Three little munchkins watched with wide eyes as she swaggeringly picked up the colored pens beside her and started coloring the few squares that were still not in place.
Swish, swish, swish--
"There, that's done!" Ji Ruochu had a self-satisfied look of "no big deal".
The three little munchkins who were about to start fighting just now: ......
"That's not right!" Fang Zhiyuan immediately got anxious, "You can wipe that off!"
"Then wipe it off." Ji Ruochu handed the colored magic cube over.
Fang Zhiyuan angrily wiped at it--but it didn't come off?
"Fast drying colored pens, pretty awesome huh?" The little one cocked her head and pointed at the words on the colored pen bag.
Jiang Zhi and Fang Zhiyuan beside her: ......Awesome.
"That's still not okay!" Qi Yibin was even more angry now. "You're cheating!"
"I'm cheating?" Ji Ruochu had an expression of "if you say that, then I'll be even more spirited".
"Who made the rule that Rubik's Cubes can only be played by twisting?"
Fang Zhiyuan paused. It seemed like...there wasn't such a rule?
"I like playing by coloring it, what's wrong with that?"
"Not allowed!"
"Why not? The Rubik's Cube wasn't invented by you, you don't get to make the rules."
"......" Fang Zhiyuan was stumped again, finally losing it completely. "Anyway, I said no, so no! You just don't know how to play, dummy!"
If this was considered knowing how to play, then what was the point of him practicing so hard all this time? He might as well just color it up like this too!
Thinking of how in order to learn this, he hadn't been eating well recently, Fang Zhiyuan felt even more aggrieved.
"With that attitude, seems like you're the one who doesn't know how to play. You've been twisting away half the day and still can't solve it, I'm the dummy?"
Ji Ruochu wasn't angry. Her soft, childish voice was full of earnestness.
"You, you......" Fang Zhiyuan was so angry his eyes were red. "You're the dummy! I'm never playing with you again!!"
"Don't play then, no big deal." Ji Ruochu was startled by his tearful tone and didn't react to the threat at first.
She tilted her head, asking curiously, "Are you gonna cry? Don't~ I didn't hit you, what are you crying for?"
"You want to hit me too?!" Fang Zhiyuan looked at her incredulously, and at this, finally couldn't hold back the tears anymore. He cried out loud, "Waaa, why are you so bad?!"
Ji Ruochu: ???
I didn't! I didn't do that! Don't falsely accuse me!
Blocking Ji Ruochu from both sides, Jiang Zhi and Fang Zhiyuan: ......Their worries seemed a bit unnecessary.
"What's going on?" A teacher came over and saw Fang Zhiyuan crying buckets of tears and snot everywhere. She quickly took out tissues to wipe his face.
"Tea..teacher~ She, she cheated!" Qi Yibin cried pitifully, "The Rubik's Cube...isn't played like that."
Goodness, his voice was warbling from crying.
Ji Ruochu, who almost laughed out loud, hurriedly covered her mouth. What a sin, how could she laugh.
"You're laughing too~? You, you, wah...."
"There, there, don't cry. Your sister just played with the toy in a different way..." The teacher quickly wiped away his tears and snot, speaking gently to comfort him.
"It's not a different way! She, she's stupid! She doesn't know how!" Fang Zhiyuan said while still looking angrily at Ji Ruochu.
"......"
Ji Ruochu endured it for a bit, but still couldn't hold back. She made a "tsk" sound, then took the special pen cleaning cloth and wiped away the colors she had jokingly applied earlier.
Fang Zhiyuan, who was still wiping away tears, immediately widened his eyes: didn't she say it couldn't be wiped off?
Liar!!!
"Why...are you about to cry again?" Seeing Fang Zhiyuan's eyes redden again from the corner of her eyes, Ji Ruochu felt extremely helpless. She quickly sped up her movements.
And so, the next second, the three munchkins and the teacher who came over to mediate all saw that the little girl who was just called "stupid" and "doesn't know how" a moment ago, was now calmly solving the Rubik's Cube with a composed expression.
The little one's hands were fair and chubby. Her fingers looked a bit short.
But that didn't affect her flying fingers as she swiftly twisted the Rubik's Cube which was about the same size as her hands.
Ji Ruochu: It should be like this right? No wait, this side of the cube...Should twist this way...
Jiang Zhi beside her paled in shock: !!
Da, da, da......
The sounds of the Rubik's Cube twisting were light and rhythmic.
Ji Ruochu had a focused expression. Her fair fingers flew nimbly. Each twist seemed precisely calculated, yet also looked effortless and skilled.
Mm, as long as I twist fast enough, no one will know I'm recalling formulas.
Da.
Finally, with the last sound, the Rubik's Cube that had been abused, thrown, and colored on, was restored once again.
"There." Ji Ruochu tossed the cube into Fang Zhiyuan's arms without even glancing at it. "Is this way of playing ok? Here, take it. Stop crying."
Jiang Zhi and Fang Zhiyuan looked at the stunned Qi Yibin, and suddenly felt...he was so pitiful.
The bewildered Fang Zhiyuan pouted: What's going on? I feel even more upset now...
Teacher at the side, grieved: A killer blow, truly a killer blow!
Just as Fang Zhiyuan was about to start another round of wailing, the children's games officially began. The teacher hurriedly led Fang Zhiyuan over.
"Ruochu sister, let's go too." Fang Zhiyuan thought for a bit, then held out his slightly long sleeve for Ji Ruochu, who was a little shorter than him, to hold on to.
"Sister, you're so awesome!" The somewhat obtuse Jiang Zhi had bright eyes. He unconsciously grabbed Fang Zhiyuan's outstretched sleeve and asked her excitedly, "Can I play together with you in the future?"
At the same time, he naturally grabbed Fang Zhiyuan with one hand, and held Ji Ruochu's hand with the other, turning to walk towards the game area.
"Sure, where do you guys live?" Ji Ruochu casually wedged the doll under her armpit, and readily kept pace with them.
It just so happened that Fang Zhiyuan, who was pulled along forcibly for a few steps, turned back at that moment, and instantly went silent.
How strange, why did he see his grandfather's shadow in his little sister?
"Little friends, next we will play a very simple game. The little friend who wins the game will receive a wonderful prize!"
The teacher with light makeup was very friendly. Showing the prizes also successfully aroused the children's interest.
The first game was very simple, called "Strolling Three Gardens". As the name implies, it was to name objects that would be in the garden specified by the teacher.
In essence, it was testing the children's responsiveness and cognitive abilities, to see the extent of their vocabulary.
"On Sunday, strolling three gardens, which garden shall we stroll today?"
"Botanical garden!"
"What is in the botanical garden?" The teacher smiled and looked at the first child to her left.
"Pine tree!"
"Peach tree!"
......
The children responded one after another, their tender voices quite amusing to hear.
Of course, this was just the beginning. As objects they could name became fewer and fewer, the children were eliminated one by one, until only a few remained.
To be honest, Ji Ruochu didn't have a competitive streak for games like these.
She had intended to just go through the motions and give up, but was overwhelmed by how enthusiastic her two little buddies were.
Seeing her hem and haw on the verge of being eliminated, they immediately shared their tiny vocabularies with her.
A simple solo PK game was somehow turned into a team battle by the three kids who added up to less than ten years old.
Under this atmosphere, Ji Ruochu was dragged along by her two teammates under ten into the finals.
