Mr. He smiled gently, very accommodating to the child. "No one else can bully me. Little one, will you introduce me to your parents?"
Xixi was taken aback. "Why suddenly..."
Mr. He said, "You've been staying with me for several days, and I haven't spoken to your parents yet. Even if it's just to put their minds at ease, I should get to know them."
Xixi blinked. "But I've already explained things clearly to Mom and Dad, and they're very comfortable with me staying with you."
"Their comfort is their business," Mr. He stated, having his own principles for dealing with things. "But as for me, I need to give your parents an account. Of course, I also have a selfish motive."
"What selfish motive?"
Hearing this from a gentleman whose demeanor was as smooth and warm as jade, someone who seemed incapable of ever losing his temper, Xixi was filled with curiosity.
What could possibly make him utter the word "selfish"?
"I want to be friends with your parents," Mr. He said gently. "You're not my child, after all, and you can't live with me forever. You'll go home sooner or later. Once you go home, we'll have fewer opportunities to meet, and perhaps we won't meet at all."
"No."
Before Xixi could even start, Mr. He waved his hand. "I know you're going to say that even when you go home, you'll remember me. But I still hope I can visit you in the future."
With such a sincere request, Xixi found it impossible to refuse.
Yet, he steeled his heart and shook his head.
"It's not that I can't, but not now," Xixi lowered his head, his voice muffled. "My mom and dad and I had a falling out, and it's not resolved yet. When I've sorted these things out, I'll introduce you to my parents."
If he were to let them know who his parents were now, they might suspect his intentions were less than pure.
Although... it had indeed started that way.
But...
Xixi glanced at Mr. He and sighed softly in his heart.
He'd rather think about how to explain this whole series of events to Mommy when he got home.
Seeing that the child seemed to have something on his mind, Mr. He didn't insist further. "Alright, I'll go by your arrangement."
"Mmm-hmm!"
Xixi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He had been worried Mr. He would insist, in which case he would have had no choice but to reveal his identity.
...
That evening, Mr. He called Xixi downstairs for dinner. After they finished eating, Xixi bid Mr. He farewell and returned to his bedroom.
Mr. He frowned slightly.
The housekeeper couldn't help but ask, "Is the child perhaps feeling unwell?"
Mr. He recalled the child's expression and complexion during dinner. "Probably not. He seemed to eat quite a bit earlier."
He didn't look sick at all.
The housekeeper couldn't fathom a child's thoughts and couldn't guess why the boy had rushed upstairs. "Perhaps he's just tired..."
"Mm."
Neither Mr. He nor the housekeeper could have imagined that at that very moment, Xixi was once again infiltrating the surveillance system.
The young man who had confronted him earlier had left the villa before dark. He had upgraded the entire security system, expecting no one to breach it again, or at least not to succeed if they tried.
Therefore, although Xixi encountered some difficulties in his intrusion, they were all solvable. The locked door soon appeared on the computer screen.
He rubbed his hands and waited patiently.
He hadn't turned off the monitor in the surveillance room; instead, he maintained real-time monitoring with the room. This meant his computer could see the footage from the cameras simultaneously.
Xixi threw himself onto the bed, pulled the covers over himself, placed the computer on the nightstand, with the screen facing him.
This way, he could ensure he turned off the computer immediately if someone opened the door.
He also had a small animated cartoon playing in the upper right corner.
After watching for about two hours, the unchanging surveillance feed suddenly changed.
Someone appeared.
It was Mr. He, wearing a light gray robe and white slippers. He gently pushed the door open and stepped inside.
As he turned to close the door, Xixi finally caught a glimpse of what was inside through the camera.
His eyes widened.
This was...
The door was closed, concealing everything within the room.
Xixi, however, remained lost in thought for a long time.
Only when the surveillance feed reverted to the unchanging closed-door state, after an unknown period, did the door suddenly open, and Mr. He emerged.
He locked the door and turned to leave.
He still carried with him the same sadness and loneliness that Xixi had seen that day.
Xixi's gaze was complex. After Mr. He had completely departed, he glanced at the door again. He had initially intended to just take a look and leave, but now he had changed his mind.
He wanted to go in and see for himself.
Mr. He had already been there once tonight, so he wouldn't go again. This was the perfect opportunity for him to sneak in.
Xixi took a deep breath, turned off the computer, and shut off all the lights in the room. He lay on the bed in the darkness, his mind, however, was crystal clear.
A knock came from the door, followed by it being opened a crack. Mr. He's voice rang out, "Is the little one asleep?"
His voice was very gentle and soft. Xixi did not reply.
Under the moonlight by the window, Mr. He glanced at the child lying quietly on the bed, then tiptoed out, closing the door behind him.
Silence fell over the room once more.
Xixi listened to the ticking of the wall clock, silently counting. After half an hour, he finally sat up in bed.
He threw off the covers, put on his slippers, opened the door, and walked towards the end of the corridor.
The corridor was utterly silent at this hour, and even the moonlight filtering in from the window at the far end wasn't enough to illuminate the entire space.
An ordinary child might have been terrified.
But Xixi was remarkably brave and unafraid. Guided by the faint moonlight, he reached the door. Earlier, he had seen Mr. He operate a keypad lock on the surveillance footage.
Although the lock had been partially obscured, Xixi had managed to deduce the password based on the movement of Mr. He's arm.
He held his breath and entered the password he had guessed.
"Click."
It was exceptionally clear in the silent night.
It worked!
Xixi gently pushed the door open. The room was dim. He had no flashlight and dared not use his phone, so he had nothing to illuminate his way. He fumbled his way towards the brightest spot in the room.
This was the curtain.
The curtain provided some blackout effect, but a sliver of moonlight still seeped through.
He pulled open the curtain, and suddenly, white moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the small room clearly.
Xixi's gaze immediately fell upon the wall.
The room was not large and didn't have much furniture, only a cabinet about half the height of a person, placed against the wall.
And on the wall above the cabinet were pasted photographs, one after another.
The woman in the photographs was stunningly beautiful, her eyes sparkling with life, and every smile and expression exuded a unique charm.
Xixi pursed his lips and stopped in front of the cabinet.
He recognized this woman.