Two little children were whispering to each other in hushed voices, and they had secretly agreed not to tell the adults.
With their “plan” in place, the adults at home noticed that
the children, who were previously worried about exams, suddenly seemed
carefree.
When they returned home after school that evening, one of the
children sat on a small round table, swaying his short legs comfortably, with a
calm expression on his face.
Although Zhan Xi had not been helping with the child’s
studies, he was observing from the side. Seeing the child’s demeanor, Zhan Xi
couldn’t figure it out and asked, “Ningning, there are only two days left until
the exam. Why aren’t you continuing to work hard?”
The little child, holding a pencil, wrote slowly and replied
in a tender voice, “I am working hard!”
Zhan Xi asked in confusion, “Working hard? You don’t seem
very active in doing your homework. How can you call that working hard?”
The child blinked when he heard his father’s question but
didn’t answer.
Coincidentally, An Nuo, who was sitting at the table reading
ancient Earth books, thought the Three Character Classic he had just flipped to
was quite good, so he decided to teach the child a few lines.
Before he could start teaching, the child suddenly pointed at
two characters on the book page and crisply said, “Confucius!”
An Nuo was slightly surprised.
He hadn’t taught the child to recognize those two characters
yet, but unexpectedly, the child recognized them by himself.
The child looked proud of having recognized the name.
An Nuo was curious and asked, “Ningning, how do you know
these characters?”
The child shook his head, unwilling to say, “I don’t want to
tell.”
An Nuo didn’t press him further and took the opportunity to
introduce Confucius’s life, saying, “He was a very knowledgeable person,
Ningning, you should learn from him and become a knowledgeable person too,
okay?”
The child nodded, but his response didn’t quite match the
topic. “I like Grandpa Confucius.”
“Uncle.”
The little child finished expressing his admiration for
Grandpa Confucius, then turned to his uncle and pleaded, “Buy a Grandpa Confucius
for me.”
During the ancient Earth era, Confucius held a high cultural
status, and there were small figurines of him available in stores.
An Nuo glanced at the eager look in the little child’s eyes
and his heart softened. “Alright, I’ll buy it for you.”
Although the figurines of Confucius were not particularly
attractive, he was, after all, a sage, and An Nuo thought it would be fine to
get one for the little child.
He believed that by looking at the figurine of a sage, the
little child might be influenced and become a cultured child.
With this thought in mind, after dinner, An Nuo went out to
buy the small figurine for the little child.
He rarely went out, and this time, he wore a hat, sunglasses,
and a mask. He covered himself completely for safety reasons and didn’t even
take the little child with him.
“Please wrap this up, thank you.”
During the purchasing process, An Nuo remained reserved,
saying very little. Once he made the purchase, he left without even pausing for
a second.
However, as soon as he left, someone secretly followed him.
In a hurry, An Nuo walked back to Zhan Xi’s small house
villa, where the little child had been waiting for a while. The moment An Nuo
arrived, the child hugged his leg.
“Uncle!” The little child clung to An Nuo’s leg and sweetly
asked, “Did you buy grandpa for me?”
“Yes, I did.”
An Nuo bent down, picked up the little child, and handed him
the small figurine. He corrected him, “But remember, Confucius is not your real
grandfather.”
The little child looked puzzled. “Then who is my real
grandfather?”
An Nuo: “...”
He had no idea. (T/N: I’m also reading this
as I translate the story so I’m not sure why An Nuo said this. Like, does he
not know who his father is? (⌒_⌒;))
An Nuo, who was touched by a knowledge blind spot, entered
the house with the little child in his arms, avoiding the topic, “Do you see
this Grandfather Confucius? Do you like him?”
“I like him!”
Having obtained the statue of Grandpa Confucius, the child
was so happy that he wanted to hold it even when going to sleep.
However, as night fell, the child, who was a bit moody at
night, looked at the statue’s face and still turned away, pushing the statue
aside.
“Uncle, hug.”
The little child wanted to look at his handsome uncle before
falling asleep.
An Nuo held him in his arms and kissed him on the forehead.
The night was peaceful and harmonious.
In the past few days, An Nuo had been living a calm life, but
he had not expected that his actions and whereabouts had already been
investigated by someone.
The Empire, the Sixth Planet, and the Federation had jointly
issued a series of regulations concerning An Nuo. At such a critical moment, no
one dared to force An Nuo to save people, nor did anyone dare to blackmail him.
Those who were previously dissatisfied with the Imperial
family had no grounds to accuse them anymore. After all, An Nuo, the only known
surviving royal family member, was the queen of the Sixth Planet, and they had
no blood relations with the Empire.
They couldn’t force Ludwig to bring An Nuo back from the
Sixth Planet.
If they really did that, the people of the Sixth Planet would
not be pleased.
An Nuo’s physical condition had been openly disclosed to the
public; his body had not fully recovered, and he was temporarily unable to
start treating people.
But some people couldn’t wait.
In the darkness of the night.
Raphael, who was listening to An Nuo’s breathing through the
star device, received a phone call.
After he answered the call, it took him a while to switch
back to his conversation with An Nuo.
On the phone call, An Nuo’s breathing was very light, so
light that the snoring of the chubby little kid almost covered it. It was hard
to hear clearly without careful listening.
“Tsk, the little chubby kid is sleeping so soundly.”
Raphael, who didn’t have his wife to hold, listened to the
little chubby kid’s snoring and couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous, thinking
that his wife was being held by the kid at that moment.
He listened for a while longer and then got up to work in the
middle of the night. If he finished his work early, he could go see his wife.
The little chubby child had no idea of his aunt’s hardship,
nor did he know that he had disturbed him in the middle of the night. In his
dream, he was dreaming that he had scored several perfect scores in his exams.
He held his report card with all 100s and showed it to the
adults one by one, and then he was kissed by them one by one.
“I knew that our Ningning is the best.”
“Ningning is amazing. So many perfect scores. We should
put them on the wall for others to see. They’ll all praise Ningning.”
“Ningning, look, this is your reward.”
“Ningning, here’s some candy. From now on, you can eat as
much candy as you want.”
“Come on, Ningning, let Uncle take you to play.”
In the dream, a group of adults praised the amazing Ningning,
and he sat on a pile of gifts they gave him, feeling extremely happy.
This beautiful dream continued until morning.
When An Nuo woke the little child up for school, the little
child wasn’t annoyed at all. His chubby face had two red marks from being
pressed while sleeping, and he excitedly told his uncle about the dream he had.
“I scored many perfect scores in the exams!”
“Ningning is so good, so good.”
“Uncle, do you like the super awesome Ningning?”
“Like, like, I love him so much.”
An Nuo’s ears were a bit sore from the noise, so he kissed
the little child’s cheek, and the little child quieted down for a while.
In the morning, Zhan Xi had always been the one to accompany
and send his child to school. On the way, Zhan Xi contemplated the upcoming
exam; however, he was actually trying to comfort his beloved child.
In his heart, while achieving good grades certainly made him
happy, what he valued more than anything was his child’s happiness.
His precious little child, even if he were to rank last in
the entire class, he would still love him just the same. Of course, it’s
possible that he might scold the other first before that.
“Ningning, do you have confidence in the exam?”
“Yes.”
Zhan Xi: “...”
Zhan Xi hesitated and asked, “How much confidence do you
have?”
The little child gestured, “I have a lot of confidence.”
Zhan Xi still found the little child’s confidence
inexplicable and couldn’t quite understand it.
“Ningning, are you—”
Before Zhan Xi could finish his sentence, some of the little
child’s classmates came over.
He didn’t know if it’s just a coincidence, but all the
children from the same class gathered at this moment.
Seeing so many children, Zhan Xi didn’t chat with the little
child anymore. He parked the tricycle, adjusted the child’s schoolbag, and
said, “Ningning, don’t forget to share the snacks in your school bag with the
other kids.”
Today, the little child brought a lot of snacks, and most of
the small school bag was filled with them.
After giving instructions to the child and receiving a kiss
in return, Zhan Xi left on his tricycle.
While driving halfway, he encountered a beautiful girl with a
sprained foot on the road. The girl looked pitiful and wanted him to help her.
Zhan Xi displayed the traits of a stubborn and straightforward
guy. He didn’t even get off the tricycle; instead, he sat on it and asked the
pretty girl, “Do you need me to call an ambulance for you?”
The pretty girl bit her lip, looking increasingly pitiful and
sorrowful. She said, “No need for an ambulance... I just need to rest. Can you
take me somewhere to rest?”
“Ah, I’m sorry, I can’t,” replied Zhan Xi.
Upon hearing that she could feel better with some rest, Zhan
Xi became even more unwilling to waste time. “I was thinking of going to
collect scrap metal. I really can’t spare time for you. Here, take this cushion
and sit down to rest.”
Zhan Xi handed a cushion to the pretty girl.
In the past, Zhan Xi wouldn’t even have done such a kind act
like giving away a cushion. It was only after having a child that he
occasionally did good deeds.
He did these good deeds not out of a soft heart, but purely
because he wanted to accumulate blessings for his precious child.
His child had a special constitution, and he was just an
ordinary father who couldn’t change that or make the child become ordinary.
All he could do was take good care of the child and do more
good deeds, praying for a safe and peaceful future for him.
“I’m leaving now. You don’t need to return the cushion.
Consider it a gift,” Zhan Xi said as he threw the cushion down and didn’t chat
much with the pretty girl. He revved the engine and drove past her, heading
forward with a series of engine roars.
The recent business of collecting scrap metal had been doing
well, and Zhan Xi already had plans to expand his business. He thought of
setting up a scrapyard so he could grow his business even more.
Although the appearance of a scrapyard was unattractive, the
profits from running one were even higher than the salaries of those who had
regular jobs.
Despite the profitable nature of a scrapyard, Zhan Xi didn’t
want his child to inherit his business in the future.
He lacked the ability, which was why he could only do such
manual labor. His child was still going to school and would later have to
attend college, become a civil servant, and secure a stable job.
Thinking of his child, Zhan Xi didn’t find any dirty or
tiring work difficult at all.
In a few days, his child would be attending a winter camp. He
had already asked Roy’s mother about it, and while it was a good opportunity,
the price was a bit high.
These few days, he’d been busy working hard. In addition to
the cost of the winter camp, there were also expenses for the Chinese New Year.
Every single thing required money.
Zhan Xi’s mind was set solely on making money, not wasting
much thought on other things.
While he’s working outside, the children in the kindergarten
were gathered together, exchanging looks of excitement and mystery in their
eyes.
“Are you all ready?”
“Yes!”
“I’m almost ready! My mom said she’ll buy me a figurine of
Confucius today!”
“Then you need to hurry up. We’ll have the exam tomorrow!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best!”
