Filed to story: Eight Uncles Beloved Treasure
“Polly is scared of you, Uncle Gilbert,” the little girl whispered, motioning for Gilbert to remain silent. Her large, watery eyes and endearing actions made her look adorable. He glanced at the garden and suggested, “Lilly, why don’t I send someone to catch Polly so we can bring it home?”
She frowned and shook her head. “No.” Worried that the parrot might be listening, she checked her surroundings and added, “We can’t catch Polly because it will be scared. It’s a good bird.”
Although Lilly’s reasoning amused Gilbert, he nodded and agreed to her plan.
“Don’t move, Uncle Gilbert,” the little girl
tapped his shoulder and instructed. She then walked into the garden and called for Polly once more.
“A Dumb Dumb! A Dumb! Dumb!” Polly sat on the tree branch and chirped.
Lilly scolded, “Uncle Gilbert isn’t a Dumb Dumb, Polly.”
“A Bad Dog! A Bad Dog!” Polly chirped again.
“Uncle Gilbert isn’t a Bad Dog,” the little girl explained. Gilbert was speechless at the absurd conversation.
Despite Lilly’s reassurance, Polly refused to leave the tree branch. Lilly found herself venturing deeper into the garden. Suddenly, she heard a sound. When she turned to investigate, she noticed a pair of familiar eyes staring back at her. Just as Lilly was about to flee, Debbie grabbed her arm and said, “You’re finally here, Lilly.”
The woman covered Lilly’s mouth to stifle her cries. “Aren’t you happy to see me, Lilly?”
Debbie was unaware that Gilbert was in the garden. She pinched the little girl’s face and said menacingly, “I don’t like your attitude, Lilly. I’m still your mother, you know?”
The little girl struggled to break free from Debbie’s grasp. Debbie thought to herself, since when has the little brat become so strong?
“You killed my baby, Lilly. Why are you treating me like this when I’m still willing to care for you?” Debbie hissed. She looked different from when she used to hit Lilly in the past.
Seeing Lilly shake her head anxiously, Debbie continued, “You said you didn’t push me. But why would I fall if it weren’t for your sudden appearance? You should take responsibility for my baby’s death. I’m in a miserable state. If your uncles ask about the incident, you need to say that you pushed me down the stairs. Do you understand?”
Debbie tried to coax the little girl, thinking it would be easy to force her to comply. However, Lilly bit her lip and remained silent. She refused to admit to a mistake she didn’t commit.
Debbie scowled, thinking, Lilly is testing my patience. She’s such a useless brat who refuses to listen. This is so frustrating!
She threatened, “You’re a disobedient child, Lilly. If you continue to act so stubbornly, I’ll hit you.”
There was no footage of the incident, and no one witnessed what caused me to fall. The Crawfords will undoubtedly believe Lilly’s story. I can’t let her ruin my reputation; I’m still planning to seduce my idol.
Debbie once read a news article about a teacher who abused a student and threatened to use binoculars to spy on him. The student was terrified, thinking the teacher could hear everything he said. Because of this, the teacher was able to keep the parents in the dark. Intrigued by the idea, she cautioned, “I’m warning you, Lilly. It doesn’t matter if your uncles promise to protect you. I’ll use my magic powers to find out where you are.”
Lilly bit her hand hard, much to Debbie’s astonishment. She let out a yell before immediately slapping the girl. Just as her palm landed on Lilly’s face, the red string around her wrist glowed.
When Debbie saw the little girl’s hand approaching, she sneered inwardly, her limbs are so short and weak. Does she think she can hurt me?
Suddenly, Debbie found herself launched into the marsh before she realized it. Gilbert had arrived and picked up Lilly right away. The latter looked at her palm and then at Gilbert, wondering who was to blame for Debbie’s terrible predicament.
Gilbert asked himself the same question, as he didn’t feel like he had kicked hard enough to knock Debbie to the ground. He wondered if his eyes had deceived him.
“How dare you hit Lilly,” Gilbert snarled. He fixed his gaze on Debbie as he carried Lilly and approached.
The woman panicked, unaware that Gilbert was present. She waved her hand and said meekly, “This must be a misunderstanding, Mr. Gilbert. Why would I hit Lilly? I’m her mother too…”
Gilbert’s expression hardened as he yelled, “You’re not worthy to be Lilly’s mother!” He covered Lilly’s ears and held her against his chest so she wouldn’t witness what happened next.
“Mr. Gilbert, please…” Debbie begged, staring in dread at the approaching man. “Ahh!” she cried out in pain when Gilbert pinned her face down on the ground with his shoe. The rough edges tore at her skin and cut into her flesh.
“Bad Dog! Bad Dog!”
“Dumb Dumb!”
Even though Debbie was on the verge of tears, Gilbert showed no signs of going easy on her.
“Mr. Gilbert, please let me go! Please, I beg of you! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” She sobbed, terrified that the man’s sheer strength would crush her skull.
Deciding it was inappropriate to use violence in front of a child, Gilbert chose to release Debbie. However, he couldn’t help but give her a final kick, resulting in a broken nose.
“Get lost!” he ordered.
Debbie covered her injured face with her hands and ran to her room without saying a word. Silent tears streamed down her face as she tried to remove the shards of glass, her frustration mounting. She stared at herself in the mirror, examining her broken nose and bloodied face.
How could Gilbert bear to hit a woman! And with such brutality! I thought I could scare Lilly into lying for me. I never expected things to turn out this way. Not only did I fail to get that bastard to take the blame, but I was also badly beaten up by Gilbert.
When she gently touched her nose, she experienced excruciating pain. “Oh no! My face! My face!” She had always taken pride in her flawless complexion. However, now she would be left disfigured as the cuts would undoubtedly result in permanent scars.
In a fit of despair, Debbie let out a scream and forcefully threw the mirror onto the floor. She simply couldn’t come to terms with the fact that her once beautiful face was now ruined.
Gilbert continued to accompany Lilly in her efforts to persuade the parrot after chasing Debbie away. He was annoyed at the idea of having to sweet-talk an animal into following them home instead of trapping it.
“Come on, Polly. I’ll give you delicious meat if you come down,” the man coaxed.
The parrot stared at Gilbert and shook its head. “No meat. No meat! No fat!”
When he saw that the animal was refusing to cooperate, he took a deep breath and resorted to his last option. “Lilly, let’s go. Ignore the parrot.”
Tears welled up in Lilly’s eyes as she clutched Gilbert’s shirt and begged, “Please, Uncle Gilbert. Don’t abandon Polly.”
It broke his heart to see Lilly so upset. Therefore, he apologized, “I’m sorry, Lilly. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have said that.” He wanted to slap himself hard when he realized that he had forgotten how protective Lilly was of her friends.
Lilly was surprised because that was the first time anyone had apologized to her. She smiled and patted Gilbert on the shoulder. “It’s all right, Uncle Gilbert.”
Even though she had expressed her regrets in the past, no one had reassured her that everything was fine. The little girl promptly comforted her uncle, knowing that he would feel terrible if she didn’t respond.
They then turned their attention to the parrot.
“Polly, be good now. Uncle Gilbert didn’t mean to trick you. He isn’t a bad person,” Lilly assured.
“I’m sorry, Polly. Please come down. We are going to Clodston, and the garden there is huge. We can even find you a female friend…”
Bryson, Edward, and Jonas went to the backyard to look for Lilly and Gilbert after they had been missing for a long time. They were surprised by the duo’s strange behavior, and after getting an explanation, they discovered that Lilly had returned to the Hatcher mansion in search of the parrot. The ordinary bird with green feathers watched as the Crawfords argued.
“Are you kidding me, Gilbert? What’s so difficult about persuading a parrot? Why are you so useless?” Edward hissed.
Bryson and Jonas remained silent, knowing that fooling the parrot would be challenging; Gilbert had put in a lot of effort with no results.
Suddenly, Polly started singing, “Gilby Gilby! Stupid Gilby!”
Gilbert scowled and retorted, “Why don’t you do it if you’re so capable?”
“Watch and learn!” Edward scoffed and raised one arm. “Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!” The man patted his raised arm to signal the parrot to land on it.
Lilly widened her eyes and thought, Uncle Edward looks like a gorilla!
While Bryson watched with a mocking smile, Jonas crossed his arms and said, “It’s just a parrot. Why does he need to embarrass himself?”
“Dumb Dumb! Dumb Dumb!” Polly chirped.
Infuriated by the lack of response, Edward pointed at the parrot and screamed, “Damn it! Get down here right now!”
“No! Don’t trick me!” Polly flapped its wings and replied.
Lilly giggled as she observed Edward’s incredulous expression; he was amazed by the animal’s intelligence.
Uncle Edward may seem scary, but he isn’t that fierce. Uncle Gilbert and Uncle Bryson are kind and gentle. Uncle Jonas looks obedient, but deep down he’s mean. Uncle Edward looks like a fiery dragon, always on the verge of exploding. My mummy’s brothers are so unique. I think I like my uncles better than my daddy, grandma, and grandpa. They seem different.
When her eyes met Jonas’, she looked away and pretended everything was fine. The man smirked when he saw how timid the little girl was. He then spoke, “Don’t bother, Edward. This parrot only listens to Lilly.”
“And how do you know that?” Edward challenged.
Jonas burst out laughing and replied, “Are you clueless?”
Just as Edward was about to throw a tantrum, Bryson called out, “Jonas is right. Let’s all step back.”
Gilbert stepped aside to join his brothers, leaving the girl with her toy rabbit. She turned to face the parrot and urged, “Polly, hurry. We’re getting ready to leave. My uncles are good people!”
