In 3018, the New Year"s Day in 3019 arrived.
Before New Year"s Day, Avril moved back to her home.
Before leaving, she said to Su Yutan, “You should come over and see Arnold! My family has not allowed Jia jia to meet with him so Arnold is very sad. Just comfort him and say that those things are not his fault.”
“Okay.” Su Yutan agreed to Avril, but she smiled bitterly in her heart.
How would she comfort Arnold?
It is a fact that his mother did all the bad things; it is also true that Avril"s family did not want to see him because of his mother; he was not a friend of Jia jia because of his mother.
These things are indeed not Arnold"s fault, but they have an inescapable impact on Arnold"s life.
She called Dr. Qiao, asked about the size of Arnold"s shoes, and found a good-selling children"s shoe on the Internet. It was a New Year"s gift for Arnold.
On the second day of 3019, Su Yutan met Arnold again in the children"s amus.e.m.e.nt park where she met Cui Linlin.
When seeing Su Yutan, Arnold let go of his father"s hand, rushed to hug her leg, and looked up to her and said, “Aunt Su, I miss you so much!”
“Aunt misses you too!” Su Yutan picked him up, smiled and nodded in appreciation.
“Arnold weighs a lot. It seems that you eat well everyday?”
Arnold smiled, nodded heavily, and said proudly, “Well, Arnold is well behaved, not at all difficult to raise.”
Su Yutan smiled and praised him, “Good boy!”
She had a hard time holding Arnold, so she put him down, held his hand, and greeted Qiao Dongfeng, “How are you doing recently?”
Qiao Dongfeng looks a little shy. After listening to her question, he smiled slightly, “Not good. But compared to Wei"er and her family, It"s not much.”
Su Yutan couldn"t help sighing, and could only say, “Take care of yourself and give Wei"er some time.”
Qiao Dongfeng nodded, his eyes gloomy, “I understand. I will wait for her decision.”
Both were in a heavy mood and fell into silence.
Keeping his eye on them, Arnold showed off his new shoes to Su Yutan vigorously, “Aunt Su, look! Look!” He pointed to his shoes and said, “This is Gamma"s favorite shoes! It"s my New Year"s gift from dad.”
Glancing at his shoes, Su Yutan agreed that it was indeed the same pair of shoes that Gamma wore in Wandering All Stars.
She praised him and took out the shoes she bought for Arnold to see if it fits.
Arnold broke down happily, he was wearing the new shoes she bought and was running fast in front of them.
Su Yutan watched him run and said to Qiao Dongfeng sitting next to her, “It seems that Arnold has begun chasing that play.”
Qiao Dongfeng smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, “I originally wanted to tell him this story first. But after he knew Jia Jia, Jia Jia took him to the drama theatre. Now, he is instead the one telling me the story.”
After playing for a while, Arnold ran back to Su Yutan and said, “I also prepared a gift for Aunt Su.”
He urged his father to quickly take out the gift.
Qiao Dongfeng took out a small wooden picture frame from his backpack, which was a children"s picture. It depicts an adult woman pulling a barefoot boy out of a door.
Arnold pointed at the two people on the painting and said, “This is Auntie Su, this is Arnold. This is Arnold"s painting. The picture frame my father bought with me is a gift for Auntie Su.”
Holding the frame in both hands, he solemnly handed it to Su Yutan, “Aunt Su, thank you for helping me out. I didn"t know that there was so much fun outside.”
Su Yutan felt that the smile in Arnold"s eyes was extremely innocent.
“Thank you, Arnold! Auntie likes this gift very much,” she sincerely thanked him.
After playing for a while, Arnold complained that he was thirsty and that he wants to drink chocolate, so he asked his father, Qiao Dongfeng, to buy some for him.
When Qiao Dongfeng went away, Arnold sadly asked Su Yutan, “Aunt Su, can I ask you something?”
“Yes, what"s up?”
“How can I have Aunt Wei"er to forgive my dad, and Jia Jia to forgive me?” Arnold frowned, his eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears.
With a sigh, Su Yutan gently rubbed his soft hair, “Arnold, there is nothing I can do about it. We can only wait for Aunt Wei"er and Jia jia to make a decision.”
“What if they refuse to forgive us?”
Su Yutan was silent for a moment, “There are two ways. First, you can make other friends. This is normal, so don"t be embarra.s.sed making new ones. Second, you can continue to wait until the day you are forgiven, or until the day you let them go. You can choose either or both of these two methods.”
Arnold was silent for a moment and said impatiently, “If I apologize for my mother, will they forgive me?”
“Arnold, what your mother did doesn"t require you to apologize for her.”
“But they were all angry because of my mother. Jia jia said that my mother was a very bad person, had done a lot of bad things and harmed Aunt Wei"er. She said she would never play with me again… ” Arnold finally cried out, ” Aunt Su, is my mother really so bad?”
Su Yutan could only hold him in her arms and silently comfort him. She couldn"t say something to pretend that she was too peaceful to deceive him.
When they finally said goodbye, Su Yutan said to Qiao w.a.n.gchuan, “Let Arnold make one or two new friends as soon as possible. When he has new friends, the damage will not be so big.”
Qiao Dongfeng nodded, “Doctor Lu said the same thing, but there were no suitable children around me to introduce to him. Fortunately, Dr. Lu has agreed to let Arnold go to an online school. I plan to register him after New Year"s Day. Can you see him make new friends in the online school?”
Su Yutan nodded and said nothing more.
Arnold has grown so isolated in the world that he mustn"t yet venture into physical schools.
Otherwise, he wouldn"t understand what the teacher is talking about, what his cla.s.smates are talking about, and he has to face countless people every day without any social skills.
Such a huge and sudden change will make him confused and make him feel isolated and out of touch with others and it is very bad for him.
By the same token, those children who are too skinny are not suitable to be introduced to him as friends.
Arnold still doesn"t understand what other children are playing, why they are making trouble, or laughing for any reason. Without an emotional foundation, another group of naive ignorance can easily arouse those children"s desire to bully and tease him, which would be even worse for him.
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1 ko-Fi = extra chapter