“Brother, Wagner said he might not do well in the exam this time.”
“Don’t pay attention to Wagner. Focus on yourself.”
Huo Lin tapped the desk with a ruler, urging the little child
to continue copying the text. In the Empire’s language class, there were many
quotes from ancient Earth poems that needed to be memorized and written.
Ancient Earth culture was highly respected not only in the
Empire but also in other countries, though the Empire had the most profound
reverence for it. After all, even the Empire’s education department included
ancient Earth culture in kindergarten textbooks.
The little child continued to write the verses, a short
ancient poem with only 20 characters. He made ten circles and had three
misspelled words.
When Huo Lin checked the writing, he fell into silence seeing
so many mistakes.
“Ningning, didn’t the teacher already teach you these
characters?” Huo Lin tried to remember his own time in kindergarten. He
couldn’t recall it being so difficult back then. In his memory, the
kindergarten curriculum was too simple, and he didn’t even attend the middle class,
going directly from the big class to elementary school.
The little child nibbled on the pen, looking at his older
brother with round eyes, but remained silent.
Huo Lin massaged his temples with a headache.
He handed the textbook to An Nuo and said, “Uncle, can you
teach for a while? I’ll take over later.”
Although the little child was very cute, that cuteness only
applied outside of tutoring sessions. Whether it was Huo Lin, An Nuo, or even
Zhan Xi, no one could remain patient throughout the whole teaching process with
the little child.
Zhan Xi didn’t have much education, but he still knew the
kindergarten lessons.
However, after teaching the little child a few times, Zhan Xi
announced expressionlessly to everyone, “I can’t teach anymore. I’m illiterate.
I don’t recognize a single character.”
In order to avoid teaching the little child, Zhan Xi was
willing to remain an illiterate.
Even with experience dealing with the little child, Huo Lin
occasionally found himself frustrated to the point of needing a ventilator.
“Okay, go and check if Ling Qi has prepared dinner. We’ll
have our meal whenever Ningning finishes his studies.”
After giving the instructions to Huo Lin, An Nuo’s little
nephew, who was originally dawdling around, suddenly straightened his posture.
“Uncle, let’s continue studying!”
Today, Uncle Ling Qi made meatballs for dinner, and the
little child has been craving them for a long time!
An Nuo propped his chin with one hand, flipped through the
book, and continued to dictate to him.
In no time, the aroma of the meatballs wafted over.
The little child held his pen, writing while almost drooling.
An Nuo ignored his drooling nephew and continued to supervise
his studies until the little child had studied for two hours. Only then did he
stop.
“Uncle, let’s eat the meat!”
The little child didn’t even have time to put away his
homework. He grabbed his uncle’s hand and rushed into the dining room.
“Ningning, let’s eat in the courtyard.”
The courtyard was well lit, and it was more comfortable than
having the meal inside. Ling Qi sent the little child to the courtyard and had
him set up the dining table himself.
The table was a bit heavy.
An Nuo wanted to lend a hand, but before he could, the little
child had already huffed and puffed to set up the table.
After setting up the table, the little child counted the heads
and brought over the chairs.
“Uncle Ling Qi, food, food!”
The little child held his bowl, eagerly looking at Uncle Ling
Qi.
Ling Qi brought the dishes and, as he looked down at the
little child, said, “Ningning, if you could give half of the enthusiasm you
have for eating to your studies, I’m sure we’d have awards hanging all over the
walls in our room.”
Ningning: “......”
Blushing, the little child said, “Ningning received an
award!”
Zhan Xi, who walked over from behind Ling Qi, lazily
responded, “Yes, it’s an award for eating well at the kindergarten cafeteria.”
Ningning: “......”
The little child’s face became even redder.
Regardless of the blushing, the little child’s appetite
hadn’t decreased at all.
While adding food to the child, Zhan Xi asked An Nuo, “How
much food can the royal children eat in one meal?”
“Half a bowl.”
Zhan Xi: “......”
No wonder they easily passed away.
Zhan Xi looked at the little child anxiously waiting for his
food and asked again, “The royal children haven’t overeaten, have they?”
An Nuo choked.
The royal children were all picky eaters, and each of them
ate delicately, so they couldn’t possibly overeat.
“If your royal family has children in the future, don’t raise
them like before; it won’t do any good.”
Zhan Xi’s advice was sincere, but An Nuo said, “Our royal
family won’t have any more children.”
Apart from him and Ningning, there were no survivors from the
royal family. And between him and Ningning, no one could bear children.
Wait, that’s not right.
An Nuo suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Ningning, “If
Ningning marries someone and has children, they will also carry the bloodline
of our royal family.”
Thinking of this possibility, An Nuo’s eyes brightened
slightly. “Zhan Xi, when that happens, can you help take care of his children?”
Zhan Xi smiled and seemed quite happy with An Nuo’s request.
“Rest assured, when he has children, I’ll definitely take good care of them for
him.”
The two of them said something that made the little child who
was having his meal furrowed his eyebrows.
“I don’t want a kid!”
The little kid enunciated clearly, speaking to the adults and
said, “No kid! No more kids!”
Zhan Xi: “?”
Zhan Xi was puzzled and asked, “Why not? Don’t you want
another cute little child?”
The little child shook his head seriously and solemnly
explained to his father’s puzzled gaze, “A child is not well-behaved.”
If they were to have another child like him, it would be
disastrous.
The little child firmly refused to have another new kid like
him.
Zhan Xi didn’t pay much attention, as the little child was
too young and hadn’t even gotten married yet, so naturally, he wouldn’t
consider whether or not to have a child.
Anyway, they could think about it when he grew up.
As they continued talking about the topic of children, none
of them noticed that Huo Lin, who was eating peacefully, had already paused for
quite a while, holding his chopsticks.
He glanced at the little child eating his meal, his handsome
face showing some annoyance.
After dinner, Huo Lin led the little child, who was playing
in the yard, and asked in a low voice, “Ningning, do you want to come back with
me to sleep tonight?”
“No, I won’t go.”
The little child walked in the yard, and he said slowly, “I
want to sleep with Uncle.”
Ever since An Nuo came, the little child spent most of his
nights sleeping with An Nuo.
Huo Lin found it a bit strange, “Doesn’t your dad put you to
sleep?”
“No, Dad wants to sleep with Uncle Ling Qi.”
As the little child spoke, he even lowered his voice and
secretly complained to his brother, “I think Dad really likes to sleep with
Uncle Ling Qi!”
Huo Lin: “......”
Huo Lin didn’t want to confront the elders directly, so he
brushed off the topic. He took the little child for a stroll around the courtyard
and walked to the entrance. After walking for a while, he squatted down and
gently touched the round belly of the little child.
“Alright, we’ve walked enough. You can go and play, and I’ll
head back home.”
“Goodbye, big brother.”
“Goodbye, Ningning.”
After bidding farewell to the little child, Huo Lin returned
to the palace by car. Meanwhile, the little child, feeling better after
digesting his food, ran back to continue playing with the adults.
“Uncle.”
When the little child returned, he coincidentally caught his
uncle talking on the phone with his step-aunt. The little child squeezed his
face into the screen and glanced at his aunt.
“Oh, little chubby kid is still as plump as ever.”
Raphael couldn’t help but say something that the little child
didn’t like to hear. He observed the chubby child and continued poking fun at
it. “I heard from your uncle that he’s been tutoring you recently. Little
chubby kid, how are your studies? How many points do you think you’ll get on
the final exam?”
One must admit that although Raphael was the ruler of a
country, his occasional demeanor didn’t quite match that of a king. In front of
the little child, he played the role of an annoying, bad elder.
Originally, the little child, who had eaten and was full,
wanted to play with his uncle. But now, with Raphael’s questions, his little
face drooped, and he replied, “Ningning doesn’t want to talk to you!”
Seeing the little child pout, Raphael found it even more
amusing. Whenever he saw the child’s sulky expression, he felt more excited.
“Ningning, how about I post your exam results on my wall once
you get them?”
The little child showed a helpless expression.
The little child found it annoying. Not only did it have to
deal with Uncle Lu Lu and Dad, but now there was another bad aunt; everyone
wanted to post his final exam results.
After the initial enthusiasm for learning, the little child
had gradually realized a harsh reality: he might not do well in his final
exams.
Feeling worried about his studies, the little child confided
his troubles to Wagner.
However, Wagner was doing well academically.
The academically challenged child failed to communicate his
worries to Wagner, and their friendship almost fell apart!
Wagner had no academic problems, but Roy did.
Roy was weak in certain subjects, and he had a bunch of
elders in his family who eagerly awaited his results every year. If he did
well, Roy could proudly celebrate the Lunar New Year!
The little child also wanted to celebrate the Lunar New Year
proudly, so he and Roy shared the same anxieties now.
“My grandpa said if I do well, he’ll give me a big red
envelope! But if I do poorly, I won’t get one.”
The Empire also celebrated the New Year, and it adopted some
customs from ancient Earth. There were various lively and heart-warming customs
that were widely loved by the people.
Children especially loved the New Year because they received
many red envelopes and got to enjoy delicious treats!
“Ningning.”
Under the pressure, Roy started to think unconventionally,
“Tell me, how can we improve our grades?”
The little child’s chubby face looked serious as he earnestly
considered this question. After contemplating for a while, he decided to seek
help online.
“Roy, let’s search for it!”
Encouraging Roy, the little child took out a star device
belonging to their parents. The two children put their heads together and start
searching for ways to improve their studies.
Although they didn’t know many characters, they could use
voice mode.
After playing with the star device for a while, the two
little children accidentally stumbled upon a bunch of unconventional methods.
“Ningning, let’s divide the tasks.”
“Sure!”
