When kids play with toys, there’s rarely any rules. What Yu Yuanyuan called stacking blocks seemed more like an extreme challenge to Old Master Yu.

The blocks that were supposed to fit neatly together were instead placed at awkward angles by Yuanyuan. At any moment, they could easily come crashing down.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if she was just playing by herself, but no—she insisted on supervising Old Master Yu, making sure he participated.

One block from her, one block from him—the tower grew taller and taller, teetering dangerously, ready to collapse at the slightest nudge.

Old Master Yu had a bad feeling about this.

The little girl had worked so hard to stack the blocks, and if they fell on his turn, wouldn’t she wail loud enough to shake the heavens?

The mere thought of the ear-piercing cries made Old Master Yu’s ears tingle with a phantom pain.

“Grandpa, be careful! It’s super high now! Yuanyuan is about to break her record!” Yuanyuan chirped happily.

The more excited she got, the more serious Old Master Yu’s expression became.

To his surprise, the tower of blocks had reached almost half a meter in height under Yuanyuan’s seemingly reckless maneuvers.

Every time she placed a block, the whole thing wobbled precariously, making Old Master Yu break out in a cold sweat.

For a man who had weathered countless storms, it was ridiculous that a simple game of block stacking had him so on edge. His suit jacket was long discarded, and there he was, half-kneeling on the carpet, carefully calculating the most balanced way to place his next block.

One wrong move, and it would all be over.

With trembling hands, Old Master Yu placed a rectangular block onto the top of the tower. The entire structure swayed slightly, causing him to hold his breath as if even breathing would topple it.

But miraculously, the tower steadied itself again. Now it was Yuanyuan’s turn.

Her chubby little hands, seemingly destined to ruin everything, reached out to place her block. Old Master Yu watched with low expectations.

When—somehow—her clumsy movements managed to balance the block perfectly at the top, Old Master Yu’s breath hitched in disbelief.

Now it was his turn again!

That had to be luck, Old Master Yu reasoned.

There weren’t many blocks left, and he didn’t have many options to choose from. Grabbing one, he meticulously calculated the weight distribution. The left side was bearing most of the load, but since Yuanyuan’s haphazard stacking had already thrown everything off balance, he needed to add just a bit of weight to the right side to maintain symmetry.

In his head, he broke down every possible variable, analyzing his next move like it was a high-stakes chess match. His fingers trembled slightly as he gingerly positioned the block.

How bizarre—he was competing in what felt like a life-or-death challenge, stacking blocks with a child.

The edge of the block gently touched down, and Old Master Yu held his breath. He waited for the wobbling to subside, then slowly lowered the other side.

Done!

Now it was the little one’s turn again.

Exhaling softly, Old Master Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead with a tissue. But the motion of his arm disturbed the air, and a faint breeze brushed past the precariously tall block tower.

The blocks wobbled for a split second—then came crashing down, clattering all over the floor.

In an instant, all the hard work that had gone into building the towering structure was reduced to a scattered mess on the ground.

At that moment, Old Master Yu felt an immense weight in his chest, like a mountain had just settled there. He had contributed to that towering achievement, only to see it collapse before his eyes.

Oh no, she’s going to cry. The little girl was bound to burst into tears after such a catastrophic failure, especially since it was his fault the blocks fell!

Old Master Yu braced himself, ready to be bombarded by wailing and sobbing, his mind already anticipating the impending headache from the noise.

But no crying came.

Instead, Yuanyuan, who had been sitting across from him, quietly scooted over and began picking up the fallen blocks one by one. She gently removed the blocks that had fallen onto him, her little face scrunched up with worry.

“Grandpa, did the blocks hurt you?” she asked softly, her big eyes filled with concern.