Without receiving a response, Bai Zhu said again, “Good girl, quickly call out ‘Grandpa.’”

Little Bai Guo turned her head expressionlessly.

She had thought he was a composed person, but it turned out he was such a grandpa.

Fishy had misjudged him!

She puffed up her little cheeks and stared intently at the fish.

Bai Zhu was not giving up.

He poked her little cheek and, in a voice like that of a cunning wolf grandmother, coaxed softly: “Good girl, if you call out ‘Grandpa,’ I’ll help you take care of these two fish. I’ll bring you to see them every day, okay? Come on, just call out for grandpa, and make him happy.”

Little Bai Guo tilted her head, as if considering whether it was worth it.

The fish definitely needed to be taken care of, and seeing them every day was a must.

She wouldn’t feel at ease if she didn’t see them!

Sigh, she really needed to grow up quickly.

For now, she could only stare at the fish.

Once she was older, she could eat them, and then she would be at ease!

Seeing her staring at the fish, Bai Zhu continued coaxing in a soft voice.

“Good girl, give grandpa a surprise, will you?”

“Come on, call out.”

“Our good girl is the smartest, she must know how to call, right?”

“…”

He kept chattering, and Little Bai Guo hesitated for a while before turning her head and glancing at him. This grandpa was indeed more reliable than her parents.

Bai Zhu looked at her with hopeful eyes.

“Good girl, call ‘Grandpa.’”

“Come on, say… Grandpa.”

“Ah, ah…” Little Bai Guo’s tongue couldn’t quite twist around the words.

She couldn’t say it, so she tried again: “Ah ah ah…”

Still not working. She decisively closed her mouth.

Forget it, just keep staring at the fish!!

“Good girl, you’re amazing. Just a little more,” Bai Zhu patted her head.

She was already cooperating, which was great. He wanted to hear her call him grandpa, but he wasn’t in a hurry.

As long as he kept teaching her, one day, she would say it.

Bai Zhu continued, “We’ll learn again tomorrow. Our good girl is so smart, she already knows how to say ‘fish.’ In a few days, she’ll be calling grandpa, right?”

Little Bai Guo thought about it seriously.

Right now, her tongue couldn’t twist the words, but in a few days, she would be able to.

She gently nodded in agreement.

Although Bai Zhu thought she didn’t understand, he was still very happy to see her nod. “The first word our good girl will say will definitely be grandpa!”

Little Bai Guo was a vengeful child. She still remembered how her bad parents had tried to kill her fish. Before going to sleep that night, she grabbed Li Qiurong’s clothes and refused to let go. She wanted to sleep with her grandma. Bai Ji kept calling her name pitifully, but she didn’t even give her a glance.

Hmph! She was a fish with a temper and a memory!

She would remember what happened this afternoon for at least three days!!

Bai Ji was still pretending to cry.

“Are you ignoring your mommy? Mommy is sad… Look at mommy for a second!”

“Mommy’s fake crying!” Little Zi Su looked up at her and effortlessly exposed her, snorting, “With me here, you can’t trick my little sister!”

Bai Ji: “…”

The little cotton-padded jacket wanted to run away with her parents, and the big cotton-padded jacket wasn’t caring at all.

Lin Yongcheng shrugged at her and gave her a look, as if saying, “I already told you, both our little cotton-padded jackets are drafty.”

The younger one was still to be observed, but the older one was a bit more obvious in this regard.

…

The next morning, the first thing Little Bai Guo did after waking up was go to see the fish.

Li Qiurong had just finished dressing her, and she was already calling, “Yu… ah!”

Seeing her eager look, Li Qiurong couldn’t help but laugh.

What child doesn’t call out for their parents when they first speak?

Only their lazy little one was thinking about the fish.

“I know you’re thinking about the fish, but first, drink your milk. After you finish, you can look at the fish.”

With these words, Little Bai Guo felt at ease.

The second day after moving in, there was still a lot to do, and Lin Yongcheng, Bai Ji, and Bai Zhu were all busy. Li Qiurong had to look after the two kids and cook.

Besides that, she also went to visit the neighbors on the left and right.

They were new to the area, and whether it was for face or for courtesy, she needed to introduce herself.

She gave a loofah and an eggplant to a few households.

These were grown in their own land in Shanglin village, and in the city, everything had to be bought.

Although loofah and eggplant weren’t worth much, it was a gesture to people they didn’t yet know. Whether the neighbors valued it or not didn’t matter, it was just a formality.

In Shanglin village, they used to be able to pick fresh vegetables every day.

Now that they had moved, Lin Yongcheng had to go back once a month to deliver pension money, and there was no one to pick the vegetables anymore.

So, they had picked everything edible the morning before.

They had too many vegetables at home, and with the hot weather, vegetables couldn’t last long. Even in the water tank, they only stayed fresh for three to five days before they wilted.

If they couldn’t eat them all, it would be a waste.

Li Qiurong went to deliver vegetables to the neighbors, holding Little Bai Guo in her arms and with Little Zi Su following beside her, carrying a small basket.

She personally delivered them to five households.

The street was full of single-family homes, and she visited the neighbors on both sides and the house directly across.

She didn’t go further to those farther away.

Little Bai Guo also became more energetic.

Before leaving, she heard her grandma mention that she wanted to find little playmates around her age for Little Zi Su.

At the age of three, children were very active, and the adults at home couldn’t always watch over her. They couldn’t always keep her cooped up at home either. She needed to get out and move around.

At this time, playmates were important.

First, because playmates were familiar with the area.

Second, they could play with other kids nearby.

Little Bai Guo still couldn’t walk, so she couldn’t go play with Little Zi Su.

But if little kids were kept inside too long, they would lose their social skills.

The adults hoped Little Zi Su would be more lively.

They didn’t expect her to get along with every other child, but they still hoped she could have more friends.

When Little Bai Guo grew up, she would be able to play with her sister and their little friends.

For the first time, Little Xian Yu was observing people and trying to learn about these new neighbors. She paid attention to the information Li Qiurong had gathered.

Now, every family had many children, and among the five neighbors, three households had children around the same age. Two of them had little girls.

These little girls would probably be Little Zi Su’s future playmates.

However, when they visited, they only met one child.

They didn’t meet the other two, so they weren’t sure what they were like or whether they would get along.

At dinner, Li Qiurong shared the family situation of the neighbors with everyone.

Of the five households, except for the house across the street, the other households had many people.

Bai Ji said, “No rush. If they get along, great. If not, we can let Yongcheng take her to the mine. There are many little girls there too.”

The mine was a little far from the county, about half an hour by bike.

Lin Yongcheng had to make the trip every day, and taking one more child wouldn’t be a problem.

Lin Yongcheng said, “I have two colleagues who both have daughters.”

“You’ll be working, and you can’t watch over her,” Li Qiurong disagreed with letting Lin Yongcheng take the kids to work. “What if other kids bully her?”

They had just moved to an unfamiliar place, and who knew whether the local kids would gang up on her?

She didn’t feel comfortable letting Little Zi Su go to the mine.

“No rush.” Bai Zhu said gently he patted Xiao Zisu’s head. “Finding playmates isn’t just about age; it also depends on the character of the adults in their family. What’s the use of being close? What if their family is full of troublemakers? Let’s wait a bit longer.”

Adults are adults, and children are children.

It’s said this way, but if the adults in the house are all troublemakers, it can be very annoying.

That’s asking for trouble!

Besides, parents are a child’s first teachers. If the adults in the house are troublemakers, how likely is it that the children will turn out well?!

It’s better to stay in the Shanglin village; everyone knows each other well.

Who’s good and who’s bad, they have a clear understanding.

Xiao Zisu said, “I want to play with my little sister.”

“A sister is a sister, a playmate is a playmate,” Bai Ji glanced at her.

After moving, there were many things to handle, and the parents didn’t feel at ease about their children finding playmates, worried about meeting bad people.

But if they didn’t find playmates, they were afraid the children would become reclusive. It was a dilemma.

Of course, they still had to find someone, but they couldn’t rush.

Lin Yongcheng said, “Let’s observe for a while. The character of the adults is important, and the child’s character shouldn’t be neglected either. We don’t want to meet a bad child who will lead our children astray.”

Even a thin cotton-padded jacket was the best in their eyes.

What if they encountered a bad child and their little cotton-padded jacket turned bad?

…

The next day, Lin Yongcheng and Bai Ji went to work early in the morning. Xiao Bai Guo was thinking about her fish.

After drinking her milk, Bai Shu took her to see the fish.

He was secretly trying to teach her to call him “grandfather.”

Xiao Bai Guo tried twice but still couldn’t pronounce it correctly.

The two sat together, watching the fish.

Before long, the neighbors from next door came over with a few children to visit.

The neighbor’s family was the Li family, a large household with four generations living together.

The oldest, Grandma Li, was over seventy years old.

The household was managed by her daughter-in-law, Li Dama, who had been widowed for many years.

Li Dama had three sons, and the third son lived with his father-in-law, while his two children stayed with Li Dama.

The first and second sons, along with their families, lived in a small courtyard next door.

There were sixteen people, including both adults and children, all living in the same courtyard.

Their courtyard was about the same size as Bai’s rented one, and it was truly cramped.

When Xiao Bai Guo went to deliver vegetables that day, she was shocked.

She wondered how so many people could live there.

Could it be that they had hooks hung on the beams of the house, like fishing hooks, to hang the children on?

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Xiao Bai Guo figured it out.

Bai’s courtyard door was half open, and Li Dama peered inside before pushing the door and entering.

She was smiling, a familiar kind of smile. “I was wondering if your children are home. My kids want to play with yours, so I brought them over.”

Li Dama was holding a one-year-old grandson, and behind her were three children—two girls and one boy.

They were all around the same age as Xiao Zisu—six, four, and a bit younger.

Xiao Bai Guo looked at them with a tilted head.

Hmm… their family doesn’t seem very clean. Apart from the one in Li Dama’s arms, whose face was still relatively clean, the other three were all dirty.

It was a bit shocking to look at, and she quickly turned her gaze elsewhere.

Xiao Bai Guo didn’t like dirty children.

She muttered to herself, thinking she couldn’t let Xiao Zisu play with these dirty children.

If Xiao Zisu also turned into a dirty child, she wouldn’t like her sister anymore.

Bai Shu didn’t understand what she was saying but found it strange.

Normally, children like playing with each other, even if they couldn’t play together, they still enjoyed watching other kids running around.

But Xiao Bai Guo, upon seeing them, just turned her head away?

Sure enough, she was a little lazy, too lazy to even look at the others.

“Please sit down.” Bai Shu greeted Li Dama.

There was a bench in the courtyard, but as a man, it wasn’t appropriate for him to entertain her, so he turned around and called into the house, “Qiu Rong, the neighbors have come to visit. Let Xiao Zisu come out and play.”

Xiao Zisu’s dress had torn this morning, so Li Qiu Rong was inside mending it.

The two hadn’t come out yet.

There was a long bench and a bamboo chair in the courtyard.

Li Dama sat on the long bench, holding her grandson, and smiling, she asked, “Fish for dinner? How lucky!”

The three older children from the Li family didn’t know Bai Shu, and they felt a bit shy in front of strangers.

When they heard about fish for dinner, their eyes lit up, and they swallowed.

It had been a long time since they had fish.

With so many people in their family, even if they had fish, there was barely enough for everyone.

The three pairs of eyes turned toward Bai Shu.

“We just moved in, so I bought two fish for the kids to try some meat.” Bai Shu smiled politely, sensing their gazes. He called again, “Xiao Zisu, hurry up. The neighbors’ kids are here to play.”

“Eh… I’ll be right out!” Xiao Zisu responded from inside the house.

Li Dama shifted her grandson to her lap and said to the other three kids, “Go play with your sister over there, watch the fish with her.”

The three children glanced at Bai Shu and then at Xiao Bai Guo.

Finally, their gaze was fixed on the fish in the wooden basin, and they started moving toward it.

Two carp were swimming in the water.

The three children from the Li family squatted down, staring at the fish in the basin, practically salivating at the thought of fish soup.

They hadn’t had fish for a long time, so they were eager for it.

The five-year-old Li Xiaoni rubbed her nose and, with her bright eyes, looked at Bai Shu, trying to make small talk. “Grandpa from next door, what’s the little sister’s name?”

Bai Shu said, “Her name is Bai Guo.”

“I remember. Bai Guo, little sister,” Li Xiaoni nodded, then said, “I’m Xiaoni, your big sister. Let’s shake hands.”

She stretched out her little hand, wanting to shake Xiao Bai Guo’s hand.

Bai’s family always kept themselves clean; both the children were fair and clean, their clothes changed every day.

They were the opposite of the Li family’s children.

Li Xiaoni wanted to touch Xiao Bai Guo’s face, but her hands were too dirty.

With the adults around, she didn’t dare ask, so she just suggested shaking hands.

The little sister from next door wore a pretty flowered dress, and Li Xiaoni wished she could wear such a dress.

She also wanted to eat fish.

Li Xiaoni looked back at Li Dama.

When had they eaten fish at home?

Seeing her small, dirty hand, Xiao Bai Guo widened her eyes.

Don’t come near!

Don’t touch the fish with those dirty hands!!

Xiao Bai Guo quickly made a sound, signaling Bai Shu to take her away.

Clearly, Bai Shu didn’t like dirty children either.

He picked up Xiao Bai Guo and avoided Li Xiaoni’s hand, saying, “She’s still little, so she can’t play with you.”

“I’m here!” Just in time, Xiao Zisu appeared. She had a patch on her dress and rushed out like the wind, curiously looking at the children from the Li family.

The three kids from the Li family looked at her.

They were strangers, but this was their own courtyard.

Grandpa was there too, so Xiao Zisu wasn’t afraid, just a little shy.

She tilted her head and greeted them, “I’m Zisu, who are you?”

Half a minute passed, and the three kids hadn’t responded yet.

Li Dama couldn’t help but urge them.

“Your sister is talking to you, why are you quiet? Say hello!”

Bai Shu furrowed his brow.

He still didn’t know the kids’ characters, but clearly, Li Dama, as a parent, wasn’t doing a good job.

How could a parent speak ill of their own child?

Under Li Dama’s watchful eyes, the three children introduced themselves.

“I’m Li Xiaoni.”

“I’m Li Daqiang.”

“I… I’m Li Wuzhen.”

The last one to speak, Li Wuzhen, was a bit timid, keeping her head down and not daring to look anyone in the eye.

Among the three, Li Xiaoni was the most proactive, while Li Daqiang seemed neutral.

Xiao Bai Guo was still observing the three children.

Bai Shu had already made up his mind.

Li Xiaoni was probably the favored one.

Li Wuzhen was either ignored or bullied at home, and Li Daqiang wasn’t as favored but wasn’t bullied either.

Since Xiao Zisu wanted to make friends with other children, Bai Shu didn’t interfere.

He carried Xiao Bai Guo around the yard, but his eyes still lingered on the children.

It didn’t matter if they couldn’t play together now.

They just needed to be careful not to fight.

Xiao Zisu greeted them one by one.

Then she sat down by the wooden basin to watch the fish with them. Li Xiaoni quietly asked, “Zisu, are you eating fish today?”

If there was fish, she wanted to ask for some fish soup at Xiao Zisu’s house.

Even though she was young, she was quite clever.

The adults in Bai’s family seemed respectable, and as a child, if she went to ask for food, they might give her some.

The other two pairs of eyes also turned to Xiao Zisu.