Chapter 50: Holding Someone

The sudden silence made even the sound of breathing seem unusually clear.

Used to Ming Can’s sarcastic remarks, Chi Xiao, for a moment, couldn’t tell if she had genuinely said something sweet or was just being sarcastic in a roundabout way.

The car was still moving, and Chi Xiao didn’t turn to look at her. He just switched hands on the steering wheel, his back straightening slightly as he said calmly, “Let me know whenever you feel like eating something bad again.”

After a pause, he seemed to find it amusing himself and struggled to hold back a laugh before finishing, “…just tell me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ming Can burst into laughter in the back.

How had she never noticed before?

Chi Xiao had a real talent for playing the straight man in a comedy duo.

After laughing enough, she patted her chest to catch her breath, wrapped up the sandwich she had only taken one bite of, and put it back in the container. “I’m not hungry right now. I’ll eat it later when I’m hungry.”

Adults spoke in such roundabout ways that even with his superpowers, Miaomiao couldn’t figure out whether Mom thought Dad’s sandwich was good or not.

Miaomiao leaned out from his car seat and asked Ming Can, “Mom, do you think Dad has learned how to cook today?”

This was the name of their WeChat group. Every time Miaomiao saw it, he felt the immense pressure on Dad.

Ming Can thought for a moment and asked him in return, “Do you think your dad has learned?”

Miaomiao: “Dad’s been working really hard. He should be close!”

Ming Can: “Then once he learns, we can change the group name to the next big goal.”

Miaomiao: “What’s the next big goal?”

Ming Can smiled: “Has Miaomiao scored 100 in math today?”

Miaomiao: …

So scary! So the pressure of the group name doesn’t disappear—it just shifts from one person to another!

Perhaps because his superpowers had improved, Miaomiao had recently started to grasp math a little better. But his foundation was still too weak, and despite his efforts, he was only at a passing level now. For Mom to suddenly expect him to score 100—wasn’t that just bullying a kid?

“I was wrong earlier. Dad’s still far from learning how to cook,” Miaomiao whispered to Ming Can, glancing at the man in the driver’s seat. “Mom, I’ll tell you a secret. Actually, Dad made me a really bad bowl of noodles for lunch yesterday…”

Chi Xiao glanced at Miaomiao in the rearview mirror.

Under Ming Can’s authoritarian rule, what father-son bond did Miaomiao and he really have?

It was just a pile of loose sand. It didn’t even need wind to scatter—a few steps would do the trick.

–

The children’s physical fitness class was held on a high floor of an office building. The classroom was spacious, filled with bright colors and cartoon patterns everywhere. The floor was covered with soft, anti-slip rubber mats, marked with various shapes to help the kids with games and exercises.

Miaomiao had taken several physical fitness classes before his time travel and was very familiar with the various terrains and props in the classroom. Shortly after the class started, he showed exceptional physical talent, far surpassing the other five-year-olds in the class. Whether it was jumping, running, crawling, or balancing, he excelled at everything, more agile than a monkey on Flower Fruit Mountain.

Ming Can had initially taken off her shoes and followed Miaomiao into the classroom to record videos of him.

Last time at the ski resort, skiing had been too difficult for her to keep up with the filming. Today, with just a physical fitness class, Ming Can thought it would be a piece of cake, so she took on the role of the follow-up photographer.

Unexpectedly, after just ten minutes of following Miaomiao around during the one-hour class, she was already out of breath.

Ming Can was wearing a long skirt today that made it hard to move. While Miaomiao was climbing on the parallel bars, she couldn’t even keep up with him walking below.

Was this kid a rocket in his past life?!

Ming Can grumbled inwardly, then glanced at Chi Xiao, who was lazily following behind her.

He happened to look over at the same time, his gaze indifferent, with a faint smile: “Take a break if you’re tired.”

Ming Can: “I’m not tired. It’s just that this skirt is inconvenient, and I didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m low on energy.”

Chi Xiao nodded, one hand in his pocket, casually asking, “So, taking a break or not?”

…

Ming Can: “Taking a break.”

Outside the classroom, there were seats for parents to rest, separated from the classroom by a glass wall, allowing a clear view of the kids during the class.

Chi Xiao and Ming Can found a spot with the best view and sat down.

Miaomiao was currently practicing forward rolls under the teacher’s guidance. While the other kids were rolling on the mats, when it was his turn, he barely touched the mat and flipped through the air effortlessly. Watching this, Ming Can’s adrenaline spiked. A boy who was good at sports was truly cool.

“Did you teach him that?” Ming Can suddenly asked Chi Xiao.

Chi Xiao looked at her, puzzled.

If anyone had taught Miaomiao, it would’ve been his future self. The current him had no idea Miaomiao could do flips.

Ming Can: “The flip he just did looked a bit like the one you did on the ski slope that day.”

Chi Xiao corrected her: “I did a backflip that day. He just did a front flip.”

Alright.

I can’t tell front from back, but you’re the expert on flips.

Talking to a straight guy was exhausting. Ming Can didn’t feel like engaging with him anymore and lowered her head to look at her phone.

Chi Xiao sat quietly for a while, then took the initiative to ask, “What are you looking at?”

Ming Can: “A research paper.”

Silence.

The conversation ended as quickly as a tornado. Ming Can suppressed a smile, opened WeChat, and sent Chi Xiao something. “There’s a concert the day after tomorrow. I’ve arranged for two front-row tickets for you and Miaomiao.”

Chi Xiao clicked on the link Ming Can had sent and heard her add, “There’ll be a lot of familiar faces there, so I won’t come find you.”

Chi Xiao: “Alright.”

He lowered his gaze to the concert poster on his phone screen. There were several posters, and Ming Can noticed him swiping to the one with people on it. Her face slowly appeared as his finger moved across the screen. For some reason, Ming Can suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and casually changed the subject: “You mentioned before that you play the piano?”

Chi Xiao nodded: “Learned it as a kid.”

Ming Can: “What level did you reach?”

Chi Xiao: “Performance level.”

The performance level was the highest an amateur pianist could achieve.

Ming Can nodded approvingly: “Do you still play now?”

Chi Xiao shook his head, speaking calmly: “Never really liked it. Only learned it because my family made me.”

Ming Can: “Oh.”

The longer Ming Can spent with him, the more she realized that his aloofness and indifference weren’t usually an act. He genuinely didn’t seem to care about anything—power, money, art, honor, personal reputation… These were things most people would spend half their lives pursuing, but in Chi Xiao’s eyes, none of them seemed capable of stirring even the slightest emotion in him.

Ming Can couldn’t help but recall.

In her memory, the moment Chi Xiao’s emotions had fluctuated the most seemed to be that day at the ski resort villa, when he grabbed her wrist and asked her…

Slap, slap, slap. Ming Can raised her hand and tapped her forehead a few times, driving away the unsettling thoughts.

Chi Xiao tilted his head, watching her use the back of her hand to cool her face, and continued the earlier topic in a low voice: “What about you?”

Ming Can had almost forgotten what they were talking about: “Huh?”

Chi Xiao: “Do you like the violin?”

Ming Can calmed down and smiled faintly: “I used to like it a lot, but not anymore.”

Chi Xiao was taken aback: “Why?”

“No reason,” Ming Can shrugged, looking directly at him. “I just don’t like it anymore. After this concert, I probably won’t play the violin again.”

The atmosphere grew quiet.

On the other side of the glass wall, the kids were running and jumping excitedly, their voices piercing through, which only made the silence here feel more profound.

Ming Can lowered her head and continued reading her research paper. A wave of drowsiness washed over her, and she covered her mouth, letting out a long yawn.

Not long after, Chi Xiao also pulled out his laptop from his bag and silently started coding.

Time passed minute by minute.

Chi Xiao stared at the computer screen, where strings of characters jumped across the black background like a swarm of fledgling swallows leaving their nest.

He rarely felt this restless, finding the work he was doing utterly boring. Since childhood, none of the things he had persisted in seemed to give him any sense of accomplishment. People always said that as long as you put in the effort, you would reap rewards. But what were these rewards? If he didn’t want anything, or if what he wanted was destined to be out of reach, then what was the point of these rewards?

Suddenly.

Just as Chi Xiao’s index finger hovered over the delete key, continuously erasing a long string of code, a soft thud sounded on his shoulder, accompanied by the rustling of a puffy down jacket being compressed. Something round bumped against his shoulder, and a few strands of seaweed-like curly hair slid down his chest.

“Hmm…”

Ming Can murmured in her sleep. Her head, which had been swaying back and forth, finally found a solid and reliable pillow. She seemed to fall into a deep sleep instantly, her entire body unconsciously shifting toward the pillow.

Chi Xiao instinctively straightened his back. A faint, elegant scent of roses wafted into his nose. As Ming Can moved closer, her fluffy hair brushed against his neck, and a few strands even slipped into his collar, tickling his skin like feathers—soft yet impossible to ignore.

On the computer screen, the development software flashed an error warning.

Chi Xiao realized his hand had unintentionally moved to the keyboard, typing out a string of gibberish.

He moved the laptop aside and glanced down at the girl sleeping on his shoulder.

Her thick black hair framed a moon-like, pale face. Her delicate brows were relaxed, her nose bridge high and straight, and one side of her cheek was slightly squished, puffing up. The long lashes cast shadows like tiny fans, and those usually commanding, soft red lips were now quiet and well-behaved, barely parting with each breath, like budding flower petals, tempting and irresistible.

Chi Xiao looked away, suppressing his racing heart, and told himself not to seek trouble. Then he turned his gaze back to the computer screen.

Ming Can was sitting to his right, one leg already pressed against his right leg, so he had to place the laptop on his left leg and type as much as possible with his left hand.

The strings of characters on the computer screen had completely broken free, jumping around chaotically. Chi Xiao took a deep breath, forcing his thoughts to calm down, and focused all his attention on organizing the programming language. With one hand, he slowly tapped the keyboard, setting what was probably the slowest coding speed since he had started learning computer science.

Just then, a bright yellow arm suddenly slipped under his right arm.

The heating outside the classroom wasn’t as strong as inside, so after leaving the classroom, Ming Can had put on her yellow down jacket, leaving it unzipped and revealing the white wool sweater underneath.

Chi Xiao looked down at the arm that had slipped under his.

He wasn’t wearing a jacket, just a thick hoodie. Since Ming Can was now pressed so close to him, even the slightest movement would brush against her, so he had no choice but to keep his right hand awkwardly resting on his knee, not moving a muscle.

The next moment, it seemed as if she had woken up, suddenly making a big movement.

Her head still rested on his shoulder, but the arm that had slipped under his seemed to have found something it desperately needed. Suddenly, her other hand joined in, and both arms wrapped tightly around his right arm, pulling it into her embrace without hesitation.

Chi Xiao’s right hand was now inside her unzipped down jacket, pressed against her fitted sweater, clearly feeling the softness of her body and the warmth of her temperature.

He could even feel her heartbeat.

Chi Xiao’s back stiffened instantly.

He suddenly remembered that Miaomiao had mentioned before that his mom liked to hug people while sleeping.

But he had never expected.

That she could hug this tightly.