The after-school care center was located on the first floor of an old residential building next door, run by a retired teacher.
Time felt even more boring to An Zhe there.
After finishing dinner, he did his homework.
The two hours passed quickly, and parents gradually came to pick up their children.
The children whose parents had arrived were taken home, while those whose parents had not yet come sat quietly in their seats and waited.
An Zhe hated this routine.
Because in the end, he would always be the only one left.
After seeing one child out, the teacher returned and quietly walked over to An Zhe.
“Xiao Zhe, is someone from your family coming to pick you up today? If not, you can leave first.”
The after-school care center did not provide pick-up or drop-off services.
Previously, An Zhe had always waited until he was the only child left.
Then she would ask whether he needed her to walk him home. He would say no, pack up his things, and leave by himself.
The child was incredibly independent.
What she meant was that, since no one was coming to pick him up and he had already finished his homework, it might be better for him to leave while it was not too dark yet.
An Zhe’s hand, which was holding his pencil, paused for a moment as he remembered standing together with his mother outside the kindergarten that morning.
“Teacher, I haven’t finished yet.”
The teacher looked down and saw that the arithmetic problems in his workbook were indeed only half completed.
She felt puzzled. He was usually the fastest at these addition and subtraction problems. What had happened to him today?
Since he had not finished, however, it was not appropriate to let him leave early.
As time passed, the sky grew darker, and fewer and fewer children remained.
An Zhe sat perfectly straight at the table, but his eyes repeatedly drifted toward the doorway.
The teacher suddenly understood and asked, “Are you missing your dad and mom?”
An Zhe immediately replied, “No.”
His answer was far too decisive, catching the teacher off guard.
She looked at the disappointment and stubbornness that could not be hidden on the little boy’s delicate face.
She did not know what to say.
Time never cared about a child’s fragile emotions.
The father of the last remaining child arrived as well, calling his child’s name from outside.
An Zhe sat alone at the table, tapping his pencil repeatedly against the final question.
Only after he heard the teacher’s footsteps returning did he lower his eyes.
He had been stuck on that problem for twenty minutes, but he wrote down the answer in twenty seconds before quickly packing his schoolbag.
There was pity in the teacher’s eyes. “An Zhe, would you like me to help you pack?”
An Zhe said nothing. After finishing, he walked straight outside.
“Goodbye, Teacher.”
He was not the only kindergarten child on this road.
There also seemed to be a middle school nearby, and at this hour there would be many older brothers and sisters outside.
There were also many street vendors.
The streetlights were bright, there were crowds of people everywhere, and some of the food stalls even had little colorful lights hanging from them.
But…
He sniffed hard and forced his tears back.
There was nothing to cry about. It was only the same as before.
He would grow up eventually. Even without his mother, he would still grow up.
Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of orange-pink among the lively crowd.
An Zhe abruptly turned his head.
A person wearing a long padded coat, with orange-pink hair tied up, stood at a stall selling crispy starch sausages, carrying several large and small bags while staring fixedly at the frying pan.
It was his mother!
Perhaps his gaze was too focused.
His mother suddenly touched the back of her neck, then turned around and locked eyes with him.
An Zhe’s mind went completely blank, but his body had already run over on its own.
He stopped beside her leg.
Looking up at her, he asked, “You… came to pick me up?”
“Mm.”
After An Shijiu answered, she frowned. “You were so slow. I originally wanted to order takeout for dinner.”
This body’s appetite was far too small.
On the way home that morning, she had been unable to resist buying a lot of breakfast snacks from street vendors. She had eaten until she had almost thrown up, so she never got around to ordering the food the system had mentioned.
She had originally planned to order it that evening.
She had not expected to wait so long.
The food sold at the evening street stalls smelled even better than the breakfast stalls had, and once again she had failed to resist.
An Zhe did not understand the connection between what she had said.
He simply stood there in a daze.
Even when Mother had been in the best mood before, she had never picked him up or dropped him off.
But today, she had not only taken him to school, she had also come to pick him up late at night and waited for him for so long.
He desperately tried to suppress it, but happiness was like flower buds in spring, breaking through the soil beyond all restraint.
An Shijiu glanced at him, thinking that children also needed to eat.
So she said to the woman selling starch sausages, “Add one more.”
An Zhe hurriedly asked, “Mom, is that extra one for me?”
“Mm.”
After receiving the affirmative answer, he twisted his little hands together.
After hesitating for a moment, he still said, “Teacher said children aren’t allowed to eat these things. They won’t grow tall.”
His voice became quieter and quieter, as though he had done something wrong.
An Shijiu had been staring at the frying pan. Hearing that, she turned to look at him.
Her eyes gradually filled with pity.
To have something so delicious but be unable to eat it was simply too pitiful.
Just as her master had done to her when she was little, she reached out and patted An Zhe’s head. “You can eat it when you grow up. I’ll eat one extra for you in a little while.”
The system was completely dumbfounded.
This host’s sense of empathy was directed at the strangest things!
She had witnessed An Zhe suffering domestic violence and had offered no comfort.
She had not found it strange that An Zhe slept on a chair, and she had even been unhappy because the system wanted An Zhe to sleep in the same bed as her.
When An Zhe had been bullied at kindergarten, she had not comforted him with a single word.
Yet at this very moment, simply because An Zhe could not eat a starch sausage, she genuinely felt pity for him?!
What was wrong with her?
On the way home, because An Shijiu was not used to having someone walking behind her, she told An Zhe to walk in front.
Whether it was because of the lingering chill of early spring or because this body was too weak, she suddenly shivered as she walked.
【You’re wearing a down jacket and you’re still shivering? Is it really that cold?】
Only after hearing the system ask did An Shijiu realize that her body actually felt cold.
“Mm.” She sniffed. “It’s especially cold.”
【An Shijiu! You have no heart. Look at little An Zhe, he’s only wearing a hoodie!】
An Zhe was very familiar with this road. Normally, he would walk very quickly.
But today, afraid that Mother would not be able to keep up, he deliberately slowed his pace.
His thoughts could not help but wander.
Why had Mother suddenly changed?
Had the time finally come for her to trade him for money?
Tomorrow… would she come to pick him up again?
Suddenly, something fell from above and completely covered him.
Warmth instantly swept through his entire body.
He felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him, and then both of his feet left the ground!
He was not used to being carried, and for a moment he was a little frightened, so he could only secretly hold his breath.
His tiny body was lifted a little higher.
Only then did the light return.
An Zhe realized that Mother had wrapped him inside her coat.
Having never been so close to Mother before, he immediately turned his head away and looked toward the wall and the trees beside the road.
An Shijiu looked at his flushed cheeks and ears.
Frowning, she asked, “You’re freezing this badly?”
Freezing? An Zhe was stunned for a moment.
The warmth of this embrace made him realize how cold his own body had been.
He really was cold, but he had already grown used to it.
The mother from before would never have given him such warmth.
No matter why you suddenly started treating me well.
Mom, please, just stay like this forever. Never become the way you used to be again.
If you could hold me in your arms like this more often.
Even if you really traded me for money… that would be okay too.
Receiving no answer, An Shijiu assumed the child had been frozen silly.
“Then I’ll just walk faster.”
She did not put him down until they reached the front door of the house.
As soon as An Zhe entered, he noticed a stack of papers on the table.
“Mom, what’s this?”
As An Shijiu took off her down jacket and tossed it onto a chair, she said, “Oh, right. Your dad came this afternoon. The two of us went to that… bureau for dissolving the marriage?”
【Civil Affairs Bureau.】
“Civil Affairs Bureau. These are the prepared legal papers. The official there said we have to go back after thirty days to get a certificate.”
An Zhe understood immediately. For a moment, his eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky.
Mom got divorced!
That’s wonderful!
Today was the happiest, the very happiest, the happiest day ever!
Creak.
The light in An Zhe’s eyes vanished the instant he heard that sound.
He immediately looked toward where it had come from.
He saw Mother sitting at the dining table, with the tripod folded down to its shortest length and placed on the tabletop.
Was she going to livestream here?
Having watched Mother livestream since he was little, he knew at a glance that this position almost completely covered every route leading to the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.
An Zhe panicked and hurriedly spoke up. “Mom, this spot is too dangerous. I… could easily end up on camera.”
His voice grew quieter and quieter.
He was afraid Mother would remember the incident when he had accidentally appeared on camera.
An Shijiu struggled to secure her phone onto the stand. Hearing An Zhe’s words, she looked around in confusion.
“Then where do you think I should put this thing?” she asked, lifting the black stand in her hand.
After quite a bit of rearranging,
An Shijiu ultimately started the livestream from a corner of the living room, using the plain white wall of the house as the background.
@An Shijiu, I’m live now, everyone come take a look~
The moment the livestream started, several thousand viewers flooded in instantly.
【Dad’s Dad Is Called】: Holy crap, what an opening shock!
【Recycling Secondhand Cooled Boiled Water】: Streamer, stop putting your face so close to the camera. It’s terrifying.
【Shijiu’s Dog】: She really got married and had a child? She really got married and had a child? She really got married and had a child? She really got married and had a child? She really got married and had a child? She really got married and had a child?!!!