle of the bracelet and putting it on Xu Chacha's wrist. Because her wrist was too thin, even when he pulled the slipknot to the top, it was still loose.
"It was originally bought for you."
"Buy it for...me?"
Wen Mubai lifted her wrist, the wooden beads on the bracelet swaying, the red string making Xu Chacha's milky white skin even more radiant.
She slightly raised the corner of her lips. "Beautiful."
"Is this a token of love for Cha Cha?" Xu Cha Cha clenched her fist, shaking her arm in the air as if showing off to someone. "Cha Cha loves it!"
Wen Mubai hooked her nose with his index finger, "This is not a token of love."
Xu Chacha probably felt itchy, so she wrinkled her nose, then grinned at Wen Mubai, showing off her big white teeth, "Yes, in TV shows, tokens of love are given to each other by two people."
Then she stuffed the candy she had hidden all day into Wen Mubai's hand, saying, "Here, that's good. Kindness is also a kind of affection, and Chacha will never forget her sister."
Wen Mubai held up the lollipop and smiled slightly. "Okay."
"Mua!" Xu Chacha stood on tiptoe and gave Wen Mubai a big kiss on the cheek.
"you……"
Wen Mubai was stunned. He touched his cheek with his fingertips, as if he could still feel the warm and soft texture on it.
"Sister, remember to think of me too!"
When she tried to look up and speak, Xu Chacha had already waved and run away.
"Okay, bye-bye." She raised her hand as well.
...
Xu Chacha was quite reserved when she got into her mother's car, while her mother seemed very energetic and kept asking her questions.
Ask her what she likes, what she loves to eat, and what she wants, and she'll make up for the four years she missed right away.
Xu Chacha was actually a little sleepy. She hadn't slept well last night and had been having groggy dreams. She woke up early this morning because of her biological clock.
However, not wanting to dampen her mother's excitement, she forced her eyelids open and answered her questions earnestly.
"Is my baby sleepy?" Xu's mother finally noticed the weariness on Xu Chacha's face.
"Hmm... a little." She's had this problem since she was a child; she gets sleepy as soon as she gets on a vehicle and often misses her stop on the subway.