Chapter 199.2
Editor: Jodi
He rested his head on the desk silently. He couldn’t understand why his mom didn’t want him. He had always been very well-behaved—he didn’t cry or fuss, and he always got little red flowers at school. The other children in kindergarten were picky eaters, but he wasn’t picky.
His mom also used to say, “Baby is the best, baby is very good.”
But even so, she still didn’t want him.
He turned his head to look at Cheng Yu, thinking he was probably just saying nice things casually.
He wasn’t really his big brother, so how could he really protect him? He was probably just trying to coax him.
Just like the way his mother did when she said she was going to buy him ice cream. It was all a lie.
So he didn’t feel very happy. He didn’t really believe Cheng Yu’s words, but he still wanted a friend to play with. He had, without realizing it, learned to turn a blind eye and let things slide. So he thought to himself that as long as Cheng Yu stayed and played with him, that was enough.
He didn’t have any close friends yet. Sister Xiao Qiao would play with him sometimes, but she also had other friends—mostly girls. He thought that since he was a boy, he should have a boy as his friend too.
And Cheng Yu was a very good choice.
The two of them lay on the desk, whispering to each other through the entire class.
The teacher, noticing this, had considered calling on them to answer a question to remind them not to talk during lessons. But when she glanced at the director and Yu Hanshuang standing at the back of the room, she hesitated. If she called Lin An Lan at this time, even though it might be good for overall class discipline, it might embarrass him, and in turn, make Yu Hanshuang, who was trying to adopt him uncomfortable, so she decided to let it go.
She was currently teaching vocabulary, and asking the students to use the words in sentences.
“The word ‘happy’ is used to describe a mood. It means feeling very joyful and excited. You can use it in a sentence, for example: Today, I played on the slide with Xiao Ming, and I was very happy.”
“Now, who can make another sentence with this word?”
The students exchanged glances, too shy to raise their hands.
Cheng Yu raised his hand confidently. Yu Hanshuang was a bit surprised, and the teacher seemed slightly taken aback as well.
This was the first time something like this had happened in the school. The teacher thought for a moment before saying, “Alright, the student who raised their hand can try making a sentence.”
Cheng Yu stood up and said seriously, “Today, I got a little brother, and I am very happy.”
The teacher clapped for him. “Well done!”
Cheng Yu smiled as he sat back down.
After that, more students started raising their hands.
Leaning over, Cheng Yu asked Lin An Lan, “Aren’t you going to raise your hand?”
Lin An Lan shook his head. He didn’t feel like it—he already knew how. Today, he got a new deskmate, so he was very happy.
If his new deskmate could join him for class again tomorrow, he’d be happy tomorrow too. But if his new deskmate couldn’t come to class tomorrow, then he wouldn’t be happy.
He could even make three sentences with the word. He had already mastered it!
Seeing that Lin An Lan didn’t want to raise his hand, Cheng Yu didn’t push him. “Then, when the teacher gives out little red flowers later, I’ll give mine to you.”
Lin An Lan looked at him in surprise. “There aren’t any little red flowers.”
Then he blinked. “Does your class have little red flowers?”
“Of course. Don’t you guys have them?”
Lin An Lan shook his head. “No.”
He suddenly wanted to join Cheng Yu’s class. Cheng Yu’s class had little red flowers, but his didn’t.
He could go to Cheng Yu’s class, sit with him at the same table, go to class together, and then, after class, go back to the dorms to rest with Sister Xiao Qiao and the others.
Lin An Lan thought this seemed like a good idea!
After all, he couldn’t sit with Sister Xiao Qiao during class or talk to her anyway. So it wouldn’t be much different if they weren’t in the same class, as they still couldn’t sit together or chat.
“Is the teacher in your class nice to the children?”
“She is.” Cheng Yu replied. “She’s super gentle.”
“Then if I go, will you be my desk mate?”
“Of course!” Cheng Yu caught on to what he meant. “You want to transfer to our class?”
Lin An Lan nodded, then hesitated and shook his head.
He bit his lip, hesitated for a moment then said, “I could try it out for a bit first.”
“En, just for a little while.”
If he didn’t like it, he could always come back.
“Really?!” Cheng Yu was surprised. “That’s amazing!”
“But we have to tell the teacher first.”
“Yes, yes!” Cheng Yu nodded.
He waited excitedly for the bell that signaled the end of class to ring, and as soon as it did, he pulled Lin An Lan over to the teacher.
And feeling a little shy, Lin An Lan tugged the teacher into a corner and whispered softly, “Teacher, which class is Cheng Yu in? Can I go to his class?”
He looked embarrassed but also worried that his words would make the teacher sad. He spoke in a soft, sweet voice, “I don’t have a desk mate—I sit all by myself. I want a little desk mate, and Cheng Yu said that if I go to his class, he’ll be my desk mate.”
He added, “I don’t want to sit alone.”
The teacher hadn’t expected this. Children’s feelings were very sensitive—seeing that everyone else had a desk mate, Lin An Lan would naturally want one too. There was nothing wrong with this. But why did he think Cheng Yu was also a child from the welfare home?
Wanting to join Cheng Yu’s class wasn’t something the teacher could decide. That decision would have to come from Cheng Yu’s mother—the dignified and elegant Madam Yu.
“Teacher really wants to say yes, but I can’t give you a definite answer.”
She turned him slightly by the shoulders and pointed toward the director and Madam Yu, who were standing near the door. “Do you see the director auntie and that beautiful auntie over there? You can go and ask them.”
She spoke softly, “Take Cheng Yu with you and have him tell that beautiful auntie that he wants you to join his class.”
“Is that beautiful auntie also a teacher at the school?” Lin An Lan asked curiously.
The teacher smiled but didn’t answer directly. She just said, “Go and ask them, and you’ll find out.”
Lin An Lan assumed this meant she was a teacher at the school, so he nodded in understanding.
After all, he had only been at the welfare home for a week. No one in his class had been adopted during that time, and he had only heard about adoptions through stories from others.
So he didn’t understand what the adoption process was or what kind of people came to adopt children.
Hence he naturally thought Cheng Yu was just like him—a child from the welfare home—and assumed that the unfamiliar auntie standing next to the director was simply a teacher he hadn’t met yet.
He clenched his small fists to cheer himself up then grabbed Cheng Yu’s hand.
“Let’s go.” He told him. “The teacher said we have to talk to the director and that pretty teacher.”
He leaned close to Cheng Yu’s ear, “You have to speak too. The teacher said you need to tell the pretty teacher that you want me to come to your class and want to sit at the same table with me.”
Cheng Yu nodded. “Okay.”
Then after he finished saying this, he held Lin An Lan’s hand and walked toward his mother.
And as they walked, he glanced down at Lin An Lan’s hand. It was so soft, he thought to himself
. His little brother’s hand was so soft and squishy—it felt amazing to hold.
He secretly gave it a little squeeze, and felt a secret burst of joy in his heart.
Lin An Lan didn’t notice Cheng Yu’s small actions. Together, they stopped in front of the director and Yu Hanshuang.
Looking up at the director, he asked obediently, “Director, can I be in the same class as Cheng Yu? I want a desk mate, but no one here sits with me. Everyone else has their own desk mate, but I don’t.”
The director laughed, “You like little Cheng Yu.”
Lin An Lan nodded. “I want to sit at the same table with him. Is that okay?”
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