“Wen Zifei, did you do that on purpose?!” Gu Beiyan exclaimed, clearly annoyed that their fun had been interrupted now that the ball was stuck in the tree.

Wen Zifei, equally frustrated, snapped back, “Yeah, I did it on purpose. Happy now?”

“Don’t argue!” The little cub, Yuanyuan, happily waddled over, placing herself between the two of them to break up the tension. “Yuanyuan has a way to get it down!”

The tree was right up against the fence, so it was easy for the ball to accidentally get stuck outside. Determined, Yuanyuan took off one of her shoes and, with all her might, gave a loud “Heave!” as she threw it—

The shoe sailed through the air in a graceful arc… and landed harmlessly on the ground far away from the tree.

There was an awkward silence in the air.

Her attempt had completely missed.

Gu Beiyan jogged over, picked up the shoe, and patted his chest confidently. “Leave it to me! I’ll get that ball down for sure.”

“Go, go! You can do it!” Yuanyuan cheered, waving her tiny fists in excitement.

With Yuanyuan’s hopeful eyes watching him, Gu Beiyan vowed to himself that he wouldn’t let her down. He took a deep breath, rolled up his sleeves to free up his arms, and gave the shoe a powerful toss—

The shoe soared up, heading directly for the ball.

Chu Qi, watching from the side, had a growing sense of dread. This wasn’t going to end well.

Sure enough, the shoe grazed the ball but barely nudged it. The next moment, the shoe veered off course and got stuck in the branches… right next to the ball.

“My… my shoe!” Yuanyuan sniffled, her eyes starting to well up with tears.

Gu Beiyan froze, horrified. He had made Yuanyuan cry! Oh no, what had he done?!

“I’ll get it down! I’ll get both the shoe and the ball down!” Panicking, Gu Beiyan looked around desperately for a solution before hugging the tree trunk. “I’ll climb up and get them—this time for sure!”

Just as he was about to scale the tree, he felt a tug on his clothes.

Struggling to turn around, Gu Beiyan saw Yuanyuan holding onto the back of his shirt, her eyes red and her tiny face scrunched up in concern. “That’s too dangerous! Yuanyuan will think of another way,” she pleaded, pulling him down from the tree. “Come down.”

A flood of emotions rushed over Gu Beiyan. Yuanyuan was worried about him! He was so touched he could almost cry.

No way! Yuanyuan cared about him so much, there was no way he would let her down again.

“Don’t worry, Yuanyuan. I will return safely,” he declared, with the gravity of a soldier heading off to war.

Before he could attempt to climb again, Chu Qi smacked him on the back of the head. “You falling off the tree isn’t the issue here. If you scare Yuanyuan—”

Gu Beiyan immediately went silent. The last thing he wanted was to be the reason Yuanyuan was scared or hurt.

“You’re all useless. Just get something long and knock it down,” Wen Zifei grumbled, unable to stand watching the others fumble any longer. He went off and came back with a broom and a small stool.

Chu Qi folded her arms, smirking silently. When Wen Zifei stood on the stool and reached up with the broom, he quickly realized he had overestimated his height.

Even with the broom, he was still far from reaching the ball.

Meanwhile, Yuanyuan had been staring up at the tree for a while, her neck starting to ache from looking up for so long. But then her eyes lit up with inspiration.

“Yuanyuan has an idea!” she exclaimed, raising her hand and pointing to the large ginger cat lounging lazily on a high tree branch. “We can ask the kitty to help get the shoe and ball down!”

Chu Qi was momentarily speechless.

Sure, they were just kindergarteners, but they weren’t that naive. Asking a cat for help? Really?

The next thing she knew, Gu Beiyan and Yuanyuan were standing under the tree, cupping their hands around their mouths like megaphones and shouting up at the cat, “Kitty, please help us get the shoe and ball down~~!”