Chapter 17
The classroom was brightly lit, and because Shen Muhan’s hair was white, the flush burning on his ears stood out all the more clearly.
The moment he noticed the change in his body, Shen Muhan felt uncomfortable all over. Then, in the very next second, he vanished from the classroom out of thin air.
Tang Rong blinked, unable to react quickly enough to the sudden change of the little classmate disappearing right before his eyes.
It was only when the system’s uncontrollable laughter rang out in his mind that he finally snapped back to himself.
The system said: [Hahahaha—oh my—haha… that little classmate must have gotten too shy.]
A learning pod could be entered or exited according to the student’s own wishes, and it could also be controlled externally by the parents through the control panel. The priority between parent and student permissions could be set—if your priority was lower, then if you wanted to log in or out, you had to get approval from the higher-priority side. The higher-priority side, meanwhile, could fully control everything.
Most kindergarten children were still quite young, so their parents’ priority was usually set higher, in case the children did not want to leave class and stayed inside the learning pod for too long.
Clearly, the classmate who had just been talking to Tang Rong had his own priority set the highest, otherwise he would not have disappeared in an instant.
Looking at the now-empty seat, as well as the snow leopard design right in front of him, Tang Rong reached out with his little hand and touched it. Then he took off his little outer jacket and placed it on the chair, helping the vanished classmate reserve the seat.
…
“Xiao Han, why did you come out so quickly?” A beautiful noblewoman sat beside the learning pod, knitting a scarf in her hands. When she saw her son suddenly log out and open his eyes, she asked in confusion.
The man sitting beside her had been lowering his head to deal with official business on his optical brain. Noticing the movement, he also lifted his gaze and met his son’s sapphire-like eyes inside the learning pod.
Now back in his little snow leopard form, Shen Muhan still felt unbearably awkward all over—especially his ears, which were burning hot.
He instinctively raised his paws and tail to cover his ears, only to belatedly realize that right now his ears were covered in long fur. Even if they had turned bright red, no one would be able to see. Only then did the speed of his heartbeat slow a little.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Chuanqiong directly closed his optical brain panel and leaned over together with his wife, Han Zhi, toward the little snow leopard.
Today was their son’s first day of kindergarten, so they had deliberately pushed aside all work and come to Eden to stay with him the entire time.
They had also long expected that the first day of school would not go especially smoothly.
What they had not expected was that he would come out in less than ten minutes after entering class.
The little snow leopard shyly curled up inside the learning pod, rolling itself into a tiny leopard ball. It quickly turned around, presenting its back to its parents, its mind blank.
It was not that it did not want to answer. It was just that… the reason it had left the classroom was too embarrassing to say out loud.
The two exchanged a glance, assuming only that he found kindergarten boring and did not want to stay in class, which was why he had come out in a huff and deliberately turned his back on them in protest.
Their original reason for sending the little snow leopard to virtual kindergarten had never been to make it learn any particular knowledge or skills. They simply hoped it could make a few friends and practice some social interaction.
From the looks of it, it had not met any children in this class that it wanted to become close friends with.
Han Zhi suggested, “Why don’t we try switching Xiao Han to another class?”
Shen Chuanqiong nodded. “I’ll make the arrangements.”
The children in the current class had been selected very carefully, and in the parents’ view, they were the most suitable ones. They had even contacted and discussed things in advance with the children’s parents. But if their own son did not like them, then no matter how suitable they seemed, they were still unsuitable.
Hearing his parents talk, the little snow leopard spun around at once and let out a protesting “miaowu.”
It did not want to change classes.
It wanted to stay in the same class as the child who liked little snow leopards.
“Alright, alright, then you don’t have to go to school today. Once Daddy changes you into a new class, you can go again tomorrow, okay?” Han Zhi set down the half-knit scarf in her hands, opened the learning pod, lifted the little snow leopard out, and smoothed its fur, clearly misunderstanding what it meant.
With its ears flattened in collapse, the little snow leopard struggled free from its mother’s arms, jumped back into the learning pod, lifted its little head, and miaowu-miaowu’d several times in succession, its long tail swishing back and forth.
Both Shen Chuanqiong and Han Zhi were bewildered, having no idea what had gotten into their son.
Only then did the little snow leopard finally remember that it could communicate through the optical brain. It hurriedly opened the virtual screen.
[Don’t change classes.]
Shen Chuanqiong and Han Zhi both froze.
…
The child by the “entrance” was still crying, and no matter how long they soothed him, he would not stop. Then the optical brain picked up that the little crown prince had suddenly left the virtual classroom as well. On the very first day of school, Teacher Tangyuan’s career had already suffered a catastrophic defeat.
Tangyuan silently sighed in her heart.
At this point, there was not much point in continuing to comfort the crying child. Crying for too long was itself a burden on a little one’s body, and feeling scared after suddenly arriving in a strange environment was perfectly normal. He could adapt slowly. If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the day after… one day, the little one would get used to it.
Just as Tangyuan was about to contact the child’s parents through the optical brain and have him log out of the learning pod, a small figure suddenly came closer.
It was Tang Rong.
He had already taken off the little outer jacket he had been wearing earlier and was dressed only in a light-colored sweatshirt, with a cute white little bird print on the chest.
Tangyuan had no idea whether he had already chosen a seat or what he was suddenly coming over for.
Before she could even ask, she saw Tang Rong suddenly hug the little classmate who was still crying through the carrot doll he was clutching, and, imitating the way he himself had once been comforted, gently rubbed his back with his little hand.
Class had not even begun yet, and the classmate sitting in the little snow leopard seat had suddenly disappeared again. Tang Rong was sitting alone in the last row, not knowing what to do, and felt a little bored. Since he was sitting fairly close to the entrance, the crying of the classmate holding the carrot doll was especially piercing to his ears. Tang Rong thought about it, got up, and came closer, wanting to help the teacher calm him down.
Whenever he was unhappy or sad, Grandma would pull him into her arms and pat his back. Later, Butler Uncle had also done the same. So Tang Rong copied what he had experienced.
The classmate clutching the carrot doll was stunned by his actions and actually forgot to cry.
“Don’t cry anymore. Shall we go choose a seat?” Tang Rong released the hug and let his eyes fall on the carrot doll in the other child’s arms. He curved his eyes slightly with a smile. “Are you a little rabbit? One of the seats has a little rabbit on it. Do you want to go see?”
In a little child’s subconscious, the creature most naturally matched with carrots was a little rabbit. And this classmate’s two front teeth really were a little longer, making him look rather like a little rabbit. With his eyes red from crying, he looked even more like a red-eyed bunny.
Bai Tu froze on the spot.
H-he-he-how did he know his spirit form was a little rabbit?!
Choose a seat… little rabbit pattern…
Bai Tu’s attention was drawn away by those words, and a little curiosity was stirred up. He actually let Tang Rong hold his hand and obediently followed him over to the little rabbit seat.
Teacher Tangyuan, standing at the side, was so shocked she could not speak. Only after the fact did she hurriedly close the optical brain interface she had just been about to use to notify Bai Tu’s parents, then quickly followed after the two children.
Tang Rong led Bai Tu straight to the seat beside the little snow leopard’s.
The chair Tang Rong had been sitting on earlier, right next to the little snow leopard’s seat, had a cute little white rabbit printed on it.
“Look, it’s a little rabbit.” Tang Rong pointed at the white rabbit on the chair.
Bai Tu tightened his grip on the carrot in his arms. Following the direction of Tang Rong’s finger, he looked over and, upon seeing the white little rabbit that resembled his own spirit form, a faint light finally returned to his still-reddened eyes.
Noticing that he liked it, Tang Rong pressed on. “I’ll give this seat to you, so don’t cry anymore, alright?”
Bai Tu bit his lip, his eyelashes, damp with tears, fluttering quickly. He looked at Tang Rong, who was holding his hand, then at the chair with the little rabbit design on it, and finally nodded slowly.
Teacher Tangyuan, who had been silently watching the whole thing, was so touched she nearly cried.
She had already used all those same words herself, but Bai Tu had seemed to screen her out entirely. He had not heard a single thing she said and had not given any response at all, only crying and crying.
Perhaps it was because children were naturally less guarded around other children. Bai Tu was willing to listen to what Tang Rong said.
Tang Rong was truly her lucky little star!
Seeing Bai Tu obediently sit down under Tang Rong’s guidance, Tangyuan let out a long breath of relief. Then she suddenly remembered something and quickly found a corner, nervously contacting the little crown prince’s parents.
…
“Don’t worry, Teacher Tangyuan, it’s nothing serious. Xiao Han will go back in a little while.” Han Zhi was speaking on the call while at the same time smoothing the fur of the little snow leopard in her arms.
After the call ended, the little snow leopard rolled over in its mother’s lap, exposing its belly upward, and let out a soft grumbling miaowu, its long tail hanging down lazily.
Han Zhi immediately rubbed its fluffy little belly and coaxed, “The teacher called. She’s urging you to go back to class. If you still don’t go back, then the child who likes little snow leopards is going to become friends with another child first.”
At once, the little snow leopard sprang upright like a carp leaping from water, flipped back over, jumped down from its mother’s lap, and very consciously returned to the learning pod, patting it with its paw as though urging them to hurry.
After calming down for so long, the heat burning on its ears had finally gone away completely.
Shen Chuanqiong smiled as he helped close the pod door and started the learning pod.
Watching the little snow leopard sink back into the virtual classroom, Han Zhi could not help laughing as she said to her husband, “I wonder whose daughter that child who likes little snow leopards belongs to. Could she possibly become the little crown prince’s future consort?”
Just now, the little snow leopard had awkwardly confessed the reason it did not want to change classes—because of a child who liked little snow leopards.
The child had long hair and was very pretty.
Beyond that, the little snow leopard was unwilling to say anything more.
But the little thoughts of a child were easy enough for adults to see through at a glance.
Shen Chuanqiong smiled and drew his wife into his arms. “He’s still so little. There’s no need to rush.”
Han Zhi naturally stuffed the half-finished scarf in her hands into Shen Chuanqiong’s arms and asked him to knit a flower pattern for her. Then she leaned her head against him and murmured, “Childhood sweethearts… how romantic.”
With practiced ease, Shen Chuanqiong began knitting the pattern. His wife did not know how to knit such things, yet still wanted to make things for the child with her own hands, so lately she had been learning. Whenever she ran into trouble, she would toss it to him—him, who had knitted countless gifts for her back when they were dating.
At the same time, the corners of Shen Chuanqiong’s lips rose unconsciously, and he said softly, “Mm, just like us.”
Meanwhile, Shen Muhan, having returned to the virtual classroom, awkwardly moved his steps, controlling this human body he was still not quite used to, and hurried toward his seat as fast as he could.
At last he reached the familiar little snow leopard seat. Shen Muhan kept a straight face and met the gaze of Bai Tu, who was sitting in the little rabbit seat beside him, holding a carrot doll.
Shen Muhan: “…?” Who are you?
Where was the child who liked little snow leopards???
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