Yuanyuan counted earnestly on her chubby little fingers, her eyes lighting up when she finished. “It’s eight!”

7 + 2 = 8?

Old Master Yu looked at the numbers on the blackboard, and without hesitation, he corrected her. “Wrong, it’s nine. You missed one.”

Yuanyuan, the little teacher, was momentarily unsure, but then she raised her pudgy hand and counted for Grandpa.

“One, two, three…” After counting to seven, Yuanyuan skipped over the one and just counted the two. “Grandpa, it’s really eight!”

“You need to count from one after finishing with seven,” Old Master Yu explained patiently, trying not to lose his temper. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, plus one, two—try counting again.”

“Why do I have to count one when I’m adding two?” Yuanyuan’s eyes were filled with confusion. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven… two! Grandpa, it’s eight!”

She was so sure of herself!

How could she understand counting the first part, but get completely lost when adding the second?

Old Master Yu realized he might have overestimated her intelligence.

This little fool should be on sale at a discount market!

Before he could lose his patience completely, Old Master Yu suggested they switch to another game. If they kept going like this, he feared even his own intelligence might suffer.

This time, Yuanyuan switched to playing house. She pulled out a set of toy kitchen utensils to “cook” for Grandpa.

There was even a tiny table and chairs.

Yuanyuan carefully set up the table, placing chairs around it. “Big Brother sits here, Second Brother sits there, Daddy sits here, Grandpa sits there, and Mommy… Mommy sits here.”

Mommy?

Old Master Yu looked down at Yuanyuan, surprised that she knew about “Mommy.”

“Do you know what your dad and mom used to do?”

When they had looked into Yuanyuan’s background, they only found out she had lived in an orphanage. No trace of her biological parents had ever been found.

Just like Yu Jinxiao, Old Master Yu was suspicious about where Yuanyuan had come from.

“Yuanyuan’s daddy is Yujinxiang,” she said confidently, as if stating an obvious fact, “and Yuanyuan’s mommy is Hedinghong!”

Yujinxiang? Hedinghong??

Old Master Yu’s brow furrowed as he tried to decipher the little girl’s mispronunciations. After a moment of thought, he realized what she meant.

But this wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

“I mean, before this—your first family. Do you know what your parents were called?”

Yuanyuan, who had been arranging magnetic toy cards, froze in place.

She only had one daddy and one mommy. How could she have a “first” daddy and mommy too?

Grandpa’s words were confusing. He was asking questions that made no sense, and Yuanyuan’s little brain was about to overheat trying to figure it out.

A quiet standoff ensued. Old Master Yu stared at her intently, trying to read her eyes for any flicker of understanding or guilt. His sharp gaze was like a net, slowly closing in.

But… nothing.

No hesitation, no dodging, no sign of any hidden thoughts.

Just… blankness.

It was clear Yuanyuan had no idea what he was talking about.

Old Master Yu sighed deeply, feeling slightly ridiculous.

A child who had grown up in an orphanage—how could she possibly have any memory of her biological parents? She had likely been abandoned before she could even form such memories.

If anything, Yuanyuan might long to know who her real parents were more than anyone else.

And here he was, foolishly demanding answers from a little girl who had none to give.

It was unfair of him, to say the least.

“Grandpa, will Mommy come home?” Yuanyuan’s soft voice broke through his thoughts, pulling him back to the present.

Old Master Yu’s probing had unintentionally brought back memories for her—memories of the photo her brother had treasured, and the difficult conversation from the night before. She suddenly felt a heaviness in her chest, and her expression turned sad.

Big Brother had said Mommy wasn’t coming home anymore.

But her little brain couldn’t fully understand.

Mommy loved her, and Big Brother, and Daddy too. How could she just leave them behind?

The world of grown-ups was really hard to understand.

“Which mommy are you talking about?” Old Master Yu asked, still somewhat confused.

“Hedinghong Mommy!” she answered, her soft little voice barely managing the words.

It took Old Master Yu a couple of seconds to figure it out. Oh, she meant He Yitong.

“Ah… You mean He Yitong?”

“Yes, yes!” Yuanyuan nodded eagerly.

Old Master Yu paused before responding, “With her temperament, there’s no way she’s coming back to this house.”