Red dust kills beauty

[-]. Peekaboo②

I'd discovered before that the witch merchant had been surreptitiously watching me (pretending to be unobtrusive), like a kitten curious about a new visitor to his estate.

Several times when I walked through the long, elegantly decorated but dimly lit corridors, I could catch a glimpse of him from the corner of my eye; or when I was chatting with Wu Qiong in the glass greenhouse; When looking for food at the bar in the living room.

He shrank in the dark, keeping a cautious distance from me, and I pretended not to notice it at all.This strange observation lasted for more than a month, and he seemed to have finally confirmed something, and today he took the initiative to talk to me.

But the first sentence is to complain about "boring"?Is this kid serious?

Maybe the picture book is too easy for the wizard, it's a bit boring, but - the wizard needs this.Not because he is so obsessed with these books in the future, but because he really needs them.

I'll never forget when he received them he mosuoed the books with his fingertips uncertainly, then looked up at me with a bewildered look on his face.

How funny, the little son of the head of the Wu family, he has never played fill in the picture book at such an age.

"We can do it together next time at recess, on the front lawn," I told him.

And he nodded almost impatiently.

It's boring, indeed.But he was just as elated.

I frowned and laughed, but didn't speak.This didn't seem to be a positive reaction, because the slightly floating brilliance in the witch merchant's eyes dimmed again. He pursed his lips, looked at my face cautiously, then closed his mouth, lowered his head and continued to paint in silence.

"..." I wanted to say something to make up for it, but I didn't know what to say.Compared with the autistic Fu Baixue, the witch merchant is another kind of difficult to deal with.At least Xiaobai was already a teenager at that time, while Wu Shang was only six years old!

It's not that I haven't raised children before, Zhaoyao was brought up by me from a young age.But that feeling is completely different, Zhaoyao has never changed, and he is very worry-free - thinking about it now, I am a little ashamed of worry-free.In short, I have no way to connect this kid in front of me with that moody young man.

The only thing they have in common is that they are difficult to serve.

Silence spread between the two of us, and after a while, the witch merchant whispered as if talking to himself: "So, you are here to kidnap me?"

"...?"

Although I know that children's thinking is unconstrained, but—I'm tired of saying this, but I still want to emphasize that this is a witch merchant—I became curious and asked with great interest: "Why do you say that?"

He bit his lower lip, as if considering whether to lie.

I find it incredible - a small, immature witch merchant.At this time, he hadn't killed anyone, hadn't hurt anyone, was pale, weak, submissive, and didn't even speak much.

He doesn't even hide the guilty look on his face when he wants to hide something.

At last he said, "Because you've been nice to me."

"...?"

The witch merchant seemed to have found a little confidence, he said firmly: "So you must have something for me."

"What can I do? I am only six years old, I am delicate and weak, and I have no money, except my father." He counted, "So you must be pretending to be my tutor and trying to kidnap me."

I struggled for a second between teasing him and correcting him, and then I asked the question I'm most concerned about at the moment: "Do you know the meaning of 'delicate and weak'?" As far as I know, the witch merchant has never been on After learning, this word should be quite difficult, anyway, Zhaoyao must not be able to say it at his age.

Wu Shang took it for granted: "I heard Aunt Yingzi tell me this once, and it will be fine."

Yingzi is the servant responsible for taking care of his daily life. In fact, he is only in his early twenties, but in the eyes of children, twenty is probably already an aunt.She didn't like it when he called her that, but the witch merchant was stubborn.They hate each other, I guess it's his way of expressing his displeasure, very witchy, typical "if I'm having a hard time I won't make it easy for you".

But Yingzi—this is not a good word, let alone a word that should be used on children. I frowned and decided to hate her too.

Thinking about how to warn Yingzi, I said to the witch merchant, "But this is not kidnapping. I didn't intend to kidnap you."

The witch merchant looked genuinely confused. He glanced at me in confusion, and then looked down at the picture book.

"Then why are you so nice to me?"

This is the second time he has mentioned this matter, and I am also confused: "I don't think I treat you very well."

The witch merchant seemed to want to refute, but he just opened his mouth, then lowered his head again and continued to fill in the picture without speaking.

…I feel like I’ve been punched in cotton.

I feel more and more that getting along with young witch merchants is exactly the same as raising cats.Unlike Zhaoyao, he is a dog. Once he realizes that you are a master worthy of entrustment, he will deliver himself enthusiastically and without reservation.

He is also not like the young Fu Baixue - Fu Baixue is not like any animal, he is just Fu Baixue.It's just that when I picked him up, he was already broken into pieces.

The witch merchant is very slow, you have to use your patience to melt him little by little.

On the third day, still on the lawn, he said thoughtfully, "So it's not kidnapping."

I've been tired of repeating this question: "No."

"Then you want money?"

Wu Qiong paid a very considerable amount of tuition fees for me, I scratched my head: "Your father did give you a lot, but I'm not short of money. I'm not short of resources either."

He was completely confused, staring at me as if he saw the biggest unsolved mystery in the world.

On the fifth day, when testing his physical coordination, the witch merchant showed me his flexible body with great interest, and he had already talked a lot: "You don't need to do this test at all, I have no problem—my mother always Someone teach me ballet."

Ah, sure enough.Shaman has always had a desire for dramatic performance. Back then, when he was wearing my clothes and swaying side by side with me on the street, he would sometimes get excited when chatting with me, and would do ballet turns; I was still Ning Hongchen At that time, I saw him more than once skimming across the marble floor of Yu Jingchun with graceful sliding steps, like a flying bird.

Thinking of him growing up like a flower peacock, I couldn't help laughing. The witch merchant gave me a curious look, and tried harder to show off. On the curtain rod: "Look—"

Before the words finished, the joy turned into sorrow, he lost his balance and fell down.

I ran over to catch him, and the witch merchant was intact, but I fell to the ground due to inertia, and a bloody mouth was scratched by the decoration embedded on the wall.

I didn't care about the little injury, but quickly lowered my head and asked the little one in my arms: "Are you okay?"

The witch merchant looked at me again with that expression of looking at a puzzle: "What on earth are you here for?"

"I'm your teacher, and I'm here to teach you how to learn." That's all I can answer.

"But it's different." The witch merchant said, "Aunt Yingzi is not like this."

"If you're going to fall, won't she catch you?"

"No. I'm fine with my body and I'm not going to show her this so I don't fall down in front of her."

"It's just a hypothesis. You know what a hypothesis means, don't you?"

"I understand. But no, no, I won't fall."

He insisted stubbornly.

I took a step back helplessly: "What about when you have nightmares? Don't lie to me, I know you have nightmares every night."

Children with strong mental strength will be harassed by the spiritual sea at night. After growing up, the witch merchant complained to me more than once that he had nightmares every night when he was a child, so he acted like a baby.But I never paid attention to it - now that I think about it, I kind of regret it.

"..." The witch merchant stopped talking, he pursed his red lips into a stiff straight line.

I urged him: "Say it."

"She'd open her room and let me sleep in her kennel." He lowered his eyes. "I don't like dogs."

Hold……

I squeezed the space between my eyebrows, and scolded Wu Qiong, Yingzi, and Wu Shang's own mother ten thousand times in my heart.Despite telling myself to control my anger, I couldn't resist raising the volume.

"What about her! Shouldn't she be hugging you to sleep!? Let you sleep in the kennel?"

God knows why he likes drilling fireplaces at last!

I lowered my head to look at Wu Shang, he is indeed thin and small, compared to when I first met him two years ago, he is not much longer, but that is not the reason for him to sleep in the kennel - just like even if Zhaoyao can live on his own Going down is not the reason why I left him--

My angry expression probably frightened him, he wanted to back away, but because he was still in my arms, he could only retract his body defensively. "No one hugs me, I don't need someone to hug me." He said vigilantly.

I couldn't help but want to argue with him: "But you are still in my arms."

He froze, looked at me and then at his body, almost staring.He seemed to want to crawl out of my arms, but he just held my sleeve tightly with his pale and young fingers: "Because, because——" Blush crawled up his pale cheeks, "You are very Warm, warmer than Winky."

"Who is Winky?"

"It's Aunt Yingzi's dog. She calls it Wangcai, but I think Wangcai is too ugly, so I call it Shining."

He showed a slightly awkward expression, and a small smile bloomed quietly on his lips.I've never seen a witch merchant like this before, I feel warm inside, like a piece of butter wrapped in honey has melted silently, dripping everywhere.

I softened my voice.

"Why is it called Twinkle?"

"Because it always likes to blink, that's how it blinks." Wu Shang blinked his eyes with thick black lashes vigorously, "and, its eyes are blue."

I looked at him with a smile. Before, I had never been in touch with this side of him. The witch merchants I knew, including him when I was a woman, were mean and sharp, and I never heard him mention it. A dog named Winky - I just know he doesn't like dogs.

"Didn't you say you don't like dogs?" I teased.

He looked at me in surprise, as if I was talking something silly.

"Of course I don't like dogs," he said matter-of-factly, "but that has nothing to do with the fact that I think its eyes are pretty."

But the fact is that when human beings hate something, it is difficult to find the advantages that they appreciate.

I nodded and pretended to accept it, intending to put him down.He hesitated for a while, then asked me in a low voice, "Can you wait a while?"

I readily agreed, and then adjusted my posture to hold him more comfortably.

The witch merchant defended himself: "You're not hugging me, it's just that you're warmer than Shining."

"Hmm." I said softly.

He glanced at my face, and while observing it, he tentatively put his finger on the place where I was scratched just now.

"Does it hurt?" He asked in a low voice, as if the wound would disappear.

I smiled: "It doesn't hurt at all."

He nodded and gradually calmed down. I weighed him: "Young master? A witch merchant?"

He fell asleep.

A week later, with the complacency of having finally solved the mystery of the world, he happily announced to me: "I know what you are going to do!"

I became a little curious: "What did you guess?"

The witch merchant cleared his throat - he also has this habit when he grows up, when he feels very nervous, it's just that it's rare: "You want me."

"..." I suspected that I had heard or misunderstood, and I asked in shock, "What am I thinking?"

It seemed that he had finally found my "purpose" and he became more confident, he repeated happily: "You want to—" The unspoken words stopped abruptly after seeing my face, his voice weakened, "I."

This is a witch merchant, he's only six years old, he doesn't know what he's talking about, you can't get mad at him.

I said it silently in my heart, made myself smile, and asked, "Why do you think so? Where did you come to this conclusion? Did Aunt Yingzi tell you?"

The witch merchant looked me up and down again, carefully changing his rhetoric.

"Yes—nor. I don't think it's her."

I was confused by his expression: "Is it her?"

His eyes rolled around, and just as he was about to nod, I said sharply, "Don't try to lie, I can tell!"

The witch merchant was frightened by me, his head retracted into his shoulders, as if he wanted to hide his head in like a snail; he bit his lower lip, reluctantly said: "It's mother."

"Your mother—?" I raised my voice, and then lowered my voice after seeing him flinch subconsciously again, "Isn't she gone already!?"

"Before she died." Wu Shang said, "One day my mother and father had a quarrel, and my mother drove my father out, and then threw something in the house. I went to look, and she told me—— "

He flinched again.I suddenly realized that this was not an ordinary child's flinching reaction, it was more like a kind of conditioned reflex.But at this moment, I have no time to pursue his strangeness, so I asked: "What did you say?"

He frowned, and looked down at his fingers, which seemed to grow flowers; and his voice was low: "'If your father goes mad, you give him yourself.'"

"Aunt Yingzi, mother's maid, later she told me what that meant."

I think of his thin legs wrapped in white socks, his shorts that never exceed knee length, his slightly long black curly hair, and the red bow tied on the collar of his shirt, and his always feminine demeanor , Thinking of his always so weak appearance.

I want to vomit.

"So," he pressed in silence, "do you want me?"

No no no no.

Every child is born to enjoy care and love, no matter they are beautiful or ugly, healthy or disabled.

They don't have to show off their worth and show off how flexible their bodies are; they don't have to think about whether they have been kidnapped or something, because only then will the other person treat him well; they don't have to emphasize that they don't like dogs, and they don't need to Hug, because you will be ridiculed or despised.

Not to mention being proud of being able to sacrifice your body for another grown man, knowing what that means.

They're just -- they're meant to enjoy these things.

"Whether you are healthy or not, whether you are useful or not; whether you are a one-in-a-million genius or not; as long as you are you, I will love you, and there is no reason for that."

I really wanted to tell him so.

But I can't say these, because witch merchants won't understand.How could he understand?He lives in the conspiracy of robbery and profit, he lacks love so much that he has a boring picture book, and he is panicked, trying his best to find the reason for this "goodness".

—he won't understand.

In the end I just hugged him tightly: "Because your eyes are beautiful."

He was flattered, confused and uneasy, and let out a small "um" from his nasal cavity, and then touched his eyes: "But they all said they were terrible, dark, like stagnant water."

"That's strange." I smiled, "They're shiny, like twinkling eyes."

The witch merchant seemed to want to be reserved, but he didn't hold back, showing a small smile.

Next chapter: Devil IX

The witch merchant liked his governess very much, although he was always angry, and every time he spoke, his old