Chapter 13: That Must Be the Little Young Master—Whoops, Wrong One

Just then, the assistant dropped off some children’s toys. Shen Yuyi rooted through them and pulled out a little toy cake.

“Little brother, let’s play birthday!”

Xingxing didn’t understand. This white pointy thing looked kind of edible, but it was hard, and it had holes all over it.

“Little brother, watch. We put it together like this.”

Never mind. Whatever the Young Master did, he’d copy.

“It’s together! Now we put these on—and the candles.”

“Okay! Now we sing the birthday song together.”

The Young Master clapped and sang some strange tune. Was it an aria?

He’d heard Little Dad hum little songs to put his little brother to sleep. And the village uncles and women would hum while they worked.

But if anyone hummed too nicely, they’d be scolded for trying to seduce somebody.

The Young Master was small, and there was no one else here, so he probably wasn’t trying to seduce anyone.

Was the Young Master trying to lull him to sleep? Probably…

He lay down on the spot and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep.

“Little brother, for the wish, you don’t lie down. Get up.”

The Young Master pulled at him, and he sat up again. Not sleeping?

“See? You do it like this.”

The Young Master clasped his hands over his chest, bowed his head, and was quiet for a moment. Then he blew at the strange object.

“Your turn. Make a wish.”

The Young Master took his hands and clasped them over his chest. So he was supposed to copy. He bowed his head too.

“Then blow.”

What was he supposed to do? Blow air?

The Young Master blew at the inedible food again. “Blow.”

He copied, blowing once. So this action was called “blow.” Noted.

Before long, the Old Master returned and took them to a place with lots of food.

There were also lots of people.

Was this a market?

Everyone was queuing up to buy food, it seemed.

He’d never been to a market, but he’d heard there was all sorts of delicious food and crowds of people.

Of course, markets also had child traffickers. And if a family brought a child to a market and didn’t watch them carefully, the child would be snatched away.

He had been holding the Young Master’s hand, but he quickly switched to linking arms, pressing in close. He had to protect the Young Master. He couldn’t let a child trafficker take him!

“Hm?” Shen Yuyi assumed Ma Xingnuo was scared of the crowd. “Don’t be scared, little brother. Big Brother will protect you.”

The Old Master bought some food, they ate, and then returned to the Old Master’s territory. Nothing unexpected happened, which let Xingxing breathe easier.

At the market, people had actually veered around the Old Master, not daring to come close. So the Old Master’s authority really was great.

In the afternoon, Xu Yizhou received a call from his parents. Xu Miaoxin had woken up. After a couple more days of recovery, she’d come to take Xingxing away.

Xu Yizhou didn’t tell the children. One, Ma Xingnuo wouldn’t understand. Two, neither of them had any say in the matter anyway.

Xu Miaoxin was Ma Xingnuo’s mother. Taking her child back was only natural.

If he said it out loud, he didn’t know what Ma Xingnuo would do, but Shen Yuyi would definitely be upset. And Xingxing was so sensitive… maybe it was better to say nothing.

When he’d finished up, Xu Yizhou took the children home. It was still early, so he brought them to the little playground downstairs in the community.

As soon as Shen Yuyi heard they could play, he zoomed off. “Little brother, come on!”

It was huge—like a house, with tunnels everywhere. Several play structures were connected by passageways, some with slides leading down.

He hurried after the Young Master, terrified of losing him.

The moment he climbed up, he was disoriented. So many openings. Where had the Young Master gone?

He tried running into one tunnel and finally saw it—the blue clothes. The Young Master was over there!

He followed, but the Young Master ignored him and crawled across the rope net into another structure.

Wouldn’t he fall? He was scared; the net swayed under his feet.

But if he didn’t cross, the Young Master would disappear. He gathered his courage and scurried across.

The Young Master slid down another slide. He hurried after and slid down too.

Luckily, the Young Master didn’t walk away immediately. He caught up and grabbed the Young Master’s hand. Whew. Held tight.

“Who are you?”

The voice wasn’t the Young Master’s. Oh no. Wrong person.

He looked more carefully. Other than the clothes, nothing was the same. He dared one glance upward: the little boy looked confused. It really was the wrong person.

He let go in a panic, whipping his head around—no sign of the Young Master anywhere.

He was about to cry. It was too big in here. He didn’t know where to go at all.

That’s it. He could cry. If he cried, the Young Master would come and hold him.

The sound of a child’s sniffles rose. The wronged little boy found it baffling, turned, and ran off.

“Mom, look! The little brother’s crying!”

“Hm? Xingxing?”

Following her daughter’s pointing finger, Li Yuehua looked over. Wasn’t this the child from the kindergarten yesterday?

He heard “little brother” and “Xingxing.” Someone was calling him?

He looked over. He recognized them, sort of.

A woman with a little girl. The girl wore clothing he recognized.

Since coming to this world, he’d gotten used to clothes that bared arms and legs. But this was the first time he’d seen someone in a flowing skirt like the fine silks back home—not the rough homespun of villagers, but the unmistakable dress of a noble lady.

Were they also from his world?

Li Yuehua walked over and crouched down. “Xingxing, where’s your dad?”

“Hello. I can’t find my Young Master.” He tried a sentence in his native tongue.

“Pardon?” Li Yuehua didn’t understand. His pronunciation was far too unclear.

He was a little disappointed. Maybe city folk couldn’t understand country accents.

Li Yuehua remembered that the adult with Ma Xingnuo yesterday was Shen Ancheng. Good thing Mr. Xu had shared the contact info with Mr. Shen, or she’d have no way to reach the child’s guardians.

Shen Ancheng was on his way back and received the message in a daze. What did she mean, “your kid got lost”?

First of all, it couldn’t be Ma Xingnuo—that was an obedient little angel. So it must be the bouncing-off-the-walls Shen Yuyi who’d wandered off.

And so, Xu Yizhou got an earful from his wife over the phone.

Xu Yizhou ran to the bottom of the slide and shouted, “Yuyi, where are you?”

“Big Dad, I’m here!” Shen Yuyi popped his head out of a tunnel above.

The kid wasn’t lost after all. Xu Yizhou sighed in relief. Then—wait. Where was Ma Xingnuo? “Where’s little brother?”

“We’re playing hide-and-seek! I can’t find where he’s hiding.”

Nice try, but Xu Yizhou didn’t buy it. A child who only sat still and never ran around? Playing hide-and-seek? Bull!

“Little brother is lost. We have to find him fast.”

Just then, a little boy walked over. “Are you looking for someone?”

Xu Yizhou bent down quickly. “Yes. Have you seen him? A little boy in yellow overalls.”

“He was over there. He grabbed my hand, then started crying.”

“Thank you!” Xu Yizhou hurried in that direction.

“Big Dad, wait for me!” Shen Yuyi pumped his little legs to catch up.

Xingxing heard the Young Master’s voice. He followed the sound with his eyes—it really was the Young Master! He hadn’t misidentified him this time!

He couldn’t hold it in. His mouth crumpled, and he ran over with his arms outstretched, sobbing.

Seeing the two children cling to each other, Li Yuehua turned to the adult who’d just arrived. “Mr. Xu?”

“Teacher Yueyue? What are you doing here?”

“I ran into Xingxing by chance, so I messaged Mr. Shen.”

Only then did Xu Yizhou understand why he’d been suddenly reamed out by his wife. “Thank you for your trouble. Ancheng called me the moment he got your message.”

The boy in blue came back over, slid down the slide again, and ran off to keep playing.

Li Yuehua looked back and forth, then said, “Mr. Xu, I think I understand what happened.”

“What happened?”

“Does Xingxing avoid looking at people?”

“That’s right. I’ve heard autistic children do that.”

“So he doesn’t recognize people by their faces—he recognizes them by their clothes. That little boy was wearing a jacket like his brother’s, so he grabbed the wrong hand.”

“Then how do we teach him to look at people?” A chill ran down Xu Yizhou’s spine. What if the child saw a familiar-looking outfit, thought it was someone he knew, and followed a stranger right into danger?

“You can start by showing him photos of yourselves, so he gets familiar. And there are other methods—I’ll send you some videos in a bit.”

“Understood. Thanks so much, Teacher Yueyue.”

So by the time they got home, two portrait photos were placed in front of Xingxing. They were extremely lifelike, as if the Old Master and the Young Master had been sealed onto the paper.

The Young Master pointed at his own photo. “See? This is Big Brother. Big Brother.”

The Old Master pointed at his own photo. “Uncle.”

“Big Dad, why ‘uncle’? Doesn’t little brother call you Dad?”

“Little brother isn’t my child. He’s my sister’s child, so he calls me Uncle.”

Shen Ancheng had just come home. “What are you two doing?”

“Little Dad, we’re teaching little brother to recognize people!”

“Then where’s my photo? Wait.” Shen Ancheng had plenty of photos. Just today, a fan had given him one, and he’d tucked it away.

But when the photo came out, Shen Ancheng was puzzled. “What’s Xingxing supposed to call me?”

“Big Dad is his uncle, so you’re his aunt!”

Shen Ancheng glared. “Bunny brat. I’m a man. What do you mean ‘aunt’?”

“Then ‘Uncle-Dad’?”

Something about that was off. Shen Ancheng vetoed it again.

Xu Yizhou disagreed too. He was the maternal uncle; “Uncle-Dad” sounded like Shen Ancheng was HIS father, not his boyfriend.

Shen Yuyi scratched his head. “Then what about Eldest Uncle and Youngest Uncle?”

It sounded like brothers, but it was better than Uncle-Dad. Xu Yizhou nodded, accepting.

Shen Ancheng thought it was fine too. Shen Yuyi called them Big Dad and Little Dad, so it wasn’t wrong for Ma Xingnuo to call them Eldest Uncle and Youngest Uncle.

Seeing his proposal approved, Shen Yuyi grabbed the photos and eagerly began the lesson.

“Little brother, look: Big Brother, Eldest Uncle, Youngest Uncle.” Shen Yuyi pointed at each photo in turn.

Hm? Wasn’t it “jiu jiu”? Why an extra syllable? But he didn’t question it. However the Young Master taught, he’d learn.

So in this world, the Young Master was called “Big Brother,” and the Old Master was called “Uncle.” “Eldest Uncle” must mean something like “the big old master.”

And why was the Langjun called “Youngest Uncle”? “Little old master”? How strange. Did that mean the Langjun was also a very impressive figure?

Xu Yizhou watched the scene, suddenly lost in thought.

What was the point of teaching the child to recognize them now? Once the child was taken back, he might forget them in a few days.

Ma Xingnuo would go abroad with his mother. He and Shen Yuyi might never cross paths with him again.

“Zhouzhou?” Shen Ancheng nudged him. “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing. Just thinking about what to make for dinner. I’ll go cook.”

“Then I want braised fish.”

“Alright. I’ll make it for you.”