Hearing this, the masked man who had been about to step forward stopped in his tracks. He fixed his gaze on the small girl, who resembled a cornered animal with her slightly reddened eyes filled with a mixture of anger and apprehension. A soft sigh escaped his lips, and a fleeting hint of helplessness flickered across his eyes. He then turned to Feng Jiu and said, "Aren't you going to search for them? Go ahead! We will wait for you here."
Observing this exchange, Feng Jiu glanced at the masked man, then patted the heads of the three children beside her. "You stay here and wait for me. Mother is going to look for Du Fan and Leng Hua."
"Mother, please come back safely. We'll wait here for you!" Yue'er's soft, childish voice was filled with worry as she gently pulled on her mother's hand. "My brothers and I will wait here for Mother to return. We won't go anywhere until you come back."
