After the trip, Jiang Zhonglin felt he hadn’t done well. Yu Yao, laughing, told him, “What test? I just had time and wanted to go out and have fun with you. You’re overthinking. And who says that just because you’re my boyfriend, you must take care of me? I’m three years older than you, so shouldn’t I be taking care of you? Don’t be discouraged. When you’re three years older than me, then you can take care of me.”

She said this with a playful smile.

Now, he was thirty-seven years older than her.

After living there for so many years, Jiang Zhonglin had seen the fishmonger for years and only today learned that she had a son studying at a marine university. He looked at his wife with admiration, thinking she was still as impressive as ever.

After they finished shopping and left the store, Yu Yao pointed to another path. “Can we go back this way?”

Jiang Zhonglin nodded, “Yes, but I rarely walk this route.”

Yu Yao decided, “Then let’s take this route.”

It was Yu Yao’s habit to familiarize herself with all the nearby streets when she moved to a new place. Jiang Zhonglin adjusted his glasses and followed her with a bag of grapes.

“I’ll help you carry some of the groceries,” Jiang Zhonglin offered.

Yu Yao handed him a fish as a token gesture.

“I can handle it myself; you can give me the ribs too,” Jiang Zhonglin said.

Yu Yao replied, “Why are you so chatty?”

Jiang Zhonglin: “………”

“Never mind,” Yu Yao said, pulling out two ears of corn from the bag and handing them to him. “Here, take these two corns as well.”

Jiang Zhonglin glanced at the large bag she was carrying and decided not to argue further.

This route was about half again as long as the one they had taken before. Along the way, they passed by a daycare center, which was now a kindergarten. The daycare center served children living in the neighborhood, ranging from toddlers just learning to walk to kids around five or six years old. These little ones were doing their physical exercises on the artificial grass, looking like little white radishes stuck in the ground. Occasionally, one would lose balance and tumble onto the soft grass, rolling around like a ball.

Although it looked adorable, when these little ones cried, the whole daycare could transform from paradise to hell, with the once angelic faces turning into frightening little monsters with terrifying screams.

Yu Yao watched the children from outside the railing and said to the elderly Jiang Zhonglin beside her, “I see many professions disappearing these days. It’s good that kindergartens are still around; otherwise, I’d be out of a job too.”

Before she crossed over, Yu Yao had been a kindergarten teacher.

Although she was a rebellious and punk girl during her school years, having fought with male classmates and dealt with bullies, she had completely changed after her grandmother’s death. She had followed her grandmother’s dying wish, studied hard for the college entrance exam, and pursued a degree in early childhood education, eventually becoming a kindergarten teacher who worked with children every day.

Three years after graduating from university, at a high school reunion, when her classmates heard she had become a kindergarten teacher, they were stunned, unable to believe that the girl who had once been involved in fights had transformed so drastically.

Not only was Yu Yao a kindergarten teacher, but she was also the most popular teacher in her school. The children affectionately called her “Teacher Yu,” and often, kids from two different classes would cry loudly, fighting over who got to be with Teacher Yu.

Yu Yao calculated that almost all of the children she had taught back then were now old enough to be her elders.