Chapter 2: Yin Xiuzhu, I will protect you from now on

It was truly fascinating—hair as dark as ink, skin as white as jade, a small face adorned with features more delicate than a doll’s.

Qi Mu had double eyelids himself, so he really liked single eyelids. He thought the little girl’s eyes were extremely beautiful, with their long corners naturally drooping, appearing gentle and helpless.

This appearance was like a hammer falling on a drum, instantly awakening the protective instinct deeply embedded in the Qi family.

Qi Mu’s current mood was probably similar to Qi Dashan’s when he first saw Qiao Jin, both wanting to protect her (him).

Even though Qi Mu was just over one meter tall, he couldn’t think as profoundly as Qi Dashan, nor did he have Qi Dashan’s sharp insight.

Qi Mu stared blankly for a moment, and when he came back to his senses, his pretty little girl had already disappeared without a trace.

She left, and he hadn’t even asked for her name, but Qi Mu was not disappointed. Instead, he smiled, revealing his little tiger teeth: kindergarten was great, with fun little friends and beautiful little girls.

Carrying his small backpack, Qi Mu took small steps into the kindergarten, embarking on a new journey.

Just arrived in a new environment, theoretically, it should be difficult to get along with the other kids, and Teacher Xiao Zhang also paid more attention to him. However, Qi Mu adapted well, and the teachers soon relaxed, no longer constantly keeping an eye on him, thinking in their minds: good, he’s an easy child to manage.

Half an hour later, a deafening cry came from the activity area.

Teacher Xiao Zhang was startled, and the first thought that came to mind was: the new student must have been bullied!

She hurried over from the study area and asked, “What happened? Xu Xiaoming, you can’t bully the new classmate…”

Before Teacher Xiao Zhang finished speaking, Xu Xiaoming started crying even louder. She paused, then realized it wasn’t Qi Mu crying, but Xu Xiaoming.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying, Xu Xiaoming?”

Wailing, Xu Xiaoming complained, “He hit me!”

Teacher Xiao Zhang immediately looked at the chubby boy on his left, “Fang Junqi, why did you hit Xu Xiaoming?”

Fang Junqi glanced at him and burst into tears, “I didn’t!”

Seeing his “little brother” unjustly accused, Xu Xiaoming quickly added, “It was the new student who hit me!” He still couldn’t remember Qi Mu’s name.

Teacher Xiao Zhang was momentarily stunned, looking at the well-behaved, innocent-looking child sitting quietly beside her, as pure and lively as a little angel. She asked in surprise, “Qi Mu, you…”

She hesitated for a moment, thinking it unlikely, but asked as a matter of routine, “Did you hit Xu Xiaoming?”

Xu Xiaoming looked at Qi Mu with a face full of indignation, clearly ready to cry his heart out if Qi Mu didn’t admit it.

The Qi family had always been known for their straightforward and tough demeanor. Qi Mu, with his big eyes and a flash of his little tiger teeth, replied nonchalantly, “I did.”

Teacher Xiao Zhang: “…”

Xu Xiaoming: “…”

Fang Junqi: “…”

So straightforward? So matter-of-fact? Was this normal?

Xu Xiaoming continued wailing, “Teacher, you see, he admitted it, he’s the one who hit me!”

Teacher Xiao Zhang felt that the situation was becoming increasingly awkward. The transfer student didn’t seem as well-behaved as he appeared on the surface. However, it was only the first day of school; she needed to observe further. She asked Qi Mu, “Why did you hit him?”

Xu Xiaoming muttered unhappily, “Because he just likes hitting people.”

Don’t underestimate it—classmate Xiaoming saw through Qi Mu’s true nature at a glance. However, tough guys don’t take a beating lying down, and Qi Mu, this habitual offender, wouldn’t expose himself so quickly.

He explained, “He broke my paintbrush.”

Xu Xiaoming felt a little guilty, “I… didn’t do it on purpose.”

Teacher Xiao Zhang, being an adult, immediately understood what was going on. Xu Xiaoming was a class bully, fond of picking on others. Seeing Qi Mu as a new face, he probably wanted to bully him. She glared at Xu Xiaoming and said sternly, “No bullying new classmates.” Then she looked at Qi Mu, her voice much gentler, “If there’s any problem, tell the teacher. No hitting other children, okay?”

Qi Mu quickly agreed, “Okay!” No hitting, absolutely no hitting in front of the teacher.

As soon as Teacher Xiao Zhang left, Xu Xiaoming’s face twisted again, “If you dare hit me, I…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Qi Mu threw another punch at him.

Xu Xiaoming cried out in pain, “You hit me again! I’m going to tell… Ouch…”

After receiving two punches from Qi Mu, Xu Xiaoming whimpered, “Why do you like hitting me so much?”

Xu Xiaoming: “…”

Qi Mu: “If you don’t cry, I won’t hit you anymore.”

Xu Xiaoming wanted to explode. In his entire (four-year) life, no one had ever hit him. He rolled up his sleeves and declared, “I’ll hit…”

“Teacher.” Qi Mu stood up straight and said, “Xu Xiaoming hit me.”

Xu Xiaoming, frozen with his fist still mid-air, looked utterly dumbfounded.

Teacher Xiao Zhang hurried over and gave Xu Xiaoming an earnest and reasoned lecture, spanning over eight hundred words.

Xu Xiaoming couldn’t argue against it. He looked at Qi Mu, who was smiling innocently, showing his little tiger teeth, and felt a profound shock to his young heart: how could there be such shameless people in this world?

After Xu Xiaoming escaped from the teacher’s lecture, Qi Mu patted his shoulder when he returned and said, “We’re even now.”

Xu Xiaoming wanted to scream, “Even for what??”

Qi Mu replied, “You accuse me once, I accuse you once, then it’s even.”

This logic left Xu Xiaoming speechless.

Qi Mu still looked disdainful and said, “Don’t report anymore in the future. Men’s business, settled with fists.”

Xu Xiaoming was so choked up that he couldn’t finish his lunch. He had clearly hit a brick wall this time.

Qi Mu dominated Xu Xiaoming, the troublemaker in Class 3, and became the new troublemaker.

Teacher Xiao Zhang had already seen through his true nature, but even though she saw through it, she couldn’t do much. In a kindergarten with such a high salary and good benefits that people were clamoring to get in, she couldn’t bear to resign.

Qi Mu’s reign of dominance in the kindergarten went smoothly, but he never saw that beautiful little sister again.

He missed her a bit, after all, she was so pretty.

Qiao Jin asked her son, “How’s kindergarten? Have you made any good friends?”

Qi Mu replied, “Yes.”

Qiao Jin breathed a sigh of relief and asked further, “What are their names?”

Qi Mu counted on his fingers, “Xu Xiaoming, Fang Junqi, Li Hong, Jiang Yi…”

Qiao Jin was surprised, “So many?”

Qi Mu nodded, “I’m very popular.”

“Awesome!” Qiao Jin kissed her son’s little face.

At home, Xu Xiaoming, Fang Junqi, Li Hong, Jiang Yi, these “good friends” who had been dealt with by Qi Mu, all sneezed: sobbing, the kindergarten with Qi Mu was so scary, they didn’t want to go there anymore QWQ!

These days, Qiao Jin was away on a sketching trip, so Qi Dashan was responsible for picking up and dropping off their son. Actually, Qi Dashan could have hired someone like other parents at the kindergarten to do it, but Qiao Jin disagreed. She believed in active parental involvement in raising their child, even if busy, they should do what needs to be done.

Qi Dashan always listened to his wife. As long as Qiao Jin was away, he took charge of picking up Qi Mu.

As a CEO, Dashan was often tied up with work and tended to arrive late to pick up his son.

Qi Mu didn’t mind at all. He enjoyed playing wherever he was, particularly liking the kindergarten.

It was already 5:30 PM that day, and Qi Dashan still hadn’t arrived. Qi Mu’s “good friends” had all left, leaving him very bored. Taking advantage of the teacher’s inattention, he quietly slipped out.

The kindergarten was quite large, with playground equipment like slides, seesaws, and swings outside, as well as a small zoo with several peacocks that occasionally displayed their feathers. Qi Mu had never seen this in his previous kindergarten and was quite interested. He wandered off to take a look around.

As he walked halfway, Qi Mu saw a group of people ahead.

Excited to see others, Qi Mu loved lively atmospheres the most. He took a turn, abandoning the peacocks, and decided to meet his new friends.

As he approached, he heard their shouting.

“His mom is crazy!”

“Crazy moms give birth to crazy kids!”

“He’s a crazy kid!”

“Crazy people are like this, timid and scared, like mute.”

What did “crazy” mean? Qi Mu didn’t understand. Mom said if he didn’t understand, he should learn. So, he walked closer, intending to ask.

Approaching, he immediately saw the thin, pitiful figure among them.

It was the beautiful sister! Even though she kept her head down, Qi Mu recognized her at once. There was no mistaking it; this was the little sister he had been thinking about for so long.

Qi Mu happily rushed over, determined to finally ask for her name this time.

Little did he know, before he could get close, the kids surrounding the beautiful sister started bullying her.

“You guys think crazy people don’t feel pain?”

“Definitely not, he’s clueless about everything.”

“Let’s try it?”

“Sure, let’s.”

A taller boy picked up a stone to throw at him, which immediately infuriated Qi Mu: bullying a girl? Could he just stand by?

Qi Mu grabbed a nearby large leather ball and threw it with perfect aim.

“Ouch…” The tall boy got hit, turned around, and shouted, “What are you doing!”

Qi Mu stepped forward, grabbing the hand of the “little girl” and said, “Don’t bully her.”

“Who are you?” The kids looked incredulous. “He’s a crazy person, and you’re touching a crazy person.”

“Crazy people are contagious. You’ll become crazy too!”

Upon hearing this, the girl pulled her hand away from Qi Mu’s grip, but he held on firmly. Though he didn’t fully understand what “crazy” meant, it clearly wasn’t a kind word. He declared, “I don’t care. You’re not allowed to bully her, no matter what.”

He was a perennial “warrior,” dominating the park since he was little. He had long cultivated an air of dominance. Despite the young age of the kindergarten kids, instincts were innate. They knew who was easy to provoke and who wasn’t, and they clearly saw their limits.

“Crazy…” muttered a few kids. “Another crazy person!”

Qi Mu raised his fists, ready for action, and the kids who had been merely boasting quickly scattered at the sight of his serious intent to fight.

With everyone scared off, Qi Mu turned to the beautiful girl he had been thinking about, asking eagerly, “I’m Qi Mu, what’s your name?”

“Yin…” Her voice was barely audible, completely shrouded in timidity.

Qi Mu didn’t hear clearly. “What? Speak louder.”

Pausing for a moment, her palms warming, she raised her voice slightly. “Yin Xiuzhu, my name is Yin Xiuzhu.”

Qi Mu grinned, revealing a pair of small tiger teeth, and said to him, “Alright, Yin Xiuzhu, from now on, I’ve got your back!”

The boy hesitated, looking up at him.

This was Yin Xiuzhu’s first encounter with Qi Mu.

In the dusk, as the sun set, he saw the first ray of sunshine that illuminated his life.