“You… don’t be so outrageous!” Black Sheep Uncle was startled, “Your mask stinks terribly, can you not disgust me?”

“I don’t care.” Snake Uncle shook his head, “If you don’t help her, I’ll disgust you to death.”

Tiger Uncle didn’t seem to appreciate his gesture. He just stood up, grabbed my hand, and said: “Little Mouse, we don’t need those two fools to help you. I’ll come up with a game for you myself!”

He pulled me to sit beside a desk nearby, then picked up paper and pen and started thinking.

About several minutes passed, and he hadn’t written a single word.

“Sss…” He slowly sucked in a breath, then said, “Sandbag throwing and hopscotch won’t work… I wonder if shuttlecock kicking would work…?”

“Forget about it!” Snake Uncle waved his hand, “Are you trying to send this girl to her death with your own hands?”

“You…!” Tiger Uncle was so angry he shook his head vigorously, “How am I sending her to her death?”

“Don’t just think about what your daughter liked to play. You need to see what suits a ‘Mouse’!” Snake Uncle shook his head, then looked at Black Sheep Uncle, “Renyang, help them out.”

“With that dead tiger’s attitude, who wants to help him?”

“Then I’m going to go hug you.” Snake Uncle said.

“You…” Black Sheep Uncle looked as if Snake Uncle had hugged him before. He was very afraid of this threat.

He walked to Tiger Uncle’s side and snatched the paper and pen in one motion: “With that tiger head and tiger brain of yours, you can actually come up with ‘shuttlecock kicking’? Why don’t you suggest cat’s cradle while you’re at it?”

“Cat’s cradle your mom…” Tiger Uncle really had a terrible temper. He was about to get angry again.

“Uncle… that… cursing isn’t good…” I tugged at him.

“Ah…?” Tiger Uncle was slightly stunned, then stared at me with his round, darting eyes, “I… I wasn’t cursing. This, this was a greeting…”

I blinked. He clearly seemed to be cursing just now… how did it become a greeting?

Tiger Uncle looked at me for a long while, and his tone softened: “Ai, fine, fine, fine… it’s my fault. I won’t say it anymore.”

Black Sheep Uncle ignored him, sat in front of the desk, looked at me, and said: “Child, come here. I have a few questions to ask you.”

“Ah…?”

I slowly walked in front of him, looking at him somewhat fearfully.

“Where did you put on the mask?” Black Sheep Uncle’s voice was very flat, his emotions unreadable.

“I think it was in a warehouse…”

“Warehouse?” Black Sheep Uncle picked up the pen and quickly sketched a large room on the paper, “This kind of warehouse?”

Black Sheep Uncle drew very well, but it seemed a bit different from the warehouse in my memory.

“Uncle, the space doesn’t seem to be that big… it was a very small warehouse.”

He nodded, took out a second sheet of paper and drew another small room.

“Is it like this…?” While muttering to himself, he drew several shelves, “Were there many things in the warehouse?”

“Not very many…” I said quietly, “There were just a few shelves against the wall.”

“Were there things on the shelves?”

“It, it seems there were some boxes. I don’t know what was inside them.”

Black Sheep Uncle quickly drew two people in the warehouse. After pondering for a while, he started writing words on the side.

“Game tentative name: Trust Game.”

“I have an idea.” Black Sheep Uncle said, “Child, come here. I’ll tell you the rules.”

“Oh…” I came to Black Sheep Uncle’s side and looked at the little house and little people he had drawn.

“The game needs two people to participate, two ‘Dao’ per person as the entry fee.” Black Sheep Uncle said while writing, “The two people stand inside and ask each other about private matters. Especially those private matters they don’t want brought up…”

“Then what?” Tiger Uncle asked.

“We can lie in the rules. The two people have different winning conditions—one person needs to tell the truth, one person needs to lie.”

“Oh?” Tiger Uncle stroked his chin and said, “You’re playing dirty?”

“No, this is just the nature of sheep.” Black Sheep Uncle shook his head, “While the two people tear off each other’s masks, they can also see the ugliest side of human nature.”

Tiger Uncle nodded: “You really are full of schemes.”

“You flatter me. In any case, I’m a bit smarter than you.”

“Oh…” Tiger Uncle nodded, but soon felt something wasn’t right, “But what does the game you designed have to do with ‘Mouse’? Isn’t this a sheep-type game?!”

“You’re being a bit unreasonable, aren’t you?” Black Sheep Uncle sighed, “My game takes place in a warehouse. How is it not ‘Mouse’-type?”

“You’re full of…” Tiger Uncle seemed to want to say something, but he glanced at me and changed his words, “You’re talking nonsense!”

Tiger Uncle snatched the paper and pen, saying: “Besides, your game is too difficult. Let me revise it for you!”

He deleted all of Black Sheep Uncle’s rules, then wrote down new rules.

“Four people participate, two people per team. Whichever team can snatch the vase in the middle of the warehouse is considered victorious. Any means allowed. Weapons provided by the referee…”

Snake Uncle couldn’t sit still again: “Forget about it! You still have the face to criticize others? Brawling in a warehouse makes it a ‘Mouse’ game?”

“So what?!” Tiger Uncle retorted, “Don’t ‘Mice’ need to fight for territory?”

“Fight for what!” Snake Uncle snatched the paper again, “You guys just keep corrupting children all day long. This matter still needs to see me.”

He picked up the pen and crossed out Tiger Uncle’s rules again: “Listen to me. After entering the warehouse, lock the warehouse door with five locks. The five keys correspond to five questions. If you answer correctly, you can get the key. They are respectively…”

The three uncles continued like this—you snatch it, then I snatch it back—not sleeping the entire night.

They wrote sheet after sheet of paper, nearly coming to blows several times.

It wasn’t until dawn that they gave me a messy manuscript. The game written on it was so confusing I couldn’t even understand it.

At that moment, the door opened and Baiyang Gege came in.

The feeling he gave people was always different from others. His clothes were very clean, the fur on his face was very white, but he always felt hard to approach.

While those three uncles, no matter how you looked at them, were dirty and disheveled, they were very good people.

“Mouse, have you thought of something?” Baiyang Gege found a chair and sat down, asking in a flat tone, “It’s already been a whole night.”

“Ah… I…” I turned to look at the three uncles. They all winked at me and nodded, so I boldly said, “I thought of something…”

“Let’s hear it.”

“My game… needs four people to participate. Two people per team compete to snatch a vase. After snatching it, they can escape, but the door is locked. There are five locks on the door, corresponding to five questions. They need to answer correctly to get out… When coming out, the two people need to ask each other about private matters…”

“Absurd.” Baiyang Gege interrupted.