Lu Family’s Old Residence.
Little Treasure sat unmoving in front of the easel, the horizon of the sunset to his side. His small silhouette seemed especially lonely and pitiful.
"Little Treasure, come have dinner now! Grandma made your favourite sweet and sour mandarin fish! Little Treasure...Little Treasure?"
After Mother Lu called out to him for about five or six times, Little Treasure finally reacted.
He started packing up his easel without saying anything, and looked a few more times towards the direction he had been staring at for the entire afternoon before entering the house obediently.
The dining table was filled with various kinds of both Chinese and Western dishes.
"Little Treasure, eat more, okay? These are all your favourites!"
"Yes, eat more! Come, let grandpa feed you."
Little Treasure looked at the dishes stiffly, and then picked up his chopsticks to get the nearest dish before starting to eat with his headbowed down. He did not need any coaxing.
Seeing Little Treasure this obedient, the Lu parents were relieved.
Father Lu gave his wife a look and said, "See, I told you it will be okay!"
That night, Little Treasure continued to eat a lot, even more than usual, in fact. It seemed like he had a really enormous appetite.
Three calm days passed and nothing out of the blue happened. Father Lu was very happy and Mother Lu finally felt assured again.
Yet, that night itself…
The sound of the maid’s screams from Little Treasure’s room suddenly pierced the night.
"Master! Madam! Something’s wrong! Little master he...quickly come and see!"
"What are you saying? What happened?"
Both of them rushed over.
When they reached the room, they saw Little Treasure bending forward and vomiting the dinner he had had all over the floor. He even started retching bile.
Mother Lu hurriedly patted him on his back and exclaimed, "Ah! Little Treasure! Little Treasure, what’s wrong? Why are you vomiting so much?!"
Father Lu calmly said, "Kids vomiting once in awhile is no big deal. Maybe he just ate too much, don’t be so shocked."
Yet as he finished his sentence, the little guy went limp and passed out.
"Little Treasure!" screamed Mother Lu.
Now even Father Lu could not stay calm any longer, and he started to turn pale and shouted at his butlers and maids, "Why are you still standing there?! Quickly call for the doctor!"
Within a split second, the entire residence was thrown into chaos.
Mother Lu hugged a pale Little Treasure and was so worried that she was frantic, she grumbled to Father Lu, "It’s all your fault for saying that there was nothing wrong! Look what has happened now! Must you torture my grandson? So what if Tingxiao fancies that girl, as long as she can make our Little Treasure happy!? Even if she was a beggar on the streets, I would still let her in!"
"You…what are you saying now?"
"What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong? I just want for my dear grandson to be happy! He was so much better previously, to the point that he was already healed! And now, he’s become like this. It’s really breaking my heart to pieces."
"Don’t you think it’s breaking my heart too? I’m only worried for Little Treasure’s future."
"What future is there if Little Treasure is dead?!" Mother Lu said this as she suddenly remembered something and turned to the maid, ordering, "Xiao Rong, go get little master’s drawing. I want to see it!"
"Okay, madam, I’ll go immediately!"
The maid immediately brought over Little Treasure’s drawing from that afternoon.
The Lu parents scanned the drawing.
Little Treasure did not draw a single thing on the blank canvas, but upon closer inspection, they saw that in the middle of the canvas was a sentence written with miniature font in pencil—
Aunty Xiao Xi
Little Treasure has been very good
Why don’t you want Little Treasure?
…
Mother Lu’s tears started to pour as soon as she saw this, she cried, "Who said Little Treasure was fine? He was only forcing himself to be obedient! Even though he couldn’t finish his rice, he still made himself do it. Even though he wanted to throw a tantrum like he used to, he forced himself to be obedient...all because he promised someone else that he would be."