7564-chapter-20

The kindergarten let out early, and after picking up the two kids, Fu Yu restarted the car, heading towards Tang Sheng’s middle school, conveniently arriving just in time to pick him up.

However, when they arrived at the middle school, it wasn’t yet dismissal time, so they had to wait for a while.

On the way to the middle school, Tang Mian vividly recounted his experiences at kindergarten, and as his mother finally relaxed completely, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He hoped that after he and Fu Shizhao started kindergarten, his mom would consider restarting the career she had always wanted. When the time was right, he would drop subtle hints.

Finally, the car smoothly parked in the parking lot near the middle school.

Tang Mian was quite familiar with this place.

In his previous life, he and Fu Shizhao had both passed the entrance exam for this school and had studied here for three years.

During junior high school, his relationship with Fu Shizhao was still quite good. It was the time of teenage rebellion, and occasionally, they would skip class together and go out to have fun, only to receive double punishment later.

At that time, Fu Shizhao seemed to be as obedient to him as he was now.

Everything changed completely after Fu Shizhao was taken back to the Fu family.

Tang Mian hadn’t figured out how to deal with it in this life yet. Subconsciously, he didn’t want Fu Shizhao to be taken back by the Fu family, but he knew that Fu Shizhao had to go back. He needed that stepping stone, and he shouldn’t stay with the Tang family forever.

Although the Tang family was well-off, it was still far from being comparable to the Fu family.

Just as Tang Mian was lost in thought, Shen Siwan suddenly called his name.

Tang Mian looked up anxiously, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

Thankfully, Shen Siwan didn’t notice anything amiss and asked, “Would you like to go for a stroll near your big brother’s school? There are many delicious treats there.”

After all, they had time to spare while waiting.

Tang Mian quickly nodded.

There was a snack street near the school. Although it wasn’t ideal to eat snacks before dinner, for the celebration of the two kids’ successful first day at kindergarten, indulging occasionally wasn’t a big deal. Shen Siwan wasn’t an overly strict parent either.

The middle school was not yet out for the day, so there weren’t many people on the snack street. Most of them were vendors setting up their stalls and some parents who had arrived early.

Before getting out of the car, Shen Siwan mysteriously took something out of her bag and put it on Tang Mian and Fu Shizhao’s wrists.

It was a child safety wristband specially designed for their age. Since the two kids were going to kindergarten and would have more opportunities to go out in the future, Shen Siwan had bought this a few days ago.

No matter where they went, the wristbands would stay connected and had bright, easily visible colors. Even in a crowd, they could be spotted at a glance.

Their safety level while going out had just shot up.

At first, Tang Mian felt a bit awkward wearing it, wondering why he was wearing something so childish.

But later, he found it entertaining and swung his little hand high.

Fu Shizhao was quite happy, probably because he was connected to Tang Mian.

Soon, the three of them arrived at the snack street. Fu Shizhao’s attention was suddenly drawn to a particular stall, and he stopped in his tracks.

Shen Siwan had been observing their reactions and followed his gaze immediately, noticing it was a cotton candy stall.

Without hesitation, Shen Siwan took them to the stall.

Today, Shizhao was very brave. Despite crying several times, he had stayed quietly next to Tang Mian until kindergarten was over. He deserved a reward.

She also knew that Shizhao wouldn’t ask for cotton candy unless she brought them here.

“Give us… three cotton candies,” Shen Siwan thought for a moment and told the cotton candy vendor.

She wasn’t a big fan of sweets, her husband wasn’t too interested in these things either, and Fu You, of course, didn’t care much. These three cotton candies were clearly for the three children.

Tang Sheng didn’t have Tang Mian’s enthusiasm for snacks; he could eat them or leave them. But for children, you had to treat them equally. Even if Tang Sheng didn’t want to eat later, he could share with Tang Mian and Fu Shizhao. Tang Mian loved sweets.

The vendor immediately started the cotton candy machine to preheat and asked with a smile, “Sure, what flavor and shape would you like?”

Shen Siwan’s gaze shifted to the two kids, and she pointed at the sign hanging next to the cotton candy stall, asking, “What kind of cotton candy would you like?”

Tang Mian, who had some cotton candy-related PTSD, randomly pointed at a pink cat-shaped one. He liked strawberry flavor.

“I want the same as my brother,” Fu Shizhao said obediently.

Noticing their choices, Shen Siwan ordered three identical pink cat-shaped cotton candies.

As they waited for the cotton candy to be made, Tang Mian glanced at Fu Shizhao with a deep look.

Fu Shizhao’s gaze remained fixed on the cotton candy machine, as if he hadn’t noticed.

Well… he just wanted to eat cotton candy with Tang Mian before Mu Zichen did.

Tang Mian didn’t really suspect anything; he just found it curious that Fu Shizhao suddenly wanted cotton candy, especially after seeing Mu Zichen today.

Perhaps it was because Mu Zichen had mentioned “cotton candy” so many times today. Kids of their age tend to have strong impressions of things that are repeated frequently.

Mu Zichen…

Today, Fu Shizhao and Mu Zichen hadn’t really talked much.

Tang Mian lowered his eyelids slightly, kicked a pebble at his feet, and started to overthink things again.

From the brief interactions he had with Mu Zichen during their childhood, Tang Mian actually had a favorable impression of him. Even the past grudges related to Fu Shizhao had somewhat faded away.

That kid was simply a pure-hearted lover of beauty, carefree and without a trace of malice.

As he grew up… aside from having a rich romantic history, there weren’t any significant controversies.

Although he had numerous relationship rumors, they were always about the other party desperately seeking to reconcile with him. There had never been any negative comments about him. He ended one relationship and started another, keeping a clean slate.

Tang Mian knew that as a friend, Mu Zichen was a good person. In his previous life, his drifting apart from Fu Shizhao had more to do with Fu Shizhao’s foolishness than anything related to Mu Zichen.

Later, the two became representatives of the Mu and Fu families, forming a strong alliance that made all the prestigious families in the capital wary and eager to please.

He didn’t know how this butterfly effect would change the course of events, but he didn’t want to truly “take away” Fu Shizhao’s good friend or alter the storyline where they became allies.

He simply didn’t want Fu Shizhao to drift away from the Tang family like he did in his previous life. He didn’t want Fu Shizhao to become a powerful figure again.

He also had his own friends, and he didn’t care about others.

The pebble at his feet rolled defiantly to Fu Shizhao’s feet after being kicked by him.

Fu Shizhao didn’t kick it back; instead, he continued to look at Tang Mian with that priceless smile. Tang Mian reached out and lightly pinched his face.

Clueless.

He almost lost his friend and didn’t even realize it.

He needed to think about how to “introduce” Mu Zichen to Fu Shizhao.

—

That night, Tang Mian lay in Fu Shizhao’s warmed bed, savoring the sweet taste of the cotton candy cat heads they had earlier. He raised his wrist and lightly tapped the digital watch.

Under Fu Shizhao’s puzzled gaze, a familiar voice came from the digital watch.

“Hello? Is this Mian Mian?” Mu Zichen’s voice sounded somewhat delighted.

Fu Shizhao’s face instantly darkened.

During the day, Mu Zichen had already added Tang Mian to his smartwatch’s friends list, and Fu Shizhao was aware of this.

He also knew Mu Zichen’s nature – he liked beautiful things and was quite fickle.

Fortunately, he was still just a three or four-year-old child, and this kind of fondness was very pure. When he grew a little older, he wouldn’t even think about past relationships.

“It’s me,” Tang Mian’s soft voice replied.

“What are you doing? I was just about to go wash up,” Mu Zichen’s side faintly carried the urging voice of an adult.

Mu Zichen quickly whispered to the person on the other side, “Wait a moment, I’m on the phone with Little Cotton Candy.”

It instantly quieted down on the other side, presumably because they knew who this “Little Cotton Candy” was.

Remembering the purpose of his call, Tang Mian quickly shifted the conversation towards Fu Shizhao, saying, “I’m getting ready to sleep with my little brother…”

Before Tang Mian could finish his sentence, Fu Shizhao turned around, his back facing him. From this angle, Tang Mian could only see a furry little head.

Tang Mian: “?”