Chapter 15: Trouble at Pickup Time
At four-thirty in the afternoon, the kindergarten entrance was packed with parents there to pick up their children.
Sunflower Class One got out earliest. The teacher led out a string of little radishes. Most of the children at the front of the line were boys and girls walking hand in hand. Only the last two in line were two little boys holding hands.
It was not because they were unpopular.
The truth was the exact opposite.
Too many children wanted to hold Gu Tang’s and Gu Qinian’s hands, which led to arguments, so the teacher had no choice but to let the two of them hold each other’s hands.
Young Master Gu had kept both hands in his pockets the whole time. No matter who came over to hold them, he did not budge at all. But the moment he heard the teacher say that, he stretched out his little hand, his face practically saying, Hurry up and hold my hand.
Gu Tang, on the other hand, did not really care who he walked with. All little kids were cute—what difference did it make whose hand he held?
Seeing that Gu Tang still looked absentminded and distracted, Gu Qinian became annoyed. He grabbed the milk dumpling’s hand and pulled him straight forward.
[Host, excellent! “Torment the Male Lead x100” task progress +1%! Current completion: 99%!]
Gu Tang: “???”
No, wait, he had not done anything at all!
Why was Young Master Gu acting up again??
At that moment, a commotion broke out further ahead in the line.
Little Fatty Zhao Kang was causing trouble again. He was tugging on Jiang Yiyi’s braid and shouting angrily, “Was it you who tattled?”
Jiang Yiyi’s hair was being pulled painfully, and she burst into tears on the spot.
Jiang Yiwen tried to save his sister, but Zhao Kang kicked him down with one foot.
There were too many children around, all noisy and chaotic, and the little girl’s crying voice was weak. The teacher at the very front did not notice, and the line kept moving forward.
Gu Tang could not stand seeing a girl being bullied. He stepped forward to rescue Jiang Yiyi’s braid. “Zhao Kang, let go.”
“I won’t. What are you going to do about it?”
Relying on the fact that he was big and sturdy, Zhao Kang puffed out his chest and slammed into Gu Tang hard.
He weighed twice as much as Gu Tang.
Bang.
Gu Tang felt as if he had been hit by a giant slab of granite. His vision went dark, and he almost fell to the ground.
But in the end, he managed to stay upright.
Not because he steadied himself, but because a greater force behind him had held him up.
Young Master Gu was standing right behind him.
Gu Qinian looked at Zhao Kang with his dark black eyes and said calmly, “I was the one who told. What are you going to do about it?”
Little Fatty Zhao Kang was enraged by that almost taunting tone. He charged over with loud howls, and Gu Tang could feel the ground shake under the force of his running.
A wise man did not take immediate losses.
Run!
Gu Tang wanted to drag Young Master Gu away and use the classic strategy of retreating first, but he grabbed at empty air.
Right in front of his eyes, he watched Gu Qinian begin the very first fight of his life—
After a few clashes, Zhao Kang ended up sitting on the ground and bawling loudly.
Meanwhile, Young Master Gu frowned and patted the dust off his clothes. After he finished, he looked at his dirtied hands with disgust, never dropping his cleanliness-prince persona.
Gu Tang: “…”
Ah… this…
Did that end a little too fast?
All those early-morning practice sessions Young Master Gu had been doing were clearly not for nothing!
Such a huge commotion made many children stop to watch the fight. No matter how far away the teacher had been, she finally noticed something was wrong.
Gu Tang’s eyes were sharp, and he immediately saw the teacher running over from the front.
He looked at the little fatty sitting on the ground, filthy all over and with one part of his face already turning bruised green, then looked at Young Master Gu, who was completely unharmed and still patting away dust.
Gu Tang’s eyes turned quickly, and then he sprang into action.
He snatched two clumps of dirt from a flower bed nearby and, at lightning speed, smeared them across Young Master Gu’s fair little face. Before the other boy could react, he gave a sharp riiiip and tore a huge hole in Young Master Gu’s shirt.
Gu Qinian: “???”
Gu Tang: “Strategic weakness display!”
“What happened? What happened? Who was fighting?”
In the middle of him saying that, the teacher had already rushed over.
Gu Tang immediately raised his hand and pointed at Little Fatty. “Teacher! He started it first!”
That was not a lie.
Zhao Kang really had been the one bullying others first. It was just that no one could have expected little Gu Qinian to knock him down in two punches.
The teacher had not expected it either.
On one side was Zhao Kang, full of fat and lying on the ground sobbing and rolling. On the other side was the gentle-looking little Gu Qinian, with his tiny clothes torn and his beautiful little face dirtied. It was obvious which child she would feel sorry for.
The teacher asked with concern, “Nian Nian, does it hurt?”
Young Master Gu, who had not even lost a single hair: “…”
Zhao Kang had been crying his lungs out with no one paying attention to him. Seeing the teacher rush over only to care about Gu Qinian, he turned red with rage. “I-I’m telling my mommy!”
Where there was a bratty child, there was a bratty parent.
With one phone call from Zhao Kang, his mother came shoving her way in through the kindergarten gates.
“Who is it? Which little brat bullied my precious baby? Get out here! This is not over today!”
Zhao Kang’s mother pointed at the sky and cursed wildly. One moment she was demanding to settle accounts with Gu Qinian’s parents, and the next she was demanding compensation from the kindergarten for the emotional and physical suffering of her son.
Even the teacher had no way to handle such an unreasonable parent, so she could only use her body to shield the children, afraid the woman might do something too extreme.
The scene fell into total chaos.
While everyone else was distracted, Gu Tang quietly pulled out a little handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the dirt off Gu Qinian’s face.
He knew Young Master Gu was a clean freak, but if he had not done that just now, the teacher would never have protected him.
The little milk dumpling’s handkerchief carried a milky scent.
Just like the little pink flower he had given him.
Sweet-smelling.
The dirt and grime that had been irritating Gu Qinian were soothed away. He sniffed the fresh, sweet scent on the handkerchief and suddenly felt that dirt did not seem all that filthy after all.
“That little brat hasn’t reflected at all!”
“Do you even know how much my son is worth? Can you afford to compensate if you hurt him?!”
“You poor nobodies couldn’t even pay for my precious son if all of you were added together!”
With one hand on her waist and the other pointing at Gu Qinian, Zhao Kang’s mother cursed furiously like a boiling teakettle.
“How much compensation would be needed?”
A refined voice sounded out, low in volume and mild in tone, yet full of overwhelming authority.
The entire scene went silent instantly.
A man in a perfectly black butler’s uniform walked forward slowly. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were slightly curved, and a proper smile rested at the corners of his mouth.
“Uncle Butler!”
Gu Tang waved his little hand and greeted him.
Zhao Kang’s mother’s gaze moved back and forth between the two children and the man in black. A little alarmed, she began thinking—what kind of family could afford to hire an elite butler like this?
“If it really was my young master who hit your child, then of course we will take full responsibility. Shall we exchange contact information first?”
As he spoke, the butler calmly drew a business card from his chest pocket and handed it over.
Zhao Kang’s mother hesitated as she took the card. The moment she saw the heading, her pupils shrank. Then she immediately yanked the little fatty up from the ground. “Ah, no, no need, no need…”
The butler smiled pleasantly. “Oh, but there is.”
“There’s really no need, you’re too polite…”
Zhao Kang’s mother tugged at her son, trying to leave.
But the little fatty refused and continued rolling on the ground and throwing a fit.
At that point, the butler let his smile fade and opened the eyes he had been keeping gently narrowed. “There is absolutely a need. My young master also appears to have suffered a slight injury. Once the medical assessment is complete, our lawyer will also deliver a compensation claim.”
Zhao Kang’s mother: “…”
What could she possibly say?
Her useless son had actually provoked the young master of the Gu family of Jiang City. If the Gu family seriously pursued the matter, let alone compensation, their whole family might lose even the ability to remain standing in this city.
Thinking of that, Zhao Kang’s mother glared at the still-flailing little fatty on the ground and slapped him hard.
“Get up right now and apologize to them!”
Gu Tang carefully compared his own arm with Young Master Gu’s arm.
They were about the same thickness.
The other boy was even fairer than he was.
So why had he been knocked flying by one shove from the little fatty, while Young Master Gu could punch the other boy flat with one fist?
After thinking it over and over, Gu Tang got up very early the next morning.
He started martial arts practice together with Young Master Gu.
Yawning, he put on a little white training robe, tied his belt tightly, took his stance, and under the coach’s guidance shouted “Yahhh—” as he charged toward Young Master Gu.
Gu Qinian sidestepped the milk dumpling’s attack.
Because of the momentum, Gu Tang rushed too fast and could not stop himself, so he slipped right past him.
Gu Tang: “Save—”
Young Master Gu reacted quickly and grabbed him by the back of his waistband.
The good news was that Gu Tang did not fall face-first into the dirt.
The bad news was that his waistband was too loose, and Young Master Gu saw half his butt.
Not a big problem.
They were just kids… my foot!
Wahhhhhh this was so embarrassing—
Gu Tang lay sprawled on the little kindergarten desk, his whole body giving off the aura of someone who had died socially.
Jiang Yiyi scooted over and patted him. “Tang Tang, don’t be sad. Zhao Kang transferred to another kindergarten. He won’t come bully us anymore!”
Wasn’t that normal?
Offend the young master of the Gu family on Gu family territory, and staying would have been the strange thing.
If he had stayed, it was hard to say who would end up bullying whom…
Just like him.
It looked on the surface like he had been bullying Young Master Gu to complete all those tasks, but in truth, if he was not careful, he would end up losing his butt…
Gu Tang sniffled quietly, tears flowing in two silent lines.
Jiang Yiyi thought he was crying from happiness, so she licked her lips and said, “Let’s celebrate! I want candy. Do you still have any?”
Gu Tang turned all his pockets inside out. “I want some too…”
But he had suffered such a great shock this morning that when he left home, he had forgotten to bring any candy.
Just as he said that, two milk candies appeared in front of him.
Gu Tang instantly came back to life, his eyes lighting up. “Where did these come from?”
“Brought them from home.”
Young Master Gu said lightly.
He had noticed that the milk dumpling had not gone to rummage through the candy jar before leaving, so he had quietly slipped two candies into his pocket. After all, he had never seen Gu Tang make it through an entire day without candy, so it was better to prepare just in case.
Sweets really were the most healing thing ever, wahhh!
With candy in hand, Gu Tang instantly forgot all about the humiliation of half his butt being exposed.
One candy went to Jiang Yiyi, and the other he kept for himself.
He carefully unwrapped it and was just about to pop it into his mouth.
Then he paused, bit off half, and held the rest out to Gu Qinian. “Good brothers share everything. If I have half, you have half too!”
Gu Qinian: “…”
At the mention of half and half,
Young Master Gu could not help recalling the two little halves he had seen that morning…
Gu Tang returned to his happy routine of sleeping early and getting up late.
Martial arts was not for him.
Drawing was much more enjoyable.
Sometimes, when the mood struck him, he would sit in a corner of the training room and watch Young Master Gu practice punches and kicks. Then, relying on his excellent ability to capture motion, he would sketch little Gu Qinian’s heroic form.
After finishing the drawing, he would hand it over to Gu Qinian to see.
Young Master Gu usually only responded with a reserved little “mm,” never once praising the drawing.
Gu Tang himself felt they were only average.
Compared to his painting skills in his previous life, these could only be considered children’s drawings.
Forget it. He would just practice slowly.
He crumpled the drawing into a little ball and tossed it lightly into the trash can, then clapped his hands and went off to eat.
What he did not know was that after he strutted away, there was always a pair of little hands that would pull the crumpled drawings back out of the trash.
Each one would be carefully smoothed flat, stacked neatly together, and then stored away with great care.
***
Author’s Note:
About Tang Tang’s drawings—
On the surface, Gu Qinian: Mm. Average. Okay. Passable.
Behind the scenes, Gu Qinian: Hide every single one of them!
