Chapter 4 - A Child Laborer

Staring at the photo frame in the hand, Gu Nianbin thought to himself with a bitter smile, “Xiaowan, it has been three years, eight months and eight days. When will you come back? ”

The girl in the photo was smiling at him with bright eyes and teeth. Gu Nianbin stroked her face and sighed in a way that couldn’t be heard. Then he put the photo frame back, turned his chair, and looked out the window.

It was eight o’clock in the morning. The autumn sunlight shone through the French windows and on his body gently. Gu Nianbin stretched his arms comfortably and looked down. He found someone was sweeping fallen leaves.

It was a little girl. It seemed that her thin body could be blown away by a gust of wind. Yet, with her head down, she was sweeping carefully with a broom higher than herself.

Gu Nianbin did not know her, so he was somewhat surprised. The girl looked very small, and her lilac uniform did not fit her well. Unable to see her face, Gu Nianbin could only see her fine and soft hair tied in a ponytail hanging down. Her hair looked a bit yellow in the sunlight. Instead of being dyed, it seemed to be caused by malnutrition. He couldn’t help but frown. Why did Uncle Xiao hire such a girl? She looked like a child laborer.

When a gust of wind blew, a lot of leaves fell from the plane tree. It was an Oriental plane tree with a thick trunk and a large canopy. The tree had been planted here for more than 20 years. And every year it started losing leaves as soon as autumn started. Gu Shanshan had suggested cutting down the tree, but he did not agree because it was planted by him and Xia Xiaowan when he was 7 years old.

He still remembered the scene. The little girl, who was three and a half years old at that time, held the sapling very carefully. She asked him, “Brother Bin, when will the sapling grow into a big tree?”

He pressed the soil down with a spade and answered with a smile, “When you grow up, the tree will have also grown up.”

The little girl smiled at once, her big eyes forming two crescent moons, and put her little fat hands into the pocket. Then she said, “I’m gonna eat a lot of food so that I can grow up quickly!”

He fished out a handful of candies from her pocket and said, “You little fatty, you can’t eat any more. Don’t you remember what Doctor Liang said?”

What the little girl hated the most was being called ‘little fatty’. So she burst into tears and went to find her mother.

At that time she was a fat girl with a small round face and little chubby hands. Wearing a floral dress, she walked like a little duck.

He certainly wouldn’t let the little girl complain to her mother, so he caught up and stopped her. After trying various methods, he managed to make her laugh again….

Leaves were still falling down at their own pace. With a sigh, Du Xiaoxian stopped to look up at the tree. She happened to see a man sitting in front of the window on the second floor with a mild look and a faint smile.

Du Xiaoxian was stunned. Although it was her first day here, she had met all the people in the house except the young master. Maybe he was the young master? But she heard that the young master pulled a long face all day and was not easy to get along with. But the man looked gentle with a smile. Could it be him?

Gu Nianbin was aware that someone was looking at him. When looking back with a cold expression, he found it was the girl who had been sweeping the leaves. She must still be a child. With a little face, big eyes, and a pointed chin, she looked comely. All of a sudden, she seemed to be frightened, staring at him with fear.

Where did Uncle Xiao find such an impolite girl? Gu Nianbin frowned. Then the child laborer downstairs shivered, and fled like a frightened rabbit. She disappeared without a trace, leaving her broom on the ground alone.