"Xiaolong?" Huo Jiao was puzzled, but after thinking for a while, he realized that it was probably the doll that Lu Yao gave him yesterday, and he brought it to school.
After all, he is still a child under six years old, with innocence and childlikeness that adults cannot understand.
Observing your childhood self from another body is a very special perspective.
The childhood in Hu Jiao's memory was full of violence, scolding, grievance, and powerlessness, and he never dared to recall it too deeply. But Hu Qi in front of him, although his face was young, his eyes were bright, without any trace of haze, and he looked at him expectantly with his lips pursed.
Hu Qi didn't get a response, so he gently tugged at the other person's sleeve.
Huo Jiao came back to his senses. He actually didn't know how to get along with children. Thinking back to the tone and demeanor of Lu Yao when he was with Xiao You, he tried to speak softly: "What Xiao Long?"
Hu Qi pulled Huo Jiao closer and said in a low voice, "He is my friend. Only show him to Brother Huo. Don't tell anyone else."
He still remembered the agreement he made with Alfred last night.
Hu Qi was actually very good at observing people's expressions. He had been paying attention to Huo Jiao's unhappy face. He wanted to make him happy for no reason and accidentally revealed the secret.
He realized he had let the cat out of the bag only after he had said it, but weighing the two sides, Hu Qi still hoped that Huo Jiao could be happier.
He actually treated the doll as a friend. Hu Jiao resisted the urge to cover his face.
Even though the child in front of him is himself as a child, he still looks stupid.
Hu Qi can read cues from others' expressions, but not to the level of an adult.
He couldn't tell what was going on in Pepper's mind, so he just assumed that he had agreed. He carefully pulled out the schoolbag from under the desk, holding the zipper and unzipping it little by little. "His name is Alfred, he's a cute little black dragon, and he can talk."
The schoolbag was opened a little, and the little black dragon lying in the schoolbag with its tail coiled heard the conversation between the two people, raised its head and blinked.
Pepper was shocked: "!!!"
Is this Alfred
Is that the tutor that Xiao Ze and Xu Xiaoxiao were talking about
It’s actually a dragon.
Damn it, no one told him the truth.
Hu Qi was very cautious. He only let Huo Jiao take a look and then hid his schoolbag back under the table.
Pepper couldn't help it: "He can really talk?"
Feeling that Hu Jiao seemed to be a little happier, Hu Qi couldn't help but feel happy too. He nodded vigorously, put his hands to his mouth, and whispered, "When no one is around, I'll ask him to come out and play with us."
On the first day of school, the teacher finished explaining the situation and let the students leave before noon.
The weather was clear in the morning, but it suddenly started to drizzle when school was over.
Most parents were waiting at the school gate with umbrellas to pick up their children, but when Jiao Hu and Hu Qi came out, there were no parents.
Pepper remembered that it was always like this when he was a child, they would just drop him off at school and leave him there.
No matter whether it was raining heavily or hailing, he never came to pick him up.
If he gets home late one day, it will be a good excuse to scold him.
The shop owner told him not to dwell on the past, but when he returned here, he felt wronged and powerless everywhere.
He couldn't get out at all.
A gloomy look appeared on Huojiao's young face again.
Hu Qi and he stood in the corner of the school gate porch to shelter from the rain and try to avoid the crowded crowd.
Hu Qi carefully reached out his hand and touched Huo Jiao. Noticing that he didn't react, he held his hand and suddenly laughed: "Brother Huo Jiao, let's wait until the rain is lighter before going back. Don't be afraid."
Hu Jiao came back to his senses, looked at Hu Qi's awkward smile, and sighed silently.
The student came out of the school, found his parents who came to pick him up, ran over, grabbed their hands, and left with an umbrella.
There were fewer and fewer people at the gate, and finally only the guard and Hu Jiao, who were hiding in the corner, were left.
Not only did the rain not get lighter, it got heavier.
The guard came over from the other side with his hands in his pockets and said, "Little boy, is there no one here to pick you up?"
Pepper was in an annoyed mood and didn't respond.
Hu Qi took the initiative and said, "When the rain stops, we'll go back."
Seeing the two little brats looking so pitiful, the guard turned around and took out a flower umbrella with two broken ribs. "Take it and fight. You don't have to return it."
Pepper stood still.
Hu Qi looked at Hu Jiao, hesitated for a moment, and reached out to take the umbrella.
Light footsteps were heard, and Lu Yao appeared holding a plaid umbrella. "Sorry, I'm late because of the rain and traffic jam. You two are good and didn't run around. Let's go, my car is over there."
Hu Qi and Jiao Hua's eyes lit up. Hu Qi was completely happy and ran towards Lu Yao without thinking.
Huo Jiao stood there in a daze, waiting for Lu Yao to finish greeting the security guard and turn around to call him before he came back to his senses.
Lu Yao’s umbrella is so big that three adults can hide inside it without any problem.
However, Hu Qi and Huo Jiao were not tall enough, and the three of them were not in sync.
Lu Yao asked them to hold hands and walk in front, while he held an umbrella behind them.
On the way home, Lu Yao was trying to find topics to talk about, and Hu Qi was very active in answering them.
He loved giving Alfred to his Aunt Lou.
Aunt Lu was different from all the adults he had come into contact with. She would listen to him carefully and answer any questions he had in a gentle manner.
It seemed that in front of her, the spell called "ignore" cast on him did not exist.
Huo Jiao sat silently in the shadows, watching Hu Qi leaning forward with shining eyes, his full attention focused in the direction of Lu Yao. For some reason, he felt so sad that he could not bear it.
Jinjue Primary School is not far from Jinjue Community, about 20 minutes’ walk, or even shorter by car.
The car drove into the garage, and Hu Qi took the elevator from the underground second floor to the third floor. When he walked to the door of Room 305, he was in a trance for a moment.
Ah, we're home.
Lu Yao rang the doorbell for Hu Qi.
When Hu Qi's mother opened the door, she didn't hide her impatience. She saw Lu Yao first, was stunned for a moment, then looked down and saw Hu Qi. She suppressed her emotions and said with a dry laugh, "Huo Jiao's mother, please bring Hu Qi back as well."
The umbrella standing by the wall was still dripping with water. Lu Yao had no polite smile on his face: "Mother Hu Qi, it's raining heavily outside and there are many cars on the road. Parents usually don't feel comfortable letting their children run back in the rain in this weather."
Hu Qi's mother's face froze, and she said awkwardly, "Oh, I may have gotten up too early this morning, and I had a headache when I came back. I took two pills, and my mind was fuzzy, so I really didn't hear the rain."
This excuse was a shameless one. Lu Yao also knew that a few words would not change Hu Qi's situation, so he only said one more sentence: "It's almost noon, give the child something to eat. It's a growing period, don't let him go hungry."
Ever since she learned that Lu Yao was a teacher at Jinju Primary School, even if he was a physical education teacher, Hu Qi's mother felt an extra layer of pressure in her heart. She nodded and reached out to pull Hu Qi into the door.
Hu Qi seemed to have gotten used to his family's attitude, and there was no expression on his face.
But when his mother was about to close the door, he waved his hands and said goodbye loudly to Lu Yao and Huo.
The door of Room 305 closed, and Pepper’s first tutoring session ended.
Her consciousness suddenly went out, and when Pepper woke up, she was lying on a chair in the cram school room, with the blanket she had used last night draped over her.
He grabbed the armrest of the chair and tried to sit up, but felt his body was too heavy. He looked up but didn't see Lu Yao. He felt inexplicably empty inside. He tried to sit up, walked to the door of the laboratory, and knocked on the door, but there was no answer.
Xu Xiaoxiao came out of the bathroom and saw Hu Qi and immediately said, "You're awake. What do you want to do with the owner?"
Hu Jiao closed his eyes, thought to himself, "Is there even any need to ask this?" and nodded.
Xu Xiaoxiao saw that he was in a bad mood, and thinking back to her first tutoring session, her emotions also went through ups and downs.
The feeling of loss of seeing hope but not being able to grasp it is more unbearable than having no hope at all in the first place.
Xu Xiaoxiao walked over and whispered, "The owner is resting. When she came back this time, she was so tired that I could tell something was wrong. If you have anything to say, wait until she wakes up. Or, you can tell me."
Because the shelves were cleared out, the convenience store closed early and only the glass tea room still had customers.
Xu Xiaoxiao helped Huo Jiao outside, and the two of them sat in front of the empty shelves.
"Has she never been so tired from tutoring before?" asked Hu Jiao.
Xu Xiaoxiao recalled and shook her head: "In the past, she was always full of energy after tutoring. This time, she seemed to be about to lose consciousness. Your tutoring is probably different from mine."
Huo Hua asked about Xu Xiaoxiao's tutoring process and fell silent after listening.
Seeing that he was shrouded in depression, Xu Xiaoxiao couldn't help but say, "Trust the owner. She is one of those rare people who can truly empathize with other people's situations. If she decides to help you, she will definitely do her best."
The two were chatting casually when Xiaomei and Zheng Siyao, who had been there yesterday, suddenly appeared.
At first Xu Xiaoxiao thought they were here to ask about tutoring again, but the two men took out a set of acceptance documents with serious faces.
Hu Jiao’s live broadcast last night went too far, attracting the attention of nearly 10 million people. Originally, his superiors were going to send him directly to the most strictly guarded mental hospital.
The Super Energy Research Institute learned the news in advance and asked for the person to be sent over.
The two of them came to pick up Pepper to go to the Super Energy Research Institute.
When Lu Yao woke up, Huo Jiao had already been taken away.
Xu Xiaoxiao's face was filled with guilt: "I'm sorry, shop owner, I couldn't stop them."
Lu Yao sat on a rattan chair in front of the shelf with a blanket wrapped around him, watching the passers-by through the glass. He let Er Xin rub against his legs and comforted him, "It's okay. Zheng Siyao has sent a message to explain the situation. Don't worry about Jiao Jiao for now. I'll pick him up during tutoring. In his situation, it would be good for him to have more contact with normal people."
Xu Xiaoxiao nodded, but are the people in the research institute really normal
Lu Yao leaned back in the chair, unable to hide the fatigue on his face, and sighed faintly: "Well, the most important thing right now is to recruit a suitable tutor."
Xu Xiaoxiao glanced at the recruitment notice posted on the door, hesitated for a while, and couldn't help but say: "Owner, do you think I can be a teacher?"
Xu Xiaoxiao was nervous, but she didn't avoid or flinch.
Since joining the cram school, Xu Xiaoxiao has had a new goal in life.
She wanted to be a tutor like Alfred, guiding those who were lost on the road of life.
She knew very well that she was not qualified yet, but she couldn't remain calm when she found out that the owner was looking to hire someone.
Lu Yao was not surprised at all. "The tutors in our center need some professional qualities. The relevant books and materials have been sorted into a book and placed in drawer number ninety-nine."
Xu Xiaoxiao ran into the cram school room excitedly and took out a document from drawer number 99.
Just like he had trained manicurists before, Lu Yao began to train tutors.
Teachers trained at the Childhood Tutorial Center need to sign a five-year employment contract.
After five years, you can stay or leave as you wish.
Seeing Xu Xiaoxiao was full of joy, Lu Yao took out a note from his personal storage: "Xiaoxiao, please contact this guest when you have time."
Xu Xiaoxiao took the note and unfolded it. There was a familiar yet unfamiliar name, followed by a string of numbers.
Lu Yao: "I tried to persuade her, but she refused to come. If it were you, maybe you could persuade her. I know you probably don't want to see her again..."
"I understand. I will contact her." Xu Xiaoxiao retorted.
Lu Yao was really tired, so he sat outside for a while and then went back to the laboratory.
In the evening, Ji Feiming brought toys and snacks that were restocked from the snack bar, nail salon and blind box shop.
Knowing that Lu Yao was still resting, Ji Feiming and Xu Xiaoxiao went to deliver the goods together and did not disturb her.
The next morning, Xiaomei and Zheng Siyao arrived as soon as the cram school opened.
There are four people in the group, in addition to Xiaomei and Zheng Siyao, there are An Yan and an experimental subject.
Xu Xiaoxiao led the four people to the cram school room, made tea for them, and then knocked on the door of the laboratory.
The door opened from the inside and a calico pig rushed out, followed by Lu Yao who walked out.
Zheng Siyao and Xiaomei greeted Lu Yao, and Lu Yao responded one by one. He then asked about Huo Jiao's situation before looking at An Yan and the experimental subject.
An Yan wore frameless glasses, had short silver hair, pigeon blood eyes, and his skin was sickly pale, but no one around him found it strange.
It seems that in this world, he doesn't need to disguise his appearance.
In response to the shop owner's greeting out of social courtesy, An Yan nodded coldly.
Only Zheng Siyao heard Professor An's disordered heartbeat and was sure that what he found on the tram was not an illusion.
Looking at An Yan's indifferent expression, he couldn't help but shake his head.
This man is beyond help.