The setting sun dyed the clouds red, and the early autumn breeze dispelled the lingering heat of late summer.
After school on Friday, students have two days off. Even if they can't leave the school grounds, not having to attend classes still brings smiles to many students' faces.
Yan Chi packed his things and walked out of the teaching building. From afar, he saw four students standing side by side like a wall, their gazes fixed on one spot. Following their gaze, he saw Mingcai affectionately embracing a grown woman.
The woman had thick, curly hair, wore a long red dress, and possessed an air of elegance.
Judging from her appearance, Yan Chi guessed that she was likely Mingcai's mother. Sure enough, he heard Mingcai call her "Mom."
"I thought you wouldn't be able to come until tonight," Mingcai said, hugging her mother's waist, her whole body beaming with joy. "Will you sleep with me tonight and tell me a bedtime story? Mommy, Mommy, I miss you so much!"
"Mommy missed you too, my darling," Mingcai's mother said gently, her voice filled with affection. She kissed Mingcai's forehead and put an arm around her shoulder. "Let's go home. Mommy brought our darling's favorite candied chestnuts. Do you like them?"
Mingcai: "I love them so much! Thank you, Mommy, I love you the most!"
Mingcai's mother didn't forget her daughter's best friend, and took Ahui's hand. The three of them left affectionately.
Yan Chi watched this scene, feeling a pang of envy. Growing up surrounded by her mother's love, Mingcai naturally possessed that bright and lively personality.
Just like her name suggests, perhaps from the moment she was born, her world was colorful.
Seeing several boys still staring longingly at the departing figures, Yan Chi walked up and patted Feng Wang on the shoulder. "They're already far away, why are you still looking?"
Feng Wang was startled and quickly denied it. "I...I wasn't looking! What's so interesting about them? We're not without love, why should we envy them?"
Yan Chi smiled quietly at him.
Feng Wang: "..."
Feng Wang was stubbornly clinging to his pride, seemingly finding it shameful to admit he envied someone else's family. To prove he wasn't envious, he dragged the person next to him into it, "Xingluo, tell me, are you envious?"
Xingluo: "Me? I'm sure I'm not envious! What's there to envy? Hahaha."
But as he laughed, he suddenly fell silent, then tugged at Tan Mo beside him, "Are you envious?"
Tan Mo: "...No."
"I am envious." Sethia stared longingly, wishing Mingcai's mother would take him away too. He had eaten a meal brought by Mingcai's mother once, and it was just as delicious as the one Teacher Yan Chi had made for him last time. Seeing that his companions weren't envious, Sethia sniffed and turned to look at them. "Mingcai's mom is so great, and you're not even envious? Your dads must be just as great as Mingcai's mom, that's why you're not envious."
Feng Wang, Xingluo, and Tan Mo: "..."
Sethia continued, "Maybe your dads will even buy you pretty clothes, play games with you, and tell you bedtime stories, just like Mingcai's mom. Sigh... I'm so envious of you."
The three of them: "..."
How can words be so hurtful?
Sethia tugged at Feng Wang's sleeve, looking up at him. "So, does your dad call you 'baby' too?"
"He calls me 'idiot.'"
Sethia: "...?"
"A'Huai is still waiting for me, I'm going back now." Before Sethia could verbally attack him again, Feng Wang fled the scene.
As soon as he left, Xingluo also made an excuse to run away, leaving only Tan Mo. Tan Mo covered Sethia's mouth, coldly depriving him of his right to speak, "Don't ask me about my dad, or I won't feed the chickens for you."
Sethia nodded dejectedly.
These people are living happy lives, so why can't he ask? He's not going to take their father away.
Having witnessed the little schemes among these kids, Yan Chi's amber eyes were filled with amusement. He patted the silly little Sethia's head.
Sethia threw himself into his arms as if he had suffered a great injustice, hugging his lean waist. "Teacher, they won't talk to me anymore! They don't treat me like their friends anymore!"
Yan Chi stroked his soft hair, comforting him, "They're just joking with you, don't be angry."
Sethia whimpered, "By the way, Teacher, have you eaten your two chickens?"
"Not yet."
Yan Chi had made a coop for the two chicks and put it in the yard, feeding them vegetable leaves. They were growing bigger and bigger, and Yan Chi planned to deal with them on a quieter day.
“It won’t taste good if you don’t eat meat soon,” Sethia reminded him. “You can come back to me after you finish eating. I have lots of chicks I can share with you.”
Yan Chi didn’t refuse his kindness, smiling gently. “Okay, thank you then.”
After Sethia and Tan Mo left, Yan Chi encountered the director on his way home, a rare occurrence. The director was still wearing a well-tailored suit, followed by a middle-aged woman in worn clothes, carrying a little girl of about five or six years old.
The middle-aged woman looked anxious and kept glancing around. She would visibly tremble whenever a student passed by. The little girl, however, wasn’t as nervous or frightened as her mother. She held a lollipop in her hand, licking it carefully, and happily offered it to her mother.
The middle-aged woman shook her head, forced a smile, and patted the child’s back.
The director saw Yan Chi and nodded to him.
Yan Chi greeted him, but couldn't help glancing at the two people behind him. The middle-aged woman, upon seeing him, seemed to have encountered a terrifying monster and immediately lowered her head.
The little girl, however, looked at Yan Chi curiously. After a moment's thought, though reluctant, she generously held out her lollipop. "Brother, have some candy, sweet candy, delicious!"
"Brother doesn't eat candy." Yan Chi subconsciously lowered his voice when speaking to the child. He was already handsome, and his smile was even more radiant. "Thank you, little sister."
The little girl was probably malnourished, thin, but her dark eyes were exceptionally bright. She smiled shyly and hugged her mother's neck.
The director suddenly said, "The commercial street outside the school will open tomorrow, and the school can also reopen. You can go out and play if you're bored."
Yan Chi was pleasantly surprised. "So soon! I'll go see them tomorrow."
The director led the mother and daughter away. Yan Chi returned home, and the chicks in the yard, hearing his return, chirped loudly. Perhaps due to their breed, these two chicks were already the size of a normal hen, but still had soft, yellowish feathers, looking like proportionally enlarged chicks.
Furthermore, they were too big; the cage Yan Chi had made before couldn't hold them anymore. The two chicks could even tip over the cage together and squeeze out, but they didn't run around; they just wandered around the yard. Yan Chi didn't bother to put them back in the cage.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
The two chicks followed closely at Yan Chi's feet, chirping loudly and flapping their little wings against his trouser legs, trying to dispel the frightening aura emanating from him.
Yan Chi might accidentally step on them if he wasn't careful.
Thinking they were probably hungry, Yan Chi went inside and grabbed a handful of feed, putting it in a bowl for them. With food, the chicks calmed down and ate quietly.
Yan Chi sat on the steps, quietly watching this picture of chicks eating.
The setting sun painted the earth in orange hues, and the scattered rose seeds broke through the soil, sprouting tender shoots. The chirping of insects rose and fell in the grass.
In the neighboring yard, Xi Chang was swinging on a swing, his long, silky blue hair flowing freely, his eyes, like the azure sea, smiling. His yard had a swimming pool that occupied most of the space.
He swayed back and forth on the swing, making onlookers worry he might slip and fall into the water. When Xi Chang reached the highest point, he called out Yan Chi's name, "Little Chi, Little Chi, was the fish from yesterday delicious?"
"I haven't tried it yet." Yan Chi was surprised. "How did you know I found a fish yesterday?"
The fish was caught so absurdly that Yan Chi was embarrassed to admit he'd caught it with a willow branch.
Xi Chang stammered, "Uh… I ran into Lin Heng, and he told me."
Yan Chi knew Xi Chang and Lin Heng were close, so it was normal for Xi Chang to know. Speaking of Lin Heng, he was also helpless and recounted the events of the previous day to Xi Chang.
Yan Chi sighed, "Lin Heng seems angry..."
"What could he possibly be angry about?" Xi Chang decisively defended Yan Chi. "It's clearly because the bait he brought was terrible, the texture was awful. He might as well have just rolled milk tea powder into balls and thrown them into the water. With such awful bait, no wonder no fish bothered with him."
Yan Chi: "...?"
Why did this sound so strange?
How did Xi Chang know Lin Heng's bait was bad? It was as if he'd eaten it himself, or did these anglers have some unique method?
Yan Chi was confused.
Xi Chang was clearly disgusted by Lin Heng's bait, complaining for quite a while. After venting his frustration, he turned to Yan Chi and invited, "...By the way, Xiao Chi, the director said the shopping street outside is opening. Shall we go together tomorrow?"
Yan Chi hesitated for a moment. "Sorry, I already promised Shen Mingsu I'd go to the shopping street with him."
Xi Chang's eyes widened, staring at Yan Chi in disbelief. Suddenly, he jumped off the swing and ran to the railing. "Xiao Chi, come here quickly!"
When Yan Chi obediently walked to his side, Xi Chang grabbed his arm, sniffed it, and then frowned thoughtfully.
Yan Chi was bewildered by this series of actions. "W-what's wrong? Do I smell?"
No way, he specifically came back at noon to shower.
"Xiao Chi, you smell strongly of Shen Mingsu." Xi Chang's words were startling. "Did you mate with him?"
Yan Chi choked on his saliva. "Cough cough cough!"
His eyes were red from coughing, and his fair face turned bright red with shame and anger. He covered Xi Chang's mouth, subconsciously looking around to make sure no one else was present before letting out a sigh of relief.
"That's not true at all. Why would you think that?" Yan Chi released Xi Chang and rubbed his burning face.
Xi Chang stated confidently, "Because Shen Mingsu likes you."
Upon hearing this, Yan Chi's heart skipped a beat, his mind instantly turning into a jumbled mess. "He...likes me? Then why didn't I know?"
"Ah? Everyone in the school knows..." Xi Chang suddenly realized something. "Is it true or false that Shen Mingsu likes you?"
Yan Chi replied without hesitation, "It's definitely false. You must have misunderstood."
"So it was a misunderstanding?" Xi Chang readily accepted Yan Chi's explanation. His previous words had been too offensive, and he immediately apologized to Yan Chi.
Yan Chi: "It's alright, it's good that the misunderstanding is cleared up."
After turning away, his composed expression instantly crumbled. He quickened his pace, rushed back to his bedroom on the second floor, threw himself onto the bed, and tightly hugged his teddy bear, desperately recalling all of Shen Mingsu's actions.
Finally, he concluded that Shen Mingsu seemed to genuinely like him.
Yan Chi hurriedly opened his phone and messaged Xie Tao: [Help me! My principal seems to like me!]
Xie Tao replied quickly: [What?! He wants to sexually harass you?! What an idiot! Look at his beer belly, his balding hair, and his stupid face! He dares to sexually harass you?!]
In Xie Tao's mind, principals were all middle-aged men, so he subconsciously imagined that the principal Yan Chi was talking about was like that.
Xie Tao was indignant: [Xiao Chi! Keep a knife handy. If he dares to do anything to you, just cut him down! Then report him, quit your job and come work for me, I'll support you!]
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