Chapter 17: Cracks

Chapter 17: Cracks

Hearing his father's thoughts, Miaomiao was stunned.

Although in his heart, Mom was always the most beautiful no matter what, there were still differences in beauty. For example, Mom's look today was just average beauty, which Miaomiao found a bit hard to appreciate. When he saw his mom approaching with her wind-tossed afro at the primary school gate earlier, he almost didn't recognize her and nearly turned to run away.

However, after listening to Dad's words, Miaomiao looked more closely at Mom's appearance today and gradually began to appreciate its unique charm.

He wondered if Dad dared to voice his true thoughts. From the sound of it, saying them out loud might be fatal?

Chi Xiao pursed his lips, hesitating for a while before finally speaking up.

"Your look..." He paused. "It's quite distinctive."

Miaomiao couldn't quite grasp the difference between "cute" and "distinctive," but both seemed like good words!

As for Ming Can, she instinctively thought he was being sarcastic.

She pushed her red-framed glasses up her nose and retorted, "What do you know? Fashion is all about having the right face. If you look good, anything looks good."

Chi Xiao: "That's not what I meant..."

"Enough." Ming Can didn't want to hear his explanation; an explanation was just an excuse. "Stop standing here in the sun. Let's go to the library."

With that, she took Miaomiao's hand and started walking up the steps to the library entrance. After a few steps, she suddenly stopped, flicking her curly hair back. Her bright eyes, behind her non-prescription glasses, shot a glance at Chi Xiao, clearly urging him:

What are you waiting for? Lead the way!

Chi Xiao caught up, walking half a step ahead of them, leading this temperamental young lady and her bobbing brother into the library's main entrance.

This was A University's only public library, requiring reservations. With limited daily slots, most people inside were students from A University, maintaining a serene and orderly atmosphere.

"Let's take a tour first," Chi Xiao said.

He led Ming Can and Ming Miao through the library's ground floor hall. To the north stood a statue of a sage. Miaomiao stood in front of it, taking a photo, looking very serious, which made Ming Can laugh.

Ming Can had a large pale pink tote bag slung over her shoulder. As she bent down to take a photo of Miaomiao, the bag slipped off, dragging her arm down, making it look very heavy.

After taking the photo, Chi Xiao offered to carry the bag for her.

Ming Can glanced at his outfit for the day—black windbreaker, black pants, black work boots—a chillingly dark ensemble that already drew plenty of attention. If he carried a pink bag, wouldn't everyone in the library stare at him?

"No need, thank you, Senior." Ming Can cautiously stepped back half a step. "I can manage on my own."

Chi Xiao didn't insist.

Leaving the ground floor hall, they went up to the second floor, continuing their tour of the school history room, art gallery, digital library, and study areas...

The library had been built in recent years, modern and equipped with gardens inside and glass corridors outside. Miaomiao didn't fully understand the purpose of all these high-end rooms, but he could appreciate the scenery, finding everything beautiful.

Exiting the study area, they arrived at the fourth-floor scenic corridor.

The south side featured transparent glass walls, offering a view of the artificial hills, winding paths, and bustling students below.

Walking here and seeing the beautiful scenery, Ming Can suddenly felt that their route through the library seemed carefully planned. Each stop was interesting without being too far, ascending floor by floor without taking any unnecessary detours. It wasn't just aimless wandering.

"Through this corridor is the reading lounge," Chi Xiao said. "We'll study there later."

Ming Can nodded, satisfied with his arrangement.

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the glass, casting the three shadows diagonally on the ground.

Initially, Miaomiao was holding only his mother's hand. Looking down, he saw his father's shadow walking alone beside them. Unable to resist, he reached out with his free hand and quietly held two of Chi Xiao's fingers.

Feeling something soft and warm tugging at his fingers, Chi Xiao glanced down, noticing the three distinct shadows—two tall, one short, hands intertwined—creating an unexpectedly warm scene.

Miaomiao hadn't walked like this with his parents in a long time. Excited, he skipped along, drawing Ming Can's attention. As she looked down at the shadows, she inadvertently met Chi Xiao's gaze.

A strange feeling stirred within her, and she subtly looked away.

Though uncomfortable with the situation, she didn't force Miaomiao to let go of Chi Xiao's hand for his sake.

Arriving at the reading lounge, they found a quiet table away from the crowd. Miaomiao sat in the middle, and Chi Xiao intended to find some fairy tale books for him. Unexpectedly, as soon as he sat down, Miaomiao pulled out his workbook from his backpack, ready to start studying.

Over the past few weeks of targeted learning, Miaomiao had mastered basic addition and subtraction within ten. The first-grade curriculum at Daystar Primary School was relatively simple, so he could handle his daily homework. However, he still lagged behind his classmates in math progress.

Ming Can finally set down her large tote bag, pulling out a big wooden board called the Hundred Board. It had a hundred squares with numbers from 1 to 100 and colorful acrylic beads for counting, one of the math tools she bought for Miaomiao.

Just as she was about to explain how to use the Hundred Board to Chi Xiao, her phone rang.

It was a call from a student council member, sounding urgent, saying that the faculty advisor was dissatisfied with their event proposal and demanded immediate revisions.

Ming Can was exasperated. She instructed the member to contact others and hold an online meeting immediately to revise the proposal.

Hanging up, Miaomiao asked, "Do you have an emergency?"

"Yes." Ming Can pulled out her laptop from her bag, placed it on the table, and hastily tied her curly hair into a messy ponytail. Then she said to Chi Xiao, "Senior, please teach Miaomiao alone. His weekend homework is these pages. He's currently learning numbers and addition and subtraction beyond ten. You can use the tool I brought."

After saying this, she sent several instructional videos about using the Hundred Board to Chi Xiao via WeChat.

Using this tool was straightforward, and Chi Xiao felt confident. He nodded at her, "Go ahead and do your work."

Seeing his calm demeanor and casual tone, Ming Can couldn't help but snort a brief laugh, quickly covering it with a cough: "Ahem, ahem. Thank you, Senior."

With that, Ming Can picked up her laptop and left to find a quieter place for the meeting.

Left alone, father and son stared at each other, wide-eyed. Chi Xiao extended his finger to tap the abacus twice, then said coolly, "Can you count these numbers now?"

Ming Miao: ?

The supervisor they encountered during this event was extremely picky, providing a long list of revision suggestions. Ming Can and her team members held an online meeting for nearly an hour to barely adjust the proposal according to the supervisor's requirements.

She was so engrossed in the meeting that when she packed up her laptop and started walking back, her mind was still on whether any details were overlooked in the plan.

A few meters away from where Miaomiao and the others were studying, Ming Can managed to snap out of her thoughts and looked over.

Seeing something, she paused, lowered her head, and pursed her lips tightly, trying hard not to laugh.

Not far away.

An hour ago, the composed and confident teenager was now sitting in his seat, completely frozen.

One hand rested on his forehead with considerable force, creating creases on his smooth forehead, and his bangs stuck up messily. His other hand was on the abacus, pointing at a number, his eyes lost in some incomprehensible contemplation.

Beside him was a little boy with a dazed expression, looking slightly better than him.

When he saw Ming Can approaching, the little boy's eyes moved, his blank expression seeming to say—

Mom, come take a look, Dad seems to be falling apart.

Ming Can walked up to them, glanced at the workbook on the table, and instantly felt exasperated: "What's going on? Not a single question answered?!"

The petrified Chi Xiao seemed to hear someone scolding him.

He snapped out of it, collected himself, and said to Ming Can, "I was just teaching him to count to one hundred. We haven't gotten to the homework yet."

Ming Can exclaimed, "Why are you in such a rush?"

Chi Xiao looked bewildered, "Was I rushing?"

"Brother, you're teaching too fast," Ming Can said, holding her forehead. "Half a month ago, Miaomiao barely knew his numbers. Now you want him to count to one hundred? That's bullying a kid!"

Chi Xiao: ...

This child was nothing like what he had imagined.

He remembered Ming Can being excellent at math, so he subconsciously assumed her cousin would be smart too. When he first asked Miaomiao to count to one hundred and Miaomiao said he couldn't, Chi Xiao was shocked. Then, when he tried to teach him one number at a time, Miaomiao stumbled every time he hit a ten, and whenever he encountered repeated numbers like 33, he would jump to 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, and 100—done! It was shockingly fast, leaving Chi Xiao stunned for a century.

Ming Can observed his expression and thought to herself: Can't handle a little turbulence? You should know that I've already weathered the toughest part—the two-minute era. Mentioning it might scare you to death.

However, she could fully understand Chi Xiao's frustration. She believed their childhood experiences were similar—learning numbers as soon as they could speak, mastering abacus calculations by kindergarten, and answering complex arithmetic problems within seconds before starting elementary school. They were always the smartest kids in class, learning everything quickly and efficiently. It was hard for them to comprehend why ordinary classmates struggled, let alone a five or six-year-old like Miaomiao who had almost no grasp of math.

Ming Can reiterated Miaomiao's current progress to Chi Xiao—he had only just started learning numbers above ten and could count up to twenty or thirty. She advised against rushing things.

Worried that this genius might give up on Miaomiao due to his perceived lack of talent, Ming Can tried to persuade him: "Treat Miaomiao like a toddler just starting to learn math. It's normal for a child that age to take half a year or more to learn counting. Miaomiao has only been at it for a few weeks and already knows addition and subtraction within ten. He's a little genius! I think he has great mathematical potential!"

Hearing his mother praise him as a little genius made Ming Miao happy at first, but then he suddenly felt something was off. Pouting, he retorted, "You're wrong; I'm not a three-year-old!"