Chapter 83: Chapter 83
Zhen Ai and Yan Su returned to N.Y.T and had some quiet time for a while. The 23 hours of community service caused by crashing into a police car a few months ago still had 3 hours remaining.
The last stop was a city public kindergarten.
On the way there, Zhen Ai was quite worried. Yan Su took his community service very seriously, but perhaps too seriously.
At the museum, he served for 2 hours, but spent 3 hours correcting every error on the informational plaques and adding annotations. Was that really necessary?
At the library, he thought the librarian's book cataloging method was outdated and replaced the computer system with an entirely new one, leaving the librarian completely bewildered. Was that appropriate?
The list goes on.
Many directors had scowled at him, but he remained modestly proud, believing he had saved the public service sector.
But this time, they were going to see children. How much trouble could that possibly cause?
Zhen Ai silently prayed in her heart.
Upon arrival, they unexpectedly ran into someone they knew. The kindergarten teacher from the castle was working at the city's public kindergarten. She was surprised to see Yan Su and Zhen Ai, warmly greeting them.
Zhen Ai responded with a few polite words.
Yan Su remained indifferent, showing no change in expression. It wasn't until he followed the teacher and the principal into the playroom, seeing the children running around like little whirlwinds, that his face instantly darkened, and he turned to leave. "A bunch of rolling little potatoes. I don't like this. It's up to you now."
Zhen Ai immediately grabbed him. "You're not allowed to run away."
Yan Su obviously didn't like her choice of words and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not running away; it's self-preservation."
Zhen Ai couldn't help but laugh. "Are you afraid of kids?"
Yan Su looked embarrassed and replied gloomily, "I'm not afraid, just repulsed."
"Your vocabulary is so limited, you can never find the right words," Yan Su's voice turned cold as he resumed his robotic expression.
"Premise A: Children are the most illogical creatures on Earth.
Premise B: Yan Su rejects all illogical creatures.
Conclusion: Yan Su rejects children the most.
Deduction complete!"
He then turned and looked at Zhen Ai discontentedly, as if blaming her for not noticing his discomfort.
In that moment, the children in the playroom, who had been tangled up together, suddenly fell silent. They looked up with wide, curious eyes, staring at Yan Su like a bunch of little grapes, confused and intrigued.
The kindergarten principal was horrified: Oh my God, what terrible things is this young man saying in front of the children!
Zhen Ai had a gut feeling that the principal wanted to knock Yan Su on the head. She quickly pulled him to her side and glanced apologetically at the group of blank-faced little toddlers. Then she explained to the principal, "He's talking about 'YANSU,' which is a dog he has at home. It once got kicked by a child, so it's afraid of kids. But our 'S.A.' here, he loves children!"
As she spoke, she gave Yan Su a nudge.
Yan Su was already unhappy when she called "YANSU" a dog. He looked at Zhen Ai darkly. "I like children? Since when?"
Zhen Ai jabbed him hard. Only then did he comply, stiffly turning to the principal. "Yes, principal."
The principal was finally reassured and left the kindergarten teacher to supervise.
Zhen Ai turned and glared at Yan Su. "Behave yourself."
Yan Su frowned, feeling wronged. "I've been behaving."
Zhen Ai sighed in exasperation. "Could you be a little nicer to the kids? You'll have your own children one day. Think of this as practice."
She then walked off to play with the kids.
Yan Su stared at her slim, quiet figure in a daze. What did she mean by that?
Hmm...
This was a serious matter.
If he held a girl's hand, if he kissed a girl's lips, if he caressed a girl's body, if he and a girl mutually embraced, and if he and a girl had sex…
Given his obsession with both physical and mental cleanliness, he wouldn't do those things with different girls.
So, it had to be the same girl. And what would likely happen next? He'd marry that girl and have children with her.
Thus, children would appear. One might be named Xiao Xiao Su.
At that point, he wouldn't be able to avoid it. So, he might as well start practicing now.
Yes, she must be thinking the same thing.
Yan Su nodded to himself, picked up a guitar from the shelf, and sat cross-legged on the floor. He cleared his throat. "Little ones, I'll sing you a song."
Zhen Ai looked at him suspiciously. What was with this sudden 360-degree change?
Yan Su, now serious, said, "I'm going to sing you a song that is very educational. It will teach you the truth about the world."
Why did that sound like something from the Discovery Channel? Zhen Ai was even more curious.
The children instantly crowded around Yan Su, clapping their hands and bobbing their heads. They looked like rows of neatly trimmed mushroom heads.
Yan Su felt slightly awkward with all the attention, his expression a bit stiff. He plucked the guitar strings gently and, after a couple of taps, began to sing.
Zhen Ai sat off to the side, smiling as she listened. She thought to herself, "He always seems so cold and arrogant on the outside, but he really has a good heart." It was also the first time she'd heard him sing, and his deep, clear voice, like a mountain stream accompanied by the light strumming of the guitar, was soothingly pleasant.
The kindergarten teacher seemed happy too, almost unable to resist nodding along. But then...
Why did the lyrics start to sound off?
"Don't believe your mom or dad, don't believe your teacher,
Because they're all big liars.
Mom said the puppy went to grandma's,
But actually, poor thing, it had died a long time ago.
Dad said grandma went to heaven,
But she was really just turned to ashes and buried underground.
Mom said Santa Claus loves good kids,
But she quietly puts China-made Christmas stockings on your bed.
Dad said the tooth fairy will take your fallen tooth,
But he secretly puts money under your pillow instead..."
The teacher's jaw nearly hit the floor: That's it. Tomorrow, there's definitely going to be a wave of angry parents coming to file complaints!
But Zhen Ai didn't seem to mind, laughing as she listened—until she noticed the kids' faces. They were all staring at Yan Su with bewildered expressions, their little heads processing his words.
She glanced at the kindergarten teacher, who was now glaring. Only then did Zhen Ai realize: Yan Su had caused trouble again.
Zhen Ai, from childhood to adulthood, never had a mother to gently tell her things like, "The puppy went to a happy farm," "Daddy went to heaven," "Good kids get presents from Santa Claus," or "When you lose a tooth, the Tooth Fairy will take it and leave you $10."
None of that.
So she never knew how adorable these little white lies could be for children.
On the contrary, she knew full well that the puppy had been taken by her mom for experiments, and her father had been shot, with his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean. Plus, to a faithful materialist like her, a jolly old man flying through the sky with reindeer and a winged fairy collecting teeth were things that simply couldn't exist.
So, in a way, she thought Yan Su's song was quite good. The only issue was that it seemed a bit childish—these were all things she had known since she was a child!
She didn't realize that her childhood wasn't exactly normal.
And Yan Su's song, which she found to be juvenile, was like an enlightenment for the children at the kindergarten!
The little kids and their friends were all left in a daze.
When Yan Su finished singing, he gently patted his guitar and, seeing the kids sitting there like little potatoes with no reaction, frowned, "Hey, this is the part where you should be clapping."
The children, ever obedient, immediately burst into applause.
Zhen Ai: ...
You don't need to be so serious with kids…
Yan Su was satisfied and lazily said, "Normally, I don't give my audience time for questions, but since you all look... um... short and small, you may ask."
Zhen Ai was about to tease him, saying that little kids wouldn't care about him anyway, but before she could open her mouth, the kids sitting on the floor eagerly raised their hands, shouting, "I want to ask! I want to ask!"
They bombarded him with questions about things their parents had told them, all asking if their mom or dad had lied to them.
By the time their community service was over, the kindergarten director nearly kicked them out, and the teacher felt terribly awkward.
As the two of them walked out of the building, under the director's angry glare, they heard a child's voice call out, "S.A.!"
They turned around to see several children holding a hastily wrapped gift, running towards them with shy little faces, standing on tiptoe as they held the present up with tiny hands.
Yan Su remained expressionless and looked at Zhen Ai, speaking in Chinese, "An illogical situation has arisen. I refuse to deal with it. Ask them what this ugly thing is."
Zhen Ai glared at him and asked the kids, "What is this?"
The children's faces turned bright red, and one little girl quickly answered, "It's a gift, to thank him for telling us so many truths."
Zhen Ai was surprised, while Yan Su suddenly bent down, took the object from the child's hands, and calmly remarked, "Excessive packaging—what a waste of social resources."
This time, he spoke in English, but the kids, with their limited vocabulary, didn't quite understand.
Zhen Ai noticed their bewildered expressions and chuckled softly.
Yan Su shook the box in his hand, frowning openly, "You little guys wrapped up the clock from the classroom? You know, in China, it's bad luck to give someone a clock. Besides, I don't use alarms to wake up..."
Zhen Ai saw the kids' jaws drop and quickly cut him off, "Kids, what he really means is thank you."
Yan Su turned to Zhen Ai with a look of disdain, "Your comprehension is terrible! Is that what I meant?"
Zhen Ai elbowed him hard and angrily said, "Say it!"
Yan Su raised an eyebrow, and after a moment, looked at the kids, bowed slightly, and said, "Thank you for the clock. I like it very much."
In both English and Chinese.
Zhen Ai: …
How could she not catch the sarcasm in his tone?
But the children didn't notice, and they happily ran back inside.
Yan Su turned to leave, only to be met with more disapproving looks from the kindergarten staff.
Yan Su walked at a leisurely pace, considering Zhen Ai's speed, and remarked, "Kindergarten teachers still hate me."
Zhen Ai picked up on something else in his words and immediately laughed, teasing him, "So, you weren't liked by kindergarten teachers as a kid?"
Yan Su replied, "Maybe I asked too many questions."
Zhen Ai couldn't help but imagine, "Wow, you had a phase where you asked a lot of questions? Let me picture it—a little version of you, following the adults around, asking 'why' all the time. That must have been so cute."
Yan Su was speechless, not finding anything cute about it.
But she seemed very amused, laughing openly.
The sunlight was beautiful, reflecting brightly in her dark eyes.
He looked at her pale, smiling face, feeling a strange sense of calm. He didn't feel the urge to retort, only thinking that it was nice to let her smile like this.
Zhen Ai finished her happy daydream and added, "Kindergarten teachers are a strange species. Let's just ignore them. By the way, I thought the song you sang was really good."
"But it seems like the audience couldn't appreciate it—they gave me a clock!" Yan Su lifted the hastily wrapped box and shook it again.
Zhen Ai hopped in front of him, facing him, stepping backward with her hands behind her back, saying, "It doesn't matter. As long as I appreciate it—I'm your fan!"
Yan Su froze for a moment, then after a while, turned his head to the side and muttered, "Tacky."
Yet, he couldn't help but smile in the sunlight.
When the kindergarten teacher returned home, she found a small hourglass placed by her door. She picked it up and looked closely—the tiny grains of sand inside the little glass bottle flowed slowly, beautifully.
She looked around but saw no one. She didn't know who had left it there.
As she opened her door, her keys clattered to the ground, and the hourglass rolled with a soft clinking sound.
The door slowly closed behind her.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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