Chapter 62: The Popsicle
The sky was like a piece of blue sapphire, clear and bright. In the east, a fiery sun was still hanging, slowly rising from the horizon.
Not a single cloud in the sky, a refreshing breeze blew against the face, bringing a rare coolness in the hot summer.
A small tree in the front yard, not yet fully grown, cast a faint shadow. Nuonuo was sitting on his little motorcycle, his little face dappled with light and shadow. His pursed lips held a hint of seriousness and concentration.
The sound of the little motorcycle was not like a real motorcycle, which would roar with a twist of the handlebars. Its sound was so small it was almost negligible.
It probably took after its little owner, with a soft, milky little voice, yet still thinking it was very amazing, insisting on roping off a large area for itself, afraid it would ride too fast and hit someone.
Auntie Wu stood to the side, the smile on her face unable to be hidden.
Nuonuo had been riding for almost half an hour, but he was still moving at a turtle’s pace. The front yard was spacious, and he had yet to complete a single lap.
After finally, slowly, riding back to where he had started, Nuonuo, having completed a big lap, wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a big breath. “I… I’m done widing!”
Auntie Wu generously gave him a thumbs-up and praised him. “Nuonuo is so amazing! Auntie doesn’t even know how to ride a motorcycle!”
Nuonuo’s eyes sparkled. He pursed his lips a little shyly, and after a long while, he lifted his little head and said, “My wittle motowcycle can be widden by Yiyi, ya!”
With that, Nuonuo even pushed the little motorcycle in front of Auntie Wu, obediently letting her get on.
Auntie Wu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry and waved her hands. “I can’t ride it. This motorcycle is so small. If I sit on it, I’ll break it.”
Because it was a motorcycle exclusively for a three-year-old child, this car looked like a model, as if it had come out to work before it was even a month old.
It was about as high as Auntie Wu’s knee, so she really didn’t dare to sit on it.
Seeing that Auntie Wu really didn’t like it, Nuonuo finally pushed the little motorcycle to the side to play.
Holding his little water bottle, he took a couple of sips. Just as he was about to go for another ride, a child’s shout came from the courtyard gate. “Big Brother! I’ve come to play with you!”
Zhou Xiaole sniffled, a small water bottle also hanging on his chest, and ran in with a bounce in his step.
Before he even got close, Zhou Xiaole saw the car next to Nuonuo. His eyes instantly widened, and his little mouth also opened into a circle. “What is this? Is it a motorcycle?”
Zhou Xiaole ran over in surprise.
When Zhou Xiaole had come to play with Nuonuo before, he had once seen Nuonuo’s eldest brother ride a motorcycle out. The silver-gray body was as smooth as a ray of light, and it shot past Zhou Xiaole in a flash.
At that time, Zhou Xiaole had just stared blankly in the direction Fei Han had left, even forgetting to dodge the exhaust fumes, his heart filled with envy.
He never expected that today he would see a small motorcycle here with Nuonuo. Zhou Xiaole circled the little motorcycle several times and couldn’t help but reach out to touch it.
Perhaps every little boy has a super cool hero dream in his heart, and Zhou Xiaole was no exception. Seeing such a beautiful motorcycle, his eyes were directly glued to it, and his little legs couldn’t even move.
“Nuonuo, is this your car?”
Looking at Zhou Xiaole’s sparkling eyes, Nuonuo nodded and tried his best to tighten the lid of his little water bottle. “Brother Ji gave it to me. I even rode a rocking car yesterday! The road there was this—wide!”
Nuonuo opened his little hands and gestured a super big distance.
Hearing this, Zhou Xiaole was so envious he couldn’t stand it. He lowered his little head and looked at the sky-blue little motorcycle, whimpering for a long while before he said with a red little face, embarrassedly, “Boss, I want to ride it too, just for a little while!”
Afraid that Nuonuo wouldn’t believe him, Zhou Xiaole held out his little finger and gestured to him. “Just this little while!”
Nuonuo was not a possessive child. He was very happy to share and didn’t hesitate to nod his little head.
“Okay, ya.”
Zhou Xiaole didn’t expect his boss to be so good to him, even willing to let him ride his little motorcycle. He pouted and was moved for a while, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.
“Big Brother, don’t worry. You’re my big brother for life! I’ll definitely be a good little brother to you in the future!”
As Zhou Xiaole spoke, his snot dripped down again.
Nuonuo held his little water bottle. Seeing his snot, his little face couldn’t help but wrinkle.
Taking advantage of the fact that Zhou Xiaole wasn’t paying attention, Nuonuo took small steps and quietly moved back a couple of steps.
Zhou Xiaole didn’t notice his big brother’s departure at all. He even foolishly turned his head to touch the handlebars of the motorcycle with his little hands and happily started riding.
The sun gradually rose higher, and the shadows of the trees became shorter and shorter. With no shady place to stand, Nuonuo had no choice but to run under the eaves to hide from the sun.
And over there, Zhou Xiaole was still tirelessly riding his little motorcycle. Even when the sun had tanned his face, he had no intention of stopping.
Auntie Wu came out with a bowl containing two popsicles and called out for Nuonuo and Zhou Xiaole to come and eat.
The weather was getting hotter and hotter. Mr. Fei had instructed that children had weak stomachs and couldn’t eat too much cold food, so Nuonuo was only allowed to eat one a day.
Nuonuo cherished his daily opportunity to eat a popsicle. Every time, he would carefully use a bowl to catch the melted popsicle water and then drink it up in small sips.
He looked like a pitiful little thing who had been mistreated. Fei Zhiyan had seen it once and thought with a slight headache, If others see this, they’ll probably think I’m mistreating this little silly fish and not giving him food.
Knowing Nuonuo’s habit, Auntie Wu had also directly brought out a bowl this time.
“Come and eat your popsicles. This time it’s chocolate. Isn’t chocolate Nuonuo’s favorite?”
Nuonuo held the small bowl and saw the small piece of chocolate ice cream, which was not even as big as his palm. His eyes sparkled with a fine, bright light, and he nodded his head like a little chicken pecking at rice. “I wike to eat. Chocolate is sweet, sweet!”
Ever since he had eaten chocolate at the Lei family’s house last time, Nuonuo had been thinking about it for a long time. Now that he had a chocolate popsicle, he was as happy as a little mouse that had stolen oil, covering his mouth and laughing with joy.
Being able to eat both chocolate and a popsicle, Nuonuo was so happy that little happy bubbles were appearing around him. He delightedly picked up the popsicle and licked it with his little tongue.
“Ya! My tongue is stuck!”
The first bite, and Nuonuo’s little pink tongue was stuck to the cold popsicle. He lifted his little head and looked at Auntie Wu with teary eyes.
Zhou Xiaole, who saw his big brother in trouble from the side, was startled and quickly circled around Nuonuo. “What should we do? Do we have to cut off Big Brother’s tongue?”
Zhou Xiaole thought of the TV series that Old Mrs. Zhou often watched, where a palace maid had her tongue cut off by the empress because her “tongue was too long.”
Seeing the little tongue sticking out of his big brother’s mouth, Zhou Xiaole thought to himself, Could this be the long tongue from the drama?
At the thought of the miserable scene of Nuonuo’s tongue being cut off, Zhou Xiaole couldn’t help but start to wail, even forgetting to eat the popsicle in his hand.
Nuonuo was also scared. He whimpered and started to cry, his big eyes quickly filling with tears. A hot, crystal-clear teardrop fell with a plop onto his popsicle.
Just as he was crying sadly, Nuonuo tasted a salty taste in his mouth, and in the next second, he muddledly separated his tongue from the popsicle.
“I… I’m okay now.”
Nuonuo, with a dazed little face, blinked his eyes and said in a small voice, holding the popsicle.
Auntie Wu, who had come out of the house with hot water, was about to melt the popsicle for Nuonuo. But seeing Nuonuo’s little face stained with tears, she instantly understood what had happened and, with a bit of amusement, put the hot water aside.
“The popsicle is too cold, it will stick to your little tongue. You have to wait a little while before eating.”
Hearing Auntie Wu’s words, Nuonuo quickly nodded his little head.
And so, he held his little bowl and stood there for a long while, waiting until the popsicle had slightly started to melt before he started to eat, afraid that if he ate too fast, his tongue would get stuck again.
Zhou Xiaole, on the other hand, had no such scruples. He opened his mouth, and with one bite, half the popsicle was gone. In just two or three bites, Zhou Xiaole’s popsicle was gone.
And Nuonuo, on the other hand, had only eaten half.
And so, Zhou Xiaole, having finished his popsicle, could only sit on the small stool with pleading eyes, watching Nuonuo eat in small bites.
Nuonuo liked to lick his popsicles, as if eating it slowly would make the popsicle last longer.
But the popsicle was actually very small. It was specially made by the chef with fresh ingredients for Fei Zhiyan. It was made small and exquisite, as he was afraid that if he bought popsicles from outside, Nuonuo would get a stomachache.
Unbeknownst to him, Fei Zhiyan was becoming more and more attentive to Nuonuo. After all, it was his first time raising a little merman cub, and he was afraid of making any mistakes.
Fei Zhiyan had even bought some raw fish, thinking of when to practice Nuonuo’s chewing ability.
It should be known that mermaids were extremely fierce animals in the sea. Their teeth were sharp enough to easily tear the flesh of any fish, and they could even chew and eat the fish bones.
Before coming ashore, Fei Zhiyan’s ferocity in the sea was well-known. Every time he swam to a new sea area, many animals would suffer.
But Fei Zhiyan looked at the tiny little baby teeth in Nuonuo’s mouth and felt that he probably couldn’t even chew cooked meat, so he temporarily gave up on this idea. It was better to wait until the little one’s spiritual power was stable and then throw him into the sea for training.
Nuonuo, happily eating his popsicle, had no idea how much his father was worrying. He took a big bite and bit the last bit of the popsicle into his mouth.
After finishing the popsicle, a lot of chocolate water had also melted in Nuonuo’s little bowl. Just as he was about to drink it, he saw Zhou Xiaole’s pleading gaze on the side.
“Xiaole, you drink too.”
Nuonuo had a circle of black chocolate residue around his mouth as he shared his things with Zhou Xiaole.
Sticking out his little tongue to lick the chocolate on the side of his mouth, Nuonuo was happily crinkling his eyes when he heard Zhou Xiaole say, “Big Brother, you drink it. I’ve already eaten.”
Zhou Xiaole felt that he was too pathetic, always eyeing his big brother’s things. What if his big brother started to dislike him in the future?
He pushed the small bowl over, but Zhou Xiaole pushed it too hard, and all the chocolate water in the bowl spilled onto himself.
A large black patch of chocolate water instantly appeared on Zhou Xiaole’s white T-shirt.
Completely stunned, Zhou Xiaole pouted, thinking to himself, I didn’t even get to drink it, and it spilled. How could this happen, wuuu—
Nuonuo was far away and was not affected. After being stunned for a moment, he walked over and patted Zhou Xiaole’s shoulder with his little hand. “Xiaole, don’t cry. You look ugly when you cry.”
Hearing his big brother’s comforting words, Zhou Xiaole suddenly felt even sadder.
