Dolly

Xia Wanqing and Zhou Jingyi sat in the living room, continuing to reminisce about the past.

Gu Zhuoling, meanwhile, held Shen Xinde's hand as his mother had asked and slowly led him toward the garden.

He looked even more like a penguin up close.

Gu Zhuoling glanced at Shen Xinde from time to time. The way he waddled was rather cute.

For once, Gu Zhuoling found his thoughts wandering. They drifted to a toy store window in the mall, where there was an especially, especially cute doll. Then they drifted to distant Antarctica, where penguins waddled along in groups, and suddenly a Shen Xinde appeared among them.

"Big brother."

A clear voice brought Gu Zhuoling drifting back from distant Antarctica, and he collected himself.

The doll's eyes were so big and clear that Gu Zhuoling almost felt as though he was the only one in them.

Shen Xinde didn't insist on waiting for Gu Zhuoling to answer. He tightened his grip on Gu Zhuoling's hand and said, "Big brother, play in garden."

The garden was beautifully tended. Several pots of sunflowers sat in the middle of the lawn, with watering cans and freshly dug soil nearby. It seemed that Gu Zhuoling had been playing here just now.

It was Gu Zhuoling's first time inviting a child his own age to play in the garden. Seeing how curious Shen Xinde looked, he suddenly felt a little nervous.

He had no idea what he was nervous about.

"Want to play?" Gu Zhuoling held out a yellow plastic toy shovel to Shen Xinde.

Shen Xinde took it without hesitation and squatted down opposite Gu Zhuoling, waiting for him to assign a task.

"Bury."

Gu Zhuoling stared at Shen Xinde for two seconds, then suddenly felt an itch on his cheek.

He reached for his own little metal shovel and scooped soil into a sunflower pot, showing Shen Xinde that he could play.

Shen Xinde liked cute children, especially when this child was the character he cherished most.

Perhaps it was because he was at the stage of being a two- or three-year-old. Some childhood instincts couldn't be changed. For example, he couldn't express what he wanted particularly clearly or quickly, couldn't easily say long sentences, and liked digging in sand and playing with dirt with a playmate.

Though to Gu Zhuoling, this was perfectly normal and serious flower planting.

And so, Gu Zhuoling carried the soil to the flowerpots, while Shen Xinde divided it evenly and loosened it.

Every now and then, Gu Zhuoling stopped and watched the boy opposite him huff and puff as he prepared homes for the sunflowers without a word of complaint, beads of sweat on his forehead that he hadn't had time to wipe away.

Shen Xinde wasn't as careful as Gu Zhuoling, and a little mud had stuck to his fair, tender calves. It was quite an eyesore.

Gu Zhuoling reached out and picked the nearly dried mud off Shen Xinde's legs, then dipped his hand in some water and wiped away the remaining stains.

So soft.

Gu Zhuoling withdrew his hand in a daze, suddenly a little embarrassed. He didn't quite understand why he had impulsively helped clean the dirt off him.

Shen Xinde stopped too, his eyes sparkling. The next second, he reached out with his dirty hands, held Gu Zhuoling by the neck, and easily planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Dolly, thank you."

Gu Zhuoling was truly embarrassed now.

His ears turned red, and his cheeks flushed pink.

He looked like a tomato in a daze.

There seemed to be a little saliva left on his chubby cheek, and Shen Xinde's dirty little hands might have left specks of mud on his neck.

Gu Zhuoling seemed utterly unable to turn his attention to the dirt on himself.

His body seemed to remind him again and again that something soft had just touched his cheek.

Soft, red, and moist.

The doll had kissed him.

"Oh my!"

A voice full of laughter came from behind them.

The doll called out "Mama!" and ran behind him.

It was Xia Wanqing and Zhou Jingyi.

They had nearly finished their chat and saw that it was already midday.

Zhou Jingyi rarely got to see a university classmate, and she found that the more they talked, the more they had in common. Seeing that it was noon, she immediately wanted Xia Wanqing and her son to stay for a meal. Unfortunately, Xia Wanqing had already arranged to have lunch with her husband, so she could only decline.

So the two of them decided to see what the children were doing.

Who would have thought that as soon as they entered the garden, they would see the Shen boy holding her son and planting a smacking kiss on his cheek?

Her son was clearly embarrassed. He was still standing there in a daze, unable to recover.

"Haoh Haoh, did you have fun?" Xia Wanqing took out a wet wipe and gently asked as she wiped the mud off Shen Xinde's hands bit by bit.

Shen Xinde answered obediently, "Big brother nice, helped me wipe clean."

"Big brother helped you wipe the dirt off, is that right? So that's why Haoh Haoh kissed him." Zhou Jingyi led the now-recovered Gu Zhuoling over and teased him with a smile.

Shen Xinde wasn't embarrassed. Instead, he gave her an even bigger smile. "Kiss kiss."

Her son was overheating again.

Zhou Jingyi was a little surprised to see that even the whorl on her son's head had turned pink.

It seemed the two children had gotten along very well just now.

Gu Zhuoling liked his new friend Shen Xinde very much.

For once, Zhou Jingyi felt like teasing him. "Then does Xinde like big brother?"

"I do!" Shen Xinde quickly nodded twice.

"If you like him, you can come play with him often, Xinde. Auntie likes you very much too."

Hearing the word "like," Gu Zhuoling felt his cheeks itch and couldn't resist scratching them.

Zhou Jingyi naturally noticed that too.

Shen Xinde happily agreed.

The two children were taken to wash their hands, and then it was time to part.

Gu Zhuoling knew they weren't eating at his house, and for some reason, he felt a little disappointed. It was the first time he had found it fun to have someone dig in the dirt with him.

So right up until Xia Wanqing and Shen Xinde were ready to say goodbye, Gu Zhuoling remained expressionless and didn't say a word.

Though he was expressionless, he followed Zhou Jingyi wherever she went.

Her son had become a little shadow. How could she not understand that Gu Zhuoling couldn't bear to see the younger boy leave, but was too embarrassed to ask him to stay and wanted her to do it for him?

"Little brother still has to go with Auntie to have a meal with Uncle. If you want to play with him, invite him to come over again tomorrow."

Zhou Jingyi crouched down and held Gu Zhuoling, gently coaxing him and explaining.

This was incredibly difficult for Gu Zhuoling.

So he could only press his lips together and say nothing.

Zhou Jingyi didn't expect him to change all at once, so she planned to issue the invitation for her son.

Unexpectedly, the little boy came pattering over and stood in front of Zhou Jingyi.

"Auntie, Haoh Haoh wants to come play at your house tomorrow. Can I?"

Shen Xinde had decided that his plan to accompany Gu Zhuoling would start from childhood!

Gu Zhuoling naturally understood that Shen Xinde wanted to come play again tomorrow. He was suddenly a little delighted, and unable to contain his feelings, he clutched his mother's clothes tightly.

Zhou Jingyi was delighted to hear it.

Xia Wanqing really knew how to raise a child. The more Zhou Jingyi looked at Xinde, the more she liked him.

He was cute, sweet-talking, and direct.

"Of course you can. Auntie welcomes you whenever you want to come, Xinde. Big brother does too."

Xia Wanqing said goodbye to Zhou Jingyi. Just as she was about to remind Xinde to say goodbye, he had already spoken. "Bye-bye, Auntie!"

"Dolly! Bye-bye!"

After seeing Xia Wanqing and Shen Xinde off, Zhou Jingyi saw Gu Zhuoling sitting in front of the coffee table, leafing through a huge English dictionary.

*?*

As the heir to the Gu family, Gu Zhuoling did indeed need to learn foreign languages from an early age, but Zhou Jingyi wasn't strict and hadn't required him to speak five languages by the age of five.

Why was he suddenly studying so hard?

Could it be that his crush had appeared, and he wanted to present himself as a top student?

"Mom." As she was thinking, Gu Zhuoling suddenly turned to her with a serious expression. "Dolly, what is it?"

Oh, so he wanted to look up "dolly."

Mom knew, of course.

Mom!?

Zhou Jingyi was so startled by her son's sudden affectionate address that she practically jumped back and forth. She also thought that, for some reason, the word "Mom" had been pronounced especially clearly. After holding it in for a long time, she finally managed to put on a gentle motherly smile.

"Xinde meant that you're a doll."

A doll?

Gu Zhuoling pursed his lips slightly.

Shen Xinde was clearly more like one.