"I can," Zhu Zhuyun said.
"All right." Jiang Lan nodded, then thought of something and planted both hands on his hips. "Shouldn't you be calling me Master now?"
Zhu Zhuyun fell silent for three seconds.
Crouching on the ground, she looked at the child in a penguin suit who barely reached her waist. With his hands on his hips, his round belly thrust out, and that maddeningly smug look on his face, he was putting every ounce of composure she had cultivated in her life to a severe test.
"Master." Zhu Zhuyun squeezed the word through her teeth. She was still smiling, but the curve of her lips was noticeably stiff.
"Mm." Jiang Lan nodded in satisfaction, then tilted his head and asked, "And as a student, shouldn't you listen to your teacher?"
Looking into his big, clear black-and-white eyes, Zhu Zhuyun vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
There was a sly gleam in the little fellow's eyes, as though he was plotting something.
But things had already gone this far. She couldn't very well go back on her word.
"Yes," Zhu Zhuyun said.
"Good." Jiang Lan clapped his little hands, then spread his two short arms toward her and lifted his face. "I want to ride on your shoulders."
Zhu Zhuyun's smile froze.
"What did you say?"
"Ride on your shoulders," Jiang Lan repeated, looking perfectly entitled. "My legs are short, so I walk slowly. You're tall, so you walk fast. If you carry me, we can reach our destination sooner. Besides, I just fell out of the sky, and my butt still hurts. I don't want to walk."
Doro crouched nearby with her little hands over her mouth, her big purple eyes curved into crescents and her shoulders shaking.
Zhu Zhuyun looked down at Jiang Lan, then up