CH 27.2

As soon as they reached the lobby, Mother Zhou approached the hotel reception to book another room.

Jingjing’s mother thought it was unusual, “Our room is large enough for all of us. There’s no need to book another room.”

Mother Zhou felt helpless, “I also don’t want to book another room, but my son wants to sleep in a separate room.”

“He’s too young, isn’t it unsafe?” Jingjing’s mother replied.

“It’s alright.” Mother Zhou found it difficult to expound her thoughts. She couldn’t explain to them that the large suitcase they brought along only contained Zhou Yuan’s bedsheets, towels, toiletries…

They decided that Miaomiao would stay with her mother in one room, Jingjing would stay with her mother in another room, Deng Feng would stay with his mother is another room, Mother Zhou would stay in a single room outside, and Zhou Yuan would stay alone in a room in the suite.

Little Miaomiao interpreted this situation differently from the others. The adults deduced that Zhou Yuan was precocious and was obsessed with immaculate cleanliness.

In Little Miaomiao’s mind, it was the result of Zhou Yuan’s mother allowing him to sleep by himself.

With so many strangers around, fear and dread would eventually find their way into Zhou Yuan’s heart. So, Little Miaomiao approached Jingjing, and then she looked at Zhou Yuan who stood opposite to them.

She held Jingjing’s hand with one hand, then walked up to Zhou Yuan’s side and held his hand with another. Then, she led them towards their room.

Zhou Yuan’s mother observed the two children holding hands and noticed that her own son didn’t even put up resistance. She admitted to herself that people of the same age still had the advantage of being the same age. 

After entering the room, the adults placed their luggage into their respective rooms.

Meanwhile, the four children sat in the living and played…mahjong.

They had a mahjong table in the living room. Of course, they had no idea how to play, so they just made it up as they went along.

Although Deng Feng stuttered, he was the most talkative in the group. The second most talkative was Jingjing.

Both Miaomiao and Zhou Yuan were of the less loquacious type. Little Miaomiao was afraid of saying something wrong, and as for Zhou Yuan, he felt that it was unnecessary to speak.

Deng Feng said, “I…I…We…play mahjong for a while!”

Jingjing responded, “Alright. Do you know how to play?”

Little Miaomiao didn’t know how to play, so she listened attentively to the two children’s nonsense.

The four mothers were sitting on the sofa adjacent to them and discussed the itinerary for the trip. They preordered the roasted lamb yesterday while booking the room. Today, they needed to head out to check out the other restaurants. They had to order food for the children who can’t handle anything too spicy.

They intended to go hiking after lunch. Then, they would go to the hot springs, and then they would go to karaoke during the evening.

The four mothers quickly planned their itinerary. Afterwards, they focused their attention towards their children who were still playing. A storm of happiness filled the children’s hearts as they played.

Deng Feng’s mother was gleaming with joy as she watched the children’s merriment. She always felt concerned about his stuttering since he could feel inferior in front of other children. She feared that other children wouldn’t want to play with him.

But now she discovered that her son conversed just as much at school as he does at home.

So, Deng Feng’s mother looked at the four children with unmitigated gentleness. She wanted to give Miaomiao, Jingjing, and Zhou Yuan a reward for their good behavior.

Mother Hua also observed the children. It appeared that Miaomiao was very relaxed in front of other children.

This allayed the concerns in her heart. It was a good thing to have companions during one’s childhood. She used to worry that other children would bully Miaomiao at school because she was an introvert and didn’t indulge in conversation.

Fortunately, among these four children, two greatly enjoyed talking. Every word they said captivated Miaomiao. 

Mother Hua wasn’t aware that Jingjing and Deng Feng were fond of Miaomiao because she would find everything that they said riveting. No matter what they spoke about, or how much they spoke, it never bored Miaomiao.

So the two of them liked Miaomiao very much.

After playing mahjong for a while, boredom overtook Jingjing, so she said, “Let’s play another game!”

Deng Feng asked, “Which one?”

“Ghost hunting, but you’re not allowed to leave this large room.”

“What’s ghost hunting?”

“Ghost hunting is when one person is the ghost, and the others have to hide. If the ghost finds them, then they’ll become ghosts too. Together with the original ghost, they will find the others. If the ghost finds everyone, then the ghost wins. Then, the first person who was found by the ghost becomes the next ghost for the next round.” Jingjing delineated in an articulate manner.

The four adults were sitting on the sofa. All the children were young. It was rare to see children playing nowadays with such ardor.

Zhou Yuan’s mother was worried that her son wouldn’t play such childish games with them while Miaomiao’s mother was worried due to Miaomiao’s lethargy.

Would the other children reject her?

Jingjing commanded, “Let’s stretch out our hands and see who’s the ghost.”

Mother Zhou’s worries were unfounded. Zhou Yuan stretched out his arms, palms facing downwards.

All the children spouted in unison, “Put your hand behind your back! And now show it!”

The four children stretched out their hands. There were three palms and one back of the hand. The back of the hand belonged to Miaomiao.

This worried Mother Hua even more now. 

Does Miaomiao know how to play?

Jingjing said, “Miaomiao, you sit here. Then, close your eyes and count to 20. Then, you have to start finding us!”

Little Miaomiao sat on the ground in earnest and closed her eyes tightly. She began to count, “One, two, three…”

Zhou Yuan and the other two rushed to find places to hide.

The four mothers watched them gleefully, enthralled by their frolic. Deng Feng’s mother whispered, “I don’t want to go to the hot springs anymore. We could just watch this without feeling tired.”

The other three nodded in agreement.

After Little Miaomiao counted to 20, she stood up and began to look for them.

She didn’t know where they hid themselves, so she searched high and low.

Little Miaomiao never played something like this before. She blushed with excitement as she started to search everywhere for the other children.

While the children engrossed themselves in their game, the adults began sharing stories about their parenting experiences with each other.

As a newbie mother, Mother Hua listened to their tales in earnest, almost taking mental notes of everything.

After some time, the phone of Jingjing’s mother rang. On the other hand, the children had already played several rounds of games, and each child had their own chance to look for the others.

Jingjing’s mother said, “Okay, darlings. Let’s go eat roasted whole lamb!”

Of course, there weren’t just roasted whole lamb but also other dishes. 

The children came out of the room simultaneously. Hunger grasped their hearts due to their frolicsome morning.

While going downstairs, Zhou Yuan held Little Miaomiao’s hand, and the two walked together.

Mother Zhou grabbed Mother Hua’s hand and whispered to her, “He had never played with other children since his early childhood years. Fortunately, your daughter has appeared.”

Mother Hua glanced at the two children holding hands, and a vortex of joy swirled in her heart when she realized that the two had a good relationship.

Little Miaomiao asked Zhou Yuan with a hushed voice, “What is roasted whole lamb?”

“It’s a delicious meal.” Zhou Yuan said, “I’ll slice it up for you in a bit.”

When the parents led their children to the tables, the roasted, whole lamb was already set atop the table. The aroma of the meat aroused the children’s appetites.

The four of them sat together while their mothers served them their shares, just like how the P.T. teacher would serve them food.

The sauce for the roasted, whole lamb was made to be less spicy to accommodate the children. Zhou Yuan tasted it and found it suitable for children, so he sliced up some pieces and placed it on Little Miaomiao’s plate.