Thank you, quayA, for the ko-fi~
Listening to Feng Yuan’s words, Yu Ye’s understanding was once again reshuffled.
He was even a little astonished.
How could someone in this world have an IQ so low that it left him utterly bewildered?
Feng Yuan had no idea what Yu Ye was thinking.
After wiping away his tears, he slumped back down with a crestfallen face and continued working on his homework.
After spending twenty minutes on it at home, Feng Yuan was carried to the car by his dad.
He worked on his assignments the entire ride.
Xu Jiale had already finished his homework, leaving Feng Yuan as the only one lagging behind.
His friend’s success only deepened Feng Yuan’s heartbreak.
By the time they reached the kindergarten, Feng Yuan lingered in the car, almost refusing to get out.
Seeing how upset he was, Xu Jiale leaned close to his ear and whispered something to him.
After hearing the secret message, the little guy’s mood finally brightened a little.
“Yuan Yuan, your breakfast is in your backpack. Remember to eat it.”
Feng Yuan had been too busy to eat breakfast that morning.
Feng Qi had simply packed his breakfast into his backpack so he could eat it at kindergarten.
With his small backpack on, Feng Yuan’s eyes were still red.
He didn’t even give his dad a goodbye kiss before heading into the kindergarten.
Watching him walk inside, Feng Qi turned to Li Sheng and said, “Yuan Yuan seems angry.”
The adults hadn’t helped him with his homework that morning. It had upset him.
Li Sheng wasn’t particularly concerned about his son’s anger.
Even if the little guy was upset, it wouldn’t last long.
By the time they picked him up in the evening, he’d probably be fine again.
The two dads drove off.
Once in the classroom, under Xu Jiale’s guidance, Feng Yuan first took out the homework for the first two classes.
He had already finished that assignment.
As for the homework for the later two classes, during the breaks, a group of children guided him through it. Feng Yuan barely managed to finish right before the deadline.
With all his assignments hastily completed, a smile finally returned to Feng Yuan’s little face.
“Yuan Yuan.”
At lunchtime, the children ate together. Xu Jiale sat next to Feng Yuan and gave him the chicken drumstick from his own bowl. “You have it.”
Before Feng Yuan could take a bite, the childcare teacher approached.
“Le Le, you don’t like today’s chicken drumstick?”
“I do like it.”
Xu Jiale’s face was earnest. “The drumstick is delicious. I want Yuan Yuan to have it.”
“We have plenty of drumsticks. There’s enough for both you and Yuan Yuan.”
The kindergarten provided unlimited servings for lunch.
Children’s appetites varied. Some were big, and some were small. So, imposing a uniform standard for meals was impractical.
The childcare teacher brought over a few more drumsticks for them to share.
Little Sun Kindergarten charged high fees. The cafeteria recorded videos daily to share online and in class group chats.
Thanks to their diverse menu and delicious food, the cafeteria has received many positive reviews.
After the childcare teacher left, Feng Yuan looked at Xu Jiale, his rice-speckled face suddenly lighting up as if he’d remembered something.
Feng Yuan asked, “Le Le, is there something you want to tell me?”
Xu Jiale nodded.
Poking the drumstick with his chopsticks, he said quietly, “Yuan Yuan, when will you come with me to find my grandparents? I’m scared of my aunt.”
His aunt was sure to pick him up after school again today.
Even though it was only noon, Xu Jiale was already dreading going home.
Yesterday, Yao Kang had threatened to tattle to his family.
“Le Le, we’ll go find your grandparents right after school today.”
Feng Yuan stretched out his chubby little hand and patted Xu Jiale’s shoulder. “Don’t be scared. Eat well.”
“You’ve gotten so thin.”
As he said this, Feng Yuan lowered his head and glanced at his own round belly.
After looking, he let out a sigh.
He really wished he could share some of his own chub with Xu Jiale.
With Feng Yuan by his side, Xu Jiale regained a sense of security.
He chuckled a couple of times and started munching on his drumstick.
For the rest of the afternoon, aside from attending class, Feng Yuan spent his time playing with the other children.
Near the kindergarten, a small shop was popular for its card-drawing game.
Many of the kids in his class were playing it.
The card-drawing game even had cards featuring the character Ka Tu Tu.
Watching the other kids holding their Ka Tu Tu cards, Feng Yuan felt a little tempted.
“How much does it cost to draw one?”
“Five yuan for one draw, ten yuan for three draws. Yuan Yuan, do you want to try?”
Feng Yuan shook his head. “That’s too expensive.”
Ten yuan for three draws, and there was no guarantee of getting the card he wanted.
For Feng Yuan, it was simply too pricey.
Not worth it!
“Yuan Yuan, if you want to draw, I can treat you.”
Most of the children at Little Sun Kindergarten came from well-off families.
They were quite generous when it came to treating others.
Feng Yuan often ate snacks they brought. But when it came to the card-drawing game, he thought it over and still declined.
He could exchange snacks with the other kids using the ones from his own home, but he couldn’t do the same for a game that required spending money.
“Here, Yuan Yuan, I’ll give you one.”
Seeing that Feng Yuan wasn’t going to draw, the other kids simply gave him some of the cards they had drawn.
“Yuan Yuan, these cards are so much fun. If you put one under your pillow when you sleep, you can even dream about it!”
“I put an Ultraman card under my pillow last night, and I dreamed I was fighting monsters!”
The kids spoke highly of the cards.
Amid their enthusiastic gift-giving, Feng Yuan ended up accepting a few cards.
He took one Ka Tu Tu card, one Ultraman card, and one Cosmic Superman card.
Life in kindergarten, aside from class time, was quite enjoyable for Feng Yuan.
With so many kids around, there were more games to play than back at the training base.
Between classes and play, the afternoon flew by in the blink of an eye.
When it was time to go home, Xu Jiale, carrying his small backpack, followed Feng Yuan like a little shadow.
He was terrified that Feng Yuan might leave him behind.
Feng Yuan had personally instructed Xu Jiale to hit Yao Kang the day before. He knew what the consequences would be after that.
So even without Xu Jiale reminding him, Feng Yuan wasn’t about to abandon him.
Feng Qi had communicated with Xu Jiale’s parents over WeChat.
He had used his identity as Yuan Yuan’s father.
However, Xu Jiale’s parents merely claimed they were too busy and showed little concern for their son.
After discussing with them, Feng Qi still hadn’t found a good solution.
Xu Jiale wasn’t like Qin Xun.
Qin Xun had no parents and lived alone.
In that situation, Feng Qi could only let him stay at their home after obtaining his consent.
But Xu Jiale had both parents and an aunt…
Feng Qi couldn’t intervene too much.
“Yuan Yuan, I—I see my aunt.”
Feng Yuan held Xu Jiale’s hand.
As the two little ones reached the entrance, Xu Jiale immediately hid behind Feng Yuan.
Feng Yuan’s chubby little body could easily block him from view.
“Yuan Yuan, what should I do? With Auntie here, I’ll definitely have to go home with her.”
His aunt would never agree to let him go to his grandparents’ house!
Feng Yuan frowned as he looked at Aunt Xu standing not far from the entrance.
Aunt Xu was at a small stall buying something.
She often did this. When coming to pick up Xu Jiale, she would wait for him to come find her first.
The teachers had told her it would be better if she personally came to collect Xu Jiale.
But she never took it seriously.
“Le Le, don’t worry.”
Feng Yuan’s little face remained perfectly calm as he comfortingly patted Xu Jiale’s hand and explained the plan he had devised.
Step one: Xu Jiale would first go with his aunt.
This way, the teacher wouldn’t be held responsible.
If Xu Jiale ran away now, the teacher would be held accountable.
All the teachers at their kindergarten were really nice.
Feng Yuan didn’t want the teacher to get in trouble.
Step two: After Xu Jiale was picked up by his aunt, he would escape along the way.
They had smartwatches and could contact each other anytime.
Feng Yuan also had free time after school in the evening.
Once he got home, he could drive his toy car out to pick up Xu Jiale.
The two little ones seriously discussed the plan.
Xu Jiale’s timid personality had improved a lot since Feng Yuan returned to kindergarten.
In the past, he would never have dared to resist.
But this time, Xu Jiale sniffled and nodded firmly.
“Okay! See you later!”
“Mm! Le Le, I’ll definitely save you!”
The two little ones solemnly shook hands before parting ways.
Xu Jiale walked toward his aunt with heavy steps.
When Aunt Xu saw him, her frown deepened sharply.
Perhaps because they were in public, Aunt Xu didn’t say much, only telling Xu Jiale to get in the car after finishing her shopping.
The car Aunt Xu was driving actually belonged to Xu Jiale’s parents.
Aunt Xu received payment for taking care of Xu Jiale.
As soon as Xu Jiale got in the car, he saw Yao Kang inside.
Yao Kang didn’t attend Little Sun Kindergarten.
Aunt Xu had wanted to transfer Yao Kang there, but transfers to Little Sun weren’t easy to arrange.
Aunt Xu could only wait until the next school year to enroll Yao Kang directly.
Little Sun Kindergarten is connected directly to Little Sun Elementary School.
Little Sun Elementary was one of the top primary schools in the city, with quite high admission standards.
Attending Little Sun Kindergarten was like having one foot already in Little Sun Elementary.
Aunt Xu always picked up her own son first before going to get Xu Jiale.
“Le Le.”
After Xu Jiale got in the car, Aunt Xu looked at him coldly and began interrogating him about yesterday’s incident.
“Why did you hit your brother?”
“Brother hit me first.”
Xu Jiale defended himself: “He pushed me down, it really hurt.”
Aunt Xu snorted coldly: “Your brother pushed you by accident, but you pushed him on purpose.”
“You’re so young. How did you learn to be so bad?”
“Kang Kang said you and Feng Yuan ganged up on him.”
“If Feng Yuan hit your brother, you should have helped your brother hit him back.”
Aunt Xu thought about Feng Yuan, who was always by Xu Jiale’s side.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
She had seen Feng Yuan online before and thought he was quite cute at the time.
Although not as adorable as her own son, she still felt quite fond of him.
Now, the mere mention of that name made her furious.
“Le Le, starting today, you are not allowed to play with that Feng Yuan anymore.”
“If I catch you two still playing together, I’ll have to teach you a lesson.”
As Aunt Xu spoke, she started the car.
Yao Kang sat next to Xu Jiale and, almost as soon as the car started moving, he struck Jiale with the jump rope in his hand.
The plastic jump rope stung sharply with each hit.
Xu Jiale began crying after the first strike.
“It hurts,” Xu Jiale said, lowering his head to look at his wrist.
A child’s skin is naturally tender, and Xu Jiale, like Feng Yuan, was only three years old.
A long red mark was already visible on his wrist.
“Where does it hurt? I barely touched you,” Yao Kang retorted, striking him a second time.
This time, Xu Jiale cried even harder.
Through his tears, he called out to his aunt, “Auntie, brother is hitting me.”
Aunt Xu acted as if she hadn’t heard, turning up the car’s music to drown out Xu Jiale’s sobs.
Yao Kang didn’t stop until he had struck Xu Jiale several more times, venting his anger.
Xu Jiale’s arms were covered in red welts, and his crying was uncontrollable.
Aunt Xu grew increasingly annoyed by the noise. As they passed by a shopping mall, she abruptly pulled over.
She had promised her son she would take him to the mall for a nice meal.
“The mall is crowded, and people don’t like crying children. If I take you in, we’ll get scolded,” she said, helping her son out of the car.
To Xu Jiale, who remained inside, she said, “I’ll come back for you when you stop crying.”
With that, she locked the car doors and headed into the mall with her son.
Trapped inside, Xu Jiale, still crying, called Feng Yuan.
Feng Yuan had been worried about him, too.
“Le Le, I’m already on my way! Wait for me!” Feng Yuan had rushed out in his little car the moment he got home, not even stopping for a sip of water.
He drove so fast that Qin Xun couldn’t catch up to join him.
It wasn’t that Feng Yuan meant to leave Qin Xun behind. After his car was modified, it only had one passenger seat.
He needed to rescue Le Le and couldn’t take Qin Xun along.
Feng Yuan knew exactly which mall Xu Jiale was talking about.
In no time, he sped over in his little car and pulled up at the mall entrance.
“Le Le! Le Le!” Feng Yuan recognized the car Xu Jiale is in.
He pounded on the window with his small fists. Inside, Xu Jiale was starting to feel lightheaded from lack of air.
They were still on the phone.
Feng Yuan rummaged through his car and pulled out a window-breaking tool. It was another item he had picked up while collecting scrap.
Though the car was expensive, Feng Yuan didn’t hesitate to use the tool on the window.
The high-tech device worked perfectly.
In less than a minute, the window shattered.
Feng Yuan then placed a piece of scrap leather over the broken edges of the window frame.
“Le Le, climb out!”
Without asking for anyone’s help, the two little ones easily resolved the crisis.
Feng Yuan stood below, arms outstretched, and caught Xu Jiale as he climbed out.
Xu Jiale’s face was flushed bright red. Whether it was from crying or lack of air, it was hard to tell, but it looked alarming.
“Yuan Yuan, I want to go to Grandpa!”
After being beaten and locked in the car, Xu Jiale had reached his breaking point.
While trapped inside, he had felt like he was going to die.
If he were to be raised by his aunt, he would surely die.
“Yuan Yuan, please, take me to Grandpa’s house.”
“Le Le, don’t cry anymore. I’ll take you right now.”
Feng Yuan was growing anxious from Xu Jiale’s crying.
He also noticed the red marks on Xu Jiale’s arms.
Those scars ignited a fire in Feng Yuan’s heart.
“Le Le, get in the car!”
“We’re going to find your Grandpa right now!”
Driven by his burning determination, Feng Yuan left a message for his dad using his smartwatch, then stepped on the accelerator of his little car and zoomed off.
Xu Jiale knew the address of his grandpa’s house.
Although his Grandpa lived in the countryside, it wasn’t too far away, not even across the province.
Xu Jiale knew the way.
He pointed out the directions to Feng Yuan, and the two little ones set off on their journey.
The little car kept driving.
After some time, the sky grew darker and darker.
Feng Yuan skillfully pressed a button.
His car had lights installed!
“Le Le, are you hungry? If you are, you can have something to eat.”
“I have snacks in the car.”
Feng Yuan was already quite an experienced driver for his little car.
He chatted with Xu Jiale while driving.
Xu Jiale was still wiping away his tears.
He shook his head, not wanting to eat.
“Yuan Yuan, thank you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t know what to do.”
“No need to thank me. We’re good friends. I’ll protect you.”
As he spoke, Feng Yuan tilted his little head and asked, “If you’re not eating, could you feed me a couple of bites?”
“I’m a little hungry.”
Usually, by this time, Feng Yuan would already be having dinner.
Hearing that he was hungry, Xu Jiale quickly opened a snack for him.
“Here, for you.”
Feng Yuan leaned his little face forward and took a bite of the snack.
But the next moment—
The experienced driver Yuan Yuan, who hadn’t been paying attention to the road, ended up in a disastrous crash.
They were driving on a small path.
The path wasn’t paved with cement and was quite uneven.
Moreover, there were ditches on both sides of the path.
Feng Yuan drove the car straight into one of the ditches.
The ditch wasn’t deep. After the crash, the two little ones weren’t seriously injured.
They only suffered a few scrapes, and their clothes got torn.
“Yuan Yuan, are you okay?”
Xu Jiale, who had climbed out of the ditch, anxiously checked on Feng Yuan first.
Feng Yuan shook his head. “I’m fine.”
After saying he was fine, he apologized, “Le Le, I’m sorry. I made us crash.”
“Don’t say sorry, Yuan Yuan. I was the one who asked you to take me.”
The two little ones kept apologizing to each other. After a while, they climbed out of the ditch and continued on their way.
This time, Feng Yuan drove more carefully.
As he drove, he grew a bit anxious.
He hadn’t expected the road to Xu Jiale’s grandparents’ house to be so far.
The message he had sent his dad said that he was having dinner at Le Le’s house and would return after finishing.
Now, it was so late that even if he were having dinner, it should have been over by now.
Feeling a bit worried, Feng Yuan drove a little further before he couldn’t hold back and asked, “Le Le, how much farther do we have to go?”
If it was too far, Feng Yuan thought about stopping the car and asking his dad to take them instead.
Xu Jiale looked at the road, a hint of confusion flashing across his little face.
“It should be almost there.”
Xu Jiale had always visited his grandparents during the day before.
He had never gone there at night.
The road at night looked somewhat unfamiliar to him.
“Just one more right turn, and we should be there soon.”
“Okay.”
Feng Yuan sped up and swerved right.
The next second.
They fell into the ditch for the second time.
This time, the two little ones were stuck in the ditch and couldn’t get out.
“Le Le, there’s no road on the right.”
There was only a ditch on the right.
Xu Jiale sat in the ditch, looking up as he tried to think of a solution.
Seeing him look up, Feng Yuan also raised his head.
As he did, he saw the sky full of stars.
“Le Le, I… I think I’ll call my dad.”
“I’ll ask Dad to take us.”
Feng Yuan had initially thought that taking Le Le home would be an easy task.
He had even planned to boast about it to the adults after dropping Le Le off.
But now, he no longer felt like boasting.
He missed his dad.
Xu Jiale sniffled, no longer thinking about the road but instead recalling his grandparents’ phone number.
He had originally saved their numbers, but his aunt had taken away his smartwatch.
Luckily, Feng Yuan had his watch.
Xu Jiale decided to recall his grandpa’s number and use Feng Yuan’s smartwatch to make the call.
One of the little ones wanted to call his dad, while the other wanted to call his grandparents.
But as they lowered their heads to search for the smartwatch, they froze.
“Yuan Yuan, where’s your smartwatch?”
Feng Yuan: “!”
Feng Yuan’s little face was equally bewildered: “Where is Yuan Yuan’s smartwatch?”
He had no idea when he had lost it.
Without the watch and unable to get the car out of the ditch, the two little ones stared at each other, realizing the situation was getting worse.
“Yuan Yuan, wh-what do we do now?”
Feng Yuan could sense that Xu Jiale was even more panicked than he was.
“It’s okay, let’s climb out first and look for the watch.”
Feng Yuan had taken survival training classes.
Faced with this situation, he quickly calmed down.
They stepped on the little car and struggled to climb out of the ditch.
Then, they began retracing their steps.
After a while, Feng Yuan froze.
His survival training had only covered the first stage. There was a lot he hadn’t learned yet.
For example, he had no idea how to navigate in the dark.
“Yuan Yuan, why did you stop?”
Feng Yuan: “…”
Feng Yuan’s little face scrunched up in frustration. After a long pause, he finally managed to say, “I don’t know which way to go.”
Xu Jiale: “…”
Xu Jiale was also stunned.
While the two little ones were still outside trying to find their way, Xu Jiale’s aunt was crying and shifting the blame.
“What does it have to do with me if Feng Yuan is lost? He and Le Le beat up Kang Kang. I haven’t even settled that with them yet!”
“This time, he’s the one who took Le Le away. If Le Le goes missing, your family should be held responsible!”
Aunt Xu threw all the blame onto Feng Yuan.
Feng Qi listened coldly to her accusations.
After she finished, he simply pulled up a surveillance video.
The footage showed Feng Yuan rescuing Xu Jiale.
“In this kind of weather, you left Xu Jiale alone in the car. Were you trying to kill him?”
“Don’t you dare slander me! I just went to the mall to buy something and was coming right back. I never intended—”
“You spent three hours in the mall. You took your son to eat, bought clothes, and even played in the amusement area. In those three hours, you never once checked on Xu Jiale outside.”
Feng Qi clearly listed every move of Aunt Xu inside the shopping mall.
“I’ve already notified Xu Jiale’s grandparents.”
Feng Qi could still deduce where his son was heading.
The two little ones must have gone to find Xu Jiale’s grandparents.
But what infuriated Feng Qi now was that there was still no trace of the two little ones at Xu Jiale’s grandparents’ place.
Feng Yuan’s smartwatch couldn’t be reached.
In this pitch-black night, two three-year-old children were still missing somewhere.
This angered not only Feng Qi but the entire Li family.
Xu Jiale’s parents were out of town.
Feng Qi had already dispatched the dragons to search. This was the task he assigned them, and they were being paid for it.
Xu Jiale’s grandparents, along with the Li family, were all searching for the children.
Feng Qi didn’t waste much time with Aunt Xu.
He left only one sentence for her:
“This isn’t over.”
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152