Chapter 173: Fool
Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Fool
When Nan Zhi got home, she saw Nan Yi had moved a small stool to the floor-to-ceiling window. He was pressed against the glass, looking down at something.
Nan Zhi, who was about to take off her shoes in the entryway, froze.
She had just remembered that this angle gave a perfect view of where she and Lu Shixu had been standing just a moment ago.
For some reason, Nan Zhi felt a pang of guilt.
She hid the ancient book, which was wrapped in a soft cloth, behind her back...
"Sigh."
Nan Yi let out a small sigh.
He looked so full of sorrow, like a grown-up who had to worry about everything.
He slowly turned around and said to Nan Zhi:
"Mom, I saw everything."
Nan Zhi calmly brought the ancient book out from behind her back.
"This is something Mom bought from him."
Nan Yi asked her:
"So, do you like it, Mom?"
"Of course!"
Why else would Nan Zhi have spent so much money on it?
’A person has to have hobbies, after all.’
’So you can’t really blame me for this, right?’
Nan Yi sighed again.
"As long as you like it, Mom."
Nan Zhi quickly changed her shoes, went inside, and placed the ancient book on the table, enthusiastically calling Nan Yi over.
"Yiyi, do you want to come see Mom’s new book?"
Nan Yi obediently got up and ran over, snuggling up beside his mother.
Nan Zhi opened the book to show him.
"Remember? I told you about this book before. But the version I read was incomplete. This is the real, original manuscript."
Her eyes sparkled, filled with the joy and affection one feels for a treasured object.
Nan Yi glanced at the book a few times, but his attention was mostly on his mother.
He suddenly made a solemn promise:
"When I grow up, I’ll buy a thousand books for you, Mom!"
His childish words made Nan Zhi laugh.
But she didn’t want to dampen his spirits, so she deliberately put on an exaggerated expression.
"That’s going to be very difficult! But Mom will be waiting!"
"Mhm! Don’t worry!"
Nan Yi puffed out his little chest, suddenly filled with immense courage.
’He suddenly felt like he wasn’t losing to that annoying man downstairs at all!’
Nan Zhi picked up the ancient book, ready to put it away in her room.
In any other family with children, such a fragile paper manuscript would surely be put on a high shelf, far out of reach, for fear a child might touch it.
But Nan Zhi wasn’t worried. She trusted that Yiyi would cherish this book even more than she did.
So she placed it on the desk in her room.
This way, both she and Yiyi could see it whenever they wanted.
When Nan Zhi came back out, she found Nan Yi pressed against the glass again.
"What’s so interesting to look at?"
Nan Zhi had assumed Lu Shixu would have left long ago.
But Nan Yi turned and told her:
"That man is still downstairs."
Nan Zhi was slightly surprised.
She walked over to look too, and sure enough, she saw Lu Shixu standing quietly by his car, lost in thought.
It had been nearly twenty minutes since she had turned and left him.
’Has he just been standing there this whole time?’
’Doesn’t he have anything better to do?’
Just as Nan Zhi was wondering about this, Nan Yi, beside her, muttered unhappily under his breath:
"What an idiot."
As if he’d sensed something, Lu Shixu, still standing downstairs, suddenly looked up toward their apartment—
"Oof."
Nan Zhi reflexively pulled Nan Yi back several steps.
Nan Yi’s brow furrowed in response, his little face full of displeasure.
When Nan Zhi came to her senses, she let out a snort of laughter.
Nan Yi asked, "What are you laughing at, Mom?"
Nan Zhi was evasive. "It’s just... funny, I guess?"
In reality, it was because Nan Yi had called Lu Shixu an idiot.
She figured that in all his life, no one had probably ever dared to judge Lu Shixu like that.
But Nan Yi could.
Nan Zhi’s mood suddenly lifted. She took Nan Yi’s hand and turned away.
"Let’s not worry about him. What do you want to eat today? Oh, right, Auntie Xu Li is coming over tonight..."
-
「The next day was the day she had arranged with Fu Chao to check out kindergartens.」
Coincidentally, it was a school day for Qing Xi.
So, they agreed to meet early. The plan was to drop Qing Xi off at his kindergarten and then tour the place.
’Yes, it would also be a way for Nan Yi to experience the atmosphere of a kindergarten ahead of time.’
To avoid another round of romance rumors, Nan Zhi was much more cautious this time.
She declined Fu Chao’s offer to drive over and pick her up, asking Xu Li to drive instead.
’With her agent present, there was no way this could be spun into a scandal, right?’
Nan Zhi mused.
She turned her head and saw Nan Yi looking sullen, his eyelashes lowered and his chubby cheeks puffed out in a pout.
How could Nan Zhi not understand his feelings? She comforted him in a low voice:
"We’re just going to take a look. If you really don’t want to go to kindergarten, then we’ll..."
Nan Yi’s eyes lit up in an instant.
His face practically screamed: ’Can I not go?’
Nan Zhi paused for two seconds.
"...just go later."
Sooner or later, he still had to go.
Nan Yi was crestfallen.
He was deeply troubled.
"Why do kids have to go to kindergarten?"
Nan Zhi thought for a moment, then answered seriously:
"Because everyone has to go to school. And don’t you like to read books, Yiyi?"
"But I don’t want to go to school!"
Nan Yi shouted.
Nan Zhi didn’t say anything.
She could see the deep anxiety and unease radiating from him.
She sighed silently, gently patting the top of his head.
It was as if she hoped her soft hand could smooth away all the traces left by his past trauma.
Nan Yi had been preparing to argue with his mother.
But being suddenly petted on the head left him a bit stunned, and also a bit happy.
He was like a puppy being petted, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to do.
After a long moment, his attitude softened.
"If you really want me to go, Mom..."
A trace of sadness actually appeared on his little face.
Nan Zhi said, "There’s no rush."
Nan Yi swallowed the rest of his words and rubbed his cheek against Nan Zhi’s palm.
Nan Zhi’s expression also softened incredibly.
Xu Li, who was driving: ...
’It’s just kindergarten, isn’t it?’
’Why are this mother and son acting like it’s a life-or-death parting?!’
"Ahem. Isn’t that Fu Chao’s car parked over there?"
Xu Li said, slowing the car down.
Nan Zhi looked over and saw a fully disguised Fu Chao leaning out of his car window, waving energetically at them.
Nan Zhi had given Fu Chao their license plate number beforehand.
It wasn’t just Fu Chao; a small head was trying to squeeze out from under his arm, waving at them as well.
It was Qing Xi.
Xu Li pulled up parallel to Fu Chao’s car.
Nan Zhi rolled down her window and raised a hand in greeting to Fu Chao.
Fu Chao said, "I saw the rumors about you and Xie Yu!"
Nan Zhi raised an eyebrow.
’And here she thought Fu Chao was going to say something important.’
But he just sounded disgruntled.
"What’s with these paparazzi? I, Fu Chao, was standing right there, a whole living person. Are they pretending I don’t exist?"
Nan Zhi: ...
’So Fu Chao was unhappy because the paparazzi didn’t get a picture of him?’
"Didn’t we already clear that up yesterday?"
The joint statement from Nan Zhi’s and Xie Yu’s agents, supported by video and photographic evidence, proved that other cast members from the same show had been standing not far from them.
Oh, right.
The video and photos had been courteously provided by Fu Chao.
His nanny van happened to be parked nearby, and its dashcam had recorded the whole group.
As a result, the netizens’ attention shifted from the rumored relationship between Nan Zhi and Xie Yu to the fact that "the cast members are actually much closer than we thought."