Chapter 42
Xing Nuo left the bedroom at midnight.
Upon returning from clearing the instance, the first rays of dawn were filtering through the window.
He was covered in dirt, his face smudged, but his curls shimmered in the soft light.
Shen Wen picked up the little dirty cub, his brow furrowed, a hint of exasperation in his gentle expression.
“How did you get so dirty? Just a short walk, and you’ve managed to turn yourself into this.”
He carried the little one to the bathroom and started bathing him, though it was barely morning.
Xing Nuo, stripped naked, his little feet splashing in the water, his head poking out of the large bathtub, swam back and forth like a little fish.
Having soaked in the pool countless times, he had instinctively learned how to swim.
Shen Wen brought over some children’s bath gel, caught the little one who was swimming around, and covered him in foam.
After rinsing off the foam, Xing Nuo’s head was still covered in shampoo suds. He closed his eyes tightly, covering his face with a warm towel.
Shen Wen finished bathing him, his back aching from bending over.
He sighed and rolled up his sleeves, wrapping Xing Nuo in a large towel and carrying him to the living room sofa.
Xing Nuo, wearing only a little nightgown and wrapped in the fluffy towel, bounced on the sofa.
“Little butterfly! Zaizai…little butterfly!”
After bouncing around for a while, he saw his always-sleepy brother emerge from the bedroom.
“You’re back?”
Shen Baizhou, yawning, seemingly aware that Xing Nuo had been out during the night, walked over and pinched the little one’s cheek.
“You’ve gained some weight.”
He smiled and pulled Xing Nuo into his arms.
“Did you have fun?”
Xing Nuo, his feet on his brother’s lap, bounced a couple of times and nodded vigorously.
“Zaizai and Dad…planted flowers…ate biscuits…”
In Xing Nuo’s memory, he had simply returned to the castle, played, and eaten with his dad.
He had also met some unfamiliar older people.
Then, a wide smile appearing on his face, he gestured excitedly to his brother.
“There’s a big…round pearl…at home…cool…glows!”
It was a pity he hadn’t brought one back for his brother; he would have been so surprised!
Shen Baizhou immediately guessed what he was talking about, smiled, and nodded, leaning back against the sofa.
“That’s a rare item indeed.”
In reality, his underwater lair was filled with them.
Shen Baizhou, his eyes drooping with exhaustion from a sleepless night, yawned and carried the little one to the dining table.
“Hurry up and eat, brother has to go to school.”
Xing Nuo sat in his baby chair, a fragrant vegetarian bun placed in his hand, and looked up at his brother.
“Brother…no eat?”
Shen Baizhou slung his backpack over his shoulder, a dejected look on his face, and replied listlessly:
“No, there’s a physics quiz this morning, can’t be late.”
Skipping a meal wouldn’t kill him. He was too tired and sleepy.
Xing Nuo, watching his brother’s weary demeanor, shivered and rubbed his small arms.
School seemed scary!
He took a bite of the bun and was happily swinging his little feet when Shen Wen walked over, carrying his small backpack.
“After breakfast, Xing Nuo has to go to kindergarten too.”
Xing Nuo, his mouth full of food, looked up at his dad, his eyes wide.
After swallowing with difficulty, he shook his head vigorously, placing the bun back on his plate.
“No…no kindergarten!”
Having enjoyed his freedom these past two days, the little one was no longer willing to go to kindergarten every day!
But despite Shen Wen’s seemingly gentle demeanor, his tone was firm, brooking no argument.
He picked up Xing Nuo, changed him into a light blue outfit, put on the yellow hat they had bought a few days ago, and nodded in satisfaction.
“Good.”
He looked just like a little kindergartener, ready for school.
Xing Nuo, his lips trembling with grievance, was carried to kindergarten, his face a mask of displeasure.
Downstairs, they ran into their ever-present third-floor neighbor.
Qi Yao grinned when he saw Xing Nuo.
“Crying again? What, still crying about going to kindergarten?”
Qi Yao enjoyed teasing children. He looked at Xing Nuo’s red nose and eyes and clicked his tongue.
“This is just a trial class. When school officially starts in September, you’ll have classes all day. You’ll be crying in the classroom every day!”
Xing Nuo, already feeling aggrieved, turned to his dad.
“Dad…uncle said…all day?”
Shen Wen glared at Qi Yao and patted Zaizai’s head, avoiding the question.
“Don’t listen to him. Be a good boy and go to school, and Dad will buy you a new storybook.”
Xing Nuo listlessly rested his head against his dad’s shoulder, his curls drooping, and sighed softly.
“Sigh…”
Zaizai’s life was so hard, having to go to kindergarten every day.
Qi Yao, seeing the little one’s dejected expression, laughed heartily.
After they left, he turned to his teammate.
“My upstairs neighbor’s kid, isn’t he adorable?”
His teammate, exasperated, rubbed his forehead and sighed.
“Captain, can you please not tease children? The frequency of anomalous incidents has increased significantly lately. Can you please be more serious?”
Qi Yao clicked his tongue and lightly knocked his teammate on the head.
“Alright, alright, lecturing me now! Let’s go upstairs.”
They returned to their apartment and resumed their discussion about the latest anomaly.
“This one is quite unusual. It keeps appearing in schools…”
Returning to kindergarten after a few days, Xing Nuo was even more clingy.
He clutched his dad’s robe, standing at the classroom door, shaking his head resolutely, refusing to go in.
The teacher clapped her hands from inside the classroom, trying to coax him in.
“Come on, Xing Nuo, such a well-behaved child, you’ll definitely listen to the teacher and be good in class, right?”
Inside the classroom, the chubby boy, sitting up straight, lifted his chin and sneered at Xing Nuo.
“Scaredy-cat, afraid of even going to school!”
Ever since learning that Xing Nuo was a boy, the chubby boy harbored a strange animosity towards him.
He proudly tilted his head, showing off the little red flower on his forehead.
“The teacher will definitely give me a little red flower today! And you, you won’t get anything!”
Xing Nuo’s eyes widened in anger, and he stomped into the classroom, sitting down with a stern expression.
“I have…little red flower…too!”
He was the most obedient and well-behaved child!
The teacher, seeing them finally settle down, smiled helplessly and ushered the parents out.
“Starting today, parents can no longer wait in the office. Please pick up your children promptly at 11:30 at the kindergarten gate.”
The parents, having accompanied their children for several days, nodded understandingly.
Except for a couple of worried parents, the others left immediately.
Shen Wen didn’t have anything else to do.
But his home in the human world, unlike the castle with its cook and pastry chef, didn’t have anyone to prepare meals. He had recently started researching nutritious meals for children.
He wasn’t comfortable with Xing Nuo constantly eating takeout.
Thinking this, he took out his phone, checked the recipes for shrimp and egg custard and egg drop soup he had recently learned, and headed towards the market.
In the kindergarten classroom.
Xing Nuo, his little nose red, watched as his dad left, his small back slumping.
He wiped away a tear, took a deep breath, and tried to focus, joining the other children in singing.
Today’s lesson was a nursery rhyme about little rabbits.
The children tilted their heads back, their voices childish and sweet, like tiny sprouts emerging from the earth.
Mid-song, Xing Nuo suddenly felt a chill.
He moved his arms behind his back, wanting to rub his cold cheeks.
But just as he raised his hand, the teacher on the podium noticed him.
Today, they had a substitute teacher, a man wearing rimless glasses, his voice hoarse and unpleasant.
“Young man, you need to follow the rules in class. Did you raise your hand and ask for permission before moving?”
Xing Nuo, under the teacher’s cold, intense gaze, shrank his neck and shook his head.
“Since you didn’t, I’ll mark you down for violating classroom rules!”
The male teacher chuckled, a manic look appearing on his face.
His strange, unsettling laughter echoed through the classroom, startling the children.
A timid little girl immediately burst into tears.
“Mommy! I want my mommy!”
“Scary teacher! Waaah!”
Children’s cries were contagious. The other children, already emotionally unstable on their first day of kindergarten, started wailing.
Xing Nuo, looking at the crying children, sniffled, also feeling the urge to cry.
Seeing this, the male teacher grinned, his laughter even louder.
“Cry, little ones, cry! You’ve broken the rules! At the end of this class, whoever has the most violations will be my delicious lunch!”
At Rongcheng Private High School.
Shen Baizhou, clutching his hair, stared at the incomprehensible physics formulas on his test paper, his expression murderous.
As time ticked by, the unfamiliar teacher on the podium suddenly spoke:
“It’s been half an hour. Dear students, if you fail this test, you’ll be eaten by the teacher!”
The class monitor, pushing up his thick glasses, looked up at the podium, puzzled.
“Teacher, where’s Mr. Zhang, our physics teacher? Did he ask you to supervise us during the test?”
This was strange. He hadn’t heard Mr. Zhang leave the classroom.
Some of the students, having given up on the quiz, twirled their pens and looked up at the strange teacher, chuckling.
“Teacher, what subject did you teach before? You sound so weird.”
The teacher on the podium grinned, his smile sinister, stretching almost to his ears.
“I specialize in eating students!”
He closed his eyes, a look of relish on his face, lost in the memory of devouring humans.
“The taste of fresh blood flowing down your throat is a delicacy beyond your human comprehension!”
Then, he looked at the students, a cold smile playing on his lips.
“Don’t worry, this test will last a very long time. I won’t let any of you leave this classroom alive!”
