"Mommy! Tongtong's mommy got him two puppies, I want a puppy too!!" A little boy ran into the house, waving his arms around.

A woman sat on an armchair in the living room. She opened her arms and the boy ran over and jumped onto her lap.

"Can I, can I, mommy? I want a puppy too!!" the boy asked excitedly.

The woman sighed. "No, Dong-er, you can not have a puppy."

The boy drooped in his mother's arms. "Why?" the boy asked. The little boy became angry. "Why?? I want a puppy! Why can't I have a puppy???"

The woman looked at her child. She placed a hand on her child's head and ruffled his hair. She said, "We don't have the money. It's already hard for mommy to feed two children, we can't add another mouth to feed."

"Oh..." the boy said. The child was silent for a few seconds. Then the boy clutched onto his mother's sleeves, looked up at his mother, and asked, "How about Honghong? If Honghong doesn't live here anymore, can I get my puppy?"

The woman looks at her son.

She sighed again and patted him on the head. She replied, "Dong-er, you shouldn't say stuff like that. If Honghong-er doesn't live here, mommy can't get you nice toys."

"Oh..." the boy didn't understand. Why does Honghong have to be here for him to have nice toys?

"That's why we can't get a puppy," the mother concluded. She then shifted the child in her arms and made sure he was comfortable. She said, "Now, why don't you take a little nap while mommy sings you a song?"

Comfortable in his mother's arms, the warmth and lullaby quickly soothed the boy to sleep.

When the mother saw her child's eyes closed, she stopped singing and smiled. She brushed strands of hair away from her child's forehead with a hand and said softly, "Besides, one mutt is already enough."

Though it was said quietly, there was another woman who was in the room and she heard her.

This woman is the mother's sister.

"Honghong is the kid's name?" the sister asked.

The mother shook her head. "No, but Dong-er calls him that."

"How long since you took in the child?" the sister then asked.

The mother paused. She furrowed her eyebrows. She said slowly, "I believe it's a couple of weeks ago."

"Huh," the sister commented. The woman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

There was a soft chuckle. The mother shifted in her seat making sure not to wake up her child. She said, "Our government is so generous, you know. They gave us so much just to house a midget. Just to make sure he gets enough to eat and doesn't die."

The sister was unimpressed. The woman took a pastry from a plate. Before taking a bite, she asked, "Then where's the child now?"

The mother looked left and right. She looked at her sister and then shrugged.

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There was a building at the end of the town. It was abandoned.

Behind the building was a garden. Or what was left of the garden.

At the edge of this neglected garden was a boy digging furiously into the dirt with his bare hands.

The boy was skinny and small for their age, looking like three instead of five. He was wearing a plain shirt and shorts and flip-flops. The boy was hunched over, digging the earth like a dog.

The boy didn't stop until there was a hollow bowl-sized hole in the ground. Then he stopped.

The boy's fingernails were caked in mud and his face was grimy as well. The small boy was expressionless as he leaned closer to the hole. Then he screams.

"I HATE EVERYONE!"

"I HATE EVERYONE!"

"I HATE EVERYONE, I HATE EVERYONE!!"

"I HATE I HATE EVERYONE!"

"I HATE I hate... I hate..."

The boy screamed himself hoarse. He pants, bent over, pressing onto the ground with his palms, his hair falling over his forehead.

"I hate everyone..."

There was a sudden knock on the back of his head.

"!"

The boy froze. First, he saw a pair of white and pale blue shoes. Then the white socks that went up to the knees. Finally, he looked up to a boy, wearing short dark blue trousers that had straps over the clean white collar shirt and the shoulders. The boy was also wearing a school tie, matching his shoes.

The boy himself had black hair that appeared brown in sunlight, unlike Honghong, whose hair stays black and only black. The boy had round light-colored eyes, possibly brown but almost golden as the sun hit them right.

The boy spoke. "Hello. Are you a ghost?"

Honghong: "... ?"

"Hmmm." The boy tilted his head a bit and scrutinized the slightly smaller boy.

"I don't think you are a ghost," the boy decided. "I told Feng Xin that this place wasn't haunted."

Honghong stared at the boy, dumbfounded.

The boy walked over and plopped down on the ground next to him. Honghong made a noise knowing that the clean clothes were going to get dirty by the soil.

The boy turned his head towards Honghong. He asked, "Why were you screaming into a hole?"

"..." Honghong looked away. He muttered, "B-because I hate everyone."

"..." The boy nodded and blew a strand of hair from his forehead. Then he asked, "Why do you hate everyone?"

"B-because, because nobody loves me!" the boy said, louder than he intended towards the end.

The other boy blinked in surprise. Honghong quickly turned his head away. He then muttered, "They make fun of me, they don't want to see me, they look down at me, they hate me, so why can't I hate them?"

"..."

Honghong peeked at the boy. The boy was sitting on the floor with his chin up to his knees.

Then the boy scrambled up and leaned closer to Honghong.

He flicked him on the forehead.

"...!" Honghong quickly covered his forehead with his hands.

"Why'd you do that!" Honghong cried out.

The boy ha! and jumped up. He said, "My daddy always flicked me on the forehead when I say something stupid."

Honghong became mad. He retorted, "You think I'm stupid?"

"No, I think you're silly."

The boy sat back down.

"Why'd they make fun of you?" he asked.

"...they make fun of me for everything. For me being short. For me not having... a mom or dad. For me not having two normal eyes. For me being me..." the boy subconsciously hugged his knees closer.

"...well, you are short."

"..."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," the boy patted Honghong on the back. "But I think your eyes are cool. You're cool. Plus, you can always grow taller. I bet your mom and dad won't be happy up there to see you hating on everyone and life. You know, my daddy always says that life is paramount or whatever that means. I think it means that every life is important. So you're important," the boy finished.

Honghong stared at the boy who looked back at him seriously. Then the boy jumped up. "Oh!" he exclaimed.

The boy reached into his trousers' pocket. He rummaged around inside his pocket before taking his hand out. "Tada!" he said and opened his palm.

Honghong looked at what was in the boy's palm. "..."

It was a single-wrapped candy. There's a little cartoon cow on the wrapper.

"Here, you can have this. It's my last one and I was gonna save it but you are sad and candy can make people happy. It tastes like sweet milk," the boy said as he plopped back down.

"...but I don't like milk..." Honghong said to the candy in his palm.

"...!" the boy gasped as if he had never heard of such atrocity.

"Well, I would never!" the boy huffed. He hopped up again and put his hands on his hips. He said, "Well, that's why you are so short, you don't drink milk! Look at me, you see how tall I am? That's because I drink milk!"

Honghong looked at him. "..." he slowly slid the candy into his pocket.

The boy nodded approvingly. He sat back down. "There you go. You should eat it later, your hands are dirty right now. You'll be taller as long as you drink milk. Lots and lots of it! Oh, and exercise too! My daddy says you can become super strong and handsome if you exercise often," the boy said, lifting an arm and curling it.

Then he turned and looked directly at Honghong.

"Okay?" the boy asked.

"Okay..." Honghong said.

The boy smiled at him.

It was the first time someone truly smiled at him since his parents' deaths.

Should Honghong smile back?

But then the two boys heard something outside the fence. Honghong jumped up out of reflex.

"Oh, I forgot! That must be my friends, I got to go!" the boy hopped up. "Well, it was nice meeting you! Good luck!" the boy waved.

The boy left, only leaving Honghong with a single milk candy and a strong impression.

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The boy went back to his friends.

"There you are, Xie Lian! You've been gone so long that we thought the ghost got to you!" his friend said.

"What do you mean we? I don't believe in those things! Xie Lian, did you meet any ghosts?" his other friend asked.

The two boys were dressed in identical school uniforms to Xie Lian.

Five-year-old Xie Lian laughed. "Don't be silly, Feng Xin and Mu Qing. There are no ghosts. Let's go home now, I'm hungry."

"Okay. But why are your clothes so messy? Did you fight with the ghost?"

"It doesn't matter!! There was no ghost! I'll just clean up later. Let's go, let's go, race ya?"

"Ha, I've been waiting for this," the other boy said, stretching his arm over his head.

"...why, you think you can beat me?" the other boy taunted.

Xie Lian: "Oh, but neither of you guys can't beat me." (6v6)

The three kindergarteners speed down the road. (Later on, Feng Xin tripped over a rock.)

Behind a tree, a boy was peeking out at them. One hand pressed on the tree, the other clutched onto a single milk candy.

"Xie Lian gege..."

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A boy stood in front of a mansion holding something in his arms. He looked about seven or eight.

The boy glanced left and right. The street was empty.

There was a tall metal fence surrounding the mansion.

The boy hurried to the side of the mansion. There was also a fence. But between a section of the fence was a tall stone wall. The boy squinted up. There were no handholds or footholds for him to scale up the wall.

But he didn't need to climb over. As long as he can...

The boy lifted his arm and over his shoulder. He flung something over the wall. Then he turned around and hurried away.

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(Take this moment to remember to vote lol)

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"And this is how you do self-defense without hurting yourself or the bad guy!"

"Ow, ow, ow, Xie Lian, you are hurting me!"

"Oops, my bad, Feng Xin!" the eight-year-old boy said, releasing the grip on his friend's arms behind their back.

Feng Xin stepped back, rubbing his arms, frowning.

"Xie Lian, we asked you to help us with math homework, not this," another boy spoke up. He harrumphs and crosses his arms together.

The three boys were at the back of Xie Lian's house. Mu Qing, the boy who just spoke, was leaning against a wall.

Then something fell from above and hit Mu Qing on the head.

"What the-" the thing hits Mu Qing and bounces off his head.

"I got it!!" Xie Lian caught the thing with his hands before it could hit the ground. "Wow, I didn't know stuffed wolves can fall from the sky!"

"I think it fell from over the wall," Feng Xin said. "And that's a fox, not a wolf."

"Ah, I see. I wanna keep it, it's cute!" Xie Lian exclaimed.

"Wait, give it to me first," Mu Qing said, holding out his hand.

Xie Lian gave it to Mu Qing.

Mu Qing squeezed the stuffed fox.

"Mu Qing-?! What are you doing??"

"I'm checking if there are any cameras inside! My dad told me how people can put cameras inside stuffed animals!"

"Ah... But I don't think there's any camera... Stop Mu Qing, you are gonna deformed it..." Xie Lian's voice trailed off as he watched Mu Qing strangle and wring the stuffed fox with his bare hands.

Then there was a popping noise and a small pebble-like object fell onto the floor.

"..."

"Mu Qing, you popped its eye out!"

"I didn't mean to pop its eye out!"

Xie Lian took the stuffed fox from Mu Qing.

"I knew you were gonna do that!" Feng Xin exclaimed, pointing a finger at the boy. "You were just mad 'cause it hit you on the head so you decided to pop its eye out!"

"What, no! I didn't mean to!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

"No, you did!"

"No, I didn't!!!! I hate you, Feng Xin!"

"I hate you too!"

"I'm never gonna talk to you ever again!!!"

"Oh, yeah?!"

The boys didn't notice Xie Lian leaving and going inside the house.

They were too busy telling each other about how they will never talk to each other ever again.

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Xie Lian walks inside the house.

He had an idea for the poor stuffed fox that lost one of its eyes to Mu Qing.

And that idea is... An eyepatch!

But first, Xie Lian brought it to his nanny. So the stuffed fox can be washed.

A couple of hours later, Xie Lian and his nanny discovered a whole lot of clouds of cotton stuffing inside the washing machine.

...

Just kidding.

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The leaves danced across the courtyard.

It was a new school year.

Most gripped over the end of summer and Hua Cheng was one of them.

School sucks.

It was the first day of middle school for him.

The boy managed to make it till lunchtime without having to talk to anyone.

Hua Cheng was sitting at the table by himself. Debating with himself whether to leave the cafeteria or just stay there till the bell rings.

"Would you like some lotus root and pork rib soup?" a voice spoke.

Hua Cheng turned his head around.

"..."

There was a boy holding a thermos of soup.

Another boy was hovering behind the first boy.

"..."

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"Hey, Hua Cheng, my dad got me an apartment near our new school, wanna move in with me?"

"Lol, Luo-xiong, you sound like you're asking Hua-xiong to live with you."

"But that's exactly what I'm asking..."

"..."

"Sure, I'll pack my bags tonight."

"Oh, goodie! We can make the apartment our fun house!"

"...Wei Ying..."

"Ouch, don't flick me on the forehead, Hua-xiong!"

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。。。

。。。

"Are you alright?"

"I'm sorry, I'll pay you back."

"..."

"Really, I'll pay you back! I, oh... I don't have any cash on me... Do you have WeChat? I can pay you back right now via WeChat!"

"..."

"Then your QR code, Gege."

➡️

Thank you for reading!

('▽')/✨

I did a good job, did I? (OvO)

Did you catch all the tgcf references? 😝 Which ones?

Xie Lian didn't know whether to sit down or jump up...

Comments and votes will be (highly) appreciated! As usual!

Word Count: 2605