Chapter 59 I'll Play Whatever You Want, Whenever You Want

Thanks to Ye Jiaying's insistence, the two went to the private-kitchen restaurant she recommended and enjoyed a lavish dinner. Back at school, Ye Jiaying was always busy attending to the students in her own class and had no time to spare for students from other grades or classes. Now, sharing a meal with Xiao Yao, she was astonished to find that his dexterity with chopsticks surpassed that of any child of his age in her own class; he used them with a proficiency that rivaled, or even matched, that of an adult.

After dinner, Ye Jiaying originally intended to take Xiao Yao back to her home for the night. Faced with Xiao Yao's vehement opposition, she had no choice but to pack a few changes of clothes and accompany him back to his own place.

With all this tossing and turning, it was well past nine o'clock by the time they returned to Xiao Yao's home. Ye Jiaying figured that at this hour, a child should wash up and get ready for bed. Yet, a new problem arose: Xiao Yao's home had no guest room. Where was she supposed to sleep?

"My dad's not here anyway. Why don't you sleep in his room?" Xiao Yao suggested.

"How could I possibly do that? How can I sleep in your dad's bed?" Ye Jiaying shook her head firmly.

"Then where do you want to sleep?" Xiao Yao asked.

"In your room with you, of course. I checked, and you have a twin bed in there," Ye Jiaying replied. "Your dad is a grown man, so it wouldn't be appropriate for me to sleep in his bed, but it doesn't matter with a little brat like you."

"I'm a little brat?" Xiao Yao pointed at the bridge of his nose.

"Aren't you?" Ye Jiaying looked him up and down and asked curiously.

"Fine, I suppose I am." Understanding her point, Xiao Yao lowered his head and sighed.

"Alright, let's go. Time for a bath," Ye Jiaying said triumphantly, reaching out to take Xiao Yao's hand and lead him toward the bathroom. As a dormitory supervisor, caring for the children's daily lives was her primary job. Seizing this opportunity to practice on Xiao Yao and familiarize herself with the skills she had learned at school was one of the reasons she had stayed behind.

"What are you doing?" Xiao Yao twisted his body, nimbly evading her outstretched hand. "I take baths by myself. There's no need to trouble the teacher." With that, he dashed into his bedroom, grabbed a change of clothes, rushed into the bathroom, shut the door, and locked it from the inside.

Ye Jiaying had not anticipated such a strong reaction from him. By the time she snapped back to reality, he had already locked himself in. Unsettled, she called out through the bathroom door, "Little brat, can you even wash yourself properly?"

"I've been bathing by myself since I was five years old!" Xiao Yao shouted loudly from within.

Listening to the sound of splashing water echoing from inside, Ye Jiaying had no choice but to let him be.

When Xiao Yao finally emerged from the bathroom, Ye Jiaying inspected him thoroughly from head to toe. She found that he was indeed impeccably clean—hard-to-reach places like his neck, the back of his neck, and his armpits were all thoroughly scrubbed, and she could not feel any residual body wash on his skin. Only then did she step into the bathroom with peace of mind.

After finishing her bath and entering Xiao Yao's room, Ye Jiaying discovered that he had not yet gone to bed; instead, he was sitting at his desk, writing something.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you asleep yet?" Ye Jiaying asked.

"Homework!" Hearing her voice, Xiao Yao answered without even lifting his head.

"Ah, right, you still have homework. It's so late, why didn't you leave it for tomorrow? Tomorrow is the weekend anyway. Do you need the teacher to help you?" Ye Jiaying said as she walked over to his desk.

"First-grade students have calligraphy class? And calligraphy homework?" Coming closer, Ye Jiaying noticed that Xiao Yao was holding a writing brush to practice calligraphy, and she asked with surprise.

"This is homework left by my grandfather," Xiao Yao replied.

"Homework from your grandfather? What about the homework assigned by your teacher?" Ye Jiaying asked. "Let's finish the teacher's assignments first. Since I'm here, I can tutor you."

"The teacher's homework was finished before school ended," Xiao Yao replied. For the current Xiao Yao, being willing to do the homework at all was already giving the subject teacher face; how could he possibly bring it home? He had long since polished it off during class breaks and study periods.

"Oh," Ye Jiaying assumed he had finished it in the dormitory while waiting for her after school.

Since it wasn't schoolwork but calligraphy practice, there was nothing for her to tutor. She sat quietly to the side, watching Xiao Yao wield the writing brush and sweep it across the paper. Although she didn't know much about calligraphy, at least judging by its appearance, those square, regular brush characters looked far better than her own handwriting. If he had such proficiency in brush calligraphy, his handwriting with a regular pen probably wouldn't be bad either. Her amazement and curiosity toward this monstrously talented child deepened.

After finishing a copybook of over three hundred characters, Xiao Yao finally put down his brush and went to bed. Since his rebirth, apart from the few days shooting a program with Xiao Siqi, this was the first time Xiao Yao had shared a bed with someone else, let alone an adult woman. Looking at Ye Jiaying, who was propping her head up with one hand and turning sideways to tuck the blanket around him, Xiao Yao couldn't help but think of his mother from his past life—she seemed to look just like this when coaxing him to sleep as a child. Following that, in the memories of the original Xiao Yao that had merged into his current life, Chen Zilin's face surfaced as well.

In a hazy trance, Xiao Yao rolled over, wriggled downward, wrapped his arms around Ye Jiaying's waist, and burrowed into her embrace.

Watching Xiao Yao sleeping soundly in her arms, Ye Jiaying gently stroked his hair. She felt that ever since she had met him, only at this very moment did he truly resemble a seven-year-old child.

Ye Jiaying was awakened by a soft, soothing melody of piano music. The first thing she did upon opening her eyes was to look for Xiao Yao beside her, only to find the spot empty. A jolt of panic flashed through her heart, but then, noticing the incoming sound of the piano, she guessed that Xiao Yao must have gotten up to play.

Glancing at the wristwatch on the bedside table, she saw it was already past eight o'clock. For a workday, this wasn't considered early to rise, but for a weekend, it certainly wasn't late either.

After tidying up the bed and freshening up, Ye Jiaying opened the bedroom door and followed the music into the living room. Sure enough, she saw Xiao Yao sitting at the white piano in the living room, playing a tune. The weather today was wonderful; the morning sunlight slanted through the balcony and spilled into the living room. From Ye Jiaying's angle, the sunlight seemed to cast a golden rim around both the white piano and Xiao Yao sitting before it, giving her a dazzling sensation.

"Good morning, Teacher Ye." Hearing the movement, Xiao Yao looked up and greeted Ye Jiaying as she walked into the living room. Although he spoke, his hands never stopped playing.

"Morning," Ye Jiaying snapped slightly out of her daze and walked over. "You're up quite early. Don't tell me this is another assignment your dad left you?"

Approaching closer, she noticed that the music stand was completely bare, with no sheet music placed upon it.

"My dad hasn't given me homework in ages," Xiao Yao said with a smile. "He just lets me play freely."

"Play freely? Then what are you playing? It sounds lovely," Ye Jiaying asked.

"This is *Daydream* by Kevin Kern," Xiao Yao answered casually, before realizing that a person named Kevin Kern probably didn't even exist in this world.

Fortunately, Ye Jiaying did not press the matter further. In a musical family, playing a piece of music she had never heard of before was the most normal thing in the world, let alone when the name mentioned sounded like a foreign composition.

"Since this isn't an assignment required by your dad, and it's getting late, I'll go wash up first and then take you out for breakfast," Ye Jiaying said, wiping her face.

"Teacher Ye," Xiao Yao stopped playing and called out to Ye Jiaying as she headed toward the bathroom. Seeing her turn back, he said, "After I went downstairs for my morning exercise, I bought breakfast and came back. I've already eaten, and I left a portion for you in the kitchen. I just bought it from the food cart at the front of the complex. See if you'd like to eat it."

"You've already been downstairs? What time did you get up?" Ye Jiaying asked.

"Around six o'clock, I suppose," Xiao Yao replied.

"You really are a little monster," Ye Jiaying sighed.

"Hey!" Xiao Yao protested indignantly. Unfortunately, Ye Jiaying turned a deaf ear, ignoring him entirely as she walked to the bathroom.

After washing up, Ye Jiaying went straight to the kitchen. Her eyes immediately landed on an insulated food container and an insulated thermos sitting on the kitchen counter. Opening them, she found steamed buns and tea eggs in the container, and soy milk in the thermos, both still piping hot with rising steam.

After finishing breakfast and washing the containers, Ye Jiaying emerged from the kitchen to find that Xiao Yao had stopped playing the piano and was curled up on the sofa reading a book.

"Such a gorgeous weekend like this—let me take you out to play," Ye Jiaying said to him.

"Play where?" Xiao Yao asked, lifting his head.

"How about the amusement park?" she suggested.

"No, not interested," Xiao Yao's otaku instincts flared up, and he refused flatly.

"What do you mean, not interested?" Ye Jiaying said, somewhat irritated. "Look at how prematurely old you act—do you look anything like a seven-year-old child? You've been cooped up at school all week, and now that it's finally the weekend, you still want to stay cooped up at home? Listen to me, we're going to the amusement park so you can live a normal child's life."

"What?" Xiao Yao looked at her with a hint of surprise. "You don't seriously want to be my mother, do you?"

"Don't try to provoke me with all that 'mom' and 'dad' talk," Ye Jiaying retorted. "Your dad isn't here this weekend anyway, so for these two days, you answer to me. What are you going to do if you get sick from staying cooped up at home?" She justified it to herself. Watching Xiao Yao remain unmoved on the sofa, she rolled up her sleeves and said, "Are we going or not? Don't force me to take drastic measures!"

"Fine. I'll go change my clothes." Actually, Xiao Yao desperately wanted to reply with, *"You might not necessarily be able to beat me in a fight,"* but realizing that Ye Jiaying was doing this out of kindness and genuinely for his own good, he could only drop his book with an aggrieved expression and head back to his room to change. Halfway there, he turned back and asked, "Wait, aren't you a big celebrity too? If we go to the amusement park, aren't you worried about being recognized and mobbed?"

"There's no need to worry. A hat, sunglasses, plus changing my hairstyle and clothing style—look at how long I've been at the school; have I ever been recognized?" Ye Jiaying said dismissively. "I'm quite confident in my disguise skills."

"Oh," seeing her so confident, Xiao Yao had nothing more to say.

Winning a contest of wills against Xiao Yao for once brought a triumphant smile back to Ye Jiaying's face. Without realizing it, making Xiao Yao act according to her wishes had become a source of immense satisfaction for her.

Arriving at the amusement center in the suburbs of Beijing, Ye Jiaying bought the tickets, led Xiao Yao through the main gates, and immediately shoved a park brochure into his hands. "Take a look and see what you want to ride."

"Does that mean whatever I want to ride, you'll accompany me on it?" Xiao Yao asked.

"Of course," Ye Jiaying answered as if it were only natural. She would instantly regret those words, however.

"Alright, then I want to ride the 'Pirate Ship', the 'Haunted House', the 'Roller Coaster', the 'Battle Tanks', the 'Ferris Wheel', the 'Speed Racer', the 'Wings of Angels'... huh, why isn't there a bungee jumping spot here?" Xiao Yao flipped through the brochure and read aloud. Looking up, he saw that Ye Jiaying's complexion had turned somewhat pale, and asked with apparent concern, "What's wrong? Are you too scared to ride them? It's fine, though riding alone is no fun. Should we just go back?"

Ye Jiaying could naturally tell that Xiao Yao was deliberately making things difficult for her. Aside from the first two, which she could accept without hesitation, the remaining items were a bit too thrilling for her tastes. If she were visiting under normal circumstances, she wouldn't lack the courage to try one on a whim, but going through all of them back-to-back—she truly had no idea if she could stand on her own two legs without shaking by the time they finished. However, looking at Xiao Yao, who appeared genuinely concerned yet was actually provoking her, Ye Jiaying refused to lose face in front of a child no matter what. Clenching her back teeth, she forced out, "We'll ride them! Why would I be scared? Whatever you ride, I'll accompany you."