Chapter 58 Kids are so troublesome!
After breakfast, Zhou Yue was in charge of washing the dishes, while Cheng Cheng took the little girl to check her little backpack—a military green canvas crossbody bag embroidered with red five-pointed stars, the size of which was just right for her small body.
Inside was a small handkerchief, a brand-new notebook, a pencil, and an eraser.
Cheng Cheng slung a full aluminum military water bottle across her daughter's shoulder and repeatedly reminded her, "There's warm water in the bottle. Remember to drink water on time. Raise your hand if you need to go to the toilet, okay?"
"Okay! I understand!"
The little girl nodded vigorously. She was no longer a little girl; from today onwards, she was a big girl going to school!
After everything was settled, Cheng Cheng and Zhou Yue took their daughter's hand and sent her to school.
The preschool and primary school sections at the base are not in the same place, but they are not far apart.
Although it is a preschool, it is built in a grand style and has a large area, providing ample space for the children to play.
From afar, one could hear a commotion of crying at the doorway. Several children were clinging tightly to their parents' legs, sobbing uncontrollably and refusing to go inside.
She cried and shouted, "I don't want to go to school!"
"I want to go home! I don't want to be separated from my mom! Mom, take me home, boohoo..."
Little Lingxiao looked at them, frowned, and looked up at his parents with his big eyes full of questions: "Mom and Dad, why are they crying?"
"Didn't we go home at noon?"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Cheng immediately squatted down, looked directly into her daughter's clear yet confused eyes, and said in a very certain tone, "That's right, Xiaoxiao is right. Mom and Dad will come to pick you up at noon."
Zhou Yue patted his daughter's head, picked her up, and calmly walked through the crying crowd, saying as he went, "Our Xiaoxiao is a brave child, so she's not afraid at all, right?"
"Uh-huh!"
The little girl nodded vigorously, looking proud. When she reached the door, she asked her father to put her down and walked straight towards a smiling female teacher.
A clear, sweet voice said, "Hello, Teacher Zhang!"
"Hey! Hello, Zhou Lingxiao."
Zhang Jing smiled, put her arm around the child's shoulder, and prepared to walk inside. She said to the adults, "Comrade Cheng, Comrade Zhou, please leave little Zhou Lingxiao to us. Just remember to pick her up at noon!"
Little Lingxiao, with her two dimples, looked at her parents and waved her little hand vigorously: "Goodbye, Mom and Dad!"
Cheng Cheng waved to her daughter, her tone light and cheerful, "Go on! Mom will be the first to pick you up at noon!"
Zhou Yue and Cheng Cheng did not turn around and leave immediately. They watched Teacher Zhang lead her daughter into the Yuhong Class until Xiaoxiao entered the classroom.
Watching her daughter's small, unwavering figure disappear behind the door, Cheng Cheng's smile slowly faded, and a sudden emptiness filled her heart, replaced by an indescribable sense of melancholy and loss.
Zhou Yue gently patted his wife's shoulder and said softly, "Children always have to grow up. This is her first step into the world, and we should be happy for Xiaoxiao!"
Even as he said that, his gaze followed the direction his daughter left, filled with the same reluctance and pride.
Cheng Cheng nodded slightly, understanding the situation. She took a deep breath, looked up at the man, and said, "Let's go too."
At the intersection, the two parted ways, and Cheng Cheng turned and walked towards the library.
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Teacher Zhang took the little girl's hand and led her into a bright classroom.
There were already seven or eight children sitting in the classroom. Some were playing with their fingers quietly, while others had red eyes and were looking at the door.
"Little Zhou Lingxiao, please find a seat you like and talk to the child next to you so you can get to know them."
Teacher Zhang gently pointed to the small stools and desks, "Teacher still needs to pick up other children. Can you wait here for a while and play by yourself?"
Xiao Lingxiao nodded, let go of the teacher's hand, and walked to an empty seat by the window. He didn't take off his small backpack and water bottle, which were still slung across his body, but held them in his arms.
A pair of dark, clear eyes quietly surveyed the surroundings, showing both curiosity about everything around them and wariness of the unfamiliar environment.
A girl with two pigtails sat to her right, her eyes were big and she was staring at her without blinking.
Suddenly, the little girl sat down in front of her with her schoolbag, put her hands on the desk, and stared at her intently.
Xiao Lingxiao pursed his lips, looking at the new classmate with a puzzled expression, "Why are you staring at me?"
The little girl opposite suddenly reached out a finger and carefully touched her soft, pink cheek, exclaiming in surprise, "Your face looks like a big white steamed bun!"
The little girl smacked her lips. "I really want to eat it! It's so soft!"
The other person poked him again with their finger. Xiao Lingxiao was stunned for a moment, then leaned back to avoid the other person's finger.
With a serious expression and a tense little face, she said in a solemn tone, "You can't eat it! Your face isn't food, nor is it a big white steamed bun!"
The little girl wasn't angry when she dodged her; instead, she lay her entire upper body on the desk.
Looking up with her chubby little face, she leaned even closer and began to introduce herself in a very familiar way: "My name is Xingxing, and I live at number three in the red brick house. What's your name? I want to be your friend!"
"Oh, right, do you like sponge cake? I love sponge cake the most! My mom can make it..."
Xia Xingxing chattered on and on, not giving the other person a chance to speak at all. But as she talked, she probably mentioned "Mom," and her voice suddenly became tearful.
Her big eyes quickly filled with tears, and her little mouth trembled as she sobbed, "Waaah... I miss my mom... Waaah..."
From the initial soft sobs to a loud wail, it all seemed to happen in the blink of an eye; tears fell like broken beads, pattering onto the desk.
Xiao Lingxiao was completely unprepared for this situation. Looking at her new friend who had suddenly broken down, she was at a loss.
She hesitated for a moment, then, mimicking how her mother usually comforted her, she reached out her little hand and awkwardly patted Xingxing's back. "Don't cry..."
The little girl, seemingly inexperienced in comforting someone, said dryly, "At noon...we'll see Mom and Dad at noon."
However, Xingxing's crying and her comforting words were more like a signal. Several children in the classroom who had been trying to hold back their tears were infected by this emotion and began to sob one after another.
"I want my grandma..."
"I want to go home... Mom, sob sob..."
For a moment, the classroom was filled with the sounds of crying.
Xiao Lingxiao withdrew his hand and stood there helplessly, looking at his new friend who was crying so intensely, and listening to the wailing all around him. His little face was full of helplessness and confusion.
She finally understood what her mother meant by "having a head that's too big for her."
Without hesitation, she immediately ran out to call the teacher.
"Teacher Zhang! Teacher Zhang!"
"Come quick, Xingxing and the others are crying!"
Watching Teacher Zhang frantically trying to soothe and comfort this child, Xiao Lingxiao sat on a small stool. As a three-and-a-half-year-old, she sighed heavily. Children are so troublesome!
Most importantly, the learning of new knowledge that she had imagined did not happen. The teacher spent most of the morning maintaining order, leading everyone in simple clapping games, and having each child stand up and say their name.
Xiao Lingxiao felt a little bored. So this is what going to school is like?
When the school bell finally rang at noon, she was almost the first to put on her little schoolbag and rush out.
Having no choice but to suppress her impatience, she obediently lined up and followed the queue from the classroom to the door, her eyes darting around anxiously.
Suddenly, her big eyes curved into little crescents, and her little voice was clear and melodious: "Mommy!"
Cheng Cheng had been waiting at the door for a while when she saw Xiao Xiao smiling and waving at her. The little girl rushed out like a cannonball.
Just as Cheng Cheng was about to leave with her daughter in hand, Zhou Yue arrived in a hurry.
His forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and he was slightly out of breath, clearly having rushed over after finishing his work.
"dad!"
The little girl's eyes lit up instantly when she saw her father arrive.
Zhou Yue naturally took the schoolbag and water bottle from his wife's hands, and the three of them walked hand in hand towards home.
The little girl was being led by her parents, but unlike usual, she wasn't jumping around happily. Instead, she had her head down, her lips pouting, and she was clearly not in a good mood.
Cheng Cheng and Zhou Yue naturally noticed their daughter's emotions and exchanged a glance.
Cheng Cheng asked softly, "What's wrong?"
The little girl finally couldn't help but look up at her parents, her voice filled with grievance and a hint of complaint: "Going to after-school care is no fun at all! Going to school is no fun either!"
Little Lingxiao spoke clearly and recounted what had happened that morning, exaggeratingly covering his ears with his little hands as he spoke:
"The other children are always crying and disobedient, often running around. The teacher has to comfort them and tell them to sit down in their seats. Mom, my ears are so noisy!"
She hugged her mother's leg, pressed her little face against it, and said in a spoiled tone, "Mom, I don't want to go to the after-school care class this afternoon."
"I want to go work at the library with you!"
It's so quiet there, and there are so many books. It's much more fun than going to school!
Cheng Cheng and Zhou Yue exchanged a glance, both feeling a bit amused and exasperated.
My daughter has already developed a dislike for school after only half a day of classes?
Cheng Cheng tried to persuade her daughter, "But you can make a lot of new friends at school. You can play together. Did Xiaoxiao make any new friends today?"
“Yes,” Xiao Lingxiao nodded, then frowned as he recalled, “Her name was Xingxing. She first said my face looked like a white steamed bun, and that she wanted to eat my face. Then she started crying as she was talking, and the other children started crying too…”
She looked up, her little face still showing lingering fear. "I don't like hearing them cry. Their crying is so scary! Mom, I don't want to go to school anymore!"
Cheng Cheng was momentarily speechless and could only turn to Zhou Yue for help.
Zhou Yue didn't immediately start lecturing. He squatted down to be at eye level with his daughter and said seriously, "Dad knows. Xiaoxiao's ears are very uncomfortable from all the noise, and she didn't learn the new knowledge she wanted to learn, so Xiaoxiao is a little disappointed."
Xiao Lingxiao looked at his father, his eyes filled with seriousness, and nodded heavily.
Looking into his daughter's eyes, Zhou Yue said in a consultative tone, "How about this? Let's try for three more days. If after three days Xiaoxiao still feels as uncomfortable as she did today and doesn't want to go to the preschool, then we won't go."
"Anything new may feel unfamiliar at first, but let's try to explore it more. Maybe you'll discover something fun about it?"
Looking at his father's trusting and gentle eyes, and then at his mother's helpless yet determined expression, Xiao Lingxiao knew that he had no choice but to go to school that afternoon.
With her little head hanging down in thought, three days didn't sound like a long time. Today was the first day, and half of it had already passed, so there were still two and a half days left.
"Oh well."
The little girl nodded reluctantly and held up three fingers: "Just three days."
"Okay, let's pinky swear."
Zhou Yue solemnly made a pinky promise with his daughter and stamped it.
Watching the father and daughter solemnly pinky swear and stamp their vows, Cheng Cheng's anxiety about her daughter's aversion to school vanished.
A gentle smile appeared on her face. She squatted down and extended her little finger to her daughter, saying, "Then Mommy will pinky swear with Xiaoxiao too."
"This is a promise between the three of us, for three days. But in these three days, Xiaoxiao, you have to be brave and give it a try. Mom and Dad believe you can do it!"
Seeing how much his parents valued his feelings, Xiao Lingxiao's tense face finally relaxed, and two dimples appeared on his lips as he made a pinky promise with his mother.
"Okay!"
Cheng Cheng stood up, took her daughter's hand again, and said in a light tone, "What do you want to eat for lunch? Mom will make it for you."
This question immediately pulled the little girl's attention away from her worries about school. She shook her mother's hand and said, "I want potato chips! Mommy's fried potato chips! And I want an egg pancake too!"
"Okay, I'll grant your wish today!"
Cheng Cheng smiled and agreed. Ever since she made them potato chips last time, the little guy had fallen in love with them. But she didn't make them often. She would only make them occasionally to satisfy the little guy's cravings, and also to satisfy her own cravings.
The little girl has been wronged today, so let's grant her wish.
The family of three held hands and embarked on their journey home.
The midday sun was bright and scorching. Little Lingxiao was held between her parents, sometimes shaking her mother's hand, sometimes looking up and begging her father to come back and play Go with her.
The little girl had fully regained her usual energy and cheerfulness. Seeing this, Cheng Cheng and Zhou Yue looked at each other and smiled knowingly.
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Author's note: Goodnight, my darlings! [pink heart][orange heart][purple heart][green heart][blue heart][cyan heart]
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