“But Natalia has already been adopted by Professor Romanka.”Gong Jie reminded the boy kindly.
Youyou was unimpressed and retorted, “That’s not adoption, it’s abuse!”
Alice agreed earnestly, “Going by international law, Professor Romanka would not be considered to have violated adoption-related laws. His adoption relationship with Natalia would also be perfectly justifiable. There would be no way for us to interfere. And there would be no way for your uncle to adopt Natalia directly because the conditions for adoption would not be met.”
The boy was naturally saddened to hear that. Alice noticed this and was intrigued. She squatted in front of him and tugged gently at his little hand.
“Do you like her?”
Youyou immediately blushed and looked away awkwardly with a snort. “No!”
“Then… why are you so concerned about her?” Alice grinned, probing to get to the bottom of it.
“Ha!” Gong Jie rubbed his nephew’s head indulgently. “Our boy is in love. Are you attracted to the girl?”
The boy’s face was flushed as he emphasized. “Stop talking nonsense! It’s just that I feel so sorry for Natalia that she has to go through such abuse!”
He couldn’t help but think of his own childhood. As a child, he, too, had been imprisoned in such a world, he was without freedom. But then, Natalya was different from him. She was a healthy child.
It was hard to imagine that she’d been abandoned when she was born. She’d survived bad luck in that kind of winter, and she’d been healthy, but she’d been held prisoner in a hospital like this, subjected to these disguised experiments.
She was clearly not someone with a split personality, but she had been created to be one. She could have been carefree, like the other children, out playing, or eating delicious candies. But instead, she was locked in a cold, miserable ward where freedom was a luxury.
“Professor Romanka doesn’t deserve to be her father.” With that, Youyou turned his brooding gaze on Gong Jie.
The man cleared his throat. “You don’t… really want me to adopt her, do you?”
The boy continued to look at him.
The man spoke again. “I’m not married…”
“Girls love a man with a kind heart and sense of responsibility.”
“…”
The kid was clearly trying to get him involved in this matter. Still playing dead, Gong Jie looked up into the distance. The boy continued to look at him. The uncle and nephew faced each other silently.
The boy’s gaze was so sharp that Gong Jie finally gave in. “I surrender. Please don’t glare at me like that. You could have gotten your dear daddy to adopt her. Then you’d have a lovely sister!”
The boy pursed his lips. “But Daddy and Mommy have already adopted Lisa.”
“It doesn’t matter. Your daddy can afford to adopt any number of Natalia.”
“That’s different!” The boy folded his arms and said matter-of-factly, “I think you’re the best person for the job.”
Gong Jie fell silent. This kid clearly wanted to push him into the pit of fire, right?
Alice said quietly, “Adopting her won’t hurt you. It’s not going to reduce you to a pauper. You might as well agree!”
The man’s face turned ashen. “I don’t know how to take care of a child at all. How am I supposed to do that?”
Natalia’s gaze, noble and inviolable as a Ragdoll cat’s, appeared in his mind. He felt that this little girl was arrogant and definitely not easy to get along with. He had no experience, especially when it came to pacifying children.
