Little Jinmeng saw that little uncle was ignoring her, so she ran on her little legs to Ye Junli and squatted down with her big head full of confusion.
"Little uncle, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Ye Junwen just snorted, still not paying attention to her.
Little Jinmeng looked up at little uncle's sulky appearance, puffed out her cheeks, and stuck out her little tongue.
"Little uncle, were you bullied? If so, then little uncle should cry, and Jinmeng will stay here with you."
As Little Jinmeng spoke, she turned her little bottom and sat down next to Ye Junwen.
Hearing the soft and cute voice of the little girl, Ye Junwen's heart warmed for a moment, but he still stubbornly said, "Who said I was bullied? I wasn't bullied, you don't need to worry about it!"
Little Jinmeng tilted her head and looked at little uncle. After thinking about it, she took out a fruit candy from her pocket and held it in front of Ye Junwen, and said tenderly:
"Little uncle, have some candy. Jinmeng loves eating candy the most. You'll feel better after eating candy."
Ye Junwen looked at the dirty little hand in front of him with a frown, not moving.
Little Jinmeng continued, "This is lemon flavor, sour and sweet, Jinmeng's favorite. This is my last candy, I'll count to ten, if little uncle still doesn't eat it, then I'll eat it myself!"
As she spoke, Little Jinmeng even swallowed, her eyes fixed on the candy as she started counting numbers.
"1,2,3...7,8,9"
Ye Junwen stared at Little Jinmeng's little face. Seeing her eyes get brighter as she counted further back, his mood inexplicably improved.
Just as Little Jinmeng was about to say "10", Ye Junwen took the candy at the sound of Jinmeng swallowing her saliva, without any hesitation.
He immediately unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth.
The extremely surprised yet regretful expression on Little Jinmeng's face completely delighted Ye Junwen.
Ye Junwen laughed out loud.
Little Jinmeng regretted that her last piece of candy was eaten by little uncle. Seeing Ye Junwen laugh, she could only sigh like a little adult.
"Oh well, I cheered up little uncle at the cost of one less candy."
"Hahaha..."
Ye Junwen was truly amused by this little girl. He rubbed her little head. Her soft hair made his heart feel much softer as well.
"Little uncle, are you feeling better now? If so, then I'll go catch butterflies again."
"I'm feeling better now. How about little uncle goes catch butterflies together with little Jinmeng?"
Little Jinmeng's eyes lit up. Those butterflies were so beautiful, but unfortunately she didn't catch any. With little uncle, maybe she can catch them now!
"Okay!"
Little Jinmeng held Ye Junwen's hand excitedly and took him to where she had been trying to catch butterflies earlier.
There were several beautiful butterflies gathered there at the moment, fluttering about in flight, although they were just very common wild butterflies, their patterns were indeed very beautiful.
Little Jinmeng immediately dashed into the middle of the dancing butterflies, spreading her arms to catch them.
The butterflies were surprised by the sudden human intruder and immediately spread their wings and scattered about.
Little Jinmeng, caught unaware, tripped over her left heel with her right foot and fell to the ground with a "plop!"
Ye Junwen immediately rushed forward, grabbed Little Jinmeng by her collar at the nape of her neck, and picked up the two of them.
Seeing Little Jinmeng's blank expression, Ye Junwen smiled and put her down on the ground, gently saying: "You stay here obediently, uncle will catch the butterflies for you."
Reaching out to rub her little head again, he then walked toward the fluttering group of butterflies.
Sure enough, the advantage of age applied here. Ye Junli quickly caught two butterflies and put them into the small glass jar Little Jinmeng had prepared.
"Jinmeng, look, I caught two for you."
Ye Junli smiled, seemingly showing off his accomplishment, holding the small jar and waving it in front of Little Jinmeng.
Looking at the two butterflies in the glass jar, Little Jinmeng said to Ye Junli admiringly: "Little uncle, you are so amazing!"
She reached out to take the jar, unable to hide the joy on her face.
"Little uncle, you helped me catch butterflies. I'll give you this to show my gratitude."
Little Jinmeng stuffed SpongeBob, which she had been hugging all this time, into Ye Junwen's hands.
"Little uncle, this is my favorite plush toy, you have to accept it. Dad said this is called 'courtesy requires reciprocity'!"
Ye Junli looked at Little Jinmeng's expectant eyes and reached out to accept this reciprocal gift.
"Thank you, little Jinmeng, little uncle likes it very much."
Seeing Little Jinmeng covering her shy smile with her hands, Ye Junli's heart softened even more.
The SpongeBob in his hand had also become the most important part of his life.
From then on, Ye Junwen became more and more estranged from Ye Jinchen, but increasingly doting towards Little Jinmeng.
So much so that when he was in high school he realized that his affection for Little Jinmeng had long surpassed that for his niece, and he panicked.
During that period, Ye Junwen was silent and asocial, even disgusted with his distorted mentality.
However, every time he saw Little Jinmeng, he could not control the urge to give her everything.
After thinking through sleepless nights, Ye Junwen finally decided that he would protect Little Jinmeng for a lifetime.
He would not be with other girls, and of course, he would not allow her to be with other boys either.
Until one time, on the occasion of Ye Jinchen's coming-of-age ceremony, many guests came to attend.
When someone compared the two of them again, Ye Junwen could not resist saying "I hate you, I wish I could kill you" when Ye Jinchen went to the restroom.
He didn't know if Ye Jinchen complained to Ye Junli, but after that day, Ye Junli moved his whole family out of the old house.
It was then that Jinmeng's attitude seemed to become cautious and distant towards him, and he rarely saw her again.
...
At this time, without realizing it, Ye Junwen had picked up that SpongeBob again.
More than ten years had passed. Although the SpongeBob was badly worn from him holding it for so long, there was no damage.
On SpongeBob's body was still a small glass bottle tied with yellow thread.
Taking a closer look, the bottle clearly contained the candy wrapper from the candy Little Jinmeng had given him that year.
Ye Junwen stroked SpongeBob's head with his palm, his voice helpless yet gentle.
"Jinmeng, what should I do with you?"
"Why are you so afraid of me? Why do you have to be with someone else?"
The more he spoke the lower and more frosty his voice became.
"What's so good about Shi Shuning?"
"No, I will not agree for you to be together."
Ye Junwen's fingers gripped SpongeBob's head tighter and tighter. By the time he came back to his senses, he had almost crumpled SpongeBob's head into a ball.
He hurriedly smoothed it out with his hands, still flusteredly apologizing, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Please don't be angry?"
