"Who are you talking to?"
"Zhu Zhu."
The child's matter-of-fact answer made the woman's pupils contract. Quickly, she arched her brows with a faint smile. "The pig with two heads?"
"Mm."
After answering his mom, the child turned back to look at Zhu Zhu.
But when he saw the grinning pig faces reflected in his left and right eyes, he was startled.
"Wah~"
The child cried out and quickly hid behind his mom.
When he saw the pig's grin grow wider, he instinctively looked away, only to see Zhu Zhu's tusks jutting upward on either side, almost poking its eyes.
Blood seemed ready to spill from Zhu Zhu's scarlet eyes.
The child gasped loudly, then buried his whole face against his mom's back.
The child's mom could clearly feel him trembling.
Her worry for him outweighed the strange feeling in her heart.
She reached out and held the hand clutching her clothes, then turned around and crouched down to take him into her arms.
"Linlin, don't be scared. Mommy's right here."
"It's okay."
The child's mom soothed him gently.
When she felt the little body in her arms stop trembling, she teased him with a smile. "Wasn't Linlin acting so brave just now?"
Who knew where he'd learned to stand with his hands on his hips and scold people like that?
He'd certainly done a convincing job.
"Why are you scared now?"
"Linlin—"
The child wanted to put on a brave face, but when he caught sight of Zhu Zhu from the corner of his eye, his head drooped again. He looked like a pitiful little puppy. "Zhu Zhu smiled."
"So ugly."
Maybe it was just her imagination, but the child's mom felt the temperature around them drop a few more degrees.
She glanced up at the sky. Broad swathes