In the yard, Cen Miao secretly glanced at the two gardeners buried in their work and quickly reached out to pluck a few bright red berries from the tree branches. Just as he was about to put them into his mouth, a sharp voice from Qin Zelin startled him.
“Cen Miao!”
He hurriedly looked back, and seeing Qin Zelin rushing toward him, Cen Miao panicked and tilted his head back, shoving all the red berries into his mouth at once.
“Cen Miao, spit them out right now!!!” Qin Zelin stepped forward, gripping his jaw and forcing him to open his mouth.
“Mm…”
A few red berries rolled to the ground. Qin Zelin held Cen Miao’s face and checked his mouth carefully, making sure it was empty before releasing his hand.
He was so furious that his temples throbbed, wondering if every little monster passing by wanted to grab a taste.
They had just left the hospital because of overeating; if he hadn’t seen this in time, Cen Miao might have ended up back in the hospital!
“You dare put anything into your mouth! Do you even know if it’s poisonous?” Qin Zelin lowered his gaze, his tone icy and serious, brimming with obvious anger.
The two gardeners had no idea what had happened, but seeing their boss so mad, they froze in place and dared not speak.
Cen Miao tilted his head up, timidly looking at Qin Zelin’s dark, stormy expression. The corner of his mouth twitched, and tears began to roll down his cheeks without warning.
Unlike the loud cries from last night when his stomach hurt, this time he just sat quietly, sulking with red-rimmed eyes.
…!?
“Why are you crying?” Qin Zelin asked, stunned, instinctively reaching out to wipe the tears.
Halfway through, Cen Miao suddenly pulled his neck back, his dark pupils staring at him with a hint of fear.
Qin Zelin froze mid-air, then withdrew his hand, his tone confused and slightly flustered. “It’s not… I didn’t want to hit you. I just saw you crying… I… I never hit anyone… don’t be afraid.”
But Cen Miao’s tears fell like broken pearls, both hurried and aggrieved.
Everyone said he was the cutest and most obedient Little Zombie in the base, and even Caretaker Dad had never been this harsh.
He didn’t want to be here anymore. He wanted to go home.
Seeing Cen Miao so afraid of him, Qin Zelin felt a heavy weight pressing on his chest.
Although Cen Miao had been wrong to eat recklessly, he could have calmly explained it to the little monster.
“I’m sorry,” Qin Zelin’s voice softened unintentionally, “my tone just now wasn’t good. I got upset because you were eating recklessly and… I overreacted.”
“Mm???”
Qin Zelin glanced at his shoe, which had a shoe print on it, then looked at the boy who had stepped on him and run off. “…….”
“Bo…Boss…you should wipe it,” a gardener carefully offered a tissue.
Qin Zelin took it silently. “…Mm, thank you.”
In the living room, Cen Miao nestled against Auntie Wang, sniffing and sobbing, red-eyed and looking as though he had suffered the greatest injustice. Auntie Wang wiped his tears while softly comforting him.
Qin Zelin wanted to step forward to explain, but he met Auntie Wang’s gesturing glance. She lightly waved her hand, silently mouthing: “Go to work first.”
He paused for a moment, then finally turned toward the door.
At 10:30, the tutor arrived at the villa on time.
With Auntie Wang’s reassurance and gentle guidance, Cen Miao had calmed down and sat at the desk in the art room, waiting. Hearing the door open, he nervously looked up and whispered, “Hello, brother.”
A young man with a backpack entered. Upon hearing the voice, he looked up, and his steps froze the instant his eyes landed on Cen Miao’s face.
Sunlight streamed through the window, gently illuminating Cen Miao.
He slightly tilted his face up, eyelashes still damp, his black eyes carrying a trace of unease, yet clean and bright like crystal.
Yu Rui stared at him, momentarily forgetting to respond. Cen Miao blinked, puzzled, and then Yu Rui suddenly snapped back, his face flushing uncontrollably.
“Y-You… hello. I’m the tutor your family hired for you. My surname is Yu, I’m Yu Rui, 25 years old, a college graduate, and unmarried…”
“Brother, are you angry?” Cen Miao asked.
Yu Rui was taken aback. “…Huh? No…”
Cen Miao tilted his head slightly. “Then why is your… face red with anger?”
“…”
“I… I think it’s just that the room is too hot. My face got red, haha,” Yu Rui said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck to deflect, “Well… shall we start the lesson?”
He had researched Cen Miao’s situation beforehand and was prepared to teach him like a young child from the beginning.
After about half an hour, noticing Cen Miao’s attention waning, Yu Rui suggested a short break.
He took out his phone, muted, and saw a WeChat message from a good friend. He smiled and sent two sticker responses, joking that he was tutoring.
“What’s this?” Cen Miao suddenly pointed at the screen, eyes bright, pointing to a sticker of a little person hitting another.
“You mean this sticker?” Yu Rui turned around, his face warming again. “This was made by my friend. If you like it, I can send it to you?”
“Yes!”
“You’re hot, Brother?” Cen Miao asked, looking at his flushed face. “Shall I open the window for you?”
Before he could finish, Yu Rui felt his cheeks heat even more, and his gaze shifted elsewhere. “No… no need. Opening a window might catch a cold.”
“Okay.”
They added each other on WeChat. Yu Rui sent Cen Miao a bunch of stickers and taught him how to save them.
Soon, they resumed lessons, and Cen Miao, wanting to appear more human, studied diligently.
By 11:30, the trial lesson ended. Yu Rui assigned some homework and left the villa.
Meanwhile, in the top-floor Meeting Room at Huanyu, the atmosphere was tense. Everyone could feel Qin Zelin’s low-pressure aura.
At the head of the table, Qin Zelin’s brow was tightly furrowed, his mind full of images of the little monster looking aggrieved and scared that morning.
Tsk.
He wondered how Fang Huan’s chosen tutor was. It was natural to care, and if the tutor wasn’t suitable, he could replace him with someone more appropriate.
Qin Zelin picked up his phone, pondered briefly, sent a WeChat message, and then put it back on the desk.
He looked up at the data on the large Meeting Room screen, but his peripheral vision kept drifting back to the phone on the desk.