Magic Studies and Life (Part 1)

After Yang Zhen'er successfully tossed the Coin and hit the disposable paper cup, she excitedly showed it off to the Little Chubby Girl.

But she found that the Little Chubby Girl just stared wide-eyed at the paper cup, a far cry from the "Wow, this fairy sister is amazing!" reaction she had expected. She couldn't help but repeat herself:

"Little Bell, am I awesome?"

The Little Chubby Girl then exclaimed "Huh?" and quickly nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, Sister Fairy is amazing." She then got up and walked to the TV cabinet, looking at the Coin lying in the paper cup.

Yang Zhen'er sensed the Little Chubby Girl's perfunctory "amazement" and assumed she didn't understand her skill. So she quickly went over, took out the Coin, returned to her previous position, and said, "Little Bell, this move is super hard to master, really hard. It's not about throwing the Coin, it's like this: 'ding,' and flick it with your thumb. Look! It's still spinning in the air!"

As she spoke, Yang Zhen'er demonstrated again, flicking the Coin from the doorway into the paper cup with her thumb.

"Super difficult! Little Bell, this is even harder than flipping Coin with your finger! You don't believe me? Try it."

So Liu Shiling stood next to Yang Zhen'er, took out a Coin from her pocket, and imitated Yang Zhen'er's gesture, placing the Coin on her thumb, loosely holding it with her other four fingers, and using her thumb and forefinger to form a "groove".

As she flicked the Coin out, Liu Shiling seemed worried that she didn't have enough strength, so she stretched her entire arm upwards, as if giving a thumbs-up to the air.

The Coin flew with a much greater arc than Yang Zhen'er had just flicked, and the tumbling Coin almost grazed the ceiling before landing steadily in the paper cup.

As the Coin fell into the paper cup, Yang Zhen'er's mouth slowly opened wide, momentarily stunned.

So... is flipping Coin actually a very simple trick?

Could a kindergarten child really do that so easily?

Am I making a fuss over nothing?

As she was thinking this, Liu Shiling took another Coin out of her pocket and placed it in her hand. "Old Fairy Sister, you can try using chocolate... try my Coin."

Yang Zhen'er took the Coin and shook her head. "No, I can only use the Coin that Chef Xiang. Maybe the Coin he gave me is too light or something. I've tried other one-yuan Coin, and they're all hard to get in. Even the five-mao or five-yuan commemorative coins don't work."

"Mine was also a gift from Uncle Baldy, Sister Fairy, why don't you try it?" Liu Shiling said.

Yang Zhen'er had no choice but to take a deep breath and flick the Coin in the same way as before, but this time the Coin didn't fall into the paper cup. It tapped twice on the TV cabinet and rolled under the coffee table.

Liu Shiling didn't go over to pick up the Coin, but instead comforted Yang Zhen'er, who seemed a little annoyed, saying, "It's okay, Sister Laoxian, try this one again. It was given to you by Uncle Baldy too." As she spoke, she took out another Coin from her pocket.

Yang Zhen'er felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange, as if her and the Little Chubby Girl's positions had been reversed?

She instinctively took another Coin from the Little Chubby Girl, flicked it out with Coin, and as soon as Coin left her hand, she knew it was gone again.

But to everyone's surprise, the Coin, which was tumbling in the air, seemed to have its own precision guidance system and still landed accurately in the paper cup.

Moreover, the whole process looked very smooth, and the arc was even more beautiful than the Coin she initially flicked.

"Huh?" Yang Zhen'er looked at her fingers in surprise.

Liu Shiling walked over and retrieved the Coin that had rolled under the coffee table and from the paper cup. Then she returned to Yang Zhen'er and handed her the Coin: "Old Fairy Sister, which Coin is yours?"

Yang Zhen'er rummaged through the Coin, picked one out, and said, "This is mine, mine is from 2011. Hey, Little Bell, do you usually bring so many Coin to kindergarten?"

"Yes, I take it with me everywhere." Liu Shiling nodded seriously, then said, "Old Fairy Sister, give me your Coin."

Yang Zhen'er paused for a moment, looked at the Coin in her hand, then at the cute Little Chubby Girl, and hesitated before saying, "Little Bell, do you have any other toys you like? I'll buy them for you, okay? This Coin was a gift for the Chef Xiang, and it's my only one. If I give it to you, I won't have any left..."

Liu Shiling was taken aback for a moment, realizing she had misunderstood, and quickly said, "Old Fairy Sister, I don't want you to give it to me, I just want to give you the Coin first, I want to play a game with you."

"Oh, oh." Yang Zhen'er breathed a sigh of relief.

After taking the Coin, Liu Shiling quickly spun Coin between her fingers on the back of her left hand a few times, then suddenly slammed the Coin down on her left hand with her right hand and asked, "Old Fairy Sister, is it Little One or Little Flower now?"

Yang Zhen'er blinked, and said uncertainly, "Is it... Xiao Yi?"

Liu Shiling raised her right hand. "Wrong, Old Fairy Sister, it's Little Flower."

Yang Zhen'er stroked her chin and said, "What I mean is, a little... flower, hehe."

However, Liu Shiling ignored the old fairy sister's shamelessness, held the Coin in her hand, then put both hands behind her back, fiddled with it for a bit, then clenched both arms into fists and stretched them out at her sides, making a "big" shape with her whole body, and said, "Old fairy sister, which Coin do I have now?"

"Is there a prize for guessing correctly?" Yang Zhen'er asked with a grin.

Liu Shiling thought for a moment and said, "Next time Uncle Baldy comes over and makes steamed buns, I'll give one to Sister Laoxian with every meal."

"Deal!" Yang Zhen'er immediately said, "Also, you have to call me Fairy Sister, Xi Yi'an Fairy, or Fairy Sister!"

Liu Shiling nodded. "Okay, Sister Fairy."

Only then did Yang Zhen'er begin to observe Liu Shiling's small fists held out to either side with satisfaction. She didn't rush to guess, but first stood on the left, pointed a finger at the Little Chubby Girl's fist, which was clenched like a small white steamed bun, then moved to the right, and pointed at the right Little Bun, confidently saying:

"On the left hand!"

Liu Shiling opened her hand, and sure enough, the Coin was lying in her left hand.

Yang Zhen'er immediately explained with a hint of smugness, "Little Bell, your hands are too small! When you hold Coin, you squeeze hard, and your little fist is so obvious! Haha!"

Liu Shiling said helplessly, "Old Fairy Sister, please don't cheat."

Yang Zhen'er reached out and gently rubbed her face, making her pout. "I don't care, a bet's a bet! What did you call me?"

"Old... Fairy Sister, Fairy Sister!"

However, Liu Shiling learned from her mistake and tried a different approach this time. She hid her hands behind her back to prevent Yang Zhen'er from touching her little fists. Sure enough, Yang Zhen'er guessed wrong twice out of three attempts.

After confirming that Yang Zhen'er couldn't guess where the Coin was, Liu Shiling took out the crumpled A4 paper from her small schoolbag, folded it into a paper airplane, and handed it to Yang Zhen'er.

"Old Fairy Sister... Sister Girl, shoot down this paper airplane."

Yang Zhen'er took the crumpled paper airplane made of A4 paper and couldn't help but chuckle, "Why does this feel like a test? Do I have to pass an exam to join your Coin and origami interest group?"

She was supposed to be showing off her "Coin into Cup" skill at first, so how come it seems like she flipped a switch on Little Bell, making the little girl the one in control all of a sudden? But she just doesn't quite understand what Little Bell is doing.

"I'm just playing a game with Sister Fairy Shoes. Sister Fairy Shoes, try flying the airplane. Don't be afraid, it won't fly out of the balcony," Liu Shiling said.

"This fish girl, fairy~" Yang Zhen'er corrected.

"Mmm, fairy sister!" Liu Shiling nodded repeatedly, then raised her arms and made a take-off gesture, indicating to Yang Zhen'er to shoot the airplane.

Around 11 p. m., after saying goodbye to Zhang Qian, Tang Baona walked out of the building and went home.

The apartment complex she and Yang Zhen'er rented was very close to the "Soaring Dragon Interactive Entertainment" building, about a fifteen-minute walk away, so they didn't call a taxi and simply walked back by themselves, enjoying the evening breeze.

Back in Peng City, the hotel she and Yang Zhen'er stayed at was nearby. At that time, no matter if it was morning or night, Yang Zhen'er would accompany her back home.

Although Yang the Third was particularly fond of making a fuss and kept chattering away the whole way, after getting used to it, walking alone on the road all of a sudden was actually... a bit lonely.

However, when she thought that Yang the Third was going to pick up their cute Little Chubby Girl, she wasn't "jealous".

Shiling's Mother is indeed working very hard; she's busy at the company right now and probably won't be back until around midnight today.

At first, Zhang Qian arranged a very easy job for Shiling's Mother. She could pick up Liu Shiling from school early every day and cook dinner. But later, she studied very hard and worked diligently, which earned her a place in her department. In order to live up to the generous salary and the opportunity given to her by Zhang Qian, she worked even harder.

When Tang Baona saw Shiling's Mother during her visit to Peng City, she was quite surprised. Compared to the last time she met her in Star City, Shiling's Mother had lost a lot of weight and looked much more capable and energetic. It was as if she had always been a working woman rather than a housewife all these years.

Recently, the game was officially launched and a large-scale promotion began. There are new projects to prepare and promote, a lot of people need to be recruited, several project teams have been expanded, and new departments have been established, so everyone is particularly busy. She felt embarrassed to leave early to pick up her daughter.

Originally, I wanted to ask someone to help pick up my daughter from school and cook dinner, but after Yang Zhen'er came to Peng City, she forcefully took over all of these things.

Now, basically, if Shiling's Mother is busy, Yang Zhen'er picks up the Little Chubby Girl from school, takes her out to eat, and brings her home to wait for Shiling's Mother to return. Of course, sometimes Yang Zhen'er and Tang Baona go to pick her up together, and sometimes the three of them go together with Shiling's Mother.

Tang Baona knew that Yang Zhen'er was genuinely enjoying taking care of the Little Chubby Girl; it was a wonderful job for her. The Little Chubby Girl was cute, sensible, and well-behaved, so taking care of her required almost no effort, no trouble, just pure fun.

Yang Zhen'er often complained to her that Little Bell loved studying too much. Every time she got home, she would start studying, and there was no time to play with her. So she could only take her out for walks as much as possible and come back later.

She couldn't help but think of what Yang Zhen'er had said before: if she had a daughter, she must be like Little Bell.

Just as I was thinking about whether my daughter would be as cute as Little Bell if I had one in the future, a frivolous whistle suddenly rang out from not far away, followed by a voice that was clearly drunk:

"Hey beautiful! Let's go for drinks! We'll go to a pub, it's on me! You can order whatever you want!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Tang Baona caught sight of three men who looked to be in their twenties or thirties walking together. One of them seemed to have drunk quite a bit and was calling out to her, while the other two looked at him with smiles and tried to pull him away.

Tang Baona didn't pay any attention and ignored it, preparing to quicken her pace and leave.

She wasn't afraid. The area was quite safe, with cameras everywhere, making it hard to find any blind spots. Even though it was past eleven, there were still many people around. The police station wasn't far away either. The drunkard would just shout a few words at most; he was the one who would lose face. If Yang Zhen'er were here, she would probably argue back with this glib-tongued guy, but she couldn't be bothered to pay him any attention.

But after taking only two steps, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded from where the drunk man was, startling her and causing her to instinctively turn around.

Not only was Tang Baona frightened, but the drunk man and his two companions were also startled, and passersby, including security guards from nearby buildings, all turned their attention to them.

"Holy crap, what's wrong with your phone? Is it going to explode? Why is it making that sound?" A companion shouted, frowning, after confirming that the sound was coming from the drunk man's phone.

The drunkard took out his phone and started unlocking it while cursing, but as soon as the noise stopped, it automatically switched to the call screen with the speakerphone on. Perhaps the phone's speakerphone was too powerful, or perhaps it was too quiet in the middle of the night, but the call audio came through clearly.

"You bastard surnamed Wang! You told me you were going to work overtime and sleep at the company, and I actually believed you! I was even worried about your health! Who the hell are you trying to call, this vixen, calling me here?"

"Honey... I didn't... I was just... I was joking..."

"Damn it! I can smell the alcohol on you even over the phone! Get back here right now! Right now!"

Amidst that powerful roar, the drunkard seemed to sober up considerably, and amidst the teasing of his two companions, he slunk away quickly into the distance.

Tang Baona continued walking home, but thinking about the bizarre scene she had just witnessed, she suddenly felt something was amiss.

She stopped, stood under a streetlamp, and asked in a very soft voice, "Did you do that, Little Sprite?"

The streetlight suddenly dimmed slightly, paused for half a second, and then regained its brightness.

Tang Baona adjusted her glasses, squinted at the streetlight, and exclaimed happily, "You came to Peng City with me!"

She gently patted the lamppost. "Thank you, Little Sprite."

As Tang Baona continued walking home, her steps suddenly became lighter, and she even couldn't help but take the little skipping steps she used to take as a child. Her youthful and adorable charm couldn't be hidden even by her business suit and bun hairstyle.