Chengcheng, please don't cry.

"Why aren't you sleeping again so late at night?" Zhang Tan asked.

Xiaobai replied, "Bumping dragon gate arrays, oof." (Chatting)

Not understanding, Zhang Tan asked, "What does that mean?"

Xiaobai changed her phrasing, "Shooting the breeze."

Zhang Tan was even more confused. He had vaguely heard of a "dragon gate array," though he didn't know what it meant, but "shooting the breeze" was entirely beyond him.

Xiaobai let out a sigh of disappointment, that exasperated kind. Her fierce temper flared, and her tiny, furious milk-voice rang out, "Aiyah, it means talking, ya!"

Then she muttered "numbskull" under her breath.

"..." Zhang Tan said with a wronged expression, "You're looking for me to chat, yet you're yelling so loud and shouting at me."

Hearing this, Xiaobai thought about how she lacked patience for dim-witted people, and chuckled dryly, "Uncle, you need to study hard, ya."

Such a big person and still not studying hard, unable to even understand what a little kid says. Even that little blockhead Chengcheng could understand.

Of course, Xiaobai only picked favorable comparisons. Only the dazed Meng Chengcheng could understand her accented Mandarin, whereas the mischievous Shen Liuliu was completely clueless and required a translator.

Zhang Tan never expected that after being such a big shot at the company, upon returning to the kindergarten, he would actually be yelled at by a four-and-a-half-year-old child and told to improve his studies. Was she questioning his learning ability?

"It's so late, what dragon gate array are you still playing? Go upstairs and sleep."

With that, he grabbed Xiaobai, intending to take her away.

Xiaobai hurriedly clutched the classroom door, refusing to leave, and hollered, "What are you stopping for? What are you stopping for, ya? Uncle, what are you trying to do, huh?"

Speechless, Zhang Tan tried to get her to go to sleep, making it feel like he was herding a little pig into its pen.

Thinking about how this little kid often didn't sleep at night and wandered everywhere, Zhang Tan stopped forcing her.

"Since you don't want to go to sleep, I'm leaving. It's too late, I'm not chatting with you anymore."

Xiaobai trotted closely behind him step for step.

"Uncle, what did you do today?"

"Today I had an argument with that numbskull Luo Zikang. I won, haha, honk honk honk."

"Why is Luo Zikang always such a dunderhead?"

"Uncle, did you eat your munchies?"

...

Mentioning food reminded Xiaobai of something. She let out a whoop and dashed off like a gust of wind. Just as Zhang Tan opened his apartment door, the whirlwind of a child, Xiaobai, hurried back, holding that fish-belly glass jar in her arms.

"Uncle, look at my specialty, ya!"

She handed the fish-belly glass jar to Zhang Tan like she was offering a treasure.

"Did you finish your candied fruit? What's in here?"

Zhang Tan looked closely and saw a cicada.

"Honk honk honk~ Ha~~" Xiaobai laughed in her goose-like voice again.

"A lazy-bones, Xiaobai caught it, ya. Ha, this is my specialty, ya!"

A "lazy-bones" was local slang for a cicada.

Zhang Tan and Xiaobai entered the home, closed the door, and turned on the air conditioner.

"You caught it? Did you climb a tree again?"

Xiaobai hurriedly shook her head. She was strictly forbidden from climbing trees. This order wasn't given by Zhang Tan—orders from Zhang Tan were as good as none and lacked any deterrent effect. It was given personally by Aunt Huang; only Aunt Huang could strike fear into her, while Teacher Xiao Liu fell a bit short.

"The lazy-bones fell on the ground, and I caught it. Aren't I amazing?" Xiaobai said smugly.

Zhang Tan casually offered a few words of praise while thinking to himself: the glass jar had just held candied fruit, and immediately after, it held a cicada. In the past, it had held dragonflies, earthworms, chafers, mosquitoes... Why did she love catching small insects so much?

Zhang Tan turned on the television for Xiaobai, told her to sit on the sofa by herself, and went to take a shower. He was sweating all over and felt sticky and uncomfortable.

Sitting bolt upright with the fish-belly glass jar held tightly in both hands, Xiaobai vowed, "Uncle, go scrub your body, ya! Xiaobai won't steal your things!"

Speechless, Zhang Tan opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of Bear Beverage for Xiaobai, inserted a straw, handed it to her, and said, "Of course I know you won't steal. You're a good kid. Drink up, I'm going to shower."

Though her eyes were glued to the bottle of Bear Beverage, Xiaobai politely declined, "Is this really okay~~~~"

Zhang Tan shoved it into her arms and, to dispel her worries, said, "I made money today, my treat."

Xiaobai accepted it smoothly, her face beaming with delight. Then, looking envious, she said, "Uncle, you made money again! Making money is your specialty, ya."

"So-so, I'm just relatively exceptional."

"Wow~~~"

As soon as Zhang Tan stepped into the bathroom, Xiaobai looked left, right, up, and even peeked under the sofa. Seeing no one else around, she cozily curled up on the sofa, hugged her Bear Beverage, and fixed her eyes on the cartoon on TV. Her mood was wonderful beyond measure. Her little feet couldn't help but bounce up and down as she took tiny sips of her drink and hummed a little tune:

"Master Xuanzang rides a horse, thumping away, followed closely by the Monkey King..."

When Zhang Tan emerged from the bathroom, Xiaobai was already singing:

"The old demoness, truly bad, tricking Xuanzang and Pig Bajie..."

Unaware that Zhang Tan had come out, she was singing with all her heart, completely immersed in the story she was telling.

"What are you singing there?" Zhang Tan asked.

The sudden voice gave Xiaobai a start.

"Good grief! You scared me, ya."

"Sorry, sorry."

"I forgive you. The Bear drink is so good, bliss! My grandma taught me this. Do you want to learn? Xiaobai can teach you."

Interested, Zhang Tan said, "Sing it for me to hear."

Taking a deep breath and filling her belly with Bear Beverage, Xiaobai stood up from the sofa, straightened her back, and rapped or chanted with great solemnity:

"Master Xuanzang rides a horse, thumping away, followed closely by the Monkey King. The Monkey King runs so fast, followed closely by Pig Bajie..."

When she finished, Xiaobai boldly demanded, "Well? Do you believe this is my specialty now?"

"Impressive, impressive. It really is your specialty," Zhang Tan praised.

She sang genuinely well, with a great rhythm that was a joy to listen to.

Flattered by his praise, Xiaobai burst into her goose-like laughter again.

Zhang Tan asked her to sing two more songs. She chose the tracks herself, and what a selection it was: one was *Jumping in Mud Puddles*, and the other was *I Love to Bounce and Jump*.

The song choices weren't great, but her singing really was top-notch. Zhang Tan felt this might genuinely be Xiaobai's hidden talent.

"Uncle, praise me a bunch, ya. Once you praise me, I'm leaving."

Zhang Tan showered her with compliments. As soon as Xiaobai finished laughing to her heart's content, she immediately stood up and waved goodbye: "Bye~~~~"

She left without a second thought or the slightest hesitation.

"Not staying a bit longer?"

"Uncle, go sleepie-sleep, ya. Bye~~~ See you next year."

"It's see you tomorrow."

"Okay, okay."

"You forgot your glass jar."

"The lazy-bones is a gift for you, ya. Thanks for your Bear drink. I don't have money money, so I'm giving you my beloved lazy-bones."

Xiaobai waved her little hand and really left without any lingering hesitation.

Holding the fish-belly glass jar and looking at the cicada inside, Zhang Tan wondered: What do I want with this? Should I let it go? If I let it go, will Xiaobai cry??

Xiaobai didn't cry. At 11:00 PM, Meng Chengcheng lay on her little bed and began to sob softly.

Every night at this hour she would wake up punctually because this was the time her father usually came to pick her up. Over time, she had developed a biological clock, waking up on the dot without needing a teacher to remind her.

However, after waking up today, she didn't see her father. After waiting for a while and still seeing no sign of him, she couldn't help crying.

Xiaobai, wandering from the first floor to the second floor, found Meng Chengcheng crying and stayed to comfort her like a big sister.

At 11:30 PM, Meng Chengcheng's father still hadn't arrived, but Xiaobai's aunt arrived to take her home.

Worried about Chengcheng, Xiaobai asked her aunt to wait until Chengcheng's father arrived before they went home.

Ma Lanhua had been busy all day and was already exhausted, wanting nothing more than to go home early and sleep, so she tugged at Xiaobai to leave.

"Wait, ya, wait for Chengcheng's dad, ya."

Xiaobai pleaded loudly, her feet nailed to the floor as she tried to drag her feet and stay. But being small and weak, she was pulled along, her steps stumbling and unsteady.

"Let's go home early, I'm so tired."

"Wait, ya, wait for Chengcheng's dad, ya. He's coming soon."

"Wait for a hammer! You little blockhead, worrying your head off all day long."

"How did I become a little blockhead?"

"If you're not a little blockhead, who is?"

"Luo Zikang is the little blockhead."

"You are too! Acting all weird and spooky—such a handful!"

"Where am I a handful? You're making my ghost-fire flare up~~"

"Is your bottom itching for a beating that you dare talk back? Believe it or not, I'll make your bottom blossom!"

"&*&%￥##@￥%"

...

Meng Chengcheng cried even louder.

Dragged to the dormitory entrance, Xiaobai saw Chengcheng looking toward her, crying so pitifully, and quickly waved, "Bye-bye, Chengcheng. See you next year, okay? Let you play the little hawk again, alright? Stop crying, your dad is here, I already saw him, oof..."

"Xiaobai, go home. I'll take care of Chengcheng."

The speaker was Jiang Bin, the oldest boy in the kindergarten, who was eight years old.

Xiaobai had already walked far away, her voice drifting back faintly: "...Okay, okay, thank you, oh~~"