CH 12

Suddenly, the bottle of lotion in Mo Jingxuan’s hand fell to the ground, spilling all over Xiao Ying’s foot.

Mo Jingxuan looked at Xiao Ying in disbelief, and his hands trembled and twisted as the shadows reached to caress the boy’s face, “You….” Are you back?

Ignoring Mo Jingxuan’s sudden agitation, Xiao Ying looked at him firmly, “You will always be mine.”

Cornering himself on the wall, Mo Jingxuan shook his head helplessly, “No, no, this is impossible! How could this happen?”

Xiao Ying frowned and used his short arms to imprison the black shadow against the wall, “You don’t want to stay with me?”

Pulling apart the child’s arms, Mo Jingxuan looked at him expressionlessly, “You, what did you call me before?”

“Before?” Xiao Ying crinkled his brow, “Xuan, what do you mean?”

No…. it’s not him. While he was relieved, his heart still panged with the emptiness from being alone. It was better to forget it, as expected; he had never been a good person. Even when he didn’t like Xiao Ying, he still had the man die for him in his previous life; how could he stay with him in this one? How could he even think such things? He really was….disgusting!

Disdain for himself lit momentarily in his eyes, and Mo Jingxuan gazed remorsefully at Xiao Ying’s face, “Nothing, forget it, okay?” The desolation he felt after he delusionally thought that he would be joined by him and then was let down could not be described, and Xiao Ying felt it clearly.

Xiao Ying’s face darkened, “Xuan, don’t treat me like a child; you can’t hide anything from me.” Every time he was left out, he felt like they were growing apart. That one day, something irreparable would happen between them, and he wouldn’t be able to catch Xuan back.

Crouching down to look closely at the child who reached only his thigh, Mo Jingxuan did his best to pacify him, “Yes, I will tell you everything one day, so baby, please give me a little time?”

Mo Jingxuan held his hands, looking more mature for his age than a child ever should, “I will wait for you then.”

Because it was Xiao Ying’s first day of school, Xiao Yao decided to send him himself and was waiting outside of the boy’s room. The pair went downstairs first and ate breakfast, leaving with plenty of time to spare. As for Zhao Lingjun and Xiao Yixiu, they were sound asleep, not disturbing the peace of the meal.

The road conditions along the way were very good, and they had left before much traffic built up, allowing them to arrive at Diye Primary School quickly.

It was a school similar to the Landi Academy that Mo Jingxuan had attended in his previous life. They both were private aristocratic schools, with only the best students attending. In fact, aside for a few ordinary students with extraordinary intelligence, the student class was comprised entirely of children from wealthy, noble officials and merchants. Landi Academy was more unique, covering all grades from elementary school to university, though. This school was divided into two districts, one for elementary to high school and one for university alone. 

Xiao Yao directly handed Xiao Ying over to the head teacher of the first grade and explained his situation as he left warnings not to act thoughtlessly towards him. Before leaving, he gave Xiao Ying one more pat on his head and gave him a few simple instructions on how to behave.

The teacher in charge was called Teacher Xu, a beautiful young female with a caring attitude towards her students. Observing her carefully and the reactions of the kids that came to greet her as the start of school came closer, Mo Jingxuan was very satisfied with her attitude. Thinking more, it made sense that she would be so kind; how many people would be able to stand it if the families of these young children decided to act against you? And with Xiao Yao personally sending Xiao Ying, he didn’t need to worry that she would have the guts to scheme against him,

“Boom ~ Boom ~ Boom ~……” The ancient school bell rang, and the leisurely sound spread to every corner of the grounds.

“Xiao Ying, let’s go! Teacher will take you to the classroom,” Teacher Xu reached out to Xiao Ying to hold his hand.

Crossing his arms quietly, Xiao Ying nodded and walked out of her office first.

Teacher Xu smiled and didn’t mind as she followed him, “Xiao Ying is all grown up, not needing anyone to hold him.”

Ignoring her words, Xiao Ying kept walking, and Teacher Xu continued to talk to herself, “Haha, then will Mister Xiao come to pick up our little adult after school today?” Her eyes had a hint of anticipation and greed as she spoke.

Mo Jingxuan scowled contemptuously and leaned over to the child’s ear, “Baby, this auntie has a crush on your father’s money, so….what is baby going to do?” Xiao Ying stopped in his tracks as he digested those words.

He frowned towards the air Mo Jingxuan was floating, asking, “You care about Xiao Yao?”

Shaking his head powerlessly, Mo Jingxuan kissed Xiao Ying’s forehead and denied it, “Do you know? I exist only for you in this life.” After a pause, he explained, “I’m just curious about how the baby will deal with it. After all, this woman will be your main teacher from now on.”

“Cough cough cough cough….” Teacher Xu, who thought Xiao Ying was asking her, was startled and said awkwardly, “Teacher was just asking casually!”

The child was in high spirits at the moment after hearing Mo Jingxuan’s sugar-coated words and didn’t bother with her, holding his forehead tenderly as he said, “I don’t care about him, let alone whoever wants to stay with him, so there is no need to deal with it.:

Mo Jingxuan was struck by the cuteness of the boy treasuring his kiss and dazedly agreed, “As long as you’re happy.”

“Ah?” Teacher Xu was confused. Wasn’t this child too precocious? She just asked him if his father would pick him up for school….how did he see through her intentions? Also, what did it mean that he wouldn’t need to deal with it? Was he referring to himself, or was there something she was missing? It felt almost like she was missing half of the information from the conversation….

Xiao Ying, who was about to walk away again, remembered that the teacher was still standing behind him and turned his head expressionlessly to her, “I don’t care what purpose you have for Xiao Yao, just don’t bother me. As long as the teacher doesn’t disturb me, then we will have no problems.”

When Xiao Ying displayed her heat so directly, Teacher Xu flushed with embarrassment and could no longer bear to continue the conversation. Instead, she rushed forward to lead the rest of the way.

Mo Jingxuan shook his head as he watched this play out; this teacher was far too naive; at her level, she would probably be torn to death by Zhao Lingjun before he could do anything to her himself.

They reached the door to the first-grade classroom, and Teacher Xu sorted out her emotions as she entered first, followed by Xiao Ying.

“Pa-pa!” she clapped her hands sharply, and all the children’s attention focused on her, “Everyone, be quiet!”

The chatter filling the room stopped, and Teacher Xu continued, “We have a new friend joining our class today.” She waved Xiao Ying to the front of the class as he stood out of place by the door frame, “Come over here! Introduce yourself to everybody!” 

He walked up and let go of the schoolbag that he had grasped tightly to pick up some chalk. He wrote his name on the blackboard and turned to face the class once more, “My name is Xiao Ying; please take care of me in the future.” Mo Jingxuan touched Xiao Ying’s arm gently; he knew the shadow left on Xiao Ying from his previous school had yet to disappear completely. 

“Uh~ Okay, that was an excellent introduction. Everyone, welcome Xiao Ying nicely!” Teacher Xu took the lead in applauding, and the rest of the class followed suit. The applause slowly died down, and Teacher Xu called out to another boy in the class, “Zi Bo, stand up.” 

A small boy in the first row stood up; his small face was full of shrewdness, giving people a sense of elegance even at his young age. Mo Jingxuan was in shock; no wonder he defended Xiao Ying so well in his last life; they had grown up together.

Teacher Xu pointed to the seat next to Zi Bo, “From now on, you will sit next to Zi Bo, Xiao Ying. He is the study committee member of our class, and if you don’t understand anything, I’m sure he will be able to explain.” She turned to address Zi Bo, “You take him to familiarize himself with the school later, alright?”

“Yeah,” Zi Bo nodded in agreement.

“Okay, Xiao Ying, you go get situated; we’re starting class now.”

Xiao Ying walked off the podium towards his seat, and just as he was about to sit down, Zi Bo stood up and extended his arm, “Come on, let’s shake hands and get along well from now on.”

“Pfft–” Mo Jingxuan couldn’t hold back his laughter; this kid was acting so mature with such a bean-like face. It truly made one want to squeeze him.

Xiao Ying was stunned momentarily and stretched out his hand to hold him, saying, “Please give me plenty of advice.”

Mo Jingxuan was laughing on the side; these two children were so cute!

The morning passed quickly, and Zi Bo dutifully fulfilled all of the tasks given to him by the teacher. He took Xiao Ying to the school cafeteria for lunch, and they toured the school in between classes. As they gradually got acquainted, they got along better than Mo Jingxuan could have expected. He could finally see a little bit of what the child Xiao Ying should have looked like.

After school ended, Butler Qin came to pick up Xiao Ying from school. They passed Landi Academy on their way back, and Mo Jingxuan had the thought to go visit the Mo house. After he dealt with Zhao Lingjun, of course, it would be time for him to see if he still existed here.

Back home, Mo Jingxuan watched Zhao Lingjun closely again, making sure to catch her every word and deed. Like the night before, she headed to the kitchen before dinner and dismissed the chef. This time, however, she did not hesitate as she poured the white powder into the pot of soup sitting on the stove. 

Surprised, Mo Jingxuan looked again, but the dish was still the same. The servants prepared this particular soup every day for Xiao Yao, and there was no way that woman didn’t know this. She actually dared to attack Xiao Yao; it was no wonder that she had stopped caring about Xiao Ying, but what was that powder? 

Zhao Lingjun was shaking after acting so decisively and hurriedly put the glass bottle back into her pocket as she walked into the living room.

Mo Jingxuan couldn’t help but think of what a fool this woman was….but it helped him, so who was he to complain? If she wanted to take the evidence with her instead of making him search for it, all the better.

He floated his consciousness back to Xiao Ying was watching TV downstairs, and murmured, “Baby, go upstairs; I have something to tell you.”

Nodding imperceptibly, Xiao Ying got up and passed by Zhao Lingjun to go to his room. Once the door was shut, he asked, “Xuan, what’s happened?”

Mo Jingxuan smiled at him, “It’s time for us to return Zhao Lingjun’s slap.”

“You have a solution Xuan?”

“Oh,” Mo Jingxuan laughed, “I had expected her to scheme against you so I have been surveilling her recently. I just didn’t think she would be so courageous as to drug your father’s food.” He explained what he had just seen in detail to the boy.

“What do you need me to do then?”

Poking the tip of the child’s nose, Mo Jingxuan said, “Why is my baby so smart? I really do need you to cooperate and whether or not my plan succeeds will be entirely dependent on you, okay?”

Xiao Ying listened to him and was sure he absolutely must let Xuan be satisfied with him! 

Mo Jingxuan was still talking, “You will have dinner later….”

“Do you remember?”

The plan was simple, and Xiao Ying was determined, “It’s no problem!”

“Perfect, let’s go—” Cutting off Mo Jingxuan’s words was a knock on the door.

“Young Master Ying, it’s time to come eat,” Housekeeper Qin called as he stood beside the door.

Xiao Ying opened the door, “Let’s go.” He was looking forward to this meal.