Chapter 616 - Joy of Children  

“Stop!”

In the evening, a small figure was looking around and listening in all directions. However, when he heard this voice, he immediately became nervous.

Xiao Letong immediately straightened up. When he saw his mother standing in the middle of the courtyard, he immediately smiled and said, “Mom, why are you here?”

“Hehe…” Xiao Lingyu gave a sinister sneer and said, “This is my home. Why can’t I be here? But you, where did you go? Why are you back so late?”

Xiao Letong had always loved cleanliness since he was young. Even when he was playing with other children, he would come back very clean. He would come back in the same clean outfit he wore in the morning. Therefore, Xiao Lingyu often couldn’t find any faults with him.

Xiao Long saw his mother’s serious face, and he answered truthfully, “Mom, I went out to play hide-and-seek with the little ones. I went into hiding, but those silly kids couldn’t find me, so I stayed out late, waiting for them to come to find me.”

Xiao Lingyu was speechless when her little kid called the other kids, little ones. She rubbed her forehead and said, “Where was your hiding spot anyway? Your little friends couldn’t find you, so they ran home and cried bitterly, saying that they’ve lost you.”

“Huh?” Xiao Letong was stunned, and then he said speechlessly, “Why would they come to that conclusion?” Then, he said confidently, “Hmph, a genius like me won’t get lost so easily!”

Xiao Lingyu glared at him and patted his little head, “No matter how talented you are, you can’t change the fact that you’re only one and a half years old. At your age, most people are in diapers and only learning how to speak and walk.”

Xiao Letong countered, “But I could speak when I was eight months old, walk when I was nine months old, and run when I was eleven months old. I’m different from those silly kids.”

Xiao Lingyu, “…” She had given birth to a genius son, so what could she say now? Her kid was more like an adult than an adult.

Sometimes, Xiao Lingyu was confused too.

Although she did not have much contact with Xiao Tong in her previous life, she knew from her mother and younger brother that although Little Tong was smarter and more sensible than other children of the same age, he wasn’t precocious.

However, the current Xiao Tong was so much smarter than even some adults. She wondered if Xiao Tong had been reborn too. But it didn’t make sense.

When Xiao Tong passed away in her previous life, he was only five. Even if he had been reborn, he would only have a five-year-old’s intellect. A kid that age wouldn’t know how to hide his emotions.

Plus, he would only be slightly cleverer than his peers. However, Xiao Tong was not slightly cleverer than his peers. It was more than that. Who had heard of a child who could memorize the entire dictionary when he was one and a half years old?

However, it had happened with her child. In fact, he not only knew how to memorize them but also how to write them. Even though his handwriting was crooked, people could read what he wrote.

Therefore, Xiao Lingyu did not know whether to be happy or worried about her son who was born with such a monstrous talent.

She was worried that her son would suffer some kind of hardship because of his intelligence.

No matter what, she had to work hard to become strong. Only when she was strong could she protect the people she wanted to protect.

Xiao Lingyu lowered her head to look at the white, tender, and confident face. It was just that… This child was too mischievous.

He was only a little more than one year old, but he had already become the king of the children in the village.

With a wave of his small hand, he was able to command all the children. All the children followed his lead.

As long as the children had something fun or delicious to eat, they would definitely share it with Xiao Tong.

Xiao Lingyu still didn’t understand how her child, who was only at the other children’s knees, could lead the other children.

Also, even though the child was only one-year-old, he had done all sorts of mischievous things.

One time, the villagers saw Xiao Tong standing on the wall. They were terrified. They coaxed him down. Then, they saw Xiao Tong jumping into the river alone. The people working dropped their work and rushed to wade into the river. They carried Xiao Tong to the shore, but the kid was having a great time in the river.

He frightened the villagers so much that the villagers had become numb to it. They had gotten used to Xiao Tong’s sudden actions.

They were used to Xiao Tong sliding up and down a tree, carrying a small bird chirping for food.

They were used to Xiao Tong flailing about in the pond to catch loaches.

They were used to Xiao Tong using a toy snake to scare an adult.

In short, you had to have a strong heart to be around Xiao Tong.

However, many people loved Xiao Tong.

This child was extremely smart and loved cleanliness. Most importantly, he was cute and beautiful. He had big round eyes that looked at you with innocence and cuteness. It would soften anyone’s heart.

Even if Xiao Tong was mischievous, no one had the heart to scold him. Even his great-grandparents and grandparents, who were stern with their children, had their principles taken by the wind when they dealt with Xiao Tong.

They doted on Xiao Tong unconditionally.

Therefore, as the only person who was still rational, Xiao Lingyu had to be ruthless in educating her son. She would scold and beat him when necessary.

However, she suffered a lot because of it. Everyone seemed to have a problem with her.

Xiao Lingyu, “…” What was wrong with her educating her son?

“Xiao Lingyu, what are you doing again?”

Just then, another roar came.

“Did you hit my precious grandson again?” Mother Xiao’s exasperated voice came from afar. “Xiao Tong, come to Grandma. Grandma will protect you!”

Xiao Lingyu, “…” How did she become the bad guy?

Then, Xiao Letong’s little mouth twitched. He ran behind Grandma and said, “Grandma, I didn’t make any mistake today!”

When Mother Xiao heard that, she immediately scolded, “Xiao Lingyu, the child didn’t do anything wrong. Why did you hit the child?”

Xiao Lingyu touched her forehead and said helplessly, “Mom, I didn’t hit Xiao Tong!”

Hearing that, mother Xiao looked at Xiao Lingyu suspiciously. Then she looked at Xiao Tong and asked, “Did your Mom hit you?”

Xiao Letong shook his head and said, “No, no. This time, Mom didn’t hit me!”

However, Mother Xiao was not satisfied and said, “Xiao Lingyu, how can you do this? You always hit and scold Xiao Tong. Can’t you see how old he is? Isn’t it too early for you to educate him?”

“…” Xiao Lingyu defended herself, “Mother, I don’t beat him often. I only teach him a lesson if he makes a mistake and doesn’t admit it. Last time, he caught a real snake to scare Xiao Fei. He scared Xiao Fei so much that his face turned pale. Shouldn’t he be taught a lesson?”

“But you can’t beat him,” Mother Xiao defended herself. “Besides, Xiao Tong is not afraid of snakes when he’s 1, but Xiao Fei is so afraid of snakes when he’s ten. So who’s fault is that?”

Well, that was a strange argument.

Xiao Lingyu said weakly, “Mom, it’s normal for Xiao Fei to be afraid of snakes when he’s ten years old. Many adults are afraid of snakes, not to mention Xiao Fei, who is ten. Not everyone is like this brat. He’s fearless and dares to play with anything.”

“Listen, you’re scolding him again.” Mother Xiao flared up. “You only know how to hit and scold Xiao Tong!”

Xiao Lingyu was stunned and asked, “When did I scold him?”

Mother Xiao said matter-of-factly, “You just called Xiao Tong a little brat!”

Xiao Lingyu, “…”

Just as she was about to say something, Grandma Xiao’s beaming voice was heard.

“Come, Xiao Tong, let’s go take a bath first. After that, we’ll eat.”

Xiao Tong smiled and replied, “Okay, great-grandmother!”

Xiao Lingyu, “…”

…

“My family lives on the Loess Plateau…”

Early in the morning, people could hear the wailing of ghosts… or singing.

The voice was young but very imposing.

“Haha. Xiao Tong is singing on the haystack early in the morning again,” a villager said with a smile, speechless.

Xiao Tong was extremely intelligent. In the eyes of other children, their king was an omnipotent existence.

He could do anything flawlessly… other than singing.

No one could destroy a song as much as Xiao Letong.

Logically speaking, Xiao Letong’s voice was still young, so his voice must be young and tender. Even if he didn’t know how to sing, he wouldn’t be able to sing like a ghost.

However, he was a special case. His singing was worse than a banshee’s wail.

This made his little friends laugh.

Their omnipotent king finally had something he couldn’t do.

However, Xiao Tong was stubborn. He refused to fail at anything. Therefore, he started to train his singing. To do that, he would stand on the haystack at the end of the village every morning and sing.

He could sing by himself, but he wanted an audience, so he’d capture a few kid listeners every morning.

They would only be released after they nodded and praised him.