The little girl slid off the chair and looked up at him. In her milky voice, she asked, "Daddy, have you ever slept with two girls at once?"
Sheng Chuyi was shocked. What had this girl been learning at kindergarten?
Just as he was about to ask, he heard the little girl say, "Well, now you have." Then, she grabbed her little pillow and ran to the room of Sheng Chuyi and Shen Zhaozhao. With her short arms and legs, she struggled to climb onto the bed, couldn’t manage it, and turned her head to urgently call out, "Daddy, help me up."
Eventually, Sheng Chuyi helped her, lifting her from the ground and tossing her onto the bed.
Shen Zhaozhao, who had just finished bathing, came out and saw this, smiling as she asked, "What’s happening here?"
Dragging her little pillow, the girl climbed to the middle of the large bed and sat down, saying, "Can I sleep with mommy and daddy tonight?"
"Of course you can, but why do you want to sleep with mommy and daddy?" Shen Zhaozhao asked with a smile.
In her soft, mushy voice, the girl said, "Because all my friends sleep with their mommy and daddy, An’an wants to sleep with mommy and daddy too."
Shen Zhaozhao told her, "But our An’an has grown up, and big and little friends all need to sleep by themselves."
"An’an is only three years old, still young," the little girl said mushily.
Every time, this girl claimed she had grown up, but now she was insisting that she was still young.
Shen Zhaozhao smiled and relented, "Alright, you can sleep with mommy and daddy tonight! But tomorrow, An’an has to sleep by herself, okay? Don’t you also want to hear Young Uncle tell you a story? If you sleep with mommy and daddy, you won’t be able to hear Young Uncle’s story!"
"An’an knows, thank you, mommy!" the little girl said, patting the spot next to her, "Mommy, daddy, come quick!"
As the girl lay in bed, staring with wide eyes, she asked, "Daddy, can you tell An’an a story?"
"Of course I can!" Sheng Chuyi picked up a storybook and sat at the head of the bed to read to her.
One story ended, and the girl, with her round, bright eyes, showed no signs of sleepiness.
"Was the story not interesting?" Sheng Chuyi asked.
The little girl shook her head.
Sheng Chuyi picked up another book and began reading her a second story. Halfway through, the little girl finally started feeling sleepy, yawning again and again, yet she still refused to go to sleep.
Eventually, her little head began to nod off bit by bit; whenever Sheng Chuyi thought she had fallen asleep, she would suddenly open her eyes wide again.
"What’s wrong? Why aren’t you sleeping?" Shen Zhaozhao, finding the girl’s behavior odd that night, worried if it was because it was her first day at kindergarten, and she wasn’t accustomed or perhaps something was on her mind.
Then she heard the little girl say in a hoarse voice, "No way, An’an hasn’t seen Young Uncle today."
She had no idea why this girl had such a good relationship with that boy.
That boy usually loved quiet and wasn’t talkative but was exceptionally patient only with this girl.
And this girl was also clingy to him.
Shen Zhaozhao coaxed her daughter, "How about An’an goes to sleep first, and when Young Uncle gets back, I’ll wake up An’an, okay?"
"Alright," the girl agreed reluctantly, but not reassured, she instructed, "Then mommy, you must remember to wake An’an up."
"I know!" Shen Zhaozhao agreed cheerfully.
However, by the time the little girl woke up and opened her eyes, it was already the next day.