Zhang Zian changed his mind from making a prank. Instead, he slightly patted on Little Celery’s shoulder.
"Good morning, Little Celery."
Even so, Little Celery was startled. She jumped a little bit and yelled. Her eyes were enlarged in fear, and she turned around and looked alertly at the person behind her. She felt relieved after recognizing it was Zhang Zian.
"Brother store manager, you scared me," she patted on her chest and said.
"Haha, you should see your face, it’s so funny. You want to try again next time?" Zhang Zian was teasing her.
"Please don't!" Little Celery thought he was serious. She waved her arms and said anxiously, "Brother store manager, you are an adult, you cannot bully children."
Zhang Zian felt superior because he was redeemed as an adult. In his pet shop, the elves usually didn’t think very highly of him. And now, someone was looking up to him, so he felt proud of himself.
"All right. I was just joking." He smiled, "You seem to be very timid, are you not a fan of horror movies?"
"Horror movies are the worst!" Little Celery looked very frightened. "There are some annoying boys at our school that use scenes from horror movies to scare us during recess."
Indeed, boys at Little Celery’s age had nothing to fear — they might even dare to pull whiskers from a tiger. Zhang Zian remembered that when he was a child, people didn't have cell phones or other electronic devices from which to imitate scenes from horror movies to scare others, but some boys would catch caterpillars or beetles to scare girls. At that time, he was a well-behaved boy, so he would not participate in such pranks with the boys, but he was not brave enough to stand up for the girls.
"Really? Did you tell the teachers about that?" he asked.
"I told the teacher, and the teacher confiscated their phones and asked their parents to reclaim the phones. And then the boys called me a snitch," said Little Celery in injured tones.
Zhang Zian felt compassion for Little Celery and tried to console her, "It's okay. You did the right thing. Who cares what the boys say!"
That said, he knew that Little Celery had not yet reached the age where she wouldn’t care what others thought of her. Even at his age, Zhang Zian didn't have the mentality of a saint that could ignore others’ comments. So, his consolation might only produce limited effects.
But Little Celery nodded and smiled a little bit, "That's what my mom said."
"Yes, that's what mature adults will tell you. So, you don't have to care too much about what your childish classmates say," said Zhang Zian agreeably.
"Okay, I understand," she nodded obediently.
"So, are you coming to my shop to feed Xiao Ling and Er Duo today?" He was walking with the foam insulated box tucked under his arm and asked her. He knew what the answer would be; he just asked because he had nothing else to say.
"Well…today…I don't think I can today..."
Surprisingly, Little Celery declined the invitation. She lowered her head, kicking rocks and shuffling her feet while walking. Her tone sounded like she was both confused and embarrassed.
What? That was the real problem? That was why she was sad?
Zhang Zian became serious and asked her, "What's going on? Did your mom not allow you to come to the shop?"
If Little Celery’s mom didn't want her to come to the shop, then no matter what the reason was or what her concern was, Zhang Zian would definitely respect her mother's decision. He didn't want Little Celery and her mother’s relationship to be affected because of Little Celery’s fond of pets.
"It's not my mom... It's..." she was hesitating whether she should tell him.
"Is there any reason you can’t tell me?" hearing that it was not her mother that stopped her, Zhang Zian felt relieved. What would stop her from visiting the pet shop if her closest f
amily member said yes?
"It's my classmates..." She raised her face a little bit and said embarrassingly, "I told my classmates at school that Xiao Ling and Er Duo can talk. They didn't believe me and called me a fool."
"Well..."
Zhang Zian didn't see that coming. Children, especially innocent children like Little Celery, always wanted to share with everyone if they discovered something new. So, it was totally normal that she would tell her classmates that Xiao Ling and Er Duo could talk. She didn't do anything wrong — if there was one thing that went wrong, it was that Zhang Zian didn't act as a thoughtful adult to remind her not to tell anyone about the hamster and the lop ear rabbit talking.
Zhang Zian could not blame Galaxy because it liked doing good deeds; likewise, he could not blame Little Celery because of her innocence. In the process during which children grew up, the behavior of the adults around them would influence the children’s personalities in one way or another, for children were very good at observing and imitating other people. If parents and adults around them couldn’t behave themselves, then it would be only a matter of time until the children would learn something bad or become sophisticated in bad advancements.
Zhang Zian could not blame Richard either. It was Zhang Zian who had told a small lie, and Richard just spoke on behalf of hamster and lop ear rabbit so that his lie could come true. Did Richard do anything wrong? Of course not.
Nobody had done anything wrong. Zhang Zian could only blame himself because he hadn’t been thoughtful enough. He hadn't even considered the possibility that Little Celery would tell someone else about her encounter with the hamster and lop ear rabbit. But even if he did remind Little Celery not to tell anyone, it would be a very difficult task for her, because kids liked talking. Besides, would she hide it from her mother?
Little Celery lowered her head and stared at the tips of her shoes, as if she had made a mistake and was waiting to be punished.
Zhang Zian noticed the two braids that swung rhythmically behind Little Celery’s head. Her hair was meticulously braided by her mother, and maybe only people who truly cared about Little Celery would notice her braids. He believed that Little Celery’s mother loved her wholeheartedly, and he would never do anything, no matter how small the possibility might be, that would influence the relationship between Little Celery and her mother. That was the bottom line and the ultimate principle that he would hold on to.
So, even if he went back to that day, he wouldn’t tell Little Celery to hide the secret from her mother.
Seeing that Zhang Zian had not spoken for a while, Little Celery raised her head secretly and looked at him, and then further lowered her head nervously. She had never seen her brother store manager looked so dismayed, so she was really terrified. She must have done something so horrible that her brother store manager, who was always so kind and friendly to her, would look so sad and angry. If brother store manager lost his temper, would he drive her away and not allow her to play with Xiao Ling and Er Duo anymore?
Little Celery nervously rubbed her shoe tips. Her eyes filled with tears, her sight became blurred, and she might cry any minute.
Zhang Zian was indeed very depressed, for he was faced with two opposite choices. One way was that he confessed that he had lied to her, and that her classmates were right, hamster and lop ear rabbit could not talk, and he was joking with her before. That was a rather easy way. He could get out of the responsibility easily. Sure, he was just teasing the kid — was that not allowed?
However, Little Celery might lose her trust in adults forever.
Zhang Zian could only choose the other way, which was the difficult one.