"Homework... you don't have to do it! You're my goddaughter, you should have the courage to be a bad student!"
Just as Ke Muning was about to start his "guidance" to Xiao Ya.
"Ke Muning, you're omnipotent, aren't you?" Xiao Ya looked up at him and spoke first.
"..."
"Ke Muning, you'll help me, right?"
"..."
"Because you're daddy."
"I'll do it," Ke Muning squeezed the words through his teeth.
Xiao Ya gave him a bowl of chicken soup and asked, "Ke Muning, how's your Chinese coming along?"
"...It's improved a bit."
"Great, then all the requirements for the handicraft homework are written here in Chinese."
"..."
This conversation sounded rather absurd to the bodyguards' ears.
Something seemed off.
Weren't adults supposed to be the ones asking children about their studies?
How come the young miss was questioning Ke Muning instead???
Ke Muning said nothing, politely lowering his head to take a sip of chicken soup.
Then he instantly realized something was wrong: "There shouldn't be chicken soup at a banquet! Jefferson knew you'd come here!"
Ke Muning immediately regained his adult authority, looking down at Xiao Ya with a forced smile: "You conspired with Jefferson."
Xiao Ya stuffed a chicken leg in his mouth before saying, "How else would it be a surprise?"
Ke Muning was instantly silenced, finishing the chicken leg in two bites.
Looking down at Xiao Ya again, the little one was pitifully eating just a small chicken wing.
"Why did you give me the bigger piece?" Though Ke Muning said this, he was still savoring the child's love.
Xiao Ya finished her soup first, then hesitated: "Um..."
But she chose to tell the truth: "Because your mouth is bigger than mine."
Ke Muning: "..." So a chicken leg wasn't enough to keep you quiet?
Ke Muning asked coldly: "Full?"
Xiao Ya nodded.
Ke Muning snorted and grabbed her from her seat.
Then he ran with her.
The bodyguards' expressions changed slightly as they hurried after them, hearing Ke Muning tell their young miss: "Now that you're full, let me introduce you to more people."
Their young miss responded quite generously: "You can brag about how I got many first places in this year's exams."
"Why brag about that?"
"Isn't that what all dads like to do?"
Ke Muning's stern face softened a bit.
It was his first time being a father and he wasn't very skilled at it, but from this moment on, he learned.
"Oliver," Ke Muning randomly called out to someone, "this is my goddaughter."
"Uh, okay, okay." The person awkwardly responded.
"How are your son's grades?" Ke Muning cleverly drew a parallel.
The man called Oliver was stunned: "I don't have a son."
"Then your daughter..."
"I don't have a daughter either."
Ke Muning immediately pulled Xiao Ya away: "Must have done too many terrible things! We don't play with people who can't have descendants. Let's find someone else."
The bodyguards behind them: "..."
Well, it seemed there was no need to worry about their young miss's safety. They only needed to worry about whether Ke Muning would be a bad influence on her.
With Xiao Ya around, the banquet became more bearable.
It seemed to end in the blink of an eye.
Xiao Ya handed her little backpack to Ke Muning: "Remember to do my homework."
When Ke Muning heard this, he realized something was wrong: "You're not coming back with me?"
He looked down at his watch.
They'd only been happy for a little over an hour.
Xiao Ya nodded: "I'll come back again."
Ke Muning's face darkened.
Xiao Ya continued: "Ke Muning, when I come back next time, you'll have finished making my handicraft Earth model, right?"
Ke Muning responded stiffly: "Ah."
Xiao Ya hugged him briefly before turning to get in the car.
Ke Muning's subordinates carefully observed their boss's expression, expecting him to be very angry.
"Find a translator."
"Huh?"
"And... find a Chinese person. No, hire a Chinese person. Are there any Chinese tutors?" Ke Muning picked up the little backpack and looked down, "Need to figure out what this Chinese homework is first."
His subordinate gaped. Are we really going to do this?
"Hurry up!" Ke Muning was already irritated, "We'll fly to Yemen later tomorrow, tell them to wait, say I'm busy doing homework!"
"Uh, uh, okay!"
Meanwhile, the Gui family's bodyguards noticed their young miss directing the driver onto a different road.
Not following Ke Muning? Not staying at the Perry Hotel? But not returning to the estate either!
"Where are you going now, Miss?"
"To Princeton."
"What are you going there for?"
"To attend someone's birthday."
The bodyguards were surprised - their young miss had quite a few friends abroad?
It was already very late when they arrived at Princeton.
Xiao Ya didn't rush to see Sheng Yuxiao, instead waiting at the hotel to sleep for a while before heading to the apartment building address Xu Ruying had given her.
This was where Sheng Yuxiao lived.
"Wait here, and you all hide first," Xiao Ya said before putting on a plush animal head mask.
The bodyguards obediently hid in the shrubbery.
Soon after, an Aston Martin drove up and stopped in front of the apartment building.
But the person inside didn't get out, instead rolling down the window to reveal a cold profile.
He spoke in English: "Get out."
It was Sheng Yuxiao!
But it was... a different Sheng Yuxiao, one Xiao Ya hadn't seen before.
Xiao Ya hesitated, about to jump out.
But several people emerged first from behind a nearby wall.
They approached while laughing and joking.
"Sheng! Heard you ruined the ceremony."
"Why are you so unwilling to join us?"
"Were our courtesies not adequate?"
They were speaking English.
Xiao Ya could understand every word now.
"Cathy, go give him some warmth, at least make him look less sour," they said, pushing a young girl toward Sheng Yuxiao.
Sheng Yuxiao raised his hand, bent his fingers, and used a pair of sunglasses to block the girl.
"You Chinese people are really difficult to deal with." The boys around shrugged, then raised their middle fingers and cursed.
"So annoying, idiots, I've told you before, I won't join your whatever club. If you want me to join you that badly, get down on your knees and lick my shoes, build me a new club, maybe then I'll consider it."
Sheng Yuxiao frowned as he spoke, suddenly pushing open the car door, directly knocking down two people who were standing there.
The others' expressions changed, ready to fight.
Sheng Yuxiao stepped right over the fallen people, putting on brass knuckles.
One punch.
The sound of breaking bones could be heard.
So many of them against just Sheng Yuxiao? Xiao Ya's eyes widened.
In the midst of the chaos.
A small figure wearing a plush animal head mask rushed out.
"What... what is that?"
