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Chapter 174 Dream Part VI

Two pale boys entered the room, surprising Little Xiaolei.

The boys simply glanced at her before one of them hastily walked towards them.

"Chen, he’s coming." The pale boy said and the three of them snapped their heads towards her.

"I think, it’s better to hide her here. He’s already outside so there’s no time to..." the three of them looked around but it seemed like they couldn’t find a place for her to hide.

"How about in the bathroom?"

"No, he always visits the bathroom when he comes here."

"Can we put her in the cabinet?"

They opened the cabinet but because the cabinet had layers of boxes in it, she definitely wouldn’t have fit. They also tried under the bed but the beds in the room didn’t have any space under it.

A second later, they heard the door opening, but before Little Xiaolei could turn around to look, someone pulled her and then she fell on the bed.

Chen covered her with a blanket as he too lay beside her. This was the only thing he could think of to do!

"Oh! It’s rare to see you guys inside in broad daylight." A deep voice echoed inside the room. "Wait, is young master sick?!" the voice of the man was suddenly perplexed as he hastily walked towards the bed.

"He’s not sick. He’s sleeping."

"Are you sure?"

"I am. He couldn’t sleep last night."

"Is he alright?"

"He was reading a book till dawn."

"Sigh, you should’ve reminded him."

When they heard the man’s steps move away, Little Xiaolei exhaled. After a moment, they heard some noises coming from the kitchen. It appeared that the man came here to cook.

"Who is he?" Xiaolei whispered.

"He’s the one cooking for us."

"Why did he call you young master?"

The boy hushed her. "Have some rest for now until he leaves." He whispered near her ear and the girl could only nod.

Eventually, she drifted to sleep. The taxing hike exhausted her after all and it wasn’t just her who fell asleep in the end because the boy suddenly felt sleepy as well as soon she cuddled him.

...

"Make sure to send me a signal if anything happens, okay?" the girl heard the man’s voice as she opened her eyes. "Be careful! We can’t afford to let anyone see him."

"Yes."

"Okay, I’m leaving. Make sure that he eats when he wakes up." He added and when she heard the door opening, Little Xiaolei slowly lifted the blanket and peeked like a cat.

When he saw the man stepping out, her eyes widened. She knew him! He was their school nurse, Mr. Han. What was he doing here? Wasn’t he the man who always warned the kids at school to never to head into the forest? Wasn’t he the one who always talked about how scary it was to go into the woods?

The moment the door closed, Little Xiaolei was about to rise when she realized that her Chen-ge’s arm was keeping her from moving. He seemed to still be fast asleep.

"Chen-ge, wake up. He’s gone." She softly whispered and the boy instantly creased his brows before opening his eyes.

"Chen, lunch is ready." They heard someone speak and Chen rose lazily.

"Mm." he muttered and sat on the bed.

"Chen-ge! That man is... that man is our school nurse. How does he know you?!" Little Xiaolei was confused and curious but the boy didn’t answer her and led her towards the dining room instead.

"I’m Xiaolei," she introduced herself to the other two boys inside the room. For some reason, the boys looked at Chen as if they were asking him for permission on whether they can tell her their names or not.

"I’m Ten. This is Nine." One of the boy finally said, causing the little girl to blink at them.

"Nine? Ten?" she echoed obviously not believing them. But the boy looked like he was serious. Doubtful, little Xiaolei looked at Chen.

"That’s their English name." he simply replied and Xiaolei’s mouth formed an ’O’.

"I see, nice to meet you." she finally smiled.

After their meal, little Xiaolei was so eager to ask more questions but Chen told her they were sending her back.

The little girl, of course, wanted to protest but she was afraid he might not take her here again if she whined too much, so she stopped herself.

Thus, on their way back, little Xiaolei clung onto the boy, as she continued asking.

"How long are you staying in this place?"

"Two years."

"Why are you in this place? I heard Mr. Han say not to let anyone see you."

"Because I’m hiding here."

"Why?"

"Because my grandfather doesn’t want anyone to know I’m alive."

"Why?"

"Because if they knew, they would come and kill me."

"Why?"

"Because they want me dead."

Little Xiaolei was biting her lip. She now looked extremely troubled as she looked at him.

"Xiaolei." For the first time, he said her name. "That man is secretly my grandfather’s employee. He sent him here to watch me in secret. If he found out that I’ve been meeting with you, we will probably have to leave and go to another faraway place again."

"But I will never tell anyone about you."

"I know. But he won’t believe you."

"So, it’s okay as long as he doesn’t find out, right?"

"Mm."

"It’s okay then. Because he will not find out. I’ll be very, very careful." She promised and the boy slightly smiled again.

The little girl obviously didn’t fully understand what was going on. All she knew was that the rumors about the monsters were created so that people would stop going to the woods. Even though she knew that the killings were real, little Xiaolei didn’t think about it anymore. All that mattered to her now was her newfound friend and the joy she felt when she was with him. All that mattered to her was to keep him here in this place so she could see him every day.

Days turned into weeks, then into months and the season changed. It started to rain more often.

One afternoon, the rain fell heavily outside. Little Xiaolei had let the three boys inside her house but her grandparents unexpectedly arrived before they were supposed to. It seemed like there was an uprooted tree which had barricaded the road so they postponed their trip for tomorrow.

Panicking, little Xiaolei dragged the boys towards the back door but to her surprise, she saw a neighbor out in their backyard. Without a choice, little Xiaolei dragged them upstairs. As soon as she closed her bedroom’s door, her grandma called her name.

"Xiaolei, darling?"