CHAPTER 406: 0347 TREASURE AND HANDKERCHIEF_1

"Mother!"

While Emma and Leon were talking, little Ellie was very considerate and didn’t disturb them, only occasionally casting a longing glance in their direction.

Once Emma finished her conversation and entered the garden, Ellie, unable to hold back any longer, ran over, gently tugged at Emma’s skirt, and handed over something in her hand, as if presenting a treasure.

"Look, look!"

Were those... winter holly berries?

After identifying the small orange-red fruit in front of her, Emma smiled softly, bent down, and picked a leaf off Ellie’s soft cap, saying,

"That’s great, I thought all the holly berries in the garden had been eaten by the little animals... Where did you find them?"

"Over there!"

Pointing to a partially cleared bush, Ellie, with a bit of sweat on her forehead and a few specks of dirt on her nose, exclaimed with bright eyes,

"Sister Melanie took me in to see, and there were these red little berries, and lots of little dog footprints!"

Little dog footprints?

Emma was slightly taken aback and said in confusion,

"Are there dogs in the garden?"

"I don’t know... but there really are lots of little footprints!"

Little Ellie shook her head excitedly and said,

"I’ve looked at every place in the garden so many times, but it’s the first time I’ve known there are little dogs! William and the others are amazing! They just glanced and found footprints behind the bushes and discovered a secret path!"

A secret path? Is there really a secret path in the garden?

"Really! There’s really a secret path!"

Seeing Emma’s somewhat disbelieving look, little Ellie anxiously said,

"I’m not lying to you, after discovering the secret path, Melanie wanted to crawl in and take a look, Aunt Anna wouldn’t let her, so William climbed a tree from the other side to trick Anna Aunt... ah!

Not! That... it wasn’t cheating! It’s just... just..."

"..."

*Understood, it was a diversionary tactic to lure Anna away!*

*These two little rascals were even coordinating!*

Watching little Ellie panic and cover her mouth after accidentally spilling the beans, Leon sighed inwardly and quickly walked into the garden, circling to the front of the bushes.

Sure enough, a small backside was wiggling halfway caught in a bush, with Melanie having squeezed into the so-called secret path, squirming and shouting muffledly,

"It stinks! It stinks! Pull me out!"

"Waaah! It stinks to death! Ellie! Ellie help!"

"..."

*I just knew you two would cook up some nonsense!*

After pulling apart the bushes and extracting Melanie, now looking like a mud monkey, Leon couldn’t help but say with a stern face,

"What did you promise me yesterday? Forgot?"

"Ah? Big Brother?"

Seeing Leon’s stern face, mischievous Melanie was startled, snapping out of her delight in discovering the secret path, and awkwardly pointed behind her saying,

"Um... there’s a secret path! And there seemed to be something in there. I even grabbed a handful! It might be treasure!"

Treasure?

Looking at Melanie’s little hand offering treasure, Leon suspiciously extended his palm but seeing her eager expression, he let her place the so-called treasure in his hand.

Hmm... dark brown, quite hard, slightly flat cylindrical shape, about a centimeter in diameter, and... it smelled a bit pungent...

"This seems like badger tracks."

Having followed holding her daughter, Emma pointed at the footprints on the ground with some amusement,

"The prints on the ground don’t look like dog paws; they have five toes, and the front paws seem larger than the back ones, similar to a badger’s footprint characteristics, so what they found should be a badger’s den, not a secret path.

As for the treasure in your hand... uh... do you want to wipe your hand?"

"..."

*A treasure dug out from a badger’s den... isn’t that just dried poop?!*

Hearing Emma’s judgment, Leon’s hand shook and he quickly flung away the dried poop pellets, his face darkening several shades.

Little Ellie, upon finding the berries, eagerly brought them to Emma, while Melanie, after crawling out of the dog hole, gifted her big brother a handful of badger poop.

*This contrast was truly stark...*

As Leon glared at Melanie, who got him into trouble, while scrubbing his hand with a handkerchief, Anna, who had been "diverted," arrived from the opposite side with William, slightly out of breath.

"I knew it, you two are definitely up to something!"

Seeing Melanie covered in dirt, Anna, accustomed to mentally sparring with her siblings, instantly realized she had been tricked. She grabbed William by the ear, gritting her teeth and said to the embarrassed Melanie,

"The gifts I promised you two are canceled! Next week’s allowance is also going to be deducted!"

"Wow! No!"

Although Melanie had guessed the gifts might be canceled, she hadn’t expected the allowance would be deducted too, so she quickly looked towards her caring big brother, batting her big doe eyes, hoping someone would come to her aid, but alas...

"There’s no use looking at me!"

Recalling the feel of those dry poop pellets, Leon resolutely said,

"The allowance must be deducted, and not just that, you have to wash the dirty clothes yourself today! You can’t ask Anna for help!"

"Waaah!"

...

After the small storm stirred up by the "secret path treasure," Leon’s family was invited by Emma into the small wooden cottage on the side of the garden.

Once the dust was patted off the three children’s clothes, Emma pulled out two slightly damp towels, handing one to Anna, then gently held little Ellie in her arms and began to wipe her face tenderly.

Meanwhile, Anna pinched her mischievous sister’s cheek with her left hand and vigorously scrubbed with the wet towel in her right, as if giving a bath.

"Gent... gently! It hurts!"

"Bear with it if it hurts! I can’t be gentle!"

"But if it... uh, if it’s like how little Ellie is being wiped, that’d be fine!"

"No way!"

With the towel, Anna scrubbed Melanie’s forehead hard, making her little head red all over, saying angrily,

"Ellie just has a bit of loose dirt on her face, but your sweat and dirt have turned into mud; how can I wipe it off without some effort?"

"But... it hurts!"

Blocking the assault on her face, Melanie half pleaded with hope,

"How about you wipe William’s face first? I can wait until Aunt Emma is done..."

"Endure it!"

"Oh..."

*Humph, my foolish sister!*

Seeing Melanie even at such a moment trying to drag him into the mess, William, whose face was equally filthy, glared at her with disdain, then crossed his arms and smirked, feeling a sense of superior intelligence.

Although it felt uncomfortable with mud smeared on the face, since Anna was fuming, the first to have their face wiped would surely suffer. So, he purposely stepped back slightly, letting her be the first, waiting until Anna’s anger was spent before...

"William, come!"

Watching his sister and Emma tend to the kids while his hands were idle, Leon felt slightly awkward, so he pulled out a handkerchief from the Mirror World, gestured for William, and said,

"Don’t wait for Anna, I’ll help you wipe your face!"

Big Brother?

Hearing Leon’s call, William thought for a moment; having Big Brother do it might not be so bad, so he nodded and walked over with a cool demeanor, tilting his little face up towards Leon.

"Ugh!"

"Big Brother, your handkerchief smells a little... stinky..."