Several more shots followed, and every single one was stopped by Yuanyuan. Despite her small and seemingly clumsy frame, she moved with surprising agility whenever the ball came near.

Yu Yingze watched her closely and realized something interesting—Yuanyuan seemed to instinctively use both her hands and feet in perfect coordination, almost like a little kitten. She didn’t just rely on one or the other, but somehow always found a way to use both, making her surprisingly effective at blocking the ball.

After nearly two hours of playing, the attacking team hadn’t scored a single goal. What Yu Yingze expected to be a frustrating outcome turned out to be the opposite—Ge Shao and his brothers weren’t upset at all. In fact, they were overflowing with praise for Yuanyuan, almost running out of compliments.

Meanwhile, Yu Jinxiao, having finally finished the work that had piled up on his laptop, stood up and stretched his tired back. That’s when he noticed the group of kids playing in the distance.

One of them looked like a small, rolling ping pong ball, round and bouncing. From afar, it looked a lot like…

Little Dumpling!

At this point, Yuanyuan’s once-white clothes were completely covered in dirt, grass stains, and mud. From a distance, it looked like she had changed into an entirely new, earthy-colored outfit.

Yu Jinxiao felt a headache brewing. He turned his gaze toward the other kids.

Weren’t those the same troublemakers from earlier? How are they all playing together already?

“Ge Shao, time to go!” A distant voice called, signaling the end of their game.

Yu Yingze and the Ge brothers were drenched in sweat from all the running. All five kids had clearly enjoyed themselves, and there was no sign of the earlier tensions between them.

The father calling his sons saw Yu Yingze and Yuanyuan, immediately breaking into a cold sweat, his legs trembling slightly.

What’s going on? My son said he was going to play, but now he’s playing with Yu Jinxiao’s kids?

“You’re heading home?” Yu Yingze kicked the ball into his hands with a flick of his foot. “Let’s play again sometime. You guys are pretty good.”

“Yeah, next time we meet, let’s have another match,” Ge Shao agreed, eager for a rematch.

Yu Jinxiao stood up, frowning slightly, and met the gaze of Ge Shao’s father from across the field. The two fathers exchanged awkward, uncertain smiles, unsure of how to greet each other after everything that had happened earlier.

The kids, however, were completely unfazed. They had clearly moved past their earlier disagreements, now bonded by a good game of soccer and already making plans to play again.

Yuanyuan, with a red mark still visible on her forehead and her clothes covered in dirt and grass, waved goodbye to the Ge brothers, all traces of the earlier quarrel gone.

Yu Jinxiao watched in disbelief. How is it that children can so easily move on from conflict? Maybe sometimes, adults are more complicated than necessary.

“Daddy, Daddy!” Yuanyuan finally had a chance to show off her soccer skills. “I was such a good goalie! I stopped every ball, one after the other…”

“Yuanyuan, look at your clothes!” GYu Jinxiao scolded, his eyebrows furrowing in what was clearly the precursor to an outburst. Yuanyuan’s excitement quickly faded as she realized her father wasn’t exactly in a congratulatory mood.

She shrank back, quickly grabbing some wet wipes from the table to clean her hands. After wiping her hands, she tried wiping her dirty clothes as well…

Big mistake. The more she wiped, the dirtier her clothes became.

“Daddy…” A panicked Yuanyuan held up the wet wipes, looking utterly helpless.

“Do you know what you look like right now?” Yu Jinxiao asked, casting a quick glance at Yu Yingze. The contrast between the two siblings was shocking—while Yu Yingze was sweaty but relatively clean, Yuanyuan looked like she had rolled through the mud.

Taking the question seriously, Yuanyuan placed her hand on her chin, thinking hard. After a moment of deep contemplation, she answered with complete sincerity, “A dirty little kitten.”

Yu Jinxiao’s head throbbed, and all he could hear echoing in his mind was: Meow meow meow meow meow…