*Grumbleeeee*
With so much crying and running around, Siying felt hungry. He touched his stomach and pursed his lips. If he was at home now, he would have been eating the delicious food made by Xinyi. She would have lovingly fed him herself. Tears plopped on the ground, and he rubbed his eyes.
"Siying not go home...Mama Dada doesn't want Siying…" he sniffled. "Siying is a bad boy…"
In front of him, he saw a street shop which sold sandwiches. His mouth watered, seeing the delicious sandwiches cooked right in front of him. He trotted his way and tugged the shop owner.
He looked down and was surprised to see a little boy. "Who are you?"
Siying stared at him silently.
The owner frowned. "Why are you staring at me like that? I am quite busy, you know. What do you want?"
Siying's gaze shifted at the sandwich.
"You want to eat a sandwich?"
He nodded. His stomach grumbled again.
The owner was suspicious if this little boy even had money to pay. But looking at his good branded clothes, he guessed he was from a well-fed family.
This rich kid would surely have money on him.
"Alright. Which one do you want? Look at the menu and choose."
Siying's brows furrowed and he got confused. The menu had many items listed in it and he still couldn't read Mandarin that well. He tried to read but couldn't understand half of what was written.
"Quick!"
He got startled and pointed at a random sandwich.
"Alright."
The owner quickly whipped a sandwich while Siying watched him doing his job with a sparkling gaze. He had never seen anything like this before.
The owner asked, "Six Yuan."
Siying eagerly raised his hand to take his sandwich, but the owner shifted it away. "Six Yuan first."
Siying furrowed his brows as he didn't understand what he was saying.
He turned impatient. "Hand over the money quickly. I have other work to do too."
"Money?" His small face was puzzled.
"Yes, money. With which you buy things. Give six Yuan and take the sandwich."
"Siying no money…"
"Huh?" The owner took out a bill and showed it to him. "You don't have this with you?"
Siying shook his head.
The owner's face darkened. "What? So I made this sandwich for nothing? If you don't have money, then why did you come here!? I am not giving anything for free!"
He harshly raised his voice that jolted Siying again just like that time when the man got angry at him for bumping into him.
"Waaaa…" he burst into tears. Twice in one day, two people got mad at him and he didn't even understand why. He looked at the sandwich with a teary gaze. "Siying hungry…"
The owner said, "Shoo. I don't have anything to give you if you don't have money to give me! You wasted my efforts! I thought you were a rich kid so you would definitely have some money, but I was wrong. Now leave and don't bother me!"
Siying lowered his head and sobbed. The owner scared him again and he ran away. He didn't know where he was going. Everything was confusing and he was hungry on top of that.
He sat on a bench and gasped hard as he cried. He missed Xinyi hard. He remembered her kind smile and her warm hug and his eyes teared even more.
"Ma-Mama...I want to go to Mama…Scary people shouting…"
He looked around and didn't know where he was. He didn't know where to go next. The people scared him. The busy life intimidated him. At the Han villa, everything was so peaceful. Nobody yelled at him. But here, everything was so different.
Siying climbed down.
"Cannot go back...Mama Dada don't want Siying…"
On the opposite side of the road, he saw a toy shop and found his favorite Scooby doo plush doll. His gaze shone in joy, and he somehow forgot his horrible experiences of this adult world. He dashed off towards it, but he didn't know about traffic rules. The signal was red, yet he was continuing to run. As he was about to step on the road, a car speedily came in his direction.
But just at that time, somebody pulled him back. "Hey! Are you crazy!? The signal is red! That means you cannot cross!"
Siying blinked his eyes at the woman before her. He was startled when he was suddenly pulled back.
"Do you want to die? You almost got yourself killed!"
His eyes teared up, seeing a third person now yelling at him. It was too much for his small heart to take.
"Hey! Hey! Don't cry. I was just saying for your own good. Do you want to go to the other side?"
He tremblingly nodded.
"You see that indicator there?" She pointed at the traffic lights.
Siying followed her gaze.
"You have to check what color it is shining. If the person's symbol is red, you cannot cross the road. If it's green, only then you can walk ahead. Understand? You have to ALWAYS check it, okay?"
Siying nodded his head.
She sighed. "I will help you. But next time, be sure to cross only when you have an adult with you."
He pursed his lips. The office goer woman walked with him to the other side. "Here you are! Be careful next time, okay?"
She quickly left as she was running late. Siying looked at the toy shop and gleamed. He stood in front of the display window where the Scooby-doo was kept. It was an adorable fluffy toy.
"Scooby-doo…"
"Do you want that toy?"
He heard a gruff voice from behind him. Siying turned to see two men standing in front of him, smiling at him.
"We can give you the toy. You don't have money with you, right?"
Siying stiffened and remembered the sandwich owner yelling at him, saying the same thing. He bit his lip and lowered his head. "Siying has no money…"
"Ah, don't worry. We have the toy you want, and you won't have to give us money for it. We will give it to you for free."
Siying looked at them, his eyes sparkling in happiness. "Scooby-doo…"
The man on the left said, "Yes. Come with us, and we will give you the toy."
He nodded hard. The two men exchanged glances and silently gave a signal. He extended his arm. "Hold my hand. Let's go. We will take you there."