Breaking Free (Two Chapters Combined)

Zhou Tongtong was sleeping soundly in her big bed when, suddenly, someone pushed open her bedroom door.

Xia Qing stood in the doorway, her hair tied up and a floral apron wrapped around her, and called to her daughter, who was fast asleep in bed.

"Tongtong, time to get up..."

Zhou Tongtong slowly opened her eyes and looked at Xia Qing standing in the doorway. "Mom, what time is it?"

Xia Qing told her the time. When Zhou Tongtong realized she had slept in, she immediately threw off the covers, pulled off her pajamas, and hurriedly got dressed.

"Tongtong, there's no need to panic. We still have time..."

"Mm." Zhou Tongtong answered quickly, but she didn't slow down as she got dressed.

Zhou Tongtong had never been late since she started school, and she didn't want to make an exception today.

More than twenty minutes later, after breakfast, they were by the entryway.

"Mom, I'll head down first. Hurry up and come down too!" Zhou Tongtong, her hair tied in a ponytail and dressed in her school uniform, called toward the kitchen. Then she slung on her backpack and went out.

"Ding."

The elevator doors opened, and Zhou Tongtong stepped out, hurrying toward the building's exit.

In the distance, beneath the shade of a large banyan tree with lush, leafy branches in the landscaped greenbelt, the Little White Cat and Little Black Cat watched a butterfly perched on a flower a short distance ahead without taking their eyes off it.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew up, and the flower swayed violently. The butterfly perched on it took flight.

A black figure dashed after the butterfly and sprang into the air, leaping off the ground.

"Meow... Got it." The Little Black Cat opened its mouth midair and caught the flower