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Chapter 22: Little Genius (1)
Although Luming Mountain had a good view, it was close to the sea and the air was humid. Old Master Huo, who was in poor health, could not stay for long.
Huo Xiaoxiao was young and playful. Besides, her immune system had also not developed yet. He was worried that she would catch a cold in the sea breeze, so she shouldn’t stay for long either.
Although Huo Xiaoxiao patted her chest and said that she was in good health and would not be sick, he still used his body as an excuse to carry her home without mercy.
Soon after, Old Master Huo announced his formal retirement, entrusting the company to Huo Suicheng’s shoulders.
Simultaneously, the Luming Mountain joint project by Huo’s and Yi’s was officially launched.
For this project, Huo Suicheng was too busy for a few days to go home. Just when Huo Xiaoxiao felt that she had a chance to breathe, Hou Manor opened a workshop and invited art teachers to cultivate Huo Xiaoxiao’s artistic talent.
However, although the art teacher was highly accomplished, she was inevitably a commoner.
She was the same as the Huo family servants and had the same views when she saw the painting of a family of three by Huo Xiaoxiao, which was hanging in Huo Suicheng’s room. She was full of praise and was astonished.
Listening to the art teacher’s praise, Huo Xiaoxiao even thought that her artistic talent might be comparable to Da Vinci.
She was sorry to bring humiliation to Da Vinci.
Under Old Master Huo and the art teacher’s coaxing and sugar-coated bombardment, Huo Xiaoxiao’s interest in painting rose.
“Xiaoxiao is great at drawing! Yes, that’s right, but can you tell Teacher why you painted the sky green?”
Huo Xiaoxiao glanced at her, drew a red sun in the blank lower-left corner, and then turned the painting upside down.
“I drew grass.”
“…” The art teacher looked back at Old Master Huo and smiled awkwardly.
Huo Xiaoxiao also looked back at her grandfather Huo with eyes wide open. “Grandpa, I want to go out to play.”
She was not the kind of person who could sit still. It had been two months since the last time she had gone out to Luming Mountain.
In the past two months, the doctor had been coming to the house significantly more often due to Old Master Huo’s health and had repeatedly instructed him to rest and recuperate.
On top of that, Huo Suicheng was busy with the company business, so no one dared to take her out for a walk.
Huo Xiaoxiao was listless all day long.
“In a couple of days, I’ll take you out in a couple of days, okay?” Old Master Huo said weakly.
Huo Xiaoxiao nodded.
After the class was over, the teacher made a special effort to chat with Old Master Huo before leaving.
“Old Master, Little Miss is very smart and has a talent for new things. Her IQ and EQ are much higher than children of the same age. I don’t think she’s suitable for home tutoring right now. With her current mood and state, I suggest that she should start getting in touch with children of the same age or older than her. It’s not good for the child to be bored at home.”
Old Master Huo nodded, agreeing with the teacher’s words.
When Huo Suicheng returned in the afternoon, he talked to him about this matter and proposed sending Xiaoxiao to the kindergarten.
Huo Suicheng immediately raised objections, “It’s too early to send her to kindergarten at the age of two.”
“You’re busy working all day, and the doctor told me to stay still. I’m not comfortable with anyone else taking her out for a walk. If you think she is a bit too young, why not send her after half a year? What do you think?”
Huo Suicheng thought for a moment and didn’t answer.
Old Master Huo sighed. “There isn’t a woman in the family.” After saying that, his eyes focused on Huo Suicheng. “You…”
“…” Huo Suicheng responded in an instant, “Then I’ll do as you say. Send her to kindergarten.”
He lowered his head and looked at the time. “I have a banquet in the evening. I guess I’ll be back a little late. Remember to rest early.”
“Banquet? What banquet?”
“Old Master Yi’s birthday party is today. Did you forget?”
Old Master Huo suddenly came to his senses. “Look at my memory, I almost forgot. Since it’s a birthday party, Xiaoxiaxo can also go. Bring her with you. She was just telling me today that she wants to go out and play.”
Huo Suicheng refused after giving it a thought, “Next time.”
But Huo Xiaoxiao, who was eavesdropping behind the door, heard everything.
Good! So she was really imprisoned here!
Her daddy could go out and play without her.
It must have been because she was too young and troublesome.
Huo Xiaoxiao was so upset that she wanted to push open the door and ask her dad why he wouldn’t take her out to play when there was so much fun to have!
But on second thought, if she opened the door just like that, what if her daddy still refused?
No, she had to think of something.
The sound of footsteps came from outside.
Huo Xiaoxiao rushed downstairs and saw the open passenger door of the car parked at the entrance. She slipped into the passenger seat while no one was looking.
There was more than enough space at the bottom of the seat. To not let the driver and her father find out, she also took off a black briefcase on the passenger seat and blocked herself.
In this way, the lights in the car dimmed, and she could not be seen!
What a genius!
While Huo Xiaoxiao was secretly pleased with herself, she heard the back door open. Then the door closed, and Xiao Wu, in the driver’s seat, drove out of the Huo Mansion.
The vehicle moved smoothly down the road.
“Find a couple of kindergartens, investigate all the information and standards, and give them to me.”
“Kindergarten?”
Huo Suicheng’s voice came from the back row, “The old man is in poor health. I don’t have much time recently, so I’d better send Xiaoxiao to kindergarten.”
Huo Xiaoxiao, who was in the passenger seat, heard Huo Suicheng’s words, and her heart thumped.
It was over! The thing she feared the most was finally about to happen.
Although life in Huo Mansion was boring now, it was better than going to kindergarten to learn math all day long.
The thought of playing sand with a group of kids soon made her whole person feel bad.
“Okay, I will sort out the information for you as soon as possible.”
“Alright.”
No more sound came after that.
Huo Xiaoxiao, crouching at the foot area, was about to come out when Huo Suicheng’s cell phone rang.
After the call connected, Huo Suicheng frowned and raised his voice, “What? Xiaoxiao disappeared? Have you searched everywhere? How could she just disappear?
“Xiao Wu, turn around and go back to Huo Mansion.”
As soon as the conversation ended, Huo Xiaoxiao climbed out from the bottom, knelt on the passenger seat, and hugged the back seat, as if to give Huo Suicheng a surprise. “Daddy, I’m here!”
Xiao Wu suddenly broke out in a cold sweat when he saw her climb out from below.
How dangerous it was to hide down there. Once a car applied brakes on the road, if anything happened, it would be unthinkable.
Huo Suicheng’s face changed drastically. While picking up Huo Xiaoxiao over from the passenger side, he lost his temper and scolded angrily, “Huo Xiaoxiao, who told you to hide there!”
Afterward, he said into the phone, “Uncle Chen, please tell Dad not to worry. Xiaoxiao is with me.”
After a few more words, the phone was hung up.
A wave of cold air came over her, and Huo Xiao shivered. She had no idea about her dad’s attitude, but she still leaned back with a fawning smile. “Dad, are you angry?”
Huo Suicheng looked unhappy. “Xiao Wu, go back first.”
This was to send her back.
Huo Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth.
It was a pity that she was not weeping. There were not enough tears to take advantage of.
Hence, she secretly twisted the inside of her thigh, and tears of pain surfaced immediately.
“Does Daddy not like me?”
“Who told you to hide in the car?”
“I… I heard everything… Grandpa told you to take me, but… but you hate me. I’m naughty, so you won’t take me!”
“You can hide in the car if I don’t take you there? Who taught you that? Do you know how dangerous it is?”
Huo Suicheng was not just a little angry. Seeing Huo Xiaoxiao crawling out from the passenger seat, his back had broken out in a cold sweat, and his breathing was still uneven.
He couldn’t imagine what kind of accident would happen to a two-year-old child hiding in the front co-pilot’s seat if Xiao Wu hit the emergency brake or something else happened.
Looking at Huo Suicheng’s stern brows and eyes, Huo Xiaoxiao knew that she had probably offended her father to some extent. Her eyes blinked, and tears flooded down like a waterfall.
She hugged Huo Suicheng’s arm and rubbed her tears all over Huo Suicheng’s suit while sobbing. “Dad, I’m sorry. I just want to… want to go out with Dad… but Dad hates me.”
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Seeing that Huo Suicheng was still indifferent, Huo Xiaoxiao simply sat on Huo Suicheng’s lap and reached out to smooth out the creases between Huo Suicheng’s eyebrows. “Daddy, don’t hate me.”
With these spoiled words, Huo Xiaoxiao had goosebumps all over her body.
It was so hard to be a daughter.
When her soft hands smoothed his eyebrows, he seemed to have calmed down and had no choice but to let her go.
“If you were a boy, I’d be smacking your butt right now.”
So violent!
Huo Suicheng took a deep breath, hugged Huo Xiaoxiao with one hand, looked at the tears hanging on her face, and wiped her with the handkerchief in his suit pocket.
“I haven’t seen Dad in a long time. I missed you.”
“…Never mind. Go straight to the party.”
Xiao Wu looked in the rearview mirror and got a glimpse of Huo Xiaoxiao leaning against Huo Suicheng’s chest with a smug smile on her face. He froze for a moment and turned speechless.
“Okay.”
Half an hour later, the car pulled up in front of the Yi’s Mansion.
While getting off the car, Huo Xiaoxiao grabbed Huo Suicheng’s tie and asked him, “Daddy, are you still angry?”
Huo Suicheng carried her off the car and walked inside without saying a word. After a while, he spoke sternly, “Not angry. I’ll go back and settle the score with you.”
“…” Huo Xiaoxiao suddenly regretted today’s impulsiveness a bit.
She’d probably be nagged by her grandfather again when she got back tonight.
Although Huo Suicheng was late to Old Master Yi’s birthday party, he was not the only one to bring a child along.
Old people, like children, wanted a lively birthday.
“Sir, I wish you the best of luck and long life. This is a little token of my father’s appreciation that he asked me to bring. Please accept it.”
Old Master Yi was over seventy years old but was still hale and hearty. As he accepted the gift, he looked at the little girl held in Huo Suicheng’s hands and guessed Huo Xiaoxiao’s identity. He smilingly teased her.
“What’s your name?”
“Huo Xiaoxiao.”
“How old?”
“Almost two years old.”
“Then you are one year younger than Yi Qian. Do you know Yi Qian? He is my little grandson. Do you want to make friends with him?”
Huo Xiaoxiao was not interested in little kids and looked up at her daddy.
Old Master Yi stroked Huo Xiaoxiao’s tiny head, “I’ve heard that your daughter is smart, and I finally saw it myself today.”
“Xiaoxiao is still young and ignorant. I’m afraid of disturbing you.”
“It’s normal for children to be noisy, and it sounds lively to me.” Then, Old Master Yi took out a red envelope and stuffed it into Huo Xiaoxiao’s hand. “There are many children here today. Go and play. ”
Huo Suicheng didn’t push it either. “Then you take care of the guests first. I’ll bring her over.”
“Go ahead, go ahead.”
Huo Suicheng left with Huo Xiaoxiao in his arms. Halfway there, Yi Yang, who was greeting the guests, saw the father and daughter duo. “Brother Huo.”
Huo Xiaoxiao followed the sound. She still had some impressions of this Uncle Yi she had seen in the Yonghe Club before and the bright woman beside him, who was wearing a white dress and long skirt and affectionately holding his arm. Huo Xiaoxiao had seen her on TV.
She was a famous star called Xu Xinyi.
“Xiaoxaio, greet them.”
Huo Xiaoxiao was kind enough to follow his words. “Hello, Uncle and Aunt.”
Xu Xinyi only had a son and had always wanted another daughter in her heart. However, her husband used her health to delay it every day.
Now seeing a little girl like a pink carved jade, her heart was instantly filled with love.
“Whose little baby is so cute? What’s your name?”
“Huo Xiaoxiao.”
“Xiaoxiao?” Xu Xinyi didn’t hold back her hand and gently squeezed the baby fat on Huo Xiaoxiao’s face. “Want to hug aunt?”
Huo Xiaoxiao nodded helplessly.
Before coming here, she knew that she would be questioned, pinched, and hugged.
“Mr. Huo, I heard from Yi Yang before that your daughter is smart and began to understand and communicate with people at the age of one. I’ve been curious for a long time and finally met her today. I also heard that you are looking for a teacher for her. Have you found one?”
Huo Suicheng nodded. “Yeah, I did.”
“It’s good then. You guys talk among yourselves. Some kids are playing over there; I’ll take Xiaoxiao with me and return her to you when you go back.” Afterward, she said to Huo Xiaoxiao, “Xiaoxiao, Auntie will take you to play with the other kids, okay?”
Huo Xiao didn’t really want to go.
However, she also knew that she could only follow the rules under Huo Suicheng’s gaze, so she nodded her head.
Huo Suicheng nodded to Xu Yinyi. “Sorry to trouble you.”
“A small matter.”
People were coming and going to the party, children were running and jumping, and there was no telling what kind of chaos might ensue.
Xu Xinyi held Huo Xiaoxiao and left. She chatted while walking, “Xiaoxiao, Auntie has a son called Yi Qian. Auntie will introduce you to him later. Will you be friends?”
“Alright.”
“That’s good.”
There was a room in the corridor on the right side of the hall on the first floor. When the door opened, the children’s noise was even harsher than that of adults. Large and small toys were placed on the floor, and two servants were taking care of four or five children in the room.
“Madam.”
Xu Xinyi nodded lightly, placed Huo Xiaoxiao on the sofa, and sat down. She then said to all the children present, “Children, come here. Auntie will introduce a new friend to you.”
As the four or five children in front of her, aged between three to five, poured over, Huo Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened with despair. She was too busy to pay attention to what Xu Xinyi was saying to these real children.
She regretted it now; she regretted it so much.
Why did she risk being nagged for days to follow Huo Suicheng here?
Wasn’t it good to play at home by herself?
With so many children, her brain was going to explode with the noise.
“Well, you have to help your aunt take care of Xiaoxiao, okay?”
“Got it!”
“What a good boy!”
Xu Xinyi looked at the little boy sitting in the corner of the sofa, engrossed with the Rubik’s Cube. She twisted her eyebrows. “Yi Qian, come here!”
“Oh,” the little boy in the corner mouthed but remained seated without moving. Only his eyes looked over.
“What are you doing? Come here and meet this little sister. Her name is Huo Xiaoxiao. As the brother, take good care of her, got it?”
Yi Qian lowered his eyelids and couldn’t seem to raise any energy. He lazily responded, “Got it.”
Xu Xinyi saw his tired and lazy attitude. She really wanted to know why her little demon was so popular.
Having a son was worry-free. He acted like a little adult all day, without any youthful energy.
It was better to be a girl.
Thinking of this, her face was full of laughter. She spoke to Huo Xiaoxiao, “Xiaoxiao, he is Auniet’s son, Yi Qian. You can play here. If you want anything, you can tell Yi Qian or these sisters. If someone bullies you, you can tell your auntie, okay?”
Huo Xiaoxiao nodded.
“Then auntie will go out first. Have fun.” With another squeeze of Huo Xiaoxiao’s baby cheeks, she left the room.
Once Xu Xinyi was out, Yi Qian turned back to concentrate on tinkering with his Rubik’s Cube, using his face and actions to show that he was not the same kind of person as the other children in this room.
Huo Xiaoxiao almost suffocated when she looked at the blocks and horses that the children were playing with, as well as the cartoons on TV.
She had never been so childish at home.
As soon as she spotted another Rubik’s cube in front of Yi Qian, Huo Xiaoxiao jumped off the couch and walked over.
Yi Qian looked up and saw her.
“Can I play with this?”
“Whatever.”
Huo Xiaoxiao didn’t take the Rubik’s Cube but looked at Yi Qian with great interest.
Children were usually adorable, but Yi Qian, who inherited all the good qualities of Yi Yang and Xu Xinyi, could not be described as cute.
Huo Xiaoxiao had basically never met children before. It was even her first time seeing a child as exquisite as Yi Qian.
She still had an eighteen-year-old princess living in her heart, so she couldn’t help but pinch him.
Yi Qian stopped playing with the Rubik’s cube in his hand and looked up at her coldly.
She had tugged so hard that he had to open his mouth, “Let go.”
Huo Xiaoxiao not only didn’t let go, but she also squeezed him with her other hand.
The little kid was good at everything but had a bad personality.
“No!”
Yi Qian reached out without saying a word and knocked Huo Xiaoxiao’s ‘evil’ hand away. He bowed his head and continued to play with the Rubik’s Cube, secluding himself from the world.
“…” This little brat’s temper was quite big.
Huo Xiaoxiao looked at the Rubik’s Cube in his hand.
In the end, he was still young and couldn’t put it all together.
After thinking about it, she picked up another Rubik’s Cube and skillfully turned it around with her fingertips.
Perhaps it was because her spinning frequency became faster and faster, she had attracted Yi Qian’s attention. When she was about to finish, his eyes were firmly glued to her cube.
Click-click-click…
Soon, a complete Rubik’s Cube was put together by Huo Xiaoxiao.
“You…”
Huo Xiaoxiao looked at the little kid’s shocked appearance and his open mouth.
Anyway, she had been playing for a while, and the Rubik’s Cube was nothing new for her.
From a full-ranked boss to a newbie, she finally had a chance to show off.
She had been suffocated for two years.
“Want to learn?”
Yi Qian’s eyes were hesitant.
“As long as you let me touch you, I will teach you.” Huo Xiaoxiao shamefully swayed her completed Rubik’s Cube in front of Yi Qian.
Yi Qian blinked. After repeated hesitation, he eventually showed his naivety and shyness.
Still, he was calm and relaxed, and his soft child’s voice had a milkiness to it. “Okay, but… only touch for a minute.”
“Yes!” Huo Xiaoxiao placed her hands on his soft cheeks.
This soft touch was so fun.
The child’s face gradually reddened as the little girl touched his cheeks. He counted in his mind and stopped when he reached sixty.
“Done! You can’t touch me anymore! ”
“Let me touch it for another minute, or I won’t teach you.”
Yi Qian refuted, “You…”
Huo Xiaoxiao educated him seriously. “Boys should learn to protect themselves outside, and they can’t trust others too much. Understand?”