Chapter 9
The swimming pool is not far from the village entrance; you can reach it by walking through the wisteria-covered pergola.
Along the way, Leng Zhi also placed two climbing mats in the flower bushes. With the shade of the vines, these would be a good hiding place.
The swimming pool is quite luxurious, with three different heights from east to west. The water is clear, and the pattern of the bottom tiles can be clearly seen in the shallow water area.
Jiang Mingzhe became excited upon seeing the swimming pool. He immediately broke free from Leng Zhi's hand and ran towards the poolside, shouting, "Water!"
Fortunately, he only wanted to play in the water and had no intention of jumping in.
The elderly father, Leng Zhi, couldn't help but rub his temples—thankfully, otherwise, if he had caught a cold from jumping into the water, he wouldn't have been able to explain himself at the parenting meeting that evening.
Jiang Mingzhe lay on the edge of the pool, splashing water with his hands, having a great time.
"Aren't you afraid of falling?"
Leng Zhi glanced at the location changes on his phone and muttered some complaints.
"thump!"
No sooner had Leng Zhi finished speaking than a loud splashing sound rang in his ears—Jiang Mingzhe slipped and fell straight down, splashing Leng Zhi with water.
Leng Zhi felt his heart stop.
Damn, 30 million has fallen.
He had never been this nervous when he led the LSH team to the World Championship finals.
"Jiang Mingzhe!"
Just as Leng Zhi was about to jump in to retrieve the child, a wet head popped out of the water and giggled at him.
Meanwhile, three blue crawling mats were lifted up from the water.
Cold treatment: ?
This kid can swim?
And wait, where did the crawling mat come from?
Before Leng Zhi could react, Jiang Mingzhe had already swum around in the pool a few times, gathered the crawling mats into a pile, and was about to climb ashore.
Leng Zhi snapped out of his daze and quickly reached out to pull him up.
The staff had already brought a blanket. Leng Zhi used his body to block the camera, quickly took off Jiang Mingzhe's soaked clothes, and wrapped the child in the blanket three times over.
Fortunately, the weather was hot enough. Jiang Mingzhe dried himself off and quickly put on a small bathrobe that the staff had taken from the shower room next door. He didn't sneeze once and even pointed to the three play mats he had retrieved with great enthusiasm: "Dad, did someone hide these?"
Looking at the color of the playmat, Leng Zhi slowly said, "These are... Lei Shen and Xi Xi's colors?"
[Oh my god, I almost thought there was going to be a performance mishap!]
[I didn't expect Xiao Jiang to be such a good swimmer]
[Wait, can someone explain what those three playmats are?]
[Hahaha, just got this from the neighbor's perspective, I'm laughing so hard!]
[These three blue playmats from next door have quite a story behind them.]
[The perfect spot that Lei Shen and Xi Xi finally came up with, and only a few minutes have passed?]
The screen was filled with laughter and jokes, which pieced together the live stream footage of the pool from ten minutes earlier.
Ten minutes ago.
Lei Shen received a blue playmat. When he arrived at the pool, he noticed that the tile surface on the pool floor was very similar in color to his playmat.
He immediately tried placing the playmat on the water and pressing it down with his hand.
Sure enough, with the ripples on the water's surface and today's strong sunlight, it would be difficult to spot the crawling mat at the bottom of the water unless you were observing it yourself.
However, as soon as he lets go, the playmat floats to the surface of the water and cannot sink at all.
Lei Shen half-squatted down, gently pressing on Xixi's shoulder, and said, "Xixi, tell everyone, how have your swimming lessons been lately?"
Upon hearing the word "class," Xixi shuddered almost imperceptibly and mumbled, "I'm really good at swimming."
Lei Shen continued, "How about the dads stick the playmat to the bottom of the pool?"
Sisi drawled, "Okay—"
[Baby Xixi is so great!]
[I knew Xixi could do everything!]
I couldn't swim when I was five years old!
No audience member would think about why a five-year-old child is so talented; they only know that Lei Shen and Xi Xi are a model father and son, and that Xi Xi is a genius baby.
In order to maintain his perfect image in front of the camera, Lei Shen went crazy for Xi Xi, enrolling her in twelve extracurricular classes a week, ranging from swimming, horseback riding, and skiing to fashion etiquette, more than the children of real wealthy families.
Logically speaking, a five-year-old child should be at the age where they can express their natural instincts and should not be able to withstand such high-intensity learning.
Lei Shen's method of dealing with the child was also very simple—hitting.
If they don't listen, beat them; if they can't learn, beat them.
As a staunch believer in the adage "spare the rod and spoil the child," Lei Shen has no doubt about his parenting philosophy.
Even Xixi's chubby little figure was carefully designed by him. In order to differentiate himself from other bloggers of the same type, Lei Shen kept Xixi's figure in a slightly chubby and cute way, without affecting her facial features or physical health.
Lei Shen gently patted his son's shoulder: "You have some adhesive tape in your backpack, right? Go on."
Xixi immediately opened her little backpack, revealing the abundant gear inside.
The cameraman immediately followed, and the small equipment in his backpack was on full display in the live stream.
[My goodness, is this a backpack for a five-year-old?]
[I'd believe you if you said this was an outdoor enthusiast's bag, right?]
[No way, having super glue is already ridiculous, but why are there also carabiner hooks and multi-tools?]
[XiXi, how much more do we still not know about you?]
[I also want to raise a baby like Xixi~ It feels like with him, parents wouldn't need to do anything!]
Xixi's chubby little hands gripped the playmat tightly, and with Lei Shen's help, they stuck the multi-purpose glue to the back.
He took a deep breath and then sank into the water down the steps.
"Glug glug"
A string of bubbles rose to the surface of the water, and the people on the shore couldn't help but hold their breath.
[Xixi has been offline for a long time, are you going to post three pictures at once?]
[Oh my god, can a child hold their breath for that long?]
[It seems that children who learn to swim from a young age can hold their breath for much longer than other beginners.]
Why aren't you coming up yet? Lei Shen, shouldn't you go down and check on us?
[You guys should switch to the HD live stream, then you can see Xixi posting.]
With a "whoosh," Xixi finally popped out, her little face flushed: "Goo... I've put it on, Daddy!"
Lei Shen smiled with satisfaction and reached out his hand to Xixi: "Good girl, come on up."
[This father and son are so sweet, sob sob]
[Good baby Xi and gentle daddy!]
[Either let me be reborn into the Lei family, or give me a sweet baby like Xixi!]
After that, Lei Shen and Xi Xi hid some more play mats near the pool before moving on to the next location.
Rewind to ten minutes later—Jiang Mingzhe fell into the pool and accidentally overturned three blue play mats, which were the same play mats that Lei Shen and Xixi had put down ten minutes earlier.
The comments section was already filled with laughter.
[Hahahaha, Xixi's efforts were all for nothing!]
[My heart aches for my poor baby Xixi!]
[Neither Lei Shen nor Xi Xi know anything yet.]
Jiang Mingzhe is such a lucky guy! Even after falling into the water, he still manages to touch someone else's playmat.
But taking someone else's playmat wouldn't be of any use, would it?
[Whether it's useful or not, it's definitely a good thing that the opponent hid crookedly, and we'll probably need the playmat for the afternoon's activities!]
Leng Zhi reached out and picked up three dripping play mats, shook off the water, and calmly piled them together with his yellow play mat, as if these three different colored play mats were entirely his property.
Why not take advantage of it? Consider it an early completion of the afternoon's targets.
Even Jiang Mingzhe, who was usually unreasonable, couldn't help but ask, "Can we take someone else's mat?"
Leng Zhi replied without hesitation, "Sure, we'll take as much as we can."
Jiang Mingzhe said "Oh," and although he didn't understand why the hide-and-seek game had turned out like this, he felt pretty good!
He followed Leng Zhi into the small house by the pool, and watched as Leng Zhi started stuffing playmats into every corner of the house, and he was eager to try it himself.
"Dad! I want to hide one too! Give me one!"
Leng Zhi was stuffing a playmat into the gap between the table and chairs when he turned around and almost bumped into the baby.
"Take it yourself."
He didn't object, and pointed diagonally at the crawling mat on the ground.
For a five-year-old, holding the playmat upright almost reaches his chest, and lifting it slightly further completely blocks his view. Jiang Mingzhe inherited the Jiang family's excellent physical attributes and is considered taller than other children his age, but he still looks somewhat comical when he picks up the playmat.
He looked around and finally walked towards the refrigerator.
Leng Zhi watched as Jiang Mingzhe dragged his playmat, wobbling, to the refrigerator, then pulled over a stool and climbed up on all fours.
Is it going to be hidden in the refrigerator?
Leng Zhi was speechless; fitting a playmat into this small refrigerator would be quite a challenge.
However, he still took out his phone, opened the notes app, and wrote down the third summary:
3. Provide Jiang Mingzhe with ample space for self-expression during daily play to enhance his autonomy and creativity.
When he looked up again, Jiang Mingzhe was already standing with his hands on his hips, pointing proudly at the playmat he had placed on top of the refrigerator: "How about that? I'm amazing, right? Nobody could see the playmat I hid!"
Cold treatment: ?
He was tall, and from his angle, you could easily spot the conspicuous yellow color on the refrigerator.
He touched his nose and revised the wording in his memo:
[This lays a solid foundation for enhancing future autonomy and creativity.]
Don't make big promises too early.
Jiang Mingzhe was unaware that his small stature gave him a completely different perspective from Leng Zhi's. Unable to receive any praise from Leng Zhi, he pouted angrily and said, "Is there a problem?!"
Leng Zhi reached out and pushed the playmat further in, praising it expressionlessly, "Yes, you can't see it at all."
[Hahaha, Mingzhe, you little idiot!]
[Just spoil him!]
[This kid hasn't realized the difference between his perspective and that of adults yet.]
[This movie is probably going to be a freebie, hahaha]
Leng Zhi glanced at the remaining time; there was still half an hour left.
"Let's go somewhere else."
So the two of them left the small house. After scattering them around, Leng Zhi still had five yellow crawling mats that hadn't been hidden yet, as well as four extra blue crawling mats—he had just found another one stuck to the ceiling inside the house.
As time drew to a close, Leng Zhi felt that the four blue playmats were getting in the way, so he stopped by the trash can next to the pool and said, "Let's leave the blue playmats here for now."
He opened the trash can and froze.
The trash can was empty; instead, two blue play mats lay quietly inside.
Goodness, there's an unexpected surprise?
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