"Next time, pay attention to what's happening around you."
"Don't just charge ahead without thinking."
"Do you understand?"
Child's Mom spoke earnestly.
"Mm."
The child nodded obediently.
She understood.
The matter with the child ended in a rather anticlimactic fashion.
There was nothing else they could do, after all.
Aside from getting very drunk, the child hadn't been hurt at all.
The adults reminded her to be careful, then let the matter drop.
"...That's more or less what happened..."
Zhang Lei smacked his lips.
Even now, telling the story again brought back the complicated feelings he'd had when his older brother first told him about it.
Shock, curiosity, confusion, regret...
"Wouldn't you say it was pretty strange?"
Zhang Lei smiled.
"I have no idea what happened..."
"How did that girl Tián Tián end up getting drunk?"
"...Completely wasted, too..."
"Tsk."
"This is probably going to remain an unsolved mystery."
No.
It already was an unsolved mystery.
They hadn't found an answer back then...
And after all these days had passed...
There was even less chance they'd find one now.
"Mm."
The older man rubbed his chin.
Come to think of it...
"...It really is a little strange..."
he murmured.
"Right?"
A trace of puzzlement appeared on Zhang Lei's face.
His older brother and sister-in-law had told him about it. He'd thought it was strange when he first heard the story, but they clearly didn't care about it anymore.
So he hadn't said much.
Besides, there was no point worrying about it.
What could worrying accomplish?
There were no security cameras in the woods near the village.
The child didn't remember anything, either.
Then came all the times she'd run into bad luck...
And the whole thing was forgotten.
It had only come