Having promised Liu Shiran yesterday that he would go to the school this morning with her to apologize to Ji Qianxi and Granny, Su Yizhou woke up early for once, truly feeling a sense of guilt toward the little girl.
Since the kindergarten was not far from home, Su Yizhou and his mother walked there.
Passing by a small candy shop, Su Yizhou thought of the White Rabbit creamy candy that Ji Qianxi's grandmother had given him yesterday. Figuring the girl must like them quite a bit, he pestered Liu Shiran to buy a bag. Assuming Su Yizhou wanted to eat them himself, Liu Shiran bought the bag but stipulated he could only have one a day. Anyone with kids knows that children this age are most prone to cavities.
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the school gate. Su Yizhou, long accustomed to the crying of children, paid it no mind and began searching for that tiny figure.
After waiting for a while, Su Yizhou pointed into the distance. A tricycle, its rusted chain squeaking with every pedal stroke, carried a load of flattened empty bottles. From the back seat, a cute little head poked out, looking around.
Was that not Ji Qianxi?
Su Yizhou waved into the distance, signaling for Ji Qianxi to come over.
Ji Qianxi said something to her grandmother who was pedaling, and they rode toward Su Yizhou.
Granny helped Ji Qianxi off the tricycle and looked at the two people in front of her in confusion.
Ji Qianxi seemed not to have told her grandmother about yesterday's incident. Understandable, really—a little girl who was clearly bullied yet blamed herself would hardly bring this up to her grandmother.
Seeing that the other party was an elderly woman, Liu Shiran spoke to her in the local Sichuan dialect: "Granny, my boy made your granddaughter cry yesterday. I brought her here today to apologize to you both."
She then pulled Su Yizhou over. "Zhouzhou, apologize to Xixi."
Su Yizhou hurriedly mumbled an apology to Ji Qianxi.
Granny was very understanding. "It's nothing, I know. Children squabbling and fighting is quite normal. As long as nothing major happened, there's no need to make a fuss. Just have them pay attention from now on and not get into disputes."
With that, Liu Shiran and Granny began chatting amiably in Sichuan dialect.
Looking at his mother's knack for making friends instantly, Su Yizhou felt a headache coming on and took Ji Qianxi's hand, walking toward the kindergarten.
Ji Qianxi seemed a bit stronger today. Perhaps afraid of disturbing Su Yizhou, or perhaps feeling shy, she surprisingly did not cry. Though her eyes still welled with tears, she turned around and waved goodbye to Granny.
Watching such an adorable Ji Qianxi, Liu Shiran felt her heart melt, wondering why she had given birth to a boy back then.
Su Yizhou was speechless (⊙﹏⊙).
Entering the classroom, looking at the little crybaby still sniffing and holding back tears, Su Yizhou took out the White Rabbit candy he had kept in his pocket and handed it to Ji Qianxi.
"Here, have a candy. Stop crying."
Seeing the candy, Ji Qianxi pouted and softly retorted, "I wasn't even crying today!" Then she muttered a thank you, tucked her favorite creamy candy into her pocket, and felt the two candies bump against each other inside. The sorrow of parting just moments ago instantly vanished, replaced by a faint smile.
"These two candies will last me a long time!" Ji Qianxi thought to herself.
For the entire day, our young troublemaker Su Yizhou behaved exceptionally well, taking good care of Ji Qianxi and keeping strictly out of trouble. Surprisingly, he didn't tease Chen Yu either. At the end of the day, the three of them waved goodbye at the kindergarten gate, having forged a deep friendship among children in just one day.
Ji Qianxi climbed back onto that somewhat dilapidated tricycle, standing in the back seat and hugging her grandmother's back affectionately. It was as if she were recounting all the wonderful experiences she had in kindergarten today, pulling the two candies out of her pocket to show Granny as if showing off some great treasure.
Seated on the tricycle, she disappeared into the horizon along with the setting sun.
Su Yizhou knew that Chen Yu's parents were elementary school math teachers who would even teach the two of them in their past lives. Seeing Chen Yu, usually the neighborhood terror in kindergarten, standing so obediently beside his father, Su Yizhou let out a scoff.
Chen Yu's parents could never have imagined that such a family environment would forge the cunning, monkey-witty talent that was Chen Yu in his past life, who had given Su Yizhou no end of trouble.
As Su Yizhou stared blankly at Chen Yu, a mysterious force seized the back of his neck. Indeed, it was none other than Su Jin. He was hoisted (yes, literally hoisted) into the back seat of the car. Facing his bewildered son, Su Jin explained,
"No one's home today. Your mom went shopping with a friend. You're coming out to eat with me." With a stomp on the gas pedal, he drove the Volkswagen with the momentum of a Ferrari straight toward the restaurant.
Su Yizhou understood that the time had come to execute the ventilation plan. He chuckled evilly...
After ordering the dishes, Su Yizhou casually inquired about the price of Liu Shiran's cosmetics, asking if they were very expensive.
"You brat, since when do you care about money? Focus on clearing up addition and subtraction within ten first," Su Jin retorted.
*Huh? Why is this going differently than planned?* Shouldn't he be complaining about how expensive mom's cosmetics are, allowing me to smoothly steer the conversation toward the main topic? *Sigh, the enterprise of the late emperor remains half-completed and interrupted midway; it's so hard!*
Refusing to give up, Su Yizhou put on a stubborn expression, refusing to eat unless he got an answer.
But did that bother Su Jin? When fathers raise kids, surviving is already a victory—missing a meal won't kill anyone. Watching Su Jin wolf down his food with gusto, Su Yizhou admitted defeat.
With an air of haughty grievance, he picked up his chopsticks and began to eat, thinking, *Dad, I gave you a chance, but you just couldn't deliver! I'll have to think of another way.*
Who would have thought that this very action would prompt Su Jin to start looking into the price of Liu Shiran's cosmetics that very night. Liu Shiran, thinking he was complaining about her spending money on such things, was just about to grab him by the ear when she saw Su Jin searching online for data on cosmetic manufacturing costs and conducting market research.
In this era, what was lacking was not opportunity, but eyes to discover opportunity.
If you possessed those eyes and paired them with a certain amount of capital, then it was practically a guaranteed checkmate.
Things slowly veered off their original track. The next world's wealthiest... cough, no, the next Sichuan Province's richest man—also no, the next potential richest man of Xingyue Residential Compound was rising steadily.
Back on the other side, Ji Qianxi returned home and sensibly helped Granny place the empty bottles into bags one by one, then headed to the kitchen to help out.
Looking at Ji Qianxi, who was so sensible at only five years old, Granny felt a mix of bittersweet gratification and heartache. *Why is my granddaughter's life so bitter?*
That night, lying on a bed that emitted a faint scent of wood, accompanied by the chirping of cicadas outside the window, Ji Qianxi nestled in Granny's arms and fell into a deep sleep amid a lullaby, still wearing a smile in her dream.
The two White Rabbit candies, kept away from her clothes for fear of being washed away, rested on a nearby table, seeming even more crystal-clear under the moonlight outside.