CH 56

Happiness and joy overtook Miaomiao as she gripped her water bottle that she got back. After retrieving the bottle, Miaomiao thought that the girl’s mother wouldn’t be sad anymore. The girl wouldn’t be sad either.

This doubled Miaomiao’s happiness.

When Zhou Yuan noticed the delight on her face due to the retrieval of the water bottle, he produced a marker and scribbled on the bottom, “If you find this, please contact Hua Miaomiao from first grade.”

His penmanship was impeccable, so he could carefully and clearly scrawl a message in such a small space.

Once he had finished writing, he handed it to Miaomiao and said, “If someone stumbles upon it, they’ll know that it’s yours now.”

After glancing at her name under the water bottle, exhilaration overwhelmed Miaomiao. Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.

She looked at her water bottle one more time before placing it on her desk. Then she took out a pencil and tried to scribble something on her wrist. But because she wrote with a pencil, nothing was visible.

Miaomiao looked at Zhou Yuan and asked, “Zhouzhou, can I borrow your pen?”

Zhou Yuan found her actions a little strange. But he handed her the pen immediately when she asked for it.

Miaomiao took the pen and wrote on her wrist, “If you find this, please contact Hua Miaomiao’s mother.”

The words were very large and crooked. Miaomiao read it twice and was very pleased with her penmanship.

A smile spread across her face as she nodded in satisfaction. Then, she stretched out her hand and showed her artwork to Zhou Yuan. 

Miaomiao felt that Zhou Yuan had taught her so many things and that she was becoming more intelligent and sagacious.

Zhou Yuan wrote those words to ensure that her water bottle wouldn’t be taken by others. Even if it was taken by someone, it would be returned to her.

Likewise, she wrote those words on her wrist to ensure that she wouldn’t be taken by bad people, and even if she was taken away, they would take her back to her mother.

Zhou Yuan glanced at these words and only said one sentence, “You must wear this watch no matter what you do in the future.”

Miaomiao nodded. It wasn’t easy for her to remember things. Even though Zhou Yuan taught her how to use it, she always forgot it. But nowadays, Zhou Yuan relied on his phone watch to call her, so she knew how to easily operate it.

During the afternoon, Mother Hua went to school to pick up Miaomiao. She discovered Miaomiao coming out of the classroom without her jacket, which exposed her arms. The scars on her arms were very conspicuous.

Mother Hua stood still for a moment before holding Miaomiao’s hand. While trying to hold back any terrible emotions, she announced to Miaomiao, “Grandma said that Miaomiao returned home today with the principal.”

Miaomiao slung her schoolbag on her shoulder and gripped her jacket with one hand. She hummed and answered, “Zhouzhou forgot to wear his school uniform, so I gave him mine.”

“Well done, Miaomiao.”

The mother and daughter strolled out of the school hand-in-hand. All of the other parents stared at them. When one person saw them, they pointed at them so that the others would also notice them, and then they would gawk at them.

Mother Hua had a heartache, and her eyes turned misty.

Perhaps they didn’t stare at them out of malice. Perhaps her scars merely surprised them, but sadness still overtook Mother Hua. It made her wonder what Miaomiao thought of those eyes that gawked at her and whether these wounds carried any meaning for her…

The scar removal cream only palliated the scarring to a certain extent. The most effective method to remove her scars completely was to perform surgery, but the surgery had risks to consider. They also had to consider Miaomiao’s ability to endure the pain and recovery process. Additionally, she was dreadfully afraid of hospitals, so this issue was dragged out for a long time.

Mother Hua had no choice but to squat down and conceal Miaomiao’s scars with a jacket before Miaomiao felt the onlookers’ gaze upon her and became uncomfortable. Even though her voice was a little hoarse, she tried to smile to keep Miaomiao from noticing something:

“It’s a bit chilly; put your jacket on so that you won’t get sick.”

“Mom, why do your eyes look red?” she asked while obediently slipping into her jacket.

“I have some sand in my eyes.” Mother Hua whispered. “I’ll be fine in a moment,” she kissed Miaomiao’s forehead.

Miaomiao wanted to inform Mother Hua about what had happened today in her P.E. class, but she never did. 

Now that Mother Hua was squatting down, she was the same height as Miaomiao. So Miaomiao leaned over and kissed her mother’s cheek and kissed her mother’s cheek, “Muah.”

Then, she said with ineffable pride, “Mom is amazing!”

Mother Hua was surprised. At that moment, the worrying thoughts that filled her heart had surrendered to her happiness and joy. However, she still had to act normally in order to not frighten Miaomiao, so she masked her concerns and pretended to be calm, “How am I amazing?” She hugged Miaomiao as she asked.

Putting her arms around her mother’s neck, Miaomiao replied, “Mom is strong. Mom found me and beat the bad guys up.”

Since Miaomiao’s language skills were poor, she started her sentences without a proper beginning.

Mother Hua couldn’t comprehend Miaomiao’s words. Then she heard Miaomiao continue, “I won’t get lost in the future.”

Miaomiao rolled up her sleeves, showed her arms to Mother Hua, and said in a tone that sounded like she wanted to be lauded, “I wrote this.”

Miaomiao wrote these words on the inside of her arm, so Mother Hua couldn’t see them earlier.

Mother Hua read the words.

Afterwards, Little Miaomiao continued to talk about the water bottle. She also said two sentences about being kidnapped by some bad people when she was a child.

Only then did Mother Hua connect the dots between both matters.

Mother Hua realized only then that…Miaomiao considered her as her real mother while her biological parents were, in her eyes anyway, just those “bad people” who took her away.

Mother Hua didn’t know how Miaomiao got this idea, but she felt as if her heart was immersed in an ocean of warmth. 

Mother Hua kissed Miaomiao on the forehead. Despite the overwhelming emotions in her heart, she softly but firmly told her, “I won’t let any more bad people take you away.”

Miaomiao was still very young, so she only knew the comfort in her heart. She hummed and chirped, “I’ll only go outside when an adult holds my hand. I’ll also use my phone watch.”

She mused before adding in one extra line, “So that the bad people won’t take me away in the future.”

As she peered at Little Miaomiao, Mother Hua couldn’t help but kiss her again and said, “What would Miaomiao like to eat at night? Mom will take you grocery shopping!”

Miaomiao became excited when she heard that they were going to go vegetable-shopping. She still hadn’t forgotten about how she would make money through her business.