Bravely charging in with heroic flair, Gu Beiyan was all set to rescue Yuanyuan. But before he could even climb up, the teacher had already lifted Yuanyuan down from the climbing frame.

His grand entrance came to a screeching halt.

“Don’t be afraid. If you take a closer look, it’s really not as high as it seemed when you were up there, is it?” Ms. Su gently led the little one to the base of the climbing frame.

Standing on her tiptoes, Yuanyuan realized she could now easily touch the spot where she had just been stuck. It really didn’t seem so scary anymore.

“Thank you, Ms. Su,” Yuanyuan said politely, still trembling slightly. “I’m not that scared anymore.”

Feeling deflated after losing his chance to be the hero, Gu Beiyan silently retreated, pretending as if nothing had happened.

When the activity period ended, Ms. Su led everyone to wash their hands and prepare for snack time. The kids were especially excited, as they each got cute animal-shaped cookies—the highlight of everyone’s day.

For Yuanyuan, it was an extra surprise.

She hadn’t known that going to kindergarten meant getting cookies!

With a dreamy look on her face, she carried her pink plate of cookies back to her seat, unable to believe her luck. The cookies were so cute, each with a happy little face. Some of the kids just sat there admiring them, too reluctant to take a bite.

At home, snacks were carefully regulated. Cookies weren’t something kids got to eat whenever they wanted.

Just as Yuanyuan was admiring her cookies, Wen Zifei appeared beside her out of nowhere, snatching half of her cookies and stuffing them into his mouth.

Yuanyuan’s little hands froze mid-air, too late to stop him. She stared in disbelief at her precious cookies now inside Wen Zifei’s mouth. Her lips quivered, her eyes welled up with tears, and her nose tingled with the overwhelming urge to cry.

And then, in the midst of the classroom’s usual laughter and chatter, it was like a siren went off—a piercing, heart-wrenching wail exploded from Yuanyuan.

Even Wen Zifei jumped back in surprise.

He had seen Yuanyuan cry before, usually in a quiet, teary-eyed way that made her look pitiful, like a delicate flower. But this time… it was as if a factory had exploded, and Yuanyuan’s cries were deafening!

“Hey, it’s just… just a cookie!” Wen Zifei stammered, feeling everyone’s eyes on him. His face flushed with embarrassment. “Don’t tell me you’re so poor at home you’ve never had cookies before? Is it really worth crying like this?”

Oblivious to everything else, Yuanyuan continued to sob as if her heart was breaking.

Seated nearby, Gu Beiyan and Chu Qi rushed over, one on each side of Yuanyuan, forming a protective shield around her.

“Dead mosquito, why do you keep bullying Yuanyuan?!” Gu Beiyan demanded, shaking his tiny fists in what he thought was a threatening manner.

Wait, hadn’t someone said that exact same thing to him before?

Wen Zifei, pretending to be unfazed, shrugged, “I only ate a couple of her cookies…”

“You already have your own cookies and still take hers? Shameless! Shame shame shame!” Gu Beiyan retorted, igniting the beginning of a classic childhood argument.

Chu Qi, not skilled at comforting people, mechanically patted Yuanyuan’s back, just like the nanny at home did, her hand moving in repetitive motions.

As the two boys’ childish bickering dragged on for almost five minutes, Yuanyuan, in between sobs, decided to quickly eat the rest of her cookies before someone else could snatch them.

Sniff, sniff… She couldn’t afford to wait. What if someone took them again? QAQ.

“You’re shameless! Picking on a girl!”

“Mind your own business! Go count ants or something!”

“You, you, you…” Gu Beiyan sputtered, already out of comebacks, his face reddening with frustration.

“Stop fighting!” another classmate finally spoke up, preparing to go to the door. “We… we’ll call the teacher!”

Feeling triumphant, Wen Zifei crossed his arms and let out an exaggerated laugh, clearly trying to taunt both Yuanyuan and the defeated Gu Beiyan.

But before the sound of his laughter could fully resonate, Yuanyuan’s deep, wounded feelings resurfaced. With her mouth wide open, she let out another earth-shattering wail, blowing a mosquito that had been buzzing nearby directly into Wen Zifei’s mouth.