In the child’s simple, unadorned little mind, Yan Xingli, an ancestor who had been dead for three hundred years, was simply an ancient figure, and she believed she should address him with the most respectful title possible.
As respectful as she could possibly make it.
But since Yan Xingli wouldn’t let her call him “ancestor” or “grandfather,” the child racked her brain and finally came up with “Auntie.”
“…”
“Never mind, just call me Uncle.”
Facing this child who was some three hundred years his junior, Yan Xingli couldn’t bring himself to have the nerve to ask her to call him “brother.”
Yan Xingli went into the walk-in closet to change his clothes, and when he came out, the child was still sitting obediently on the sofa waiting for him.
“Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?”
“I’m not hungry.” Qi Youyu stood up, her eyes sparkling. “Uncle, are you hungry? I have some food; I can share it with you.”
Yan Xingli waved his hand. “No need. I’m not hungry either.”
He frowned as he examined Qi Youyu. The child was wearing a silver jumpsuit that looked quite form-fitting; he had no idea what material it was made of.
It certainly wouldn’t be comfortable to sleep in, though.
He pulled out his phone and asked, “Hey, what size clothes do you wear?”
Qi Youyu gestured around his body. “Fishy wears clothes this big.”
Realizing he wouldn’t get a useful answer, Yan Xingli took a rough guess, then ordered a set of children’s pajamas and a pair of children’s slippers.
While waiting for the delivery, Yan Xingli led Qi Youyu to the guest room. “You’ll sleep here tonight. If you’re afraid of the dark, leave the light on.”
His tone might have sounded a bit cold and unfeeling, but he genuinely lacked the patience and interest to look after a child.
At the same time, this was also his way of testing the child’s temperament.
Qi Youyu nodded like a chick pecking at grain; she didn’t seem like the clingy type, which put Yan Xingli’s mind at ease.
After the takeout arrived, Yan Xingli asked Qi Youyu if she could dress herself. The child assured him she could.
Not long after, Yan Xingli, waiting outside the guest room door, heard the child’s panicked cries for help coming from inside.
“Uncle, it’s terrible! Please help me!”
“I’ve turned into a carrot!”
Yan Xingli opened the door to find a child swaying from side to side, his round head wrapped in clothes, his two little hands frantically tugging at the fabric, huffing and puffing as if pulling up a carrot.
Whoa, she’d managed to pull herself in.
Yan Xingli reached out with his long arm and, in no time at all, freed the child from the clothes.
The hapless child saw the light of day again and stared wide-eyed at Yan Xingli, her rescuer.
Wearing only a little tank top, Qi Youyu sat there dumbfounded for a moment, then ran a hand through her messy hair, looking a bit embarrassed.
“My head is a little big. ”
“That’s because it’s packed with smarts.” Qi Youyu pinched the back of Yan Xingli’s hand with the same hand she’d used to touch her head. “Now I’ll share some of my smarts with you. Thanks for saving me.”
Yan Xingli’s mouth twitched slightly. Pointing at the clothes she’d taken off, he asked, “Do you want me to wash them?”
The little girl shook her head. “No need. The spacesuit washes itself.”
Self-cleaning function?
Yan Xingli looked at her with a puzzled expression. Not only that, but this spacesuit was incredibly lightweight, a far cry from the ones he’d imagined.
“You can’t just leave the clothes lying around. Put them in the closet over there.”
Qi Youyu climbed off the bed, yanked open the closet door, and reached out to Yan Xingli as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
“I can’t reach. Pick me up.”
“Hmm, you can just carry me on your back.”
Yan Xingli, his face expressionless, dismissed the child’s request and took the suit to hang it up himself.
He glanced at Qi Youyu out of the corner of his eye, wondering to himself, Is she really three and a half years old?
She was as tiny as a bean sprout; if he didn’t look down, he wouldn’t even notice her.
To prevent her head from getting stuck again, Yan Xingli simply helped Yu Yu change into her pajamas.
The pajamas he’d bought seemed far too baggy; they looked like a sack on the little girl, and the pant legs were so long they dragged on the floor.
Yan Xingli crouched down and rolled the pant legs up a few times.
He asked casually, “By the way, where did you park the spaceship?”
“Is it still on the ceiling?”
“Don’t worry, the Little Fish is back in its bay.”
“Where’s the bay?”
Qi Youyu raised a finger and swiped it. Suddenly, a watch-like device appeared on her previously bare wrist.
She tapped it twice more, and the Little Fish, which had vanished, instantly reappeared overhead.
“This is the docking bay for the Little Fish.”
Yan Xingli froze, his eyes widening slightly.
Holy crap, what kind of mind-blowing black technology is this?
A tiny device that looked just like a smartwatch could actually dock a spaceship? If it were a car… wouldn’t that save a fortune in parking fees?
Yan Xingli’s heart was pounding.
“…Wait a minute. Do your parents even know you took the spaceship out?”
Qi Youyu, like a haughty little hen oblivious to her surroundings, tilted her chin up and replied smugly:
“The Little Fish is a spaceship I built with my own two hands. It’s my spaceship, and I’ll fly it whenever I want.”
Yan Xingli glanced at her stubby arms and legs and sighed. The universality of childhood really knows no planetary boundaries; even alien kids love to spout nonsense.
She’d rather trust Qin Shi Huang than her.
Yan Xingli ignored her remark: “So, how many days do you plan to stay here? When are your parents coming to take you back?”
“…”
The child began to beat around the bush.
Yan Xingli had a bad feeling. He narrowed his eyes slowly: “Don’t tell me you snuck out without telling your family.”
Yu Yu shifted her gaze guiltily.
Yan Xingli closed his eyes briefly, then burst out laughing at the brat’s audacity. “They really weren’t lying when they said ‘a newborn calf isn’t afraid of tigers.’ You’re such a little brat, have you never been spanked before?”
With the kid missing, the family must be in an uproar.
Yan Xingli pressed her throbbing temples and snapped coldly, “There’s a saying on Earth: ‘Be honest and you’ll be treated leniently; resist, and you’ll face harsher punishment.’ Tell me the truth, what else are you hiding from me?”
Qi Youyu tucked her neck in, her big eyes fixed on her feet, and spilled everything like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.
Throughout the entire Q&A, the child’s voice grew quieter and quieter.
By the time the questioning ended, Yan Xingli’s face had turned a grim, dark shade.
Qi Youyu’s parents were scientists who studied time and space, and they had built the first time-space spacecraft on the planet Cang’ai.
The couple had boarded the spaceship for an expedition, but the restless child, unable to sit still, had quietly pulled off a major feat: she’d dug up her parents’ design blueprints and secretly built a miniature spaceship of her own.
Today was the ship’s maiden flight, and to everyone’s surprise, it had succeeded.
The problem was that the ship lacked sufficient energy for the return trip; without a refueling stop, Qi Youyu couldn’t make it back safely.
The child hadn’t come looking for Yan Xingli on purpose; it was purely an emergency landing due to running out of energy.
Keeping his cool in the crisis, the young scientist dug up the coordinates of an ancestor from the family tree and landed with pinpoint accuracy.
Yan Xingli was speechless. He walked away and pulled up the WeChat of a certain “master” who had been lying low in his social media feed.
Sitting at home, a kid drops in from the sky. He’d seen children who were a pain to their parents, but never one who’d bring trouble to their ancestors. Something must be wrong with the family graves.
Early the next morning, the young assistant came over to deliver breakfast.
Seeing Yan Xingli with two huge dark circles under his eyes, Xiao Lin was genuinely startled. He carried the breakfast inside to change his shoes, his eyes never leaving Yan Xingli’s face.
“Bro Xing, did you stay up late last night?”
“Want me to help you put on a face mask?”
Yan Xingli rubbed the bridge of his nose as he walked back: “No, just cover it up a bit.”
Watching Yan Xingli’s dazed figure, Xiao Lin thought to himself, Bro Xing must have been arguing with haters on his alt account again last night. He probably didn’t win the argument and got himself all worked up.
“You little brat, are you awake yet?”
Someone else in the house? Xiao Lin looked curiously toward the guest room, which was unusual.
Yan Xingli knocked twice, pressed his ear against the door to listen for a moment, then pushed it open and walked in.
Xiao Lin stood in the living room setting out breakfast, pricking up his ears and craning his neck to look. Before long, he saw a tall figure and a shorter one emerge from the guest room.
Yan Xingli, shuffling in his slippers, had shed his usual lazy, laid-back demeanor. He strode in with a purpose, his expression tinged with deep resentment.
“I’m here.”
A chubby-cheeked child scampered over, scrambled up onto a chair in two quick bounds, and flashed a beaming smile at the dazed Xiao Lin:
“Hello, Uncle.”
“…Uh, hello.”
Xiao Lin: “Xing, who’s this kid?”
Yan Xingli pulled out a chair and sat down, his voice sounding a bit muffled: “A relative’s kid. He’s staying here for a couple of days.”
That meant the breakfast he’d brought wouldn’t be enough. Xiao Lin reached for his phone to order more, but Yan Xingli stopped him.
“It’s fine, I’ll just have a hard-boiled egg.” Yan Xingli handed the triangular rice ball, steamed pumpkin, and yogurt to Qi Youyu.
Qi Youyu picked up the rice ball and took a bite, her eyes widening instantly: “It tastes like fish.”
Xiao Lin nodded with a smile: “That’s because it’s a tuna rice ball, so it has a fishy aroma. Do you like fish, little one?”
“I didn’t use to like it, but now I love it.” Qi Youyu’s eyes lit up like little lights: “Is tuna a fish from the ocean?”
“That’s right.”
The little girl’s cheeks instantly turned rosy. After swallowing the rice ball, she whispered excitedly, “Ah, I ate fish! A fish from the ocean.”
Yan Xingli found Qi Youyu’s reaction a bit odd. “You’ve never eaten seafood before?”
“No, I haven’t.”
The triangular rice ball, which an adult could finish in two bites, looked like a giant in Qi Youyu’s hands.
The rice balls at this shop were generously filled; the rice was soft and sticky, and the fish meat, wrapped in mayonnaise and shredded nori, was fresh, fragrant, tender, and smooth.
The child ate it sparingly, taking small bites: “Grandpa and Grandma ate this when they were little. They said the fish was delicious.”
Shortly after humans migrated to the planet Cang’ai, a war broke out over resources and land. The conflict lasted over a century before it finally ended.
Unfortunately, the oceans became polluted, and the fish and shrimp were infected with a virus that was fatal to humans. They went from being food on the table to merely animals for display.
Seafood thus vanished from human dining tables. Qi Youyu had only ever seen it in documentaries, even though scientists had recreated various seafood-flavored drinks and sauces based on historical data.
But nothing could compare to the real thing. Even a simple tuna triangle rice ball made Qi Youyu feel as though he were savoring the finest delicacies from land and sea.
“So this is what seafood tastes like! It doesn’t smell fishy at all.”
No wonder adults always love to travel to Earth on time ships.
With Xiao Lin present, Yan Xingli didn’t feel comfortable pressing the issue: “I’ll take you out for a seafood feast at lunchtime. Finish your yogurt, we need to head out.”
Qi Youyu took a big gulp through the straw, then shook the empty yogurt cup: “Uncle, I want more yogurt.”
“No.”
Yan Xingli: “Drinking too much will make your tummy bloated.”
Qi Youyu let out a disappointed “Oh.”
Since they didn’t have a nanny at home, Yan Xingli couldn’t just leave Youyu behind, so he brought her along to the filming location.
The little girl didn’t want to wait in the RV, so Yan Xingli asked Xiao Lin to watch her while he took her for a walk around the neighborhood and picked up a couple of outfits.
Before they left, Yan Xingli led Qi Youyu to a secluded corner, crouched down, and warned her:
“Your identity must remain a secret. Don’t say anything out of the blue when we’re out. If anyone finds out you’re an alien, I won’t be able to save you.”
Qi Youyu: “Will I get arrested?”
“That’s right,” Yan Xingli teased her. “They’ll arrest you and dissect you for research.”
“Then I’ll just take myself away.” Without a moment’s hesitation, the little girl cupped Yan Xingli’s face. “I’ll take Uncle with me.”
“…No, I don’t want to leave this beautiful Earth yet.”
Yan Xingli handed her a card: “Use this card to buy things. Uncle Xiao Lin knows the PIN. Alright, go play.”
After sending Qi Youyu on her way, Yan Xingli busied himself with makeup and going over details with the director. Just as filming was about to begin, Xiao Lin returned, leading the little girl by the hand.
Yan Xingli immediately noticed the large bottle of yogurt the child was clutching in her arms.
He glared at her.
Qi Youyu instantly put on a look of surprise: “Uncle, the yogurt has grown up!”
“…”