But misunderstandings aside, Sang Xu wasn’t close to Jiang Yanyi, so she knew to keep their conversation within appropriate boundaries.
She simply forced a smile and explained, “I just hope you’ll consider our kindergarten when choosing a school for your daughter.”
Jiang Yanyi understood.
With fewer and fewer people willing to have children these days, kindergartens were fiercely competing for enrollment. Maintaining a steady stream of students ensured sufficient funding from the state, while losing students could lead to being absorbed by other institutions.
So, it made sense for Principal Sang to actively recruit new students.
“Our family generally respects the child’s preferences, but I’ll certainly suggest it to her,” Jiang Yanyi replied.
“Alright, I won’t keep you any longer.” Sang Xu smiled slightly, bowed her head, and then walked along the path in front of the yard, heading straight toward Zone C.
As soon as Jiang Yanyi stepped inside, a small black shadow darted out from nowhere, followed by a few barks.
“Where did this dog come from?” he exclaimed, instinctively raising his briefcase to shield himself as he stepped onto the shoe bench, his legs moving almost involuntarily.
Chi Xiaoxue hurried over and, seeing Jiang Yanyi standing nervously on the shoe bench, quickly scooped up the electronic dog that was darting around the room.
Jiang Yanyi had been bitten by a dog as a child and still carried some lingering fear. Only after realizing it was just an electronic dog did he let out a sigh of relief.
He wiped the dust off the shoe bench with a tissue, pretending nothing had happened.
Entering the living room, Jiang Yanyi noticed various items scattered on the floor. Xiao Bai was lying on the ground, fiddling with a music box. At some point, she must have pressed something—a soft click sounded, and a melodious tune began to flow from the box.
“What is all this stuff?”
“Got them for free,” Chi Xiaoxue replied, still holding the electronic puppy.
“Where did you get them?” he asked again.
Chi Xiaoxue sat on the floor with the puppy in her arms. “At the little park. The kindergartens were giving them out for free.”
Jiang Yanyi roughly guessed what had happened. No wonder he’d received a call from the enrollment office of the Central Arts Academy Kindergarten on his way home. The person on the phone had spent a long time introducing the school’s features and confidently invited him for a visit.
So, it turned out someone had traded his phone number for a few freebies.
Jiang Yanyi felt a bit exasperated. “These gift bags are meant for people genuinely interested in the schools. How did you end up with so many?”
From the floor-to-ceiling window, Teacher Zhang, who was meditating with her eyes closed, calmly remarked, “Not taking advantage of perks is foolish.”
Jiang Yanyi was at a loss for words again, already anticipating the flood of enrollment calls he’d have to deal with.
But he decided to use the gifts as a way to talk to Xiao Bai about kindergarten.
The Longyang New District where they now lived was the area with the highest concentration of kindergartens in the city. The Medical, Technology, Agricultural, Literature, and Central Arts Academies—all their affiliated kindergartens were located here.
They had moved to this area partly for Xiao Bai’s convenience in attending school.
“The available kindergartens now include those affiliated with Technology, Agriculture, Literature, Medicine, and the Central Arts Academy. You visited the fair today, right? Did you see any schools you liked?”
Jiang Yanyi had changed into striped loungewear and sat cross-legged on the carpet, hugging a cushion as he began the conversation with Xiao Bai.
Xiao Bai didn’t have much concept of schools. Today, she’d been dragged around by Chi Xiaoxue in a frenzy to collect gifts. Being short, all she saw were legs—lots of them—and nothing else.
“Daddy, I don’t know how to choose. You pick for me,” Xiao Bai replied obediently, kneeling on the floor and fiddling with the music box’s crank.
Jiang Yanyi cleared his throat. “Considering the distance, I think the Technology Academy’s kindergarten could be the first choice—”
“Woof! Woof, woof, woof!”
His words were cut off by a series of barks.
Jiang Yanyi turned to see Moji teasing the electronic dog with a plush ball. The dog wagged its tail excitedly, barking nonstop at the ball in her hand.
Once the barking stopped, Jiang Yanyi turned back and continued, “Both the Technology and Agriculture kindergartens are very close to us, within a 15-minute walk. Considering you love sleeping in—”
Xiao Bai suddenly glared at Jiang Yanyi with a serious expression.
He quickly corrected himself, “Sleep is very important for children. To ensure you get enough rest, Daddy thinks we should choose a school that’s closer.”
“Quack, quack, quack, quack.”
Jiang Yanyi was interrupted once again—this time, the electronic dog had crawled into a paper bag and couldn’t get out, wiggling its butt and frantically trying to push through with its head.
Watching the clumsy dog, the robot laughed like a duck.
“Moji, quiet down,” Jiang Yanyi said.
Chi Xiaoxue immediately mimed zipping her lips and gave a thumbs-up.
Jiang Yanyi turned back to Xiao Bai. “So, how about choosing between Agriculture or Technology?”
“Okay.”
The little curly-haired girl nodded seriously.
“Then we’ll pick between those two.”
“You can only choose one.”
Xiao Bai looked confused again. “But I don’t know how to choose.”
“The basic knowledge taught in kindergarten is pretty much the same everywhere, but the extracurricular activities differ. Agriculture focuses more on planting and farming, while Technology leans toward inventions and experiments. It mainly depends on your own interests.”
“I’m not interested in either,” Xiao Bai said.
Jiang Yanyi rubbed his forehead, picked up the electronic dog that had just escaped from the paper bag, and scanned the floor. “What gifts did you get from the Agriculture College?”
Chi Xiaoxue silently got up from the floor, tiptoed into the kitchen, then slipped back just as quietly, placing a carton of eggs and a large bottle of milk next to Jiang Yanyi without a sound.
Jiang Yanyi glanced at her. Chi Xiaoxue pointed her palms upward toward the eggs, mouthing the words, “Agriculture College gifts.”
“See, Zhibai, Technology is about inventing things like electronic dogs, while Agriculture is about planting potatoes and vegetables, raising chickens for eggs, and things like that. Look at these two—which one do you prefer?”
Jiang Yanyi placed the eggs on one side and the electronic dog on the other, patiently guiding her by comparing tangible examples.
“Daddy, if I choose wrong, can I change later?” Xiao Bai asked cautiously.
“Of course. If it doesn’t suit you, you can switch to a different school anytime.”
The little girl sighed in relief, about to make her decision.
But then she heard him say, “However… Zhibai, you need to understand that going to school itself isn’t always a happy experience. Once you start school, you’ll have to leave your family and go to a new, unfamiliar place. You’ll need to follow rules and learn to fit into group life.”
Xiao Bai was intimidated by her father’s words and asked pitifully, “If it’s not fun at all, why do I have to go?”
“School is something everyone has to go through. During this process, you’ll learn to understand yourself better and understand the society you live in. The knowledge you gain at school can help you reach higher and farther places.”
The child listened, still confused. She fiddled with the wooden patterns on the music box and fell silent.
Sitting cross-legged nearby, Chi Xiaoxue had been eavesdropping on the father-daughter conversation. Seeing the discussion at a standstill, she turned to Jiang Yanyi and raised her right hand.
“I request to speak.”
“Go ahead,” Jiang Yanyi said, looking at her curiously.
Chi Xiaoxue stated, “Who doesn’t go a little crazy studying? Just get it over with.”
Jiang Yanyi: “……”
Sometimes, Jiang Yanyi really wondered where this robot, who had been “activated” for less than a month, picked up all these odd sayings.
But when you thought about it, her words always seemed to carry a strange kind of logic.
Xiao Bai wasn’t a child who made decisions lightly. She spent two days carefully considering before deciding to start with the Agricultural College kindergarten—her reason was that she liked strawberries.
Once the child made her decision, Jiang Yanyi began submitting the application forms to the school. Following the school’s requirements, he took Xiao Bai for a medical checkup, ordered uniforms and bedding from designated stores, and even set aside half a day to visit the campus with her.
After completing all the preparations, Xiao Bai would officially start kindergarten the following Monday.
Coincidentally, Teacher Zhang was planning to stay at a Taoist temple in the mountains over the weekend, so Jiang Yanyi suggested the whole family go hiking together to see her off.
In the evening, they could take the child and Moji to the Shell Restaurant for dinner, as a family ritual before Xiao Bai officially started school.
·
Xiao Bai loved sleeping in, but Chi Xiaoxue didn’t enjoy sleeping.
It wasn’t because she had slept too much as a vegetative patient, nor was it because, as a robot, she didn’t require sleep.
Chi Xiaoxue was naturally a light sleeper—the kind of high-energy person often mentioned online, someone with short recharge times and incredibly long endurance.
She could easily function on just five or six hours of sleep, staying active all day long.
Back then, there was a non-powered amusement park near Chi Xiaoxue’s home, filled with facilities like slides, climbing frames, trampolines, and sandpits—activities that relied purely on physical energy.
To help her burn off her boundless energy, Chi Xiaoxue’s mother even bought an annual membership for that park.
This directly upgraded Chi Xiaoxue to a distinguished VIP of the non-powered amusement park.
Later, after she visited so many times, when the park launched its WeChat public account, they even used Chi Xiaoxue’s photo as the cover image.
But then, when they heard Chi Xiaoxue had become a vegetative patient, the park quickly took her photo down, worried people might think she’d gotten injured there.
Even though that was all in the past, the current Chi Xiaoxue was still an energetic, lively robot girl.
Early on the weekend morning, Chi Xiaoxue got up, checked her charge level, changed into sportswear, grabbed her small backpack, and packed everything she needed for the outing.
Once everything was ready, Chi Xiaoxue first went from the bathroom into Xiao Bai’s room, shook the sleeping child awake, removed her nightcap, and carried the still-groggy little girl to the bathroom.
She placed her on a small stool in front of the sink to brush her teeth.
Ignoring the child’s grumpy expression after being woken up, Chi Xiaoxue slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed upstairs. Jiang Yanyi’s bedroom door wouldn’t budge—he had actually locked it.
Strange, he usually never locked it.
Chi Xiaoxue knocked on the door. “Professor Jiang, time to get up. We’re going out today.”
“Professor Jiang…”
By the time Chi Xiaoxue had called “Professor Jiang” for the twentieth time, the bedroom door opened from the inside, revealing a handsome but irritated face.
Jiang Yanyi’s black hair was a mess from sleep. He had initially opened the door with some morning grumpiness, but seeing Chi Xiaoxue wearing a bucket hat and grinning so widely her eyes were barely visible, he couldn’t stay angry.
Plus, she had the same face as Bai Yidong, and her cheerful expression looked so vivid—it reminded him even more of the Bai Yidong from his memories.
Jiang Yanyi lowered his head, lost in thought for a moment, then waved his hand. “Alright, got it. Go downstairs first. I’ll go wash up.”
Half an hour later, the family was neatly seated in the car.
Jiang Yanyi and Jiang Zhibai, father and daughter, each had their arms crossed, heads lowered as they dozed off, both looking rather unhappy.
In contrast, Chi Xiaoxue was excited. She first pressed her forehead against the car window to watch the scenery, then began humming softly.
As she started singing, father and daughter simultaneously raised their arms to cover their ears, continuing to doze with their heads lowered.
The self-driving car stopped at the foot of a high-rise building in the city center. Chi Xiaoxue stuck her head out the window, looking up at the impossibly tall building.
“Does… does Teacher Zhang live here?”
“Mm-hmm, you go up and get her.”
Jiang Yanyi’s morning grumpiness had faded by now. With his hands behind his head, his face once again wore that gentle, spring-like smile.
“Teacher Zhang lives in Room 02 on the 107th floor. Say you’re looking for Zhang Huiying, and the robot concierge downstairs will give you an elevator card.”
“Okay.” Chi Xiaoxue hopped out of the car with her small backpack.
She entered the lobby and sure enough, saw the robot concierge in a black suit standing behind the reception desk.
The concierge immediately flashed a standard smile. “Madam, how may I assist you?”
“I…” Chi Xiaoxue’s eyes darted around. “Never mind.”
Then she turned and walked out of the lobby.
She went straight back to the car, bent down to climb into the cabin, and sat back in her seat.
“Why are you back so soon?” Jiang Yanyi asked with a smile.
His smile made the small dimple at the corner of his mouth very noticeable.
“Why didn’t you call Teacher Zhang?” Chi Xiaoxue retorted.
Jiang Yanyi fell silent.
Chi Xiaoxue pressed further, “You’re afraid of waking her up and getting scolded, right? I won’t go either. I’m also afraid of getting scolded.”
Sometimes, Jiang Yanyi really wanted to open up her mechanical brain and see what was inside. She struggled with proper learning but had no shortage of clever little tricks.
After a brief standoff, Jiang Yanyi gently stroked Xiao Bai’s curly hair.
“Zhibai, how about you go upstairs and ask Great-Auntie?”
Xiao Bai’s morning grumpiness hadn’t faded yet. With her short arms crossed over her chest and her big puppy-dog eyes glaring, she rolled her eyes dramatically at her father.
Jiang Yanyi had no choice but to take out his phone and call Teacher Zhang.
The phone didn’t leak sound, so Chi Xiaoxue couldn’t hear Teacher Zhang’s voice, but she watched as Jiang Yanyi’s attitude gradually grew more deferential.
In the end, he got scolded like a grandson again.
After the call, they waited just over ten minutes before Teacher Zhang emerged from the building’s lobby, carrying a sword.
Once Teacher Zhang got in the car, she placed the sword upright beside her seat.
“Why get up so early?”
Her tone was clearly displeased. Chi Xiaoxue turned to look out the window, not daring to respond.
“We’ll get there earlier when the mountain air is fresher.”
Jiang Yanyi replied with a smile, then leaned over to move the sword bag to his side after noticing the hilt was poking the robot’s leg.