Chapter 28 “Little Fish Orphanage”

Chapter 28: Little Fish Orphanage

Little Fish gazed steadily at Sang Ye, and after a moment, slowly nodded.

"Okay~"

She responded softly, then turned her head to look in the direction of Director Mommy's room.

It remained quiet over there, with no one coming or going, and no familiar figure ever appearing.

Soon, the class bell rang.

With Little Fish's advance payment of "tuition" and her affirmation, Qi Jing taught this class with even more seriousness, putting his whole heart into it. Perhaps he also gained a sense of fulfillment from the enthusiastic and earnest attitudes of the group of children, feeling for the first time like a real teacher.

When you immerse yourself wholeheartedly in something you care about, time seems to pass especially quickly.

After lunch, Zhao Yu had already boiled a large amount of water in the kitchen, and the small playground outside was filled with basins and buckets of water, all basking under the blazing sunlight.

Even before the water, during the later classes, Zhao Yu had taken out clothes and pants from the storage room, given them a simple wash, and hung them out to dry on the playground.

The orphanage didn't have enough drying racks or fixed clothespins, so Zhao Yu rummaged through the storage room for some ropes, tied them back and forth between the buildings outside the activity room, and hung up the washed, wrung-out clothes one by one to dry.

By the time the afternoon nap ended, the overhead sun was no longer as harsh, and the players called all the children to come and sit under the eaves.

Zhao Yu gathered the dried clothes and put them in a basket beside her, then clapped her hands to quiet everyone down.

"Everyone, line up. Come one at a time to get your clean clothes."

The orphanage children knew what she was doing, and they also knew that this was something obtained with a small red flower. So, without the players having to keep order, the children obediently formed a line and took their clean clothes one by one.

Because there were only two female players but over a dozen little girls, Sang Ye and Panpan were first so they could wash up early and help the younger ones.

Little Fish was somewhere in the middle of the line and also received clean clothes that smelled of sunshine and warmth. Zhao Yu even reminded Little Fish to remember to change out of her princess dress later and give it to her, so she could wash it and hang it up to dry.

Perhaps to be nice to Little Fish, Zhao Yu gave her a small dress too—a goose-yellow one with a deeper-shade bow on the chest, the overall look was soft and tender.

At the very end of the line were Bai Ye and Song Pingan.

Bai Ye was lying on Song Pingan's back, and neither child saw any problem with this. Qi Jing and Huang Xiannian led them to another room to wash their hair and bodies.

That room was already soaked over a large area by a lot of water.

When Little Fish came in, everywhere she looked was covered in a thin layer of moisture, making the air feel damp to breathe.

"Little Fish, can I help you wash?" Cheng Jingjia asked nervously.

Among the players, only she and Zhao Yu were female, and they had to take care of over a dozen children. Even with Sang Ye and Panpan's help, it was truly a bit overwhelming.

Coincidentally, she had just finished washing one kid, and Zhao Yu was still busy, so she was the only one left to wash Little Fish's hair and body. Despite her anxiety, Cheng Jingjia had no choice but to pretend to be calm.

But to her relief, as soon as she asked, the child nodded obediently and even thanked her politely.

Cheng Jingjia quickly said "you're welcome" and reached out to help Little Fish take off her somewhat elaborate princess dress.

As she took it off, she noticed that the dress seemed... a bit too big?

Puzzled, Cheng Jingjia set the dress aside and asked softly, "Little Fish, have we been cooking so badly these past two days that you've lost weight?"

How else could the princess dress have so much extra room, and be so easy to take off without any resistance?

She wondered if the players' cooking had been so terrible that even the BOSS child had lost weight from hunger.

Little Fish blinked, looking confused, and shook her head. "The food is bad, but I haven't lost weight."

Cheng Jingjia: "...R-really?"

Guess the food really is that bad.

Just as she finished this thought, the child continued, "This princess dress isn't mine."

Cheng Jingjia froze in disbelief. "Huh? Not yours?? Then whose is it?!"

Little Fish blinked again and shook her head. "I dunno~"

Warm steam filled the air, and the child's slightly sweaty, rosy cheeks curved into a soft smile as she explained slowly, "Director Mommy gave it to me to wear because it's my birthday. Only kids with a birthday get to wear a pretty princess dress and be the luckiest little princess."

"..." Cheng Jingjia finally understood.

So this princess dress was just a "public item" in the orphanage, worn by who knows how many children before, and it just happened to be Little Fish's turn to be the birthday princess.

She felt a pang of guilt for bringing up a painful topic, even though the child might not be bothered by the hardship behind it.

Cheng Jingjia fell silent and became more gentle in her movements, carefully washing Little Fish with warm water.

She was very gentle, moving lightly, never tugging at Little Fish's scalp or letting hot water accidentally run into the child's ears.

Little Fish was also very obedient—closing her eyes when told, lifting her head when told. When warm water trickled down her cheeks, she tightly pursed her lips, but in the end, she had a mouthful of spit. After Cheng Jingjia declared her clean, she couldn't wait to run off and spit it out.

All the clothes in the orphanage were very soft.

Not because the fabric was good or high-quality, but because every piece had been worn by many children and washed by hand countless times. After so many washes, even the stiffest fabric becomes soft and comfortable against the skin.

Little Fish had a clean, slightly worn towel wrapped around her head to wring out her wet hair, and with Cheng Jingjia's help, she put on her new little dress.

"So cute." Cheng Jingjia looked at the child in goose-yellow, soft and tender, and even though she knew Little Fish was a terrifying BOSS, she couldn't help blurting out the sincere compliment.

Little Fish's thin arms and legs were fair and clean, and in her pale yellow dress, with her face flushed from the hot water, she looked incredibly soft and sweet, like a pale yellow mochi.

By then, Zhao Yu had finished washing another child. She dried her hands and came over to take the two dressed little girls outside to bask in the sun.

Little Fish sat in the sun, while the other children sat under the eaves, warming themselves in the leftover heat.

Perhaps the scene of Little Fish punishing Luo Luo and Xiaoyang yesterday was too terrifying, and the fear still lingered, so even though the sun wasn't as strong today, the children still avoided direct sunlight and refused to come out.

Soon, under the eaves of Little Fish Orphanage, a row of damp little mushrooms had sprouted.

The little mushrooms sat with their backs to the bright sun, some daydreaming, some whispering to each other, and some staring in wonder at their own clean little hands.

"Little Fish, Little Fish!" Tongtong bravely ran into the sun and held out her little hand to Little Fish, happily and eagerly saying, "Wanna smell me? I'm so fragrant now~"

Actually, even the shower gel and shampoo had expired who knows how long ago, but when the children were ghosts, no one ever took care of them, and no ghost thought of giving themselves a fragrant bath. After all, they were already dead—who cared about that?

But now, smelling the same scent on herself and Little Fish, Tongtong happily decided: from now on, she would wash her hair and take baths more often, making herself as fair, clean, and sweet-smelling as Little Fish.

She couldn't help bending down, opening her arms to give Little Fish a big hug. Like any person who loves to sniff a cute pet, she buried her face in Little Fish's neck and breathed in deeply, totally ignoring the sun.

Little Fish: "..."

The players watching: "..."

Hey, not gonna lie, that kid does look good to sniff — a soft, squishy, adorable kid. For people who love cute stuff, it's probably like catnip to cats: irresistible.

But even if they had ten times the nerve, they wouldn't dare to actually go over and take a big sniff of Xiaoyu like Tongtong did. That'd be the death of them.

Xiaoyu's neck was tickled by Tongtong's damp hair and breath. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, she shifted. Deciding her own hair was almost dry, she simply reached out and pulled Tongtong—who was nearly melting in the sun—under the eaves.

“Hehe~” Tongtong couldn't help but grin goofily at Xiaoyu.

There was none of the sharpness she showed when she first realized Xiaoyu was human.

“Xiaoyu, take a whiff of mine~” She tenaciously lifted her little hand again, the back of it practically right under Xiaoyu's nose.

Xiaoyu didn't get angry. Instead, she took a serious sniff and then nodded under Tongtong's expectant gaze, “Tongtong is like a fragrant little flower.”

Compliments came easily from the little kid.

Tongtong hugged her own little hand, satisfied, and continued to grin goofily.

The next second, another little hand quietly reached up to Xiaoyu's nose.

Looking up, Xiaoyu caught Xiaoyin's timid but sparkling eyes.

“Big sister, I smell good, praise me~”

Xiaoyu froze for a moment, then her mind started turning. She lowered her head to sniff, and then praised, “Like a little butterfly that flew out of the flowers~”

Xiaoyin's eyes lit up slightly. She too hugged her little hand, sniffed it contentedly, her shy cheeks flushed pink.

But that wasn't the end.

Where there's one, there's two, and where there's two, there's three, and where there's three…

Xiaoyu was forced into an afternoon of simile practice.

There were fifteen children in the orphanage. Xiaoyu praised fourteen of them.

One left: herself.

The little kid's mouth was completely dry, and her mind, already low on vocabulary, had gone completely blank.

Finally, she lowered her head and sniffed her own arm.

She couldn't smell a thing, and she couldn't think of a single word to praise herself with.

So, does Xiaoyu smell nice? What is she like?

Xiaoyu thinks. Xiaoyu is lost.

“Author's Note”

Cheng Jingjia: I knew the food was terrible! Look how hungry it left the kid.

Cheng Jingjia: (Sits up in the middle of the night) (Slaps herself) I'm such a terrible person!

.