Li Si’s question made Li Wang turn his head, giving her a faint glance.
Wasn’t it obvious what the dorm was missing?
The little cub with the milky voice, who used to chatter away, wasn’t there.
“Don’t you feel it’s strange?”
Li Si stared fixedly at Li Wang’s face, trying to catch some clue from his expression.
But unfortunately, Li Wang truly looked unconcerned about the dorm becoming quiet again.
The siblings locked eyes.
A few seconds later, Li Si lay down on the bed.
She unconsciously rubbed her wrist. In the past, whenever her emotions were unstable, she liked to touch the snake or other little creatures coiled around her wrist.
At the training base, she wasn’t allowed to bring pets in.
Those things of hers could only be left at home.
The dormitory returned to silence.
Li Si closed her eyes, wanting to sleep. But for some reason, she couldn’t fall asleep.
These past few nights, Feng Yuan hadn’t been able to sleep well alone in his little bed, so at night he would come to her to sleep.
The first night.
She had already fallen asleep when, in the middle of the night, she suddenly felt as though someone was standing by her bed.
The dorm was dark, and Li Wang hadn’t made a sound.
She slowly opened her eyes. With the faint light slipping through the window screen, she saw a figure at her bedside in the dimness.
In that instant, her whole body tensed.
She struck out. Her hand blade chopping sharply toward the shadow, when the figure suddenly spoke.
“Sister, Yuan Yuan can’t sleep.”
That aggrieved little milky voice sounded at the bedside. Li Si forcefully pulled back her hand.
She switched on the light.
In the brightness, she clearly saw the little cub standing at the head of the bed.
The little cub was wearing a sleeveless blue pajama top, his chubby arms and legs exposed. Barefoot, he had been standing at the bedside, who knew how long.
Li Si let out a deep breath and scooped the cub up onto the bed.
“Weren’t you asleep just now?”
Li Si had only gone back to her own bed to rest after seeing that Feng Yuan had fallen asleep.
“I had a nightmare, so I woke up.”
As soon as Feng Yuan got into bed, his little body pressed against Li Si, as though he had found support.
His chubby little hand hugged her arm. His pretty, round eyes were watery, looking utterly pitiful.
“Sister, sleep with Yuan Yuan.”
Li Si: “It’s you who’s sleeping with me.”
Li Si gave a little snort, freed her other hand, and pinched his soft, squishy cheek.
“Perfect, you can be my pillow.”
After firmly clarifying who was in charge, Li Si reached out and switched off the light.
In the dark.
Feng Yuan’s chubby little body leaned against her chest, really feeling like a cotton pillow.
The first night, Feng Yuan had only come to her bed in the middle of the night.
By the second and third nights, before going to sleep, he would already carry his little pillow over to her bed.
Li Si hadn’t refused him.
But after just three days, even Li Si herself found it strange.
Had she really gotten used, in just three days, to having a soft cottony cub pillow by her bedside?
Now that the little pillow was gone, she lay there with her eyes closed and still hadn’t fallen asleep by midnight.
While Li Si couldn’t sleep well in the dorm, Feng Yuan, who had returned to the old residence, wasn’t in great spirits either.
After going back, he once again petitioned his grandpa about digging up the tree.
Grandpa didn’t agree either.
“If you want to dig up a tree, I’ll take you to the orchard this weekend.”
“Yuan Yuan doesn’t dig up the orchard’s trees.”
Feng Yuan stubbornly insisted on the trees in the house, and also the pond: “Grandpa, believe in Yuan Yuan. Yuan Yuan is very amazing.”
Right now, he was the upgraded version of a little phoenix, truly amazing.
But Feng Yuan’s amazingness… perhaps wasn’t very obvious.
In any case, Li Heng didn’t adopt his suggestion.
Feng Yuan, whose opinion wasn’t taken, pursed his lips, sulkily said goodnight to Grandpa, and then went to sleep.
Watching his unhappy little back, Li Heng’s brows furrowed tightly.
The room door closed.
Li Heng stood up, picked up his phone, and contacted a close friend.
He didn’t get through.
In the end, he turned and called Old Master Yu.
Old Master Yu had already gone to bed.
After being woken up, Old Master Yu’s tone was full of deep displeasure.
“Li Heng, in the middle of the night like this, you’d better have something serious.”
Li Heng: “Do you have time tomorrow?”
Yu Lian: “?”
Yu Lian was silent for a few seconds, then got angry: “If you want to make an appointment with me for tomorrow, couldn’t you just call me tomorrow?!”
Waking him up in the middle of the night, just to ask whether he had time tomorrow?
Yu Lian truly felt, deep down, that Li Heng must be sick in the head.
“I have something to deal with. I’ll come find you tomorrow. Remember not to go out.”
“What thing?” Yu Lian pressed.
But before he could finish asking, Li Heng had already hung up.
On the other side, Yu Lian: “……”
Having a friend like this really must be his retribution.
That call had disturbed Yu Lian so much that he couldn’t fall back asleep.
So, in the middle of the night, he gave his younger son a call.
His younger son was alone outside, so he had to check on him from time to time to feel at ease.
Receiving a “spot-check” call from his own father, Yu Yi felt both guilty and flustered.
He pushed away the man still on top of him, didn’t even bother putting on clothes, and ran into the bathroom.
“Hello, Dad.”
“Xiao Yi, why haven’t you gone to bed yet? You’re staying up late again?”
“No, I was already asleep. I just woke up when I heard the phone ring and came to answer.”
Yu Lian: “Ahem.”
Yu Lian skipped over the topic of staying up late.
He went back to his usual refrain: “If you don’t have anything important, come back for a visit. See me and your mother. Your mother’s been talking about you nonstop.”
“Oh, right, your mother introduced you to a young lady, three years older than you. As the saying goes, ‘a woman three years older is like holding a golden brick’. Age isn’t a problem, just get in touch with her.”
Hearing Old Master Yu’s nagging about marriage made Yu Yi’s scalp go numb.
The very reason he kept avoiding going home to see his parents was to escape being nagged face-to-face.
“Dad, please don’t set things up for me. I’m not interested in that right now.”
“You and Mom just take care of your health. Don’t worry about me.”
“If we don’t worry about you, who are we supposed to worry about?”
Yu Lian’s tone even grew heavier: “Look at your Uncle Li. He already has grandsons and granddaughters, but I don’t!”
Yu Yi was choked into silence.
At last, he realized why the old man had suddenly decided to call him.
It must have been because he was provoked by Uncle Li!
“Dad, don’t keep comparing yourself to others. Sure, Uncle Li has grandkids, but you’ve seen his grandkids, too…”
“Those two little ones don’t even give him the time of day.”
Yu Yi patiently and earnestly coaxed his old man.
The Li family’s twins, Yu Lian had seen them, too.
Thinking about that pair of twins, Yu Lian also fell silent for a moment. He didn’t press Yu Yi about having children anymore.
After finally handling his father’s phone call, Yu Yi sat on the toilet lid and quickly typed out a message, sending it to Li Sheng.
“Remember to hide Yuan Yuan well!”
“Don’t let my dad see Yuan Yuan!”
His dad had given up nagging him to have kids only because of the example of the Li family’s twins.
But if his dad were to see Feng Yuan, he would be done for.
That beautiful, soft little cub Feng Yuan was absolutely a lethal weapon to the older generation.
This little one was practically the most perfect grandchild imaginable in their eyes.
While Yu Yi was sending messages in the bathroom, a figure was standing guard outside the door.
After sending the message, Yu Yi lifted his head and saw the shadow cast onto the door. He sighed helplessly and stood up.
“Don’t just stand there like a door guardian. I’ll come out now.”
As he spoke, Yu Yi got up and opened the bathroom door.
The man outside had an extremely handsome face, but his expression didn’t look very good.
Yu Yi raised his hand, rubbed that handsome face, coaxing him as if soothing a puppy.
“Alright, it’s fine now. Shall we continue?”
“Mm.”
As soon as Yu Yi finished speaking, he was hoisted onto the bed.
Lying on the soft, large bed, he let out a faint sigh.
“Our frequency is way too high. Honestly, I’m really worried you’ll end up causing me problems.”
“You won’t.”
Hearing that Yu Yi was worried about this, the man pressing down on him kissed his cheek, his voice low as he coaxed him: “I’ve been applying medicine for you.”
“What’s the use of applying medicine? I’ve asked a doctor. Things like this can’t—”
“My medicine works.”
Yu Yi’s words were cut off, and his hand was guided back to touch something.
“With my medicine, this place won’t get ruined.”
Yu Yi: “……”
His face instantly flushed bright red.
He bent his knee and gave the man in front of him a hard kick.
The wonderful, passionate nightlife of adults continued.
But for the little cub, there was none of that passion.
Sleeping together with his aunt, Feng Yuan thought about digging up trees and tearing down the pond. Little by little, he drifted off to sleep.
He had fallen asleep, yet his little face was still scrunched up.
Li Wei touched his small face and couldn’t resist taking a photo.
Li Wei wasn’t someone who liked taking pictures, but now her phone’s album already had hundreds of photos of Feng Yuan.
Many of them were even taken in bursts.
After snapping a round of photos, Li Wei lowered her head again and kissed that soft little face.
“Don’t worry anymore. Have a good dream.”
She gently smoothed out Feng Yuan’s furrowed brows as she spoke softly.
The bedside lamp was turned off.
All sounds fell into silence. Holding the little cub in her arms, Li Wei felt a sense of peace she had never known before.
With Feng Yuan by her side, she almost didn’t have a trace of bad emotions left.
The next day, before dawn broke.
Feng Yuan’s cries startled Li Wei awake.
She opened her eyes and turned on the light.
Looking down, she saw Feng Yuan crying loudly with his eyes still shut.
Her heart grew anxious from his cries. But she didn’t dare to wake him up directly.
“Yuan Yuan, Yuan Yuan? Don’t be afraid, Auntie’s right here.”
Li Wei could only pick the little one up, holding him in her arms and gently patting him.
She patiently soothed him, rocking him back and forth.
No one knew how long it took.
Feng Yuan’s crying slowly stopped. Though the sobs had ended, his soft little voice was still hiccupping.
“Tree… cut the tree.”
With his eyes closed, even his sleep talk after crying was muffled and indistinct.
He kept repeating that the trees needed to be cut down.
Li Wei clearly heard his words. In her heart, a seed of suspicion began to grow.
Those trees and the pond. What problem could there really be with them?
Why would the little one, just because the trees weren’t cut and the pond wasn’t torn down, be tormented into having nightmares?
As Li Wei rocked and coaxed him in her arms, the cub who had been having nightmares finally drifted back to sleep.
This time, he didn’t wake until broad daylight.
When he opened his eyes, it was already past seven o’clock.
That wasn’t very early.
Seeing the time, Feng Yuan grew so anxious he didn’t even want to eat.
In the end, it was Li Heng who carried the meal into the car.
The driver drove the car while Feng Yuan finished his meal inside, then tidied up his little camouflage uniform.
During training, Feng Yuan absolutely had to wear camouflage.
He had several sets of little camouflage outfits.
These clothes were originally meant to be hand-washed. After all, doing laundry was also considered a life skill.
The instructors required it to be done.
But once back in the dormitory, Feng Yuan never actually washed his own little clothes.
It was always his sister who conveniently washed them for him.
His brother had also helped wash them before.
One time, he accidentally put his little socks in the wrong basin—into his brother’s.
His brother didn’t seem to notice and even washed his little socks clean.
Afterward, Feng Yuan, his face blushing, kissed his brother.
His brother didn’t react to the kiss.
But Feng Yuan was happy inside.
He liked being close to his sister, and he also liked being close to his brother!
Thinking about seeing his brother and sister, Feng Yuan finally didn’t feel about the training base the same way he did about kindergarten, where he had always wanted to run away every single day.
For his brother and sister, and for his little camouflage uniform.
Little Soldier Yuan Yuan could endure!
Soon, the car arrived at the base. Feng Yuan just barely made it in time for training.
He wasn’t late.
Nickel saw him coming and raised an eyebrow: “You’ve been doing individual training for the past three days. It’s about time you experienced group training.”
Feng Yuan’s schedule alternated between individual training and group training.
After 3 to 5 days of individual training, he would join a group training session.
Once his individual training was fully up to standard, he would officially move into group training entirely.
“Understood! Yuan Yuan guarantees to complete the training!”
Feng Yuan lifted his chubby little hand and gave the instructor a salute.
From the individual training ground, he was transferred to the group training field.
As soon as Feng Yuan went over, he saw his brother and sister.
Li Si and Li Wang also spotted him immediately.
The two of them looked at Feng Yuan. As they kept looking, their brows both furrowed slightly.
“He cried.”
Li Si murmured: “What happened?”
How was it that just one trip home had left Feng Yuan’s eyelids swollen from crying?
Suspicion rose in Li Si’s heart, but Feng Yuan was completely unaware. After cheerfully introducing himself in front of everyone, he excitedly joined the team.
Because he was small, he stood all the way at the edge.
Meanwhile, Li Si and Li Wang, being taller, both stood in the back row.
Feng Yuan wanted to turn his head to look at his brother and sister, but because of discipline, he held himself back.
The instructors didn’t waste any time.
As soon as Feng Yuan joined the team, training began immediately.
Feng Yuan couldn’t keep up with the older brothers and sisters.
But since it was his first time blending into the group, he trained with great effort.
“Pfft.”
Seeing Feng Yuan tumble again into the sandpit, someone in the squad laughed: “Is this cub here to train, or to put on a comedy show?”
“I think he didn’t come here for this place, but for a weight-loss class.”
Wearing the camouflage uniform, Feng Yuan actually didn’t look fat. Only the baby chubbiness on his little face made him seem that way, which was why he got called fat.
The one laughing at him didn’t take their eyes off him. They even lowered their voice to ask the person next to them: “Whose cub is this?”