Chapter 12
Lin Huaixi guiltily pressed his lips together, blinking his sparkling eyes as he peeked carefully at Qi Wang, looking exactly like someone who knew he had done something wrong and was obediently waiting to be scolded.
But this time, Qi Wang’s cheeks did not “puff up” the way they usually did. Propping himself up on the bed, he sat upright, his hair a mess and his expression blank and dazed, as though Lin Huaixi had knocked him silly.
Lin Huaixi apologized softly, “Sorry. I just wanted to make you happy.”
Qi Wang could not feel happy at all. He opened his mouth, but when he thought of how pitiful Lin Huaixi had looked yesterday, he simply could not bear to say, Don’t ever do that again. So he changed his words at the last second. “Next time… tell me beforehand. At least let me prepare myself mentally.”
Lin Huaixi blinked, his eyes lighting up as he looked at Qi Wang. “Then get ready.”
“…” Qi Wang was dumbfounded. “Right now?”
Lin Huaixi nodded hard, looking very interested.
The two little ones held their ground for a few seconds. In the end, Qi Wang could not withstand Lin Huaixi’s attack of sparkling eyes and surrendered first. He braced himself on the bed with his little hands, shut his eyes, and gritted his teeth. “Go ahead.”
Lin Huaixi bumped into him again.
Even though he could not see it, all his other senses felt extra sharp. Qi Wang truly could not understand what this had to do with being happy. He only felt as if he were some kind of washboard, being scrubbed and rubbed back and forth until he was almost worn down into a thin little sheet.
Only after quite a while did Lin Huaixi finally lift his head.
His soft hair had built up static from all the rubbing, so every strand stood straight up on top of his head. Because of that, his head looked a whole circle bigger, as though he had gotten an especially wild little explosion perm.
And yet Lin Huaixi had no awareness of it at all. He only felt as though his head had grown a bit lighter and gave it two little shakes.
That hit Qi Wang’s funny bone exactly. He tried and tried to hold it in, but still the corners of his mouth lifted.
Lin Huaixi instantly caught that fleeting smile. Proudly, he puffed out his chest, and the invisible tail behind him shot smugly into the sky.
Hmph, he had known this move worked extremely well. Just now had only been a tiny little mistake.
Lin Huaixi had practically begun treating it like his secret trump card, and was already planning that if Qi Wang was unhappy in the future, he would use this move to cheer him up.
Qi Wang, of course, had no idea about Lin Huaixi’s mistaken understanding. After he finished laughing, he asked, “Do you still want to eat the little cookies my mom made?”
Lin Huaixi, being the little glutton he was, never let illness affect his appetite. Saliva was already gathering in his mouth. He licked the corner of his lips and answered crisply, “Yes!”
…
Lin Huaixi rested at home for an entire week, and only after his body had fully recovered did Grandma take him back to kindergarten.
Lin Huaixi was extremely popular there. During the days he had been absent, his friends had missed him every single day. Now that they finally saw him again, they immediately crowded around him excitedly, chattering nonstop.
Lin Huaixi was treated with great ceremony, practically being held up like a little emperor. No matter what he said, everyone agreed with him—until they started playing house, and Lin Huaixi once again insisted on being the “male wife.”
Gu Youyou twisted her fingers together, looking very troubled. “Xixi, why do you always want to be the male wife? Then what are we supposed to be? We can’t even play this game anymore.”
The other little girls all nodded one after another.
Lin Huaixi thought about it for a while, then suddenly brightened and proposed, “Then you can be the female husbands!”
Gu Youyou let out an “Ah,” her mouth slightly open, clearly unable to keep up with that train of thought.
“I’ll be the male wife, and you can be the female husband. That way, I switch places, and then we can all play the game!” Lin Huaixi felt he was absolutely brilliant, and his tone was full of excitement.
Gu Youyou seemed faintly persuaded. Her gaze landed on Lin Huaixi and the others, but then she pouted unhappily. “No. If I’m the female husband, then I can’t wear pretty little dresses.”
All the little girls were wearing little dresses, some poofy princess skirts, some loose suspender dresses, all of them especially pretty. What they loved most was the feeling of the skirt flaring up when they twirled in circles.
Wang Xiaohu took the chance to slip in his own agenda. “Then how about this? I’ll be the dad. Then Lin Huaixi won’t need to be the male wife, and we can still play house.”
The moment he said this, all the other children turned to look at him, their faces full of hesitation and struggle. Clearly, compared with him, they all felt that Qi Wang looked more like the dad.
Wang Xiaohu suffered another critical blow. Unwilling to accept it, he turned the spearhead toward Qi Wang. “Xixi, Qi Wang doesn’t even want you to be his male wife, so you might as well pick me instead!”
“But…”
Qi Wang never participated in such childish topics, yet this time he unexpectedly stepped forward. “I’m fine with it.”
The instant those words came out, all the children froze, staring at Qi Wang with wide eyes in utter disbelief.
Wang Xiaohu was the first to recover. He shoved his face right up in front of Qi Wang’s, looking at his eyes one second, crouching down to peer at his nostrils the next, practically one step away from prying open Qi Wang’s mouth to inspect his teeth. “Y-you… are you really Qi Wang?!”
Qi Wang dodged Wang Xiaohu’s hand, feeling that his brain was just as full of strange things as Lin Huaixi’s. “Of course I’m Qi Wang. Who else would I be?”
He ignored Wang Xiaohu after that and looked at everyone.
Since Lin Huaixi wanted so badly to be his male wife, he did not understand it, but he would cooperate.
Qi Wang gritted his teeth, kept his little face tightly composed, and said in a tone that sounded natural and indifferent, “I’ll be the dad, Lin Huaixi will be my male wife, and only Lin Huaixi can be my male wife.”
The children were all so shocked they could not speak. The whole area suddenly fell silent, making Qi Wang’s voice sound especially loud, almost as if it were echoing.
One second.
Two seconds.
…
Qi Wang bit his lower lip, trying hard to control his expression, but his ears turned red without him noticing, and his face was growing hotter and hotter.
He felt childish, and somehow a little embarrassed too. Avoiding the other children’s gazes, he was afraid they would make fun of him.
But their reaction was completely different from what he had expected.
One by one, the children opened their mouths wide and looked at Lin Huaixi with shining eyes full of admiration and worship.
“Qi Wang actually agreed! Xixi, how did you do it?!”
“Xixi, you’re amazing!”
“Xixi, you can finally be the male wife! Are you super happy?”
Lin Huaixi waved his little hand and said no with his mouth, but his eyes were smiling into slits, his chin lifted high, and his whole body looked as if it were floating with joy.
With Qi Wang’s approval, all the games after that turned into “flowing house-play, but the male wife stays forever.” Qi Wang had felt a little embarrassed at first, but under Lin Huaixi’s repeated attacks, he gradually drew closer to the other children too, becoming both adorable and wonderfully weird.
The pear blossoms bloomed and fell, and time slipped away quietly. Lin Huaixi grew another year older and reached the age to start primary school.
Qi Wang’s changes were visible to the naked eye. The baby fat had completely faded from his face, making his contours and lines stand out more clearly, and he had grown into a handsome little boy with delicate brows and eyes, red lips, and white teeth.
As for Lin Huaixi, he still looked just the same as before, like a little glutinous rice dumpling—soft all over, with plump little arms and legs that formed dimples wherever you squeezed them. When he ran, his slightly rounded cheeks would even jiggle along.
Lin Yunmi happened to be on vacation, so she volunteered to take both Lin Huaixi and Qi Wang to school.
Holding one child in each hand, she looked left and then right, suddenly becoming aware of the difference between them, and felt deeply puzzled.
Why was her precious baby not growing up at all? He looked almost exactly the same as when he was in kindergarten, as if he were several years younger than Qi Wang.
Perhaps sensing his mother’s distress, Lin Huaixi lifted his head to look at her, his eyes sparkling, his smile so sweet it seemed as though his dimples on both cheeks were filled with honey.
Lin Yunmi was instantly melted by the cuteness, her heart going soft as water.
It did not matter if her precious baby never grew up. She could keep kissing him, hugging him, and lifting him high forever, sheltering him from wind and rain.
The moment Lin Huaixi saw his mother’s expression, he knew exactly what she was thinking. He shook his head and looked around awkwardly. “Mommy, I’m going to school. You can’t rub your fragrance all over my face. People will see it.”
After saying that, afraid his mother would feel too sad, he hurried to comfort her. “After school, Mommy can kiss me properly, okay?”
“Okay, okay, okay.” Lin Yunmi was so charmed she almost forgot how to walk and agreed at once.
Qi Wang, carrying his little schoolbag, had long since grown used to the interaction between mother and son. He looked more like the real adult, paying attention to the pedestrians and cars on both sides as he led this unreliable mother-son pair across the road.
Once they reached school, Lin Huaixi and the others waved goodbye to Lin Yunmi, then walked into the classroom carrying their little schoolbags.
School had already been in session for several months. Lin Huaixi especially loved handwriting practice. The moment he sat down, he picked up his pen and began carefully practicing stroke by stroke in his exercise squares.
The other children were all running wild. Wang Xiaohu had been assigned to a different class, but whenever he had time, he would come looking for them.
Wang Xiaohu stomped over so loudly that the floor boomed beneath him. He almost failed to stop in time and very nearly smashed straight into the desk.
Lin Huaixi looked at the sweaty Wang Xiaohu with concern. “Are you okay?”
Grabbing his hand, Wang Xiaohu panted too hard to get out a whole sentence. “That… that kid in your class is handing out chocolate right now. Aren’t you going?”
There was a little boy in Lin Huaixi’s class who had only started school recently. People said he had gone traveling around the world with his parents before that.
None of the other children had ever had such an experience. On top of that, the little boy often handed out chocolates to everyone. Thanks to this, he had become the most popular child in the entire first grade.
Every time he gave out sweets, all the children would swarm around him, eating chocolate while pestering him with questions about his trip around the world.
Lin Huaixi loved sweets dearly. The moment he heard the word chocolate, his eyes went straight. He instinctively stood up, but after coming back to himself and struggling for a few seconds, he finally sat back down.
Wang Xiaohu grew anxious and tried to pull him up. “If you go too late, there won’t be any left. Don’t you like chocolate?”
Resting his face in his hands, Lin Huaixi looked near tears. “Grandma doesn’t let me eat too much candy. If I eat chocolate, then I can’t eat little bunny cake anymore.”
Wang Xiaohu had also eaten little bunny cake before and loved that sweet, milky taste very much. Unable to choose between the two, he decided he wanted both.
“Then I’m going to get chocolate first! This weekend I’ll come find you. Remember to save me a piece of little bunny cake.” Wang Xiaohu ran off in a flash, and the breeze from the corner of his clothes blew the handwriting workbook all crooked.
Lin Huaixi pressed the little workbook down with his arm. Looking at the few neat, square characters written on it, his expression suddenly turned very serious, and he even clenched his fist.
Once you entered first grade, bad guys would start bullying people. Right now, the most important thing for him was to protect Qi Wang!
The contents of the book had appeared in Lin Huaixi’s mind out of thin air. He knew everything in it—unfortunately, the problem was that he could not read.
But after starting primary school, Lin Huaixi studied diligently and practiced writing hard, and at last he had finally managed to write down the bad guy’s name.
This bad guy was called: Zi Xiao Mu Bai Tu!
The last character, tu (rabbit), had several strange extra strokes added to it. What was that supposed to be… forget it, it was not important.
Turning his head, Lin Huaixi looked at Qi Wang with great seriousness. “Qi Wang, in the future you absolutely must stay far, far away from one bad guy. If he bullies you, tell me right away, and I’ll help you beat him up!”
Lin Huaixi raised his little fist and swung it heavily twice, revealing his soft little arms. His expression looked fierce, as though he were about to bare his teeth and bite someone the next second.
Qi Wang kept a calm expression as he stuck the straw into the fruit milk and held it to Lin Huaixi’s mouth.
Lin Huaixi instinctively took two sips, but still did not forget the serious business. “This bad guy is super powerful. He knows how to hit people and scold people, so you have to be really careful.”
“I heard you.” Half perfunctory and half serious, Qi Wang coaxed him, “I’ll stay far, far away from him.”
Only then did Lin Huaixi nod his little head in satisfaction, the words he spoke carrying the sweet smell of fruit milk. “Now I’ll tell you this bad guy’s name.”
“He’s called Zi Xiao Mu Bai Tu!”
Qi Wang: “…”
Zi Xiao Mu Bai Tu… Little White Rabbit?
Would any bad person really have a name like that? And besides, it did not even sound all that intimidating.
