Guo-ge

The day after military training ended was Friday. The weather was still unbearably hot, and according to the forecast, there was no chance of rain in Capital City over the next seven days.

After half a month of military training on campus, the new students, who hadn't left school in all that time, went out in groups of three or five to explore the shops. They called it "getting familiar with the neighborhood around campus."

Mo Jingchun didn't live in the dorms and didn't have any roommates, so naturally no one invited him along. On top of that, the weather was hot, and he had a little tagalong to look after. He had no interest in going out at all.

Was the air conditioner in his bedroom not cold enough? Was the sun outside not scorching enough?

In his apartment, Mo Jingchun, who rarely set foot outside, was writing code on his laptop. His first custom library was almost finished. Once it was, he'd be able to put some of the Smart Butler's algorithms to use.

The little one was fast asleep on the bed, her eyes closed. Every so often, her eyelashes twitched. She'd been asleep since noon, for more than two hours now. Noticing how long his sister had been sleeping, Mo Jingchun decided to wait another hour, until around three.

If his sister still hadn't woken up on her own by then, Mo Jingchun planned to use his summoning technique to force her awake.

It wasn't that Mo Jingchun didn't want his sister Candy to sleep. The problem was that if she slept too much during the day, she'd be full of energy at night and still wouldn't go to sleep in the middle of the night.

Candy needed to develop a Biological Clock. Otherwise, before long, neither of them would get a good night's sleep. Then he'd have no energy in class, and when Final Exams came around, wouldn't he fail? Even if he could study on his own, failing was unlikely—but if, by some chance, it happened, wouldn't that be awkward?

In the quiet, comfortable bedroom, the rhythmic tapping of keys on the laptop sounded like music, lulling the listener to sleep.

In that atmosphere, Candy, with a tuft of hair sticking up, slept especially soundly.

An hour later, Mo Jingchun stood up and stretched, then rubbed his stiff neck and went to the window to gaze into the distance.

In less than a minute, his eyes, which had felt sore and a little swollen, felt much better.

He turned around and saw that Candy showed no sign of waking. With a helpless shrug, Mo Jingchun said, "I hope she doesn't start crying."

He went to the bed and gently patted Candy's shoulder a few times.

"Candy? Candy? Wake up."

"Time to get up!"

"Hey, hey, time to get up, you Little Lazy Worm."

To Mo Jingchun's amusement, after all that calling, the little one only pursed her lips. She showed no sign of waking or opening her eyes.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

"Candy, get up."

"Hey, hey, quit pretending to be asleep. Come on, wake up."

After Mo Jingchun's many attempts at his forceful summoning technique, the little one finally rebooted.

Woken by Mo Jingchun, Candy opened and closed her eyes, her face full of bewilderment.

Mo Jingchun picked up his still-dazed sister and carried her to the bathroom. A while later, he brought her back to the bedroom, now fully awake, and started playing with her little toys.

"Ta-da! The little train is about to leave!"

"Mmm~" The little one reached out with her chubby hand and took the little train from Mo Jingchun. She hadn't played with it for long before Candy tossed it aside and started playing with the Little Yellow Duck that let out a squeak whenever she squeezed it. As for the train she'd just been holding, she'd already forgotten all about it.

"Big brother~" Mo Jingchun shook the Rattle Drum, trying to get his sister Candy's attention.

"Mm."

"Big brother."

"Mm."

"Big brother."

"Ah-ya."

Over and over, Mo Jingchun patiently taught his sister Candy to say "big brother," but every time, the little one only replied with an "Mm."

He didn't know whether Candy could actually say "Mm," or if it was just a sound she made. She didn't know what "Mm" meant, either.

"Candy, how come you still can't talk?"

"Doesn't the internet say babies start babbling repeated sounds when they're six months old?"

Candy only had eyes for her toys. After a while, she simply stopped paying attention to Mo Jingchun and played by herself.

As she played, she would sometimes start laughing for no apparent reason, leaving him completely baffled.

When dinnertime came, Mo Jingchun held a bowl of Millet Porridge and looked at his sister in the Baby Carriage, her eyes full of longing. Then he had a sudden idea.

"Candy, how about I feed you if you call me 'big brother'?" Mo Jingchun looked at his sister with great anticipation.

"Since you didn't say no, I'll take that as a yes."

"Come on, copy me: g~e, ge, big brother."

Candy frowned and opened her mouth in the Baby Carriage, unable to understand why there was no tasty food.

"G~e, ge, big brother."

After a long moment, Candy, growing impatient, tried her hardest and managed to make a sound: "Guo."

Mo Jingchun raised his eyebrows, pleasantly surprised. It really worked. Her pronunciation was off, but compared with the only babbling she'd done before, this was obvious progress.

"That's right, that's right. Keep copying me: g~e, ge, big brother."

Anxious, Candy fidgeted and looked around. To Mo Jingchun's delight, she finally managed to say the repeated sound.

"Guo-ge."

Mo Jingchun nodded happily and said, "Yes, that's right!"

At the same time, he didn't forget to feed his sister Candy some Millet Porridge.

At that, the little one seemed to understand. She clapped her hands and called, "Guo-ge," with a smile.

After tasting Millet Porridge again, Candy looked even more determined and began calling "Guo-ge" over and over.

That night, Mo Jingchun experienced both happiness and frustration.

Whenever the little one wanted something, she would call "Guo-ge." And no matter how Mo Jingchun corrected her, she kept saying "Guo-ge" instead of the correct pronunciation, "gege."

After Candy had fussed until past nine that night, she finally settled down. She lay quietly on a small pillow towel as Mo Jingchun gently patted her chest and softly hummed a song.

"The World Only Has Mothers are Good; a child with a mother is like a precious treasure."

"Safe in a mother's arms, there's more happiness than you could ever know."

"Without a mother, life is so hard; a child without one is like a blade of grass."

"Once you leave your mother's arms, where can you find happiness?"

"Where can you find happiness..."

As he hummed, the room fell silent. Under the lamplight, a glimmer seemed to flicker in the corner of Mo Jingchun's eye, beautiful to behold.

With the click of the switch, the room went completely dark, except for a little dim light slipping in through a gap in the curtains.

Mo Jingchun lay in bed with his eyes closed, but he wasn't asleep—not even drowsy. He simply lay there quietly, lost in thought.