Everything happened too fast.
So fast that when the adults socializing noticed Xie Yan Si crying and shouting, they simply assumed he couldn’t bear sitting still in the rocking car.
And this impatient three-year-old boy was still frantically tugging at his handsome hair, like a little madman, making it messier the more he pulled.
“You can tell a person’s future from the age of three”—this saying holds true.
Lin Yue could see it now: from childhood to adulthood, Xie Yan Si had always been extremely particular about his appearance.
This was him messing it up and then trying to fix it himself.
Seeing Xie Yan Si crying so pitifully, Mrs. Xie quickly picked him up and patted him soothingly.
“Good boy, don’t cry. Mommy’s here, baby, don’t cry.”
Xie Yan Si cried so hard he was hiccupping, unable to form a complete sentence.
“Handsome… hair… wuwuwuwu, messy…”
“Hurt… hair wuwuwuwu…”
Mrs. Lin secretly shook her head at the sight. Such a crybaby was quite a headache.
She turned and saw Lin Yue sitting properly beside her, well-behaved and adorable, very likable.
Especially those big, watery eyes—Mrs. Lin’s heart melted into a puddle.
“Yueyue, shall we have some cake?”
Mrs. Lin treated Lin Yue as her own biological daughter in every way, providing her with the best in food, clothing, and living conditions.
Lin Yue blinked her lively peach-blossom eyes: “Okay~ eat cake~”
Mrs. Lin brought a strawberry cake and placed it in front of her. Lin Yue patted her hands, which were covered in hair under the table, and even wiped them disdainfully with a wet wipe.
With a bite of cake in her mouth:
“Mmm~ so sweet!”
A well-behaved child is always likable.
Everyone at the table praised Lin Yue for being obedient, sensible, and adorable. Mrs. Lin couldn’t stop smiling upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, Xie Yan Si, with his messy bird’s nest hair, cried and screamed as he was carried away like a pig being slaughtered.
At the moment he was carried out, Lin Yue, holding her cake, turned her head and stared straight at him, curving her eyes and lips into a smile.
She looked exactly like the old witch from Snow White.
Scaring Xie Yan Si so much that his pupils widened, his body trembled, and he quickly averted his gaze, calling for his mother.
“Go… go quickly!”
He would never come to this place again, never!
The day after the family banquet, Mrs. Lin took Lin Yue to choose her favorite activity.
The Lin family’s approach to raising children was simple: as long as the child liked it, it was fine.
They had originally selected options for Lin Yue like piano, violin, and ballet—activities girls typically enjoy. But Lin Yue chose something completely off the list: martial arts.
Mrs. Lin was astonished: “Yueyue, are you sure you want to choose this?”
Lin Yue nodded: “Yes, I choose this.”
If she had learned martial arts earlier in her previous life, she wouldn’t have been so easily controlled and tormented by Xie Yan Si, nearly to the point of death.
So in this life, she would take precautions to protect herself, starting from the age of three.
Her adoptive father, Lin Heng, could clearly sense Wen Wan’s hesitation. He stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Wen Wan’s shoulders.
“It’s good for a girl to learn some self-defense. When we’re not around, she can still protect herself. Besides, the child might not even stick with it.”
Mrs. Lin’s surname was Wen, and her given name was Wan, which perfectly matched her elegant temperament.
Wen Wan felt Lin Heng made sense, and she respected her child’s decision. “Alright, then we’ll choose this.”
Lin Yue had never been treated with such respect before. In the past, she was often forced by her adoptive father to do many things. But now, she could choose what she liked and had so many options.
Lin Yue felt a warmth blossom in her heart, her eyes curving into crescents as she leaned over and planted a kiss on Wen Wan’s cheek, her voice sweet as honey: “Thank you, Mom~”
That single word sent a wave of joy through Wen Wan. “You… what did you just call me?”
Lin Yue pursed her lips and repeated, “Mom.”
“Yes, dear.” Wen Wan hugged Lin Yue tightly, utterly smitten. “Mom’s here.”
Due to health reasons, Wen Wan had struggled to conceive, yet she adored children more than anything.
Hearing Lin Yue call her “Mom” made her genuinely cherish this child from the bottom of her heart.
Lin Yue got her wish and chose to learn sanda, diving into training almost immediately.
At first, Wen Wan and Lin Heng both thought Lin Yue wouldn’t last—every day she’d come home with bruises here and swelling there, making Wen Wan’s heart ache with worry.
But half a year passed, and Lin Yue persisted day after day, never missing a single training session.
Her sheer determination left both Wen Wan and Lin Heng astonished.
What surprised them even more was that while learning sanda, Lin Yue caught the eye of the grandmaster from Changbai Mountain who practiced Wing Chun. He said Lin Yue was exceptionally clever and had remarkable bone structure, and he wanted to take her on as his disciple.
Lin Heng and Wen Wan were stunned. Finally, they turned to Lin Yue to seek her opinion.
“Yueyue, do you want to learn Wing Chun from the grandmaster?”
Lin Yue wanted to become stronger. Without hesitation, her voice firm and resolute, she replied, “Yes!”
From then on, Lin Yue walked further and further down the path of protecting herself, unwavering and steadfast.
Lin Yue met Xie Yan Si for the second time at kindergarten.
Both the Xie and Lin families were among the top-tier influential clans in Haicheng, so naturally, their children attended the best kindergarten in the province.
A long line of luxury cars stretched outside the kindergarten gate, with young heirs and heiresses stepping out one after another.
The principal and teachers greeted them at the entrance, while the little ones clung tearfully to their parents, crying and protesting about not wanting to go to kindergarten.
Xie Yan Si watched these children crying over something as simple as starting kindergarten and felt nothing but disdain.
Carrying his small backpack, he brushed past the little crybabies and headed inside.
Suddenly, an extended Rolls-Royce Phantom pulled up at the entrance.
Xie Yan Si heard someone exclaim in awe and glanced over curiously.
Then he saw a girl in a white princess dress, wearing a sparkling little crown, step out of the car.
She stood out starkly from the weeping children around her—graceful, beautiful, with two dimples when she smiled, like a radiant little fairy.
Xie Yan Si was mesmerized. It was the first time he had seen a girl who looked like a porcelain doll.
Just like that, he trailed behind her and followed her into the classroom.
Xie Yan Si deliberately chose a seat opposite the girl and even offered her the little bear-shaped cookies the teacher had just handed out.
“Want some? They’re really delicious.”
Lin Yue looked up and realized it was little Xie Yan Si.
Two years had passed, and it seemed he had forgotten about the grass-pulling incident she had subjected him to.
Ah, kids are so forgetful.
“Really, I’m not lying. They’re super, super yummy.” Xie Yan Si tried his best to win over the little fairy.
Lin Yue blinked and asked, “You really like them that much?”
Xie Yan Si thought he had convinced her. “Yeah, I love them. Try one and you’ll see how good they are. You’ll like them just as much as I do.”
If she ate the cookies, they’d be friends. Xie Yan Si thought happily to himself.
Lin Yue looked at Xie Yan Si’s still-childish face. If he hadn’t tormented her back then, maybe they really could have been good friends now.
But once the arrow is released, there is no turning back. She had already been a Hair-Pulling Monster once, and she didn’t mind becoming a Cookie Monster now.
For the sake of her future happiness, she could only let little Xie Yan Si suffer a bit.
The only loss would be the teddy bear cookies, but it would be better for both of them.
Having made up her mind, Lin Yue hesitated for a moment before taking the teddy bear cookies he offered. She reached in, grabbed a handful, and stuffed them into her mouth.
Her small hand couldn’t hold them all, so she grabbed another handful.
Xie Yan Si stared in disbelief as his little fairy instantly transformed into a Cookie Monster, devouring all his teddy bear cookies.
He lowered his gaze to the empty plate, his lips trembling, eyes reddening, and burst into tears with a loud wail.
“My teddy bear cookies, wuwuwuwu… My teddy bear cookies, wuwuwuwu…”
Hearing the commotion, the teacher hurried over. “What happened to your teddy bear cookies?”
Xie Yan Si: “My teddy bear cookies were all eaten, wuwuwuwuwu…”
The teacher was taken aback and blurted out without thinking, “Ah, were all those teddy bear cookies eaten?”
Hearing this, Xie Yan Si cried even harder.
He wasn’t just crying over the loss of his teddy bear cookies—it was as if his little fairy had been devoured by the Cookie Monster too, wuwuwuwuwu…
His big, well-behaved little fairy was gone, wuwuwuwuwu.
The teacher quickly comforted him, “Alright, alright, it’s okay if they’re all gone. I’ll give you some more, okay? Don’t cry anymore.”
Crying is contagious among children. Xie Yan Si’s tears set off a chain reaction, and the entire classroom instantly turned into a bustling marketplace, filled with noisy chatter and wails.
The teachers were frantic, completely at a loss. These were all the young masters and young ladies of Haicheng—what were they supposed to do if the crying continued!
Only Lin Yue remained calm, sitting there and eating the teddy bear cookies one by one.
To be honest, they were really quite delicious.
After that, Lin Yue never saw Xie Yan Si in kindergarten again.
It seemed the little cookie incident had broken little Xie Yan Si’s heart.
But who would have thought that five years later, when Lin Yue saw Xie Yan Si again, it was on the day she was kidnapped.
Xie Yan Si was tied to a chair, his eyes drooping. Hearing the noise, he lifted his gaze, and the moment he saw Lin Yue, he looked even more terrified than when he saw the kidnappers!
He immediately shrank into a ball.
If he could make a sound, Lin Yue imagined he would be screaming—Stay away from me!