Chapter 98: I Won’t Dare Do It Again
A month later, taking advantage of his Sunday off, Gu Huaiye took Xie Miaohan to the supermarket.
He had just received his salary of four thousand yuan. Finally, they could eat something good, and he could get some nutritious food for Xie Miaohan.
Xie Miaohan followed silently behind him the entire time.
After Gu Huaiye finished buying ingredients for the week, he turned to look at Xie Miaohan.
“Do you want some snacks?” Gu Huaiye smiled gently. “Go pick some out yourself.”
Xie Miaohan shook his head.
“Really not eating any?” Gu Huaiye raised an eyebrow and teased him intentionally. “If we leave the supermarket, you won’t have a chance to change your mind.”
“I won’t eat.”
Gu Huaiye frowned, feeling that Xie Miaohan was acting a bit strange today, but he didn’t take it to heart.
They paid the bill and prepared to leave the supermarket.
As they passed through the anti-theft gates, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded.
A security guard ran toward them and blocked Gu Huaiye’s path.
“Sir, please stop.” The security guard looked grave. “Come to the office with me.”
Gu Huaiye naturally didn’t want to go with the guard.
Everyone in the supermarket was looking at them now. If he went with them, it would be admitting they stole something.
But he hadn’t stolen anything at all. Everything he wanted to buy had been honestly placed in the shopping cart.
The anti-theft gate must be broken.
“I didn’t take anything of yours.” Sensing the surrounding gazes, Gu Huaiye felt terrible, his tone cold and heavy. “If I really wanted to steal, would I need to buy this huge bag of stuff?”
“The alarm went off,” the guard said. “If there’s a misunderstanding, let’s clear it up in the office first. We won’t wrongly accuse a good person.”
“Going to the office to let you search us—does that not count as wrongly accusing?”
It wasn’t that Gu Huaiye was being unreasonable. He hadn’t stolen anything, and he didn’t want Xie Miaohan to go through such an experience, fearing it would leave a shadow on the child.
“Sir, please understand us. If you refuse to cooperate, we will have to call the police.”
Gu Huaiye pursed his lips and simply put down the shopping bag. In front of everyone, he took off his jacket, shook it vigorously, and then turned all his pockets inside out.
“Is this enough?” Gu Huaiye suppressed his anger. “Now, I need an apology from you.”
The security guard’s gaze suddenly shifted to Xie Miaohan. “He hasn’t been searched yet.”
Gu Huaiye’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“He’s only seven years old. What could such a small child understand? You want to search him?”
“Please cooperate with us.”
Gu Huaiye was about to explode.
He rolled up his sleeves, ready to start a huge argument. Suddenly, Xie Miaohan grabbed his hand, his voice carrying a trace of sobbing.
“Brother, I’m sorry.”
Gu Huaiye froze and looked down at Xie Miaohan.
Xie Miaohan let go of Gu Huaiye’s arm and pulled a lot of things out of his pockets.
Chocolates, biscuits, bread, and so on…
He didn’t dare take fresh food, afraid he couldn’t explain it to Gu Huaiye.
He took everything out. It was all food, small in size, totaling nearly twenty items.
If Gu Huaiye hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed Xie Miaohan could do such a thing.
“Xie Miaohan!” Gu Huaiye was both angry and disappointed. “How could you take these things? If you wanted to eat them, just tell me! Why hide them in your clothes?”
Xie Miaohan clenched his fists, hung his head, and didn’t dare make a sound.
The security guard suddenly laughed. “Sir, did you instruct the child to do this?”
Xie Miaohan immediately looked up and denied it. “It has nothing to do with Brother. I stole them myself.”
Brother was always busy.
He had no time to rest.
He wanted to steal some food to share the burden. He would just say a classmate gave them to him and let Brother eat them too.
As long as they didn’t spend so much money, Brother wouldn’t have to work so hard and could pay attention to him.
He thought this place was like District H—as long as his technique was good enough, no one would notice.
He never expected the machine at the door to ring.
Xie Miaohan’s denial made the guard feel the two were even more suspicious.
“Sir, we might have to let the police handle this.”
Gu Huaiye’s breath hitched, and he quickly grabbed the guard’s arm.
If they called the police, Xie Miaohan might be expelled from school, and he would lose his job too.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t teach the child well.” Gu Huaiye’s face flushed red as he bowed and pleaded, “I’ll pay double for these things. Please don’t call the police. He’s still very young. If word gets to the school, his classmates will mock him.”
Perhaps Gu Huaiye’s apology was too sincere.
Or perhaps there were too many onlookers, and they feared causing a bad impression by seeming too aggressive.
The guard called the manager. After discussing it, they allowed Gu Huaiye to buy the concealed items at the original price and blacklisted them, banning them from entering the supermarket again.
After leaving the supermarket, Gu Huaiye walked straight ahead, refusing to say a word to Xie Miaohan.
Xie Miaohan jogged to keep up with Gu Huaiye, his eyes red, biting his lip to keep from crying out loud.
When they reached the door of their home, Gu Huaiye took out his keys.
His hands were trembling uncontrollably, unable to align with the keyhole.
Gu Huaiye had never been this humiliated or embarrassed.
To be searched in full view of the public and beg the other party not to call the police.
He felt powerless and incredibly wretched.
“Brother,” Xie Miaohan suddenly spoke up. “Let me open it.”
Gu Huaiye looked down and glared at Xie Miaohan.
There was no expression on his face; he looked extremely cold.
Xie Miaohan’s eyelashes trembled, and he shrank his hand back.
The door finally opened. Gu Huaiye went in first, opened the shopping bag, and put the ingredients that needed freezing into the refrigerator.
Xie Miaohan stood frozen at the door, afraid to enter.
Gu Huaiye didn’t go over to comfort Xie Miaohan. He was in a fit of anger right now and really didn’t want to speak, afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from yelling at Xie Miaohan.
After he had taken everything out of the shopping bags, his anger subsided significantly, and he walked to the door.
“Why did you steal?”
Xie Miaohan bit his lip and didn’t answer, tears falling continuously.
“Haven’t I always taught you not to steal? I told you this often when we were in District H. Did you forget it all?”
Xie Miaohan shook his head slightly.
“I told you in the supermarket too—if you want to eat something, just take it, and I’ll buy it for you.” Gu Huaiye took a deep breath and said earnestly, “Do you know that the habit of stealing will ruin you? If you want to become a Commander in the future, past negative news will destroy your career.”
Gu Huaiye didn’t know why he was saying this.
Xie Miaohan was only seven years old; he wouldn’t understand.
He just felt so awful. He thought he was raising Xie Miaohan well, but it seemed he was leading him astray.
Maybe it was because he was too poor and couldn’t give Xie Miaohan a privileged environment that caused Xie Miaohan to have these thoughts.
“Miaomiao.” Gu Huaiye’s attitude softened. “Let’s forget about today’s incident. You are not allowed to do this again.”
Xie Miaohan finally dared to lift his face and look at Gu Huaiye.
“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to an uncle’s house for dinner,” Gu Huaiye said. “He’s my boss. He hasn’t been able to have children and is planning to adopt one.”
Xie Miaohan understood what he meant and cried even harder, rushing up to hug Gu Huaiye.
“Brother, I’m sorry, I was wrong. I won’t dare do it again.”
Gu Huaiye stroked his back gently. “I’m not angry with you. Stop crying. If your eyes get swollen, how will you meet the new uncle tomorrow?”
“No! I don’t want to leave here.” Xie Miaohan hugged Gu Huaiye tightly. “Beat me, but don’t drive me away.”
“Miaomiao, listen to me, stop crying.”
“Brother, I beg you.” It was the first time Xie Miaohan had cried this loudly, his tears smearing all over Gu Huaiye’s clothes. “I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’ll never dare steal things again.”
Gu Huaiye stared at him in silence.
After a long while, Xie Miaohan suddenly let go and ran downstairs.
“Miaomiao, where are you going!”
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