Huo Lin had also finished school at this moment. The dismissal time for elementary school and kindergarten was different. When the little child was picked up by his father, Huo Lin hadn’t finished school yet.
Zhan Xi had been picking up the child and leaving immediately
these past two days, naturally, so Zhan Xi didn’t also pick up Huo Lin.
The little child wore a children’s watch on his wrist. After
looking at the watch, he knew that his older brother had already finished
school.
Seeing the little child about to go out to find his brother,
and seeing Raphael getting excited, An Nuo kicked Raphael.
“Go and comfort Ningning.”
Raphael, who made the chubby kid cry, didn’t feel any
self-blame as the instigator. He ate a peanut and said calmly, “Recording
videos of children’s childhoods is quite nice. Once the chubby kid figures it
out, there’s no need to comfort him.”
Upon hearing this, An Nuo kicked him again.
After being kicked twice by his wife, Raphael had to get up.
He stood up, and with his long legs, he caught up with the little child who was
about to run away from home.
The little child carried a backpack, and his white sneakers
made a thumping sound as he walked on the ground. While walking, he wiped his
tears with the back of his hand.
Raphael looked at the sad little child, lowered his head in
thought for a moment, then bent down, lifted the little child’s elbow, and
hugged him.
“Hey, still crying?”
“Wuwuwu, Ningning doesn’t want to talk to you!”
“Huh? But you’re already talking to me.” Raphael was clearly
trying to comfort the child, but the more he tried, the angrier the child
became.
Seeing An Nuo’s sharp gaze coming his way again, Raphael
cleared his throat and began to comfort the child in earnest. “Alright, don’t
cry anymore.”
He held the child with one hand and pulled a chair over with
the other.
“Even though your exam was live-streamed the whole time, you
don’t need to cry. Your videos on the StarNet are all very cute.”
When Raphael said “cute”, the child’s crying paused for a
moment.
Seeing that this method was working, Raphael took out his
Star Device. He had been using his Star Device for many years. Although it
looked like the same model as An Nuo’s new Star Device in appearance, his was
actually much cheaper. An Nuo was using the most expensive new version.
“Just wait a moment.”
Raphael opened the Star Device while muttering to himself,
“This Star Device is getting more and more laggy. Little Chubby, when you grow
up, remember to buy Auntie a new Star Device.”
Little Chubby: “…”
Ningning remained silent; he didn’t want to buy a new Star
Device for his mischievous aunt.
After fumbling around for a moment, Raphael logged into the
Star Network. He didn’t need to search intentionally because everywhere on the
Star Network were videos of the chubby kid.
Raphael hadn’t had enough yet, so he picked one and played it
for the chubby kid, attempting to brainwash him.
“Look, isn’t this adorable?”
Raphael took advantage of the chubby kid’s lack of a
kindergarten diploma and even altered the comments’ meanings.
“See? This comment says the chubby kid is so cute, makes
Auntie want to hug him.”
“This comment is: The chubby kid is not embarrassing at all,
very cute.”
“And this one: The chubby kid looks handsome.”
Raphael’s finger flicked across the screen, reading out
comments to the chubby kid one by one.
But as he read for a while, the chubby kid’s expression grew
more and more serious.
Raphael: “?”
Raphael felt something was off. “Why aren’t you happy? So
many people are complimenting you.”
Ningning carefully studied the comments again. Then, in his
damp and beautiful eyes, a small flame started to flicker.
“You’re tricking Ningning!”
The little child was almost in a fit of anger: “Ningning
might not know a lot of characters, but Ningning knows ‘hahaha’!”
Auntie had pointed at a string of ‘hahaha’ and then said that
comment was praising the little child for being handsome!
Raphael: “…”
Oh.
He had been careless.
Before he blindly made up the story, he forgot that even in
kindergarten, there was a bit of vocabulary being taught.
After the little child finished scolding his aunt, he
couldn’t help but watch his own video. In the video, the little child was
leading the whole class of children in bowing.
The little child felt that when he was bowing at that time,
he was so sincere and serious. However, in the video edited by adults, the
child bowing with music didn’t seem serious at all.
After reading the video comments for a while, the little
child held back his tears and realized the truth: “Ningning is not cute at
all.”
“Ningning is really embarrassing.”
Anyone couldn’t comfort the embarrassed little child at the
moment. Helplessly, Zhan Xi could only call Huo Lin and ask him to come pick up
the little child.
Soon enough.
Huo Lin, who had already finished school, hurried over. He
looked at the chubby little child with a tear-stained face and frowned with
concern.
“Why are you crying so much?”
The fair and tender skin of the chubby little child turned
red as soon as he cried a little, especially his nose and eyelids. They were as
red as a pitiful little thing.
Huo Lin handed him a soft handkerchief to wipe his face.
After wiping his face, he looked at Zhan Xi behind the child.
“Uncle Zhan, I’m taking Ningning back to the palace. My
mother said he can stay overnight at my place.”
The little child who hadn’t been to the palace for several
days had also missed Aunt Ai Wei.
Zhan Xi replied with an “Okay”: “Sure, take him away.
Remember to bring him back tomorrow. He’s attending a classmate’s birthday
party, and Ling Qi is making a cake for him to bring.”
“Got it.”
After telling Zhan Xi, Huo Lin carried the little child into
the car and took him back.
With the little child gone, the lively house from just a
moment ago was now left with four men. They glanced at each other, and finally,
Ling Qi spoke up: “Let’s have dinner.”
As he spoke, Ling Qi frowned slightly. “Zhan Xi, did you tell
Xiao Lin just now? Ningning hasn’t had dinner yet.”
Zhan Xi: “...”
Zhan Xi: “I forgot to mention.”
However, there’s no shortage of food in the palace. As long
as the little child went over, he definitely wouldn’t go hungry.
When Ling Qi was cooking, he made food for the little child.
But now that the little child wasn’t here, there’s suddenly a lot of leftover
food.
“Have a bit more to eat today, or we’ll end up with
leftovers.”
Their family never had leftovers. With the little child
around, there’s no chance for leftovers to remain.
During the meal distribution, Raphael got the most. There’s
no way around it, since he’s the one who made the little child cry.
Raphael wasn’t one to waste either. After eating most of the
little child’s food, he got to the point where he couldn’t digest it all.
Luckily, An Nuo helped him finish some.
After the meal.
Raphael walked with An Nuo to aid digestion. He pinched An
Nuo’s palm, and as they walked, he suddenly chuckled.
“An Nuo.”
“Yeah?”
Raphael’s eyes hold a hint of a smile. He squeezed An Nuo’s
hand and said softly, “I’m glad you’re living with the chubby kid.”
An Nuo was momentarily confused, not fully grasping the
meaning.
Raphael held his hand, contentedly saying, “Compared to when
you were in the palace before, your body has clearly improved.”
The previous An Nuo would turn pale after leaving the palace
and struggle to adapt to the outside world.
But now, An Nuo could breathe freely on the White Mist Star,
and his body no longer reacted negatively.
Most importantly, An Nuo hadn’t really lied—he really had
gained a few pounds.
Raphael put a lot of effort into fattening him up, but over
the years, it had minimal effect. Seeing An Nuo a bit plumper now, Raphael
couldn’t be happier.
“Are you trying to say I’ve gained weight?”
“Even if you have, you still look good.”
The bright smile in Raphael’s eyes dazzled An Nuo. For a
brief moment, An Nuo was taken aback by the brightness, but as soon as he
regained his composure, Raphael was already close, and he bit his lips.
“Darling, you look good, no matter what.”
At the beginning, Raphael thought he might be superficially
attracted, but over the years, he found himself getting more and more attached
to An Nuo. Even if An Nuo wasn’t as beautiful anymore, he couldn’t let go.
The two walked around the yard to aid digestion. Inside the
house, Zhan Xi and Ling Qi glanced at them, and without a word, they
instinctively refrained from disturbing them.
“Is it a bit too sudden for Raphael to come over like this?”
Ling Qi prepared the ingredients for making a cake while
casually asking Zhan Xi, “Does Ludwig know he’s here?”
“He should know.”
Zhan Xi tidied up the kitchen, replying, “Even if Ludwig
doesn’t know, Ningning will definitely tattle on him later.”
With no little child in the house, everyone was busy with
their own matters and not too bored.
And on the other side.
Inside the car, the little child sniffled, burying his chubby
face in his older brother’s neck, waiting for the other to comfort him.
Huo Lin was quite skilled at soothing the little child. He
opened his backpack on the car, revealing a bunch of toys.
“Ningning, look, trading cards.”
Lately, the kids at kindergarten were into collecting trading
cards. The little child had also become addicted to these cards, but they were
hard to come by and expensive to buy.
So the little child’s collection of cards was always
pitifully small.
Taking advantage of the holiday, Huo Lin bought a backpack
full of cards for him at the school gate.
Sure enough, this backpack full of cards immediately caught
the little child’s attention.
“Brother, so many cards!”
“Yeah, they’re all yours.”
