Almost Exposed (continued)

Sanzai: "Godmother is the best godmother in the world, we love you."

Huo Lan hugged them both, and hearing their words, she almost cried, "Godmother loves you both so, so much too."

Once the three of them had calmed down a bit, Huo Lan took out the second gift.

"I asked a friend to buy this from the Central Base. I heard that the children there use this to wipe their faces and hands in winter. It protects their skin from frostbite and has a light fragrance. You should be able to use it."

All three children received this perfume, but she only gave the second and third children scarves because they are, after all, her goddaughters, and there should be some difference.

The Eldest Cub was pulled into a chess game by Liu Qi'an, and could only thank Huo Lan across the chessboard.

The perfume box was about the size of two children's fists. After unscrewing it, the perfume was milky white and did have a refreshing scent.

Perhaps it's because they eat Tao Qiu's crops every day to nourish them, but apart from the third child being weak when he was young, the three children haven't been sick for years, and haven't even gotten frostbite once in winter.

But this was Huo Lan's good intention, and all three children liked it. The second and third children immediately washed their faces and hands and asked Huo Lan to apply it for them.

The Eldest Cub also wanted to, but Liu Qi'an kept urging him to make his move, and he really didn't have time. Huo Lan could understand him.

The children are lively, and when the adults chat, they occasionally blurt out a childlike remark that often makes them laugh, filling the house with a joyful atmosphere.

Of course, isn't this joy shared by the Eldest Cub?

"Uncle Liu, I'm tired, I don't want to play anymore." After losing another round, Eldest Cub tactfully asked to end the game.

The Eldest Cub had never seen anyone like Liu Qi'an. He would find all sorts of reasons to take back a move in a game of Gomoku, and he did it with such self-righteousness.

He finally understood why his other aunts and uncles didn't like playing with him.

Liu Qi'an tried to persuade her to stay, "No, Momo, play a few more rounds with your uncle!"

"No, no, I'm thirsty, I need to get some water." With that, Eldest Cub jumped off the chair and ran into Tao Qiu, clinging tightly to his clothes, afraid that Liu Qi'an would catch him and take him back.

Tao Qiu gently ruffled his hair, offering silent comfort.

John rolled his eyes at Liu Qi'an and sneered mercilessly, "You can even mess with a kid? Liu Qi'an, aren't you going to reflect on yourself?"

Liu Qi'an: "... You can take back your moves too? I'll let you take back your moves, but wouldn't you be willing?"

John: "If one or two players take back their moves, what's the point of playing this game?"

Liu Qi'an: "I think it's quite meaningful."

John: "... No wonder nobody wants to play this with you."

Liu Qi'an: "..."

Feeling wronged, wanting to cry.

The people around couldn't help but suppress their laughter.

Just then, the sound of a car could be heard outside again.

Chen Lin got up to look, and just as he reached the door, he bumped into Congcong.

"Ah, Congcong, you're here."

"Good afternoon, Uncle Chen!" Congcong greeted him sensibly.

Congcong's father arrived shortly after, carrying a gift bag. Smiling, he said to Chen Lin, "My child wanted to come and play today; thank you for your help again."

Chen Lin: "It's no trouble at all. We all really like Congcong. It'll be more lively here with him."

Chen Lin wasn't just being polite. Apart from the first time Congcong came, when he deliberately acted up for a few hours because he was worried about his mother's condition, he has always been very sensible and well-behaved here, and everyone likes him quite a bit.

Chen Lin welcomed the father and son into the house. When they saw Tao Qiu Lou Yu the children there, they both froze for a few seconds.

In the end, it was Congcong's father who reacted first. Without doing anything special, he greeted everyone normally, and everyone responded.

Lou Yu proactively introduced Tao Qiu and the three children, "This is Congcong and his father. Congcong often comes to play here. When I bought gifts for the children before, I also took his advice into consideration."

Tao Qiu smiled and waved to him, "Hello Congcong, I'm your Uncle Lou Yu's girlfriend. My surname is Tao, you can just call me Uncle Tao."

Congcong knew that Lou Yu had a girlfriend and a child, but he had never met them.

Congcong obediently said, "Hello, Uncle Tao."

When Liu Qi'an saw Congcong, he thought again, "Why don't I drag him into the fire pit I dug myself?"

Congcong, is this his first time visiting? He's already learned his lesson from Liu Qi'an before. Seeing Liu Qi'an's eyes light up when he looks at him, he quickly runs to Chen Lin's side for protection.

Having failed to apprehend the old victims, Liu Qi'an turned his attention to the second and third sons.

Huo Lan glared at Liu Qi'an and said to the three kids, "You guys take Congcong to play over there. Don't pay attention to your Uncle Liu; let him entertain himself."

Lou Yu also said, "The children hadn't met before, but they got to know each other quickly after playing together for a while."

The three kids were all very enthusiastic. They could tell that their older brother, Congcong, wasn't a bad kid, so they were willing to listen to the adults and play with him.

Watching the three kids lead Congcong away, Liu Qi'an sighed, and in the end, he actually started playing chess with himself.

The three kids took Congcong to play in the yard outside. It wasn't snowing or windy at the moment, and the children were all dressed warmly, so they wouldn't get cold.

On the way out, the three kids told Congcong their names.

The snow in the yard was shoveled yesterday, and it snowed during the day today, but it didn't accumulate too thickly. The kids walked on the snow and stomped out flower-like footprints.

The second child looked at the footprints and suddenly giggled, "Hey, can we call these 'foot flowers'?"

The three kids were indeed siblings; the Eldest Cub and the youngest immediately understood what she meant.

The Eldest Cub chuckled softly, while the third cub burst into laughter, "Sister, how come you always come up with these weird jokes?"

The second son proudly declared, "Because I'm smart!"

Only Congcong didn't understand what they were laughing at, and looked puzzled.

The Eldest Cub wrote the words "foot flower" in the snow, saying, "Because flowers are usually very pretty. A flower that looks like a foot might not be pretty, but it's definitely funny."

After saying that, he wrote the two characters "cunning". "The word 'foot flower' sounds like 'cunning' in Chinese, so it's not actually that funny, but because it was my sister who said it, we laughed."

Congcong can understand what Eldest Cub means. Because close people have similar life memories, they can always find common ground in their emotions.

Like that time when he accidentally fell, after his parents made sure he was okay, his dad said that the way he fell looked like a toad lying on its back in a cartoon, which made his mom laugh. In the end, except for him, his parents laughed until tears streamed down their faces.

After Eldest Cub explained, Congcong didn't quite understand their joke either. Instead, he found Eldest Cub's earnest explanation quite cute, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Seeing that Congcong was smiling, the three kids laughed even more unrestrainedly.

Jokes are only fun when everyone laughs together.

After laughing, Congcong suddenly realized something. Looking at the few words that Eldest Cub had written in the snow, he exclaimed in surprise, "Xiao Mo, you can read at such a young age? And you write very well!"

The Eldest Cub nodded. "We like watching cartoons and TV dramas, and we can remember what words the characters say. We also have paper and pens at home, so we write those words when we're bored."

Congcong was shocked. He struggled so much at school even with teachers, and these three learned it just by watching cartoons and TV dramas?

He squatted down and wrote down a few words he remembered clearly recently on the ground.

Do you recognize all these characters?

Three kids gathered around, staring at the words, and said in unison, "Winter, snowflakes, Chinese New Year, firecrackers."

Congcong's mouth dropped open. "You guys are amazing! If you went to school, all the teachers would definitely like you!"

The second kid, with a smug grin, feigned modesty. "It's alright, just so-so. We don't actually know that many words."

Congcong said, "That's already a lot for your age."

Sanzai said, "Brother Congcong, you know these words too! You're really amazing!"

"I'm not like you." Congcong was still self-aware. "I'm several years older than you, and I have teachers to teach me, so it's normal that I know these things."

The Eldest Cub said, "No? Maybe everyone can learn it just because the teacher teaches it. I've seen students in cartoons who can't learn it, but you, Brother Congcong, have learned it all. In the cartoons, they say someone like you is a top student."

Congcong was embarrassed by their praise, but he was also a little happy inside, as it seemed he might actually be quite smart.

He ranked third in his class in this final exam.

After exchanging compliments, their relationship grew even closer.

After that, they rolled snowballs together, trying to build a snowman.

After they finished rolling, Congcong noticed that his snowball was a little bigger and wanted to use it as a base, so he told his three kids.

The three kids thought it was a good idea and immediately pushed their snowballs over.

Congcong: "Shall we lift it together...?"

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Erzai pick up the snowball, which was as tall as her thigh, and easily place it on top of the larger snowball.

Because it was going too fast, he didn't even have time to stop it.

"Oh my god, Xiao Xue, are you alright?" Congcong carefully observed Erzai's expression and movements, trying to see if she was feeling unwell. "My mom said that if you try to lift something too heavy, you'll easily strain your back."

Erzai remained calm. "I can lift it. This snowball isn't too heavy."

Congcong found it hard to believe; his expression was practically splitting open.

Congcong hadn't doubted the fact that his three children knew many characters, because their school also had gifted students with excellent memories.