Chapter 18: Reminder

“I was just making a comparison,” Ming Can said, patting Miaomiao’s head. “You’re not a three-year-old. You’re two years older than three.”

Miaomiao nodded, easily pacified.

Seeing Chi Xiao’s expression gradually calm down, Ming Can felt her brainwashing had succeeded. This guy could still be of great use.

Chi Xiao stood up from his seat: “I’m going to buy something.”

A few minutes later, he returned with a whiteboard less than half a meter in length and width, along with a few water-based markers. He set up the whiteboard on the table, picked up a marker with his right hand, and wrote a few neat, upright characters on it: The Composition of Numbers Within 100.

Ming Can quickly understood his intention. He was going to break down two-digit numbers into tens and single digits, displaying them in front of Miaomiao to make them easier to remember. The hundred-number board alone couldn’t achieve this.

Chi Xiao started by writing a series of increasing two-digit numbers in the first column. Then, from top to bottom, he decomposed these numbers into 10 + 10 + … + n, with each row having one more 10 than the one above, forming a trapezoid. This visual representation helped Miaomiao understand what it meant for the tens digit to increase by one.

He first decomposed all the numbers from start to finish, then erased everything and wrote a new column of two-digit numbers, guiding Miaomiao through the decomposition process together.

The number of tens corresponded to the tens digit, followed by a single-digit number. Miaomiao barely managed to grasp this, and Chi Xiao handed him the marker, letting him decompose the next number on his own.

Miaomiao took the marker and, somewhat cluelessly, wrote down two equations.

When he stopped writing, Ming Can gave him a thumbs-up: “You’re improving, baby! Great job!”

Miaomiao then turned to look at his dad.

Chi Xiao, with his usual icy expression, seemed slightly more relaxed, but what came out of his mouth was: “Your handwriting is a bit ugly.”

Miaomiao: ?

He remembered that his dad was someone who often said one thing but meant another. Maybe he was actually praising him in his heart. So, Miaomiao used his superpower to translate his dad’s inner thoughts.

Chi Xiao: [The handwriting is too ugly. Deduct one point for presentation.]

Ah—

Miaomiao had only scored 2 points on his last math test. If his dad were the one grading, wouldn’t he be left with just 1 point?

Dad is so mean!

On the whiteboard, the difference in handwriting was magnified several times. Miaomiao’s writing and Chi Xiao’s were placed side by side, and they looked not just like they weren’t from the same family—they seemed like they weren’t even from the same species.

Ming Can picked up her treasure chest-like tote bag, pulled out a number calligraphy book, and placed it on the table: “Let’s stop here for today. Miaomiao, practice copying from this book.”

She wasn’t sure how the father and son had tortured each other during the time she was away, but Ming Can figured Miaomiao’s little brain had already endured enough for the day. So, instead of pushing him to solve problems, she decided to let him do some simple copying exercises.

Miaomiao opened the calligraphy book, and when Chi Xiao saw that he was about to practice the simplest number, 1, he decisively took the book, flipped a few pages ahead, and made Miaomiao practice the hardest number to write: 5.

Miaomiao: …

Dad was really being a bit annoying today.

Miaomiao held a pencil, with Ming Can sitting to his right, leaning in close to watch him slowly copy each stroke. Chi Xiao sat to his left, not as close, his gaze falling from a higher angle, enveloping both of them.

Mom had a lovely rose scent, while Dad’s scent was fainter. Miaomiao sniffed hard and caught a hint of soapy fragrance from his laundry detergent.

As Miaomiao copied the numbers, he couldn’t help but curl the corners of his lips.

He really loved doing homework with Mom and Dad.

In the past, this was a scene he couldn’t even imagine.

In his mind, Miaomiao couldn’t help but say to the system, “Uncle 33, can you not give my math talent back to me?”

“…” The system paused. “No.”

Miaomiao: “But I want to stay like this, a kid who does homework slowly and needs Mom and Dad to watch over me.”

In his original timeline, Miaomiao had been a very smart child. Just a few days after learning numbers, he could count from 1 to 100 in one go. At five and a half years old, he took first place in an elementary school entrance interview, outperforming six-year-olds. With his family’s influence, he was able to enroll despite being younger.

In class, Miaomiao was closest to his deskmate, Yuan Xiaoyu. Yuan Xiaoyu wasn’t as smart as Miaomiao and often struggled during math class, his grades average and his homework slow. He often told Miaomiao that after school, his parents would spend at least two hours supervising his studies, taking turns to sit by his side. He couldn’t slack off even for a moment, feeling like he had lost his freedom.

“My parents are even scarier than yours,” another classmate chimed in, pulling his eyelids wide with his hands to mimic a glare. “They sit on either side of me, staring at me like this while I do my homework. Isn’t that terrifying?”

The classmates burst into loud laughter, but Miaomiao looked on with envy and said, “Isn’t that great? I want that too.”

“What’s so great about it? I’m so annoyed,” Yuan Xiaoyu replied. “You’re so smart. Your parents probably don’t even bother supervising you, right?”

Miaomiao nodded.

Miaomiao had always been a quick learner, grasping everything almost instantly. After the teacher finished a lesson, he would understand it completely, rarely needing any further guidance.

At night, when he did his homework, his mom would occasionally come over and ask if there was anything he didn’t understand.

Miaomiao remembered what his classmates had said at school. He really wanted his mom to teach him how to do his homework, but he had always been a very sensible child, highly attuned to others’ emotions. He couldn’t bring himself to lie and say he didn’t understand. Besides, he knew his mom was very busy with work and had more important things to do. He shouldn’t take up too much of her time.

As for his dad, he was already serious and quiet. When Miaomiao stayed at his dad’s place, he didn’t dare lie to get his dad to sit with him while he did homework either.

In truth, his parents did spend time with Miaomiao. His mom would take him shopping for new clothes and tell him bedtime stories to help him sleep. His dad often drove him to school and took him to the gym on weekends for sports. Despite being incredibly busy, they always made time to be with him at least once a day.

But for Miaomiao, this time was far too brief. His life wasn’t as tightly scheduled as his parents’. He had too many empty hours in his day, which he spent alone, with the nanny, with the cats and dogs, or with his toys. But none of these were what he truly wanted.

If only he could swap brains with Yuan Xiaoyu and become a kid who genuinely struggled with homework.

Miaomiao couldn’t help but think this way.

Then, one day.

The weather was a bit gloomy that day. After school, Yuan Xiaoyu’s mom came to talk to the teacher about her son’s academic performance. After the conversation, she walked into the classroom and sat at Miaomiao’s desk, watching her son do his homework.

Xiaoyu made a tearful grimace at Miaomiao, who smiled back, watching enviously as Xiaoyu’s mom helped him with his homework.

As Miaomiao walked out of the school gate, a dark red Bentley Bentayga was parked by the roadside. Ming Can stood by the rear of the car, waving at Miaomiao. He ran over excitedly, hugged his mom, and then climbed into the car.

The car didn’t start right away. Ming Can sat in the back seat, took Miaomiao’s backpack off, and asked him, “The teacher mentioned in the group chat that this week’s writing assignment is about ‘My Dream.’ What’s your dream, Miaomiao?”

Miaomiao: “My dream is to understand what dogs are saying and become a dog research expert!”

Miaomiao had a Corgi named Xiao Er. Among his closest family members—his dad, mom, and Xiao Er—only Xiao Er was always by his side.

Because his parents didn’t get along, they rarely saw each other, and Miaomiao was raised separately by them. He spent half his time with his dad and the other half with his mom. No matter where Miaomiao stayed, Xiao Er would always be with him. During the long hours when his parents were too busy to spend time with him, it was Xiao Er who kept him company.

When Miaomiao was alone with Xiao Er, he often talked to the dog, telling it everything. Xiao Er seemed to understand, often responding with barks, but Miaomiao couldn’t understand what Xiao Er was saying.

True friends are supposed to understand each other, and Miaomiao really wanted to understand what Xiao Er was saying. Over time, this became his biggest dream.

“That’s an amazing dream,” Ming Can commented. “When you grow up, it will definitely come true.”

Before Miaomiao could feel happy about his mom’s words, a loud boom echoed in his ears, followed by a blinding flash of white light. In an instant, Miaomiao lost consciousness.

When he woke up, everything around him had changed. He found himself inexplicably in a somewhat familiar pavilion, with what looked like the mountain path leading to his great-grandmother’s house outside…

Just then, a mechanical, gender-neutral voice sounded in his head: [Hello, host… uh, why are you only five and a half years old? (distorted noise)… Congratulations on being chosen as a superpower user. I am your superpower training system, code number 233, designed to help you become a powerful superhuman.]

Miaomiao was stunned. He looked around for a while before finally realizing that the voice was indeed coming from inside his head.

Children are highly adaptable to strange and unusual things. When the system asked him what kind of superpower he wanted, Miaomiao didn’t hesitate:

“I want to understand what dogs are saying!”

System: “…”

System: [That’s too simple. I suggest upgrading to ‘Super Translation Ability’. With this ability, you can understand all languages in the world.]

Miaomiao: “Including understanding what dogs say?”

System: [Of course. Language is one of the most important carriers of information in this world. Once you have this superpower, as long as you practice diligently and improve your ability, one day you might become the greatest zoologist in the world, or sit at the negotiation tables of human society, seeing through everything, succeeding wherever you go, and eventually becoming president—or even ruling all of humanity!]

Miaomiao: …?

System 233 was one of the most outstanding superpower systems. It traveled across various worlds and had trained countless powerful superhumans. As the saying goes, the higher you climb, the greater the KPI pressure. Therefore, System 233 could not accept a small, almost insignificant superpower like “understanding what dogs say.”

Miaomiao felt a lot of pressure talking to this Uncle System, but since it said that superpower could help him understand dogs, he was satisfied. So, he nodded and decided to choose that ability.

After selecting the superpower, the system didn’t grant it to Miaomiao immediately. Instead, it asked him to pay a small price as collateral, forcing Miaomiao to work harder to improve his superpower.

Understanding that paying the price would make something he possessed disappear, Miaomiao immediately thought of something.

They say that crying children get the milk, but unfortunately, Miaomiao wasn’t the type to throw tantrums. However, if he really became a child who made his parents worry, wouldn’t they spend more time teaching and accompanying him?

Thinking this, Miaomiao cautiously said, “I’m pretty good at math. Can I give that to you?”

He didn’t dare act like he didn’t want this thing too much, lest the Uncle System think it wasn’t valuable.

Once the host decided what price to pay, the system would evaluate it. Miaomiao’s system assessment concluded that the price he offered was significant, and thus the agreement was made.

“Will I become an idiot?” Miaomiao suddenly asked. He just wanted to become a kid like Xiaoyu, not someone so stupid that people would dislike him.

[No,] the system said. [I can’t stand idiots even more than you can. After losing your math talent, you’ll become an ordinary kid in terms of math ability. And your math talent isn’t really gone—it’s tied to your superpower. As your ability level improves, your talent will gradually return to you.]

“That’s great,” Miaomiao said, almost letting slip that he didn’t want his math talent to come back too quickly.

System: [Also, stripping away your math talent will have a small side effect. All the knowledge you’ve already mastered will be completely erased. You’ll forget even the basics, like numbers, and have to start from scratch. But you’re only five and a half, so this side effect is negligible.]

Miaomiao didn’t realize the seriousness of this side effect at the time. In the future, it would lead to him being completely unable to understand math exams, so bored during tests that he’d end up drawing emojis on the exam paper.

He said, “Okay.”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a click in his mind. Miaomiao felt dizzy for a moment but quickly returned to normal, feeling no different than before.

Then, not long after, he saw someone walking slowly up the mountain path ahead. The person was wearing a knitted sweater and jeans, with a beautiful face that looked very familiar, though a bit too young…