Chapter 3: The Bigger, Rounder Circle
Lin Huaixi ran so fast he almost could not stop in time and nearly crashed straight into Qi Wang.
Even after stopping, Lin Huaixi was still panting too hard to speak in full sentences. He could only hold out his beloved little lunchbox to Qi Wang and look at him with hopeful eyes. “T-together!”
The two little boys stood very close to each other.
Qi Wang lowered his eyes and looked at the glistening beads of sweat on Lin Huaixi’s nose tip and the loose strands of hair stuck to his forehead. Instinctively, he frowned. But he did not really dislike the warm heat coming off Lin Huaixi’s body from running around.
Qi Wang did not respond, but Teacher Xiao Xu looked as though she had found a savior. Holding one child in each hand, she brought them over to the picnic cloth. “You two stay here and picnic nicely. Once I get something tasty, I’ll come join you.”
The moment Lin Huaixi heard the words “something tasty,” his eyes instantly lit up, and he nodded again and again. Qi Wang showed no particular reaction, but unlike before, he no longer avoided Lin Huaixi.
Teacher Xiao Xu noticed Qi Wang’s reaction. After thinking for a few seconds, she left, glancing back every few steps.
Lin Huaixi plopped down onto the picnic cloth, opened his lunchbox with his little hands, and could not wait to share with Qi Wang. “My grandma made all of this. It’s super delicious. Do you want to try some?”
Qi Wang’s gaze swept across Lin Huaixi’s face, then shifted to the food.
Grandma adored Lin Huaixi. Wanting her precious grandson to have beautiful memories of a spring picnic, she had prepared everything with great care. Not only were the colors bright and cheerful, she had even specially made all sorts of little animal shapes.
Qi Wang had never seen food like this before. Something flickered in his eyes, faintly hiding a trace of longing and liking.
This time, Lin Huaixi saw it. Without hesitation, he picked up a cake and held it out to Qi Wang. “This is my favorite little bunny cake. It’s sweet and really yummy!”
The cupcake was piled high with cream, plump and round, with two little rabbit ears on top that seemed to wobble and bounce. Just looking at it, one could imagine how light, fluffy, and milky it must taste.
Why are even the cakes rabbits…? Qi Wang lifted his head and glanced at Lin Huaixi’s fluffy head. For some reason, he nodded.
Delighted, Lin Huaixi placed the little bunny cake into Qi Wang’s palm.
Grandma had only prepared two bunny cakes because she worried that too much sweet food would not be good for Lin Huaixi’s health. After giving one to Qi Wang, only one was left for himself.
Treasure-like, Lin Huaixi held the little bunny cake in both hands. His eyes opened round and wide. After licking the corner of his mouth, he took a huge bite.
The cream melted the moment it touched his mouth, sweet and rich, like swallowing a little milk-flavored cloud. The cake itself was moist too, with a fragrant smell. Lin Huaixi was so intoxicated by it that he could not bear to chew, only pressing it gently with his tongue a couple of times.
Children never know how to hide their emotions. Lin Huaixi narrowed his eyes in bliss, looking so happy it was as if he had floated straight into the sky. His little feet began swinging on their own, and his whole body swayed from side to side, even his soft baby fat trembling along with him.
The wind drifted by, rustling through the treetops. A faint floral fragrance filled the air. A pure white petal floated down lazily, tracing a graceful arc before landing on Lin Huaixi’s soft cheek, rising and falling with his breathing. It looked like a spirit of spring coming close to a child to share in his happiness.
But good moments were always limited. When Lin Huaixi opened his eyes again, he discovered that he had almost finished the little bunny cake. There was only one last bite left.
!!!
The little tuft of hair on top of his head instantly drooped. His expression darkened, the corners of his mouth turned down, and his whole body seemed to radiate pitiful sadness.
Wuwuwuwu, the little bunny cake he had been looking forward to for so long was gone!
Gone!!
The more Lin Huaixi thought about it, the sadder he became. His shoulders trembled once. He sniffed hard through a stuffed nose, and a watery sheen gathered in his black-onyx eyes. He stared reluctantly at the little bunny cake, as though he were enduring some heartbreaking life-and-death parting, trying his best to remember what it looked like one last time.
He was actually crying over a piece of cake… That thought flashed through Qi Wang’s mind, and his expression turned utterly stunned.
Qi Wang had been born intelligent, and together with his unusual upbringing, it had made him very mature for his age. He could never really get along with children his own age, and often found them irritating.
This kind of childish and silly person was exactly the sort he disliked the most, and yet…
Lin Huaixi clearly loved the little bunny cake the most, but he still wanted to share it with him. He was obviously sad enough to cry, yet he still would not ask for it back.
Qi Wang pressed his lips together, and a strange feeling stirred in his chest.
He lowered his head and looked at the cake in his hand. After hesitating for a few seconds, he walked awkwardly over to Lin Huaixi. “Take it back.”
Lin Huaixi was still immersed in his sadness and reluctance, so his reaction was half a beat slow. A few seconds later, he looked up at Qi Wang. His lashes trembled lightly, tears hanging from them, and his voice was thick with sobs. “No. That’s for you.”
Seeing that Lin Huaixi’s whole face was about to become soaked with tears, Qi Wang frowned, forcefully stuffed the cake into Lin Huaixi’s palm, then picked up a custard bun from the lunchbox. “I don’t like cake. I like this.”
Lin Huaixi blinked and looked at Qi Wang through tear-blurred eyes. “Really?”
Qi Wang nodded stiffly, then took a huge bite of the custard bun.
Only then did Lin Huaixi believe him. His tears stopped at once, and he even forgot that he had been crying. A bright smile spread across his face as he held the little bunny cake and took a big bite. Even the tears still hanging at the corners of his mouth no longer tasted bitter.
Qi Wang stood to the side, watching Lin Huaixi eat cake with a face full of tear tracks, looking unbelievably happy and satisfied. He truly could not understand him. His curiosity was piqued, and he chose to sit down beside him.
Teacher Xiao Xu found some snacks and hurried out of the building, deeply worried that Qi Wang and the others were not getting along. But when she looked up, she saw two little human cubs sitting shoulder to shoulder, close together.
One wore a soft, loose little bunny jacket, the other an exquisite and formal little suit. One white, one black, yet somehow perfectly harmonious.
The tension in Teacher Xiao Xu’s shoulders instantly eased. She rubbed her sore nose.
Thank heavens. Qi Wang had not been left with any psychological shadow because of her rashness. Otherwise, she would have felt guilty about it for the rest of her life. Even if she woke up in the middle of the night, it would probably be with one thought in her head: I really deserve to die.
…
Under Lin Huaixi’s enthusiastic feeding, Qi Wang ended up half full no matter how many times he tried to refuse.
After the picnic ended, the little dumplings were still sitting under the tree playing. Worried they might get their clothes dirty, the teacher reminded them, “I know you’re all civilized little treasures and can tidy up your own lunchboxes, right?”
One little childish face after another lifted up, responding in unison.
The children had all been taught well. They bent over with their bottoms sticking up, busily tidying their lunchboxes, and even helped one another.
Lin Huaixi was squatting on the ground, his chubby little hands waving around, yet somehow nothing seemed to be getting done. After struggling for ages, he still had not made the slightest progress. His round fingertips had even gotten smeared with grease.
Qi Wang was a bit of a neat freak. When he saw this, his brows drew tightly together. But instead of moving away from Lin Huaixi, he stood over him and ordered, “Go wash your hands. Leave this to me.”
Lin Huaixi lifted his head. The sunlight stabbed into his eyes, leaving everything bright and white. He could not make out Qi Wang’s expression clearly, but he obediently nodded anyway.
By the time he came back after washing his hands, the lunchboxes had already been put aside.
“Thank you, Wang Wang,” Lin Huaixi said politely.
Qi Wang looked at him once, then again. He felt that staying too close to Lin Huaixi would infect him with stupidity. But he also could not let that name slide, so all he could do was say stiffly, “My name is Qi Wang, not Wang Wang.”
Lin Huaixi blinked. His pupils were clear and watery, his whole face innocent as he repeated, “Qi Wang-Wang?”
Qi Wang’s cheeks puffed up again. “It’s Qi Wang!”
Imitating Qi Wang’s tone, Lin Huaixi bit down especially hard on each word, practically squeezing them out between his teeth as he said fiercely, “Qi! Wang!!”
Qi Wang: “…”
He had the vague sense that something was not quite right, but it also seemed impossible to expect more from a little fool, so he could only keep a straight face and nod.
Time passed little by little, and soon it was time to go home. One by one, the children who had been playing with Lin Huaixi left. Bored, Lin Huaixi yawned, and somehow drifted off to sleep.
By the time he woke again, evening clouds had spread across the entire sky, dyeing even the clouds a dreamy orange.
Looking at the sleepy-eyed Lin Huaixi, Grandma guiltily stroked his cheek. “Xixi, I’m sorry. Grandma had something come up and came late.”
Grandma had called in advance, and the teachers had told Lin Huaixi about it too. He had not felt uneasy or upset because of it, because he knew that no matter how late it was, Grandma would still come pick him up.
“It’s okay. Maybe Xixi will also go pick Grandma up from school very late one day,” Lin Huaixi said, leaning against Grandma’s leg in an intimate little pose.
Grandma laughed, then looked up at Teacher Xiao Xu. “You’ve all worked hard today, taking care of him for so long.”
Teacher Xiao Xu smiled and shook her head. “It’s fine. There happens to be another child here too.”
“All right, then we’ll head back first.”
Before Grandma could finish speaking, she felt a soft little finger hook around hers and gently sway it.
“Grandma, can we bring Wang… Qi Wang home too?” Lin Huaixi looked up at Grandma with pleading watery eyes.
At those words, both adults froze.
Teacher Xiao Xu was the first to recover. Testing the waters, she asked, “Does Qi Wang live near your home?”
Grandma explained, “Qi Wang’s family just moved in next door. Xixi even saw him this morning. We just haven’t had the chance to visit yet.”
It was already quite late, and it was not suitable for a child to stay in kindergarten any longer. But Teacher Xiao Xu did not have the authority to let Qi Wang simply go home with them.
“I’ll call Qi Wang’s grandmother and ask,” Teacher Xiao Xu said after thinking for a moment, taking her phone and stepping aside.
A minute later, she returned with a smile. “Qi Wang’s grandmother agreed. I just don’t know if it would trouble you?”
Grandma smiled back. “Not at all. Xixi really likes Qi Wang. They’ll definitely be happy going back together.”
As she spoke, another teacher had already brought Qi Wang over and said gently, “Your grandmother has something to do today and can’t come pick you up. How about you go home with Xixi and his grandma?”
Qi Wang was wearing his neat, formal little suit, blending too much into the adult world, which created a sharp sense of dissonance with his tiny body. The moment he heard the word grandmother, he reacted like a startled little beast. “She’s not my grandmother!”
The kindergarten teacher jumped in shock. After freezing for a second, she soothed him, “Right, right, that was my mistake.”
Qi Wang kept his little face tense, his eyes dark, his head lowered in silence.
None of the three adults present could treat Qi Wang like an ordinary child. They could all sense that something was wrong with him, yet for a moment none of them knew how to interact with him.
But Lin Huaixi’s world was pure and beautiful, untouched by all that. He darted over like a gust of wind, the rabbit ears on his hat bouncing up and down. “That’s great! I want to take you to see Xiao Mei, Da Huang, and the glowing sun!”
Qi Wang’s expression changed, and he could not help retorting, “Are you stupid? The sun glows by itself.”
“It’s different,” Lin Huaixi said. His ability to express himself was limited, and he did not know how to explain, so he anxiously gestured with his hands.
That little scene made all three adults laugh, and the frozen atmosphere instantly vanished.
Grandma smiled and rubbed Lin Huaixi’s head, then turned to Qi Wang. “Qi Wang, I’m Xixi’s grandma, and also your neighbor. I’ll bring you home with us today.”
Thinking of the sweet custard bun, Qi Wang said in a solemn, proper tone, “Hello, Grandma. Thank you for making the custard buns. They were very delicious.”
This was the most impeccably polite child Grandma had ever seen. She froze for a moment before smiling. “You’re welcome. I’ll make more for you and Xixi later.”
After leaving the kindergarten, Grandma made the two little ones walk on the inner side of the pedestrian path and watched them with a smile.
Lin Huaixi had already played all day long, yet he was still bursting with energy and could not wait to share his treasures with Qi Wang.
From Lin Huaixi’s nonstop chatter, Qi Wang learned that the “glowing sun” was the sunset, “Xiao Mei” was a wildflower by the roadside, and “Da Huang” was a little yellow mutt.
But today the little dog was nowhere to be seen. Lin Huaixi stood outside the little yard, tiptoeing and craning his neck for a long time, but still did not spot his good friend.
“Da Huang doesn’t seem to be here.” Disappointment was written all over Lin Huaixi’s round little face. His mouth could not help puffing into a pout as he lowered his head and twisted his thick, stubby fingers together. From Qi Wang’s angle, he could only see the puffed-up curve of his cheek.
The image of Lin Huaixi crying over the little cake had left too deep an impression on Qi Wang. Afraid he would cry himself into a little spotted cat again, he stayed silent for a few seconds before awkwardly saying, “It’s okay. You can come see him tomorrow.”
Lin Huaixi was immediately comforted. Expectation shone in his eyes as he leaned forward so much that his face was practically pressed right up to Qi Wang’s. In a sweet, childish voice, he said, “Okay! I’ll bring you to meet Da Huang tomorrow!”
Qi Wang stepped back, looked at Lin Huaixi’s sparkling eyes, but did not respond.
The little yard was right in front of them. Grandma walked over and took one child in each hand, and the three of them continued forward together.
Just as they reached the gate, they saw a plump woman standing in the yard. She looked to be around fifty or sixty, wearing a tight leopard-print long-sleeve shirt that squeezed her flesh into rings. She looked especially like some leopard lady from a cartoon.
Standing at the gate, Grandma smiled and introduced herself. “Hello, I live next door. Since my grandson happens to attend the same kindergarten as Qi Wang, we brought them back together.”
“Thank you so much,” the woman said warmly as she came forward and began chatting with Grandma. Yet her eyes did not even flicker once toward Qi Wang.
Grandma took in the scene and, without showing anything on her face, asked, “And you are?”
The woman gave a casual laugh. “My surname is Sun. I’m the nanny for this family.”
Grandma smiled and continued chatting. “Xixi saw you this morning. Where were you all going?”
“I was dropping the child off at school.” Nanny Sun said it as though it were perfectly natural and did not care at all that it had been far too early.
After talking for quite a while, she finally seemed to notice Qi Wang and asked with fake concern, “Did Wang-Wang have fun at kindergarten today?”
Qi Wang frowned and dodged the hand Nanny Sun tried to use to touch his hair. He kept his little face cold and said nothing, but Lin Huaixi answered for him, “We had a picnic today! We ate little cake together, and lots of other yummy things too!”
The moment she heard the word picnic, Nanny Sun’s face twitched. She instinctively glanced at Grandma’s expression, and only after seeing that Grandma did not say anything extra did she laugh awkwardly.
She had not taken the picnic seriously and had forgotten to prepare a lunchbox for Qi Wang. Not only that, she had sent him to kindergarten early in the morning just so she could rush back and watch her 8 a.m. TV drama. In the afternoon, she had not been too busy to pick him up either—she had been playing mahjong.
The family that employed her was very strange. The father never showed himself, the mother did not handle anything, and neither of them seemed to care about their own child. At first Nanny Sun had still behaved herself, but after testing the waters a few times and finding that no one reprimanded her, she became bolder and bolder, to the point of openly slighting Qi Wang.
She was not afraid of Qi Wang tattling either, and continued standing at the doorway chatting with Grandma. “I really envy you for having such a wonderful grandson. He’s cute and lively, a little ray of sunshine both at home and at kindergarten.”
Grandma smiled and rubbed Lin Huaixi’s head, her eyes full of affection. She was satisfied with her grandson in every possible way, and she did not even bother pretending modesty. “Yes, Xixi is very well-behaved. Everyone likes him.”
Lin Huaixi’s pretty big eyes fluttered. Knowing he was being praised, he puffed out his chest proudly, his little expression unbearably smug.
The two adults both laughed at him, but then Nanny Sun changed the subject. “That child looks lovable at first glance. Unlike this one here—always silent, never smiling much, not a bit of childish innocence or cuteness. Honestly, he’s kind of creepy.”
Nanny Sun did not think children had any self-respect or privacy. She even assumed Qi Wang could not understand. Right in front of him, she gossiped to Grandma without any attempt to hide it. “But I guess it’s no surprise. There’s something wrong with his left ear. He can’t hear properly, and his parents don’t care about him either. His personality is bound to have problems. Your child had better… not get bullied.”
Nanny Sun wiggled her brows meaningfully at Grandma, her face full of undisguised dislike toward Qi Wang.
Qi Wang had very strong self-respect and cared deeply about his ear. Seeing something he had tried so hard to hide be exposed in public like this, the color instantly drained from his little face, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
A few seconds later, all the blood in his body seemed to rush upward. Redness crawled over his earlobes, his face grew hot and burning, and even his eyes stung from the heat. Qi Wang’s beautiful eyes were no longer dark and still. Instead, they were full of unbearable negative emotion. Clenching his teeth, he stubbornly refused to let the tears fall, enduring it so hard that even his shoulders began trembling.
But he was only a young beast without fangs or claws. When provoked and humiliated, the only thing he could do was glare at the other person with all his might.
Nanny Sun still had not noticed what Qi Wang looked like behind her. She continued babbling endlessly. Grandma’s brows drew together tightly. Her heart ached for Qi Wang, yet she did not know how to interfere in another family’s affairs.
But little Lin Huaixi knew nothing of worldly niceties and would never be restrained by them.
After thinking for a while, he finally understood what Nanny Sun meant. Looking up at her, he said loudly and seriously, “Qi Wang is very good. Everybody likes him. He doesn’t bully people. But there are bad people who want to bully him!”
His childish, clear little voice echoed through the yard, and the flesh on Nanny Sun’s cheeks sagged.
She had that lofty superiority adults often had, and now she had been checked by a little brat. Feeling that she had lost face, she crouched down and gripped Lin Huaixi’s shoulders hard, squeezing out the words through clenched teeth. “Yes, of course Qi Wang is very good.”
Lin Huaixi shrank back a little. His eyes looked even bigger now, and instinctively, he sensed the hostility.
Grandma truly could not watch anymore. She reached out, pulled Lin Huaixi into her arms, then looked at thin-shouldered, pitiful yet stubborn Qi Wang and suppressed her anger as she said, “Xixi, take Qi Wang into the yard to play.”
Lin Huaixi nodded and raised his hand toward Qi Wang. But Qi Wang ignored him and walked ahead in silence.
His vision was blurred by tears. The world in front of him twisted and overlapped, turning into a dense black haze.
“My son, Qi Feng’s son, cannot be trash. Cannot be crippled!”
“Don’t take him outside. People will laugh.”
“Qi Wang is still young, so you can’t tell yet. But what if later he inherits his mother’s illness?”
“…”
One voice after another rang out, stripped of all fatherly warmth and gentleness, leaving only criticism and coldness. Layered together, they exploded beside Qi Wang’s ears like thunder, making even the eardrum in his left ear ache faintly.
Qi Wang’s hearing in his left ear was limited, and he also suffered from ongoing tinnitus. Every time it happened, he felt as though the world were spinning and the ground had cracked open beneath him, swallowing him into darkness where he could only keep falling.
This time was the same. But just before he fell, a little hand grabbed his wrist.
It was warm and soft, with no real strength behind it, yet it easily pulled him out of the crack and brought him back to the earth full of sunlight.
“Qi Wang—”
That childish voice echoed into his left ear, and the annoying ringing disappeared too.
Qi Wang jolted awake as though from a nightmare, frightened into a cold sweat. His whole body trembled as he turned around. His pupils tightened twice, and only then did his drifting gaze settle on Lin Huaixi’s round little face.
Lin Huaixi smiled, revealing two dimples. His pupils were clear and clean, without the slightest shadow. “This is for you.”
A few seconds later, Qi Wang finally realized what he meant. His gaze dropped and he saw that Lin Huaixi was holding out a little stone to him.
There was dirt stuck to the stone, but Qi Wang was in no state to care about that. He accepted it almost automatically.
Squatting on the ground, Lin Huaixi rubbed a stone against the dirt and drew a horizontal line.
His little chubby hand could not put much force into it, so the line came out crooked and wobbly, and by the end it almost failed to connect into a complete circle.
But Lin Huaixi looked very satisfied. Tilting his head up at Qi Wang, he said brightly, “Now it’s your turn.”
Qi Wang had no heart for this and said stiffly, “I don’t want to play a game.”
“This isn’t a game.” Lin Huaixi stood up and clung to Qi Wang like a sticky rice cake, first tugging at his sleeve, then swaying around from side to side. “Just draw one, just one!”
Qi Wang kept a dark little face, irritation surging in his chest. But when he looked at Lin Huaixi’s soft little cheeks and watery eyes, he was afraid of making him cry. In the end, he could only pout unwillingly and lazily draw a circle.
“That’s enough, right?” Qi Wang tossed away the stone and turned to leave.
Lin Huaixi hurriedly stopped him, pointing at the two circles. He spoke so fast it sounded as though he were reciting lines he had prepared for a long time. “Mom said there are no perfectly round circles in this world, and no perfectly round, perfectly round people, so…”
Then Lin Huaixi suddenly widened his eyes in shock, his little mouth falling open too. “How can you draw such a round circle? No, that won’t do. You have to draw another one!”
Qi Wang had no idea what he was talking about. Without ceremony, he slapped away the little hand blocking him. “Stop bothering me. I already said I don’t want to play games with you!”
Children’s skin was delicate. Just one slap and the back of Lin Huaixi’s hand turned red. He was also especially afraid of pain. But he only rubbed his hand once, then ran straight over to the circle Qi Wang had drawn and stared at it hard with wide eyes.
His effort paid off. He really did find a problem. “Look, this part dips inward. It’s not perfectly round.”
Then Lin Huaixi looked up at Qi Wang again. His whole body was bathed in light, the loose strands of his hair dyed amber and looking soft, fluffy, and harmless.
Even though Qi Wang had been fierce with him, even though his hand still hurt from being smacked, he still wanted to be good friends with Qi Wang. He still wanted to protect him.
He lifted his smile again. His words were not very clear, but his seriousness was unmistakable. “So you don’t have to be a perfectly round, perfectly round person either!”
Qi Wang suddenly found that he could not look away from Lin Huaixi. The angels he had seen in books seemed to look exactly like Lin Huaixi… not.
Angels would never be as annoying as this sticky little rice cake.
Those strange words from just now rose again in Qi Wang’s mind. After thinking about them for a moment, he understood what Lin Huaixi had meant. With a helpless look, he said, “Where have you ever seen a perfectly round person? What your mom said was perfect.”
The word perfect was too deep for Lin Huaixi. He had not remembered it, so he had replaced it with “perfectly round.” Now that Qi Wang had explained it, Lin Huaixi looked at him with worship in his eyes and praised him without any restraint. “That’s right, perfect! Qi Wang, you’re so amazing. You can read books with so many words, and you even know the word perfect!”
Distracted by Lin Huaixi like this, Qi Wang almost forgot all the negativity from before. His thoughts got pulled along, and for some reason he said, “Then what about you? What you drew isn’t even a circle. You’re way too far from perfect.”
Lin Huaixi did not feel sad or inferior in the slightest. He blinked and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “When I grow up, I’ll draw a huge big circle around this one. Then won’t it be perfect?”
Qi Wang was choked speechless by that single sentence. His mouth opened, but no words came out, and his expression looked a little foolish.
This was the first time Lin Huaixi had gained the upper hand in the matter of “being smart.” He picked up the stone Qi Wang had thrown away and stuffed it back into his hand.
Qi Wang lowered his head and looked at the stone that had been forcefully pressed into his palm. For the first time, his hand no longer felt empty. It seemed as though he might finally be able to face his own “disability.”
No. He only had a problem with his left ear. That did not count as being disabled, and it certainly did not mean he was useless. He could still…
Just as Qi Wang’s emotions surged violently, Lin Huaixi bent down and leaned forward, barging right into Qi Wang’s field of vision. The sunlight came with him.
Lin Huaixi’s clear eyes were dyed amber by the light, as clean as a pool of lake water. In them, Qi Wang saw himself—his own blank but undeniably real self.
“Don’t worry. Other than me, nobody can see the circle you drew today. Also, Qi Wang.”
Lin Huaixi called his name once more. His tone was the same as before, yet Qi Wang vaguely sensed something and stared at him in a daze.
“This little stone is for you.”
“In the future, you’ll definitely be able to draw an even bigger, rounder circle!”
