CH 11

They noticed that the tall physical education teacher was squatting aggrievedly in a corner of the playground. It’s just as Zhou Yuan had described it.

Zhou Yuan released Little Miaomiao’s hand and tidied her hair. She ran too quickly just now, and the bangs in front became disheveled. “Does Little Miaomiao know what to say to the P.E. teacher?”

Little Miaomiao felt a lot of guilt for causing the physical education teacher’s plight, but she lacked experience and didn’t have a clue about what to say.

“You’ll go up to the teacher and say,” Zhou Yuan began, before he imitated Little Miaomiao’s voice and continued, “Teacher Guan. I’m sorry for scaring you.” While he spoke, Zhou Yuan produced a small bag of dried meat from his pocket, “Then you will give this to him, and he will know that he won’t have to starve anymore. Afterwards, he’ll forgive you.”

Little Miaomiao nodded in acknowledgement and slowly approached their teacher with tiny, tremulous steps.

The P.E. teacher was squatting in the corner with his back facing them. His posture carried striking resemblances with Little Miaomiao’s posture a moment ago, when she hid under her desk in class.

With Zhou Yuan’s encouragement, Little Miaomiao approached Teacher Guan. When she took a closer look, the burly P.E. teacher’s back didn’t look so intimidating. She gained quite a bit of courage from this.

“Teacher Guan…”, Little Miaomiao whispered.

The P.E. teacher didn’t turn to her and continued to obstinately squat with his back towards her. Seeing him unresponsive, Little Miaomiao became a little more anxious. She walked closer to him and gathered whatever courage she had. Then she called out with a slightly louder voice, “Teacher Guan…”

“Huh?”, Teacher Guan deflated his mouth, turned back and looked at Little Miaomiao with sorrow.

At this moment, Little Miaomiao should’ve said her apologies to him…

But nervousness gripped her heart. Confusion, uncertainty, and ambivalence. They all consumed the thoughts inside her little head and instead of apologizing first, she stretched out her hand and declared, “Here…”

Teacher Guan received the packet, then looked at Little Miaomiao. Teacher Guan possessed a towering, burly figure. When he squatted, he had almost the same height as Little Miaomiao.

Teacher Guan whispered to her, “Will you attend physical education?”

Little Miaomiao nodded. Only after this interaction with Teacher Guan, did Little Miaomiao feel that he wasn’t the same as those who struck her. She couldn’t understand why she mistook him as being one of them.

Little Miaomiao squatted down and articulated, “I will attend physical education.”

This relieved Teacher Guan’s concerns. Then, he opened the packet of dried meat, took out a single piece and sundered it in two. He bestowed one of the halves onto Little Miaomiao and said, “Each one of us will get a half.”

Little Miaomiao received a half piece of dried meat and ate it.

Teacher Guan also began to devour the other half. While eating, he said with a dispirited voice, “Am I…too aggressive? That’s why you believed that I was going to beat you earlier…”

Little Miaomiao could sense a tinge of despondent sadness from his tone, so she whispered, “No…”

But Little Miaomiao’s voice wasn’t convincing at all.

“The principal told me that I’m an adult, and that I have a reputation to consider. If I don’t speak loudly, then the children won’t be able to hear or respect me.”, Teacher Guan stretched out his hand and continued,”Otherwise, there won’t be any food to eat…”

Little Miaomiao considered it for a while. She realized that their classroom was too large. If the teacher’s voice was too soft like her’s, then the students wouldn’t notice what the teacher is saying.

Teacher Guan, who squatted next to Little Miaomiao, looked at her with eagerness and acted pitifully – he hasn’t done something like this since he was five years old.

Observing him, Little Miaomiao felt that Teacher Guan was not really that intimidating. His voice was not so terrifying, even if he spoke loudly.

Zhou Yuan, who stood not too far away from them, observed the two squatting and conversing with each other. He had no clue about what they were talking about, but just seeing Little Miaomiao speak even a little assured him that she was doing just fine.

It was almost time for class to end, when the two finished their conversation. Only God knew what they talked about for so long.

After class ended, the P.E. teacher returned Little Miaomiao to Zhou Yuan’s care. As soon as the teacher left, all the other students gathered around them.

“Miaomiao, are you okay?”

“Miaomiao, are you okay?”

Zhou Yuan grasped Little Miaomiao’s hand and started to traverse back to the classroom, “She is fine. Let’s all return to the classroom.”

All the students followed their lead and trailed behind them. Instead of just two, now it was an entire throng of children, who journeyed back to the classroom together.

Afternoon came, and when Aunt Hua arrived to pick up Little Miaomiao, she noticed something. As soon as Little Miaomiao left her desk, she waved at the little boy sitting next to her and said, “Goodbye, Zhou Yuan.”

This astounded Aunt Hua.

When Little Miaomiao came out of the classroom, Aunt Hua gripped Little Miaomiao’s hand, and they started walking. There were other parents with their own children who passed by. When the other children eyed Little Miaomiao, they waved to her and said, “See you tomorrow, Miaomiao.”

“Goodbye, Miaomiao.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Although Little Miaomiao was still shy, she did reply back, “See you tomorrow.”

Aunt Hua was even more astonished, when she saw Little Miaomiao fearlessly getting along with her peers.

A parent even greeted Aunt Hua, “You must be Miaomiao’s mother. I am Deng Feng’s mother.”

Later that night, Aunt Hua was helping Little Miaomiao with her homework. Abruptly, Little Miao, who was busy writing, said, “Zhou Yuan always does his homework after he arrives at school during mornings everyday…”

Aunt Hua was pleasantly surprised, when she heard her little daughter speak about her classmates.

If anything, Little Miaomiao had always desired to converse with Aunt Hua similarly to how her classmates conversed with their parents. But she never ventured to do so. After a long time, she finally summoned up the courage to speak.

Aunt Hua said softly, “Then, he really is amazing.”

Aunt Hua held Zhou Yuan in high regard. She still remembered what the little boy said in the office during that day. Whether it’s the content of his speech or logic behind his words, he wasn’t an ordinary child.

Of course, when she later asked her friend about Zhou Yuan, she discovered that he knew more than a thousand words, when he was just two years old. Furthermore, at the age of three, Zhou Yuan had always lied to his nanny and had clandestine excursions outside by himself. As a result, his father, who was a university professor, began taking Zhou Yuan to his classes, which caused the ambit of Zhou Yuan’s knowledge to expand. At the age of four, when he took his IQ test, his scores were so high that they shocked everyone. What is even more surprising was that his EQ is also very high. When someone asked him about how he acquired his knowledge, Zhou Yuan sighed, “I learned it during my college life.”

Only God knows that his college life was just him following his father to the classes that he taught.

When he turned five years old, Zhou Yuan attended a kindergarten and began a life akin to that of an ordinary child.

When Aunt Hua learned about him at the time, she was fearful that he would abhor Little Miaomiao, since he was a genius. But Teacher Li gave assurance to her that he was much more amicable and kind towards children than adults. Teacher Li mentioned, “You don’t have to worry about this. He cares for children very much.”

Aunt Hua remembered their departure from school today. Little Miaomiao waved to him and said their goodbyes. It seemed that he really is a treasure.

Little Miaomiao felt very proud, when she heard Aunt Hua laud Zhou Yuan. She raised her head and said with a smile, “He is my good friend!”

They shared their food, held hands, and bid farewell, when they departed school. They were just like other good friends.

So, they both were also considered good friends.

Aunt Hua touched Little Miaomiao’s head, before saying, “Miaomiao is so amazing! You can invite your good friends to our home to play, when you have time.”

Little Miaomiao contemplated this for a brief moment, before she finally nodded.

On the other hand, Zhou Yuan, whose mother requested him to read more comics and have more fun during his childhood, had no idea that his tablemate considered bringing him to her home and sharing her dolls with him…