"Oh, it's Miss Chaochao back!"
As night deepened, it was already past seven o'clock in the evening. The gardeners, who should have been off work long ago, were still working hard under the streetlights when they bumped into their young children returning home.
"Yes, I'm back!" Under the lamplight, Chaochao's fair cheeks were flushed with a light blush, and she would flash a big, sweet smile whenever she saw a busy servant on the street.
"Hi sister, your hair is so beautiful!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Gardener! Your flowers are the most beautiful!"
"Hey, miss, don't run away..."
The servants were happy and curious, and two or three even shyly hid away. Although Miss Chaochao would always greet them warmly in the past, they seemed much more excited today... perhaps they had too much fun at the Ji family's house?
The cheerful little dumpling walked into the villa, wobbled as she changed into her slippers, and said in a strong, childlike voice, "Chaochao, I'm back! Why didn't my little white sheep come to greet me?"
Aunt Song could hear Miss Chaochao's busy greetings from the doorway. She peeked out from the kitchen and saw the little dumpling in the entryway. She smiled and said, "Chaochao, wait a little longer. The custard buns that Grandma made for you will be ready to eat soon."
Lava... Custard... Bun...
Chaochao, who was trying hard to read the keywords, tilted her head. Then, Aunt Song saw the little dumpling suddenly wave her arms excitedly and spin around in place, "Chaochao really wants to eat steamed buns! Grandma is so great!!!"
Aunt Song was amused and assumed that the little dumpling couldn't wait. She told him, "The buns will be ready soon," and hurried back to the kitchen to check on her steamer.
Chaochao strained to open her eyes wide. The magnificent and brightly lit hall was dazzling, but Huo Qin, Old Master Huo, and Jiang Chi were not there.
The little dumpling mumbled something indistinctly, shook her head like a wet puppy, and wandered off in a certain direction.
...
Because he had gone to the park with Chaochao in the afternoon, Pei Yushen had sweated a lot, so he took a shower before bedtime.
The bathroom door opened, and Pei Yushen pushed his wheelchair out of the swirling steam. His black hair was damp with moisture, which made the young man's features appear cold and indifferent. His skin was as white as jade, and the white bathrobe draped over him even paled in comparison.
Pei Yushen frowned slightly as he pushed his wheelchair toward the bed, moving much faster than usual, his expression cold.
He had only brought his underwear with him when he took a shower, and in a daze, he forgot his pajamas on the outside. His bathrobe only covered his calves, which made the boy feel uneasy.
Pei Yushen paused slightly when he caught a glimpse of the little sheep balloon tied to the side of the bookshelf.
It seems she hasn't returned yet...
Before returning to his room, Pei Yushen told the nanny that the balloons were in his room and that Chaochao could come and get them when she returned.
"..."
The boy paused for only a few seconds before calmly looking away, but those few seconds caused him to miss his chance.
"Knock knock knock..."
A crisp knocking sound suddenly rang out.
At this point, the wheelchair was still five or six meters away from the bed.
Pei Yu gripped the armrest tightly and said coldly, "You're not allowed to come in."
He clearly told the nanny not to...
A fierce thought weighed on his chest, and Pei Yushen's icy expression froze, his breath catching in his throat.
Because the door was still open.
Chaochao slowly peeked her round little head out from behind the door, her eyes drooping as she softly called out, "Brother Yushen..."
This is even more unacceptable than the fact that the person who came was a nanny.
Pei Yu let out a deep breath, subtly tugging at his bathrobe to cover his calves as much as possible. The boy half-covered his eyes, trying to keep his voice calm as he said, "You can go out now."
If it were a sober Chaochao, she would obediently turn right at the door, but unfortunately, Chaochao is drunk now.
The little dumpling squinted, only able to see the boy's thin lips opening and closing in the distance, but couldn't hear what he was saying. It was as if divine voices were echoing in circles in his ears, drifting in from the left ear and out the right.
Dazed and unsteady, Chaochao staggered forward, asking, "Brother, what are you saying...?"
As she drew ever closer, Pei Yushen's dark pupils contracted sharply, and a crack appeared in his calm mask: "Don't come any closer!"
The harsh rebuke was just like it was on the first day they met.
The children not far away stopped in their tracks and stared at him blankly.
As soon as he finished speaking, Pei Yushen felt a pang of regret. His fingers gripped the wheelchair tightly, his pale lips pressed into a straight line, and he lowered his eyes to hide his embarrassment, sitting there silently.
Although Chaochao stared straight at the boy, her gaze was unfocused. Under the influence of alcohol, her mind was a jumbled mess as she struggled to think, but her efforts were undoubtedly just stirring the muddy water—Chaochao felt she had figured it out. When Yushen told her not to go over there, he meant he didn't want her to go over there...
There was no more sound from the other end. Pei Yushen's eyelashes trembled, and he whispered, "You go first..."
Before he could finish speaking, a pale yellow caterpillar wriggled into his field of vision, "..."
Chaochao lay on the floor, moved her knees forward with her butt sticking out, and slightly raised her chin. The whole worm then smoothly crawled forward more than ten centimeters.
Rather than a caterpillar, it resembled the silkworms that Pei Yushen's classmates loved to raise in elementary school, with its chubby and round appearance being exactly the same.
Finally, she crawled from the doorway to Pei Yushen's wheelchair, adjusted her posture, and sat cross-legged on the ground. The tipsy little dumpling raised her head and met the boy's frozen gaze, revealing a cute and silly smile.
If she can't walk over, then she can crawl over.
Startled from his daze, Pei Yushen looked at the child who was almost within arm's reach. His instinctive reaction was to frantically retreat, but he forcibly suppressed the thought at the last second before he could act.
If they really withdraw, then it will be no different from the first day.
He gritted his teeth and spat out each word one by one:
"Chaochao...you, go out first."
After a full three seconds, the child in front of me seemed to react, shaking her head with a puzzled look in her half-closed eyes. "But I'm already here..."
The drunken little dumpling's amazing thought process: I've climbed all this way, so you can't kick me out, otherwise you're breaking the rules.
Pei Yushen actually understood the child's unfinished meaning. His hand, resting on the wheelchair, was loosely clenched, but the taut fingertips and the bulging bones and veins beneath the skin revealed the panic and unease within him.
He thought it best to just call the servants outside to take Chaochao away.
Chaochao blinked very slowly, her gaze moving down from the boy's pale face, and then leveling off to his long, slender legs under the white bathrobe.
There, scars, some deep and some shallow, are faintly visible.
Chaochao stared intently for a while, then slowly revealed her true thoughts—
"Brother Yu Shen, can I touch it...?"
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