Since the confession in the bathroom last ti, Qiu Sheng had never directly answered whether she wanted to remarry, but she didn’t avoid spending ti with Zhong Jin either. There were even a few nights when she and Little Tong listened to cri thrillers together, got too scared to sleep alone, and ended up sneaking into Zhong Jin’s bed in the middle of the night.
From this, Zhong Jin understood Qiu Sheng’s stance—she wasn’t ready to remarry yet, but dating was fine.
Sumr arrived, and with it ca Haishan’s long rainy season. For the next two or three months, it rained almost every day—sotis in short bursts, other tis in heavy downpours that lasted for days.
The rain had been pouring nonstop for three days now. Then, a case of hand-foot-and-mouth disease was discovered among the kindergarten students, prompting the school to announce a week-long closure, with the return date still uncertain.
Stuck at ho with no outdoor activities to burn off energy, Little Tong was bored out of her mind.
Kneeling by the living room window, she pressed her hands against the glass and peered down at the small puddles forming on the ground below. She turned to Zhong Jin and declared:
"Daddy, I want to go jump in the puddles."
Zhong Jin, lounging on the couch watching a soccer ga while texting, didn’t even look up. "You jumped in puddles yesterday and the day before. Aren’t you tired of it yet?"
Little Tong held up a finger, explaining with utmost seriousness, "The puddles might look the sa every day, but they’re actually different puddles."
Zhong Jin smirked. "Quite the philosopher, aren’t you?" He kept typing on his phone and hit send.
A second later, Qiu Sheng’s phone buzzed from where she sat cross-legged on the rug, surrounded by tangled skeins of thread and hundreds of scattered beads. The ss was so extensive that Little Tong and Sang Biao were strictly forbidden from entering the rug zone while she worked.
Setting down her half-strung beads, Qiu Sheng picked up her phone. It was a ssage from Zhong Jin:
["Never Forget" is playing in theaters. Want to go see it?]
"Never Forget" was a foreign romance film with so steamy scenes. Though censored for dostic release, it still carried an 18 rating.
Qiu Sheng replied: [What about Little Tong?]
anwhile, Little Tong carefully maneuvered around the rug, climbed onto the couch, and perched on Zhong Jin’s stomach, tugging at his pants.
"Please take puddle-jumping."
Zhong Jin, still typing his reply to Qiu Sheng, didn’t stop her when she leaned over to peek at his screen.
"What are you doing?"
Since she couldn’t read yet, he didn’t bother hiding it. "Texting Hu De about work. I need to go to the station later."
He lied effortlessly while sending Qiu Sheng another ssage: [We’ll ask Aunt Liang to take her out.]
"I wanna go to the station too!"
Little Tong pinched his lips together, pulling them into a duck-like pout.
"No, it’s too busy today. You’d just get in the way."
As he spoke, he fired off a ssage in the parenting group chat: [@Aunt Liang, can you distract Little Tong? Qiu Sheng and I need to go out.]
Aunt Liang replied from the kitchen: [OK.]
Soon after, Aunt Liang erged holding a grocery basket, smiling. "Little Tong, want to go grocery shopping with ?"
Desperate for any outing, Little Tong imdiately scrambled off Zhong Jin’s stomach (landing squarely on his abdon in the process) and sprinted over to grab Aunt Liang’s hand.
"Auntie, can I wear my raincoat and boots?"
Aunt Liang helped her into a tiny yellow raincoat with a hood, then knelt to fasten her little rain boots.
Standing by the door, Little Tong waved at her parents. "Bye-bye! I’m going out to play!"
Zhong Jin and Qiu Sheng echoed, "Bye-bye."
But instead of leaving, Little Tong took two steps back and announced loudly, "Daddy, you’re acting weird."
Zhong Jin paused. "...Huh?"
She wagged a finger. "You didn’t say, 'Zhong Yuntong, don’t drink rainwater or your tummy will hurt.' And you didn’t say, 'Zhong Yuntong, no rolling in puddles.'"
Zhong Jin shrugged. "You morized the rules. Do I need to repeat them?"
Little Tong squelched back in her boots, hands on his knees. "You guys won’t order barbecue delivery while I’m gone, right?"
"Won’t happen," Zhong Jin promised.
Only then did she finally leave with Aunt Liang.
The door clicked shut.
Zhong Jin bolted to the peephole, watching until they entered the elevator.
Qiu Sheng exhaled. "They’re gone?"
"Gone." She pressed a hand to her chest. "My heart was racing. How is she so sharp?"
"Let’s move fast." Zhong Jin dashed to the closet to change.
With kids, even a simple date night required military-level stealth.
Outside, Little Tong held Aunt Liang’s hand and glanced back at their high-rise apartnt. Too far up to spot any parental surveillance, she tentatively tapped a puddle with her boot. Checking her kiddie watch—no angry calls from Zhong Jin—she knew the coast was clear.
Just as she prepared for a full splashdown, Aunt Liang grabbed her overall straps mid-jump and swung her clear of the water.
Little Tong tried again. Aunt Liang intercepted like a seasoned bouncer.
"I wanna play!" Little Tong stomped her foot.
Aunt Liang smiled sweetly. "Little Tong, you know your daddy pays my salary, right?"
The girl nodded.
"So if you get soaked and catch a cold, he’ll deduct my pay."
Though mischievous, Little Tong had a kind heart. The thought of costing Aunt Liang money made her instantly drop the puddle plan. She took Aunt Liang’s hand.
"No splashing. Let’s buy veggies."
"Good girl. I’ll get you a sausage later."
Little Tong bead. "Make Daddy pay for it. Don’t use your own money."
"What a sweetheart you are."
The child proudly extended both hands. "Auntie, did you know I got lots of gold stars at school?"
"How impressive!"
Little Tong gradually lost herself in Aunt Liang's stream of praises and even volunteered, "Auntie, I'll make sure to avoid any puddles later."
After Aunt Liang and Little Tong returned ho from grocery shopping, Zhong Jin and Qiu Sheng hadn't co back yet. Little Tong ran over to ask Aunt Liang:
"Where are my parents?"
"They're at work. They'll be back soon."
Little Tong then waddled to the sofa, pressing her chubby belly against the edge as she raised her kids' smartwatch to call them. She tried Zhong Jin first—no answer. Next, she dialed Qiu Sheng's number, and after a few rings, the call connected.
Qiu Sheng's voice was barely a whisper on the other end: "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
Little Tong clutched the watch and demanded loudly, "Mom, where are you?"
"Mom's in a eting. I'll be ho in an hour."
"Okay, bye-bye."
Satisfied, Little Tong hung up—only to imdiately start redialing Zhong Jin's number repeatedly, determined to get an explanation from him too.
Aunt Liang knew Zhong Jin wouldn't dare answer. If the little one found out he was actually out with Qiu Sheng, all hell would break loose. She turned and headed into the kitchen, returning shortly with a bowl of edama.
Placing the edama on the coffee table alongside an empty bowl, Aunt Liang deliberately warned, "Tongtong, keep an eye on these beans for . But don't you dare peel them, okay? You're too little for this kind of work."
With that, Aunt Liang retreated to the kitchen. When she peeked out monts later, the child stood by the table clutching a pod, ticulously focused on shelling the beans.
Aunt Liang smiled to herself—so tricks never failed.
Before Little Tong could finish the bowl, the electronic beeps of the door lock sounded. The chubby toddler dashed over, still clutching a bean, just as Qiu Sheng walked in holding a McDonald's bag.
Qiu Sheng waved the bag playfully. "Sweetheart, Mom... got you so fried chicken."
Little Tong pressed close, sniffed Qiu Sheng's clothes, then looked up suspiciously. "Mom, were you having a eting at the mall? You sll like the mall."
Qiu Sheng paused. "...Yes. After the eting, I specially went to buy you this chicken."
Instantly, Little Tong raised her arms above her head, forming a big heart with her tiny hands. "Thank you, Mommy! I love you!"
She tossed the bean back into the bowl and let Qiu Sheng lead her to wash up. Soon, she stood by the table wearing a bib, happily munching on fried chicken.
Sang Biao, behaving more like a dog than a chicken, strutted over at the scent and circled Little Tong's feet with eager clucks.
Little Tong shooed him away. "Dis is chicken at! You can't eat your cousins!"
When Sang Biao stubbornly returned, she relented by sprinkling so crispy crumbs on the floor for him to peck at.
Zhong Jin hadn't dared co ho with Qiu Sheng. He waited in the car downstairs for ten minutes before finally heading up.
The mont he entered, Little Tong charged over with a drumstick, performing her routine sniff test. Her expression grew puzzled.
"Why do YOU sll like the mall too?"
Zhong Jin answered smoothly, "Had a case at the mall. Just went to check it out." The seasoned fox quickly deflected: "Where'd you get that chicken?"
"Mom bought it for ."
As Zhong Jin changed shoes and walked into the living room, he greeted Qiu Sheng casually: "Which mall did you go to? You were there too?"
"Mm."
Zhong Jin: "Strange, I didn't see you."
Qiu Sheng: "I left right after buying the chicken. Didn't stay long."
"Oh." Zhong Jin walked past calmly and disappeared into the bathroom to wash up.
With no further interrogation about the mall, both parents silently exhaled in relief.
They thought the matter was settled—until Zhong Jin did laundry that night and absentmindedly tossed two movie tickets from his pocket into the trash.
Little Tong, having napped excessively during her days off school, was wide awake at midnight. Ard with a mini flashlight, she embarked on a "bug expedition" with Sang Biao, eventually discovering the tickets in the balcony trash bin.
Having been to animated movies before, she imdiately recognized them.
With righteous determination, she stomped into the master bedroom on her short legs, climbed onto the bed, and pinched Zhong Jin's nose shut.
Startled awake, he glared at the tiny troublemaker. "What are you doing up at this hour?"
Little Tong thrust the tickets in his face. "What's DIS? Explain."
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