Xiaolu's tone was quite final, and his eyes curved into a crescent shape.
...
"Deer!"
The girl turned around and glared at her friend who was complaining about her, and yelled angrily.
"Well, I'm telling the truth."
Xiaolu narrowed his eyes and smiled.
...
"As long as you are scared by me."
Xiao Xiao made a smooth move and pushed the menu over, "Let's see what we want to drink?"
"Want to have cake?"
…
After the next two girls took their orders, the waiter with a rather strange expression bowed slightly and stepped back.
"What's wrong?"
The waiter who was passing by asked curiously and asked in a low voice, "What's your expression?"
"Not really."
"The two girls just called that boy Master Xiao, Master."
"What a strange title, isn't it?"
"Master? What the hell is this title? Why do you call it this?"
"I want to know too."
"The manager is watching us!"
"Okay, no more chatting, I'm leaving."
…
"Xiaoyu."
Xiao Lu touched his friend and said, "Tell Master Xiao what you told me before."
"...Xiaolu, please tell me."
Pei You whispered please.
"Then why did I bring you here specially?"
Xiao Lu was helpless, "I can't explain such a strange thing clearly. Only if you tell me Master Xiao can we understand better."
"Oh, it's okay, Master Xiao is a very nice person."
"Besides, I'm right next to you."
…
"excuse me."
The waiter placed the coffee and tiramisu that the two girls had just ordered on the table.
"Please enjoy.
The waiter bowed and retreated.
…
"Bai-you."
Xiaolu called out his friend's full name with a straight face, "Didn't we agree before?"
Why are you so dilly-dallying now and wanting to back down?
"Stop delaying and say it quickly."
"Master Xiao is very busy."
"He is a master."
"Master!"
"I also did him a small favor before, so he was willing to take the time to come over."
"Don't waste this opportunity."
…
Looking at Xiaolu who was seriously fooling his friends, Xiao Xiao lowered his eyes to block the smile.
However, it is obvious that these words have a significant effect.
Because, the girl who kept her head down and didn't look at him was obviously moved.
…
really.
Although Pei You was holding the coffee cup with both hands, he still didn't look at him.
However, the girl finally spoke to him.
"Master Xiao, please come here."
"...The thing is like this..."
…
The girl's home is in the suburbs.
There is a small river near her home, and she loved to play there with her friends when she was very young.
They can play by the river all year round and never get bored.
Especially water swimming in the summer, ice skating and ice fishing in the winter are must-have activities for children like them every year.
The river always echoes with the laughter of children.
Speaking of this, the girl who had always been a little too nervous seemed to have forgotten her nervousness because she recalled the good memories of the past, and her voice became more natural.
She looked at her reflection in the brown liquid in the coffee cup, fascinated.
She suddenly found that the corners of her mouth were raised.
...
"Ah, sorry."
The girl suddenly panicked again, and violent ripples appeared in the coffee cup, "I seem to have talked a lot of nonsense."
"Won't."
Xiao Xiao's eyebrows were slightly curved and his voice was gentle, "This should be related to the incident you are going to talk about later."
...
"......Um."
The girl suddenly wanted to look up at the boy in front of her, Master Xiao, whom Xiaolu had specially invited for her.
Naturally, the river is where the incident took place.
...
Although the river was very popular among children, there was a time when, for unknown reasons, children drowned one after another.
Although they were all rescued in the end, the river became a forbidden area that adults prohibited children from approaching.
Whether it was the child who almost drowned or the other children who were horrified to see their friends drowning, they all consciously abided by this new prohibition.
...
Pei You was one of the children who almost drowned.
She remembered clearly that something in the water grabbed her arm.
She turned her head to look, and saw the sunlight filtering through the water, and the light and shadow in front of her eyes were changing and sparkling.
But there was nothing.
She moved her arms uneasily, and a strange pulling force came over her.
...
Her heart beats very fast.
She thought of her friends who had drowned one after another during this period, and fear grew.
She began to swim desperately towards the water.
It was obviously just a not very deep river, but she could see the shining water when she looked up.
However, the force from her feet prevented her from getting rid of it like she had before from the force on her arms.
She didn't dare to look back at all.
She was extremely frightened.
Then, she choked.
The water rushed into her mouth and nose crazily, and she shed tears, which were mixed with the water.
...
When she woke up again, she saw her parents crying with joy.
She is held in her mother's arms.
The body is very weak, but the mind is at ease.
...
"After that experience, I never went to the river again."
"When I went home during the summer vacation, I heard from my mother that another child almost drowned in that river."
"After all, a long time has passed, and adults are much less wary of the river, and they turn a blind eye to children running there to play."
"Just warning them not to play in the river."
"But this time, I heard that the child fell in from the river."
"The child struggled desperately, but something was holding him on his feet, preventing him from breaking free."
"Later, the adults who came after hearing the news rescued the child."
...
"Like me and all the other kids who drowned at that time."
"It's because something in the water pulled my ankle."
"The adults say it's a waterweed."
"At that time, I didn't dare to recall the details of my drowning, so I just accepted it that way."
"But after hearing about the drowned child this time, I couldn't help but think of my own experience."
She noticed something was wrong.
So, she came to the river again.
She is no longer the child she used to be.
The water level of the river could not even cover her head.
...
Thinking this way, she no longer had the shadow of her childhood towards this river.
Then, the familiar force on her ankle made her look stunned.
Same as last time.
This force kept trying to take her deeper into the water.
But what was different was that she pricked up her ears and listened carefully.
"...play with...play...play with me..."
The thin voice was intermittent.
She frowned, listened more attentively, and couldn't help but bend her body further toward the river.
But just a second before she was about to be dragged into the river, she suddenly broke away from the force on her feet and took a few steps back with a slight stagger.