It wasn’t until five days later that Lin Yongcheng returned, exhausted from his journey.

Li Qiurong and Bai Zhu were still at Shanglin Village and hadn’t come back.

They said they were picking tea leaves, but it wasn’t as simple as that.

After picking, they had to dry the leaves, then peel the seeds, and dry the seeds again.

They wouldn’t be back for at least ten days to half a month.

Lin Yongcheng had just taken a bath, his hair still dripping. He grabbed a towel and rubbed his head, then said to Bai Ji in a negotiating tone:

“I can take a couple of days off tomorrow and the day after. I’ll go to Shanglin Village and bring your mom back. Or… should we bring Xiao Zisu to Shanglin Village?”

Since they had already finished picking tea leaves, they didn’t need to go up the mountain anymore. Whether drying tea leaves or peeling them, as long as they weren’t going up the mountain, taking a child along wouldn’t be a problem.

As soon as Xiao Zisu heard about going back to Shanglin Village, she immediately protested.

“I don’t want to! I promised Qinqing Jie that I would play with her tomorrow. I’m not going to Shanglin Village!”

Lin Yongcheng paused, towel in hand. “Qinqing Jie? Who is that?”

Bai Ji said, “She’s the daughter of a colleague of mine. She’s two years older than Xiao Zisu. They’ve been playing together at the hospital these days, and Xiao Zisu really likes her.”

“I really like Qinqing Jie.” Xiao Zisu nodded vigorously, then pointed at Bai Guo. “Sister also likes Qinqing Jie. We want to go to the hospital.”

“Found a new friend after a few days apart?”

“Yes, a really good new friend!”

“Okay, then you can play with your new friend, Daddy won’t interfere with you.”

Xiao Zisu sighed in relief.

After a while, she glanced at Lin Yongcheng and whispered, “Dad, can you marry into the family and become a son-in-law?”

At first, she didn’t understand what being a son-in-law meant.

But the next day, Du Qinqing specifically told her that a son-in-law is someone who lives in his wife’s family.

In Xiao Zisu’s mind, Lin Yongcheng was already a son-in-law.

So, here came the problem: since Du Qinqing’s dad was a son-in-law, why didn’t he let her take his surname?

Lin Yongcheng was clearly not qualified as a son-in-law!

Because he wasn’t good enough, Xiao Zisu wasn’t sure anymore.

What if he wasn’t? He must be!

If Lin Yongcheng wasn’t a son-in-law, how could she take her mother’s surname?

To take her mother’s surname, Xiao Zisu was really determined!!

Bai Guo immediately perked up.

Here it comes!

Xiao Zisu was going to stir up trouble, and she was about to get a beating!

Would it be a double beatdown, or just a mixed one?

Since her grandparents weren’t home, no one would be there to protect Xiao Zisu when she got beaten. Poor child, she chose the wrong moment to stir up trouble when there was no one to help her!

Bai Ji and Lin Yongcheng exchanged glances, both wondering if they had heard wrong.

What was going on? Their little girl wanted Lin Yongcheng to marry into their family?

But did she even understand what that meant?

Lin Yongcheng finally spoke up, voicing the same question they both had. “Do you know what being a son-in-law means?”

“Of course I do.” Xiao Zisu proudly raised her chin. “It means being a son-in-law, living in the wife’s family, and the children taking the wife’s surname.”

“Wow, you know quite a bit!” Lin Yongcheng gave a thumbs up.

“Who taught you that?” Bai Ji sighed.

“Qinqing Jie told me.” Xiao Zisu continued, “Dad is already living in our house, so when is he going to marry into the family?”

As long as Dad married into the family, she wouldn’t have to take Lin’s surname anymore.

Her sister and Qinqing Jie both took their mom’s surname, so why couldn’t she?

“When the relationship is good, even without being a son-in-law, they can live together.” Lin Yongcheng didn’t understand what his daughter meant and asked, “Why do you want Dad to marry into the family?”

“I want to take Mom’s surname. I want to have the same surname as my sister. Qinqing Jie also has Mom’s surname. Why should I take Dad’s surname? You and Mom named me before I grew up and without asking me, but now I don’t want to take Dad’s surname anymore.”

Talking about this, Xiao Zisu felt wronged.

Being a child is so pitiful—what surname and name to take are all decided by the parents.

Both Lin Yongcheng and Bai Ji fell silent.

They didn’t know how to explain to their daughter. Hearing her tone of grievance, it seemed like taking Dad’s surname was some kind of punishment.

Xiao Zisu leaned against Lin Yongcheng’s knee and looked up at him, seriously asking, “Why can my sister take Mom’s surname, but I can’t?”

Looking into his daughter’s innocent eyes, Lin Yongcheng couldn’t bring himself to lie.

He hung the towel around his neck and pulled his daughter into his lap. After ruffling her short hair, he thought for a moment before answering.

“Your sister hasn’t entered the Lin family gate yet, so it doesn’t matter what surname she takes. But you can’t change your surname now, or your grandpa will hang himself at our front gate.”

Old Lin was such a proud man, and as for Bai Guo taking the surname Bai, he didn’t care about that.

But if Xiao Zisu were to change her surname, that would be another matter.

“Why?” Xiao Zisu asked, even more confused.

She innocently said, “If Dad marries into the family, he’s no longer my grandpa. We don’t need to listen to him.”

“You don’t have to listen to him, but he would still latch onto us. He’d eat and live with us, and scold your sister. Do you want that?”

“No!” Xiao Zisu reacted strongly.

She didn’t want to be stuck with him, didn’t want Grandpa Lin to eat their food, live with them, or scold her sister.

Lin Yongcheng said again, “If you take Mom’s surname, he will latch onto our family.”

Xiao Zisu pouted, hesitating between taking her mother’s surname and dealing with Grandpa Lin’s attachment.

After a long time, she finally reluctantly said, “Then I’ll take Dad’s surname.”

Anyone could tell from her tone that she wasn’t happy about it.

Lin Yongcheng kissed his eldest daughter and gently coaxed her, “No matter what surname you take, Bao Bao will always be your sister, and you will always be Mommy and Daddy’s little baby.”

“No, I’m the big baby, and my sister is the little baby.”

“Okay, you’re the big baby.”

The issue of the surname was finally settled, but the next day, another new trouble arrived.

Dr. Du was furious.

Du Qinqing had grabbed a few lice from other people’s heads and thrown them onto her own head just to shave it.

If she hadn’t admitted it herself, who would believe a five-year-old would do such a thing? And it was all the idea of a three-year-old kid!!

Lin Yongcheng left early in the morning. Bai Ji, as usual, took the two kids to the hospital. Doctor Du arrived earlier than them, and then… they saw a little bald head.

The little bald head was wearing blue clothes and pants, standing with its back to them in the corner.

Bai Ji glanced at the little bald head and thought it was a boy from the back. She asked, “Doctor Du, didn’t you bring Qingqing today?”

Doctor Du’s face showed no emotion as she nodded toward the corner where the little bald head stood.

“Ah… it’s right there!”

“That’s Qingqing?” Bai Ji was shocked.

Yesterday, she had braided her hair into two pigtails, wearing a cute little dress like a princess, and now she suddenly had a bald head and no dress.

She couldn’t recognize her just by looking at her back!

“That’s her.” When Doctor Du spoke about her own mischievous child, her anger flared up immediately, her eyes burning as she glared at Du Qingqing, “Yesterday afternoon, this little brat made me so mad. If it weren’t for her grandparents holding me back, I would have wanted to smack her!”

The little Du Qingqing in the corner turned around and glanced at her.

She snorted, then turned her head away.

Seeing this, Doctor Du was even more furious and pointed at Du Qingqing’s back. “Look at that attitude! She’s even snorting at me!”

“Don’t be angry, she’s still young. If something happens, we can teach her slowly. The more angry you get and the more you hit her, the more rebellious she’ll become. Teaching kids can’t be rushed. We should explain things to her. If she does something wrong, you need to persuade her. Violence doesn’t help. It only suppresses things temporarily and doesn’t truly make her listen, so what’s the point?”

As mothers, Bai Ji could relate to Doctor Du.

She too had moments when Little Zisu made her lose her temper.

But hitting a child doesn’t make them obedient.

So, she continued to advise.

“If the kids do something wrong, you can punish them by making them do chores, but you shouldn’t hit them. If you hit them too much, it’ll leave a psychological scar. In our family, we never hit our kids. When Little Zisu makes me mad, I punish her by making her eat something she doesn’t like.”

She said this a little too soon. Just because they hadn’t hit their children before didn’t mean they wouldn’t today.

She was about to get slapped in the face.

Doctor Du said, “She almost drove me to the brink of death. How could I have the patience to teach her slowly?”

Seeing Bai Ji’s surprised expression, Doctor Du glanced at Little Zisu and Little Baiguo.

Little Zisu had a worried look in her eyes, while Little Bai Guo was still the obedient child.

A few days ago, she even said that when Little Baiguo grew up, she’d play with Du Qingqing.

Now, Doctor Du wanted to take that back.

There were three little girls in total, and two of them were troublemakers.

The destructive power of two troublemakers wasn’t just one plus one; it was much worse.

She couldn’t let them corrupt the only obedient child.

Little Baiguo, just stay good, don’t play with troublemakers!

Doctor Du then told Bai Ji about what happened the afternoon before.

It started like this: when Du Qingqing arrived home yesterday afternoon, she started scratching her head.

Doctor Du asked what was wrong, and Du Qingqing said her head was itchy because a kid named Liu had put some lice from other people’s heads onto her hair.

When asked when this happened, Du Qingqing said it had been going on for several days.

What could Doctor Du do if her child had lice?

She could only take her to get a haircut!!

On top of that, hearing about lice made Doctor Du feel itchy herself, so she suspected that she had caught lice from Du Qingqing.

She took Du Qingqing to a barbershop, intending to cut her long hair, and planned to wash the short hair more frequently to get rid of the lice. It would only take a few months.

When Du Qingqing heard this, she panicked.

She only wanted to shave her head, but she didn’t want her mother to cut her hair!

Her mother loved her long braid so much. How could she cut it? It would break her heart!

Du Qingqing was a little mischievous, but she loved her mother very much.

She was the one who wanted a shaved head, but she didn’t want her lie to make her mom cut her braid. Since she had already shaved her head, she couldn’t grow her hair back.

To save her mother’s braid, she decided to tell the truth.

So, what did Doctor Du hear?

The lice story was a lie! It was just an excuse to get a shaved head!

She hadn’t caught lice at all; it was all a lie!!!

If Doctor Du hadn’t been planning to cut her own hair, the mischievous child might have gotten away with it.

Bai Ji was stunned when she heard Doctor Du’s story. She turned to look at Du Qingqing in the corner. “So… she made it up herself?!”

Little Baiguo was also shocked.

She thought the story about the son-in-law was behind them, and Little Zisu wouldn’t get hit.

She never imagined that Du Qingqing would mess up!

Yuyu looked down on her. At first, she thought she was the type of troublemaker who could do big things, but what was this?

Ugh… she flipped out over a small thing!

So unreliable, even Little Zisu was more dependable.

“She’s already lying at such a young age, shouldn’t she be punished?” Doctor Du glared at Du Qingqing and said, “And there’s something even worse. When I asked her how she thought of this trick, she said Little Zisu told her.”

Doctor Du didn’t believe that.

Little Zisu was still under four years old—could she really come up with such an awful idea?

It was definitely Du Qingqing who heard about the reason for their own shaved heads, then came up with a wicked plan and blamed Little Zisu to avoid taking responsibility.

Not wanting to take responsibility for her mistake and pushing the blame onto someone else was even worse.

Now, if she didn’t punish her, when would she?

Bai Ji: “…”

Doctor Du thought it was all Du Qingqing’s fault, but Bai Ji disagreed. She noticed Little Zisu shrinking her neck, and she instinctively felt that she was involved.

Of course, suspicion was one thing, but it was still necessary to ask clearly.

If Little Zisu really had a hand in this…

Thinking of that, Bai Ji couldn’t help but grind her teeth. She also wanted to hit her child. A mischievous child only listens when they’re punished!

With a serious face, she asked:

“Little Zisu, did you give Qingqing the idea?”

Little Zisu pouted, glanced at Bai Ji’s expression, and finally nodded, admitting, “Qingqing sister wanted to shave her head, and I helped her come up with the idea.”

Bai Ji: “…”

Little Bai Guo: “…”

Doctor Du: “…”

Wow, she was under four years old and already coming up with such bad ideas.

She almost caused Doctor Du to cut her braid.

“Doctor Du, sorry, it’s my fault for not teaching my child well.” Bai Ji said apologetically.

She placed Little Bai Guo on the chair, grabbed Little Zisu, and gave her a slap on the bottom, then said, “Mischievous child, you’ve caused trouble, and I’m already punishing you.”

Of course, it wasn’t just one slap. She gave her several more.

“Who do you think you are giving such ideas? Do you think a shaved head looks good? You’re complaining about your own shaved head and then giving others such a bad idea?”

“Is this how I usually teach you?!”

“You’re shaved, and you want everyone to be shaved too?”