Eight Uncles' Beloved Treasure (Lily)

Chapter 9 Stubborn

Gilbert continued to accompany Lilly in her efforts to persuade the parrot after chasing Debbie away. He was irritated at the prospect of having to sweet-talk an animal into following them home rather than trapping it.

“Come on, Polly. I’ll feed 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 the animal was refusing to cooperate, he took a deep breath and resorted to his last resort, “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 watch Lilly in such distress. Hence, 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 the little girl was overly protective 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 assured her that everything was fine. The little girl promptly comforted her uncle, knowing that the apologizer would feel horrible if she did not respond.

They then turned their focus 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 was huge. We can even find you a female friend…”

to the backyard to look for Lilly and Gilbert after they had been missing for a long time. They were taken aback by the duo’s peculiar behavior, and upon further clarification, they discovered that Lilly had returned to the Hatcher mansion in search of the parrot.

Gilbert? What’s so difficult about persuading a parrot?

knowing that fooling the parrot would be difficult; Gilbert had spent a lot of effort on this

started singing, “Gilby Gilby!

scowled and retorted, “Why don’t you do

scoffed and raised one arm. “Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!” The man patted his raised arm to

eyes and thought, Uncle Edward looks

mocking smile, Jonas crossed his arms and uttered, “It’s just a parrot. Why does

Dumb! Dumb Dumb!”

of response, Edward pointed at the parrot and screamed, “Damn it! Get down here right

trick me!” Polly flapped its

she observed Edward’s incredulous expression; he was horrified by the animal’s

but he isn’t that fierce. Uncle Gilbert and Uncle Bryson are nice 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

right. The man smirked when he saw how timid the little girl was. He then spoke,

would you know that?” Edward

out laughing and replied, “Are you

Bryson called out,

to face

cuteness. Even Edward’s heart was softened; she reminded him of

toward the girl, but as it was ready to land on her shoulder, Paula’s voice echoed