Chapter 13.2

Around Ming Can and Miaomiao, the Computer Science cheer squad was in full swing. The intense game had everyone’s adrenaline pumping, and the girls who usually only dared to admire the aloof “highland flower” from afar were now boldly cheering. Chi Xiao was declared “so hot” a million times, and the sound of phone cameras clicking was as dense as a heavy rainstorm. Miaomiao looked up at the people around him—more than half were holding up phones or cameras, snapping photos or recording videos.

This was Miaomiao’s first time seeing his dad on the court. He ran faster than the wind, his red jersey bold and vibrant, completely different from the reserved and steady man in Miaomiao’s memories. So, he also wanted to take photos of Dad to preserve today’s memories.

Miaomiao’s smartwatch had a camera function. He took off the watch, aimed the camera at the young man running on the court, and pressed the shutter button twice.

When he turned the watch face to check the photos…

Uh…

Not only was the pixel quality terrible, but since it only had a front-facing camera, he couldn’t see the frame while taking the photo. He hadn’t even captured a single person.

Ming Can felt her sleeve being tugged again. She looked down and met Miaomiao’s eyes as he said, “Sister, can I borrow your phone? I want to take photos of big brother.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Miaomiao regretted it. He shouldn’t have added that last sentence.

Sure enough.

Ming Can: “No.”

Miaomiao’s mouth drooped, and he started drawing circles on Ming Can’s pants with his finger, poking and prodding.

A few minutes later, the first quarter of the game ended. The Computer Science team was leading by nine points, and the outcome of the entire game seemed pretty much decided.

The break between the first and second quarters was only two minutes.

Miaomiao sat on the folding stool, his wish to take photos unfulfilled, feeling very frustrated.

Mom wouldn’t lend him her phone, Sister Jiayun was constantly using hers and couldn’t lend it to him, and he didn’t know anyone else here…

Wait.

He did know one more person!

Miaomiao’s eyes lit up, and he suddenly stood up from the stool.

The players were retreating to the rest area. Chi Xiao ran a hand through his slightly sweaty hair when he suddenly heard a childish voice calling out to him from the stands: “Big brother! Brother Ah Xiao!”

Chi Xiao paused.

Since he was a kid, his friends had always called him by his name, “Xiao,” “Brother Xiao,” or “Old Chi.” A long time ago, he even had the nickname “Eight Dots” because his name contained eight dots in Chinese characters.

Only his family called him “Ah Xiao.”

Chi Xiao wiped the sweat from his jaw with the back of his hand and walked over to Miaomiao, asking in a low voice, “What’s up?”

Miaomiao boldly said to him, “Can I borrow your phone? I’ll take photos for you!”

Ming Can and Xu Jiayun were both shocked when they heard this.

In Miaomiao’s heart, Chi Xiao was his dad, so he spoke without restraint. But to Chi Xiao, they had just met less than half an hour ago.

For modern people, a phone is almost the most important personal item. Who would lend their phone to a little kid they just met for no reason?

Ming Can tugged at Miaomiao: “You little…”

Chi Xiao: “Sure.”

Ming Can: ?

Are you serious?

Chi Xiao dropped that one word, then strode back to the rest area with his long legs. He pulled out his phone from his bag, turned around, and tossed it straight into Miaomiao’s hands.

“The password is 818818,” he said.

Miaomiao lowered his head to fiddle with the phone and instinctively replied, “I know.”

Dad’s password had always been this. He remembered it well.

Chi Xiao was stunned: “What?”

Miaomiao blinked, his little brain working overtime before he realized that, in this timeline, he shouldn’t know the password of a big brother he had just met. He quickly corrected himself: “I mean, I know now. Thank you, big brother.”

He entered the password on the screen, and the phone unlocked instantly.

Ming Can’s gaze had also fallen on the phone at some point. Seeing the string of numbers flash by, her expression froze for a moment.

Modern smartphones could take photos without unlocking, but thankfully, Chi Xiao had been generous enough to share his password with Miaomiao. Otherwise, if Miaomiao had unlocked it himself, it would’ve been way too suspicious.

The second quarter began quickly.

The Architecture team strengthened their offense on the sidelines, and the area in front of Ming Can and Miaomiao suddenly became the core battleground for both teams.

Ming Can dragged Miaomiao and the folding stool further back to avoid any collisions from the players’ aggressive movements.

But as luck would have it, the very thing she was afraid of happened. The Architecture team’s center set a screen, shaking off the defender, and the white-jerseyed forward charged down the sideline with the ball, colliding with the Computer Science team’s right defender.

The red-jerseyed right defender was a head taller than the white-jerseyed forward. With a loud thud, the two bodies collided, and the forward slipped, his entire body being flung backward toward the sideline.

Ming Can and the others happened to be standing nearby.

“Watch out!”

Xu Jiayun heard a familiar shout, and in the next moment, she saw two red-jerseyed players appear out of nowhere, grabbing the white-jerseyed forward’s jersey from both sides and yanking him back from the brink of crashing into the spectators.

The forward steadied himself, his heart pounding, and let out a long breath: “Thanks, bro.”

Ming Can, still shielding Miaomiao, also exhaled deeply.

When she looked up again, the two guys who had rushed over from quite a distance were already walking away.

Miaomiao, completely unaware of the danger, was still happily holding up the phone, recording the scene.

Ming Can tapped his head lightly, straightened up, and tried to lighten the mood by teasing Xu Jiayun: “Your Old Cheng rushed over from miles away to save you. Are you too moved to speak?”

Xu Jiayun clutched her chest, nodding slowly: “Yeah… I’m super touched… They moved so fast. If Old Cheng hadn’t shouted, I wouldn’t have even noticed. Was the other guy who ran over Senior Chi Xiao?”

Ming Can shrugged: “Maybe. I didn’t see clearly either.”

The gym grew increasingly stuffy, the oxygen being sucked up by countless rapidly expanding and contracting lungs. Xu Jiayun’s face turned redder and redder, and under the intense, thrilling atmosphere, she suddenly made a decision—

“Today, I’m going to confess to Old Cheng.”

Ming Can: “The sooner you face your trial, the sooner you’ll ascend. The sooner you die, the sooner you’ll be reincarnated. I support you.”

Xu Jiayun reached out to hit her: “Would it kill you to just say the first half?”

Ming Can laughed: “Hahaha, yes, it would.”

In the blink of an eye, the second quarter ended, and the score gap widened to thirteen points.

The halftime break was long, a full fifteen minutes.

Seeing a large group of girls swarm around the Computer Science players, Xu Jiayun couldn’t sit still anymore. She grabbed her backpack full of supplies and squeezed into the crowd.

Miaomiao put down the phone, turned to look at his dad, who was surrounded by a bunch of sisters, then turned back to look at his mom.

Ming Can’s expression was blank: “Don’t look at me. I’m not going over there.”

Chi Xiao, his handsome face flushed and hot from the intense exercise, his eyelashes damp with sweat that made hearts race, still maintained his usual icy demeanor. He ignored the girls around him trying to get his attention and walked to the very edge of the crowd.

Miaomiao had to stand on tiptoe to see him.

“Big brother worked hard playing basketball,” Miaomiao said. “I want to give him water too!”

Ming Can chuckled: “I didn’t bring any bottled water.”

Miaomiao: “Don’t I have a water bottle?”

Ming Can: ?

She was forced by Miaomiao to pull out the children’s water bottle from her bag. When she opened the lid, there was a straw inside, and the water was about half full.

Ming Can: “How is he supposed to drink from this?”

Miaomiao took the water bottle and, with a series of maneuvers, detached the lid: “Look, the lid turns into a cup like this. I can pour the water in here for him to drink.”

Ming Can: …

It’s quite complicated. I’m afraid you’ll get squished before you even manage to pour the water.

Ming Can, feeling a bit lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, was too lazy to argue and just let him go: “Do whatever you want, just be careful.”

Miaomiao nodded, clutching the water bottle as he ran forward. But he didn’t get far before he stopped in his tracks, seeing his dad pick up a bottle of water from the box on the ground and start chugging it.

Behind him, Ming Can plopped down onto the folding stool, propping her chin on her hand. When she saw Miaomiao trudging back with the water bottle, looking dejected, she couldn’t help but smirk.

Before she could ask Miaomiao why he was back, a figure suddenly flashed past her.

It was Xu Jiayun.

She was walking with her head down, her steps so fast it almost looked like she was running. She passed right in front of Ming Can but didn’t seem to notice her. Her expression was off, and there were tears glistening in the corners of her eyes.

The girl who had been so excited about confessing just minutes ago was now fleeing as if escaping something.

Ming Can immediately realized something had gone wrong.

She stood up, about to chase after Xu Jiayun, but then hesitated, held back by Miaomiao. She couldn’t just leave him here alone.

Ming Can took a deep breath, weighing her options, and quickly made a decision.

The gym was filled with top students from University A, and there were cameras everywhere. In theory, Miaomiao would be fine here alone, but she couldn’t fully trust the self-control of a five-and-a-half-year-old. At the very least, she needed to find an adult to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t wander off.

Ming Can took Miaomiao’s hand and led him straight into the most crowded part of the Computer Science team’s rest area.

As she passed Cheng Xiuyan, she couldn’t help but glare at him before quickly making her way to someone standing at the edge of the group.

Chi Xiao was wiping off his sweat when he turned and met a pair of clear, bright eyes.

In the midst of the noisy crowd, it felt like a hallucination for a moment.

Ming Can’s words were directed at Chi Xiao, but she didn’t lower her voice, so everyone nearby could hear. This meant that everyone in the area would, to some extent, help keep an eye on the child.

Before Chi Xiao could respond, the team manager next to him stepped in and answered for him: “Don’t worry, junior. We’ll definitely keep an eye on your little brother.”

Ming Can smiled: “Just five minutes. I’ll be back soon.”

After she left, Chi Xiao looked down at the little kid in front of him and, for the first time, called him by name: “Ming Miao?”

Everything that had happened since he met this kid today.

It all felt surreal to him.

In the past.

Chi Xiao could never have imagined that someone like Ming Can would one day ask him for help.

And not just any help—she was asking him to babysit.

“Just call me Miaomiao,” Miaomiao said with a sweet smile. He took the water bottle hanging around his neck, poured a capful of cool water, and handed it to Chi Xiao. “Big brother, do you want more?”

Chi Xiao: …