At noon that day, when Yan Xiao was about to go to the large class to look for Qiu Li, the executive teacher1The raws was 生活老师 which literally means ‘life teacher’, but they actually don’t teach. Instead, they oversee the children’s lifestyle, security, and help them cope with their feelings or stressors. It has a very broad job scope… in charge of the small class informed her that Qiu Li had already gone home.

After an entire morning, her anger has already subsided as she felt that it was pointless to get angry with a little brat. Hence, she was puzzled upon hearing from the teacher that Qiu Li had already gone home.

It couldn’t be that he went home out of extreme anger, right?

When the teacher wasn’t paying attention, she secretly went to the large class to inquire.

This inquiry resulted in her anger, which had subsided earlier, flaring up again.

It turned out that Qiu Li had gone home because he had fought with a classmate, and so their parents were called to fetch the children home.

The one who fought with Qiu Li was, once again, Chen Yao.

She didn’t even have to ask to know that it was definitely Chen Yao, that little fatty, who had scolded some unpleasant words and sparked Qiu Li’s anger.

What’s with the Chen family? Yan Xiao frowned on the way back to the small class’ dormitory2It’s not an actual dormitory but rather the area where the kindergarten children have their afternoon naps. and thought, his family upbringing is so terrible, how could you teach a child to say such things?

Due to her anger, she did not sleep during the afternoon naptime, which resulted in her dozing off throughout the afternoon activities.

Yan Xiao intended to observe for two days in order to avoid seeking trouble for herself3The raws was撞枪口, which literally means to ‘hit the gun muzzle’, implying that one is seeking death/trouble. and becoming a cannon fodder. However, from that day until the vacation break, Qiu Li never went to school again.

During the winter break, her parents and aunt were very busy, so she went to accompany her grandparents for a week, and had no opportunity to go to the Qiu’s house. Finally on Christmas Eve, after the unfavourability value had remained unchanged for fifteen days, Yan Xiao could no longer resist.

Not only did she not gain a single point for fifteen days, but she also didn’t even know Qiu Li’s current situation. This made her very insecure, and so after her family finished eating dinner, she secretly begged her aunt to take her to the Qiu’s house, under the pretext of going out to buy durian.

“…… But Qiu Yan is currently attending an exhibit abroad,” Chen Zilu pretended not to know that her niece was looking for Qiu Li, and deliberately said, “He’s not at home, so you won’t be able to see him even if you go to the Qiu’s house. ”

Yan Xiao: “…… Oh, I’ll just go and take a look.”

Chen Zilu held back a laugh, “How about we go straight home after buying durian? When Qiu Yan comes back, I’ll immediately bring you over to play with him, okay?”

Yan Xiao: “I’ll just go and take a look, maybe Brother Qiu Yan has already returned.”

Chen Zilu was so amused by her niece that she was about to die of laughter.

Although she didn’t know what her niece was planning to do, she respected her and did not ask any further.

When they arrived at the Qiu’s house, Yan Xiao was afraid that her aunt would notice something or keep questioning her, so she took precautions, “Auntie, you stay outside, I’ll come back out after taking a quick look.”

Chen Zilu was laughing her head off in her heart, isn’t she not yet four years old? Why does she keep beating around the bush4The raws said 怎么那么多弯弯绕绕, which literally means there are a lot of twists and turns, referring to a person’s heart being very complicated and difficult to understand, or someone speaking in a roundabout manner.?

Seeing that her aunt didn’t reply, Yan Xiao immediately leaned over and ingratiatingly kissed her on the cheek.

Mua…

Chen Zilu tapped the other half of her face and Yan Xiao gave her another kiss.

“Go ahead,” Chen Zilu said with a smile, “Come back quickly.”

Yan Xiao nodded her head, then turned and ran away.

Looking at her niece’s cheerful back, Chen Zilu leaned against the car door and laughed until she got a cramp ……

Since she was one of the very few friends who can play with Qiu Yan, Yan Xiao could enter the Qiu family’s house gate just by scanning her face. However, she wouldn’t be able to open the door into the house by facial recognition, so she rang the doorbell, and she saw Brother Qiu Zhan through the video intercom.

The door was soon opened.

After entering the house, Yan Xiao felt that something was wrong.

Earlier in the courtyard, Yan Xiao had already noticed that the Qiu’s house was a bit too quiet today. It was only eight o’clock, but there wasn’t a single servant in the courtyard. Even after entering the house, there was no one in the house.

“Why did Xiao Xiao come here at this time?” Qiu Zhan asked as he walked down the stairs.

Yan Xiao looked around, “Is Brother Qiu Zhan alone at home?”

Qiu Zhan’s smile faltered for a moment, but it soon returned: “Mmm, my parents accompanied XiaoYan5The raws says 小严 (or sometimes 小严哥哥), where it means little Yan, referring to Qiu Yan. 小 is commonly used as a prefix to a person’s name in their nickname, usually for young children or close friends/family. to the exhibit and won’t be back until next week. There’s nothing going on at home anyway, so I let all the servants return home for the holidays.”

“Ohhh ……” Yan Xiao nodded.

“You haven’t answered yet,” Qiu Zhan pinched her cheek, “Why did you come here at this time, did you come alone?”

“My aunt!” She pointed outside, “She’s waiting for me outside. I just came to see… see if Brother XiaoYan is back ……”

During this period of time, Qiu Zhan had been in a bad mood, but now that he saw Yan Xiao and heard her say that, his mood immediately brightened up.

“XiaoYan will be back next week,” he half squatted in front of Yan Xiao and said with a smile, “When XiaoYan is back, I’ll bring him to your house to play with you, okay?”

Yan Xiao nodded, “Mm-hmm, okay.”

She found it strange, never mind that there were no servants, but why was there only Qiu Zhan alone?

“Do you want something to drink?” Qiu Zhan asked in a good mood, “Brother will heat up milk for you?”

Yan Xiao thought about it, she didn’t have much time. If she didn’t go out soon, her aunt would probably come looking for her, so she shook her head, “Thank you Brother Qiu Zhan, I don’t want to drink.”

The little girl is good-looking yet she speaks in a rigid manner, it was especially cute.

Qiu Zhan smiled and stood up: “Then I’ll get you a cake to eat ……”

Yan Xiao bit her lip and pretended to be innocent, as she asked, “Brother Qiu Zhan, is Qiu Li at home?”

Qiu Zhan, who had just taken two steps towards the kitchen, stopped in his tracks, and the smile on his face also vanished in an instant.

Because she was facing his back, Yan Xiao did not see the hatred that flickered across Qiu Zhan’s face when she mentioned ‘Qiu Li’.

“Maybe he fell asleep,” Qiu Zhan’s tone dulled, and he went to open the refrigerator to calm himself down, “I haven’t seen him since I came back.”

“Is that so?” Yan Xiao was still not at ease, and said after some thought, “I’ll go up and take a look. It’s still early so he shouldn’t be asleep yet.”

Qiu Zhan, who had cold air blowing against his face: “……”

Without waiting for him to respond, Yan Xiao already ran upstairs with ease.

Yan Xiao ran quickly because she was anxious, and reached Qiu Li’s door in no time.

The strange thing was that Qiu Li’s bedroom door was not closed and the light also wasn’t turned on.

Did he really fall asleep?

She was puzzled but eventually, she knocked on the door.

She didn’t know whether the door was too light or that she didn’t control her strength well and used too much force, but after just knocking twice, the door opened……

The curtains inside the bedroom were wide open, and the moonlight lit up the room brightly. There was no one inside.

Yan Xiao: “……”

“Brother Qiu Zhan ––”

She turned around and rushed downstairs, “Qiu Li is missing! He’s not in the bedroom!”

Qiu Zhan took the cake out and replied with a calm face, “I guess he went to hide. It’s already late, should I bring you to find your aunt?”

Yan Xiao shook her head.

Based on her understanding of Qiu Li, he was not the type of person who would hide.

“Brother Qiu Zhan, you said you haven’t seen him since you came back,” she thought about it and asked with a gloomy face, “He couldn’t have been taken away by the bad guys, right?”

Crack.

Because of the force, Qiu Zhan crushed the cake stand into pieces.

Yet Yan Xiao was very worried, “Let’s call the police!”

But when she realised that there currently wasn’t any adult present in the Qiu’s house, she took a step and was about to run outside, “My aunt is outside, I’ll tell my aunt to call the police ……”

“Hey ……” Qiu Zhan grabbed Yan Xiao’s arm.

Yan Xiao couldn’t run as she was being held on to. She turned her head to look at Qiu Zhan with a perplexed look, and just as she intended to ask him to let go of her……

A muffled ‘thud’ resounded from between the kitchen and the stairwell.

Yan Xiao: “……”
Qiu Zhan: “………………”

When another sound was heard, Yan Xiao immediately shook off Qiu Zhan’s hand and ran towards the source of the sound.

After running over, she suddenly froze.

Qiu Zhan’s face had turned as black as coal.

“He, he ……” Yan Xiao pointed at the suspended elevator: “Is he in the elevator?”

Qiu Zhan’s tongue pressed against his cheek and replied, “Maybe.”

Yan Xiao: “……”

Yan Xiao: “Then, then how do we get him out? I, I’ll go find my aunt to think of a way?”

Qiu Zhan’s pupils constricted.

After a moment, he said, “No need, I suppose the servant might have turned off the main switch when she left.”

Yan Xiao was just a three-year-old child. Even if she went out and said something about the incident, no one would believe her.

But it would be different if it was her aunt.

He turned around with a cold face and uttered, “I’ll go take a look.”

Not long after, the display light indicated that it was back to normal, and Yan Xiao was delighted. However, even after a long wait, the elevator door still did not open.

Yan Xiao: “?”

“How, how come he hasn’t come out?” Her voice was slightly shaky as she thought, he couldn’t have had an accident, right?

The corners of Qiu Zhan’s mouth hooked into an icy arc: ” Maybe he fell asleep.”

Yan Xiao thought about it, no matter what she used to be a prospective college student who had completed the college entrance exams, whereas Qiu Zhan is only twelve years old, so she is older than him.

With this in mind, she gave herself a small pep talk, and walked over and raised her hand to press the ‘open’ door button.

Qiu Li was hugging his knees while crouching in the corner of the elevator. Due to the fear and anger, his hands were clenched into fists. The elevator door slowly opened, and he looked up with a pale face and made eye contact with Yan Xiao’s worried eyes.

“Come on out.” She reached out to him.

Before he could react, Qiu Zhan’s face with a cold smile appeared in his line of sight.

Almost instinctively, his fists clenched even tighter.

[Ding …… Detected that a main character has deviated from the main plotline, do you want to rectify it?
One, rectify, rush out and fight Qiu Zhan to death.
Two, don’t rectify.]

An unfamiliar voice suddenly appeared in his mind, which shocked the angry Qiu Li: “……”

 

T/N: The previous translator translated 小严 in the earlier chapters as “Xiao Yan”, but I feel like it might get confusing with Yan Xiao vs Xiao Yan, so I translated it as XiaoYan together, compared to Yan Xiao (separate words). Do let me know which you prefer, or if you have any other suggestions! (´。• ᵕ •。`)

 

1The raws was 生活老师 which literally means ‘life teacher’, but they actually don’t teach. Instead, they oversee the children’s lifestyle, security, and help them cope with their feelings or stressors. It has a very broad job scope…2It’s not an actual dormitory but rather the area where the kindergarten children have their afternoon naps.3The raws was撞枪口, which literally means to ‘hit the gun muzzle’, implying that one is seeking death/trouble.4The raws said 怎么那么多弯弯绕绕, which literally means there are a lot of twists and turns, referring to a person’s heart being very complicated and difficult to understand, or someone speaking in a roundabout manner.5The raws says 小严 (or sometimes 小严哥哥), where it means little Yan, referring to Qiu Yan. 小 is commonly used as a prefix to a person’s name in their nickname, usually for young children or close friends/family.

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