Then, his gaze shifted, and he saw a pair of little feet getting buried deeper and deeper in the sand. Su Youli started crying in earnest, tears streaming down his face as he sobbed for Brother Xiao Tang to come save him. The two men, engrossed in their conversation, heard the commotion and immediately stood up and walked toward the children.
Tang Dou almost ran over. “Youyou.”
Just as his hand was about to reach the little one, a small figure dashed over. Pei Qiqi, dressed all in black with a somewhat aloof demeanor, threw down the stick he had been holding and ran over. Almost without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around Su Youli and pulled him out like a carrot.
Su Youli stopped crying. Held in the arms of the little brother who had been angry just moments ago, his small body was almost lifted off the ground. After confirming the little one wasn’t hurt, Tang Dou met the gaze of Pei Yi, who was standing there stunned.
“Qiqi, did you just carry the little brother?”
Pei Qiqi glanced at the little curly-haired boy in Tang Dou’s arms. His shoes had been taken off, revealing his chubby white feet, which were being held in a large hand, wiping away a few grains of sand.
Pei Qiqi didn’t answer his uncle’s question. He turned, walked to the side, picked up the candy, and handed it to Su Youli. “Yours.”
Su Youli shrank his little feet, feeling a bit embarrassed. The little brother had just helped free his feet, so he probably wasn’t angry anymore.
“For the little brother~” the little one said softly.
Pei Qiqi’s outstretched hand visibly stiffened, and his handsome little brows furrowed. “Why give it to me?”
Su Youli pointed to the rocking horse he had ridden. “I rode your rocking horse. Have the candy.”
If you eat the candy, you can’t be angry with me anymore, and you’ll let me play on your rocking horse.
The back-and-forth between the two little ones nearly brought tears to Pei Yi’s eyes. He had almost forgotten when Qiqi last spoke to a child his own age. He crouched down, dusted the sand off the candy, and was about to coax Pei Qiqi into eating it when Tang Dou stopped him.
“It fell on the ground. Can’t eat that.”
Before the words even faded, Pei Qiqi, who had seemed indifferent a moment ago, opened his mouth wide and gobbled up the candy in one bite.
Tang Dou: “…”
Pei Yi didn’t think much of it. Even though the candy had been picked up off the ground, the inside was still clean after unwrapping the paper.
Tang Dou couldn’t agree with Pei Yi’s parenting style. He said in a serious tone, “After all, it fell on the ground. What if there are bacteria…”
Looking at Pei Xu, whose cool little face was puffed out from eating the candy, he spoke as gently as he could: “Qiqi, don’t eat things that have fallen on the ground in the future. You’ll get a stomach ache.”
It was unclear whether Pei Qiqi heard him, but his mouth moved, and his gaze kept drifting to the little curly-haired boy being held by the adult.
Noticing the unspoken communication between the two little ones, Tang Dou set Su Youli down on the ground. “Be careful walking on the sandpit, okay, Youyou?”
Su Youli nodded. With Brother Xiao Tang’s permission and now that the little brother had eaten his candy, they were already good friends. The little one bravely moved forward slowly on his short legs. Pei Xu furrowed his small brow, his dark eyes fixed on the little one’s feet, afraid he might sink in again.
“Phew~”
After a little while, the little one finally reached him.
Pei Yi looked at Pei Qiqi, who had turned back into a little ice cube, crouched down, put his arm around his shoulders, and said, “This is Youyou. He’s one year younger than you. Will you take the little brother to play?”
Pei Qiqi, standing there, repeated the name “Youyou” in his mind, then nodded at his uncle.
Since he was a little brother and had given him candy, if he didn’t look after him, he might fall in the sandpit again. Three-year-olds weren’t very good at playing on their own. Pei Qiqi gave a small nod, stepped forward, and silently reached out to take Su Youli’s hand. Watching his action, Pei Yi felt a sting in his eyes.
The two little ones went off to play, but Tang Dou and Pei Yi didn’t dare wander far. They crouched by the sandpit, keeping an eye on them. On that summer morning, with the sky high and the clouds wide, Su Youli, after half a month in Beicheng, finally had a playmate his own age. Su Youli was already a quiet little one, but Pei Qiqi was even more silent.
“Brother, what are you drawing?” Su Youli crouched beside Qiqi, resting his chin on his hands, looking at the drawing he couldn’t quite understand.
Pei Xu held a stick, drawing a large circle in the sand. He lightly tapped the oddly shaped patterns with the thin stick. “It’s Papa.”
He was drawing his father. Su Youli’s big eyes showed a hint of confusion. He looked at the crooked lines on the sandpit, then at the serious-faced Pei Qiqi. It didn’t look like him at all. Qiqi gege and his father didn’t look anything alike. But Youyou was a very encouraging little one. He also loved drawing his own fathers. Qiqi gege must love his father very much.
“That’s a beautiful drawing!” The little one squinted his eyes, clearly saying something insincere.
Pei Xu paid no attention to his praise. He drew for a while longer, then threw down the stick, sat on the ground, and placed his small hand on the strange lines he had drawn. Su Youli played in the sand nearby, and when Pei Xu finished drawing, he picked up his little bucket and toddled over. Standing beside Qiqi gege, the little one looked at the drawing and found that maybe it wasn’t completely unrecognizable.
Su Youli tilted his head, looked closely, and could indeed make out the outline of a human figure. The lines drawn by the stick were completely chaotic, but Pei Xu was certain this was the father in his memory.
“Papa.”
The voice was so faint it was almost inaudible. Pei Xu called out to the human-shaped outline, and two large tears fell into the sand, leaving two small craters. Hearing the word “Papa,” the little one felt that Qiqi gege must miss his father terribly. Because he himself felt this sad when he missed his own fathers.
In Pei’s garden, the summer breeze rustled the leaves, and amidst the rustling, the occasional soft sobs of a child could be heard. Su Youli was infected by the emotion. He plopped down beside Pei Xu, tilted his little face up, and started crying.
Daddy, Kunkun, Youyou misses you so much.
The two adults didn’t know how it happened. In just a moment, the two children who had been playing happily right under their noses started crying without any warning. Tang Dou sprang up from the ground. Youyou wasn’t a child who cried easily. In the past half month, he had only cried on the first day. Lost in his own sadness, the little one quickly realized something was wrong.
Why was he the only one crying?
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