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Chapter Text

And children, this is why you shouldn’t develop a crush in high school. This all started when a young heir was talking to his high school advisor. Jin Zixuan, didn’t have any extracurriculars, at all. Even as an heir to a huge fortune, he barely did anything else besides schoolwork and avoided his parents’ arguments. But he still had a good friend, Mianmian. She was a part of the Medical Club and their Class Representative. 

“Jin Zixuan, you haven’t joined any clubs since starting at this school,” the school advisor looked at Jin Zixuan’s information.

“Why do I have to join a stupid club?” Jin Zixuan complained. “I’m going to take over my family’s business. Why do I need to join a club?”

“When you start applying for universities, they prefer candidates that apply themselves and are involved,” the advisor explained. “It is not too late to join a club. There are plenty of clubs that are looking to recruit new members.”

Why join a club if he wasn’t going to get anything out of it? What could he get out of a high school club that wasn’t student council? His older half-brother is running for reelection for student council president. There was no way he could run for any position in the student council. He had no drive and it was his brother’s thing. And his best friend was the class representative.

What else could a rich heir with too much time on his hands can join? It would have to be a club where he knew people that were members. People that he tolerated. What was that one club that Mengyao visited his friends in? Something childcare related.

Wait! Jiang Yanli was in that club! For years Jin Zixuan has had a crush on a girl that was a grade above him. They always ran into each other during events that their families were invited in. The Jins and the Jiangs were in similar social circles. 

“What about the Babysitters’ Club?” Jin Zixuan suggested.

The advisor looked at his transcript. “You haven’t taken a childcare class before. Why would you want to join the Babysitters’ Club? You’ve written that you want to go into business after graduating.”

“My two half siblings are in the school’s pre-school,” he did not lie. He knew that his two half-siblings attended the school’s pre-school. “I want to be more involved with my siblings. And Mengyao stops by.”

“Alright!” The advisor smiled. They pulled out a club registration form. “Please fill this out and turn it in to the club president.”

As he held the registration form, he questioned what he was getting into. After his meeting, Jin Zixuan finished filling out his form when his best friend came up to him.

“You are filling out a club registration form?” Mianmian seemed shocked. “You never seemed the type to join a club.”

“My advisor advised that I join a club to show that I’m involved,” Jin Zixuan explained.

Mianmian looked at his form. “Babysitting club?! You haven’t been around kids before. Why this club in particular?” 

The heir snatched the form away from Mianmian’s prying eyes. “I have my reasons!”

Mianmian gave her friend a judgemental look. “Is your reason Senior Jiang?” Jin Zixuan’s face went red. “I thought so. Well, let us go to the daycare room to turn in your form. I think I’ll join the Babysitting Club too.”

Jin Zixuan looked shocked. “You are already class rep and a part of the Medical Club. You want to join a third club.”

“Unlike you, I want to add more to my extracurriculars. Besides, it will be fun to see you interact with the children and Senior Jiang.” Mianmian gave her explanation to Jin Zixuan. 

After getting another registration form, the two freshmen students walked to the school daycare room. The school has a daycare program that accepts children from six-months and up until they are ready for primary school. The daycare is mainly run by the students in the Babysitting Club. During most of the school day, an older woman called Wen-popo watches the children. After school, lunch, and breaks the students take over childcare responsibilities. 

The children attending the daycare are mostly the high school students’ younger siblings. The club members’ siblings make up most of the daycare kids.

The freshmen made it to the colorful doors that had animals, clouds, and flowers painted. Above the door was a sign that said Daycare.

“Hello,” Mianmian opened the daycare room. “We are here to turn in our Club Registration Forms to the president.”

“Look kids! New recruits!” One of the seniors said out loud. It was Lan Xichen who spoke to one of the kids that looked similar to him.

“Good, we need some underclassmen,” said who was the unlikely choice of president. Nie Mingjue, senior and president of the Babysitters Club. “Hand them over to Little Lan Zhan.”

“?!” Jin Zixuan and Mianmian looked down to see little Lan Zhan. A little boy with chubby cheeks and short hair. He looked a lot like Lan Xichen, except the little boy had light colored eyes. 

“Registration papers please,” Lan Zhan held out his hand. His little face looked so serious.

“Just play along,” Xichen whispered to Jin Zixuan and Mianmian. “We like to make my brother feel included.”

Mianmian immediately played along. “Thank you for taking our registration forms. We are happy to be here. I’m called Mianmian. This is my friend Jin Zixuan. You probably know his brother Mengyao.”

“Mn,” Lan Zhan nodded his head. “You need your aprons.” The boy left to fetch aprons for the new members. 

“That was my little brother Lan Zhan,” Lan Xichen introduced. “He is an interesting little boy. Over here coloring is Nie Mingjue’s brother Nie Huaisang. He is squishy, but whiny and clingy. Over there is Wen Ning, he is a little sickly child. Here are Qin Su and Mo Xuanyu, the infants playing on the mat.”

The infants squeal at the familiar face. “Ge!”

“I know A-Su and A-Yu,” Zixuan said. “They are my half siblings.”

“Of course!” Xichen said. “You all share a dad. Now we get to the final two kids. Over there with our other club member are Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying.”

He was finally introduced to his biggest rivals. The little brothers to Jin Zixuan’s crush. The two brothers were eating their lunch with their elder sister. It looked like a cute scene. The two boys munch on their apple slices. Jiang Yanli taking out a napkin and wiping away crumbs on Jiang Cheng’s cheek.

Until, the brothers noticed two newcomers. These two new people were invading their territory. There was a suspicious boy.

“Peacock!” Wei Ying pointed at Jin Zixuan. “Flashy.”

“Peacock,” Jiang Cheng said in agreement.

Jin Zixuan was confused. Were they talking about him?

“Now, now,” Jiang Yanli said to her brothers. “He is Jin Zixuan. I’ve known him since we were little. Please be kind to him.”

“I don’t like his face!” Jiang Cheng claimed.

“Hi! I am Wei Ying!” Wei Ying introduced himself to Mianmian. Completely ignoring the Jin heir in favor of the freshman girl. 

“He is so cute!” Mianmian gushed. “I am Luo Qingyang, but you can call me Mianmian.”

Just like that, Mianmian was easily accepted into the club. Meanwhile Jin Zixuan was still being ignored by the brothers. 

The little boy from earlier interrupted Mianmian and Wei Ying. “Mine.” Lan Zhan grabbed a hold of Wei Ying’s hand. The little boy dragged Wei Ying away from Mianmian, towards some plushies.

“My little brother is very much attached to Wei Ying,” Lan Xichen commented with a fond smile. “Isn’t it cute?”

Holding a rattle-drum menacing in his little fist, was Jin Zixuan’s worst enemy, Jiang Cheng. Jiang Yanli’s much younger brother. The baby of the family.

“Why does he look so angry?” Jin Zixuan asked. The child looked at him like he was a threat. 

“A-Cheng can be a little grumpy,” Xichen explained to the newcomer. “He is very protective of his family.”

From what Jin Zixuan remembered, their parents weren’t too involved. Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan’s relationship was rocky. They were always away with their different businesses. Leaving Yanli with her little brothers. 

Since her parents were barely present, Jin Zixuan had to get the approval of Yanli’s brothers. 

“Jiang Cheng,” Jin Zixuan kneeled to the little boy’s level. Jiang Cheng’s eyes raised in suspicion. “I hope we can get along for your sister’s sake.”

BONK!

Jiang Cheng striked Jin Zixuan with the rattle drum! The older teen flinched in pain. “Ow!”

“A-Cheng!” Jiang Yanli scolded her little brother. “Why did you hit him? That wasn’t nice.”

“Cause I don’t like him!” Jiang Cheng answered in a huff. 

And that was the beginning of Jin Zixuan’s journey in the Babysitters’ Club. He left the club room with a bruise on his forehead and his shoes covered in Nie Huaisang’s vomit.

Chapter Text

Every weekday the children are taken to the daycare first thing in the morning. The first ones in the daycare room were Wen Qing and little Wen Ning. They help tidy up the room before the others would come and prepare for the infants to come. 

Their grandmother was the Daycare attendant. Granny Wen took care of the kids while their older siblings went to their classes. The Wen siblings have lived with Granny Wen since their parents passed away when Wen Ning was an infant. They have an older brother that sends them money at the beginning of every month. But they barely see him. Wen Ning forgets that he had another older sibling. 

With Wen Ning being sickly, Wen Qing takes care of all of his medical needs. Since being in charge of Wen Ning’s medical care, Wen Qing realized that she wants to go into medicine. She hopes to make enough money to take care of her family. 

The next to arrive was Nie Mingjue with little Huaisang, sleeping on his shoulder. It was only those two living together. Nie Mingjue was Huaisang’s guardian. The sleepy child was placed on one of the naptime mats. He was unaware that he was at daycare.

The Lan boys' uncle, Lan Qiren, was busy with a new case; so Lan Xichen got Lan Zhan ready by himself. He was used to it. With Lan Zhan having autism, he lives by routine. He gets up early at 5 in the morning. Lan Zhan was able to dress himself alone. In the kitchen, Xichen made breakfast for everyone, even their busy uncle. 

After breakfast was finished and Xichen helped Lan Zhan brush his teeth, they headed to school. 

“What have we talked about before?” Lan Xichen asked his brother.

Lan Zhan pouted his lips when he answered. “No biting A-Ying. He is a friend, not food.”

“Good boy,” Lan Xichen smiled at his brother. He wanted to hug him but reminded himself that Lan Zhan hated physical affection. “Have a good day at daycare. Please do not bite people.”

Lan Zhan was a biter. When he was little, he liked to bite his brother and uncle as a sign of affection. Xichen thought it was adorable. Until he started biting the cute boy in daycare that caught Lan Zhan’s eye. 

Unfortunately, Wei Ying had become complacent with Lan Zhan’s biting habit. There were many times that Xichen had to pull his brother off of Wei Ying. So many talks with Lan Zhan about boundaries. 

But so little success.

Instead, Lan Zhan tries to be discreet. 

Unlike Lan Xichen who had help from his guardian, Jiang Yanli did not have help with her little brothers. She still remembered how hard her mother’s pregnancy was with Jiang Cheng. Her father was barely any help. When Jiang Cheng was born, their mother went into a depression. Leaving Yanli to take care of Jiang Cheng by herself. 

Then her parents’ good friends passed away suddenly in an accident, leaving behind their toddler son. Her parents took the little boy in, but barely paid any attention to the struggling child. Yanli accepted Wei Ying into her little family that consisted of herself, Jiang Cheng, and then Wei Ying. 

Their parents were barely present but paid for their expenses and Yanli’s car. Yanli had become accustomed to being in charge of the household. When Yanli found out her high school had a daycare program, she enrolled her little brothers. Then, she joined the Babysitters’ Club. She made friends with her upperclassmen in that club. 

Yanli felt like she wasn’t alone in taking care of her sibling. 

The Jiang siblings arrived at the entrance to the daycare. The boys put their bags away in their cubbies and took their jackets off.

“Remember A-Xian, when Lan Zhan tries to bite you, stop him,” Jiang Yanli reminded her little brother.

“What if A-Zhan needs to bite something?” Wei Ying asked. “I must help A-Zhan. He is my best friend.”

“He can bite anything but you,” Jiang Cheng answered. “If he bites you again I’ll hit him.” And he meant it. He had fought Lan Zhan before after Jiang Cheng caught Lan Zhan biting Wei Ying’s cheek. Then Lan Zhan retaliated by fighting back and proclaiming that he will steal Wei Ying away from the Jiang family.

Since then, Lan Xichen has found his brother’s behavior a bit worrisome. He realized that his precious little brother views his best friend as an object he can own. 

“And A-Cheng,” Yanli sternly looked at her youngest brother, “no more hitting people with your toys.”

“Peacock started it!” Jiang Cheng claimed. “Must protect my family!” He said with passion in his voice. 

“Please protect the family with no violence A-Cheng,” Yanli said. “You too, Wei Ying.”

“Peacock is evil!” Wei Ying proclaimed. 

“Boys,” Yanli said sternly. 

In unison, the boys said, “Yes, jiejie.”

“Be good didis for me until I see you next,” Yanli said. “I have to talk to the Three Zuns.”

“Bye jiejie!” Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng waved as their sister left for her day at school. She immediately found two of the people she was looking for. 

“Senior Lan, Senior Nie,” Yanli greeted her seniors. 

“Did you talk to your brother about treating Wei Ying like a person?” Jiang Yanli asked Lan Xichen.

“As I do every week, but Lan Zhan is special,” Xichen excused. “He is still not grasping that Wei Ying is his own person besides his best friend. It’s kinda cute when Lan Zhan tries to take Wei Ying home with us.”

“It won’t be cute when I’m at your front yard asking for my brother back,” Jiang Yanli commented. 

“You act like I’m gonna take Wei Ying away from your family,” Lan Xichen commented. Yanli glared at her upperclassman.

A voice interrupted them. “But would you stop your own brother from kidnapping Yanli’s brother?” It was the student council president, Mengyao. He was holding a stack of fliers about his reelection campaign. Earlier that month he gave all the club members shirt order forms for adult and kid sizes, including infant sizes. 

Mengyao was serious with his reelection campaign. Almost as serious as a true politician. 

“Mengyao!” Lan Xichen gasped. Hurt that his friend would question his brotherly actions. “Do you truly think that I would allow my didi to commit crimes? All he does is read my uncle’s law books.”

“Eventually he will find loopholes to use against us,” Mengyao smiled. He would be happy to see that little one using the law against his family. 

It was finally time to ask him about the proposal Yanli has been working on. “Have you read over the club’s proposal? It would be costly but the children and future children would benefit from having a playground.” 

“And I don’t want to be the children’s jungle gym,” Nie Mingjue said with a grumpy face. Since he was the tallest member, the kids have decided that he would be their jungle gym where they would climb all over him. 

“I have,” Mengyao answered. “It will take awhile but I will get that playground built up and named after me. This will be the center for my reelection.”

For the rest of the school day Wen-popo was in charge of the little ones. But she would get a visitor that would stay to talk with the children. Occasionally her eldest son will visit Granny Wen at the daycare. Usually when Wen-popo asked her son to pick up something she forgot. He was an interesting uncle. 

His name was Wen Ruohan. 

And it was time for him to make his visit to the daycare. 

“A-jie says to not trust you,” Wen Ning muttered. 

“Whatever have I done to Wen Qing?” Wen Ruohan asked. “I try to be a good uncle.”

“She said you are a bad dad to my cousins,” Wen Ning answered.

“Your cousins are beyond help,” Wen Ruohan brutally said. “They are terrible children. They should aim to be like your sister. Instead, they go around being jerks and disrespecting everyone. 

“Wen Chao is a meanie!” Wei Ying exclaimed. 

“I always try to tell him how much of a disappointment he is,” Wen Ruohan said. “You all are much better individuals than my children.”

He was an interesting man. He also knew a majority of the children’s parents and guardians. But he seemed most interested in Lan Zhan’s uncle. 

“A-Zhan,” Wen Ruohan called out to the little boy, “how is your uncle?”

Lan Zhan honestly answered, “Uncle is busy. He locked himself in his room. Brother said he is working on a case.”

“Qiren is a big shot lawyer,” Wen Ruohan scoffed. “Yet too busy for his nephews. He always talked about how his family is important.”

“Wangji will be a lawyer,” Lan Zhan said, “and a samurai, and marry Wei Ying.” He was a simple boy that had simple dreams. He was going to become a lawyer just like his uncle. But he also will be a samurai and fight bad guys with a sword. What he wants to achieve first is to become Wei Ying’s husband. 

“What about you, Wei Ying?” Wen Ruohan asked. 

“I want to fly,” Wei Ying answered. 

“And you Jiang Cheng?” 

“I’m gonna be a chef like Chef Ramsay!” Jiang Cheng happily said. 

Since Yanli took care of him and Wei Ying, she would put on cooking shows for the boys to watch as she did homework. Jiang Cheng took a strong liking to the cooking shows, especially the ones with Gordon Ramsay. 

Wei Ying paid no attention to the TV. But he liked the colors and the occasional fire. 

“And Huaisang?”

“I’m gonna be a problem to society,” Huaisang happily answered. Wen Ruohan wasn’t surprised with that answer. 

“What about you Wen Ning?”

“I want to be a doctor.”

“Even my baby nephew strives for excellence instead of my ungrateful children,” Wen Ruohan complained. 

“Wen Chao got in time out for bringing bad books to school,” Nie Huaisang said to Wen Ruohan. 

Eventually, Wen Ruohan left home to go play his favorite video game, Sims. Wen-popo watched the children play together or by themselves. The infants were in a little playpen keeping themselves entertained. They get time to play with the older kids.

Surprisingly, Huaisang plays the most with the infants. He claimed that Mo Xuanyu was his favorite. He even puts baby Xuanyu in a play stroller and stoll the baby around the daycare. 

On one side of the room, Lan Zhan was building his own law firm with wooden blocks. Already he had two visitors. 

“We need to keep that Peacock away from jiejie!” Jiang Cheng explained to Lan Zhan.

“Peacock will steak jiejie away from us,” Wei Ying claimed. 

“Mn,” Lan Zhan looked down at his notebook with scribbles. “Is your jiejie in danger?”

“Yes!” Jiang Cheng said. “Peacock will try to take jiejie away with his shiny shoes and shiny watch. He lives in a fancy house up a hill.”

“Peacock has so many big cars,” Wei Ying piped in. “Jiejie will leave us to live with that Peacock! I don’t want jiejie to leave.”

“To keep the Peacock away, you need your parents to file a restraining order. We are minors. Only adults can fill them out.” Lan Zhan gave real legal advice. At an early age, Lan Qiren read his law textbooks as bedtime stories to Lan Zhan. He didn’t like children's books. The only other books Lan Qiren had were his law textbooks. 

“What’s a minor?” Wei Ying asked. 

It seemed like Lan Zhan’s law firm was successful. He had taken after his uncle. 

Wen Ning was attached to his Wen-popo. He would be found by his grandmother’s side. Wen Ning was her little helper in the daycare. He couldn’t play as much as the other kids due to his illnesses. But the other kids try to include him as much as possible. 

Then it was lunch time, usually their older siblings will join them in the daycare. During their lunch they got another visitor. 

An important visitor.

“Mengyao!” Nie Huaisang called out, with cheeks full of pudding.

“Children!” Mengyao greeted the children. “Mrs. Wen and my many siblings. I have heard my brother joined the club. How has he been?”

“Peacock is your brother?” Wei Ying asked outloud.

Mengyao nodded his head. In his arms was a cardboard box that looked heavy. “You mean Jin Zixuan? He is my brother.”

“I don’t like him,” Jiang Cheng pouted. “Peacock wants to steal my jiejie.”

Mengyao knew about his brother’s crush on Jiang Yanli. He enjoyed how jealous Jin Zixuan would get when Mengyao would talk about his group hangouts with the Babysitters’ Club. He had heard from Mingjue and Xichen about his brother joining the club. Mengyao found it amusing. 

“Try to be nice to my brother,” Mengyao said. 

“What’s in the box, Mengyao?” Wen-popo asked the teenage boy. 

“Glad you asked!” Mengyao smiled. “I got all of you shirts to wear for my campaign. My baby siblings even get campaign onesies. They are one-hundred percent cotton and have annoying tags. You all get shirts. So do your siblings!”

“Shirts!” The children cheered. After lunch the children cleaned their hands and picked out their own Mengyao campaign shirts with the help of Wen-popo, who also got a shirt. 

Towards the end of the day, the children did an arts and crafts activity with shaving cream, food coloring, cotton swabs, and paper. The children wrote letters, words, and little squiggles in the shaving cream. Wen-popo instructed the children to draws something in the shaving cream. 

The simple food coloring colors make new colors in the shaving cream. Once the children were happy with their creations, the children were instructed to lay paper over their drawings. Then they lifted their paper off the cream. Most of the food coloring cream was on the paper. With rulers, they wiped off the shaving cream from their paper, leaving behind a printing of their drawing in the cream with swirls of color surrounding it. 

The children were all amazed at their new works of art they created. They continued to repeat the steps to make more prints. Nie Huaisang made so many prints for his da-ga. Towards the end of the day, the students helped clean up their tables and put their prints on the drying rack. 

Once they were cleaned up, their siblings came back to the daycare to pick up their baby siblings. It wasn’t an afterschool meeting day. So the older siblings helped the children pack up to go home. The little ones excitedly told their older siblings about what they did in daycare that day. 

They even showed them the prints they made with Wen-popo. The two infants stayed in their playpen. They would be picked up later in the day. 

Lan Zhan grabbed Wei Ying’s hand and started to walk towards Lan Xichen. “Home.”

“You want to bring A-Ying back home?” Lan Xichen asked. 

“Mn,” Lan Zhan nodded his little head. “Take Wei Ying to Gusu.”

“A-Zhan,” Yanli interrupted. She has been through this talk many times before since Wei Ying befriended Lan Zhan. “I have to take him home with A-Cheng. You will still see him tomorrow, at the same time and place.” She reassured the little boy. 

Lan Zhan responded, “Wei Ying, mine.”

“I am Lan Zhan’s friend!” Wei Ying happily said. 

“A-Xian is needed back home. He cannot go to Gusu with you yet. A-Xian can go to Gusu with you once you two are big boys.” Yanli explained to Lan Zhan. 

It seemed like Lan Zhan understood. He let go of Wei Ying’s hand. “See you tomorrow.” The friends refused to say goodbye. Xichen and Yanli found it sweet. The two went their separate ways home. 

“Brother,” Lan Zhan said on the car ride home.

“What is it, Lan Zhan?” Xichen asked his brother.

“Wangji needs a big boy bed,” Lan Zhan said. 

“Big boy bed?”

“Big boy bed.”

Chapter Text

What a beautiful day it was at the park! It was a special park for the children. It was a fairytale themed park that had a castle, a dragon, a tower, and benches that looked like stained-glass windows. Even the fencing kept with the medieval theme. 

It was the new club members first club outing. Jin Zixuan and Mianmian met up after school with the Babysitters’ Club at a park. The club decided to celebrate the new members of the club. 

“We are here to congratulate Jin Zixuan and Luo Qingyang but go by Mianmian. Let us toast with our teas and Caprisuns!” The Vice President, Lan Xichen announced. 

Everyone rejoiced. 

The children scattered off around the playground.

“Aren’t you guys going to follow them?” Jin Zixuan raised concern.

Nie Mingjue said, “That’s crazy! They have too much energy to keep up with. They will be fine. This park has a fence.”  

Wen Qing spoke up. “They are like boomerangs. They will come back when they need something. The kids are good with entertaining themselves.”

“What if they get kidnapped?” Jin Zixuan brought up. Everyone laughed. Their own siblings, kidnappable? Huh! Hilarious.

“A-Ning has too many health issues to keep,” Wen Qing laughed.

“Huaisang will cry so loud he’ll make everyone’s ears bleed,” Nie Mingjue responded coolly. “He will be returned from how needy he is.”

“My brother will bite anyone to the point of drawing blood,” Lan Xichen commented, raising his left arm with a little scar. 

“And A-Cheng will use violence on strangers. A-Ying might be kidnappable but with A-Cheng and A-Zhan, he will be fine.” Yanli explained to Jin Zixuan. Wei Ying was the most likely to be kidnapped. He would go in anyones car. He is a sweet kid, but he is too nice to talk to strangers. 

“Has he ever been close to being kidnapped?” Jin Xizuan asked. 

Yanli took a second to think. “Yes, but A-Cheng screamed at the potential kidnapper and beat him up with an umbrella. This was when my dad was watching them.”

Jin Zixuan was seriously judging the Jiang family, only the adults. Jiang Fengmian did not realize that one of his children was being kidnapped and his toddler son was the one that saved his brother. 

Xichen pointed at an altar, where his brother was laying on. “Look! A-Zhan is doing fine.”

Zixuan didn’t know what to think. Was this child doing witchcraft? How can a toddler lay down on an altar looking bench with purpose?

“A-Zhan, what are you doing on that altar?” Xichen asked his brother. 

“Sacrificing,” Lan Zhan answered with his eyes closed. 

“What are you sacrificing?”

“Su She,” he answered. 

“That annoying guy? I’ve heard Mengyao complain about him.” Jin Zixuan said. 

“Why are you sacrificing Su She?” Lan Xichen asked his brother.

“For the wedding,” Lan Zhan answered in an even tone. 

All of a sudden, Wei Ying came up to the altar-bench. “ZhanZhan! There are rabbits. Come! Come!”

Immediately, Lan Zhan sat up. He got off the altar-bench and followed Wei Ying. The two children ran off in search of these rabbits that were in the park. 

“Stay inside the park!” Jin Zixuan yelled out to the children that were running. “I need to follow all of these children.” He made up his mind. As the most sensible (not really) one of this club, he has to watch all of these children. 

“If you are going to do that, take A-Yu,” Yanli strapped the infant to Jin Zixuan’s torso. His Xuanyu was wide awake and aware of everything that was going on. The baby was judging his brother’s craziness to follow all of these kids. But he did not want to be left out of the fun. 

The children were everywhere! Little Jiang Cheng threatened the Peacock with a stick(sword) on top of a castle. Wen Ning was in the shade, he found a little hole on the ground that he started putting random things in, claiming them to be potions. 

The senior members of the club were watching Jin Zixuan by the picnic tables. Nie Mingjue was laughing when Nie Huaisang was trying to ride Jin Zixuan like a pony.  

In the end, Jin Zixuan ended up semi-conscious, laying on the dragon’s head. On top of his chest was baby Mo Xuanyu, making little sounds. 

“Young master, this man needs to be healed,” Wen Ning alerted his friends. 

“A-Yu needs shade,” Huaisang covered the infant’s head with his hat. “This man needs to be healed. Dage! I need you to move them to the shade.”

Nie Mingjue did come to move the young master off the dragon and onto the shade. Jin Zixuan would feel embarrassed to have an upperclassman carry him so easily but he was too tired to care. 

“Your first lesson, only come to the children when called. Or else you will get tired out. Kids are good at entertaining themselves.” Nie Mingjue offered advice to the young master. 

Someone else came to his side. Jin Zixuan gazed to his right to see a beautiful face smile at him. “Have another juice. You can still dehydrate if you only drink water.” Yanli offered him another Capri-Sun. “Did A-Yu enjoy running around with your gege?” 

Mo Xuanyu slightly smiled and made gurgling sounds. 

Behind a bush, Jiang Cheng watched with jealousy as his jiejie was being nice to this Peacock. With a stick(sword) in his hand, he was preparing to launch his attack on the Peacock. 

“A-Cheng,” Wei Ying called out to his brother, “Jiejie said not to stab.” He now had a flower crown on top of his head. During Wei Ying’s rabbit chase with Lan Zhan, they stopped to make flower crowns for each other.

“He is Peacock,” Jiang Cheng said. “He must be hunted and we will give his shiny feathers(watch) to jiejie.” 

“Poaching endangered animals is illegal in the United States,” Lan Zhan chimed in. “ Hunting, killing or collecting wildlife that is listed as endangered by the IUCN and protected by law such as the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and international treaties such as CITES. ”

“Too many big words,” Jiang Cheng muttered. 

Eventually, the children were called back to their siblings. It was the end of their outing. Jin Zixuan arrived home, tired. He collapsed on his mother’s decorative couch that was covered in cheetah print. Those little legs were fast and his life was endangered by an angry child with a stick that he claimed was a sword. 

Chapter Text

Never underestimate a child. Especially one with autism. He was determined to become a big boy and marry Wei Ying. Being married meant that they could play whenever they wanted and no adult could stop them. 

“Where can Wangji get a big boy bed?” Lan Zhan asked his brother’s friend. He took a little walk down the street to the Nie’s house to ask this important question. 

In that house only two boys lived: Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang. Their lives were like a soap opera. Nie Mingjue lost his mother at a young age. His father remarried years later to a wonderful woman. Nie Mingjue loved his stepmother and so did his father. Years later they welcomed another baby that was named Huaisang. They were a happy family of four. Until tragedy struck again. At the age of sixteen, Nie Mingjue got the news during school that his father and stepmother died in a car crash. 

At sixteen, he had to plan his parents’ funeral, with the help of his father’s good friend Lan Qiren. Along with Lan Qiren’s help, Nie Mingjue became Huaisang’s legal guardian. He also inherited his parent’s house. It was paid off and with his inheritance Nie Mingjue was able to live comfortably with his little brother. 

The little Nie family was still watched over by Lan Qiren. Who would visit occasionally and have the boys come over once a week for dinner. Lan Qiren wasn’t the only family friend that would help out. Wen Ruohan would help occasionally by stopping by when he was in the neighborhood, dropping off toys that he thought Nie Huaisang would like, and more recently babysitting Nie Huaisang when Nie Mingjue was at practice. 

It was a recent development. Mingjue used to be able to take Huaisang to practice with him, but Huaisang has caused so much commotion that a new rule was instated. No children allowed at after school practice. 

So Nie Mingjue had to look for a sitter, which meant that he took up on Wen Ruohan’s babysitting offer. So when Nie Mingjue had practice, he handed Huaisang off to uncle Wen Ruohan. At Wen Ruohan’s house, he would have a lot of fun. Together, they would decorate Wen Ruohan’s Sims house and gossip together. 

Wen Ruohan would bribe Huaisang with sweets to give information about Lan Qiren. 

“The best place to get one would be IKEA,” Nie Mingjue answered. It was not the first time that Lan Zhan had come to his house to ask random things. He had come to the Nie’s before to ask about birthday gifts for Xichen. “It was where I got Huaisang’s new bed frame and matching dressers from. I still have a catalog you could use.”

Lan Zhan listened attentively. “What size should Wangji get?”

Nie Mingjue grabbed the discarded catalog and handed it to the little boy. “If you want something bigger than a twin, then get a full or a queen. If you want a really big bed then a king. But you are too small for a king.”

“What can fit two people for sleepovers?” Lan Zhan asked.

Nie Mingjue thought for a second. “A full size would be best if you want to have a sleepover. But remember to ask your uncle.” 

The child thanked his elder for his help and went back home. Back at his house, he sat on his little desk and started flipping through the catalog looking for beds. He skipped past the kids section and headed for beds that were meant for adults. 

He settled on a white full size bed that had a bed frame and a mattress. 

Lan Qiren never got rid of his habit of leaving his wallet by the front of the door. Only single men that lived alone would do that. Even after getting custody of his nephews, he never stopped doing it. Meaning that his young nephew was able to take the wallet and get his credit card.

During the occasional take out when Lan Qiren did not have the time to cook, he instructed Lan Xichen to take his credit card to pay for their dinner. Lan Zhan knew what the credit card looked like. So he took out his uncle’s credit card, wrote down the numbers on the front and the three numbers on the back. 

To be able to order the bed, he would need to call IKEA and talk with someone to order the bed. The problem was that Lan Zhan was obviously a child. With the help of Uncle Wen Ruohan, he got a script written down.  

“Uncle,” Lan Zhan got his uncle’s attention. “Wangji needs help. You must read this script for a play.”

Lan Qiren put down his paperwork. He grabbed the script his nephew had given him. “Goldy Locks and the Princess and the Pea, written by Uncle who?” He had never heard about his fairytale. By flipping through the script it looked to be an educational play. “Who wrote this script?”

“Uncle Wen did,” Lan Zhan answered honestly. It was Wen Ruohan that typed up the script. Earlier in the week, Uncle Wen went to visit his mother to drop off lunch for her(and for the Wen siblings. Wen Ning got a special meal that did not contain his allergens). He visited the children to see what they were up to. Then, Wen Ruohan was roped into helping Lan Zhan pull off his complicated scheme. 

So with the notes that Lan Zhan had given him, Wen Ruohan spent the next day ignoring his sons(as usual) to write an amazing script that had the necessary words needed to order a bed. 

Lan Qiren felt a headache hearing about that man and how he is close to his nephew. He knew that eventually he might cross paths when sending his youngest nephew to daycare. A daycare where his ex-boyfriend’s mother works at. However, he needed daycare with his busy schedule. And it was more convenient for Lan Xichen to take his brother with him to school and take him to the school daycare. Lan Qiren vowed to never step foot in that daycare in case he shows up. He had left pickups and drop offs on Xichen.

“Uncle, can I record you?” Lan Zhan brought his toy tape recorder. It surprisingly has good audio playback for a toy meant for children. “So Wangji can better memorize the lines.” His face kept a neutral face, to Lan Qiren it was the face of childhood innocence. 

So, Lan Qiren read through the script. He was no actor, he only read through the script in an even tone. No emotion could be heard in his voice. 

“I would like to make an order for Goldy Locks. A pretty white bed frame along with a mattress. With fluffy pillows that are full in size. Yes! I would like to pay in gold coins. You will be given a pretty card!”

Lan Zhan recorded all of what his uncle said. Along with the subtle mention of the numbers that make up his credit card and security code. 

“Please state your name,” Lan Zhan asked. 

“You know my name,” Lan Qiren said. 

“For the recording,” the little boy relented.

“Lan Qiren,” the uncle said. He was questioning what kind of play is being produced that talked so much about ordering beds and numbers. Is this a new requirement in the early childhood curriculum? 

With the audio recording in hand, the next day Lan Zhan got the landline phone. He waited for his uncle to be out of the house to order. He dialed the number on the catalog, played the audio whenever the operator asked something. 

Lan Zhan did some practice runs earlier. The operator could not tell that it was a tape recorder ordering. Everything went well. 

“The delivery will arrive in three to five business days,” the operator said. We require a signature when you receive the merchandise.”

“ Yes ,” Lan Zhan played back the audio. 

“Thank you,” the operator hung up. Lan Zhan put the phone away. He remembered that his uncle taught him that business days are the weekdays. The weekends do not count. He looked at the calendar. 

“Today is the 14th of September,” Lan Zhan said. “A Wednesday. The bed will come on the 19th, 20th, or the 21st. Next month is brother’s and Wei Ying’s birthdays.”

It was delivery day. Xichen was none the wiser. The IKEA truck drove up on the side of the street. To Lan Xichen it was obvious that his uncle ordered new furniture for the baby of the family. He signed off on the delivery. 

He looked so proud at his brother when he told the movers where to put the boxes. “He is making improvements with his socialization. I’ll tell the club about this.” Lan Xichen was close to tears. 

Everything went according to plan…until

At the end of the month, Lan Qiren got his credit card bill. There was an extra $350 charge from IKEA! How could this happen?!

“Lan Huan!” He shouted from his study. The teenager rushed into his uncle’s study. Worried that something serious happened.“Did you buy something recently with my credit card?

Tears came into brown eyes. “I did buy gifts for Mingjue and Mengyao with your card,” Lan Xichen admitted. “I have the money to pay you back! It was only $50 total. I’m sorry uncle!”

“From IKEA?!” Lan Qiren yelled. “That did not explain the $350 charge on my credit card. You have one minute to tell me the truth boy! Or else you will not see your friends for the rest of the month. You are only allowed to be at home, school, or your club meetings. No more sneaking off with those boys.”

“No,” Lan Xichen said. “I bought them clothing from the mall. I don’t go to IKEA. I promise! I bought them after school when I had Lan Zhan with me.”

The stressed out adult looked over the bill again. He saw the $49.37 charge from some store called Holistar. That was believable. Lan Qiren didn’t care about a measly $50. If it wasn’t him or his nephew, then this was a case of fraud. “Then this is the case of identity theft! This must be reported. I’ll sue whoever did this!”

At this moment, Lan Zhan got out of the bathroom. He had heard a lot of commotion coming from his uncle’s study. He decided to go inside when he heard identity theft. 

“ California Penal Code 530.5 PC defines the crime of identity theft as using someone's personal identifying information without their consent and using it for fraudulent purposes,” Lan Zhan stated when he entered inside the study. 

“Good job on memorizing the state's Penal Code,” Lan Qiren said as he took out his book of contacts. He was going to look for his contacts to see who he should contact first about this case of fraud. “Go back to your room Wangji. Uncle has to report a fraudulent charge on my credit card from IKEA.”

“It was Wangji,” Lan Zhan admitted. “Wangji used uncle’s credit card to buy a big boy bed. You don’t have to worry. Wangji did the work for you.”

Lan Qiren and Xichen looked gobsmacked in the face hearing this.

“There was a delivery from IKEA last week,” Lan Xichen remembered. “I thought uncle ordered something for Wangji’s room.”

“I never ordered anything recently!” Lan Qiren exclaimed. “Wangji, how did you manage to order a bed from IKEA? Show me this new bed!”

Little Lan Zhan proudly took his uncle and brother to his bedroom closet. With passionate eyes, he explained how he got the catalog from Nie Mingjue all the way to playing back his uncle’s voice recording to order the bed. Both Lan Qiren and Xichen were bewildered at the little boy. 

“Wangji,” Lan Qiren tried to contain his anger and confusion, “why did you decide to buy a bed from IKEA?”

Lan Zhan happily explained his sound reasoning. “Wangji needs a big boy bed. When Wei Ying comes to live with us. Wangji will be a big boy when Wangji marries Wei Ying. Then Wei Ying will stay and we can play forever.”

With a heavy sigh, Lan Qiren said, “Wangji, the Jiang’s little foster son, is not your husband. He is their child. You are also a child. You should not focus on becoming a big boy. Focus on being a child and your studies. Being a big boy does not mean stealing my credit card to buy bigger furniture. ”

“Uncle is right,” Lan Zhan said. At last, there was hope. He saw the error of his ways. “Wei Ying is not husband. Wei Ying is wife.”

All hope Lan Qiren thought he had of Lan Zhan having remorse was thrown out the window. 

It was safe to say that Lan Zhan was grounded for the first time in his little life. Lan Qiren had a hard time finding a punishment that could work on Lan Zhan. Staying indoors, he already does that. Removing access to the internet, he already is not allowed access to the internet. He couldn’t remove access to his books or friends. Lan Qiren wasn’t that mean.

“Wangji,” Lan Qiren called the child to his study. Xichen followed along to check up on his family. “I’ve decided on your punishment. Everyday, you will have to spend an hour outside.”

“Wangji does not want to go outside,” Lan Zhan answered. He pouted his lip. His elder brother felt sorry for the little guy. But if this behavior were to go on any longer, he could eventually set up an organized crime ring. 

Oh where did they go wrong with raising Lan Zhan?

“This is Wangji’s punishment,” Lan Qiren said. “You are not supposed to enjoy punishment. You are supposed to reflect on what you did wrong. Now you can go outside and get fresh air.

And so, Lan Zhan had to spend an hour every day outside. Eventually, Lan Qiren regretted this punishment for what Lan Zhan had done next. But that was a story for another day.

Chapter Text

It all started as another normal morning for the Jiang siblings. Yanli was the first to wake up. She got dressed and quickly did her hair. Next she went to her brothers’ room to wake them up. It was the weekend. So they had a more relaxed schedule since they didn’t have to rush getting ready for school and daycare.

“Morning father,” Yanli greeted her dad. They haven’t seen Jiang Fengmian the whole month. Her parents are usually gone a lot. Leaving the kids to take care of themselves. 

“Yanli,” Jiang Fengmian greeted his only daughter. “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing good,” Yanli said to her dad. “Boys, come greet dad.”

“Daddy!”

“Shushu!”

The boys happily acknowledge the man that is barely around. They went to hug the man’s legs. He lifted the boys, one on each arm of his.  

“It’s been awhile since I’ve seen my family,” Jiang Fengmian said, smiling at the boys.

Since he is keeping the children preoccupied, Yanli took this chance to cook breakfast in peace. She then reminded her father about something important.

“Please remember to set money aside so I can plan the boys’ birthdays. For their treats for their classmates, individual birthday dinners, and presents, I estimate that I would need $800 dollars for their birthdays.”

Jiang Fengmian’s face looked like he just remembered something important. “Happy early sixth birthday boys!”

“We are turning four!” Jiang Cheng corrected his father. 

“Four!” Wei Ying repeated.

“Oh right!” Fengmian corrected. He does not remember his son’s age. Yanli did her best to not have a judgemental look on her face. With her father finally home, Yanli took this chance to do the grocery run. 

The little brothers were on an important mission. To make sure that the Jiejie Stealer knew his place, they decided that they needed to have a serious talk with him, alone. So they planned to visit his house. With Jiang Fengmian finally home, it was easy to sneak out of the house for a bit. He did not notice the children heading to the pantry to stock up for a long road trip.

They got their juice boxes and Uncrustables ready for the road.

Jiang Cheng checked their battery-powered car. He heard his mom talking about the breaks. So he checked to make sure his breaks were working. The car was gifted to Yanli, it was originally a Barbie Jeep. But the relative didn’t realize that Yanli had a drivers license, or that she was no longer in elementary school. So it was given to the boys. The siblings worked together to decorate the little car. It had lightning bolts and clouds on one side (Jiang Cheng), on the other were lotus flowers (Wei Ying). 

The day before, Wei Ying worked hard during arts and crafts to make a license for Jiang Cheng. Wei Ying gathered their food for their long adventure to the enemy’s house. 

Jiang Cheng took out the sunglasses he stole from his father’s room. Back inside, Jiang Fengmian was wondering where his Aviator glasses went. Meanwhile, Wei Ying also took a pair of Yanli’s heart-shaped sunglasses. 

The boys rolled out. Wei Ying took out the map that he drew in class. They had to drive three long blocks away to the Peacock’s house. They have to pass Wen Ruohan’s house to get to the Jin’s house. According to Nie Huaisang, Uncle Wen Ruohan joined the PTO because he was bored. They only hoped that his sons weren’t visiting. 

“Wei Ying,” Jiang Cheng said out loud, “turn on the radio!”

“We are going down, down. In a merry-go-round! Sugar going down swinging!” Wei Ying started to sing out loud. He was singing a song he remembered playing on the radio in Yanli’s car. 

On their journey, they will pass by the Lan's house, then the Nie's house. Once they reached the Wen’s house, Nie Huaisang and Wen Ning were there. It looked like Uncle Wen Ruohan was babysitting. His definition of babysitting was sitting on a lawn chair in a fancy robe and sunglasses, with the kids playing in his yard. 

“Nie-xiong! Wen-xiong!” Jiang Cheng called out to the boys playing on the yard. “Hi Uncle Wen!”

“Where are you going?” Nie Huaisang asked the boys as they stopped their car. “Where is Yanli-jiejie?”

“Grocery shopping,” Jiang Cheng answered. 

“We are going to the Jins,” Wei Ying explained to his friends. “We are going to talk to the Jiejie Stealer.”

“You mean the shiny gege,” Nie Huaisang said. “He should be home with his mom. His mom kicked his dad out again this month. His mom is angry again.”

“What happened?” Wen Ning asked his friend.

“Maybe he did something bad again,” Nie Huaisang said. “Like he did last month.”

Wen Ruohan stood up to see what the children were talking about. He also wanted in on the neighborhood gossip.

“It’s not like he is homeless,” Wen Ruohan commented. “Jin Guangshan will be fine. He is like a cockroach.”

“The Peacock’s dad is a roach,” The children repeated.

“Where are you two heading?” Wen Ruohan asked. “You guys are a long way from home. Three blocks away from home.”

“We are here to talk to the Peacock!” Jiang Cheng proclaimed. “He needs to stay away from jiejie!”

“Yes!” Wei Ying said with a mouth full of his snack. 

The boys went on their merry way to the Jin’s house, which was right next to the Wen’s house. They arrived at the house known as the Peacock’s house. It was as shiny as he was. Even their fencing was shiny. Behind the fence was a pool! And a slide connected to the pool. The driveway had many cars. All very shiny, like they were new.  

“Jiejie Stealer!” Jiang Cheng yelled. His squeeky voiced could be heard everywhere. “Come out!”

“Peacock!” Wei Ying yelled. 

Within one minute, Jin Zixuan came out of his house. He swore he was hallucinating. But there they are! Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying in their Barbie motorized car that had flowers and lightning bolts painted over the pink plastic. 

“Huh? How do you know where I live?!” Jin Zixuan never thought he would feel threatened by two four year olds. No! They are soon to turn four! 

“None of your business! Stay away from Jiejie!” Jiang Cheng yelled.

“Jiejie is too good!” Wei Ying yelled. He took a sip from his juice box before continuing. “She doesn’t need a Peacock! She needs a prince. And we don’t like you!”

“Huh?” Jin Zixuan was dumbfounded at these children. “Why are you here threatening me? At my own home?!”

“Because we can.” After that, Jiang Cheng reversed his way back to the sidewalk. They drove back in the direction they came from. Before they left the Jin’s yard, Wei Ying took some flowers from the yard. 

“Uncle Wen!” The two boys greeted the local nosey uncle again. “We shovel talked the Peacock!” 

“Good job children,” Wen Ruohan sipped his tea. 

The children drove back to their home. Another three blocks back. They safely made it home, Jiang Fengmian didn’t realize that the children left. Wei Ying went to the arts and crafts box to find a suitable ribbon for the flowers. 

Jiang Cheng excitedly went to find his dad to tell him how he was being a good didi. “Daddy! I was good today!”

“A-Cheng!” Jiang Fengmian took the Aviators off of Jiang Cheng’s face. “I’ve been looking for those! They are expensive.” 

“But daddy-” Jiang Cheng was cut off by his dad again.

“Not now A-Cheng,” Jiang Fengmian dismissed his son. “Daddy still has work to be done.”

At this moment, Wei Ying arrived with one of the flowers he collected. “A-Cheng, we need water for this flower.” Wei Ying had a flower with a pink ribbon wrapped around it. Wei Ying recently learned how to tie bows by making rabbit ears. 

“Is that for me, Wei Ying?” Jiang Fengmian perked up.

“Shushu gets one, so does Auntie Yu,” Wei Ying said.

Feeling jealous, little A-Cheng decided that he needed to get Wei Ying away for a bit so he can get his father’s attention. So he walked outside to see Lan Zhan outside in his yard, kneeling on the ground. He was still grounded. 

“Hey!” Jiang Cheng called out. Lan Zhan glared at the boy that lived across the street. “Come get my brother! You can have him for the rest of the day!”

Lan Zhan instantly perked up. He stood up to get ready to cross the street to get Wei Ying. Lan Zhan looked both ways, when it was clear he crossed the street to the Jiang’s household. Jiang Cheng invited him inside. 

Wei Ying left Jiang Fengmian’s study. “A-Zhan!” Wei Ying cheered when he saw his best friend.

“Home,” was all Lan Zhan said as he grabbed Wei Ying’s hand and guided him out of the Jiang’s house towards the Lan’s house. Wei Ying did not even make a fuss. He followed willingly. He spent the rest of the day with Lan Zhan. They went inside the Lan’s house. Lan Zhan was done with his punishment. 

Inside, Lan Zhan showed Wei Ying around his house. They shared a snack. Played inside his bedroom with his toys. Only Wei Ying was allowed to touch his favorite stuffed bunnies. Then, Lan Zhan read a story to Wei Ying before they took a nap. 

When Lan Xichen went to check on Lan Zhan during his nap, he thought that Lan Zhan when to bed with one of his big bunny plushies in his arms. 

With Wei Ying out of the way, Jiang Cheng could finally spend time with his father. 

“Daddy,” Jiang Cheng called out again. 

“Not now,” Jiang Fengmian went back to his work. Like he did earlier when the boys escaped. 

“Hump!” Jiang Cheng stomped away from his dad’s study. His dad was finally home and he would not play with him. All he does is work. It didn’t look important. All he did was read and scribble things on paper. 

Stupid paperwork!

Suddenly, Jiang Cheng heard the door creaking open. He went to the door to see who came home. Probably jiejie. He couldn’t wait to tell jiejie how he was a good didi today.

Instead it wasn’t jiejie. 

“Mommy!” Jiang Cheng ran towards his mother. Yu Ziyuan was a tall woman with a sharp face. Jiang Cheng looked the most like his mother. 

She picked Jiang Cheng up in her arms. “A-Cheng, what are you doing?”

“Trying to play with daddy. But daddy said he busy.” Jiang Cheng pouted. His mother pinched his little cheeks as she walked inside the house. Jiang Cheng explained that Yanli was getting groceries and Wei Ying was on a playdate with Lan Zhan.

“That little boy is very precocious. Last I spoke with him, he was asking about the company’s legal department. That Lan Qiren should stop reading law books to that boy before he tries to do something with the law.” Yu Ziyuan said as she carried Jiang Cheng to his room. 

“Too late,” Jiang Cheng commented. Yu Ziyuan was surprised that the child that would hold Wei Ying’s hand when he was in new environments would get in trouble so soon.

Jiang Cheng then was taken to his room to play with his toys. He asked his mother to play with him. Yu Ziyuan hesitantly agreed to play with her son. 

“You know so much about cooking,” Yu Ziyuan complimented her son’s knowledge on cooking as he played on his play kitchen set. He was in the middle of cooking a risotto. 

Yanli came home with the groceries. She let everyone know that she arrived. Jiang Cheng left his room with his mom tailing him to greet his sister. Then, Jiang Fengmian came out to greet his daughter. 

Jiang Yanli was the first to notice that a little member of the family was missing. “Where is A-Ying?”

“Isn’t he here?”

“Isn’t he on a playdate?”

Jiang Cheng stayed quiet. 

Yu Ziyuan started questioning her husband. How can he not realize that one of the children was missing? This was just like the time when some competitor went to their house to use one of their kids for ransom! And it was A-Cheng that saved Wei Ying!

Jiang Fengmian had nothing to say besides that he was busy with paperwork. He had the kids on their own. Maybe he should have checked the children more?

“The Lans didn’t schedule a playdate,” Jiang Yanli commented as her parents were arguing. 

“What?” Yu Ziyuan questioned. “A-Cheng said he was on a playdate with that Lan boy. The little one that dresses like he is one of Lan Qiren’s paralegals.”

All eyes were on Jiang Cheng. He didn’t think this through. He only wanted Wei Ying to be away for a little bit to spend time with his dad. He forgot how to get Wei Ying back. With how Lan Zhan was with Wei Ying, it would be hard to get him back.

“Lan Zhan took A-Ying-” Jiang Cheng was cut off. His mother immediately went to ring their neighbors to ask about that Lan boy.

“Listen Lan Qiren! I need Wei Ying back in my house in one minute or else I will sue you, your nephews for false imprisonment and kidnapping charges.” She went outside to the front of the lawn, staring down at the white and blue house across the street.

“There is no extra child in my household,” said Lan Qiren after he comprehended the phone call. “I don’t have your ward inside my house.”

“A-Cheng said that your nephew took Wei Ying! You need to check his room to see where he took him. Lan Zhan better not have bitten him again!” She was ready to storm inside the house.

Lan Qiren went outside his office to walk down his hallway. He went inside Lan Zhan’s room quietly. He was down for his daily nap. “Lan Zhan is currently napping in his bed. Huh? Looks like he is holding one of his plushies in his bed. That actually looks so-AH! Wangji! Why do you have Wei Ying in your bed?!”

Lan Zhan was biting Wei Ying’s chubby cheek in his sleep. His sudden awakening caused him to bite Wei Ying harder, causing Wei Ying to cry. 

It was quite the scene at the Lan’s house. Yu Ziyuan angrily argues with Lan Qiren over what his nephew gets away with. Wei Ying in tears as Lan Zhan hugs and pats his head. Muttering little sowwies. 

After getting Wei Ying back and apologizing for disrupting the Lan family’s peace, they went back home to eat dinner. Yu Ziyuan was feeling like all the men around her were useless. Only the boys were good. When Wei Ying came back, he handed bouquets of flowers to her. During dinner, Jiang Fengmian was still useless. He couldn’t cook to save his own life. 

“Seasoning is off,” Jiang Cheng commented. He closely analyzed the beef served on his plate. “Meat wasn’t set.”

Jiang Fengmian was wondering why an almost four year old was critiquing his cooking harshly. “A-Cheng? What are you saying?”

“Daddy didn’t let the meat set after it was cooked,” Jiang Cheng commented. “You must let the meat set in seasonings when it cools down so it can soak in the flavoring.”

“...”

“You explained that very well A-Cheng,” Yu Ziyuan commented on her son’s culinary knowledge. Yanli and Wei Ying were chuckling. 

The next day, Jin Zixuan came to the daycare first thing in the morning. He could not sleep. The young heir went to bed in fear that the two children would come back to threaten him again. Maybe this time they will walk through the front door. His mother would most likely let the boys in. 

“Yesterday, these two kids came to my home to threaten me!” Jin Zixuan confronted the two boys. They looked at the Peacock like he was crazy. They didn’t threaten him, they were being good brothers the day before. 

Yanli already left the boys in the daycare. 

Most of the other children were ignoring the young heir. His best friend came up to him. “What’s up with you? You look like you got no sleep and are talking nonsense.”

“Not now Mianmian,” Jin Zixuan dismissed. “These two boys drove up my driveway, wearing Aviators and threatened me to stay away from Jiang Yanli. They even vandalized my yard!”

“Are you stressed out over that algebra test?” Mianmian asked her friend. “You sound stressed out and are imagining things.”

“No!” Jin Zixuan said. “I swear that these two kids drove to my house to threaten me to stay away from their sister. A-Cheng here was in the drivers’ seat wearing aviator glasses. Wei Ying wore heart-shaped sunglasses and called me a worthless Peacock.”

“Damn,” Mianmian shook her head. “You need a nap.”

The club vice president stepped in to diffuse the situation. “I think that Zixuan needs to take a nap with the infants. A-Yu is here. He might need a napping buddy since Qin Su isn’t here yet.” Lan Xichen guided the underclassman to the nap mats. 

Jin Zixuan started to believe that he might be seeing things. That was how Jin Zixuan ended up skipping the first period to nap with an infant.

“I’m not crazy,” Jin Zixuan said to himself. 

Mo Xuanyu looked into his eyes and smiled.

“A-Yu! You do believe in me,” Jin Zixuan found an ally in his infant half-brother. 

“A-Cheng, A-Ying, what did you two do yesterday?” Granny Wen asked the boys. 

“We’ve been good didis,” Wei Ying answered.

Chapter Text

The school’s student council president, Jin Mengyao, was up for reelection. Another year of his total takeover over the school and eventually the school district. He had posters all around the school grounds with his face plastered on them. He even has the daycare children wearing his campaign shirts. 

“Another day of being president,” Mengyao said out loud. 

“You have turned this into a personality trait,” Nie Mingjue commented to his friend. He was getting tired of seeing Mengyao’s face all over the school. Even the bathroom!

“It’s all for my reelection,” Mengyao exclaimed. “Now, for your next club meeting we need to have a surprise party for Xichen. He is turning eighteen. His birthday is technically next Saturday. But we can make a little party for next week’s meeting.”

Nie Mingjue agreed with his idea. There will be a birthday party for Lan Xichen. They began discussing the specifics of planning the birthday party and cake ideas. Most likely, they will get a cake that has a musical theme. 

As they were discussing these important topics, Lan Xichen was walking by after dropping off his brother and reminding him again to not bite his friends. He saw his two good friends talking amongst themselves. Lan Xichen could feel the friendship between them blossoming into something more. He would love to see his best friends become a couple. He just needed to push them in the right direction.

It must be up to him to set them up in the right direction. Oh, how naive he was. “Hello, what are you two up to?”

Mengyao calmly lied. “We were discussing my upcoming election. Don’t my posters look good?” All around the school were Mengyao’s posters with his face on them. There was a new face in the election. An underclassman named Su She. From what they knew, he was in Jiang Yanli’s grade, he was called an annoying try-hard, and insufferable. 

Apparently, he had a chip on his shoulder with little Lan Zhan. It wasn’t clear how this pettiness started. Apparently, the children went on a nature walk around the school grounds. Jiang Yanli took the students on a walk when they ran into Su She. He made some comments thinking Wei Ying was a little girl with his long hair up in two pigtails. Wei Ying corrected Su She, saying that he was a boy. 

Su She made some snide comments about Wei Ying’s hair being long and confusing. It was said by Nie Huaisang that Lan Zhan stepped forward, protecting Wei Ying. He made some choice words against Su She and threatened to sue him. Since then, Lan Zhan hated Su She.

No wonder Jiang Yanli spent time with her upperclassmen. Her year sucked. Who else was in her grade? 

Wen Chao.

“Handsome as ever A-Yao,” Xichen smiled at him.

“You are feeding his ego,” Mingjue commented. 

They went along with their day. The three friends shared a few classes together, one was US history. Their teacher was a piece of work. A true stick-up-their-ass. But they needed this class to graduate in the upcoming spring. 

Xichen, Mengyao, and Mingjue were happy to get this class during their spring semester. The class is very full during that semester with desperate seniors wanting to graduate early. They will get this credit out of the way. It was a blessing and a curse.

Suddenly, Mengyao got an evil idea. He will get rid of this pain in the ass teacher. So a new target to get rid of! Mengyao was ready for a new evil plot to remove this history teacher. 

Back home, Mengyao lived in an apartment building with his frail mother. A former dancer from the Bay area that had dreams of making it big. She got entangled with Jin Guangshan, a man with connections in the entertainment industry. Then she got pregnant, and her dreams were crushed. 

Now they were scraping by. Living in a cheap apartment and collecting child support payments for Mengyao’s schooling and needs. It would soon end by his upcoming birthday in February. But he was scheming his way into taking a huge portion of his father’s money. 

Meng Shi, his mother, went inside Mengyao’s room to give him some snacks. “A-Yao, remember to spare some time for a break.”

“Thank you mom,” Mengyao said to his mother. “I’m working on other things as well. Next week is Xichen’s birthday. So Dage and I are planning a surprise birthday party for him.”

Meng Shi smiled at her son. “You are such a thoughtful friend. I’m heading out tonight. I’m meeting up with one of my clients. Stay inside. If you need anything, Mrs. Wen is downstairs.” 

Mengyao knew that his mother became an escort to support themselves. “Let Sisi know where you go.”

His mother left for work. While he devised his plan. Then he remembered one thing about his history teacher, he was also a coach. He was the coach for the girls’ track and field team. He turned on his tangerine colored iMac 3G to go online to message some of the girls on the track team.

After DMing on MySpace is where he got his first breakthrough. Their coach was also a hardass at practice. He was also a misogynist. The track team sent him videos that they got with their phones in secret when they were being berated. 

After getting the tea, he saved these videos to his computer. He almost has enough evidence to file a report to the administration. But he needed something. Something to drive it to the heart. Something even more damning. 

The next day at school, he got something that would end this man’s career.

After school, he was walking around the school seeing if there was something he could use for his agenda against his teacher. It was the girls track meet. 

The star of the girls’ track and field team was freshman student Sha Hualing. She had potential. From what Mengyao has heard, she only moved to the area after her father lost custody of her. Her cousin, some ice cold businessman, had gained custody of her. She was an arrogant girl. But she was cunning and confident in her abilities. 

But the coach wasn’t impressed with her. 

Mengyao watched from the sidelines as the coach kept yelling at the girls. His wording was rude and not encouraging. 

Then the coach went to yell at Hualing. Who didn’t seem receptive to his rude wording. According to students from her class, she isn’t a fan of men. She started to talk back to the man. It looked like he was getting more angry when she talked back to him. The other track members looked uneasy.

Mengyao had a little camcorder recording the exchange from a distance. Then something happened that caused the other members to intervene. The coach started to angrily get closer to Sha Hualing. 

He had to intervene. “Coach!”

The man froze up then backed away. He turned around to see the face that is plastered all over the school, Mengyao. 

The track members seemed relieved that Mengyao’s sudden arrival broke the attention. The student council president approached the situation before him. 

“What do you think you are doing?” Mengyao asked with a stern face.

The coach fumbled with his words. “I-I had to-um…What are you doing here? It’s private practice.” 

“I’m doing my rounds here. I’m still the student council president. This isn’t appropriate behavior fitting for a teacher and coach of this school! Appropriate action is needed.”

The coach didn’t like that he was caught. “Everyone! Practice is over! Get out!” He angrily ran off. Leaving the track and field team behind with Mengyao. The team was thankful that Mengyao stepped in before things got physical. 

“This behavior isn’t good for the team,” Mengyao started off. “You all should report his behavior to the administration. If you have evidence or have recordings of his behavior, then you should show it to the principal.”

There was a huff from Sha Hualing. “Why should we?” The team turned over to look at her. “We are all just students here. Why would they listen to us? We complained before but it always gets turned away. Always excusing his behavior for being old-fashioned. Why would things change?”

“Because we have to,” Mengyao put on his presidential persona in front of the track team. “Because how else will there be no change? Being yelled at is not coaching. Trying to get physical is wrong. If he actually tried to touch any of you then it is a criminal offense. This behavior is also leaking into his teaching. He is obviously not fit to be teaching or coaching in this school or any school. If we all go to the principal’s office in the morning, then we can get him removed.”

Sha Hualing noticed that Mengyao had ulterior motives. But she liked these motives. The kind of motives that involved getting rid of men. “I’ll help if this doesn’t get mentioned to my cousin,” Sha Hualing said.

Some of the other members also muttered about not wanting their parents to know about the coach situation.

“Is there anyone you guys want to tell?” Mengyao asked. 

It seemed like Sha Hualing pondered for a moment before shaking her head. 

“Any staff here you want in the room?” Mengyao brought up. He was still a human being. He still wanted to make sure that the track and field team had an adult there to support them all.

Sha Hualing thought for a moment, “There is one sub here that I can stand.”

“The building sub! He has told the coach off a few times to defend us,” one of the other track members said out loud. 

“Oh yeah,” Sha Hualing said, “he is cool. I guess.”

The next morning, the two along with some of the track members went to the principal’s office. With the evidence that Mengyao and the track team have, the administration was agasted and knew that they had to take action before a lawsuit was at their door. 

It was supposed to be exam day. The students gathered in the classroom. Ready for another class period of hell. Instead of their usual hardass teacher, there was a sub. It was the sub that they had seen before, Mr. Shang. 

He is a young substitute teacher. He was a recent college graduate from Berkeley in English Literature with a minor in Chinese Language. It is rumored that he wanted to be an author. But he had bills to pay. So he got a substitute license and applied to be the school’s building substitute teacher. 

He was a young handsome man in his early twenties. He dresses in ill fitting clothing compared to the other teachers in the school.  

“Students,” he walked over to the board, he wrote Mr. Shang . “I have some unfortunate news to share. Your teacher won’t be returning…for the foreseeable future. So….I know you all are supposed to have an exam, which I don’t have anything for. So let us all watch a movie instead.”

The students were all shocked. What did he mean that their teacher isn’t returning? How did this happen? Something bad must have happened.

“What will happen with our class?” Nie Mingjue asked out loud.

“What about our exam and the rest of the curriculum?” Lan Xichen also asked.

Mengyao just smiled like there was nothing wrong.

Mr. Shang already was tired from the questioning. But he had to be an adult. “The school will look for a long-time sub to replace your old teacher. Until then, you will have me. I’m not qualified to teach history; so we are watching a movie.”

Mr. Shang got out the box TV and got the DVD player out. He goes through his bag to see what he had. He knew he had a DVD in his bag when he onced played a movie for the babies in the daycare.

“Oh well!” Mengyao smiled without a care in the world. “What movie are we watching?”

In the end, the students watched a movie released by Mattel, Barbie: Fairytopia. It was what Mr. Shang had with him. Surprisingly, the class enjoyed the movie. Even though most of them have not watched the first movie. 

It was Friday, meaning it was a club meeting day. After school, it was their scheduled weekly meeting. Earlier in the week, Nie Mingjue, emailed the underclassmen members about planning for the Vice President’s birthday party for their meeting. Since his birthday was the upcoming Saturday.

“Surprise!” All the members and the children yelled out when the seniors entered the daycare. “Happy Birthday Lan Xichen!”

Xichen was completely surprised. Even when his best friends were planning the whole thing right in front of him.

Earlier in the day, the other club members met up during their lunch to get the daycare room ready. They decorated the room with birthday decorations they made. The daycare kids even helped out with making them and getting the room ready. But they mostly played. 

But the children were excited for the birthday party. They even saw Granny Wen hiding treats away. 

Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan were the two that helped decorate the most. It was mostly because Mengyao messaged his brother that he could get him excused from a few classes if he was decorating the Daycare with Yanli. The elder might have threatened Zixuan with outing his feelings for Yanli. So Zixuan spent some extra time in the daycare with Yanli, with the brothers glaring at him the entire time. Both of the babies tried to be more useful than Zixuan. But they didn’t like that he was taller. 

Somehow, Jin Zixuan managed to bribe Lan Zhan with a bunny-shaped eraser to distract Wei Ying. So, he had Wei Ying off his back but Jiang Cheng was still scary. 

“Brother,” Lan Zhan pulled on his brother’s cardigan. “Wangji made card.” He handed his brother the card he made with construction paper and marker. 

Xichen gushed over his brother’s craftsmanship. It was adorable. “You guys. This is so sweet.”

Being the little blabbermouth he was, Nie Huaisang spoke up. “Brother and A-Yao planned your party! A-Yao was over to talk about cakes.”

Lan Xichen was surprised. His two best friends came together to plan his birthday party with the whole Babysitters’ Club and the children were all involved. 

The other members have given him small gifts that matched his interests. The children all gave him birthday cards. Xichen and his uncle will be going out of town for his birthday celebration. So they had to do his birthday party before he left.

“This is sweet that everyone pulled together,” Jin Zixuan said to Mianmian.

“It is,” Mianmian commented. “Wait! If Senior Lan and his uncle are going out of town, are they also taking A-Zhan?”

Jin Zixuan shoved his shoulders. He didn’t ask about it. 

While setting up the sweets, Jiang Yanli turned to speak to her juniors. “The Lan family celebrates their birthdays with a traditional tea ceremony. The closest place that holds private tea ceremonies is in Seattle. But they won’t be able to take A-Zhan.”

The next Monday, Jiang Yanli told the juniors what happened that weekend.

Extra: 

“Wangji wants to go with brother,” Lan Zhan pouted to his brother and uncle. The family was packed for a trip. Unfortunately, one of the members had a different location. 

“Wangji,” Lan Qiren sighed, “I told you, the places Xichen and I are going to don’t allow children. I tried finding one that allowed children, but you didn’t meet the age requirements. And yes, they will check your age.”

“But Wangji is a big boy.” Lan Zhan reminded his uncle.

Xichen felt bad that his brother could not come. It was unfortunate that he could not come along to Seattle to have a traditional tea ceremony and go to the symphony. “Instead, you are going to the Jiangs and can play with Wei Ying.”

Lan Qiren spoke ahead of time with the Jiangs about having Lan Zhan stay with them for a weekend. Yu Ziyuan agreed to have the little boy over for the weekend as long as the boy doesn’t try to threaten anyone with a lawsuit. Or bite anyone.

After Lan Qiren packed up the car, he headed over to the Jiang’s house with Lan Zhan who was carrying his little weekend bag. He said buy to Lan Zhan and told him that he will be back Sunday night for Lan Zhan. 

The weekend on Lan Zhan’s part was him hogging Wei Ying’s time. It didn’t help that Wei Ying let Lan Zhan share his bed. When Jiang Fengmian arrived home, he found the Lan’s youngest trying to bite Wei Ying’s round cheek.

“A-jie said no,” Wei Ying whined.

“Cheek round like bun…” Lan Zhan said as he was getting close to the boy’s cheek.

Suddenly, Jiang Fengmian interrupted the two. “Excuse me? Um….what is your name again?”

Lan Zhan looked up to see the adult man. He looked up with a bored expression. “Mrs. Yu isn’t home a lot but remembers Wangji’s name. But Wangji must be respectful to inlaws. Wei Ying will marry into the Lan family.”

Jiang Fengmian had a bewildered look in his eyes. When did his ward get engaged? “A-Ying…?”

Wei Ying smiled at his uncle. “A-Zhan and I are close.”

“But…” Jiang Fengmian didn’t know how to broach the topic. “Well, um… Boys…the thing is that…um. Both of you are…um…”

Somewhere in the back, Yu Ziyuan had appeared. She had a feeling about what Jiang Fengmian was going to say. She did not want to make the children cry, especially when one of the kids is Lan Qiren’s nephew. 

“That is fine,” Yu Ziyuan spoke up. “Jiang Fengmian, they are children.” She was glaring daggers at her husband. He was going to bring up sensitive topics in front of these two boys. There was no way that she was going to allow Fengmian say the same things she had heard his family and old generation say to those children.

“Wangji is big boy,” Lan Zhan pouted. He did not like that he was looked over. He would be a big boy and will show how he can be important to Wei Ying’s family. 

Yu Ziyuan ushered for the boys to go into the children’s room to play. Wei Ying took Lan Zhan by the hand and took him to his room to play. But mostly, Lan Zhan just wanted to hug Wei Ying. And so, Wei Ying let himself be hugged as he talked about random things. On the other side of the room, Jiang Cheng was glaring at the two. He didn’t like that he had to share his room with another child. It was made worse that it was Lan Zhan.

“Can’t you steal someone elses’ brother?” Jiang Cheng mumbled. 

“Wei Ying isn’t brother, he is wife,” Lan Zhan muttered back.

Jiang Cheng was confused. But he didn’t like that besides the Jiejie Stealer, there was another stealer that wanted Wei Ying.

Chapter Text

The dreaded Home Owners Association meetings. Better known as the HOA. Since everyone lived in the gated community, there were these boring meetings that involved talking endlessly about unimportant things. 

“None of these rules would hold up in a court of law,” commented Lan Qiren. Attendance wasn’t necessary, but Lan Qiren still showed up to the meetings. Partially to take notes for Nie Mingjue. Thankfully he doesn’t have to worry about running into Wen Ruohan. According to his neighbors, Wen Ruohan doesn’t attend and usually has someone else attend in place of him. 

Also at this meeting was Yu Ziyuan. 

She also found this meeting boring. “What is the deal between you and Wen Ruohan?” She asked during their current meeting. 

“?!”

“You make it a point to never be at the same place as him. You’ve never showed up to your nephews’ school for anything. Xichen does all pick ups and drop offs. It’s obvious that you avoid him.” Yu Ziyuan explained to her neighbor. 

Lan Qiren made some disgruntled noises. “Things have happened in the past. I prefer to not interact with the past.” He did not want anyone knowing about his past with Wen Ruohan. 

Yu Ziyuan nodded her head. “I’m pretty sure that my friend bribed the HOA to allow her to paint her fence gold. Because none of the colors allowed are gold.”

Lan Qiren nodded in agreement. “I heard her son Jin Zixuan joining the kid’s Babysitters’ Club. I never thought he would be the childcare type.”

“Me neither. It has to be because of A-Li.” 

Lan Qiren lightly laughed. The things young boys will do because of a crush. 

Back at the Lan’s house, a new plan was formed for the little resident of the house. 

After getting grounded, Lan Zhan has to spend at least an hour a day for his punishment. He did not like being outside exposed to the natural elements. While being outside, Lan Zhan decided that he needed to be productive. So he will start a business. Then he will earn the money needed to pay back his uncle. 

He read all about business law from his uncle’s textbooks. For his business, he will start out small. He will start with a little stand, then work his way to taking over the Law firms that his family owns. He will make uncle proud.

After getting some leftover boxes from his recycling bin, he got his brother to help him with spelling. Law Advice 5 cents. His business had its grand opening. He told his classmates about his business he was starting. 

Granny Wen said he was a brave young man starting a business. His business was giving cheap law advice. His uncle said he wasn’t old enough to take the Bar, so he was relegated to only giving law advice and pointing people in certain directions when needed. With some of his family in law, Lan Zhan had business cards to hand out. He had business cards for family law, divorce lawyers, environmental lawyers, discrimination lawyers, real estate lawyers, litigation lawyers, medical malpractice lawyers, and defense lawyers. He had to have connections.

He got all these business cards when he was brought along to a couple of the family’s law firms. 

He got his first case. The first one to need his law advice was Nie Huaisang. He came running towards his stand with tears in his eyes. Not unusual for him. He brought with him some spare change he found in his couch for this visit. 

“Wangji-xiong!” Nie Huaisang cried out. “I need a lawyer. I’m in big trouble. The high schoolers are saying I’m slandering them! I asked da-ge what is slander and he said it will get me in trouble with the law. Am I going to jail?”

He put his spare change in the rabbit-shaped bank Lan Zhan had on his stand. 

Slander. 

“Slander is hard to prove in a court of law. What kind of slander are you supposedly speaking of?” Lan Zhan professionally asked his first client. 

“I-I was out in the hall with A-Yu. I was pushing his stroller. Then I overheard some girls talking about Su She. How he was weird and trying to run in a campaign. Then I talked to them. Like how Su She was mean to Wei-xiong. Su She’s family is losing money because his dad lost his money. That he stares a lot at president Mengyao. Then suddenly, Su She popped out of nowhere. He was angry. Saying that he will sue me for slander! Claiming that I’m speaking lies about him. So I pushed A-Yu’s stroller back to the Daycare. Am I going to jail? Will my brother be angry at me?” Tears streamed down his face like a waterfall. 

That name again, Su She. The biggest annoyance of them all. Lan Zhan was unfortunately familiar with that teenage boy. He had caught Su She spying on his brother and his friends. Whenever his brother takes him out to town to get better at social activities, more like an excuse to see Mingjue and Mengyao, he would see him creeping around. 

Lan Zhan had brought it up, but the teenagers didn't take him seriously. Even when Su She was running away when caught. 

Back to his case, Nie Huaisang was right about what he said. Su She was mean to Wei Ying. Many people could say that. Su She’s family had some ties to the real estate side of the Lan’s family business. Lan Zhan has overheard his uncle talking to someone about the Su family’s fraudulent dealings. It’s likely that Su She’s family is going through a financial crisis. And it was obvious that he was creepy. 

“There shouldn’t be anything to be worried about,” Lan Zhan reassured his first client. “You said nothing that could not be proven. You spoke from real observations. Su She would not have a good case against you.”

Nie Huaisang was happy he didn’t have a real lawsuit. Meaning his brother won’t be angry at him. He thanked Lan Zhan.

Then Huaisang turn walked back to his own home. Where Nie Mingjue was removing some weeds. 

Nie Huaisang happily told his brother that he wasn’t going to be sued. That he got law advice. His brother asked him why he thought he was going to be sued. Then, the two brothers went inside their home. Nie Huaisang explained his exchange with the annoying Su She and his threats. 

Lan Zhan saw that he had a productive day. He took out his little notebook and crayon to write down about his recent case. If he was going to do this for a long time, then he would probably hire someone for bookkeeping. Maybe he will get paralegals to do simple things for him like his uncle has at work. 

Later, Lan Zhan packed away his cardboard desk. He also took his bank and notebook back inside his room. Eventually, Lan Qiren came back from the HOA meeting. Meaning that it will be dinner time for the little family. It was Lan Qiren that was in charge of dinner with Lan Xichen helping out. Lan Zhan sometimes is allowed to help with supervision. 

“How was the punishment today Wangji?” Lan Qiren asked before serving dinner. 

“Productive,” Lan Zhan said. “A small business giving law advice was established today. There was one client today that came with a question about slander. Next, advertisements need to be done to spread the word about Wangji’s business.”

“...” Since when was his nephew a businessman? 

“Wangji has the money to start paying you back for the big boy bed. Then Wangji will prove that Wangji is a big boy. That will take over the Law Firms one day.” Lan Zhan happily said to his uncle. He was ready to prove that he was a big boy. Soon, his uncle will see that he was a big boy that will have big boy responsibilities. 

“Wangji,” Lan Qiren started. 

“Uncle,” Lan Xichen interrupted his uncle, “please remember that Wangji is not like other children. He’s special. He processes things differently.”

“I need to call a malpractice lawyer!” Lan Qiren declared out loud at the dining table.

“Mn, Wangji has a contact.” He handed his uncle a business card. 

Lan Qiren gave his nephew a questioning look as he took the card. Dinner was another quiet affair as usual. With the family eating their bland vegetarian meal. Lan Zhan eating off of a baby set of bowls and utensils. He had to use training-chopsticks.

That night, he was ringing up his malpractice lawyer and insurance asking about the possible ramification of having a toddler give law advice and referring specific lawyers. Both contacts were stunned and didn’t have a clear answer to tell Lan Qiren.

After all of his calling, Lan Qiren went over to Lan Xichen’s room. Xichen’s room was painted cornflower blue. He had instruments around his bedroom. He was a talented musician. Decorating his walls were neatly framed photos with friends, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan’s artwork, and the few family photos he had back when he still had his parents. 

“We need to borrow the Jiang’s child to help us with Wangji. He must help us in Wangji’s behavior.” Lan Qiren said to his nephew.

“You want to borrow Wei Ying?” Xichen said.

“He is who Wangji truly listens to. He is Wangji’s best friend. They verbal stim together. We need to get Wei Ying to help talk to Wangji about his big boy pursuits. It’s a matter of time before he tries to take the Baby Bar Exam.” 

Lan Xichen nodded his head. “He might actually try.”

Suddenly, Lan Zhan, dressed in his pjs and carrying a law textbook about criminal law, walked inside Lan Xichen’s room. “Uncle, will you read?”

Lan Zhan was taken to his bedroom to read a bedtime story that was about criminal law. While his uncle was reading from the textbook, Lan Xichen took out his phone to text Yanli on her about borrowing Wei Ying.

Yanli: No! You are not borrowing my brother because you are worried about your own. 

Xichen: PLZ!!!!!! We need help. Wangji listens to Wei Ying. 

Yanli: Your brother talked about how your family used to partake in bridal kidnappings. Wangji said that he will recreate that tradition with Wei Ying by taking him from his home and taking him to Gusu. Last I checked, that’s in China!

Xichen: Uncle was telling him about the family history. How about this! I can watch your brothers so you can hang out with some friends. Maybe watch a movie at Jin Zixuan’s house. I heard he’s got a theater in his big house. 

Yanli: Why are you suggesting this? You think you can bribe me with a night out so you can use my little brother? I’m perfectly content with rewatching VHS tapes of Disney films and live theater with my brothers. You have DVDs to watch movies with. I know you watch DVD movies.

Xichen: I can lend you my DVD of Underworld……….

Yanli: Alright. Hand me the movie. Remember to not give too much sugar to the boys. And they like musicals.

And so, that was how Jin Zixuan had a random movie night with Jiang Yanli, Mianmian, and Wen Qing. During school, Yanli randomly came up to Jin Zixuan during lunch. Mianmian was sitting with him. Yanli asked if she could watch a movie at his place since he had a DVD player.

“You can also bring Mianmian to watch,” Yanli smiled at Mianmian.

“What movie?” Mianmian asked.

“It’s called Underworld , it was released two years ago. It’s a dark movie that involves vampires and werewolf-like creatures called Lycans. It has a lot of dark vibes.” Yanli explained. “I think Wen Qing hasn’t seen it yet. She also likes these kinds of films with dark atmospheres.”

“Yes!” Mianmian said. “The young master here has this theater in his basement. There is even a popcorn machine and a soda fountain. What a spoiled heir!”

“Hey!” Jin Zixuan said. So he had Yanli, Mianmian, and Wen Qing over at his house, watching a movie that he didn’t know contained horror. He was the type to flinch when he saw blood on screen. The girls were enjoying watching the movie on the big screen.

He ended up holding onto Yanli during the duration of the movie. Yanli thought Jin Zixuan was adorable. He was using her arm to shield his eyes. 

At the Lan’s house, Xichen had two extra children in the house. They all were watching his favorite childhood movie, Labyrinth . 

“If you bad, then your sister will sacrifice you to the Goblin King,” Lan Zhan said to Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying. “The King sings songs and wears sparkly clothing.”

“Jiejie wouldn’t do that!” Jiang Cheng glared at Lan Zhan.

“But he sings fun songs! I like his hair!” Wei Ying said with sparkling eyes. He knows this is what he wanted to look like as a grown-up. 

Chapter Text

When did everything start going downhill? Well, maybe since her parents got married. She knew that they were arranged to be married long ago back in the 80s. They were set up by their respective families. They even went to business school together. 

But at an early age Yanli realized that her parents’ marriage was an arranged marriage, not a love marriage. She remembered her parents’ best friends, Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren, were very much in love and spent a lot of time together. Yanli would get souvenirs like magnets, stuffed animals, pins, patches, and even shot glasses from each of their travels. All of those gifts she kept on a special shelf in her room.

At one point she saw Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren more often than her own parents.

Yanli was her parents’ attempt to have a male heir to run the family company. Instead, they had Yanli. A girl. Already, Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan were disappointed with not having a boy. They never said it outright but she could feel their disappointment. She even heard some unkind comments from her distant relatives.

For years, Yanli watched as her parents were content with living their separate lives as a married couple. Yanli was alright being alone. She had nannies and the housekeeper to keep her company inside the house. Occasionally, she would play with the neighborhood children. There were only boys in her neighborhood. Whenever she wanted to do something girly, she went to Madam Jin for some guidance. She taught Yanli about skincare and how to do her hair.

“I don’t care what your mother says,” Madam Jin says with a glass of wine on one hand and a bottle of toner in the other, “good genes only go far. You need to have a skincare routine. Sunscreen is very important.

With her freetime and unlimited TV and internet access, she got into cooking. She experimented with cooking and baking with her housekeeper supervising her. Yanli could almost see her life mimicking Matilda , a movie she saw on the ABC Family channel.

But things changed. In middle school, her parents announced that they were going to have a baby. Her parents didn’t seem too excited. Her parents continued to work as usual. Yanli took it upon herself to prepare her baby sibling's room. With a personal shopper, she painted and decorated her future brother’s room. 

Yanli got a look at how rough pregnancy was. She remembered how miserable her mother was. Apparently, her second pregnancy was harsher than her first with Yanli. Whenever Yanli wasn’t in school, Yanli would take it upon herself to take care of her mother when she was on bedrest. Occasionally, Yu Ziyuan’s friends would visit and help out around the house.

Jiang Fengmian wasn’t around too much. He comes around once a week and then leaves for a meeting or a conference. 

It was Yanli and aunt Cangse Sanren that were by Yu Ziyuan’s side when she gave birth to Jiang Cheng. Cangse Sanren was less than a week postpartum but she kept by her old friend’s side. Much to the staff’s annoyance of Cangse Sanren’s return.

The delivery wasn’t smooth. Eventually, Yu Ziyuan had to be rushed for an emergency C-section. Yanli was in the waiting room with uncle Wei Changze and newborn Wei Ying. Yanli can still remember holding baby Wei Ying in her arms as she watched her uncle pace around the hall with his phone. Calling her dad to tell him to get over there. That Yu Ziyuan needed him. 

But he didn’t come to the hospital until nightfall. Baby Jiang Cheng was already in the nursery and Yu Ziyuan was in recovery from the c-section. Yanli was the only one that happily greeted her father while the other adults looked at Jiang Fengmian with disdain. And baby Wei Ying was soundly asleep in his mother’s arms.

After Yu Ziyuan was discharged from the hospital, it was clear that she was suffering from PPD.  Yanli would come home from school to her mother still in bed and very despondent. Barely anything would get her attention. Not even Jiang Cheng’s cries. 

After school, Yanli would be the one to take care of Jiang Cheng. Before his birth, Yanli went to her neighbor’s house, the Lans. Lan Qiren sometimes takes care of his nephew. Earlier in the year he had another nephew that was born. She went over to his house when he was home to ask him how to take care of a baby. Lan Qiren showed Yanli and Lan Xichen how to take care of babies. He taught the two how to make a bottle, how to change a baby’s diaper, how to burp a baby, how to swaddle a baby, and how to hold a baby. All with baby Lan Zhan as the example.

Yanli remembered all her lessons with Uncle Qiren. She was able to take care of Jiang Cheng well. He was still a restless baby. At one point, Yanli dragged the bassinet from her parents’ room into her own room.

This continued on. 

Yu Ziyuan returned to work after recovering from her surgery scars. Work distracted her somewhat from her depression. 

Yanli should have felt all alone. But she didn’t, instead she had her new companion, Jiang Cheng. Her grumpy baby brother that she could play with and dress up. On a part outing with Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue, she learned that the private high school had a daycare where they could watch their baby siblings. 

Yanli went to her parents and told them about the daycare. They agreed to send Jiang Cheng to daycare when he was old enough to cut down on childcare costs. And the daycare was close to Yanli’s school.

Time went on as usual. Then there were a few tragedies that came to the neighborhood. First, Lan Xichen and his baby brother went to stay with their uncle for good. The boys’ mother got very sick and passed away. After her passing, their father sent the boys to their uncle’s house for an unknown amount of time. When the Lan boys were settled in with their uncle, their father took his own life.

Lan Xichen was fourteen while his baby brother was barely a year old. 

Yanli remembered attending the funeral with her parents. She remembered the adults talking about how sad it was that the man, nicknamed Qingheng-Jun, had given up soon after his wife had passed away. Making the funeral a double funeral for the married couple. Lan Xichen had a pale face during the entire funeral, holding his baby brother while his uncle took care of everything. 

“Do you know why I was always at my uncle’s house?” Xichen asked Yanli. They were in a semi-secluded area from the funeral. His friends Mingjue and Mengyao were there to support Xichen.

Yanli shook her head. During childhood, Xichen would frequently be sent to his uncle’s house. 

“My parents separated early in my life. Mom didn’t want to get married, but she had me. But she was unhappy. After my parents separated, I was sent to my uncle’s house where my parents would exchange me. But usually I would spend lots of time with him while my parents were out living their own lives without me. Sometimes I wouldn’t see my parents for weeks. 

“I feel bad for my uncle. Besides being a lawyer, he has to take care of me. I’m not even his son. A few years ago, my parents reconnected. Then they announced to me and my uncle that they got back together and were going to renew their vows. I remember how happy my mom was when she got to wear a pantsuit at her wedding instead of an itchy dress. My family was finally whole. Then A-Zhan came along. Everything was good…until mom got sick…” Xichen tailed off. 

Yanli and the rest of Xichen’s friends stood by his side to support him. Xichen and A-Zhan permanently moved into the neighborhood for good. 

The next tragedy happened the following year, it started out as a normal weekend. The Wei family moved nearby to be close to friends when Wei Ying was born. One day, the Wei family asked Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan if they could watch Wei Ying for the night so they could go out on a date. 

The Jiangs did, but the baby responsibilities ended up on Yanli. She played movies on the TV and played with the boys. But Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng were good at entertaining each other. 

The next day, Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren didn’t come back. All Yanli was able to get from her parents was that there was a serious accident. Her aunt and uncle did what they could to help others. In the end, they succumbed to their serious injuries. 

Wei Ying joined the Jiang’s household. 

During the Weis’ funeral, Wei Ying met his best friend. During this time, Lan Zhan was displaying early signs of autism. 

“A-Zhan, we are going to a place where people are going to be sad. There will be a lot of crying people. There is a boy your age that lost his family. Be good to him. His name is Wei Ying.” Lan Qiren explained to his nephew. He was a quiet child. He rarely looked at anyone that was speaking to him. He had trouble responding to his name. 

The funeral was very chaotic for the young Lan Zhan. People were everywhere, making noises with their mouths. Lots of sobbing. What was overwhelming were the other children at the funeral. There was a whiny child that cried at everything, his name was Nie Huaisang. Another child that was angry at everything and complained with loud sounds, his name was Jiang Cheng. The last child that was slightly loud but kind was Wei Ying. The child that lost his parents. 

Lan Zhan found him the most irritating. 

Slowly, Lan Zhan found himself getting overstimulated from everything going on. He escaped from his uncle and brother and went exploring around the funeral home to find an empty room. He found a room, but it was occupied by little Wei Ying. He was crying quietly. He didn’t notice that Lan Zhan had come inside the room. 

Lan Zhan wasn’t sure what to do when someone was crying. He decided to mimic what his brother does. He raised his hand and started to pat Wei Ying’s head. “Sad…”

Wei Ying’s lip stops quivering. “Wa! XianXian sad…”

Lan Zhan sat next to Wei Ying. Watching the little boy shed tears. Something in Lan Zhan’s brain made him feel sad for the boy and want to keep the boy safe.

Later on that day, Yanli remembered the adults finding the two boys. Lan Zhan tried to take Wei Ying with him. His uncle said that he couldn’t take Wei Ying with him. This made Lan Zhan upset. And Xichen tried to ask Yanli if he could borrow Wei Ying for a while to keep Lan Zhan happy. Yanli refused.

Another child was added into the neighborhood and in the Jiang household. Leaving Yanli with another brother to raise.

The next year another tragedy struck the neighborhood. Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang lost their parents in a car accident that killed Nie Mingjue’s dad and stepmom. Leaving him to care for his toddler brother on his own.

“This neighborhood has a lot of tragedy,” Yanli commented to Mianmian during lunch. 

“Almost everyone in the club does not have parents or present parents,” Mianmian commented. “Am I the outlier?”

Jin Zixuan felt like he was left out. “My parents are still around.”

“Your dad is out in the world spreading his seed. You have so many half-siblings out there. And your mom is out drinking wine and shopping her problems away.” Mianmian pointed out to her best friend. 

Jin Zixuan was quiet. 

Was this club cursed?

Or does it attract people that are cursed?

Chapter Text

Before everyone knew it, it was the middle of the first semester. Meaning that Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming. Usually held on Thursday evenings for some reason. 

Mr. Shang was filling in the history teacher’s classes. He decided for the Ancient World History class to be more focused on analyzing surviving ancient texts, making presentations on how the students interpret these texts and how they can apply to the modern day. 

Every prep period he would look up state standards and wing his lessons. He still hates that the school hasn’t found someone that is qualified to teach. 

“Class, remember that conferences are this upcoming Thursday,” Shang Qinghua said to his class. “I’ll be talking to your parent-slash-guardians about any concerns they have. And they probably do have concerns since he-who-shall-not-be-named had resigned.”

“The school fired him for being a dick!” Sha Hualing yelled out. She was a student in Mr. Shang’s Ancient World History class. 

“Please use appropriate language in the classroom,” Mr. Shang commented. He maintained a stern tone with his voice when dealing with this kind of language. “Any questions?”

Class went on as usual. Jiang Yanli was also in the class with Sha Hualing. That day, she spoke to Yanli. “You are with that babysitting club with the daycare kids? Do the kids also have conferences?” Hualing asked. She wondered if the kids also had to partake in these conferences. They are toddlers and babies. What is there to report?

“Granny Wen, the lady that runs the daycare and childcare classes, does have a section in conferences where the kids' parents and-or guardians can ask how the kids are doing. But most of the kids are being taken care of by their older siblings. So they know how the little ones are doing.” Yanli explained to the curious classmate. 

It was well known that there was a daycare in the school. All students have seen the kids at least once while at school. Sometimes it is Nie Huaisang strolling the babies around in a toy stroller, spreading gossip to anyone that wanted to pinch his cheeks. Or when Lan Xichen sneaks out his little brother to a few classes and Lan Zhan tells people about their rights. Or when Yanli would volunteer with Wen Qing with taking the children out on nature walks (they get out of gym class for volunteering). 

There was even that one time that Wei Ying got stuck on a tree. So many of the tall students had to help with getting him down. Wei Ying was alright, he found it fun. But Lan Zhan wasn’t. He stayed on the ground waiting for Wei Ying to come down. He may have shed a few tears. 

At last it was conference time. 

The conferences were being held at the school. Teachers were in their classrooms or in one of the form rooms. By the entrance were rows of tables where clubs were occupying. Showing off what they do at school. One of the clubs there was the Babysitters’ Club. Jiang Yanli, Jin Zixuan, and Mianmian were at a booth that they decorated. Behind them were some of the children from the daycare in a playpen.

“Where is shushu and yiyi?” Wei Ying asked. He was inside the playpen with Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning.

“They won’t come,” Jiang Cheng huffed as he played with the toys Yanli brought. “Granny Wen told jiejie everything about us.”

“Why does A-Yu get out of the cage?” Wei Ying asked the teenagers. 

Mo Xuanyu was being held in a baby carrier by Jin Zixuan. 

“Because A-Yu won’t wander off,” Zixuan said to Wei Ying.

“A-Yu can’t walk!” Wei Ying said.

Exactly , was what Jin Zixuan thought. The late afternoon was boring yet eventful. First adult to show up was Lan Qiren……..in a disguise. He thought he was being sneaky. Wearing a dark trench coat, hat, and sunglasses. The three teenagers could tell it was Lan Qiren. Two of them grew up seeing him in the neighborhood.

“Is that the Lans’ uncle?” Mianmian asked. She knew that Lan Xichen and Lan Zhan were being raised by their uncle. “He looks like an old worn out version of Senior Lan wearing shady clothing in daylight.”

Yanli awkwardly laughed. “Let us pretend that Lan Shushu is fooling everyone.” Her underclassmen followed her word. Let Lan Qiren think he is undercover. Who is he undercover from? Maybe he has a case where he had to be undercover?

Who knew that lawyers had to also be masters of disguise?

But his cover was slightly blown. Xichen was around. He was also a part of the school band, he played the oboe for the band. He was gifted in music. He can play many musical instruments. He liked wind instruments the best.

With Xichen around, so was Lan Zhan. He took Lan Zhan with him to show him the piano. He only pressed a few keys. Lan Zhan jolted when he didn’t like what he heard. “Brother, play.” Lan Zhan demanded for his brother to play a song that sounded good.

Lan Xichen indulged his brother’s request. His fellow bandmates looked at him with judgemental faces. Not at the child, no. But at how Xichen overly coddles his brother. “He’s special.”

“We know that you’ve been borrowing Jiang Yanli’s brother to play with A-Zhan.” One of the band kids commented.

“Wei Ying is mine.” Lan Zhan said to the band kid. He looked at the teenaged band kid with a look that could be described as judgemental.

The band was stunned. They were fearful of what this child with autism will become. 

“Uncle,” Lan Zhan pointed out in the crowd of adults. He pointed out his uncle in the crowd. Lan Qiren felt like he was being called out. His baby nephew knew it was him, so what did he do?

Run.

Granny Wen had some parents talk to her. First, was Lan Qiren. Came to the conference room in a dark trench coat and sunglasses. 

“Xichen is a good VP for the club and excellent with the children. But he is overly indulgent with Lan Zhan. Currently, Lan Zhan believes everything he does is right and that he can eventually keep Wei Ying. Speaking of Lan Zhan, he is a good kid in the daycare. He has been teaching the other kids about the law during playtime.” Granny Wen showed Lan Qiren pictures of Lan Zhan in daycare. His face throughout the photos was blank. With some hints of emotions when he is with Wei Ying.

“What has he been teaching the kids?” Lan Qiren was unsure of what his nephew was talking about during daycare. 

“He talked to the Jiang siblings about restraining orders. It was kinda funny. Then he talked to Nie Huaisang about slander. Recently, my grandson was taught about medical malpractice and was offered a business card for a malpractice lawyer.” Granny Wen explained with a smile and a slight laugh in her voice.

Lan Qiren had no laughter. 

After he left, Nie Mingjue came to Granny Wen’s room to talk about his brother. While Lan Qiren was leaving, he saw a familiar figure in the hallway. Someone that he has been avoiding for almost twenty years. 

Wen Ruohan. He was standing around with Nie Huaisang thrown over his shoulder. It looked like he was the designated babysitter for the moment. The adult and child were conversing. Wen Ruohan was actively listening to what the child had to say.

It was a sweet sight that would have moved Lan Qiren.

But he was an adult!

So he scurried away. He found the music room. So Lan Qiren went to talk with Xichen’s music teacher. There he learned the teacher was fond of Xichen, but terrified of Lan Zhan.

Nie Mingjue was in his basketball uniform. The team had practice during the conferences. Convenient so the school can show off their athletics to the adults. To see where their money goes.

“Granny Wen,” Nie Mingjue greeted the older woman. “Has my brother been a pain?”

The older woman laughed at her student. “Your brother is a sweet kid. He helps out with the infants along with A-Ning. A-Sang likes to put the babies in strollers and stroll them around the daycare and in the hallways. He is pretty good with his fine motor skills. He can draw in the lines of coloring pages.”

Nie Mingjue was happy that his brother was keeping out of trouble.

“But, Nie Huaisang has been causing trouble outside the daycare.” Granny Wen added.

“What?” That is when Nie Mingjue was made fully aware that his little brother has caused some highschool students' reputation to be tarnished. And that a teenager by the name Su She was almost serious about suing Nie Huaisang. 

After getting out of the conference, Nie Mingjue found his brother. He was with trusted adult Wen Ruohan. Then he grabbed Huaisang, then took him to the daycare booth. The three underclassmen looked confused as he placed Nie Huaisang in the playpen.

“Dage!” Huaisang screeched. “What are you doing?!” Tears were forming.

“Discipline. You stay here. You are in time-out.” That was all he said as he left for practice. Nie Huaisang was crying with his friends watching him cry.

Next for conferences was Wen Ruohan.

“Mother,” Wen Ruohan strutted inside the room. “I’m here to discuss my niece and nephew.”

“Aren’t you supposed to see your sons’ teachers?” The mother asked her adult son.

“Same thing every year. They are awful. I know.” Wen Ruohan grabbed a chair and went to sit down. “How is A-Qing doing in her classes? And A-Ning? How is he doing in daycare? I deserve to hear about how they are doing. I pay both of their tuition.”

The mother sighed. He was right. Wen Ruohan has been secretly paying for Wen Qing’s tuition along with Wen Ning’s daycare fees. Even though they got a discount for Granny Wen being a staff member, the discount was small. All Wen Qing knew was that she had a scholarship to attend school. 

“Wen Qing is currently with the Medical Club,” Granny Wen said. “She is excelling academically. Top of her class. She is in honor classes and in the National Honors Society and the Babysitters’ Club. A-Qing is always keeping busy. And she keeps helping with A-Ning’s medical treatments. A-Ning has trouble keeping up with the kids during playtime or physical activity. He cannot run too long or else he will have an asthma attack. But the other kids are great with him. They make sure to include A-Ning.”

“Ah! My niece and nephew are doing so well!” Wen Ruohan smiled. Then his face twisted to a different face. “Now, what about my beloved A-Ren? Was he here? I wish to see him.”

“Son, it’s been almost two decades.” The mother reminded her son. She was there when the two had to part ways.

“I've been divorced for many years now. My kids are almost out of the house,” Wen Ruohan complained.

“He also has A-Zhan to take care of now. He is only four now.” Granny Wen reminded him.

“I don’t mind. A-Zhan is a nice child. I don’t mind being a responsible uncle. I’ve been doing that with A-Qing and A-Ning. But I really disliked Qiren’s brother. Couldn’t handle his wife’s death, so he left all responsibility to A-Ren. A coward.” Wen Ruohan spoke freely. 

Granny Wen felt exasperated by her son. He soon left to gossip with the other moms. Next was Jin Zixuan’s mother. 

His mother was a decent woman. She wanted to know how her son was doing in the club he recently joined. “He gets along with the infants. Nie Huaisang likes your son because he has shiny accessories. But the Jiang brothers don’t get along with him.”

Madam Jin laughed. “How cute. Jealous children protecting their sister. You have to tell me, is my son dating A-Li?” Her curious eyes pried for information.

“I don’t pry into my students’ relationships or potential relationships,” Granny Wen commented to the curious mother.

Outside of the classrooms, clubs were meeting with parents. Showing off their well crafted poster boards. Telling the adults what their clubs have to offer to the school and the community. 

“We help take care of the future students of the school and adhere to the states’ early childhood standards,” Mianmian explained to a parent that passed by the booth to ask why there were toddlers with them.

“We do community activities like going on field trips with the children,” Yanli explained. “Most members are in the club because they have an interest in working with children in the future. We learn how to organize activities that are geared towards children’s interests and how to teach them new things in an age-appropriate manner.”

Meanwhile, the seniors were doing their best with their other clubs. Wen Qing borrowed her brother to demonstrate how to properly do the heimlich maneuver to toddlers. With Wen Ning making small medical commentary. He won over the hearts of the adults.

The music department did not like Lan Xichen bringing in his brother. Because the child was giving law advice to the parents. Eventually, the music teacher was worried that he might be committing some sort of crime with how he filed his taxes. 

Mengyao was in the area, promoting his run for presidency. “What is the matter?”

“Xichen brought Wangji, and Wangji is trying to bite our fingers off!” 

Xichen was so calm as Lan Zhan was biting his arm with cute aggression. “This is how Wangji shows his affection. Through biting the people he wants to bond with.”

“Dude! You have scars!”

“Maybe it is Wangji’s naptime.” Mengyao said as he picked up Lan Zhan. Suddenly, he was entrusted in handling this bitter-of-a-child. He took Lan Zhan out of the music room. 

As he was walking in the hallways with Lan Zhan, he was close to the daycare room. Someone else walked out of the room. It was a young girl that looked close to his age. Why was she coming out of the daycare room?

“You look familiar?” Mengyao said out loud. He cannot pinpoint where he had seen her before. “I’ve never seen you at the Babysitter’s Club outings. Do you have a class with Granny Wen? Wait…. I know where I’ve seen you.”

The girl tensed up. She looked uneasy. Or maybe it was because she looked pretty frail. Her skin looks dry. She had some dark circles underneath her eyes. 

“You were a student here,” Mengyao put together. “You were in a few school plays. Your surname is Mo.”

“I-I was just here to ask about Mo Xuanyu…” the girl said quietly.

Lan Zhan spoke up, which was rare. “Sister of A-Yu?” He said, staring at the girl with his big eyes. 

“No,” she said, with a faint smile. Her face looked like she was worn down. “I’m A-Yu’s mommy.”

Mengyao’s eyes widened. “Mother? B-But you are a grade below me. You are Mo Xuanyu’s mother.”

The girl had an embarrassed face. Like she was getting in trouble for something. Her face was flushed. Her frail hands pulled her coat on tightly. “Yeah. I am his mom. I have to go. Mrs. Wen will return A-Yu home. It was good seeing you, Mengyao.”

She walked away slowly. Like her movement was limited. In her schoolplays she was able to dance and move around a stage. It seemed like her movement was restricted. She did not look well.

“Let’s get you back to the playpen,” Mengyao said seriously to Lan Zhan. The child was staring at the rainbow painted on the wall. He was unaware of the conversation Mengyao had with Mo Xuanyu’s mother. Who was younger than Mengyao. “I have some people to talk to. For once I need to talk to the adults.”

In one of the classrooms, the building substitute was barely surviving his conferences. He had to deliver each conference with a compliment sandwich. Start out with something positive, explain where the student is struggling with or needs work on, then end the conversation with a compliment. Same thing again and again. 

He looked up at his clipboard of the names he had a meeting with. 

“Next I got Sha Hualing’s uncle,” Shang Qinghua said out loud to himself. “Yeah, she is under her uncle’s custody. I wonder what her uncle is like.”

It was time for his next appointment, which was Sha Hualing’s uncle. The door opened right on time. In came the most attractive man Shang Qinghua had ever seen in his life. He had a cold face and an aura that could repeal anyone that got too close to proximity to him. 

“You are the substitute for Hualing’s World History class,” the uncle said. He had a cold sounding voice. But it made Shang Qinghua swoon. “You can call me Mobei-Jun. You are Mr. Shang?”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the substitute did his best to sound like a professional adult. Not like a lovestruck idiot. “Hualing is a good student. She has a creative mind. She always turns in her work on time and it is always the highest quality.”

“Hualing spoke highly of you,” Mobei-Jun said with a surprised look on his face. “You have to be the only male teacher that has good things to say about Hualing.”

“Hualing is a fierce girl. But she stands up for others. Once she told a girl that interrupted class to stop talking and to let me get through the lesson. Another time she told a senior boy in the hallways to stop pressuring a freshman girl. Sure she has a temper and a mouth, but her heart is in the right place.” Shang Qinghua spoke his mind about his student. 

Mobei-Jun smiled slightly at what Shang Qinghua said about his niece. He thought to himself that he could get along with this building substitute teacher. 

Meanwhile, two unexpected parents managed to arrive at the conferences. 

“Mom? Dad?” Yanli’s eyes widened when she saw her parents’ figures. “What are you two doing here?”

“Mommy! Daddy!” Jiang Cheng shouted from inside the playpen. 

“A-Yi! Shushu! They here!” Wei Ying cheered in excitement. 

Yu Ziyuan took in the surroundings. She saw the familiar faces of Yanli’s friends and classmates. Next to her, her husband looked lost. 

“There wasn’t much to do at work today. So I thought I could come over to the conferences. I saw that there were a few time slots available. So your father and I came.” Yu Ziyuan explained to Yanli. 

While Yanli was in the middle of conversing with her parents, Mengyao arrived. He quietly placed Lan Zhan in the playpen with the other children. Wei Ying immediately was distracted by the arrival of his best friend in the whole world. 

“Pssh!” Mengyao tapped his younger brother’s shoulder. “Need to ask you some things. Family things.”

Jin Zixuan nodded his head. He told Yanli and Mianmian that he will be back soon. With A-Yao still strapped to his torso, he went with Mengyao to an empty hallway to talk. 

“Zixuan, I remember that there was a student here that was in all of the school plays and that looked to be signing with father’s talent agency. Her surname was Mo.” Mengyao spoke with such seriousness. 

“Oh yeah,” Jin Zixuan remembered something. “I remember that she was one of dad’s new talents. She was in a few shows dad was producing. She used to be by the house frequently. But she disappeared. What is going on? Is she going back to school?”

“I saw her earlier,” Mengyao said. He didn’t want to let his younger brother know about the deprived things their shared father does. Especially if it is true. “She didn’t look too well. She looks sickly.”

“Oh no,” Jin Zixuan’s face faltered. “That is awful. Is she possibly related to A-Yu here?”

Mengyao kept his face cool.

“Like his sister?” Jin Zixuan said while looking at Mo Xuanyu’s face. For some reason the baby had a profound look on his face. Mengyao thought that Mo Xuanyu knew what was going on. But he was a baby.

“Who takes him to and from daycare?” Mengyao asked his brother.

“Usually Granny Wen,” Jin Zixuan said. “I believe that A-Yu’s family lives in the same apartment building as the Wens.”

Mengyao’s straight eyebrows flared up in surprise. “I live in the same building. I’ve never seen A-Yu or his family.”

Jin Zixuan lightly laughed as he played with A-Yu’s little pigtail. “We all live in a small world.”

“Thank you brother,” Mengyao genuinely said. “You and A-Yu can go back to Yanli and your future in-laws.” The elder brother had a mischievous smile. Jin Zixuan blushed and tried to downplay what his brother said. 

In the building, the Jiang’s were at their first conference with Granny Wen.

“We can talk about all three of your children,” Granny Wen said as she got out some files to present to the Jiangs. “Let’s go from oldest to youngest. Yanli is a great student in her Foundations in Childhood Education class. She is involved with the Babysitter’s Club that I supervise. With the seniors graduating by the end of the school year, she will most likely be elected as a Club Officer. She gets along with everyone. She is great with daycare children. She is an all around good kid.”

“That is good to hear,” Yu Zixuan was proud of her daughter.

“She gets that from her dad,” Jiang Fengmian said. 

“Next is Wei Ying,” Granny Wen said. “He is a sweet child that gets along with everyone. He is improving with his ADHD.”

“Wei Ying has ADHD?” Jiang Fengmian questioned. 

“He was diagnosed during the summer,” Yu Ziyuan said to her husband.

“He is a child,” Jiang Fengmian said. “He seems normal.”

“Wei Ying doesn’t stay still for long. He gets distracted easily. And he makes random sounds occasionally.” Yu Ziyuan explained to her husband in front of Granny Wen. 

“That is just how Wei Ying is,” Jiang Fengmian said dismissively. “He doesn’t need a diagnosis when he is so small.”

“You thought he was turning six last month,” Yu Ziyuan pointed out.

“Let us continue,” Granny Wen kept the parents on track. “Wei Ying is doing well at daycare. He is learning how to read in English and Mandarin. He loves doing hands-on activities. Especially arts and crafts.” Granny Wen handed the adults a marker drawing Wei Ying made. “At daycare we had the children draw their family.”

In the drawing there was Wei Ying with his red bow. There were two individuals next to him, one was Jiang Cheng who was colored purple. Then there was a boy colored with light blue, definitely Lan Zhan. There were other figures in the drawing with the boys. One was colored with Pink and had two buns in her hair, Yanli. 

“Who are the other figures?” Jiang Fengmian asked. “I don’t see myself in his drawing.”

Granny Wen looked over the drawing. She pointed out the people in Wei Ying’s drawing. “The pink person is Yanli. Purple is A-Cheng. Light blue is Lan Zhan. The dark blue people are Lan Xichen and his uncle. Dark green is Nie Mingjue holding Huaisang. The gold people are Jin Zixuan and Mengyao. I believe the small beans are Mo Xuanyu and Qin Su, they are the infants in the daycare. I think you both are in the little picture frame in the corner of the page.”

“All those teenagers are allowed in his drawing but not me?” Jiang Fengmian said with teary eyes. “Who is in red? I know it is not me.”

“Oh! I missed my son.”

“Even Wen Ruohan is in his drawing!”

Next was Jiang Cheng. Jiang Fengmian had high hopes to be in Jiang Cheng’s artwork. 

“Jiang Cheng is a nice child. He keeps his friends close to him. He is very protective of his siblings. A-Cheng easily holds grudges at a young age.” Granny went started off.

“How so?” Jiang Fengmian asked.

“He doesn’t get along with Lan Zhan. He thinks Lan Zhan will steal his brother away.” Granny Wen brought up.

“The kid has taken Wei Ying out of the house!” Yu Ziyuan said. “He has every right to not trust the boy. And the Lans, especially his brother, always makes excuses for his little brother.”

“A-Cheng doesn’t like one of the club’s newest members, Jin Zixuan.”

“The Jin’s son,” Yu Ziyuan lightly chuckled. She could understand why.

“Jin Zixuan is in the club?” Jiang Fengmian was very out of touch.

Finally, Jiang Cheng’s family drawing was brought up. It had way less people in the picture. It was only three stick drawings with colored accessories that distinguished them apart. The stickfigure with the buns and pink ribbons was Yanli. The stickfigure with the red bow was Wei Ying. Next to him was Jiang Cheng himself with a purple shirt. 

The stick figures were at a lake. There was a boat. And a lot of purple lightning. 

“It is just A-Cheng, Wei Ying, and Yanli,” Yu Ziyuan said with a solemn look on her face. 

“Where am I?” Jiang Fengmian asked out loud. So oblivious to the real problem. That they were not in the children’s drawings because they are not present enough as parents. But it seemed like Yu Ziyuan understood the hidden message. 

That was the end of the first conference. Next was a conference with Yanli’s substitute teacher for her Ancient World History class.

The parents were surprised that the substitute for the class was a young man that looked like he just got out of college recently. 

“Nice to meet you,” Mr. Shang introduced himself. “I am the building substitute teacher. I have been teaching Ancient World History and some other classes until the school finds someone to take over the classes permanently. I am Shang Qinghua, I graduated from Berkeley.”

“What did you study in Berkeley?” Yu Ziyuan asked first.

“I studied English Literature with a minor in Chinese Language,” Shang Qinghua answered. 

“An English major teaching history?” Jiang Fengmian questioned. “Do you understand the content enough to teach?”

“I studied a lot of historical literature. The students are currently studying Ancient China. We have moved onto the Zhou Dynasty.” Shang Qinghua answered. 

“That is enough questioning people’s credentials. Let us move on to Yanli.” Yu Ziyuan brought up her daughter. 

“Yanli! Yes!” Shang Qinghua was glad to be moving on. “Great student in this class. She gets along with everyone no matter the grade level. Every student wants to be friends with her. From all the other classes I have subbed for, she is great.”

“Of course Yanli is the best,” Jiang Fengmian said with a smile.

“Both of your sons are great too,” Shang Qinghua said. “I have subbed at the daycare too. A-Cheng and A-Ying are good kids.”

“Does everyone know about the boys?” Yu Ziyuan innocently asked.

“The daycare leaves an impression on everyone that comes into contact with them. I think the daycare started off for staff to have their kids watched over. Now it is where the little siblings of high school students drop off their siblings.” Shang Qinghua said.

The Jiangs were done for the day. They had a lot to think about. Especially with their relationship with their two youngest. They went back to the club booths to find Yanli and the boys. 

“We finished with the last conference,” Yu Ziyuan said. “We can take you all home.”

Yanli looked at them puzzled. “I don’t think we all can fit with the car seats. I can follow you both home.”

The two boys were excited to head home. They cheered out loud. Jiang Cheng was the most excited to get out of the cramped playpen.

Chapter Text

It was a terrible day for Nie Huaisang. His dage had a cold! 

Huaisang cried in his brother’s bed. Holding onto him, asking for him to get better. Meanwhile, Nie Mingjue was just tired from hearing his brother cry. He was congested and had a weighted object (child) on top of him. 

He could take care of himself just fine. But he wanted to get his crying brother away from his sick self. Just because Mingjue was ill doesn’t mean that his brother gets to stay home too. It would be the easy way out. 

So, Mingjue texted his friend Xichen. 

Dage: I’m sick. Can you take A-Sang to daycare today? He is being whiney today. 

Being the good friend he was, Xichen went over to his house to pick up the crying Nie Huaisang. Lan Qiren even packed an extra lunch for little Nie Huaisang and promised that he will visit Mingjue during lunch. 

“No!” Huaisang cried out loud. “I take care of da-ge! Da-ge needs me!” The small child applied a wet rag to his brother’s face, not on the forehead, the face. Huaisang was ready to make his brother a breakfast of cookies and popcorn once he reached the microwave.

Lan Xichen was amused with Nie Huaisang’s determination to take care of his older brother. But he was still a baby. “A-Sang, your dage will be fine. He doesn’t want you to get sick too. I got my uncle to watch over him.”

“But I can take care of dage!” Nie Huaisang cried out. His little hands were holding onto his big brother’s blanket. 

Eventually, Nie Mingjue kicked out Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen from his bedroom. Leaving Huaisang in tears. The boy cried during breakfast and on the way to school.

It was an interesting car ride to school. 

“Why is Huaisang crying?” Lan Zhan asked his brother from the car seat. He was getting annoyed from hearing the other boy’s whimpers and cries. 

“Dage angry and sick,” Nie Huaisang whimpered. “Dage don’t like me!”

Lan Xichen did his best to comfort the crying child while he was driving. “Dage loves you still. He wants you to be safe and healthy.”

“Then A-Sang be with dage,” Huaisang cried from his car seat. “Dage needs me!”

Lan Zhan was not pleased with his ride to school. During drop off, Xichen went over to Granny Wen to explain why Nie Huaisang was crying and Mingjue was sick. Nie Huaisang collapsed on the playmat next to the infants. 

As more children came to the daycare, Lan Zhan waited for his favorite person to arrive. At last Wei Ying arrived at the daycare. Immediately, Lan Zhan walked over to Wei Ying. Once he was close enough, Lan Zhan grabbed Wei Ying’s arm and chomped.

“Waaaahhh!” Wei Ying yelped as he felt Lan Zhan’s baby teeth dig into his skin. 

Granny Wen and Lan Xichen immediately went over to get Lan Zhan off Wei Ying’s arm. 

“Wangji!” Lan Xichen talked with his brother. “Why did you bite your friend?”

“Needed to bite, Wei Ying looks yummy,” Lan Zhan replied. He made grabby hand motions towards his crying friend. Wei Ying hugged Granny Wen. He was afraid that Lan Zhan would bite him again.

Nie Huaisang watched from the playmat as everyone else coddled over the other children instead of him. 

“A-Yu,” Huaisang hiccuped, “I miss my dage!”

The infant Mo Xuanyu made a gurgling sound at his older friend. As if he was trying to comfort his friend.

Eventually, Lan Zhan apologized for biting Wei Ying. Somehow Lan Zhan was easily forgiven. The two children went back to playing with wooden blocks as usual. Lan Zhan wanted to play litigation this time. 

Lan Xichen hesitantly left the daycare to head to his own classes. As he was leaving, the student council president arrived after hearing that Nie Mingjue was home sick. Mengyao wanted to see how the whiny child was doing.

Mengyao peered into the daycare to see Nie Huaisang on the floor with Mo Xuanyu. Such a pathetic looking toddler that missed his dage. That day, Mengyao was feeling generous. With nothing much to do, besides preparing for a board meeting to get more funding, Mengyao decided he wanted to be helpful.

“Poor Huaisang,” Mengyao said as he wiped away the child’s tears. “Missing your dage.”

Still on the mat, Huaisang nodded his head. His lower lip quivering. “Dage…”

Mengyao looked over to Granny Wen, “I can watch over him. I got a free period. Huaisang might need some one-on-one time.”

Granny Wen fell for this kind act of Mengyao. “How sweet of you.”

Mengyao grabbed Huaisang and carried him out of the daycare. His little head perched on Mengyao’s shoulder. He watched as the colorful door to the daycare faded away. “I know you miss your dage. It’s okay. Let us head to my office. I have a few of your dage’s things there.”

The student council president took the crying child to his so-called office. Which was an extra storeroom that Mengyao blackmailed a few admins into letting him have. He had a Mac computer, the latest model, an old desk, a table with mismatched chairs. All around his walls were his various campaign posters, random teaching motivational posters, a calendar with dates placed around the month of October, and photos of Mengyao with Mingjue and Xichen.

Mengyao’s office was actually his evil lair. Where he makes his evil plans and hangs out with his friends.

“Now, be a good child as I work on my speech tonight,” Mengyao said to Huaisang. He handed him a few pieces of copy paper and a box of washable markers. “I promised Yanli and my friends that I will get you children a proper playground. All you kids use your dage as a jungle gym because he is so climbable.” 

The little child pouted his cheeks. “Only I can climb my dage!” Huaisang whined to Mengyao. “I know you and Xichen-ge like my dage too. I don’t want to share dage.”

Mengyao raised his eyebrow as he took a seat in his office chair. “You are an observant child. I do like your brother and Xichen as well. You sure know everything about everyone.”

Huaisang started to draw flowers and birds on his blank sheet of paper. “The birdies tell me everything. Because I’m cute. At the park, the birdies talk about your dad. The one that Peacock-ge’s mom is angry at.”

This piqued Mengyao’s interest. Of course he is nosy. But if it was about his own father, it was most likely true. Speaking of his father, he needed to get more dirt on him. “What did these birdies say?” He was imagining little birds chirping at Huaisang at the park as Mingjue was playing basketball.

“The birdies said that your dad had to go to the hospital,” Huaisang told Mengyao. “I don’t know why. Birdies said it was because of his crabs. Shouldn’t he go to an animal doctor? It’s called a vet. Why did he go to the people hospital? The birdies only laugh. They said they see him a lot.”

Mengyao tried so hard not to laugh. So hard. He had to turn his head away. With how often his dad is out spreading his seed, it would be highly likely that he’d catch a few diseases. No wonder Jin Guangshan’s wife is always angry with him. Mengyao managed to maintain his composure. “Huaisang, why do you know this?”

“The birdies at the hospital said the crabs were very bad. I hope they get better.” The child said with such innocence. Not knowing what he was saying. “Poor crabs.”

“Of course he does!” Mengyao laughed out loud. 

“Nie Huaisang, I have a proposal,” Mengyao saw the potential this little yapper had. He could work together with this child to take over the school. All he had to do was get this little yapper to find out information about the school’s board. “If you help me with finding out all the information about some people, I will give you coloring pages.” 

Nie Huaisang’s eyes lit up at the mention of coloring pages. Mengyao could just easily find coloring pages on the internet and print them out for the child. Just a quick search on a search engine and he could find coloring pages he could print out in the library.

“I want to color pictures of birds and flowers!” Huaisang cheered up immediately. He was no longer crying over missing his dage. Instead this senior needed his help. If he helps this senior, then good things will happen. “Who are the people?”

Mengyao took out the 2004 yearbook. He showed the little boy a few pictures of the school’s board members. Since the school they attend is private, the board members can be seen inside the school. Mainly shaking hands with the admin or showing investors around the school.

“I know him!” Huaisang said. “The birdies said that he has problems with money. He plays a lot of card games.”

Mengyao had a bright smile on his face. This little gem that came into his office will help him win over his friends even more. Along with getting a plaque of his name on school grounds.

Eventually Mengyao had to return to class. Meaning Huaisang was returned to the colorful room known as the daycare. Granny Wen was happy to see Huaisang in a better mood. The child was cheerful again as he joined his friends.

Mengyao put on his charming smile. “I’ll be coming for Huaisang later in the day. I’ll talk with Xichen-ge and dage about it. Shouldn’t be a problem since we all want to make sure Huaisang is healthy.”

“Of course,” Granny Wen said. “Remember to talk with Lan Qiren about it. I know he is looking after Mingjue while he is sick. He is such a good man. He is always caring for everyone else.”

Mengyao went back to his regular scheduled classes. He ran into Xichen in their US History class. A long term sub had taken over the class. 

“I can take little Huaisang with me after school,” Mengyao casually mentioned to Xichen.

Xichen gave a confused face. “You want to look after Huaisang? You don’t normally want to watch other younger siblings. Don’t you have that important meeting tonight to discuss funding for a playground?” The older boy looked at his best friend. Reading his body language to see what was the true reason.

“Can’t I watch my best friend’s little brother and win over the hearts of the school board?” Mengyao asked with a coy smile on his face. He had a twinkle in his eyes. “I just want to be helpful. Is there something wrong with that?”

Xichen fell for his coquette act. Like he always does. “You must really like Mingjue to watch over Huaisang. You are such a good friend.” Of course Xichen would always misread things. 

Later on in the day, Mengyao joined in with the other older siblings and club members for end of the day pickup. As the dutiful older brother, Mengyao watched as Zixuan acted like an idiot around Yanli. It was kind of endearing.

Without the fact that Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying were staring daggers at Zixuan. Both wishing that this boy can get away from their jiejie. 

“You two are getting along so well,” Mengyao commented on the two.

“A-Yao!” Jin Zixuan gritted his teeth.

“My silly little brother,” Mengyao laughed. “It’s a good thing he is nothing like our father and only his mother’s good qualities. Wouldn’t you say Yanli?”

“He is pretty charming,” Yanli blushed. “I gotta get these boys back home. They are getting fussy. Let me know how the meeting goes. Good luck.” Yanli holds the two boys’ hands. Both brothers glare at Zixuan before walking out with Yanli.

After Yanli was out of the daycare room, Zixuan turned to his brother with a glare in his sharp eyes. “You embarrassed me in front of A-Li!”

“I’m saying this as your older brother,” Mengyao got straight to business. “You like Yanli. Everyone knows that. And she likes you too. So you need to grow a pair and ask her out. You better before some guy with more confidence beats you to it.” 

Zixuan looked stunned. “I-I…”

“You need to ask her out,” Mengyao said. “I know she has these scary little brothers that step on your toes. But you need to stand your ground. You have to ask her out. No group settings with your Mianmian and Wen Qing tagging along. Ask her on a real date. Now if you will excuse me, I got a meeting to attend. Huaisang, let's go!”

Huaisang had his backpack ready. His little legs ran over to Mengyao. They walked hand and hand together. Leaving Jin Zixuan reeling. He knew he had to finally make a move. 

Mengyao talked into the school’s conference room with Huaisang by his side. The board members were confused why a toddler was in the meeting.

“I miss my dage!”

“This poor child misses his dear dage that is sick in bed,” Mengyao made a show to hold Huaisang closely. “He needs his best friend A-Yao to keep him company. Look at his crying face. Do you want to upset him? He will be an official student at this school one day. Do you want his memories of this school to be terrible? Maybe he will not want to come back when he goes to high school. And tell all his friends. He has quite the mouth.

During that meeting, the little yapped told everyone’s secrets. And exposed everyone’s affairs, bankruptcies, secret children, scandals, and embezzlements. Everyone in the boardroom was left in shock.

“So I think we could use some of those funds to build a playground for the daycare kids to play and exercise in. Yes!” 

“We will get that constructed once the plot has been inspected. Which will happen pretty soon!”

Huaisang was dropped off back at his home. Lan Qiren and Xichen were at the Nies’ house. Nie Mingjue was looking a lot better. Once Huaisang saw his brother in the living room, he ran full speed towards his brother. 

“Dage!”

Huaisang landed in his brother’s arms. “Always so clingy. Did you bother A-Yao?”

Huaisang looked up to his brother. “A-Sang was a good boy. We are getting a playground!”

Xichen smiled brightly at the news. “The board agreed to build a playground. That is amazing! You are incredible A-Yao.”

“Don’t thank me,” Mengyao smiled, “it was all thanks to this little one. He was very convincing.”