After dinner, Qi Ziyue separately served Xiaodouding a bowl of rice porridge, two cornmeal steamed buns, and also added some stir-fried greens along with two small portions of stir-fried pork to feed him.
The Qi family still hadn’t accepted Xiaodouding. At the dining table, he didn’t stay long before running off.
It seemed the little one was never allowed to sit at the table to eat. Seeing that he also felt uncomfortable, Qi Ziyue simply let him go.
She finished her meal early and then prepared a separate bowl of porridge for him. The family glanced at her, but perhaps they had already been intimidated by how she confronted them before—they simply turned a blind eye and let her take the food away.
In an era where even white flour and rice porridge were considered luxuries, a family that could afford meat was already quite well-off. Most households only got to eat meat during New Year—maybe a meat bun or dumplings once a year, something they longed for all year round.
Even Old Master Qi and her sister-in-law didn’t say anything, which made Qi Ziyue feel that the original owner’s family truly cared about her.
With the outside environment currently unstable, she also began thinking about how to help the Qi family survive this period safely.
While pondering possible plans, she walked back to her room with a flashlight—and this time, Xiaodouding was actually reading.
She walked closer and saw it was a practice notebook of unknown origin, with numbers 1 to 10 written on it. He was carefully tracing and distinguishing the shapes of the numbers.
Xiaodouding was almost five years old. He had never gone to school, no one had ever taught him, yet he was looking at someone’s handwriting practice sheet.
Qi Ziyue quietly walked to the table and stood beside him. She placed the food on the only square table in the room, then crouched down and asked, “An’an, what are you looking at?”
Seeing it was her, Xiaodouding didn’t run away this time—but he still didn’t speak.
Qi Ziyue patiently pointed to the number 1 and asked, “What number is this?”
Qi Ning’an’s dark eyes stared at her. His lips moved slightly, but in the end he lowered his head again, completely ignoring her.
Qi Ziyue didn’t mind his indifference. She gently took his small hand and pointed at the number, saying, “An’an probably doesn’t know these numbers yet. Mommy will teach you. This is the number ‘1’, and this is…”
Just as she pointed to “2,” Xiaodouding suddenly pulled his hand back. When he looked up at her again, his gaze was like he was looking at a fool—as if she was the one lacking intelligence.
Qi Ziyue felt frustrated.
This little thing—how could he already have such expressive emotions at such a young age?
She lost patience too and straightened up. “If you don’t know something, you learn it. You can have emotions, but you can’t be unreasonable. You’re still just a little kid—you need adults to survive. Right now, the only person in this family who’s kind to you is me. If you even offend me, you’re pushing away the only person helping you. That’s stupid beyond belief. Who taught you that?”
“Can’t you see even this much after living so long?”
As she turned cold, Xiaodouding finally looked at her again. His dark, obsidian-like eyes were completely emotionless.
It was as if he hadn’t heard a word she said.
Just as Qi Ziyue was about to give him a round of “loving education,” the little one suddenly spoke: “Know… it.”
Qi Ziyue: ?
At first she didn’t catch the two words. When she processed them, she realized he was saying he knew?
She thought, impossible. No one had taught him, he was so young, and he could barely even speak properly—how could he possibly know?
She refused to believe it and pointed at harder numbers like 8, 9, and 5. To her shock, he read them all clearly.
Qi Ziyue was stunned.
So this future “darkened villain boss” was already this smart as a child?
Still unconvinced, she tested him again. He didn’t get a single one wrong.
Qi Ziyue: ?
This little guy was far too precocious and intelligent.
She went to find a pencil, wrote numbers up to 30, and he still recognized them all correctly.
Qi Ziyue couldn’t believe it. He was too familiar with them.
She suppressed the urge to write all the way to 100 and instead praised him, “An’an is amazing. You did really well today, all correct—so you get a reward tonight.”
This time, Xiaodouding didn’t look away. He stared at her, clearly waiting for his reward.
Qi Ziyue cleared the papers, rearranged the stool in front of him, spread some newspaper on it, and placed rice porridge, meat dishes, and corn buns in front of him.
She smiled and said, “A very luxurious dinner—and also a box of osmanthus cake, the kind we had before.”
As soon as she said that, she saw his throat move. She heard him swallow.
Qi Ziyue smiled. No matter how impressive he seemed, he was still just a child—still powerless against food.
She returned to her room, put down the pencil, and took a box of osmanthus cake from her space, handing it to him.
This time, Xiaodouding finally hugged it tightly and didn’t let go.
Qi Ziyue told him to eat dinner.
“You’re old enough now. You need to learn to eat by yourself. Mommy won’t feed you anymore. Tonight’s requirement is that you use chopsticks and a spoon—no eating with your hands.”
The child had never been taught anything and had basically lived in isolation, so everything was instinctive for him. It was time to start learning properly.
Qi Ning’an didn’t object. He tried using chopsticks, but they kept slipping from his hands.
He secretly glanced at his mother. Seeing that she wasn’t watching, he quickly grabbed two corn buns and stuffed them into his mouth.
Meanwhile, he also heard her telling him to mix vegetables with the buns.
He tried several times but couldn’t pick up the vegetables. Just as he was about to give up, a pair of hands covered his small hand.
His mother’s gentle voice sounded in his ear: “Don’t hold the chopsticks too high. Hold them at the lower third to halfway. Use your fingers to grip and pick things up like this.”
Feeling the strong warmth and grip of her hand, this was the first time he successfully picked up food with chopsticks.
He didn’t know what he felt, but the moment the food was lifted, his previously tense heart suddenly calmed.
…
Later, Qi Ziyue taught him how to use a spoon to drink porridge and tried letting him practice independently. His movements were still clumsy, but at least he was brave enough to try holding both chopsticks and spoon on his own.
She sat not far away, feeling pity for the child. At such a young age, he couldn’t speak, couldn’t use chopsticks, couldn’t socialize or make friends. He was born without a known father, his mother was mentally unstable, and even his only relatives treated him as a burden, beating and scolding him at will.
Since birth, he had been locked away, never seeing daylight.
Who could grow up like that without breaking?
She watched him eat while thinking about their future. He needed to be able to go out normally, meet people, and improve his situation.
But before that, he needed to be clean and properly dressed. And more importantly, if he was going to go out openly, he needed official household registration.
Qi Ziyue thought about who could be the breakthrough point for this.
She was still unmarried, so she couldn’t register the child on her own. If discovered, she could even be accused of immoral behavior before marriage.
So who was the best option?
…
She kept thinking about this even after bathing him, washing his hands and feet, and putting him to bed.
Once the household registration issue was solved, and after she arranged things for her family and secured their placement as sent-down youth, she could leave with the child.
It was 1971 now. Given her family’s background in education, they were highly likely to be implicated.
Being sent down as “educated youth” still allowed some freedom, unlike being fully exiled to labor camps or rural farms, where survival would be uncertain with a child.
After being sent down, she would just wait for the reinstatement of the college entrance exam. Then she could finally soar freely.
Qi Ziyue was quite confident about the future.
Although surviving these years wouldn’t be easy, once the Reform and Opening-up period approached in the 1980s, opportunities would be everywhere.
Her family had university professors, and Old Master Qi was a renowned architectural expert. Their students were spread everywhere—like imperial tutors in ancient times. Their network was enormous.
That meant the Qi family had vast resources, even more valuable than in modern times.
During this political movement, they might even apply to be technical advisors in factories and relocate early as experts. That could be a way out.
Or they could secure jobs in factories.
As for her, Qi Ziyue already had a destination in mind: the hometown of the male protagonist, the safest place.
The child’s biological father was currently unknown—possibly already sent elsewhere. In that village, the local leaders were relatives of the male protagonist’s family. In the original story, the female lead had gone there too and successfully avoided disaster.
If they went early, they could gain protection.
There, Xiaodouding could go out freely, and no one would care about her having an out-of-wedlock child. Safety would be greatly improved.
After going as educated youth, she wouldn’t lack food. She could wait for the college exam to resume.
She even had exam papers in her space. If she prepared in advance, she might even rank highly.
Qi Ziyue turned over in bed, suddenly feeling excited.
She used to struggle mentally and couldn’t study for long without headaches. Now, she might even get into a top university.
She forced herself to calm down: don’t get too excited.
Then she suddenly realized something important—the man had strong connections in the capital, and after rehabilitation in the future, his status would only rise.
And she had given birth to his child.
So she had no choice but to go to university.
But what if he had admirers? What if he would harm them or even the child in the future?
She carefully reviewed the plot and suddenly realized—
These two… might actually be enemies.
Damn it. So she really had no choice but to work hard.
Qi Ziyue: ?