The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

"Hehe, thank you Xu Xi! I've always wanted a set of clothes that would make me look cool!"

Wen Yao spun around excitedly. After she put on this outfit, she attracted a lot more attention on the street.

As she passed by a movie theater, Xu Xi paused, her beautiful eyes lingering on the poster at the entrance for a moment.

On the poster, a boy dressed in tattered clothes and covered in dirt is riding a tricycle, carrying an even smaller boy in similarly tattered clothes behind him.

The difference was that the little boy was much cleaner.

Below the poster, the movie's name is displayed.

Wild Child.

"Do you want to see a movie?"

Wen Yao noticed Xu Xi's pause and looked at the poster as well.

"No, I'm just looking around."

Xu Xi shook her head and looked away from the poster.

Wen Yao grabbed her arm and led her into the movie theater.

"Let's go, I'll treat you to this movie. I've been wanting to see it too."

"Wang Junkai is so handsome, hehe..."

The cinema was unusually crowded because it was the weekend.

Wen Yao had to squeeze through the crowd to finally buy two tickets that were next to each other at the ticket office.

"Xu Xi, what would you like to drink? Coke, Sprite, or Fanta?"

Standing in front of the popcorn machine, Wen Yao held two buckets of popcorn, handed one to Xu Xi, and asked her about it.

"Huh? I...I don't drink."

Xu Xi waved her hand hastily, but in her heart she was thinking that the popcorn here was really expensive.

It's just a puffed snack made from corn kernels, yet a single tub costs tens of yuan.

Keep in mind that corn kernels only cost a few yuan per kilogram, so this bucket doesn't even need a kilogram of corn kernels.

"How can that be? How can you eat popcorn without drinking something?"

Wen Yao took two cups of cola and insisted on giving one to Xu Xi.

"Miss, are you going to see 'Wild Child'?"

The popcorn vendor asked Wen Yao.

Wen Yao nodded: "Oh, how did you know?"

"This movie is really popular lately, lots of people are watching it!"

The salesperson smiled and pointed to the tissues on the shelf next to them.

"Need some tissues? One dollar a pack."

"Thank you, but no need."

Wen Yao thought to herself how strange it was that the cinema clerk was actively trying to sell her paper.

"Give me a pack."

Xu Xi ordered a bag and accompanied Wen Yao shopping for several hours. She felt like she needed to use the restroom.

The two waited only a few minutes before the movie started checking tickets.

Wen Yao pulled Xu Xi into the screening room and found the two seats marked on the tickets.

"Hey? Xu Xi, why aren't you eating popcorn?"

Wen Yao looked at the half-eaten popcorn bucket in her hand, then at the untouched bucket in Xu Xi's hand, and asked in confusion.

Xu Xi was taken aback: "Isn't this yours...? Let me hold it for you first."

Wen Yao poked her forehead helplessly.

"You silly thing, I don't have hands, why do you have to hold this for me? I bought it for you to eat, try it."

"But...you already treated me to a movie, it's not right for me to take so many things from you..."

"Hey, you've treated me to meals and clothes, haven't you? That's way more expensive than the movie tickets and popcorn I bought for you, okay?"

Hearing this, Xu Xi finally dared to pick up a small piece of popcorn and put it in her mouth.

It's sweet and crunchy.

It smells delicious.

The movie started shortly afterward.

As the scenes of the mountain town's alleyways were projected onto the big screen, the audience's attention was immediately drawn to them.

"Wang Junkai! Wang Junkai!"

Wen Yao cheered, popcorn spitting out of her mouth.

"Ahhh, so handsome!"

Xu Xi sat quietly. It was her first time watching a movie, and she was still a little unaccustomed to the deafening sound from the speakers.

The noise made her ears hurt a little.

However, it is indeed very immersive.

It felt as if I were in that alley, surrounded by several children bullying me.

The scene then shifts to the old building where Ma Liang lives.

Looking at the messy environment inside the house, Xu Xi vaguely remembered that when she first came home with her brother, the house looked just like this.

It's even worse than it appears on screen.

"Give me back my face cream!"

"Please deliver it to me."

"If someone in uniform asks you..."

"I told you it was given to me by my grandfather!"

......

"Why aren't you eating?"

"I'm not hungry."

"I've given you the things. Don't come looking for me again."

Gradually, Wen Yao stopped looking at him like a little fangirl.

She began to watch the plot more carefully.

Xu Xi, standing to the side, already had slightly reddened eyes.

I always feel like these things are my own personal experiences.

As the plot unfolds, Ma Liang seems to see a reflection of himself in Huanhuan.

His inner kindness was ignited, and he took Huanhuan in.

Although the two of them were struggling to make ends meet, a glimmer of hope returned to Ma Liang's eyes, and Huanhuan was no longer bullied by other children or beaten by her grandfather.

Gradually, the movie builds to its climax.

After Ma Liang and Huanhuan finished their free meal, he was horrified to find Huanhuan unconscious in his arms.

After taking him to the clinic for a checkup, because they didn't have money to buy medicine, they left the clinic with Huanhuan in their arms while the doctor chased after them.

"Am I going to die?"

"Don't talk nonsense, that can't be true."

"It's just a minor illness."

Lying on a bed in the abandoned amusement park, Ma Liang stared blankly at the ceiling, his mind replaying the nursery rhymes his mother used to sing to him.

"Noodles and skewers with oily coating."

"Pork slices, honey jars."

"My child is a lucky one, born and raised in good fortune, enjoying happiness from a young age..."

The fireworks outside the window were dazzling, and Huanhuan fell asleep peacefully in Ma Liang's company.

At that moment, the sounds of crying and blowing noses rang out simultaneously in the movie theater.

"Waaaaah... Who's lingering in my eyes?"

Wen Yao cried her eyes out, grabbing Xu Xi's arm beside her.

"Xu Xi, quickly get me a piece of paper."

I called out for a long time, but I didn't feel any response from the person next to me.

She turned her head and saw that Xu Xi was already sobbing uncontrollably.

The tissue box in my hand was now empty, and my lap was piled high with used, dirty paper.

She began wiping her tears onto her sleeves, leaving her white shirt stained with tear stains.

Helpless, Wen Yao had no choice but to imitate Xu Xi and vigorously wipe her tears onto the puff sleeves of her new dress.

After crying, she couldn't understand why there were people like Ma Liang.

They struggled to survive, barely had enough to eat or wear, and spoke weakly and listlessly.

Yet she still gives everything for someone with whom she has no blood relation.

Xu Xi bent over, buried her head between her legs, and her body twitched incessantly.

She could no longer bear to watch.

Other people watch movies to see the story told on screen.

For Xu Xi, watching this movie was like looking in a mirror.

She was a wild child, and her brother was a wild child too.

The person who did everything in her power to support her life as a wild child was another wild child.