Chi Xiaoxue walked along with Xiao Bai through the temporary enrollment booths set up by each college, her hands filled with various gift bags.
Following the park path further in, they finally reached the last booth—the enrollment station for the Agricultural College’s kindergarten.
Unlike other colleges, this booth wasn’t giving out gift bags. Instead, the table displayed agricultural products like milk and eggs. Simply registering your information would earn you a carton of milk and a dozen eggs.
Chi Xiaoxue expertly provided the teacher with Jiang Zhibai’s personal details and contact information, successfully receiving the eggs and milk.
Her hands were now full, so the enrollment staff thoughtfully gave her a large paper bag to carry the milk and eggs more easily.
Once everything was packed, the teacher glanced at Xiao Bai a couple of times, feeling the child looked somewhat familiar, but couldn’t quite place where she might have seen her before.
“Are you Jiang Zhibai’s mother?” the teacher asked casually as she handed the paper bag to Chi Xiaoxue.
Chi Xiaoxue first glanced toward Xiao Bai, who was intently observing a potted strawberry plant, completely unaware of their conversation.
“Mm-hmm,” she nodded quickly, thinking that since she was going to be Xiao Bai’s mom in the future anyway, there was no harm in admitting it now.
The teacher smiled and nodded. “Our Agricultural College kindergarten places great emphasis on the quality of our faculty. We even rehire retired professors to teach. We hope you’ll consider our school.”
“Okay, I’ll discuss it with my husband,” Chi Xiaoxue replied smoothly, sounding quite experienced.
The outing had been quite fruitful. With both hands full of gifts, Chi Xiaoxue attached the leash to her waist and headed back.
Passing by the College of Technology booth, she found the narrow pathway completely blocked.
The College of Technology was a highly popular department with ample funding. Even their giveaway gifts were interactive electronic dogs, which explained the long line of people waiting.
Seeing others still in line while she already had her electronic dog gave Chi Xiaoxue an inexplicable sense of superiority. She called out, “Excuse me, excuse me,” as she tried to make her way through.
After just a few steps, a heated argument suddenly erupted from the crowd ahead. Chi Xiaoxue immediately stopped, stood on her tiptoes, and tried her best to see what was happening.
Unfortunately, the robot was only about 1.6 meters tall, and several taller men blocked her view. Even on her tiptoes, she couldn’t see what was going on.
However, she soon noticed a bench not far away. Struggling through the crowd, she made her way over, dragging Xiao Bai along by the leash.
Chi Xiaoxue placed her bags on the bench, untied the leash from her waist, and set it aside. Then, with agile movements, she climbed onto a stone pillar next to the bench. From this higher vantage point, she finally got a clear view of the argument.
The short and stout Xiao Bai looked up at Chi Xiaoxue standing high above, sighed helplessly, picked up the leash, and tied the other end to the armrest of the bench.
The argument was between a man and a woman over the gifts, and the situation was escalating. While observing, Chi Xiaoxue didn’t forget to look down and narrate the scene to Xiao Bai.
Neither of them noticed that the teacher from the Agricultural College was passing by nearby.
The teacher, probably seeing such an animated parent for the first time, stopped and watched them for quite a while.
·
Returning home with an armful of spoils, Jiang Yanyi had already left for work. Only Teacher Zhang was sitting on the sofa reading.
Teacher Zhang looked up, her gaze peering over her glasses as she scanned them and asked indifferently, “Where have you been?”
“Outside, enrollment, got gifts,” Chi Xiaoxue replied, placing the bags on the floor before rushing to the kitchen for some nutrient drink.
After the immersive gift-gathering, now that she had a moment to relax, Chi Xiaoxue realized her throat was parched.
“Wash your hands.”
Teacher Zhang’s voice called from behind. Chi Xiaoxue, already at the kitchen door, came to an abrupt stop, made a sharp turn, and hurried into the bathroom to wash her hands.
After washing their hands, she and Xiao Bai each drank some water before sitting on the floor to unwrap the gift bags.
The electronic puppy they unpacked was switched on and placed on the floor. It stared at them with big, round eyes, tilting its head curiously and letting out a couple of barks as if unfamiliar with them.
“This is a Beagle,” Chi Xiaoxue said.
“Aha,” Xiao Bai responded, mimicking a puppy by lying on the floor and widening her eyes like a curious dog.
Teacher Zhang glanced at them again. “Most people only collect gift bags and application forms if they’re genuinely interested in the school. What you two are doing is called taking advantage of small perks.”
“Not taking advantage of perks is foolish,” Chi Xiaoxue retorted without missing a beat.
Teacher Zhang’s expression visibly darkened. Chi Xiaoxue quickly picked up the dozen eggs and showed them to her.
“Look, we also got eggs and milk.”
Seeing Teacher Zhang’s expression soften slightly, Chi Xiaoxue added pointedly, “Organic ones.”
“Take them to the kitchen,” Teacher Zhang said, her tone noticeably gentler.
“Okay.”
Chi Xiaoxue immediately stood up and carried the eggs and milk to the kitchen.
When it came to making elderly people happy, Chi Xiaoxue was quite experienced.
Ever since she was born, her grandparents hadn’t been particularly fond of her.
For one, her mother had a strong personality and wasn’t good at coaxing the elderly, unlike her smooth-talking aunt.
For another, her cousin was a boy, and her grandparents’ generation still held some traditional preferences for male heirs.
Initially, Chi Xiaoxue didn’t mind not being her grandparents’ favorite, but then a nosy—or rather, well-meaning—neighbor told her that her grandparents’ inheritance would all go to her cousin.
Chi Xiaoxue’s eyes widened in shock. There was an inheritance?
At the time, Chi Xiaoxue was only five years old, still in kindergarten. She pondered for two days with her little brain and decided that while love might not be guaranteed, money absolutely had to be secured.
Her parents were starting a spice business back then. Besides the long, hard hours they put in, Chi Xiaoxue often overheard them discussing financial difficulties.
Wanting to help ease the family’s burden, little Chi Xiaoxue decided to win over her grandparents.
She woke up at 6 a.m. every day to help her grandmother line up for free eggs.
At an age when she couldn’t even understand chess, she would sit in the park with her grandfather for entire days as he played, fanning him and swatting mosquitoes in the summer and carrying his small charcoal stove in the winter.
When traveling with her grandparents, who were reluctant to spend money, she’d carry bottled water and bread in her little backpack, resolutely refusing tempting, aromatic street snacks while drooling over them.
She’d even join her grandparents in complaining, “They’re expensive and not nutritious.”
Back then, they lived in a government compound, where neighbors all praised Chi Xiaoxue, saying they’d never seen such a thoughtful child.
Even Chi Xiaoxue’s mother, Ms. Ning Xia, was astounded when she learned of her daughter’s “scheme,” convinced that her daughter would grow up to accomplish great things.
Unfortunately, before Chi Xiaoxue could achieve her grand ambitions, she was implanted with cybernetics at the age of seven.
During the more than a decade she was in a coma, her grandparents passed away one after another. They left all their cash and properties to her to cover her ongoing medical expenses.
In the end, her efforts had paid off.
So, someone like Teacher Zhang was hardly a challenge. With just a little effort, Chi Xiaoxue could easily win her favor.
The goodwill brought by the dozen eggs lasted well into the afternoon.
During Chi Xiaoxue’s calligraphy practice that day, Teacher Zhang didn’t give her the usual disdainful side-eye before turning away to avoid further irritation.
Instead, Teacher Zhang watched her write characters that looked like they’d been scratched out by a dog, occasionally reminding her, “The stroke order is wrong. For the character ‘下,’ write the top horizontal stroke first.”
Chi Xiaoxue had been copying the shapes without understanding the proper order—writing the bottom part “蔔” first and then adding the top stroke “一,” as long as the final result resembled the example, she considered it done.
After Teacher Zhang corrected her, she quickly adjusted.
Honestly, Chi Xiaoxue felt she was quite clever. Her previous struggles as a poor student had been a misconception.
The earlier courses were just too difficult—they were designed for data input into robots. It was only natural for a human brain like hers to struggle to keep up.
Now, when Teacher Zhang taught her, Chi Xiaoxue could quickly grasp the concepts and even apply them to other situations. For example, after Teacher Zhang said to write the horizontal stroke first for the character “下,” she would also write the horizontal stroke first when writing “上.”
Teacher Zhang lightly tapped the back of her hand. “For ‘上,’ you write the vertical stroke first, then the short horizontal, and finally the long horizontal.”
Chi Xiaoxue scratched her head and quickly understood. “From top to bottom, left to right, right?”
Teacher Zhang smiled slightly. “You’re not entirely hopeless.”
Later, Teacher Zhang remembered that when she was little, she had learned to write by memorizing the “Stroke Order Rhyme.” So, she searched for it on her phone and actually found it online.
After Chi Xiaoxue finished her practice for the day, Teacher Zhang had her and Xiao Bai sit side by side on the sofa to recite the “Stroke Order Rhyme” along with the kindergarten teacher on the holographic screen.
The two of them soon started slacking off, quietly playing with the electronic dog. Teacher Zhang pretended not to notice and went back to reading her book.
Around this time, Jiang Yanyi finished his class and got out of the car in front of the house. As he was about to head inside, someone suddenly called out from behind, “Professor Jiang!”
He turned around and saw a middle-aged woman in her thirties or forties standing on the path beside the bushes. She looked somewhat unfamiliar.
“Yes? May I help you?”
“I’m Sang Xu, the principal of the Agricultural College kindergarten. We’ve met before.”
Seeing that Jiang Yanyi still looked a bit confused, Sang Xu added, “We met at the Gardener Journal offline exchange conference.”
Jiang Yanyi remembered. Earlier this year, Gardener Journal had invited all its cover guests from the past decade to an offline exchange conference. He had brought Xiao Bai with him at the time.
Now he recalled meeting Sang Xu at that conference.
“Principal Sang, hello,” Jiang Yanyi said with a smile. “My apologies, I didn’t recognize you at first.”
“So you live in this neighborhood too? I live over there in Zone A6,” Sang Xu said, pointing ahead.
“I moved here not too long ago.”
After exchanging a few pleasantries and noticing Sang Xu didn’t seem ready to leave, Jiang Yanyi asked, “Was there something else you needed?”
“Well, it’s like this—I met your wife today.”
“My wife?” For a moment, Jiang Yanyi’s heart pounded wildly, and his temples throbbed.
Sang Xu continued, “Yes, your wife was with your daughter—the curly-haired, adorable little girl we saw at the conference last time.”
Jiang Yanyi’s fingers curled into his palms, and within seconds, a thin layer of cold sweat had formed.
He realized Sang Xu had misunderstood—she must have seen Moji with Xiao Bai and assumed Moji was his wife.
Sang Xu wasn’t talking about Bai Yidong but Moji.
His emotions gradually settled, replaced by an indescribable sense of melancholy.
With someone he wasn’t close to, Jiang Yanyi didn’t feel the need to explain too much. He simply nodded and replied calmly, “Yes, she’s a bit introverted and doesn’t talk much. If there’s anything, you can just let me know.”
A bit introverted?
Sang Xu thought back to the beautiful woman she’d seen earlier that day—the one who had collected gifts from every single college.
During the event, Sang Xu had even overheard people discussing her, saying she’d done what everyone wanted to do but didn’t have the nerve to.
And she’d even climbed onto a high platform to openly watch others argue.
This was what he called “a bit introverted”?
Did Professor Jiang misunderstand the word “introverted,” or did he misunderstand his own wife?