Yu Jinxiao felt utterly exhausted. Raising kids was proving to be more tiring than working 48 hours straight. Despite bringing a change of clothes, it was already time to head home. He told Gao Zhou to pack up, deciding to deal with the dirty little kitten once they got back.

As soon as they stepped through the door, Aunt Chen nearly failed to recognize the child she had dressed that morning. At first, she thought Yu Jinxiao had bought Yuanyuan a new outfit during their outing.

Her clothes were completely covered in mud, with a few blades of grass still clinging to them. Yuanyuan was like a walking embodiment of nature.

“Don’t bother washing it. Just throw it out,” Yu Jinxiao said, glancing at the dirty little thing with disdain. He was being “thoughtful” in sparing Aunt Chen the hassle of washing the mud-stained white clothes.

Aunt Chen, relieved by this directive, took Yuanyuan upstairs to change her into a clean pink dress.

After dinner, Yuanyuan was carefully climbing down from her chair when she suddenly froze mid-motion, eyes wide. “Oh no!!”

“What now?” Yu Jinxiao winced at her sudden outburst, feeling a headache brewing.

“Brother Shen Ji’s number!” Yuanyuan’s voice trembled, tears already welling up in her eyes. “It’s still in my old clothes!”

Aunt Chen, thinking it must be something like a bank PIN or another important number, hurried to fish the discarded clothes from the trash. She only found a crumpled, dirty napkin.

“Miss Yuanyuan, is this what you’re looking for?” Aunt Chen checked every pocket but found nothing else.

Yuanyuan grabbed the napkin as if it were a treasure and unfolded it gently—

Nothing!

The numbers were gone!

The digits, written with dirt, had rubbed off, leaving nothing but faint smudges and specks of mud on the paper.

“Whahhh!” Yuanyuan’s sobbing echoed through the house. “I worked so hard to get brother Shen Ji’s number! Now I can’t talk to him anymore! Waaaaah…”

Yu Mingxi, who had been sipping his soup, looked up at the commotion. “What’s going on? Why is Yuanyuan crying?”

“Big Brother!” Yuanyuan wailed as she rushed over to cling to his leg, her little eyes red from crying. “Brother Shen Ji’s number is gone! It turned into mud!”

“Oh, that,” Yu Mingxi chuckled, patting her head. “I memorized it.”

“Meow?” Yuanyuan was so surprised she reverted to her cat-like reflexes, a stunned “meow” escaping her lips.

Standing up, Yu Mingxi grabbed some paper and wrote down a string of numbers. “Here, this is the number.”

“Re-really?” Yuanyuan clutched the new piece of paper, not quite believing her luck.

“You’ve got your kids’ smartwatch, right? Call him and see for yourself.” Gu Mingxi pointed to her watch, lifting her onto the couch to help her use it.

Yuanyuan’s smartwatch had a few more features than a regular one—like GPS, one-way communication, and video recording. But it still had all the basic functions, including making calls and checking the time.

With the number in hand, Yu Mingxi guided Yuanyuan through dialing. After pressing all the digits, they waited for the call to connect.

The smartwatch beeped a few times before the call was finally picked up, and an annoyed young girl’s voice came through.

“Hello, is brother Shen Ji home?” Yuanyuan asked politely, speaking slowly and clearly with each word.

There was a long pause on the other end, followed by a gruff reply: “Shen Ji is dead. Don’t call here again.”