Chapter 12

With someone beside him, Pei could sleep more soundly.

The blackout curtains in the living room were pulled up halfway, leaving only a sliver of light to pour in, warm and soft.

The air conditioner blew hot air, working and running regularly in the room, but the sound was not loud, more like a soothing white noise.

He slept soundly and deeply, without even dreaming.

His small body lay flat on its front, motionless.

Lu Shiqi squatted beside him, watching silently for a long time.

Perhaps because he was hot, the little guy’s cheeks were slightly flushed, looking pink and white, like a peach, or a cream mochi bun.

The exterior was a soft, chewy glutinous rice mochi, with a rich, creamy filling inside.

…He really should be rounder.

Because the cream in the cream mochi bun should be more, so the whole bun looks full and soft, plump and adorable.

Lu Shiqi didn’t have many favorite foods, but his ability to pick faults was extraordinary.

Anyway, Pei Manman just needed to be fatter.

He was too thin now.

Looking at him, Lu Shiqi wanted to reach out and poke Pei Manman’s cheek, to see how it felt, whether it was similar to a cream mochi bun.

It would be best to take a bite.

To be honest, he really wanted to take a big bite, after all, the feeling of using his hand couldn’t compare to using his mouth.

But Lu Shiqi couldn’t accept himself becoming like that yet, so he forcibly suppressed this perverted thought, only wanting to secretly poke him with his hand first.

Anyway, Pei Manman was asleep.

He wouldn’t know.

He wouldn’t be afraid even if he woke up…

He just wanted to know the difference in feel, to help him achieve his goal in the future.

He just wanted to help Ling Yue.

There was no other meaning.

Yes.

He had nothing to be nervous or worried about, he should poke him openly and naturally.

But just a few seconds before he was about to poke him, Lu Shiqi finally finished his mental preparation, but Ling Yue came back.

Afraid of waking Pei Manman, Ling Yue’s movements were very light, but there was still some basic sound, she thought Lu Shiqi heard it.

However, Lu Shiqi was too focused on his mental preparation, and he really didn’t notice anyone approaching him, until Ling Yue’s voice rang out, startling him.

“Xiaoqi, I’m back.”

Lu Shiqi almost jumped up on the spot, immediately retracted his finger, pretending nothing had happened.

But the rare shocked expression he couldn’t hide betrayed him.

Ling Yue was about to praise him for doing a good job today, but seeing Lu Shiqi’s expression, she paused: “…Xiaoqi, what’s wrong?”

Instinctual reaction was the best answer.

Lu Shiqi finally had to admit that his openness was a bit off-putting, and he quickly took a breath to calm down.

“…I didn’t hear your voice, it startled me.”

Ling Yue didn’t doubt him: “Sorry, I came in to see Manman sleeping, so I didn’t make a sound.”

“Did it scare you? Are you okay?”

“…I’m fine, I’m fine.”

Lu Shiqi stood up, quickly regaining his usual aloof indifference.

“Little brother is already asleep? Thank you for helping mom, it’s hard work taking care of little brother.”

“It’s okay, not hard work.” Lu Shiqi said, “Then I won’t watch him… I’ll go back to my room to pack, I’m going to class.”

The weather was good today, and Lu Shiqi had arranged for an outdoor class in the afternoon.

“Okay.”

But after she answered, Ling Yue felt something was wrong.

The class was in the afternoon, it wasn’t even lunch time yet, what was he preparing for?

…

But Ling Yue didn’t intend to ask, because Lu Shiqi’s performance this morning was much better than she expected, he had already exceeded her expectations.

She said she had something to do and went out this morning, but she actually had nothing to do.

She just wanted to create a time for the two children to be alone, to let Lu Shiqi and Pei Manman interact more, to increase their familiarity and acceptance of each other.

Although being alone was a risk for Pei Manman, it was a necessary step if she wanted Lu Shiqi to accept Pei Manman quickly.

Ling Yue took the risk and did it, and the results proved that she had bet right.

No matter how good a child Pei Manman was, how much he deserved to be loved and pitied – as long as he suddenly appeared, and would take away the resources that originally belonged to Lu Shiqi, Lu Shiqi would inevitably find it difficult to like him.

The best way to deal with it was to give Lu Shiqi the opportunity to allocate resources himself.

Without adults interfering, let him divide it himself, then the way he divided it would inevitably be acceptable to him, and the result would be the most peaceful.

All morning, she watched the home surveillance, observing the interaction between the two children in real time.

She found that when she was gone, no one was taking special care of Pei Manman, Lu Shiqi’s attitude became peaceful, and he could take good care of Pei Manman.

He weighed and measured Pei Manman’s height, watched him take medicine and sleep.

The most unexpected and unbelievable thing was that while accompanying Pei Manman to eat, Lu Shiqi actually took the initiative to eat a bowl of noodles.

Ling Yue really couldn’t believe her eyes, repeatedly doubting that she had seen a hallucination.

When Lu Shiqi was eating noodles in the surveillance, she held her breath in front of the phone screen, and only dared to take a deep breath after he finished eating.

Her excitement was indescribable.

If she hadn’t been afraid of revealing that she was watching the surveillance, she would have rushed home to see the bottom of Lu Shiqi’s bowl.

Did he really finish it?

Was there another big chunk of noodles hidden in the soup?

Did their family chef’s skills improve overnight?

Could it be that there was some kind of addictive agent in it?

But after calming down, Ling Yue felt that this was all Pei Manman’s credit.

This further strengthened her determination to keep Pei Manman. Even if the little guy couldn’t successfully star in the movie later, she wanted him to stay at home.

…

Lu Shiqi was a child with strong execution ability.

With the added internal drive of volunteering, he felt a sense of mission-like responsibility in taking care of Pei Manman.

The next day was Monday, he had to go to school.

School started at nine, and he was ready by eight thirty, then went to call Pei Manman to get up.

Although Ling Yue could also record Pei Manman’s morning weight, he had to see the numbers with his own eyes to feel at ease before going out.

Because Lu Shiqi had high standards for himself.

Since he had decided to help take care of Pei Manman, he had to do a good job.

Pei Manman had taken his medicine on time yesterday and tried to sleep.

After a good night’s rest, he looked more energetic today.

He woke up almost at the same time, Lu Shiqi opened the door, he opened his eyes, rubbed his eyes and sat up from the bed.

But he was still a little dazed.

It took a minute or two to boot up.

It was clear that the little guy had slept well last night, the pillow and blanket had moved, and the collar of his clothes was even crooked to his shoulder.

His hair was messy, pressed against the pillow, the side that was pressed had a bunch of little curls, and a few little tufts were sticking up.

That side of his face was also pressed red.

Perhaps his head was still heavy from just waking up, his neck couldn’t bear the weight, after rubbing his eyes, he sat up, his upper body fell back onto the bed, his butt stuck up high.

Lu Shiqi: …

But he was very cute.

The way he squinted and rubbed his eyes was like the sleepy little cuties that only appear in cartoons.

Lu Shiqi walked to the side: “…It’s time to get up, you go weigh yourself first, then I’ll go to school.”

Pei Manman’s eye corners naturally drooped, his just-woke-up eyes were especially innocent, he blinked at Lu Shiqi.

He yawned, nodded, then grabbed the blanket and got out of bed, he was going to drag it like that.

This was a small blanket that was on top of the down comforter, the top layer was made of something unknown, it felt hard and soft, and the feel was very good.

Last night, Pei Manman held it, feeling particularly at ease, he slept soundly all night, and he hadn’t let go until now.

–Then he dragged the small blanket as he walked, making him look even more like a sleepy little cutie in a cartoon.

“…Put the blanket down, you don’t need to take it out.”

Lu Shiqi admitted that he was confused for two seconds, but he quickly came to his senses and stopped him.

Pei Manman blinked, reacted for two seconds, then looked down at his hand.

His brain finally started up successfully, gradually waking up.

He quickly put the small blanket back on the bed, smiled awkwardly at Lu Shiqi: “Hehe, I forgot.”

“…Okay, go weigh yourself.”

Although Pei Manman didn’t eat much yesterday, he ate all three meals, and he was sleeping all the time, so he didn’t consume much.

His weight might not increase, but it should be fine to maintain it.

Lu Shiqi was quite confident about this.

After all, he was still sick, it was already good enough to maintain, when Pei Manman recovered, he would start to fatten him up seriously.

As a result, Pei Manman stepped onto the scale, the electronic numbers on the screen flickered and jumped, and the final number that stopped was actually 0.1kg lighter than yesterday.

Lu Shiqi immediately widened his eyes.

Good, the sky is going to fall.