Zhang Dali was five years old, but that wasn’t his real name.
He had a huge appetite and was big and strong for his age, so his family called him Dali. His friends at school called him Dali, too.
At his age, Dali loved sweets and was especially fond of meat. The few Wanzi he was served for lunch were nowhere near enough. Even though he’d gotten seconds twice, he was still craving more.
Once the other children were asleep, Dali rubbed his eyes and pretended he had to go pee.
He then stealthily got up, slipped outside, and saw Teacher He dozing off in a chair.
"Hehe!"
Dali had been looking around during lunch and remembered seeing one of the young women fill a bowl to the brim with Wanzi before taking it into the kitchen.
Now, he looked around again.
Through a connecting door, he could see the other dining hall, where many people were eating, drinking, chatting, and laughing.
Dali tiptoed toward the kitchen.
’Where is it...’
He was young, but his eyes were sharp. After venturing a little further inside, he spotted the bowl of Wanzi on the cutting board.
The golden Wanzi were coated in a delicate white sheen. They were a beautiful sight!
Dali’s mouth watered. He summoned every ounce of strength he had!
He dragged a box over, stood on top of it, and grinned. "Hehe, OM NOM!"
He popped one in his mouth, then another. They were absolutely delicious!
’These are way better than Mom’s cooking!’
He had no idea how much time passed before he’d finished every last Wanzi in the bowl. A little sadly, Dali buried his face in the bowl and licked it for a good long while. Rubbing his belly, he hopped off the cardboard box and tiptoed back to his bed. Only then did he close his eyes and slowly fall asleep.
At 2:40 PM, He Shuting finally woke up.
’Damn it, I almost overslept!’
The Mechanical Kindergarten’s afternoon classes started at 3:00 PM, and the school bus was scheduled to pick up the children at 2:50 PM.
He Shuting didn’t have time to tidy herself up. The moment her eyes opened, she rushed into the nap area.
"Time to get up! Time to get up! Everyone, wake up!"
In the dozens of nap rooms, the little children sat up, their eyes bleary with sleep. He Shuting checked each room, one by one.
Thankfully, it was summer, so everyone just slept under a small blanket without having to change out of their clothes.
After waking up, the children obediently got out of bed, put on their shoes, and lined up in the hallway.
"No wonder everyone in Jingzhou wants to get into the Mechanical Kindergarten. The teachers do such a good job. Not a single one of them cried after waking up; they just obediently got in line." Aunt Fang looked at the children with immense fondness.
A hundred or so little children followed He Shuting downstairs in an orderly line. They only had to wait a few minutes before the school bus arrived.
Watching the yellow school bus drive away, He Shuting finally let out a sigh of relief.
’This job is exhausting. I haven’t been this tired in a long time.’
’Have I even eaten yet?’
Shuting stretched as she headed back to the second floor, where she happened to run into Zhang Li, who was helping clean up the bedding.
"Hurry up and eat the Wanzi! They’re cold by now. I don’t think you can reheat them, but you should have some anyway."
He Shuting couldn’t resist. She pinched Zhang Li’s cheek and said, "Thanks, sis!"
Ah...
Zhang Li’s face flushed as she watched He Shuting stride into the kitchen on her long legs.
’Why did she pinch my cheek...’
’That felt so weird!’
Once in the kitchen, He Shuting searched high and low but couldn’t find the bowl of Wanzi that Zhang Li had mentioned.
’Did someone see it and eat them?’
There was, after all, an empty bowl on the cutting board.
’That can’t be right. I’m a light sleeper. I would’ve definitely noticed if someone came over here.’
She mulled it over but couldn’t come up with an explanation.
Oh well.
He Shuting felt too embarrassed to ask Zhang Li about it. After all, the girl had such good intentions. ’If she finds out the Wanzi are gone, she’ll probably be heartbroken, right?’
’Right. I’ll just pretend I ate them.’
After washing the empty bowl and putting it away, He Shuting went to the nap area to help clean up the bedding.
...
「That afternoon, at the Mechanical Kindergarten.」
Zhang Qing rushed frantically into the teachers’ office. "Teacher, what happened?"
Half an hour earlier, she had been at the movies in the city with her senior, sharing a bucket of popcorn.
But then her mom had called three times in a row, each call more frantic than the last. Zhang Qing had no choice but to step outside to take the call.
"Your brother’s sick at school! You need to go check on him, now! I’m on my way, too!"
Zhang Qing instantly panicked.
She was twenty-five, her brother only five. Born more than a decade after her, he was the absolute treasure of the family.
If anything happened to him, her parents would absolutely murder her.
But then Zhang Qing thought, ’How could that be?’ She had watched her brother closely during lunch. Only after Dali finished eating and went for his nap did she and her senior leave Delicious.
’It hasn’t even been that long. How could he suddenly get sick?’
But since her mom had called, Zhang Qing had no choice but to ask her senior to drive her over to the Development Zone.
Zhang Kai, of course, was more than happy to oblige.
Now, in the teacher’s office, Zhang Qing saw her little brother, Zhang Dali, slumped over in a chair in agony. "My tummy hurts... My tummy hurts so bad..."
The teacher was also quite anxious. "I don’t know what happened. He was perfectly fine this morning. When he came in this afternoon, I noticed Dali was just slumped over his desk, and then he ended up like this. The school nurse couldn’t figure it out, so we’ll have to take him to the hospital!"
Zhang Qing knelt down. "Dali, Dali! What’s wrong? How does your tummy hurt?"
"Sis, waaaah... My tummy really hurts! It hurts so much!"
A five-year-old can hardly distinguish between different types of pain. Dali just felt like his stomach was about to explode!
"Damn it, what in the world is going on?!"