CHAPTER 521: CHAPTER 521 JUMPING BALL

"Dou Dou, do you... do you want to come to my house and play?"

Yuan Kaiyang hesitated for a moment before speaking.

He didn’t really want to say this, but as a little boy, he was shy. Opening his mouth was a bit embarrassing, so it turned into an invitation for Dou Dou to come over.

"You have a home?" Dou Dou’s eyes widened in surprise.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Kaiyang’s anger flared up again.

"Of course I have a home. Without a home, do you think I just popped out of a rock?"

"Haha, so you’re a Sun Monkey."

"I’m a human, not a monkey."

"No, you’re Yuan, so you’re an ape-monkey." Dou Dou exclaimed excitedly.

Yuan Kaiyang was completely exasperated and found it exhausting talking to her.

"So do you want to come to my house?"

"Yes, of course I do. Are your parents monkeys too?"

Yuan Kaiyang, who had just comforted himself not to get angry, felt his temper rising again.

But just then, he heard Dou Dou say, "I wish my parents were monkeys too, so they could play with me."

This is a silly girl, nothing to be angry about.

"My parents aren’t monkeys, they’re human. My mom is a pastry chef, and my dad is a doctor."

"Wow, your mom is amazing." Dou Dou said, full of admiration.

"My dad is amazing too."

"What’s so amazing about being a doctor?" Dou Dou was a bit puzzled.

"They just give kids shots, making them cry—nothing amazing about that." Dou Dou said while following Yuan Kaiyang ahead.

"You make a point; my mom is indeed more amazing."

"Right?"

Gaining Yuan Kaiyang’s agreement seemed to make Dou Dou extremely happy.

"Is your home far?"

"Not far, just up ahead."

"Is your home fun?"

"Yeah, it’s fun."

"So your home..."

"You’re a bit annoying."

"Hehe... Duoduo says that too."

"Who’s Duoduo?"

"Duoduo is a good friend. She also wants me to call her Sister, but I won’t. She’s only a little older than me."

Dou Dou gestured with her little hand, showing it was indeed just a little bit.

Yuan Kaiyang glanced sideways at her and asked, "Do you have many friends?"

"Not many... Duoduo, Sister Xiao Yue, Tang Tang..."

When mentioning Tang Tang, she hesitated, not sure if she should count her.

Just then, Dou Dou sniffed the air as she caught a whiff of a sweet aroma.

Yuan Kaiyang noticed and proudly pointed ahead, "That’s our bakery. Smells good, right?"

Dou Dou nodded quickly like a little chick pecking corn and rushed forward.

Then she reached the counter along the street, stood on her tiptoes, and slapped the table, saying, "Boss, I want to buy something."

Obviously, she was just playing around. Yuan Kaiyang’s mom inside couldn’t see her and continued to stare into space.

"Mom, I’m back."

Yuan Kaiyang walked over and habitually greeted his mom.

Dou Dou turned to him and asked quietly, "What’s wrong with your mom?"

"Nothing." Clearly, Yuan Kaiyang didn’t want to explain further to her.

"You’re lying; your mom is sad." Dou Dou immediately exposed him.

Yuan Kaiyang looked at Dou Dou, a bit surprised.

This little girl seemed silly but actually knew something about this.

"You actually know."

"Because my mom was like this before, dazed and silly, she was sad. Is she thinking about you?" Dou Dou turned again to look at Yuan Kaiyang.

Hearing this, Yuan Kaiyang’s lips quivered, feeling like he was about to break down.

"My mom... my mom... loves me very much, she... she’s very sad..."

"My mom loves me too, heheh..." Dou Dou giggled.

Is this how you comfort people?

Yuan Kaiyang sniffed but managed to hold back.

He led Dou Dou inside the shop to introduce his family’s bakery to her.

"This is a croissant."

"I’ve had it before, not tasty."

"This is a pork floss bun."

"The taste is alright; I like the meat inside."

"This is a dirty bun."

"Hmm, it looks dirty indeed; must not taste good."

"This is a cheesecake."

"This one is good, this one is good, it’s my favorite."

...

Yuan Kaiyang introduced various cakes to her and then took her upstairs to his home.

"I used to have a lot of toys. After I died, dad kept them all."

"Sigh, I’m the same."

Yuan Kaiyang pulled Dou Dou into a room filled with Yuan Kaiyang’s belongings.

Even though Yuan Kaiyang had been gone for over a year, his parents couldn’t bear to throw his stuff away and kept it in an empty unused room.

"You have a motorcycle?"

Dou Dou saw a children’s motorcycle and was amazed. She appeared and tried riding it, adding "vroom vroom" sound effects with her mouth.

"My dad loves motorcycles, and I often ride with him."

"Oh, that’s so cool." Dou Dou said, astonished.

Though she didn’t really understand what riding was, anything she didn’t know about was probably amazing.

Yuan Kaiyang looked enviously at the visible Dou Dou.

"You’re amazing too. I can’t do like you do; otherwise, I could see my mom and dad, tell them not to be sad or unhappy, and... and to be alright and talk again."

Dou Dou was a bit surprised, "Did your mom and dad have a fight?"

Yuan Kaiyang shook his head, "No fight, they just don’t talk."

"Oh, they ignore each other. Did someone make a mistake and not apologize?" Dou Dou pondered.

Then, as she tried to get off the motorcycle, she realized her legs were too short to reach the ground, which looked a bit dangerous. She hesitated a few times, worried about falling.

"Why not make yourself a ghost again?" Yuan Kaiyang said, speechless.

"Oh right." Dou Dou looked enlightened.

Yuan Kaiyang: ...

"If you like anything here, feel free to take it." Yuan Kaiyang generously waved his hand.

Though small, he knew you have to offer something when asking for help.

His mom would pay him or buy him snacks when she wanted him to do chores.

"Really?" Dou Dou was overjoyed to hear that.

A pile of colorful toys was too tempting to resist.

Hearing this, she rushed over and began rummaging through the pile of toys.

Of course, she made herself visible; after all, ghosts can’t touch things.

But among Yuan Kaiyang’s toys, most were dinosaurs, Ultraman, and Armor Warriors figures, none of which Dou Dou liked.

Yuan Kaiyang watched these and sighed deeply.

Many toys he saved money for or begged his parents to buy. They were his most cherished possessions but now sat in the corner collecting dust.

"Huh? What’s this?"

Just then, Dou Dou pulled out a large spherical object from the bottom of the box.

It had many holes, was hollow in the middle, and had a small ball inside.

"That’s a Jumping Ball, it has a switch, place it on the ground, and it sings and jumps by itself." Yuan Kaiyang explained.

The thing looked a bit like a disco ball.

"My uncle gave it to me." Yuan Kaiyang said.

Dou Dou followed his instructions to turn on the switch but found nothing happened.

"Is it broken?" Dou Dou lifted it overhead, curiously looking.

"Probably out of battery; just needs charging." Yuan Kaiyang pointed to a charging plug at the bottom of the box.

"Charging?" Dou Dou glanced at the nearby socket.

Charging was no problem, but—

"Mom and dad say kids can’t plug things in themselves, it’s dangerous."

"What’s dangerous?"

"You could get electrocuted."

"Aren’t you already dead?"

"Oh, right, heheh..."

So Dou Dou plugged in the Jumping Ball, enjoying the thrill of doing something naughty.

Meanwhile, Yuan Hesheng, working at a clinic near Hailong Square, habitually took out his phone to check the home surveillance.

He did this because he was worried about his dazed wife being sad at home and doing something rash when he wasn’t around, so he had installed surveillance cameras to check on her during work.

What he saw on the surveillance video left Yuan Hesheng in disbelief: the Jumping Ball was bouncing all over the room.