During free play time at kindergarten today, Su Yizhou took a children's picture book back to his seat to read. Ji Qianxi was also obediently building blocks nearby, but as he was reading, Su Yizhou suddenly sensed a gaze fixed on him.
Turning around, he saw a fair-skinned little girl with a bit of baby fat staring blankly at him. "Do I know you? Mind your personal space," Su Yizhou thought to himself, but he still couldn't ignore that gaze.
He turned to look at the girl and asked, "Is something the matter?" Seeing that Su Yizhou was acknowledging her, the girl stated her purpose: "We want to play house with you. Can you come play with us?"
Hearing "play house," Su Yizhou thought this must be a game every child had to play when they were little. But making an adult soul like him play this game with them was seriously humiliating!
Still, he couldn't resist the little girl's pleading gaze (definitely not because he wanted to play himself), and he followed her over to the open area.
Goodness gracious, he wouldn't have known if he hadn't come—there were actually two other girls here! Was he going to start a harem here today just like in the web novels of his past life? As he was thinking this, the girls began introducing their roles. Su Yizhou's task for today was to play the father of the household. As for who would be the mother, the girls looked at Su Yizhou, who was already starting to take on the handsome features of a young man, and actually began fighting over it.
Normally there were plenty of roles—such as mother, child, pet, and so on—and most of the time positions wouldn't be vacant, but today, for some rare reason, they were all scrambling to be the mother.
Su Yizhou thought to himself that after being single for so many years, he had finally made something of himself and was even setting up a harem right here. Actually, he really wanted to suggest to them: wouldn't it work if they all just played the mother? (Truly a born rascal). Enjoying the feeling of being fought over, Su Yizhou was having a wonderful time.
Instead, Su Yizhou proposed, "Actually, you could each take turns being the mother for a while. Let the person who called me just now go first." Su Yizhou really seemed to think he was an emperor.
They all seemed to agree with his suggestion and began the process of playing house. Looking at the bowl of "rice" that "Mom" handed to him, Su Yizhou fell silent.
Even though this was playing house, couldn't they be a bit more professional? At least have some equipment of your own, like Nene from Crayon Shin-chan.
Looking at this un-professional game of play house, Su Yizhou suddenly started missing the feeling of being by himself and really wanted to slip away.
He glanced over at Ji Qianxi, who was still immersed in her blocks. *Speaking of which, why doesn't a little girl your age like playing house?*
The next second, the three girls started arguing over the issue of time allocation, each insisting that it was time to change "Moms."
Before Su Yizhou could wake from his pipe dream, a little girl with twin ponytails started crying.
Teacher Huahua followed the sound of the crying over, and looking at Su Yizhou standing nearby, her gaze was filled with strangeness.
Yet at this moment, Su Yizhou put on a blank expression (though in truth, she really was blank).
*No, sis, this time I really didn't do anything! My harem collapsed before I even finished building it—is this what they call a fire in the backyard? And I still have to take the blame for this?*
Su Yizhou hastened to explain, "This really wasn't me making her cry." His image as a troublemaker seemed already deeply rooted in Teacher Huahua's heart, and she decided to inquire about the situation properly in a moment.Without thinking too much, the teacher began to comfort the little girl. Fortunately, the other children were busy playing and didn't notice what was going on here, otherwise, if another round of crying started spreading, it would be a disaster.
As everyone knows, when a six-year-old girl cries, it is very hard for her to express her thoughts clearly, and her tearful explanations came in fits and starts:
"I wanted to... (sniff)... she wouldn't let me (sniff) be the mother, (a soft sob)... Su Yizhou."
That's right, our poor Su Yizhou was in trouble yet again. At this moment, he felt a sudden chill run down his spine.
After soothing the girl's emotions, Teacher Huahua went over to find Su Yizhou and asked him why he had made her cry. Luckily, Su Yizhou wasn't an ordinary child; he was able to articulate his thoughts clearly and ultimately cleared his name.
Even though everything was explained, Su Yizhou still sighed inwardly about how noisy girls this age were—no, wait, as he looked at Ji Qianxi quietly building blocks by herself, (except for Ji Qianxi).
Watching Ji Qianxi obediently playing by herself, a wave of satisfaction washed over Su Yizhou. "With a friend like Ji Qianxi, she has the makings of an empress." He walked over to her side and pinched her slightly chubby, rosy cheek, muttering to himself that he needed to stay far away from those noisy kids in the future.
Ji Qianxi pouted and said, "Granny said, you mustn't bully me, you know?"
Su Yizhou thought to himself, what kind of bullying was that supposed to be? Oh well, anyway, with her soft personality, she wouldn't go telling Granny on him anyway. With that, he gave her cheek another gentle squeeze. Ji Qianxi had thin skin, and it instantly turned from rosy to a faint crimson.
It seemed that the frustration he had just endured could only find a bit of comfort here with Ji Qianxi.Finally satisfied, little Su Yizhou took Ji Qianxi's small hand and walked over to the reading corner, where he began picking out the next children's picture book to "favor," preparing to read it to Ji Qianxi as a reward for letting him bully her unconditionally. Looking bewildered and dazed, she followed behind Su Yizhou, her head still spinning as if she hadn't quite processed what had happened.
"Brother Su Yizhou, why do you always like to bully me?"
(Daily bullying of the adorable Ji Qianxi: check)
Listening to Su Yizhou fluently recount the story, Ji Qianxi was suddenly struck by a familiar feeling. It was as if his soft-spoken words and this very atmosphere had been experienced somewhere before. It felt as though she was recalling a memory, yet this sensation seemed to have been absent for a long time—lately, it seemed she always drifted off to sleep listening to Granny's lullabies. As Ji Qianxi remained lost in thought,
"In the end, the tortoise won the race. Ji Qianxi, do you know what this story teaches us?"
With the story finished, Su Yizhou wanted Ji Qianxi to share her thoughts on it. But silly little Ji Qianxi had no idea what he meant; she simply acted coquettishly toward Su Yizhou and said, "Brother, you're just like my mom!"
What? I asked for your thoughts on the story, and you say I'm like your mom?
Good news: An adorable little girl around one meter one tall wants to be your daughter.
Bad news: This girl wants you to magically change your gender and be her mother!
Marveling at the lethal charm of a cute child, our clever Su Yizhou soon figured out that it must have been his mother who frequently read stories to Ji Qianxi, which was why she made that comparison.
This Qianxi is so clueless! She couldn't even express her own thoughts clearly.
Only much later would Su Yizhou gradually come to understand what this innocent little girl was thinking at that moment, and what kind of story she truly carried within her.