Taken With Her

Xiao Bao’s teacher, suitcase in tow, hurried over when she saw what happened and picked up the breakfast boxes.

“Yanqiu, don’t be so careless,” the teacher said sternly, handing the breakfast to Qian Cancan. “You’ll knock Auntie over.”

Xiao Bao was crying with great enthusiasm. When she heard the teacher, she stopped for a second; then she remembered she was in Zhu Qing’s arms and had backup, and immediately burst into even louder tears.

The teacher said coldly, “I’m counting to three.”

Xiao Bao secretly opened one eye to peek at her. Seeing that the teacher meant business, she panicked and quickly lifted her head, grabbing Zhu Qing’s arm. “Zhu Zhu, I want you to hold me.”

Zhu Qing was a little awkward. She glanced at the teacher, then at Qian Cancan.

“Okay, then don’t cry.” Zhu Qing hadn’t held a child in a long time; her movements were stiff, and when she picked Xiao Bao up, she nearly tipped the little girl over.

The four of them got into the car. The teacher took the driver’s seat, while Xiao Bao became a koala clinging to Zhu Qing.

Qian Cancan touched Xiao Bao’s hair and thought the child had tanned quite a bit from the sun.

“She ran off twice on this trip,” the teacher recited Xiao Bao’s crimes with calm precision. “She let the farm’s cows loose, then sat in front of an Egyptian pharaoh’s mummy at the British Museum and refused to leave. She insisted on returning other people’s ancestors to them.”

Xiao Bao still felt a little guilty at first. But when she heard that, she straightened at once and said righteously, “They stole so many things! Some were clothes, some were jewelry, some were paintings, some were stones... but that was someone else’s ancestor! Why would they dig up somebody’s grandpa’s grandpa and steal him away? And there was even a cat mummy. That little cat was so pitiful..."

“Then you should study English properly,” the teacher mocked. “You only know how to cry; they don’t even know what you’re saying.”

Xiao Bao’s face went bright red. In a weak voice, she said, “I, I’m only five. I’ll learn properly.”

Zhu Qing snorted with laughter and touched Xiao Bao’s flushed face.

“Xiao Bao’s right,” Zhu Qing said, amused. She hadn’t expected this child to have been raised so properly by Li Lan. “You don’t know English?”

Xiao Bao nodded, then shook her head. “I just started learning.”

The teacher said to Zhu Qing, “She hadn’t been exposed to English before she was two. She can actually say a few things; she just forgets them when she’s anxious. This study trip was supposed to last another half month. Yan Xiaobao, your English homework is doubled.”

Xiao Bao pouted in grievance and grabbed Zhu Qing’s sleeve without letting go. “Zhu Zhu, I don’t want to do homework.”

Zhu Qing noticed the teacher suddenly turn her head slightly toward her. In the rearview mirror, she could see the teacher’s expression grow tense; to put it simply, she looked like she was facing a formidable enemy.

Zhu Qing hesitated. “Ah?”

Xiao Bao stared at Zhu Qing, shook her sleeve hard, and repeated loudly, “I don’t want to do it!”

“Why don’t I ask your mom?” Zhu Qing said, her scalp tightening with embarrassment and awkwardness. In her mind, this was just a completely unfamiliar little kid. “I probably shouldn’t interfere with your homework.”

Xiao Bao paused for two seconds, then lowered her head.

Zhu Qing suspected she’d said something wrong and explained, “If your mom agrees, then can you do a little less homework?”

The teacher said faintly, “Miss Li would only think her daughter’s homework is too little.”

Zhu Qing became even more embarrassed.

There was nothing she could do about that. Li Lan was Xiao Bao’s mother. Besides, most parents cared about their children’s grades. She couldn’t possibly lead Xiao Bao astray and let her neglect school; Li Lan would definitely blame her, and she hadn’t even started pursuing her yet, so she was already losing points.

But Xiao Bao was Li Lan’s daughter, and making Xiao Bao unhappy didn’t seem right either.

More than that, Xiao Bao was just a little baby. She was also adorably cute, and Zhu Qing, for selfish reasons, wanted to treat her a little better...

Before she could finish, Xiao Bao’s body suddenly started shaking.

Zhu Qing looked down in surprise and was immediately startled.

Xiao Bao was lovely enough to make anyone’s heart soften, but at that moment her face was red, her whole body trembling, her mouth opening in utter despair.

“Zhu Zhu doesn’t want me anymore! Zhu Zhu doesn’t love me anymore!”

She wasn’t crying in loud wails at first. Instead, tears kept spilling out in big drops; then she started gasping for breath, sobbing with her mouth open, crying miserably.

“Zhu Zhu, Zhu Zhu doesn’t want me anymore, wuuah, don’t, don’t throw Xiao Bao away. Xiao Bao will be good, wah...”

Qian Cancan couldn’t help saying, “Comfort her, will you?”

Zhu Qing fumbled through it, pulling tissues out to wipe Xiao Bao’s face, but Xiao Bao’s tears were like a floodgate opening; the moment she wiped them away, more poured out. Zhu Qing was helpless. “Don’t cry anymore. Stop crying.”

Qian Cancan handed over more tissues and gently pressed them to Xiao Bao’s eyes. “Sweetie, your Zhu Zhu auntie has amnesia now, and her brain is a little off. She’s not saying she doesn’t want you.”

Xiao Bao sniffled and asked, “Then if I don’t cry, will she get better?”

“Yes. If you talk to her nicely, she won’t be so silly.”

Xiao Bao hadn’t realized she could have this kind of effect. Her attention shifted instantly. She looked at Zhu Qing with reddened, swollen eyes and pointed a finger at her. “F-fix it.”

Zhu Qing: ...

Zhu Qing felt those two were deliberately insulting her, but she had no evidence. She resentfully patted Xiao Bao’s tear-stained face and said softly, “I’ve forgotten a lot of things. I don’t remember Xiao Bao, so can we become friends again?”

Xiao Bao nodded, tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

Then she suddenly seized on the key point. “You forgot Mama too?”

Zhu Qing scratched her nose and said guiltily, “Ah, yes. I forgot you two. Sorry.”

“Then you don’t love Xiao Bao anymore?” Xiao Bao sniffled. “Before, you used to help me with homework, not let Mama punish me, secretly buy me tasty things, take me out to play. Before, you never made Xiao Bao cry.”

As she spoke, tears began silently streaming down her face again.

Zhu Qing’s heart turned soft and sad too. Only now was the impact of losing her memory on the people close to her slowly becoming clear.

Perhaps Li Lan had once felt the same as Xiao Bao. Zhu Qing lowered her voice. “How could I not love Xiao Bao? But you have to give me some time. Didn’t I say so? We can get to know each other again and become good friends again.”

Xiao Bao looked up at her with red, swollen eyes. “Then does Zhu Zhu also have to get back together with Mama?”

Zhu Qing said awkwardly, “Yes. We all have to get to know each other again.”

“Then can I call you Mama?” Xiao Bao asked suddenly.

Zhu Qing was shocked.

Xiao Bao curled into Zhu Qing’s arms. Children were sensitive; from the moment she first saw Zhu Qing, she had felt the adult’s unfamiliarity and distance. But she was too small to know how to bring the familiar adult back, so she could only keep drawing near, over and over, and keep crying, over and over.

Zhu Qing, horrified, slapped Qian Cancan’s arm. “Stop watching! Help me!”

Qian Cancan tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Help you with what? Help you confirm it? You used to love taking care of Xiao Bao. You practically wanted to do the nanny’s job yourself; you spoiled her rotten. Otherwise, why do you think I called you a ‘virtuous wife and good mother’ from the start?”

Zhu Qing was dumbfounded. “How is that possible? Do I look like the kind of person who likes taking care of children? Even if that’s true, she can’t call me Mama.”

Qian Cancan sighed. “A child’s mind is impossible to predict.”

Zhu Qing went home with the guilty feeling that she’d abducted someone’s child. The teacher tried to arrange homework, but Xiao Bao’s tantrum and rolling around on the floor interrupted that. Xiao Bao’s nanny also called to ask whether she should come take care of the child, but under Xiao Bao’s aggrieved glare, Zhu Qing temporarily didn’t let the nanny come home.

That awkward, uneasy atmosphere lasted until afternoon, when Li Lan made a video call.

Zhu Qing had just coaxed Xiao Bao to sleep. She opened her phone, and what met her eyes was a bright beach scene, golden flecks of light swaying gently.

In a beach chair, Li Lan was wearing a pale gold gauze dress, looking faintly into the camera. Her eyes were clear and bright, like a feather drifting lightly down onto Zhu Qing’s face.

After one day apart, Zhu Qing suddenly realized she missed Li Lan a little.

“Xiao Bao didn’t give you any trouble, did she?”

Li Lan spoke, the end of her sentence lifting slightly; her voice was clean and smooth, carrying a faint trace of amusement, like a little hook scratching at Zhu Qing’s ear.

Zhu Qing’s heartbeat skipped. She suspected Li Lan might be doing it on purpose, but after a moment’s thought, she knew she was just imagining things.

Li Lan’s temperament was the epitome of refined elegance. Her bone structure was exquisite and perfect, her skin and flesh fitting together with ideal precision; the frame of her body was slender and long, and her figure and face were both built-in cheats. Many online creators had analyzed Li Lan’s looks, and every conclusion came down to the same thing: she was heaven’s favorite.

Someone like that could pull off any style. At first, she had shot to fame for her classic Eastern beauty, appearing in a lavish Tang-style ensemble and an exquisitely crafted Hanfu quju. Although both had been modernized, they still stunned the entire runway and quickly sparked a wave of “Eastern fever.”

That burst of popularity made its way back to China and attracted Li Lan’s first batch of fans.

Later, Li Lan mostly appeared in a dignified, elegant image. But in Zhu Qing’s eyes, Li Lan was truly seductive.

Even when every gesture of hers was restrained and graceful, even when she looked like a meticulous ink-and-wash painting, every tiny movement seemed like a silent tease to Zhu Qing.

The gentle glance, the shadow of her lashes when she lowered her eyes, her soft breath, the faintly visible line of her collarbone beneath her neckline—all of it made Zhu Qing’s throat tighten.

She always felt that Li Lan’s bones should be fiercer than that. Her red lips should be more vivid, her waist should be softer, and the look she gave should be far more aggressive.

This kind of liking was almost instinctive, making Zhu Qing’s gaze follow her without restraint.

From the very first glance, she had been taken with her beyond measure.

————————!!————————

Li Lan: After you lost your memory, what was your first impression of me?

Zhu Qing: (reminiscing) (guilty) (looks away) (her face slowly turning red from neck to cheeks) (clears her throat to change the subject) (glances at Li Lan again) (throat tightens) (can’t help edging closer for a hug)