Revisiting the Past — Childhood Memories

More than ten years ago.

“Daddy!”

Shi Yu’s childish voice flew out from upstairs even faster than he did.

The father, who had been sitting on the sofa discussing something with the man opposite him, had a serious face one second but turned his head and beamed the next: “Oh, who’s little sleepyhead is awake?!”

“We’re not little sleepyheads, right, Xiaoyu~”
“No am!”

A gentle and pleasant voice and a childish voice sang in harmony, making the father laugh even louder.

Little Shi Yu was carried down from upstairs by his mother.

His mother was a famous beauty in her youth, and now, in her thirties, her beauty had not diminished but had increased with the charm of a mature woman.

Little Shi Yu was about half grown, with skin that was white and pink, and a pair of clear eyes that blinked on his chubby face.

He was holding a brown stuffed bear in his arms and wearing a set of blue star pajamas.

More noticeable than these was his head of black hair, which looked as if it had just been swept by a tornado.

The child saw his father smiling foolishly and opened his arms for a hug.

The father took him from his mother’s arms.

Little Shi Yu rubbed happily in his father’s arms and was about to change his posture for another round of acting cute when he suddenly realized there was a strange gaze wandering over him from across the way.

He turned his head in confusion and saw a smiling young man.

The man was wearing a navy blue shirt and glasses.

When he looked over, his dark eyes under the glasses seemed to dim, as if a malicious glint had flashed through them.

Children are most sensitive to emotions.

Almost the next second, he quickly quieted down, hugged his father’s neck, and hid his face, completely covering it.

The father pressed down the frizz and exchanged a helpless glance with his wife, realizing that he couldn’t smooth down a single strand of the messy black hair.

The mother said: “Xiaoyu, this is Daddy’s business partner. You can call him Uncle Zheng.”

If it were his personality before, he would have curiously ran to the man and looked him up and down.

What was going on today?

Wasn’t he very happy just now?

The father handed the child back to his wife in confusion, gently coaxed him, and smiled with relief and affection after the child nodded obediently.

The mother touched Shi Yu’s head and carried him back upstairs.

“Alright, you’ve seen your daddy, so should we go back and change our clothes?”

Shi Yu hummed, leaned on his mother’s shoulder, and raised his head, just in time to meet Zheng Lin’s cold gaze.

He shuddered and started to cry.

The mother didn’t expect this sudden change and was a little surprised: “What’s wrong?!”

She coaxed him while carrying Shi Yun out of sight around the corner of the stairs.

Zheng Lin said with some concern: “Was he scared by me?”

The father took a sip of tea and waved his hand: “No.”

As soon as the child left, he didn’t want to mention family matters anymore and steered the conversation back to work, continuing: “Alright, go back and notify the board members that the election will be held as scheduled.”

Zheng Lin nodded and got up to leave.

The father adjusted his cuffs, his voice completely different from before.

“Zheng Lin, I promoted you. You should know what to do and what not to do.”

Zheng Lin’s cold sweat broke out.

“Ch-, Chairman, I—”

The father raised his hand to stop him and said something cryptic: “You still look better in a white shirt.”

A few days later.

Shi Yu happily ran to the opposite villa to find An Huaixu to play.

He stood in front of the large gate and shouted to the guard: “Uncle, I’m looking for Brother Huaixi!”

The guard knew him and let him in with a smile.

He ruffled the child’s head and took out a piece of candy from his pocket.

Shi Yu’s eyes lit up when he saw the snack!

“Thank you, Uncle!”

After speaking, he ran into the house.

“Brother Huaixi!”

Huaixu’s parents weren’t home; only the nanny, Aunt Lin, was there.

Little Shi Yu rambled around the room.

“Aunt Lin said Brother Huaixi was just here, why is he gone now… Hey, a little butterfly!”

He played with a butterfly flying in the air for a long time and was suddenly attracted by something else when he looked up:

“Huh, what’s over there?”

Little Shi Yu ran towards the corner.

In a place he couldn’t see behind him, little An Huaixu, dressed in a neat shirt and shorts, revealed half of his head, quietly watched Shi Yun for a while, and then shrunk back.

He sat cross-legged on the lawn, continuing to look at the test questions in his hand.

His tutor had said that his grades had dropped recently and that he wasn’t concentrating, so he had shut himself in the world of study.

For him, any other matter besides studying was a nuisance.

Especially children.

He couldn’t understand why Shi Yun was so good at smiling and why adults liked him so much.

He just thought it was annoying.

He turned a page in the book and thought:

Forget it, I’ll play with him later. 

Otherwise, he’ll cry, and Mom will scold me again.

He blocked out the outside world and continued to immerse himself in the ocean of knowledge.

Outside, Shi Yu was still tirelessly looking for him.

He seemed to think that An Huaixu was playing hide-and-seek with him, and his excited voice echoed in the yard.

An Huaixu took a deep breath and forced himself to concentrate.

This was a high-level question, which was very difficult for him.

But after half a day of effort, he had a vague idea of how to solve it.

He didn’t know if it was because he was too focused or because of something else.

Shi Yu gradually quieted down in the yard.

He carefully studied the question, and finally, he had a flash of inspiration and had a complete solution.

He quickly wrote it down.

For a time, the only sounds echoing in his ears were the rustling of the wind and the sound of the pen tip scratching on the paper.

He didn’t know how long it had been, but after he wrote down the final answer, checked it, and found that it was completely correct, the string of nerves that had been tense in his heart finally relaxed.

“He must have been waiting for a long time…”

Little An Huaixu packed up his books without stopping and thought with pleasure, “If I show these questions to the teacher, he shouldn’t say anything more about me. I can play with that kid properly today.”

Little An Huaixu came out from the corner, cleared his throat, and was about to say something when he found that the yard was empty.

He was stunned for a moment, not expecting this scene.

What happened to Shi Yu?

He used to wait for him at home if he couldn’t find him, but what’s wrong today?

Little An Huaixu pushed open the door, his pace filled with a panic he didn’t even notice.

He rushed to Aunt Lin and asked with his little face raised: “Aunt Lin, Shi Yu…”

Where did Shi Yu go?

Why didn’t he wait for me?

He didn’t mean to ask directly, so he said the name, stopped, clenched the seams of his pants, lowered his head, and stubbornly stared at Aunt Lin.

Aunt Lin was surprised for a moment to see him: “Oh, Xiao An, you’re here?”

She had watched An Huaixu grow up and immediately realized what he was thinking.

She smiled and took out a box of milk from the cabinet behind her: “Xiaoyu went to play with Zeze.”

“Qi Ze…”

Little An Huaixu’s tone didn’t seem to like this person very much.

He took the milk, said thank you, and ran out the door.

Aunt Lin knew these children’s thoughts clearly.

She initially thought that Xiao An didn’t like playing with Xiao Yu, but since this Qi Ze appeared and Xiao Yu no longer mentioned playing with Xiao An every day, she realized that Xiao An was very angry about this –

This awkward child actually liked Xiao Yu a lot.

It was just that Xiao An wasn’t good at expressing himself and would hide his true emotions.

His strong personality also made him demand a lot from himself, and he was very disciplined. He never played for a second before completing his homework.

Alas, this made him lose his childishness.
She sometimes felt bad for him.

An Huaixu quickly arrived at the entrance of Qi Ze’s house.

As soon as he stood there, he felt annoyed again.

Shi Yu didn’t wait for him and was willing to play with whomever he wanted, what was it to him?

He might as well read a book instead.

An Huaixu stared at the milk in his hand, stood there silently for a few seconds, and turned to go back.

But the people at Qi Ze’s house had already noticed him, and the nanny stepped forward and asked him, “Isn’t this Xiao An, what’s wrong, is there something you need?”

An Huaixu couldn’t turn back now.

He resignedly turned around and asked, “Is Shi Yu here? I’m looking for him.”

The nanny was a little strange: “Young Master Xiaoyu didn’t come to look for Young Master Xiaoze today.”

An Huaixu frowned, even more dissatisfied.

Shi Yu was a person who said he would do something and would immediately do it. He never lied to him.

What was wrong with him today? Was he angry with me because I didn’t play with him?

An Huaixu didn’t look too good. He said thank you and went back to his house.

Okay, no matter if Shi Yu was angry or not, he was particularly angry now.

He subconsciously wanted to ignore it, but for some reason, a thought made him run to Shi’s house, and even a voice told him – he must see Shi Yu today.

They lived in a villa area, where the houses were expensive. Besides their families, there weren’t many other people living around.
The scenery here was very good, with the sea to the south and a forest park to the left, where cute little animals like hamsters could often be seen.

The Shi family lived closest to the park, while the Qi family lived in the opposite direction from his house.
It took An Huaixu a long time to get there.

He wasn’t very athletic and slowed down after running for a while.
He stood at a corner, supporting his knees to catch his breath, and inadvertently turned his head to look at the white SUV that flashed past the intersection.
He was stunned for a few seconds, recovered, and continued to run to Shi’s house. @Infinite Good Articles, All in Jinjiang Literature City

A few minutes later.
As soon as he stood in front of Shi’s house, Shi’s mother and An’s mother, who were sitting in the yard drinking tea, asked in shock: “Xiao An, why are you here? Where’s Xiaoyu?”

They seemed a little strange that the two weren’t together.