CH 21

At this time, the principal received a phone call. She picked up and put it by her ear: “Hello? This is Little Star Kindergarten.”

“Hm? Oh. It’s you… That’s fine. Of course it’s no problem. It’s just adding an event. Sounds good… … Thank you. Thank you very much… Okay, okay. You are really too kind… … Okay. I hope you have a good day.”

After the principal hung up the phone, she looked towards Teacher Hu and said: “In your class there is a student called Wen MiaoMiao. Doesn’t she want to go on stage to perform? Help her add an event into the event schedule, it will be the very last performance. Her parents will send the accompaniment music directly to you.”

“Ah?” Teacher Hu clearly could not believe her ears. It wasn’t until Teacher Zhu pushed her gently before she reacted.

Teacher Hu’s expression was a bit strange and she asked: “Principal, haven’t the children’s performances already been determined? Why are we suddenly adding in another one? What if their performance isn’t good.”

“Even if they make a mistake, the parents will think its cute.” The principal furrowed her brows: “Since I asked you to add one, just add it. Their parents already called us.”

Teacher Hu: “… …” Just a phone call wouldn’t be able to add a performance. The parents definitely gave some kind of benefits.

When she thought about this, Teacher Hu pursed her lips in disdain. It is great to be a child with rich parents. If you want to go on stage to perform, all your parents have to do is to give some money. Normal people like her would never have such a chance.

Even though Teacher Hu was reluctant, she still added the performance for MiaoMiao and the others. After receiving the accompaniment on WeChat, she saved it. She still felt a bit uncomfortable.

She had just told Teacher Zhu that those children would have no chance to go on stage. Now their parents have called and wants to let them go on stage, she was just slapping herself in the face!

Teacher Hu was very unsatisfied but she didn’t say it outload.

MiaoMiao had no idea about all this and after the long weekend she returned to Little Star Kindergarten and went to class like normal.

In the kindergarten, each class had a few teachers. Teacher Hu was in charge of teaching the children mathematics. The second class in the morning today was math. When Teacher Hu came in, she saw MiaoMiao and her eyes were thoughtful.

She stood in front of the class and started teaching. The children lifted her heads and followed along and started to answer questions.

Teacher Hu kept paying attention to MiaoMiao. When she saw that she was distracted and was looking for something in her backpack she called her name: “MiaoMiao, stand up and answer the question.”

MiaoMiao lifted her her little head, seeing Teacher Hu’s gently smiling face, she stood up. She didn’t know what question she was talking about.

Teacher Hu was about to admonish her and MiaoMiao furrowed her little brows. “Teacher, I don’t know how to do the question.”

Teacher Hu: “… …Then MiaoMiao, what question is teacher talking about?”

MiaoMiao: “… …”

While MiaoMiao was struggling, Qin Yu whispered: “8 – 2.”

“The question is 8 – 2.” MiaoMiao replied.

Teacher Hu put on a fake smile and said: “MiaoMiao, you don’t know how to do such a simple question? Teacher remembers that your math was good. Were you distracted in class?”

The surrounding children curiously looked over. MiaoMiao felt the gazes of the other children and her face turned red. She furrowed her brows and pretended she really didn’t know and started to count her fingers.

After counting for a while, she probingly asked; “Is it 6?”

Teacher Hu saw that she had pretended pretty well, so she didn’t continue to make things difficult and said: “It’s correct. Sit down.”

MiaoMiao breathed a sigh of relief and then carefully looked at the teacher. She didn’t know if it was just a wrong feeling, but she felt that Teacher Hu was a little strange.

Qin Yu also clearly felt it.

The children were all very young in the kindergarten. In the class there were many kids who needed to count their fingers to do math. Even if it was a simple question, it was normal for there to be a few kids who didn’t know how to do them.

Teacher Hu seemed to be trying to make MiaoMiao admit that she was being distracted in class.

But she was a young child who wasn’t even four yet. Isn’t being distracted in class normal?

How can they demand a child to pay attention at all times?

MiaoMiao originally wanted to find her pencil case in her backpack. She didn’t know where she had put it. After digging for a long time, she still hadn’t found it. Because she was called out by Teacher Hu, she didn’t continue to search for it.

It wasn’t until Teacher Hu passed out a quiz for everyone and said: “Teacher her has 20 questions. There are all simple. Please fill out the answers, after class Teacher will mark it.”

MiaoMIao quickly put down her head and looked for her pencil case. She looked through her entire backpack and realized she had forgotten it!

Ah!

“What are you looking for, MiaoMiao?” Qin Yu quietly asked.

“I forgot my pencil case.” MiaoMiao looked very pitiful. “Yu Tou, do you have extra pencils?”

“Yes.” Qin Yu quickly opened his pencil case. His pencil case had three layers. The top layer held pencils, the second layer held erasers, pencil sharpeners, and little memos, and the third layer had a little box. After turning it over, it turned out to be a mini billiards table.

“Yu Tou, your pencil case is very big. Thank you.” MiaoMiao was very surprised as accepted the pencil he passed over.

Qin Yu shyly opened his pencil case and showed the bottom layer. “We will play with this later?”

“Okay.” MiaoMiao quickly nodded her head and agreed. Then she took the paper and started answering questions.

After class ended, Qin Yu set up his pencil case and put the little boys onto it. MiaoMiao asked: “Yu Tou, how do you play with this?”

“I don’t know. It seems like we need to hit the balls into the holes, using this, its a long pole. You have to pull back and then release it to hit the ball in front of it. We will see who can hit the most.

“Okay!” MiaoMiao was full of enthusiasm, after they played rock paper scissors, Qin Yu won and he went first. He shot and the ball didn’t go in. He had used too much strength and the ball flew out.

MiaoMiao quickly used her hands to catch the ball and put it back. “We need to use less strength.”

Qin Yu’s face was a little red and he nodded his head.

So MiaoMiao furrowed her little brows and aimed carefully. She looked for a long time before she found the right position and shot it out.

She had used too little strength. There was still quite a distance to from the little ball to the hold.

MiaoMiao: It seems to be very difficult!

The two children fiddled with it seriously, during the third class, the other children went to practice their singing and dancing, they were still playing.

Sadly, after playing for an entire class, there were only two balls that entered the holes. They had scored one each and it was a draw.

The two noobs looked at each other and thought the other was very strong.

When their eyes met, they confirmed it. You are my rival!

When the bell rang to signal the end of class, MiaoMiao and Qin Yu cleaned up the things on the desk and headed to the cafeteria.

Some of the children were a bit anxious and would rush out rush out after class. MiaoMiao used to do so as well, but because there were too many people she had been pushed over and fell. After that during lunch time, she would slowly walk to the cafeteria. She would only run at home.

The two children were walking and they ran into Zhou Shu.

She was walking very slowly and her two hands were raised up rubbing at her face. MiaoMiao thought it was strange and called out: “Zhou Shu?”

Zhou Shu heard the sound and turned to look. She soft cute face was still full of tears.

“Why are you crying? Who bullied you?” MiaoMiao asked worriedly.

Zhou Shu sniffled and said: “Teacher Hu said I was too stupid, I sometimes can’t keep up with the music. The other children all laughed at me. Waaaah. MiaoMiao, am I really very stupid?”

MiaoMiao really wanted to say that she really was a little dumb, but she knew she couldn’t say it now. Zhou Shu would definitely be very hurt.

She took out some tissue from her pocket and helped Zhou Shu wipe her tears and said: “Teacher Hu is very strange today. You aren’t stupid, I remember you danced very well.”

Zhou Shu’s coordination was pretty good, so when MiaoMiao refused to go on stage, she recommended her. She was not randomly recommending people. It was really because she danced quite well. But compared to the other children that Teacher Hu had picked, she was a bit inferior.

Zhou Shu continued to sniffle and felt a bit comforted. But she still looked towards Qin Yu. “Qin Yu, what do you think of my dance?”

“I think it’s not bad.” Qin Yu said.

After getting the confirmation of two of her classmates, Zhou Shu felt a bit more confident. “Maybe its because I am not as good as the other girls, so the teacher called me stupid. I will go back and work harder. The teacher had given us the accompaniment so when I go home I will practice a few times. I definitely will be able to keep up.”

“Okay, let’s go eat lunch together.” MiaoMiao smiled and invited her.

“Okay.” Zhou Shu nodded her head.

Qin Yu was a bit unhappy. Why was there suddenly an extra person joining them for lunch?

Before MiaoMiao had ate with Xiong Da and Xiong Er, but after Qin Yu came, she ate with Qin Yu. Now Zhou Shu had joined in. Qin Yu was a bit unhappy because he felt neglected by MiaoMiao.

The three children got their food and quietly sat down in a corner to eat.

Today’s lunch had fried chicken legs. MiaoMiao had ordered one and also some vegetables and a bowl of bone broth.

After eating a bowl of rice, she finished off all the veggies and her chicken leg. She then picked up the soup and started to sip it.

Little Star Kindergarten had expensive tuition fees and the children who were able to come all had good family backgrounds. So the food also was very delicious. The bone broth didn’t only have soup and no bones, but the soup had lots of meat as well.

MiaoMiao had specifically asked the auntie who was in charge of dishing out soup to give her a few pieces of meat. After drinking the soup, she picked up the meat and put it into her mouth.

She smiled in satisfaction and said: ‘Yu Tou, the soup is very good today.”

“Mhm.” Qin Yu quickly nodded his head. He also liked it.

Zhou Shu asked: “MiaoMiao, why do you call Qin Yu, Yu Tou?”

“Because his name looks like it would be very tasty. His Yu, is the Yu from taro. I really like to eat taro.” MiaoMiao happily said: “Yesterday night, my family had a taro and rib soup!”

“Ah? Then doesn’t that mean you ate Qin Yu?” Zhou Shu was a bit surprised.

MiaoMiao and Qin Yu was stunned. Then MiaoMiao furrowed her brows and thought about it. “It… doesn’t count? Yu Tou is the nickname that I gave him. He isn’t really food. I didn’t eat him!”

Zhou Shu nodded her head and felt that this was very reasonable. Then she looked at Qin Yu and asked. “Then can I also call you Yu Tou?”

“No.” Qin Yu didn’t even think about it and refused. “This is what MiaoMiao can call me. No one else can use it. You can call me Qin Yu.”

When MiaoMiao heard this, she was really happy. “Yes. This is my exclusive nickname for him! Even Xiong Da and Xiong Er can’t use it!”

Hmph, this is my little desk mate. This is the special treatment that only I can get!

Zhou Shu was a bit distressed. “Then… … I will also give my desk mate a nickname. I’ll call him… … Mickey Mouse.”

MiaoMiao nodded her head. “This nickname is good!”

“Okay. Then I’ll let him know when I go back!”

Joey’s Corner:

… I’m just speechless at Teacher Hu. Like Why? They’re just kids, just let them do what they want. Why is she being so mean?

After eating lunch, the three children obediently brought their bowls and utensils to the dish area and washed their hands at the entrance. MiaoMiao took out some hand cream that her mother gave her and put some on everyone’s hands.

The hand cream was peach scented and smelled very sweet. Fu Rou thought that since MiaoMiao uses a baby face cream, she can’t neglect her hands as well and bought the hand cream for her too.

MiaoMiao rubbed her chubby hands together. After the white hand cream was absorbed by the skin on her hands, she took Qin Yu’s hand and went to Zhou Shu to the nap room.

Zhou Shu found her desk mate and MiaoMiao and Qin Yu took off their shoes and sat on the bed to chat.

The two people talked about the things that happened today. MiaoMiao simply stated her thoughts: “Yu Tou, do you think that Teacher Hu was a bit strange today?”

Qin Yu nodded his head. “I also noticed. She never said that we were stupid before.”

To little children, if they were scolded and told that they were stupid they would cry. The teachers will never scold and never say who is stupid among them. They would always use kind words as encouragement. But today, Teacher Hu actually called Zhou Shu stupid and even though Zhou Shu was crying as she left the dance studio, she didn’t try to comfort her.

Not only this, this morning during math class, Teacher Hu was already a bit strange. It was like she was trying to make things difficult for MiaoMiao.

“Could it be that teacher is in a bad mood today?” Qin Yu questioned. “I feel like she doesn’t look very happy today.”

MiaoMiao carefully thought for a while. “No, teacher was always smiling today. She didn’t seem unhappy.”

MiaoMiao thought very simply. If you’re happy, you’ll smile. But there are many kinds of unhappiness, such as disappointment, anger, as long as there were no smiles.

“Then she is really strange.” Qin Yu furrowed his little brows. “I’ll go home and ask my mommy then. Maybe the teacher has things on her mind?”

MiaoMiao nodded her little head. “Okay, when we go home today, I will ask my mommy.”

As the two children spoke, the teacher in charge of their nap time arrived.

The teacher came in and smiled as she said: “Everyone, it’s almost time for nap time. Take off your shoes and get into bed. Don’t forget to take off your jackets. Teacher will go and bring you your blankets.”

“Okay~”

The teacher brought out the blankets and covered the children. MiaoMiao and Qin Yu continued to share a blanket. The two curled up into their blankets and whispered. They started to discuss their birthdays.

Qin Yu’s fourth birthday was coming up. It is three days after the graduation ceremony. Normally he would spend his birthdays with his parents, but this year he wants to invite MiaoMiao to his house to spend his birthday together.

When MiaoMiao heard that her desk mate was going to be four years old she eviously said: “Okay. I still have another month before I’ll be four years old. Mommy always just considers me as a three year old. Later on, I won’t be three anymore.”

I’ll be four years old~

When Qin Yu heard this, he quietly memorized it. “MiaoMiao, when it’s your birthday, I will spend it with you, okay?”

“Okay. I’ll call you at that time!” MiaoMiao agreed and then shyly said. “Yu Tou, can the chocolate you normally give me be considered as my birthday present?”

As she spoke, she licked her lips.

The chocolate that Qin Yu gave was very delicious and MiaoMiao liked sweets. But she didn’t like chocolate that was too sweet and the chocolate that Qin Yu gave had a strong chocolate taste and the sweetness was not over the top. It was perfectly suited to MiaoMiao’s taste.

Qin Yu quickly nodded. “Okay, at that time I’ll give you some more.” But he can’t give too much though. If he gave too much, then he wouldn’t be able to give MiaoMiao presents normally.

MiaoMiao happily nodded her little head and thought that her birthday only comes once and year and it really should happen every month instead!

That night, after MiaoMiao finished dinner, she spoke to Fu Rou about the things that happened that day. “Mommy, my class’s Teacher Hu was a bit strange today. During class, she called MiaoMiao up to answer questions… …”

MiaoMiao explained what Teacher Hu said when she was called up to answer questions and what Teacher Hu also said to Zhou Shu.

The more Fu Rou heard, the worse her face got.

If this was elementary school, if the children weren’t listening in class, calling them up and warning them is very normal. But this is kindergarten, they had clearly stated that other than Chinese, English, and Math, the other courses were just for setting up a foundation for the kids. Who would demand that the children do things perfectly in kindergarten? Who would demand three or four year olds pay attention in class without getting distracted?

Each class is forty minutes. If a child in kindergarten can pay attention for 20 minutes, their parents would already be happy.

Furthermore, Zhou Shu was even called stupid and letting a child who was crying leave the classroom without an comfort is really too much. Even though it wasn’t her daughter, but this teacher is her child’s teacher. Who knows if next time it would be MiaoMiao who would be scolded until she was crying!

“Mommy, maybe Teacher Hu was in a bad mood today? But I don’t think so. Teacher Hu was always smiling, she didn’t seem unhappy.” MiaoMiao furrowed her brows as she spoke in a slightly frustrated manner.

“BaoBei, be good. Teacher Hu probably has something on her mind, she probably doesn’t want you guys to worry, so she kept smiling at you guys so you guys don’t notice.” Fu Rou smiled as she comforted. “BaoBei, you haven’t read today, yet right? First go and read a story from Chinese class, Mommy needs to make a phone call.”

“Okay~” MiaoMiao couldn’t help Teacher Hu fix her problems, but when she heard her mother’s words, she ran to her room to read.

She took out her textbooks and thought that tomorrow, when she goes to kindergarten, she can ask Teacher Hu. If there’s anything she can do to help, she will definitely help! Even though Teacher Hu’s attitude towards Yu Tou makes her dislike her, but other than this, MiaoMiao had always liked Teacher Hu.

However, MiaoMiao would not have this opportunity.

The next morning, when she returned to Little Star Kindergarten, the first class should be Teacher Hu’s math class. But Teacher Hu did not come and it was instead next door’s Teacher Zhu.

Teacher Zhu smiled and said: “Everyone, good morning. Teacher Hu has some problems at home and can’t come to teach you guys today. From today onwards, I will be in charge of your math class. You can call me Teacher Zhu!”

MiaoMiao was stunned for a moment and thought that her mommy was amazing. Teacher Hu definitely had something on her mind yesterday!

The fact that Teacher Hu had left was not noticed by many people in Little Star Kindergarten.

The children tended to forget things easily and Teacher Zhu was very nice. When she taught, she was very basic. Even the children who had a poor foundation in math were able to follow along with the teacher. Everyone liked Teacher Zhu coming to teach math.

On Friday afternoon, it was Little Star Kindergarten’s graduation ceremony.

The host for the event was selected from one of the children in the advanced class. One boy and one girl stood next to each other. They wore a beautiful suit and a formal dress. They read the words that the teacher had prepared for them and then the performance began.

The children’s performances included singing, dancing, and presentations of some of the children’s art and essays. MiaoMiao’s event was the very last one. Because Xiong Da and Xiong Er also had a class event, so MiaoMiao and Qin Yu first put on the clothes that they would wear for their performance. Xiong Da and Xiong Er will change after their performance.

MiaoMiao’s hairstyle today was done by a stylist arranged by Fu Rou. Little kid’s have hair that was very soft and quite short and its not easy to style. But the stylist gave MiaoMiao some cute braids which exposed her chubby cheeks. Which made her look especially cute.

When Qin Yu saw this, his hands felt itchy. He wanted to reach out a hand and pinch her cheeks!

Some of the children had put on makeup for their performances today, Fu Rou thought that MiaoMiao’s skin was already good and even if she didn’t put on makeup it wouldn’t be a problem. Besides there was still quite some distance from the stage and whether or not she put on makeup there probably wouldn’t be much of a difference.

Fu Rou didn’t want kids to put on makeup at such a young age. It can affect their skin. Furthermore, if they found it novel, they might want to keep putting on makeup in the future. Then it really wouldn’t be good.

MiaoMiao originally sat in the audience. Wen FuChen really did manage to pull out some time today, so she sat between her parents. She swung her short little legs and curiously watched the performances on stage.

Some children were pretty good at acting. They pretended to be grandmas and grandpas. When they walked they were hunched over. It looked extremely adorable. The parents offstage were all laughing at the children’s performances. Even if a child was too nervous and made a mistake, they all still clapped in encouragement and gave the child the courage to continue performing.

When it was time for Xiong Da and Xiong Er’s class’s group song, the Wen Family all perked up and started to record a video.

In fact, every year during the graduation ceremony, they would be a videographer recording it. They would eventually release it as a DVD or even as a video. But the version that the kindergarten records, requires some post processing which requires some time. If you record it yourself, you could directly post it into your friend circles.

MiaoMiao sat and watched the stage. She felt that her two little nephews were amazing! Because she had these two little nephews, she felt very proud!

After Xiong Da and Xiong Er finished their performance, MiaoMiao immediately hopped down and said: “Mommy, MiaoMiao needs to go backstage!”

“Be careful.” Fu Rou reminded.

“Okay~” MiaoMiao quickly ran backstage and saw Xiong Da and Xiong Er. She quickly grabbed Xiong Er to change into a little skirt and then took out the wig that they had bought with the pocket money that they had saved. Then they found a teacher to help Xiong Er put it on.

A wig’s price was related to the length of the hair. MiaoMiao couldn’t bear to spend money, so she bought a short haired wig. It was considered quite cheap. The teacher helped Xiong Er put it on and then MiaoMiao took out a strawberry hair clip. “Xiong Er, put on my strawberry hair clip. It’ll look good!”

“Wow! Its a very cute hair clip!” Xiong Er took it and saw that MiaoMiao had a pineapple clip on her head. Hehe, Little Aunt’s hair clips are all very cute!

Xiong Er put the hair clip on his head and then shyly went to look into the mirror.

When he wore his Little Aunt’s swimsuit before, he already felt that girl’s clothing looked really good. Now that he put it on, he didn’t look worse than Little Aunt. All he was missing was a girl’s haircut!

Now that he had the wig that his Little Aunt had given him and the strawberry hairclip with the cute dress. He suddenly felt he was very cute!

Xiong Er shyly looked at MiaoMiao full of expectations. “Little Aunt, I… When I wear this, does it look good?”

“It looks good! It’s very cute!” MiaoMiao quickly nodded her little head. Xiong Da had also changed into a little suit. When he saw Xiong Er, he immediately felt jealous.

If he knew earlier, he should have chosen the girl’s part. His little brother stole it first though!

Qin Yu also came over from the audience side. When he saw Xiong Er, he almost didn’t recognize him.

Xiong Er gleefully looked at Qin Yu. “My little aunt thinks I look very cute like this. What do you think, Qin Yu?”

“Mhm, very cute.” Qin Yu honestly nodded his head and replied. He was not jealous, because MiaoMiao had said. His cheeks were chubby and they were also very cute. MiaoMiao liked to pinch his cheeks. But she doesn’t pinch Xiong Er’s. This is the treatment that Xiong Er can’t get. Hmph!

Very quickly, the performances before theirs all finished. Originally, the very last event would be the graduating students standing in a line on stage and receiving their graduation certificates from a teacher and getting a group photo.

The advanced class had two classes and they stood in four rows. The children each received their graduation certificates and group photo. There were a few that cried. It looked like after they leave the kindergarten, they wouldn’t be able to see their friends anymore.

MiaoMiao quietly figeted in anticipation. “Why isn’t it our turn yet? They are so slow.”

“Yaa. I really want to go out and dance.” Xiong Er was also quite nervous.

Finally, the children in the advanced class all received their graduation certificates and left the stage.

MiaoMiao finally started to feel nervous. Her little heart was rapidly thumping. She looked at Qin Yu. “Yu Tou, are you nervous?”

“A little.” Qin Yu clenched his fist. He can’t make a mistake later. He needs to dance well together with MiaoMiao!

“How many people do you think will stay to watch our performance? We will have at least six spectators. I sortof want there to be more though.” MiaoMiao looked forward to it but was also nervous. “The other children all had many aunts and uncles watching. MiaoMiao also wants that…”

“Relax MiaoMiao. There will definitely not be a problem!” Qin Yu grabbed MiaoMiao’s hand. “The uncles and aunties can’t leave that quickly. We will go out faster later and it’ll be fine.”

Then the children left and the curtain came down.

MiaoMiao was then a bit flustered. “Why did the curtain come down? If it’s like this, when we go out to dance, the uncles and aunties won’t be able to see.”

Ah. They had practised for so long and now they can’t dance anymore?

Xiong Da, Xiong Er, and Qin Yu were all a bit disappointed. The four people were looking forward to dancing on stage today. They were even secretly thinking that they were the grand finale right? Even if there were only six people, they would still have an audience. When their parents post to their friend’s circles, then their friends would be able to see them perform. Then there wouldn’t only be six people!

But, why did the curtain come down? QAQ Will there still be a chance for them to perform?

Just as the four children were getting nervous, the heard the hosts voices:

Little big sister: “The graduation ceremony has ended. But today, there are a few students in the beginner and the intermediate class that want to give us a surprise!”

Little big brother: “What? What kind of surprise?”

Little big sister: “They practised their own dance and they want to perform it for everyone today. I am really looking forward to it!”

Little big brother: “They’re that amazing? Then we need to welcome the children from the beginner and intermediate class on stage to perform.”

MiaoMiao, Qin Yu, Xiong Da, Xiong Er: “… …???” Aren’t we only supposed to have six spectators? Aunties, Uncles, and all the other children all need to stay and watch us perform?