The kindergarten was very close to their home; just five minutes away after crossing an old alley, they could reach their doorstep.
Both families lived in the same large, mixed courtyard.
When they returned, Gu's mom was standing in the yard washing vegetables. Seeing the two little ones come back one after the other, she couldn't help but ask, "Didn't I tell you to hold hands and come home together after school? Why didn't you hold hands?"
"Hubby walked too fast, I couldn't reach his hand," said Luo Mengmeng with beads of sweat on her forehead, pouting towards Gu's mom and tattling on Gu Zhihan.
"Eh, Gu Zhihan, you little scamp, why are you so insensitive..." Gu's mom originally wanted to scold her son, but then she noticed something was off.
Did Mengmeng just speak?
Gu's mom immediately widened her eyes, dropped the vegetables in her hand, and rushed to Mengmeng's side. She crouched down, excitedly asking her, "Mengmeng, have you learned to speak?"
"Mhmm!"
Luo Mengmeng nodded her little head and roughly explained what had happened in kindergarten that day.
"This is really great, so great!" Gu's mom was ecstatic and immediately went to share the good news with Luo's mom.
Upon hearing that their daughter could finally speak, Luo's mom and Luo's dad were overjoyed. They even made a big table of dishes to thank Gu Zhihan.
Gu Zhihan was speechless about this. He felt that if anyone deserved thanks, it should be the little boy who hit Mengmeng with the eraser...
After the feast, Gu Zhihan still ignored Mengmeng.
No, to be precise, he didn't pay attention to Mengmeng for many days to come.
Hmph, who told her to always kiss him for no reason and talk nonsense, causing him to lose face!
He thought he didn't have a temper?
"Hubby, why won't you talk to me? Hubby? Hubby? Hubby?"
In the toddler class, Luo Mengmeng sat next to his left hand, her little mouth like a repeater, continuously repeating the word "Hubby," making the surrounding children and teachers all look towards them.
"If you stop calling me hubby and kissing me randomly, I might reluctantly talk to you!" Gu Zhihan, treated like a monkey on show by the whole class, once again couldn't bear it. He lifted his dark cheeks and interrupted her in displeasure.
Seeing that he was finally willing to talk to her, Luo Mengmeng quickly tilted her little head and asked, "Then what should I call you? Husband? Dear? My lord? Daddy?"
Mengmeng tried hard to recall the terms her mom usually used to address her dad.
Aren't all these terms essentially the same as "hubby"?
Gu Zhihan was utterly speechless.
"Also, every time I kiss you, I'm very serious about it. It's not random at all!" Luo Mengmeng once again said earnestly.
"..."
Gu Zhihan stared at her for a few seconds, finally defeated by this little one. After hearing the kindergarten's midday bell, he simply picked up his backpack and walked out of the toddler classroom without saying a word.
Forget it, he had already taken the IQ test. If nothing went wrong, he'd skip a grade to the first grade next year, and then he could separate from this kid.
"Hubby, why aren't you waiting for me again!"
Seeing him walk ahead again, Luo Mengmeng couldn't help but stamp her little feet and hurriedly chased after him with her backpack.
"Humph, stinky hubby, always walking so fast!" The three-year-old little girl, with her backpack on and full of sweat, stood under the harsh September sun, accusingly staring at the distant boy.
What she didn't know was that whenever she fell a certain distance behind, Gu Zhihan would slow down to wait for her.