Chapter 50
Xing Nuo, having thoroughly enjoyed himself on the slide after five or six trips, his light-colored curls tousled by the wind, giving him a rather dishevelled appearance, stood on tiptoe and saw the third-floor uncle, who always made him cry, still surrounded by children. He giggled and ran over.
The children were still chattering excitedly: “Bad Uncle!”
“Take this, you bad guy!”
The neighbor, Qi Yao, trapped and unable to move, his forehead covered in sweat, pleaded with them:
“Hey, I’m really not a bad guy!”
“He’s not…bad guy…” Xing Nuo’s soft voice rang out, rescuing Qi Yao.
“He’s…my neighbor…uncle…” Xing Nuo explained obediently.
Little Fatty, who had been the most enthusiastic attacker, stopped, his childish roars ceasing abruptly.
He looked up at the frail Xing Nuo and snorted.
“Your neighbor uncle is a bad guy!”
A bold little girl walked over, stood protectively in front of the delicate, pretty Xing Nuo, and patted her chest.
“Don’t worry, Xing Nuo! Don’t be afraid of the bad uncle! I’ll protect you!”
She took Xing Nuo’s arm and made him an offer:
“I’ll protect you today, so come home with me tonight, okay?”
She adored the cute and delicate Xing Nuo and wanted to take him home, tuck him into her mother’s tummy,
so he could become her real little brother!
Xing Nuo shook his head vigorously and ran away.
“No…Zaizai…go home…with Dad…”
Little Fatty, adding fuel to the fire, taunted the little girl: “Ooh! Xing Nuo’s ignoring you! He doesn’t like you! Hahaha!”
The little girl, her hands on her hips, her apple cheeks flushed with anger, retorted:
“Xing Nuo hates you the most! Fatty! Blegh!”
As the little girl and Little Fatty argued, Xing Nuo, caught in the middle, got sprayed with saliva.
He wiped his face, turned his head to soothe the angry little girl, then hurriedly interrupted Little Fatty, telling him sternly not to say such things.
His curls bounced wildly, his forehead damp with sweat from his efforts.
The other children, not wanting to miss out on the excitement, joined in, surrounding the arguing pair, shouting and cheering.
Qi Yao, finally free, looked at Xing Nuo, busy mediating between the children, and chuckled.
His little neighbor was quite popular with the other kids!
Not forgetting his task, he quickly slipped away with his detector and headed towards the kindergarten classroom.
A faint residual energy from the instance lingered in Xing Nuo’s classroom.
Qi Yao’s detector beeped steadily. He cautiously circled the classroom several times.
There didn’t seem to be any anomaly here.
Had he arrived too late?
As he frowned in thought, Teacher Xiao Song walked in, carrying a stack of books. Seeing Qi Yao snooping around, she screamed.
“Security! Someone catch the thief!”
Under the scorching summer sun, the asphalt shimmered in the heat.
Shen Wen, holding a star-patterned parasol, waited for Xing Nuo at the kindergarten gate.
Xing Nuo emerged, looking listless, followed by two crying children.
Shen Wen paused, walked over, and shielded Xing Nuo from the harsh sunlight with the parasol.
“What happened?”
Xing Nuo, his face smudged with dirt, scratched his cheek, unsure how to explain.
“I…don’t know…”
The two children, who had been arguing by the slide, had somehow started crying and were now following Xing Nuo, refusing to leave.
The little girl even tried to pull Xing Nuo’s arm, wiping her tears, wanting to take him home with her.
“Mommy, I want Xing Nuo to be my little brother! Waaah! Can we take him home?!”
She wailed, and Little Fatty, seeing the adults’ attention focused on the little girl, started crying even louder.
The little girl’s mother hurried over, mortified, and pulled her daughter away.
“I’m so sorry for the trouble she’s caused.”
She lightly knocked her daughter on the head.
“Be quiet! How can someone else’s child be your brother?!”
The little girl continued to cry, sitting on the ground, her little body shaking with sobs.
“No! I want Xing Nuo to be my brother!”
Her mother, exasperated, said: “Don’t you already have a little brother at home?”
Hearing this, the little girl cried even louder.
“My brother at home is ugly! And he poops all the time! He’s smelly!”
The mother’s face flushed with embarrassment. She gave the onlookers an apologetic smile and pulled her daughter aside.
“Stop embarrassing yourself! Your brother is only a few months old, he hasn’t grown into his looks yet. He’ll be handsome when he’s older.”
The little girl looked up, her face tear-streaked, and asked:
“Really? He’ll be as handsome as Xing Nuo?”
The mother, exasperated by her superficial daughter, gritted her teeth and lied:
“Of course!”
Of course not!
Xing Nuo looked like a doll from a display case, even his hair wasn’t the usual black, but a light, unusual golden color, curly, making him look like a little doll.
The mother knew she wasn’t that blessed genetically, her daughter being quite average-looking, but to avoid further embarrassment, she had to appease her silly daughter.
“You’ll see when you get home. Your brother is getting more and more handsome every day.”
Finally, somewhat convinced, the little girl allowed herself to be dragged away, looking back at Xing Nuo reluctantly and waving.
“Xing Nuo, see you tomorrow!”
Xing Nuo, wiping his face with his dad’s handkerchief, looked up, hummed in response, and smiled sweetly.
Shen Baizhou, who had been let out of school early, arrived, his brow furrowed as he picked up Xing Nuo.
“What’s she talking about? How could Xing Nuo be her brother?”
He snorted, his face full of displeasure.
Looking down at the sweet, innocent Xing Nuo in his arms, his expression softened, and he pinched his cheek.
“Xing Nuo is my little brother.”
Shen Wen, ignoring Shen Baizhou’s silly grin, took Xing Nuo and said to him:
“No need to buy takeout today, I’m cooking lunch for you.”
Shen Baizhou froze, then slowly turned to Shen Wen.
“That’s…not necessary.”
He thought of the eleven he had just scored on his physics test, wondering if Shen Wen somehow already knew.
Was this a punishment, a dark cuisine lunch to finish him off?
That seemed a bit extreme.
Shen Baizhou, his heart filled with trepidation, followed Shen Wen, racking his brain for a way to avoid this lunch.
Xing Nuo, held in his dad’s arms, wriggled and squirmed, his little head bobbing like a small sunflower.
“Yay! Dad…cooking…yummy food!”
Shen Wen’s lips curved into a gentle smile, and he pinched Xing Nuo’s nose lightly.
“It’ll be delicious. I watched a cooking video and practiced all morning.”
Xing Nuo rubbed his curly head against his dad’s neck, his little legs swinging happily.
“Yay! Zaizai…eat…all!”
Shen Baizhou, looking at his cheerful little brother, his lips dry, imagined Xing Nuo lying pale and sick in a hospital bed, suffering from food poisoning.
And he himself would become a cold, dead octopus.
He shuddered, his mind racing. A sudden burst of intelligence prompted him to quickly send a text message to Shen Yan.
The three of them returned to their apartment building.
Xing Nuo, seeing their third-floor neighbor who had arrived earlier, waved his hand and greeted him.
“Uncle…Zaizai…finished school~”
No more kindergarten this afternoon, Zaizai would be staying home with Dad!
Qi Yao, his clothes wrinkled and dirty, his face grim, had almost been arrested as a thief at the kindergarten.
Fortunately, he knew the local police officers from previous cases and hadn’t been taken away.
But he hadn’t found any trace of the anomaly at the kindergarten.
After discussing it with his team, they had decided to return, defeated.
Hearing his little neighbor bragging about not having school in the afternoon, Qi Yao grinned, revealing his white teeth, and teased him:
“You think this is fun? You still have twenty years of school ahead of you! You’ll be attending cram school even on weekends, no time to see your dad!”
Xing Nuo’s smile faltered, his eyes widening in shock.
Had the neighbor uncle just said something terrifying?
Didn’t Zaizai just have to finish kindergarten to graduate and become a grown-up?
The thought of having to wake up early for school every day filled him with despair, tears welling up in his eyes.
“Waaah…Dad…is uncle…telling the truth?”
He turned his face away, wiping his tears, and looked at his dad for confirmation.
Shen Wen glared at Qi Yao and patted Zaizai’s fluffy head, his voice soft and comforting.
“Don’t cry. Dad will make you some steamed egg custard later, okay?”
Qi Yao, having made the little one cry, feeling Shen Wen’s glare, awkwardly slipped away.
Xing Nuo, his attention diverted by the promise of egg custard, wiped his tears and nodded.
“Okay…Zaizai…likes egg custard…”
Shen Wen chuckled. There was nothing this child didn’t like to eat.
Having a child who wasn’t a picky eater, watching him enjoy his meals, brought a strange sense of satisfaction and pride.
He carried Xing Nuo upstairs, continuing to distract him.
“The storybook Dad promised to buy for Xing Nuo is already on your nightstand. I’ll read it to you after dinner, okay?”
Xing Nuo’s eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously.
“Okay! Teacher…told story…today…Little Red Riding Hood…and Big Bad Wolf…”
Before he could retell the story, the door opened, and Shen Yan walked out.
“Father, Xing Nuo.”
Seeing Shen Yan, whom he hadn’t seen in a while, Xing Nuo’s excitement turned into shyness.
“Brother?”
Shen Yan smiled warmly, ruffled Xing Nuo’s hair, and took the bag of groceries from Shen Wen.
Looking at the vegetables, he said with a slightly regretful tone:
“You bought groceries? That’s too bad, I’ve already had the chef prepare lunch.”
