Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  It turned out that men weren’t the only ones who knew how to say things that made you feel smaller, as though they could put you in their pockets and carry you around. Daughters also knew how to say such things. Furthermore, they were self-taught, which made it more touching than when it was coming from someone who had learned this by googling ‘romantic things to say to a girl’.

  Mu Jingzhe stepped forward and cupped Little Bei’s face. “Why are you so sweet? I want to keep you in my pocket too.”

  “Mommy, you’ll let me do that?” Little Bei was delighted to hear that. Then, she looked at the doll and shook her head. “Although I really want to do this, this is a gift from Teacher Ji to you, Mommy. It won’t be good if I lose it. I’ll just buy a set that looks like yours in the future. When the time comes, I’ll secretly hide one before giving it to you.”

  Mu Jingzhe looked at the smallest doll and suddenly felt that it wasn’t small enough. “Maybe there really is an even smaller one…” Could Ji Buwang have hidden it?

  “Probably not, right…” Mu Jingzhe recalled the secret Ji Buwang had mentioned last night and carefully searched the dolls for any secrets.

  At the same time, Ji Buwang woke up from his dream and turned to look at the pillow beside him.

  In the middle of the pillow was a tiny doll. It was exactly the same as Mu Jingzhe’s, except it was really small. It was only the size of a human thumb.

  “Morning, Little Jingzhe.”

  Ji Buwang picked up Little Jingzhe and tapped her head. “Or should I call you Thumb-Sized Jingzhe?”

  Ji Buwang stood up and placed Thumb-Sized Jingzhe on the bedside table. “Before I enjoy the company of the real Jingzhe, I’ll have to trouble you to accompany me.”

  After washing up, before Ji Buwang left, he carefully placed Thumb-Sized Jingzhe in his chest pocket. “It’s time to go to work.”

  After the meeting, Ji Buwang took Little Jingzhe out of his pocket to take a look while resting. “I really feel like I’m carrying you in my pocket while I’m at work.”

  Meanwhile, Mu Jingzhe finally discovered traces of a secret. There was something hidden underneath the smallest doll.

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  The base of the doll was made of different colored plaques, and the different Chinese characters were made of different colors too. The first character was the character ‘Le’, but by pushing the plaques, a new set of characters could be formed. “Does this mean that once the correct set of characters is formed, it will open?”

  Mu Jingzhe tried several times, including by using Ji Buwang’s name, as well as her own name, but none of them was the right combination to open it.

  “It’s quite mysterious. I’ll continue trying in the future.” Mu Jingzhe was having a lot of fun. When Shao Qihai noticed this, he was very depressed.

  He had also given her a gift, but his gift was much less impressive than the Russian dolls and the gifts of the children. However, he had really given her this gift from the bottom of his heart.

  Shao Qihai had given her a fountain pen. That fountain pen had been a reward for his meritorious deeds in the past. Later on, it had even saved his life by chance. It was Shao Qihai’s lucky pen. Every time he wrote or signed something with it, it seemed like his wish would come true.

  Therefore, he actually treasured it very much and was usually reluctant to use it. He had given it to Mu Jingzhe in hopes that it would also bring her luck.

  However, it didn’t seem like Mu Jingzhe had any intention of using it after receiving it, for she had put it away.

  Alas, it wasn’t appropriate for Shao Qihai to chase after Mu Jingzhe and tell her how precious the gift was. Seeing Mu Jingzhe playing with the Russian dolls that Ji Buwang had gifted her and not even looking at what he had given her, he was speechless.

  It was only when he saw that the kids had come home from school that he perked up. “Little Dong, can you teach me foreign languages? I want to learn too.”

  He wanted to improve alongside his children. Mu Jingzhe also spoke foreign languages and would talk to them from time to time. He wanted to learn so that he could blend in and converse with them.

  Shao Qihai cleverly chose to ask Shao Dong, but Shao Dong frowned. “You’d better not learn from me. After all, I stutter.”

  Shao Dong calmly mentioned the fact that he stuttered, but Shao Qihai’s heart ached. Guilt then appeared on his face. “You don’t. You sound fine.”

  In the past, because Shao Dong stuttered, he was often mocked behind his back, which had made him very averse to talking and caused him to avoid talking whenever possible. This time, upon returning and seeing that Shao Dong seemed to have recovered from that, he had forgotten about Shao Dong’s situation in the past.

  By neither accepting nor turning down Shao Qihai’s apology, he was effectively rejecting it.

  Shao Qihai thought for a moment and finally went to look for Little Bei. He had seen how formidable Shao Xi and Shao Nan were and deliberately avoided them. He thought that since Little Bei was so cute, she probably wouldn’t bear to refuse him.

  However, darling Little Bei said in her most adorable and gentle voice, “I don’t really know how to speak it either. I learned it from my older brothers. I remembered it yesterday, but I think I forgot it today.”

  Shao Qihai: “…”

  When Shao Xi and Shao Nan heard that he wanted to learn, they approached him without him even having to look for them.

  “Actually, when we speak foreign languages, we’re just making up some random nonsense. Since Mommy spent money for us to learn, it would be unacceptable if we couldn’t speak at all, so we just made up some gibberish. But if you’re willing to continue paying for our lessons, we should be able to gain a slight mastery in two to three years.”

  “That’s right. Foreign languages take a?really?long time to learn. If the five of us learn for another two to three years, it will only cost around 10,000 yuan. Can we learn?”

  Shao Nan and Shao Xi did their utmost to paint themselves in a bad light and started to sound out how much money Shao Qihai had. They also took this chance to trample on themselves, hinting that they spent a lot of money.

  Shao Qihai naturally wouldn’t be deceived. Upon hearing their nonsense, he knew that they didn’t want to teach him. However, when he heard about the expenses, he said seriously, “Of course you can. If you want to continue learning, I’ll pay your tuition fees. Don’t worry, I won’t make you suffer in this aspect.”

  Shao Qihai had been delayed for the past year. The transport convoy hadn’t seemed to have much work, but because they had done a meritorious deed, they had received a big remuneration, and some collaborations had been proposed later on.

  Everything else aside, this was enough for the convoy to grow, as it was sufficient for him to provide for this family.

  Shao Dong and Shao Xi looked at each other, both getting a sense of his finances. “Then can we buy anything else? I want to buy toys!”

  “I want toys too. I also want new clothes!”

  “Me too! And I want to eat meat every day!”

  They sounded like they were being mischievous, but in reality, this was also what they really wanted. Previously, their hearts had ached for Mu Jingzhe and they had constantly wanted to save money. They had pretended that they didn’t like toys and only liked to learn until they could earn money too.

  However, in the past, they had really been envious of kids who had toys. When Little Bei was three or four years old, she had liked pinwheels, which had been trending in the village at the time. A pinwheel would move whenever the wind blew when one ran holding it, but no one had bought one for her. In the end, Shao Dong had thought of ways to make one for her.

  Alas, Little Bei had only played with it for a short while before it had been snatched away by Fu, Lu, Shou, and Xǐ. When Little Bei had gone to snatch it back, those brats had stomped on the pinwheel and destroyed it.

  At the mention of toys, the five kids unanimously recalled these past events. For some time, they felt quite upset. Shao Qihai had clearly still been alive at the time.

  Shao Qihai still didn’t know that the children had been reminded of the past. When he heard that they wanted toys, he smiled and agreed. “Alright, I’ll buy them all for you.”

  However, his agreement didn’t make the five kids’ expressions improve. Instead, they became even more depressed.

  In the past, they had known that Shao Qihai worked hard and had always acted very sensible, wanting to make it easier for him because they knew about his identity. It was the same even after his retirement from the army and his return.

  But now that they thought about it, they had probably been too sensible. They hadn’t cried or told him about their hardships. Besides, Zhao Lan was good at acting, so Shao Qihai hadn’t paid much attention to them.

  Now that they were being mischievous, he seemed to be paying more attention to them.