Jing Jihan walked back, looked into the pitiful little one’s red eyes for a moment, and curved his lips: "Did your mom ever tell you that you shouldn’t sleep with strange men or boys?"
Shi Mianmian hugged a white teddy bear, the light of expectation in her eyes instantly dimming, looking at him aggrieved, but saying nothing.
Mommy did indeed tell her that.
"Just sleep here, I’ll sit beside you and pat you to sleep." Seeing the tears welling in Shi Mianmian’s red eyes, Jing Jihan softened, took the teddy bear from her arms and placed it beside the pillow: "Lie down, sleep."
"Okay!"
Shi Mianmian immediately smiled, sniffed her little red nose from crying, and quickly lay down.
She reached her small hand out from under the blanket to grab Jing Jihan’s big hand, as if afraid he would suddenly leave, and blinked her big eyes, obediently asking: "Uncle, aren’t you going to sleep? Aren’t you tired?"
Jing Jihan had always been indifferent and distant to people, and had never interacted with children before.
Though Shi Mianmian was only four years old, her cuteness and sensibility instinctively inclined him to treat her gently.
He gently pinched Shi Mianmian’s soft little hand, his voice deep and soothing: "I’m not sleeping, you sleep well."
With one hand gently held in his, Shi Mianmian hugged the blanket corner with her other small hand, looked at him, and suddenly giggled: "Uncle, your hand is so warm."
After speaking, she quickly closed her eyes obediently.
A few minutes later, thinking the little one was already asleep, who knew Shi Mianmian suddenly opened her eyes again, looking at Jing Jihan’s face, and said: "Except for Mommy and Mrs Qin, only Uncle has lulled me to sleep, Uncle, can you be my daddy?"
Jing Jihan lowered his gaze at this innocent little munchkin, smiled helplessly, squeezed her little hand again, and subtly shifted the topic: "Who is Mrs Qin?"
"She’s someone Mommy hired to take care of me, Mommy calls her Mrs Qin, and I call her Grandma Qin, but it seems something happened at her house and she went back, Mommy said she’d return in a few days..."
Shi Mianmian was indeed getting sleepy, and as she spoke, her small hand playfully moved around in his hand, and a few minutes later, finally quieted down.
At five in the morning, Shi Su hurried back, immediately rushing to the children’s room after coming in, only to find Mianmian not sleeping in her little bed. Turning around, she surprisingly saw the master bedroom door open.
She was startled, walked over, and sure enough saw Shi Mianmian sleeping on the big bed in the master bedroom, while the man who should have been lying there was sitting by the bed, obviously having stayed up all night. The man, without a trace of drowsiness in his eyes, turned to look at her because of the sound of her footsteps approaching.
Shi Su: "...Why did she come over here to sleep?"
Seeing Shi Su looking like she had been rained on, with wet hair and clothes, appearing slightly disheveled, she spoke with a hint of nasal tone, as if catching a cold.
Jing Jihan gestured towards the bathroom with his eyes: "Go take a hot shower first."
But Shi Su still looked towards the child’s direction: "She..."
"Got woken up by the thunder, saw you weren’t around, was scared and couldn’t sleep, so she came over to me." Jing Jihan explained concisely.
"Oh." Shi Su finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Jun has a studio nearby, just renovated it, kept windows open for ventilation, and the staff forgot to close them to prevent the typhoon when leaving yesterday. Last night Jun suddenly called, worried about the computers and documents inside. I live nearby, so I went to help close the windows, but the typhoon raged overnight and trapped me there. I could only come back when the wind died down a bit in the morning."
As she said this, she looked at Mianmian, lying on the bed with her small hand still holding onto the man’s hand, and for a moment felt an inexplicable emotion. Ignoring her need for a shower, she walked over and said: "I’ll take her back to the children’s room."
Jing Jihan didn’t stop her, was about to lift his hand, but Shi Mianmian suddenly whimpered sorrowfully in her sleep, clutching his fingers tightly.