Chapter 1
On a holiday morning, a tricycle slowly drove into the alley.
The Xiao family’s Japanese-style old house was located at the end of the alley, and sounds of rummaging began to emerge from inside.
“This… and this…” Xiao Yao, the Xiao family’s youngest daughter who had just started elementary school, opened her round eyes and “scavenged” all the items she considered “abandoned” across the floor.
Soon, she hugged a cardboard box and stumbled out of the reddish-brown door.
“Hey! Stone! Stone—” Xiao Yao waved frantically at the tricycle approaching.
Clang! The cardboard box in her arms tilted, and a milk powder can rolled onto the ground.
The boy, about ten years old on the tricycle, smiled and nimbly jumped down, picking up the milk powder can. “Pigtails, don’t carry so much if you can’t handle it!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she swung her two black pigtails, responding in a tender voice: “Anyway, it’s useless to keep it.”
“Alright, thanks,” the boy carried the box onto the tricycle, then returned to the girl’s front, holding a cloth doll.
“Ha.” He extended the doll towards Xiao Yao.
“This…” Xiao Yao tilted her head in puzzlement, her gaze locked on the doll.
“For you,” the boy pushed the doll forward again.
“For me? Really?”
The boy nodded, smiling shyly, “It’s a bit old, I don’t know if you want it—” Before he could finish, the doll was already taken from his hand.
“So cool! Stone, you’re so nice! This doll is so pretty, I love it so much!”
The boy laughed watching her jubilant with the doll.
Under the warm sunlight, their rosy smiling faces looked particularly bright.
Finally, the boy jumped back onto the tricycle, which continued moving forward. Xiao Yao didn’t forget to wave goodbye enthusiastically: “Bye Stone! See you next week—”
Watching the tricycle gradually disappear, Xiao Yao, with a satisfied smile, turned back into the house.
But as soon as her foot crossed the threshold, a fierce face was already confronting her.
“Xiao Yao! Where did you put my comic book?” Xiao Guang-zong, the Xiao family’s eldest son, loudly questioned his sister.
“Comic book… uh, I…” Xiao Yao’s guilty feet began to retreat, finally turning to run.
