Chapter 6

In small towns, the busiest time is usually when night falls, especially for snack streets. However, Yang County is not a wealthy county and it only has one snack street.

The business here mainly runs from the afternoon to the evening. People here especially like to have midnight snacks, so it is common to close the stall at one or two o'clock.

This time, Tu Chenglin got together with two friends, Jiang Ming, who grew up with him and worked at the police station, and Hu Lei, a friend he met at a social event and later found to be very compatible with him. He opened a restaurant.

Hu Lei is a little fatter and likes children more than Jiang Ming.

He always wants to tease children when he sees them.

"What's your name, and how old are you?"

His voice sounds like a squeezed balloon, a very strange sound, and this kind of voice is often not liked by children.

Tu Mian glanced at this strange uncle and said frankly, "Didn't Dad tell me my name? My full name is Tu Mian, and Mom and Dad call me Guo'er. You are Dad's friend, so you can call me Guo'er. I'm almost three years old, and I'll be three in a month. You can ask me again then."

Hu Lei was choked by Tu Mian's answer. He liked to tease children, but because of his large size and strange voice, he had never been liked by children. Many children would even be scared to tears by him.

It was the first time he encountered such a situation. Not only was Tu Mian not scared, but he also spoke very coherently, not like a two-year-old child.

Hu Lei looked at Tu Chenglin and said, "Your child is quite smart. Does she understand what a month means?"

Tu Mian was not convinced by the doubts. Her father had put her down before they met their friends, so his friends didn't see her riding on his shoulders. So when Hu Lei stood up, it was difficult for Tu Mian to look up at him, but she still tried to stand on tiptoe to look directly at the fat uncle's face.

Lin Mei once told Tu Mian that a polite child should look at the other person's face when speaking, and Tu Mian liked to look into other people's eyes when speaking, as eyes are hard to deceive.

"A month means thirty or thirty-one days. And in February, a month means 28 or 29 days. I mean a month of 30 days because it's June now."

Jiang Ming, who was watching the show with a smile on his face, no longer cared about watching the show. He was the same age as Tu Chenglin and had a 15-year-old son at home.

Even though he didn't take care of children very often, he knew that his son Tu Mian was not in a position to say such things at his age. He was considered a smart child for telling an adult before pulling up his trouser pockets.

Jiang Ming felt a little uncomfortable. He asked Tu Chenglin, "How do you educate your child? She has a sense of time at such a young age. My kid was considered amazing for not pooping his pants at her age. Tell us how you educate your child?"

This made Tu Chenglin feel embarrassed. In fact, it was the first time he knew about it. However, in his opinion, children might have just heard it from somewhere and remembered it. It was nothing serious.

Tu Chenglin smiled and said, "She must have remembered what her teacher or mother said. But speaking of this, it reminds me of something. Her teacher just kept me here for a while. She said Guo'er is very smart and can learn anything the first time. But isn't a girl's advantage to have a good memory? But as they grow up and their minds wander, that becomes a problem. As for your son, he's 15 this year, right? You have to pay close attention to him. Boys are very smart, but they tend to play around. He's about to take the high school entrance exam, and I'm counting on him to help Hua'er with homework. Tell him to study hard."

Hu Lei disagreed with Tu Chenglin's words. He was nearly ten years younger than Tu Chenglin, and he also had a son who was about the same age as Tu Mian this year. To be precise, he was two years older than Tu Mian, but his son could not speak as coherently as Tu Mian.

"Brother Tu, I have to say something about you. Guo'er's teacher has come to see you. Doesn't this just prove that our Guo'er is a very smart child? They say that education should start from childhood. Since they say so, we must also take it seriously. Guo'er is obviously a smart child."

As he spoke, Hu Lei pinched Tu Mian's cheek. Maybe it was because the child was still young, but his skin felt particularly smooth, making Hu Lei unable to help but pinch Tu Mian's cheek again.

Tu Mian's skin is relatively soft and also easily leaves marks. Tu Mian's face turned red from being pinched.

Receiving Tu Mian's accusing look, Hu Lei withdrew his hand awkwardly.

"It's normal for girls to have better memories. When she grows up, she won't be as good as boys. And Guo'er is so young, what can she see?"

Tu Chenglin repeated it again, seemingly unwilling to believe the fact that "daughters are smart". How could girls be smarter than boys? Otherwise, why would everyone rush to have boys instead of girls?

"Does she really have a great memory?" Jiang Ming likes smart children, especially compared to his son who is in adolescence, ignorant, and scores poorly in exams.

Tu Chenglin was no longer sure. Even though Zhong Xiaoqiu had told him many things and told him that Tu Mian could learn things once he had done so, these were not enough to make him believe it.

So he replied to Jiang Ming: "Maybe, but I don't think so. I feel that Guo'er is just like any other child, and Hua'er should be about the same at her age. You just don't know because you don't have a daughter."

Jiang Ming would not tolerate Tu Chenglin, he sneered.

"You're not right. I don't have a daughter, but don't our relatives and friends have daughters? Seriously, your Guo'er is really different. Didn't her teacher say that Guo'er can learn things the first time? Why don't we give it a try and see if she can remember something by explaining it to her?"

"Isn't this too difficult? Guo'er is less than three years old." Hu Lei likes this little girl very much, and he does not agree with what Jiang Ming said.

Seeing the two of them frozen, Tu Chenglin didn't mind using this behavior to test whether Guoer was a smart child.

In his opinion, how smart could she be? She was just a girl.

Jiang Ming saw Tu Chenglin, the father, nodded. At the same time, he remembered that the newspaper he was reading today was put in his bag by Tu Chenglin. He took out the neatly folded newspaper.

"This is the newspaper our company distributed today. It's filled with the latest news. Guo'er definitely won't know what's in it at kindergarten today, so this is the best way to use it. That way, you'll be convinced."

Tu Chenglin snorted. He really didn't understand why his two friends did this.

Jiang Ming said gently to Tu Mian, "Uncle will read a passage next. Guo'er, listen carefully and see if you can repeat it to us again, okay? If you do well, uncle will buy you a lollipop later."

Tu Mian nodded: "No need to give me a lollipop, my mother told me to eat less sugar."

Rather than having candy and then being unable to resist eating it, Tu Mian would rather not have candy so that she won't think about eating it.

Jiang Ming randomly flipped to a page of news and read it out loud.

This piece of news is very long. According to Jiang Ming, even someone who reads it for the first time may not realize what the report says, not to mention the difficulty of retelling the passage after only listening to it once.

After Jiang Ming finished reading, they all gave up hope that Tu Mian would retell the story. This was a very difficult thing for an adult to do.

But Tu Mian just said it word by word so naturally.

Jiang Ming looked at the newspaper in disbelief.

Hu Lei looked at Jiang Ming's shocked expression and turned sideways to look at the newspaper.

Until Tu Mian stopped, the report was exactly the same as what Tu Mian said!

When Tu Chenglin returned home with Tu Mian in his arms, looking dazed, Lin Mei was already at home.

Looking at her husband's strange expression, Lin Mei frowned. "Didn't you say you were going to meet up with friends today? Why are you back so early? You usually wouldn't be home at this time. Oh, and you didn't ask your friends to bring wine to Guo'er, did you?"

When Tu Mian was a little over one year old, Tu Chenglin took her and his friends out for dinner. During the meal, a friend dipped a pair of chopsticks in some white wine to tease Tu Mian and let her eat a little. Tu Chenglin did not stop her.

At that time, men would always use wine to amuse children and regard the children's uncomfortable expressions as fun. After all, wine was so delicious to them. Children were indeed children and didn't understand anything.

But Tu Chenglin was not a man who could keep secrets, and Lin Mei found out about this.

She no longer allowed Tu Mian to go out with him to meet friends until Tu Mian could express his own wishes, listen to Lin Mei, and say no. She really couldn't come to pick Tu Mian up today, so she had to let Tu Chenglin take her. However, Lin Mei hoped that this special situation wouldn't happen, so she felt more confident taking care of Tu Mian herself.

Seeing the suspicion on Lin Mei's face, Tu Chenglin didn't hide it from her: "How could that be? You've already told me, why would I do that? Oh, by the way, you know, our Guo'er is a very smart child. No, in fact, you can say she's very smart!"

As soon as Tu Chenglin opened his mouth, the smell of alcohol could no longer be concealed.

Lin Mei took Tu Mian and gave her husband a blank look.

"I think I told you this a long time ago! Do you remember? I don't remember if I told you this at all. At that time, Guo'er hadn't started kindergarten yet, and some children would come to the store to buy food. Although I was doing wholesale and didn't buy individual items, as soon as I saw them, I couldn't help but sell to them. But when they gave me money, Guo'er took it naturally and gave me the change, and she always gave me the correct change! At that time, no one had taught her how to add, subtract, or recognize money."

Tu Mian was very sleepy, but her parents' conversation disturbed her.

She took over the conversation: "Mom collects money and gives change every day. I've seen it so many times, of course I know."

Tu Chenglin raised his eyebrows, this was unbelievable: "You never told me this at all, and I didn't realize that the smartness you said was not the kind of smartness I thought."

His eyes were bright. "So, our Guo'er is really a genius! Yes, you can't imagine what she did today! Jiang Ming read a long report today, but our Guo'er was able to repeat it back word for word even though Jiang Ming only read it once! You didn't see those two people's faces. I should have bought a camera to take pictures. It was so interesting."

wrong!

Tu Chenglin and Lin Mei stared at their little daughter who was beginning to fall asleep again in their arms.

Maybe, perhaps, their daughter really is a genius?!