Fu Xiaoxiao was still angry. He turned his head away with a pout. "No!"
Su Huaiming didn't try to persuade him. Instead, he picked up another leaf from the ground and said, as if talking to himself, "Who do you think will win?"
Fu Xiaoxiao's ears twitched. He instinctively turned back and asked in confusion, "Are these two leaves going to compete?"
Su Huaiming nodded, then asked, "Which one do you think will win?"
Fu Xiaoxiao leaned closer and examined both leaves very carefully from end to end. Finally, he chose the bigger one. "This one will win."
Su Huaiming nodded and handed Fu Xiaoxiao the leaf. Then he pinched both sides of his own leaf's stem and said, "Let's play tug-of-war."
Fu Xiaoxiao loved playing. As soon as he heard that, he forgot his earlier unhappiness and copied Su Huaiming, holding both sides of his leaf's stem.
Su Huaiming continued, "After I count down from three, we'll both pull. Whichever leaf's stem breaks first loses."
Fu Xiaoxiao nodded, showing that he was very smart and already understood the rules.
"Three, two, one!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Su Huaiming pulled gently.
The stem didn't break, but Fu Xiaoxiao's whole body toppled toward him.
????
Su Huaiming helped Fu Xiaoxiao upright and said, "Pull."
"I am pulling hard!" Fu Xiaoxiao puffed out his little bun-like cheeks and spoke very seriously.
Su Huaiming was utterly bewildered. He prepared to play another round and figure out what was going on.
After he said, "Three, two, one," the match began.
Su Huaiming felt no resistance at all against his hands.
It wasn't because Fu Xiaoxiao was too weak, but because he was using his strength in the wrong place.
Fu Xiaoxiao's fair, tender cheeks were puffed up like little buns, his eyes were wide and round, and his teeth were tightly clenched. He was straining so hard that his cheeks had turned red.
Was he... planning to bite through the stem from a distance?
Su Huaiming sighed helplessly. "Use your hands."
Fu Xiaoxiao took Su Huaiming's words to heart, but he was gripping the stem for dear life...
If they played like this, they probably wouldn't have a winner even after a whole day and night.
Su Huaiming didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Pull it toward you."
Fu Xiaoxiao understood again and threw his head back with all his might, every part of his face straining. He even squeezed out a double chin, but his hands didn't move an inch.
That was impressive in its own way.
Su Huaiming sighed helplessly and could only break the stem himself.
!!!
Seeing that he had suddenly won, Fu Xiaoxiao's eyes widened in surprise, his expression one of disbelief.
A few seconds later, he happily held up his leaf and bounced up and down.
Fu Xiaoxiao gazed at the leaf in his hand with shining eyes, then carefully tucked it into his pocket, as if treating it like a precious medal.
Having formed a bond with that leaf, Fu Xiaoxiao was no longer impatient when he looked at the leaves on the ground, but he was still distressed. "When will I finish cleaning them all up?"
Xiao Xiao is tired ε=(?ο｀*)
"Then tell the big tree," Su Huaiming said. "It's the one dropping the leaves."
Fu Xiaoxiao thought Su Huaiming made a lot of sense. He marched over aggressively, planted his hands on his hips, and looked up at the big tree, as if ready to argue with him.
"You're too much! I don't like a bad tree like you!"
[Ahhh, the strange things little kids do are so cute]
[I'm about to melt from the cuteness, clutching my heart.jpg]
[It's all the big tree's fault. Don't frown, baby Xiao Xiao, I'll teach it a lesson for you!]
The viewers in the livestream were all charmed, and the mood was cheerful, but they soon stopped laughing.
Fu Xiaoxiao kept his little face stern and continued lecturing, "Look, the ground is covered in your leaves. How can you drop so many? And you don't have many leaves left down below. If you keep dropping them, you'll go bald!"
[Why do I feel like Xiao Xiao is scolding me for constantly losing my hair?!]
[As a bald person, I'm offended]
[Silently covers my constantly receding hairline with my hand...]
[Stop scolding me, stop scolding me, I'm about to cry]
[Don't be sad, everyone. Think of it this way: when leaves fall, they can grow back. Can your hair grow back? Devil whispering.jpg]
Chapter 13: 013
Fu Xiaoxiao argued with the big tree for a while, but its leaves kept rustling down.
As if deliberately provoking him, a leaf came drifting down, tracing a graceful arc through the air. But when it reached the top of Fu Xiaoxiao's head, it suddenly picked up force and smacked Xiaoxiao on the forehead.
Fu Xiaoxiao was dumbfounded. He stared blankly at the leaf.
After slapping Fu Xiaoxiao, the leaf regained its graceful manner and drifted slowly to the ground, as if saying, "Don't look at me. I'm not the kind of leaf that would do something like that."
How could Fu Xiaoxiao stand being treated so unfairly? His fair, tender cheeks puffed up like buns, and his eyes went wide and round. Angry as a little calf, he huffed and puffed.
But he couldn't argue with a leaf, and he couldn't cry and make a fuss at one either. He simply didn't know what to do. His little rice-white teeth were clenched tightly, and tears welled up in his eyes. Even through the screen, one could feel how sad and wronged Fu Xiaoxiao was.
Su Huaiming walked over, picked up the leaf, and held it in front of Fu Xiaoxiao. "Was this the one that hit you?"
Under Fu Xiaoxiao's puzzled gaze, Su Huaiming reached out and gave the two leaves two resounding slaps.
"I got it back for you," Su Huaiming said. "Does Xiao Xiao feel much better now?"
Fu Xiaoxiao sniffled. In the end, his tears didn't fall, and he felt the anger in his chest dissipate. "Xiao Xiao feels a little better."
Su Huaiming took the opportunity to teach him a lesson. "Hitting people is wrong. This leaf went too far!"
Fu Xiaoxiao nodded like a chick pecking at grain. "Yeah, it's a bad guy!"
Su Huaiming walked over to the trash can and threw the leaf in. "A bad guy like that belongs in the trash can!"
Fu Xiaoxiao still didn't think that was enough. He ran over and used his broom to poke the leaf farther in, making sure it had no chance of escaping.
Then Su Huaiming changed tack and continued, "Does Xiao Xiao want to stay in the trash can?"
"No."
"Then Xiao Xiao definitely isn't a bad guy who hits people."
"That's right, Xiao Xiao won't hit people!"
With a flawless chain of logic, Su Huaiming led Fu Xiaoxiao right into it and even got his promise. Only then did he return happily to his original spot and continue watching Fu Xiaoxiao clean.
Fu Xiaoxiao was usually quite delicate, but now, with money enticing him, he had boundless energy. He huffed and puffed as he cleaned the entire area, becoming the first of the three children to finish his task.
Fu Xiaoxiao felt a great sense of accomplishment and insisted on pulling Su Huaiming along for three laps to look at the ground he had cleaned.
Two and a half laps in, Fu Xiaoxiao's stomach suddenly growled.
Fu Xiaoxiao reached out with a chubby little hand and rubbed his stomach, pouting as he said, "I'm hungry."
"It's okay, I have candy." Su Huaiming was prone to low blood sugar and often kept candy in his pockets, just in case.
Fu Xiaoxiao licked his lips eagerly. "I want chocolate!"
He sure had a lot of demands.
Su Huaiming reached into his pocket and grabbed a handful of air: ???
He froze for a few seconds, then checked every pocket he had. Forget chocolate—there wasn't even a crumb of candy.
Only then did Su Huaiming remember that he had changed clothes at the last minute before going out that morning and forgotten to put the candy in his pockets.
Faced with Fu Xiaoxiao's eager gaze, Su Huaiming could only brace himself and say, "Sorry, I forgot to bring it."
Fu Xiaoxiao was practically drooling a river. When he heard that, he immediately started throwing a tantrum, twisting his shoulders nonstop and looking at Su Huaiming reproachfully as he whimpered like a puppy.
The production staff noticed and immediately wanted to go back to the car for chocolate, but the round trip would take long enough for Fu Xiaoxiao to have a good cry and tantrum.
Fu Xiaoxiao's bratty temper was just about to flare up when his spell was interrupted.
A rough, dark-skinned hand reached out in front of him, with two pieces of chocolate in its palm.
Fu Xiaoxiao closed his wide-open mouth. His eyes lit up at the sight of the two pieces of chocolate, and his lips curved happily.
"Here you go." The sanitation worker bent down slightly and looked at Fu Xiaoxiao with a kindly expression.
Fu Xiaoxiao immediately picked up the two pieces of chocolate.
Su Huaiming reminded him, "You haven't said thank you yet."
"Thank you, Grandpa," Fu Xiaoxiao said in his soft, childish voice.
Though he was a brat with a lawless temper, he was reasonably polite and wouldn't misbehave over something like this.
The sanitation worker wanted to pat Fu Xiaoxiao's head, but he was afraid Xiao Xiao would think he was dirty. His hand paused in midair before he awkwardly withdrew it. "I'm just glad the child likes it."
The two adults and the child sat down nearby to rest.
The sanitation worker looked at the camera, visibly ill at ease, and asked, "Are you filming a show?"
Su Huaiming stroked Fu Xiaoxiao's hair and said with a smile, "He's the star. I came with him."
Su Huaiming noticed melted chocolate around Fu Xiaoxiao's mouth and casually wiped it away for him.
Fu Xiaoxiao's appearance was very deceptive. When he wasn't throwing a tantrum, he was simply the most well-behaved little angel in the world. Just looking at him could melt a person's heart.
The sanitation worker liked Fu Xiaoxiao very much. His gaze was kind as he smiled and said, "If only I had a grandson this cute."
Su Huaiming: "..." Better not tell him the truth.
The sanitation worker continued, "My son bought this chocolate. He said it's especially good at keeping hunger away and told me to have a bite when I get tired at work. Chocolate really is delicious. It's sweet and melts in your mouth. My son bought it especially for me, and it's expensive!"
As he spoke of his son, the sanitation worker's face was full of pride and satisfaction. He turned to Fu Xiaoxiao and asked gently, "Do you think it tastes good?"