Meanwhile, at the Pei Family estate.
Liu Yunzhi and a few of her regular mahjong companions were still playing. One wealthy matron yawned and said, "Yunzhi, isn't your old Pei coming home today? It's getting so late."
The wealthy matron lazily glanced at the diamond wristwatch on her left wrist, discarded a tile with her right hand, and slapped it down onto the table with a smack. "Three of Circles."
"Our old Pei is a complete workaholic; he's sleeping at the company again tonight," Liu Yunzhi replied offhandedly, using her left hand to draw a tile.
"You really are blessed. Your old Pei is still holding down the fort at the company at his age. Now look at mine—he's useless. Handed the company over to our daughter and went off traveling around the world."
The butler brought in a freshly simmered fish maw soup and served a bowl to each of the matrons. Sights like this were already commonplace in the Pei Family. Keeping his eyes lowered and mind composed, the butler attentively served the old lady, solely tending to his own duties.
The situation on the second floor, however, was somewhat different. The bedroom of the young master, who usually went to sleep early, still had its wall lamp lit.
Pei Jinyou, lying on the soft, large bed with his head resting on a small pillow, was excitedly clutching the corner of his quilt.
Tomorrow was the soccer match. Although he had participated in many competitions before, this match was different from the previous ones—this time, Grandpa was going to attend.
At this thought, his heart surged with excitement. With a sudden bounce, he sat straight up from the bed and pressed the button by the bedside. This button had been specially installed for him by Grandfather Butler; it was adjusted every few months according to his height to ensure the most comfortable distance, so that he could reach it just by extending his hand. "Aunt Wu, Aunt Wu."
"Oh my, I'm coming! What is it, young master?" Hearing the bell from the young master's room, Aunt Wu put down what she was holding and briskly ran inside. Seeing the young master standing on the bed wearing only his pajamas, she immediately reached out, wrapped her arms around his waist with a look of distress, and tucked him back into the covers.
"Young master, what's wrong? Just tell Aunt Wu if there's anything you need. You'll catch a cold running around like this." Aunt Wu chattered away as she tucked the edges of the quilt tightly around him.
"Is my uniform ready?" Pei Jinyou let Aunt Wu bundle him up without a word of protest, merely blinking his eyes as he looked at her.
Unable to withstand the young master's watery eyes, Aunt Wu scurried off to fetch the items the old mistress had prepared that afternoon so the young master could inspect them.
After Aunt Wu left, Pei Jinyou stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes. *One sheep, two sheep, three sheep...* What should he do if he couldn't sleep?
Pei Jinyou blinked his eyes, then finally scrambled out of bed in a flash. After checking that the security guards patrolling outside had walked far into the distance, he sneaked into the walk-in closet and took out the custom jersey his grandmother had made for him. He turned it over and over in his hands, unable to put it down, and stroked the large number "1" embroidered on it. It had just arrived today via direct flight from abroad, handled by a dedicated courier.
"I'm counting on you tomorrow, little darling."
Pei Jinyou placed the jersey beside his pillow and drifted peacefully off to sleep.
Early the next morning, Aunt Wu on tiptoe pressed the button for the motorized curtains, standing by the bedside to wait for the young master to wake up.
Bathed in the first ray of morning sunlight, Pei Jinyou rubbed his eyes. A maid hurriedly stepped forward with the prepared clothes to help him dress, then carefully squatted down to tie his shoelaces.
Pei Jinyou stamped his little sneakers against the short cashmere carpet from Austria, feeling even more full of himself. What should he do?
Aunt Wu grinned from ear to ear. "What can we do? Our young master is simply born to be heaven's favored son. Just wearing a pair of little sneakers makes him look so dashing."
Amidst Aunt Wu's endless flattery, Pei Jinyou gradually lost himself. He posed back and forth in front of the mirror, clenched his little fist, and decided he was definitely going to be the coolest kid on the field today!
Holding his hand, Aunt Wu took the private elevator straight down to the first-floor lobby.
Downstairs, the mahjong table from the previous night had already been cleared away. The family did have a game room, but the old mistress found it too cramped and rarely used it.
Over a dozen nannies in professional uniforms orderly served dozens of breakfast dishes, filling the entire dining table with a spread of Chinese courses and Western pastries.
Pei Jinyou pointed with his little hand. The butler, constantly attentive to the young master's movements, lightly and carefully placed a thick cheesy egg pancake and shrimp oat porridge right in front of him.
The childcare nanny stepped forward and tied a pristine white napkin around Pei Jinyou's chest. Wielding his small knife and fork, Pei Jinyou tucked into his breakfast.
Standing nearby with lowered eyes and submissive expressions, the nannies didn't dare to breathe a single loud breath.
.........
On the other side, Jiang Wanqing—*Correction:* Jiang Yiran took the laundry off the balcony and brought the dried clothes into the room. She had used the hair dryer until midnight yesterday to finally make sure they would be ready for today.
A child's skin was sensitive. Who knew how many processes, treatments, transportations, packaging, and shelf placings clothing in shopping malls went through, passing through countless hands? Washing them before wearing was the only way to feel truly at ease.
Zibai rubbed his little eyes and let out a yawn. "Aunty." With that, he limply slumped forward, laid against her chest, and fell right back asleep.
She placed the clothes on the nightstand. "Time to get up, little lazybones."
Even in his dreams, Zibai remembered someone calling him a pig, and he mumbled a slur-filled retort: "Ou is not a pig, Ou is Baibai."
The little fellow was very hands-on; during his first few days here, he had already learned how to dress himself. Ever since Jiang Wanqing was gone, he had grown up overnight, forcing himself to be sensible so as not to add trouble to his aunt, terrified that she would abandon him and run away again.
Yet under Jiang Yiran's constant companionship, his true nature had gradually surfaced. Much like a sloth bear, after growing close to someone, he would slowly expose his trusting little belly to be rubbed and tickled. He loved sleeping in, loved talking in his sleep, loved eating snacks, and loved playing whack-a-mole...
"It smells so good, Aunty~~~" Unable to reach the stool with his short legs, the little fellow simply pressed his torso against the dining table, sniffing the rich aroma of the food.
After finishing breakfast, Jiang Yiran dropped Zibai off at the designated spot to meet up with the other children. A crowd of kids had already gathered at the school gate.
Seeing Zibai arrive, his good buddy Jiang Yubai hurried over to show off the new shoes his mom had bought him. "Hey, Little Double Hundred, look at the new shoes on my feet! They're Auro's latest signature model. You don't have these, hehe!"
"Hmph, so what? The ones on my feet were bought for me by my aunty."
"Mine are cooler," Jiang Yubai refused to yield.
"Mine are a Disney collaborative edition, they look better." Zibai refused to back down either, and the two best friends got into a scuffle right at the kindergarten entrance over whose shoes looked better.
Luckily, the head teacher came over to take roll, averting a battle of the century.
Watching her young nephew safely handed over to the teacher, Jiang Yiran hurried back to work on the bride's bridal bouquet.
She retrieved the prepared floral materials from the constant-temperature cabinet. Actually, the materials had all been prepared in advance yesterday, but Miss Lin wanted the flowers at her wedding to bloom at their most gorgeous, vibrant, and perfect moment.
That was why they had to be prepared on-site—they couldn't be too fully bloomed, nor could they be mere tight buds; only the absolute most enchanting moment of the flowers could do justice to her wedding.
She carefully placed the floral materials onto the workbench, took out her tools, and began carving the base basket.
On the other side.
The children, chattering noisily along the way with the kindergarten chaperones, arrived at the parking lot designated for the competition vehicles.
Once children arrived at school and gathered with their little friends, it was like turning on a switch—they chattered endlessly with topics that never ran out.
"I raised a bird at home and it was colorful, but it died."
"My bird has eight colors, it's so pretty! It can fly and even mimic human speech. One day it told me it was leaving to go to outer space to save the earth."
"Nonsense, Zhang Zhixin, you're lying! Clearly only Ultraman can save the world. You're lying, I'm telling the teacher!"
"You're the one lying! My bird can totally save the world, it told me itself with its own mouth."
"You're all lying! There are no Ultramans and no colorful birds in this world, only Superman can save the world!"
"It's Peppa Pig! It's Peppa Pig! It's Peppa Pig!!!"
"Waaaaah, Zhou Kaipin, why are you yelling at me~~~~ Waaaaah~~~~" The little girl burst into tears. Seeing this, the head teacher hurriedly whipped out a tissue to console her, rushing from comforting one child to soothing another.
Sitting nearby, Zibai watched this scene, sighed helplessly, and shook his head. They were all big kids in kindergarten, yet they were still so childish; there was really no helping them. It was clearly the Paw Patrol that saved the world!
Shen Nianxing was fiddling nearby with a magic wand her uncle had just bought her. The wand was the latest concept version released by an overseas gaming company and wasn't on the market yet.
Pressing the button activated seventy-two lighting combinations paired with different music, allowing for a one-touch costume change, and its built-in smart micro-robot could even crack various puzzles.
Such an advanced toy attracted several little girlfriends who shared the same interests. They gathered around Shen Nianxing to cast spells: "Beauty magic, dong dong dong, transform! Little Xi becomes beautiful." After finishing the incantation, she placed the magic wand on top of the little girl's head to cast the spell.
"I want it too, I want it too! Shen Nianxing, cast a spell on me too." Another little girl nearby scrambled for a turn.
"Get in line, I was here first!" The tall girl beside her wasn't happy, and the two began fighting over it.
Shen Nianxing closed her eyes, completely ignoring the hustle and bustle around her. Fairies didn't concern themselves with worldly trifles; one had to maintain their poise up in the heavens. At least, that's what her etiquette tutor had said.
Seated in the back row, the teaching assistant watched the scene, which resembled a bustling wet market, and impatiently dug a pair of earplugs out of her bag to block her ears. Kids were truly so noisy. Her fingers tapped away furiously on her keyboard as she texted a friend to complain about the situation.
Upon arriving at the venue, the teachers arranged for the children to get off the bus in an orderly queue and collect their numbered tags. Several soccer teams had already arrived.
In the family section of Xingxing Kindergarten, a group of people surrounded a middle-aged woman, showering her with flattery.
"Thank you so much to Pei Jinyou's grandmother for sponsoring the entire team's uniforms this time. Pei Jinyou is truly a little angel! Our Jiajia came home and kept praising how Jin you helped him at school."
Although Xingxing Kindergarten was attended exclusively by the wealthy and elite, sponsoring the uniforms for every team in the kindergarten—including travel and logistics, while maintaining a high tier—cost at least a few million. Not every parent at Xingxing Kindergarten was willing to shell out that kind of money.
"Oh my, our Lin Xi also praises Jinyou for being such a well-mannered little gentleman. Thanks to Jinyou's help at school, she was able to integrate with the other classmates so quickly. We have Jinyou's grandmother to thank for raising him so well."
Lin Jun and Lin Xi's father made a living in the medicinal herb business and wasn't quite high-status enough in this circle; he had to cling to the Pei Family just to carve out a foothold. Liu Yunzhi was also an honorary member of the kindergarten's board of directors, making her all the more important to butter up.
Surrounded and flattered by the crowd in the center, Liu Yunzhi wore a polite, artificial smile. In the distance, a soccer team approached; at a glance, they were clearly children from some obscure kindergarten, wearing mismatched uniforms of all colors.
The wealthy matrons curled their lips in disdain and stepped aside, unwilling to associate with this bunch for fear of catching some sort of virus.
As everyone else stepped back, Liu Yunzhi, standing in the middle, suddenly found herself with empty space around her. Obscured by the crowd's view and being the last to notice the incoming team, it was already too late when she tried to retreat to the side. "Oh!" She tumbled down the steps.
"Whose child is so ill-mannered, charging right into people like that?" A middle-aged woman wearing a wristwatch pointed with her finger.
"What's wrong with this kid, running about recklessly? Has he got no upbringing at all?"
"Exactly. Kids from little kindergarten bumps don't know any better. They've crashed right into Madam Pei and still won't apologize—even if you sold your whole family, you couldn't afford to pay for this!" A member of the matron clique sized up the children's attire and tried to intimidate them.
The followers always took Madam Pei as their leader, and even their daughters' school admissions relied on the Pei Family, so they naturally spared no effort in kissing up to Liu Yunzhi.
Zibai was stunned and frightened by the sudden turn of events. He had been walking along when he suddenly felt a heavy force pressing down from the right side, causing him to crash to the ground. He only felt a dull ache in his knees.
"Madam, clearly you tripped and fell onto the child yourself—how can you turn things around and blame others? Zibai, are you alright?" Yu Ningning stepped forward to check if the child was hurt.
"Hey, young lady, how can you talk nonsense at such a young age? Clearly your little brat tripped Madam Pei out of naughtiness, and now you're trying to shift the blame!" A wealthy matron wearing a jade bracelet on her wrist pointed her finger at Yu Ningning, outputting a continuous stream of scolding.
Under the onslaught of the group, Teacher Yu was single-handedly overmatched and gradually lost ground.
Right at that moment, a childish voice rang out in the air: "Nonsense! Clearly this grandma fell down by herself and crushed Little Double Hundred. I saw it, it was you!" Shen Nianxing pointed her little finger at one of the matrons.
"When you were stepping back, you accidentally tripped that grandma, and because you were afraid of getting implicated and didn't help her up, you pinned the blame on Little Double Hundred! Hmph! Don't you even think about framing Little Double Hundred."
Muttering under her breath, she declared, "I'm going to arrest you in the name of justice! Biu, biu, biu..." Shen Nianxing took out her magic wand, chanted spells under her breath, and cast spells on the spot, intending to punish the old witch with them.
"Madam, there are surveillance cameras inside the stadium. Shall we pull up the footage to see who actually bumped into whom?" The gymnasium staff member, spotting the commotion over here, promptly walked over to inspect the situation.