Li Xiaoya gripped Sheng Yuxiao's sleeve more tightly, barely managing to pull the enraged young man back to her side.
"Does he know me?" Li Xiaoya asked.
"What?" Sheng Yuxiao was taken aback, calming down a bit.
Then, following Li Xiaoya's gaze, he looked at the person on the ground and frowned, saying hesitantly, "I think he might have some kind of mental illness..."
The staff members approached at this point, not daring to simply help the man up. Instead, they crouched down and asked, "Hello, may I ask who you are? Do you know our show's guest? Hello?"
The man didn't respond to anyone's voice around him.
The staff members exchanged glances, then spoke with more confusion: "Can he not hear?"
"Surely he's not really mentally ill? He doesn't look like it from his clothes."
"Should we call the police?"
"Maybe we should look for contact information on him?"
"He doesn't have a mental illness," Li Xiaoya's voice rang out again, clear and crisp. "He's deaf and mute, I think. I saw him using sign language with someone earlier. But it seems no one here understands sign language."
"So he really can't hear us talking."
"Then... what should we do?"
"Why does he seem to be crying?"
"He looks quite pitiful, doesn't he?"
The staff members were at a loss, and in the end, they could only look pleadingly towards Sheng Yuxiao, the minor.
Sheng Yuxiao, however, didn't look at the "deaf-mute" man again. He cursed, "...The ice cream cone fell on the ground."
Li Xiaoya took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped his hand.
It was the sticky milk residue left on his hand when the ice cream cone fell.
"It is a bit of a shame, it must have been quite expensive," Li Xiaoya said.
Hearing this, Sheng Yuxiao laughed instead: "What do you mean expensive? It's just a pity. You waited here for so long, and in the end, you didn't even get a single bite. It all went to feed the floor."
After saying this, Sheng Yuxiao's expression turned serious, and he asked, "You saw this person using sign language with someone earlier?"
"Mm-hmm." Li Xiaoya nodded, pointing to the glass window outside. "He was outside earlier, seeming to ask someone something. But no one paid attention to him. Then he saw me and came in."
Sheng Yuxiao frowned: "Why did he single you out? Did he think a child would be easy to bully?"
"He hadn't done anything yet when you arrived."
Sheng Yuxiao tugged at the corner of his mouth, but didn't seem too embarrassed.
He turned and walked in front of the "deaf-mute" man, asking, "Why did you pinch my sister's face?"
The man, who had remained motionless when questioned by the staff earlier, now raised his head slightly to look at Sheng Yuxiao.
"So you can hear?" Sheng Yuxiao paused, quickly making a judgment, "You're not congenitally deaf and mute, but became mute later in life?"
The man didn't react again, not even changing his expression.
Only his tears, half-dried, remained on his face, making him look disheveled.
Li Xiaoya leaned forward with one hand on the table, peering ahead. She pointed at something in the man's arms and asked, "What's that?"
The man loosened his down jacket slightly, and something tucked inside fell out.
Sheng Yuxiao bent down to pick it up, looking at it: "A map?"
The staff members also craned their necks curiously: "Isn't this a map of South Province? Is he looking for some place?"
Sheng Yuxiao pinched the map in his hand and said, "It's wet."
The man still didn't move.
At this point, Li Xiaoya couldn't help but ask, "Are you lost?"
The man's eyeballs suddenly moved.
Sheng Yuxiao interjected: "He's a mentally sound adult, just mute, not stupid. How could he be lost?"
Sheng Yuxiao then asked the staff for paper and a pen, and leaned down to ask, "You can write, right? If you need help, write it down, and the show staff will help you."
The man took the paper and pen but still hesitated to move.
A staff member hesitantly said, "Should we help him up first? Then maybe we should call the police."
As soon as the words were spoken, the man got up from the ground, leaned against a nearby table, and wrote three characters: Don't call police.
His handwriting was beautifully and forcefully penned, showing he had clearly practiced.
This meant he likely had a certain level of education.
"Not call the police? You're making people very suspicious of your true identity. You're not some fugitive, are you?" Sheng Yuxiao looked at him with surprise and doubt.
Hearing this, the staff members also retreated several steps in fright.
The man remained unaffected and continued writing: I'm just here to find someone. You don't need to worry about me.
The staff members breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh, you're looking for someone. Wouldn't it be faster to let the police help you find them?"
The man shook his head and wrote: I'm leaving.
The staff members exchanged glances and made way for him.
"Why are his clothes so dirty?"
"He probably fell on the way. It's fine, he is an adult after all."
They murmured as they watched the man leave.
But after walking a few steps, the man suddenly turned back, staring fixedly at Li Xiaoya. He made some gestures towards her and then forced out some completely off-key sounds from his mouth.
Yes, he looked pitiful. But Sheng Yuxiao still coldly and mercilessly blocked Li Xiaoya from view, not allowing this strange person to look at her for even a moment longer.
The man had no choice but to grab the paper and pen again, hastily writing something before leaving.
Li Xiaoya tugged at the hem of Sheng Yuxiao's clothes from behind, reaching out her hand and saying, "Let me see."
Sheng Yuxiao checked the note, making sure there were no offensive words, before handing it to Li Xiaoya.
"I'm sorry for frightening you," was all that was written on it.
Li Xiaoya couldn't help but say, "We didn't ask his name."
Sheng Yuxiao said, "He's just a stranger anyway."
"But he still hasn't said why he pinched my face. Why did he look at me and cry? Does he know me? And who is he here to find?" Li Xiaoya looked at Sheng Yuxiao with expectant eyes.
Sheng Yuxiao's gaze flickered.
Yes, why indeed?
Although it was strange.
Although they knew that a relative from Li Xiaoya's mother's family couldn't possibly appear here alone, in such a strange manner...
But Sheng Yuxiao still remembered a lesson his young uncle had taught him—
To be smarter and stronger than others, you must pay attention to more details than others, and not let these details slip away from under your nose.
Sheng Yuxiao said two words to Li Xiaoya: "Wait here."
Then he strode forward with his long legs and caught up with the man, grabbing his shoulder.
Sheng Yuxiao called out a name in his ear: "Wei Xuanming."
The man didn't move.
Sheng Yuxiao asked, "Are you his younger son? Who are you here to find? Your sister who's been missing for ten years?"
The man still didn't move.
Sheng Yuxiao frowned in confusion and withdrew his hand.
Had he guessed wrong?
Were they completely unrelated?
Sheng Yuxiao took half a step back, but the man suddenly turned around, looking at him coldly and warily.
There was none of the expected excitement.
Sheng Yuxiao's heart, however, settled back steadily: "Looks like I guessed right. Why are you here alone..."
The man took two steps back in succession, one hand pressing against his waist.
As if he had some weapon hidden there.
Sheng Yuxiao instantly realized that the man seemed to have misunderstood something. Did the man see him as an enemy?
Sheng Yuxiao immediately shouted, "Haven't you already found the person you were looking for?"
