The cute, childlike voice swept through the entire venue, injecting life into the previously dull afternoon meeting, freezing it in an instant.
The pause lasted for a few seconds, and then the meeting attendees, seemingly motionless, were actually bombarding the virtual space with comments.
“The Marshal just heard something amazing!”
“Help! Was that Wagner’s voice just now?”
“The Marshal is going to be a grandfather... such explosive news!”
Twain, expressionless, put away his star device, his cold gaze scanning the room, effectively silencing the thoughts running wild in the minds of the attendees.
Indeed.
Whenever Wagner was with Ningning, there would always be various ways to tease his father.
Thinking of this, Twain slightly raised his body and said indifferently, “I accidentally played the child’s voice just now. Don’t take it to heart, everyone. This little guy in the recording always likes to talk nonsense.”
After explaining the voice incident, Twain continued with the afternoon meeting.
***
Time passed by minute by minute.
Having happily slept through the afternoon nap, the little child, who didn’t sleep well again, felt languid when he was notified by the teacher to go outside. Wagner’s whole demeanor wilted.
“Wagner, are you sleepy?”
“Sleepy.”
Although Wagner was energetic and had good stamina, he was, in the end, a young child. How could he not be sleepy after staying up like this, comforting another child?
Lele couldn’t understand much of the Imperial language, and teaching him was exhausting for the little child.
“Sigh.”
Remembering his brother and uncle teaching him in the past, the scenes of learning were completely unfamiliar to him. His brother had been frustrated several times, eating less because of the annoyance.
At that time, the little child hadn’t reflected on himself and didn’t know how annoying he was.
Now, teaching Lele personally, the little child almost cried from frustration.
Yet, he hadn’t cried. Tears were already falling from Lele’s eyes as he spoke in Imperial language, having spent half an hour and still not learned it: “Lele is stupid; Daddy, please don’t be angry.”
The little child also didn’t want to get angry, but after learning for half an hour, Lele still hadn’t grasped even one sentence of the Imperial language.
Struggling to hold back the tears, the little child managed to suppress his emotions, finally experiencing the satisfaction of raising a child by himself.
Wagner, normally strong-willed, appeared different after being tormented during the teaching session with Lele.
Both children couldn’t handle Lele. When Savi heard that they were teaching Lele the Imperial language, he approached them with disdain.
“Fools.”
Using the newly learned Imperial language, he criticized both children indiscriminately.
The little child, now completely numb, pointed at Lele and challenged, “If you’re so capable, teach him yourself! Then you’ll know!”
This time, Savi didn’t just coldly snort. He started mocking, crossing his arms. “No big deal teaching him. You guys watch closely how I do it.”
Both children handed Lele over to him without hesitation.
Timid Lele, seeing Savi, was overwhelmed with fear.
Seeing Lele’s reaction, Ningning whispered to him, “Dad arranged a teacher for you. No need to be afraid.”
Despite the reassurance, Lele remained frightened.
But with his father’s encouragement, tears in his eyes, Lele bravely opened his arms to Savi. “Hug.”
Expressing friendship, the first step with Lele always began with a hug.
Savi wasn’t keen on hugging.
Ningning and Wagner glared at him a bit menacingly. “Hurry up and hug Lele, or we’ll both bully you!”
Although Dad said bullying was wrong and being bullied wasn’t good, at this moment, the two little children, tortured by Lele, didn’t care.
Savi, about to show his signature cold snort, hadn’t done so when Lele’s hand had already grabbed his finger.
“Hug!”
With teary eyes, Lele threw himself into Savi’s arms.
Looking at the crying Lele, the usually cold Savi, with a mix of disdain and helplessness, couldn’t resist lifting the little child into his arms.
“Quite a crybaby.”
“Still too timid.”
“Never seen a child weaker than you.”
Savi spoke in his own planetary language. The little children, Ningning and Wagner, furrowed their brows, unable to understand what he was saying.
Savi took the warm Lele away, and Ningning and Wagner finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Lele had great trust in Dad Ningning, so he extended that trust to Savi, the little teacher chosen by Dad Ningning.
Savi, though with a bad temper and unpleasant speech, almost got into fights with other kids, but Lele, sniffing, still stuck to him.
“Children, this is a lotus pond from ancient Earth. The people of ancient Earth highly admired lotuses, considering them pure and elegant flowers.”
The teacher leading the group let the children explore the scenic area of ancient Earth. He walked at the front, conducting a live class for the kids: “Our historians found seeds of lotus flowers from the ancient Earth era. After cultivation, these lotus flowers indeed bloom here.”
The lotus flowers in the pond swayed, and the children watched with great seriousness.
However, Ningning furrowed his brow, finding the colorful lotus flowers more and more peculiar.
“These aren’t lotus flowers from ancient Earth.”
Ningning somehow felt that the teacher was wrong.
Lotus flowers from ancient Earth were not black, not purple, and certainly not rainbow-colored!
Ningning’s words caught the teacher’s attention, and he corrected him, “Ningning, the teacher didn’t make a mistake. These are flowers cultivated from the lotus seeds discovered in ancient Earth. And these flowers can only survive here. If transplanted elsewhere, they will lose their vitality immediately.”
“This is a relic of ancient Earth, and these flowers can only thrive here.”
The teacher presented a logical argument, but Ningning insisted on his own view, “These aren’t lotus flowers from ancient Earth.”
Seeing Ningning being so stubborn, an older kid became impatient, “Ningning, if you say these aren’t lotus flowers from ancient Earth, have you ever seen real lotus flowers?”
Ningning hesitated for a moment.
He blushed, unable to say where he had seen them. He stubbornly repeated, “I’ve seen them... they’re just pink.”
Seeing him persisting in his mistaken view, the teacher furrowed his brow slightly.
A group of kids standing stiffly by the lotus pond wouldn’t do. The teacher adjusted his mood, smiling, and said, “Ningning, we’ll talk about the colors of lotus flowers later. How about we explore the scenery next to the lotus pond now, okay?”
Ningning nodded as he looked at the teacher.
The lotus pond was quite extensive, with plenty of water.
The teachers introduced a new thing: “This is a boat. We can sit on it and move on the water.”
The ancient concept of a boat intrigued the kids.
Following the teacher’s arrangement, the children all boarded the boats. For safety reasons, each child was given a lifebuoy to prevent sinking in case of a fall into the water.
Rowing boats in the lotus pond was a novel experience.
The children took turns rowing the boat, each contributing to the paddling, and indeed, the boat started to move.
