Following Gu Shuanghua's preferences, this villa had been built in a modern Chinese style, with an antique-looking fragrant hardwood screen beside the staircase separating it from the living area.
The Gu family's main bedrooms were on the third floor.
But Gu Shuanghua was getting older, and her legs had not been as strong these past two years. A few days ago, her headaches had also been severe, so she had simply moved down to the first floor.
Chacha and Daddy had not yet been acknowledged by Gu Shuanghua, so for now they were also staying in a first-floor guest room.
Chacha had never gone up the villa's stairs before. Holding Brother Gu Ran's hand, he tipped his little head back and looked around curiously.
The banister was made from beautiful dark-brown walnut wood with a lustrous sheen, running smoothly upward.
Gu Ran glanced at the staircase, which looked enormously tall from a toddler's perspective, and without hesitation scooped Chacha into his arms.
“Your legs are too short. Climbing stairs would take too much effort. I'll carry you up.”
Gu Ran bounced the little thing in his arms and found Chacha much lighter than his schoolbag.
Chacha really wasn't good at climbing stairs. Sitting in the crook of Gu Ran's arm, he wrapped his arms around his brother's neck and nodded obediently.
“Okay. Thank you, Brother.”
Being called Brother made Gu Ran feel incredibly pleased, as though every pore in his body had relaxed. Bright laughter fell into the corners of his eyes.
“That's nothing. I changed classrooms in my second year of high school. Now I can climb six floors in one go.”
Chacha gave an impressed “Wow,” providing enthusiastic support.
“So ama'ing. In one breath, I can walk six steps.”
Gu Ran almost burst out laughing. Pressing down the corners of his mouth, he deliberately sounded amazed.
“Six steps! And all in one breath. That's good, that's good!”
Praise made Chacha's cheeks turn red. His moist eyes curved, his smile sweet and obedient.
Halfway up, Chacha twisted his little face to look left and right and reminded his brother,
“Where are we going? If we don't walk in circles, Daddy will get angry.”
Chacha had seen Daddy angry once. It had been very, very frightening.
“Daddy smashed the table with one punch.” Remembering it, Chacha couldn't help shivering his shoulders.
Gu Ran pictured his stepdad Lü Rong's gentle appearance. He always spoke softly and kindly, with a mild temperament exactly like Chacha's.
This father and son were both as soft as dough. They could smash tables with their fists?
Gu Ran didn't take Chacha's words seriously at all. Carrying Chacha to the second floor, he paused to catch his breath and introduced the place.
“The third floor is all bedrooms, so there's nothing much to see. The second floor has a small entertainment room, two studies, a tea room, and a gym. We're going to exercise in the gym in a minute.”
Chacha's little feet touched the floor. Holding Brother's hand, he looked at the unfamiliar surroundings and nodded repeatedly.
“Okay.”
Gu Ran led Chacha to the third room from the left, pushed open the gym door, and switched on the central air-conditioning so cold air rushed inside.
The stuffy heat was gradually forced away, and the room instantly turned into the most comfortable kind of air-conditioned refuge on a scorching summer day.
Gu Ran walked to a piece of fitness equipment. The hand he had tucked into his trouser pocket to look cool finally emerged, and he patted the machine in front of him.
“Walking circles outside in this heat is stupid. There's a treadmill in here. Come on, Chacha, stand on it and try.”
Chacha had never seen this equipment before. He walked around it once, bewildered.
“What's a walk-walk chicken?”
Why did it have such a strange name?
Laughter spread through Gu Ran's cool features. He bent over the machine and laughed without stopping.
“It's a treadmill. Here, I'll show you first.”
Gu Ran hopped onto it, started the machine, and began walking at its speed.
Gu Ran turned his head and, sure enough, saw Chacha's mouth forming an “O,” his little eyes packed full of astonishment.
“Wow!” Chacha couldn't help exclaiming.
This machine could actually make a person walk!
That one “Wow” nearly coaxed Gu Ran into becoming a fool from pride.
He tightened the corners of his mouth, which wanted desperately to rise, and thought perhaps he wasn't nearly as useless and terrible as he had imagined.
Look how much Little Brother Chacha admired him!
Gu Ran's dramatic teenage streak surged again. Wanting to show off, he deliberately adjusted the treadmill to its highest speed.
“Look, Chacha! This machine can run too!”
The moment Gu Ran started running, all the metal ornaments on his body jingled and clattered along with him.
Chacha watched the assorted silver rings and pendants swinging wildly, shuffled his feet, and quietly moved several steps farther away so he wouldn't get hit by any flying accessories.
After finishing his demonstration, Gu Ran's exposed forearm had been smacked red by a diamond chain.
Gu Ran grimaced.
If only he'd known better than to buy real diamonds!
They really hurt when they hit you!
Gu Ran instinctively sucked in a breath from the pain. Then he turned and met Chacha's clear gaze, hurriedly forced a smile, casually rubbed his arm, and said with effortless swagger,
“Small problem. Doesn't affect my workout at all.”
Holy crap, that hurts like hell!
Chacha thought the brother he'd known for only a few days seemed a little foolish.
But Daddy had said good babies couldn't casually say bad things about other people.
Chacha blinked several times and offered a polite, obedient smile.
“Brother is really amazing.”
After finishing his show-off routine and hearing Little Brother Chacha's praise, Gu Ran was completely satisfied, his brows flying with pride.
“What's this? Come on, Chacha, you try standing on it too. Once you learn, you won't have to walk circles outside under the blazing sun after meals anymore.”
Chacha gave an “Mm,” breathed out, and imitating Gu Ran, rolled up the sleeve of his shirt even though it was already short-sleeved.
“I'm ready!”
Using both hands and feet to climb onto the treadmill, Chacha puffed out his chest to show he was fully prepared.
Gu Ran didn't dare set it too fast at once. He chose the absolute slowest setting, practically snail speed, and pressed confirm.
Chacha had thought he was ready, but the instant the machine started, he still lost control and plopped down onto his bottom on the treadmill.
Chacha was slowly carried backward by the belt, looking exceptionally confused.
Gu Ran couldn't help bursting into laughter. He hooked his hands beneath Chacha's arms and lifted him off.
Once Chacha's feet touched the floor, he tipped his head back, looked at his brother laughing himself silly, realized he had done something foolish, and couldn't help laughing too.
“I'm so silly.” Chacha curved his brows and scratched his cheek.
Gu Ran, however, was thinking: who in the world had invented such an entertaining tiny person?
He was way too much fun!
Gu Ran crouched, suppressed his laughter, and carefully explained several details Chacha needed to pay attention to.
Chacha listened solemnly, his little face serious as he nodded.
“You understand this time, right?” Gu Ran asked.
Chacha nodded hard. “I understand.”
Gu Ran clapped his hands, stood, and nodded at Chacha encouragingly.
“Good! It'll definitely work this time!” Gu Ran was full of confidence.
Chacha climbed back onto the treadmill and stood straight too, holding a breath in his chest as he nodded heavily.
“It'll definitely work!”
When Gu Ran pressed confirm again, Chacha's short little legs started moving rapidly.
Chacha held his breath, clenched his fists, and huffed and puffed as he marched forward with all his strength.
The problem was, he moved too fast. Chacha quickly reached the very front of the treadmill belt, and one more step would have sent him running right off the machine.
Gu Ran hurriedly hit stop, hooked his arms beneath Chacha's, and lifted him into the air.
Chacha had been happily walking and didn't realize at all that his feet were no longer on anything. His short legs kept pumping with extraordinary determination.
After a few more steps in midair, Chacha finally sensed something was wrong. He looked down and discovered there was nothing beneath his feet.
Chacha, whose two legs had nearly turned into spinning wheels of fire, slowly stopped and looked at his brother in confusion.
“Are we not walking anymore?” Chacha asked, puzzled.
Gu Ran wanted to laugh, but Chacha's little expression was so earnest that he felt too embarrassed to laugh at him now.
Gu Ran coughed lightly, set Chacha on the floor, thought for a long time, and finally found an excuse.
“I overlooked something. This machine isn't really suitable for you. You're not tall enough. If you came by yourself next time, you definitely wouldn't be able to reach the buttons.”
Chacha gave a thoughtful “Mm” and nodded in agreement.
“Right. I can't walk on it by my shelf.”
Needing someone else to help every time really would be inconvenient.
After all that effort, Chacha's plan to walk circles in the gym was officially abandoned.
Gu Ran held Chacha's hand and obediently went back downstairs, where they circled the living room twice.
Once Chacha grew sleepy and Daddy carried him away for his afternoon nap, Gu Ran also took a car back to school for class.
But this time, Gu Ran silently left all the silver-chain accessories at home.
Those lousy chains hurt way too much when they swung around and hit people!
***
The bedroom.
Lü Rong glanced at sleeping Chacha, then flipped through the stack of kindergarten materials in his hands, unable to decide.
Actually, Chacha should have started kindergarten a week ago with the other new students beginning in September.
But Lü Rong had still been finishing an acting job, and another production happened to need a child actor, so they had delayed it several days.
Privately, Lü Rong wanted Chacha to attend a better kindergarten. He had been asking people about different schools and didn't want to transfer Chacha's student registration too casually.
Now that Lü Rong had married Gu Huaizheng, regardless of anything else, Chacha at least qualified for admission to several top kindergartens in Jing City.
There were simply too many kindergartens, and choosing among them was difficult.
One moment Lü Rong thought this school's curriculum looked interesting, the next he thought another school's food was better; then after thinking more carefully, he decided being close to home would be more convenient…
He kept choosing and reconsidering until Chacha woke up, yet still hadn't decided which one to pick.
Unable to make the final decision, Lü Rong simply put several kindergarten options in front of Chacha and let Chacha choose.
“Chacha, look at these kindergartens. Which one do you like? Once you choose, we can do the paperwork in a couple of days and send Chacha to school.”
Still a little dazed from sleep, Chacha lay on the small sofa beside Daddy and tilted his head while looking through the unfamiliar kindergarten pictures.
He couldn't read. After flipping through them once, he finally chose one whose picture had little flowers and grass.
“This one. It has flowers and grass. Pretty.”
Chacha chose incredibly quickly and had no sensible reason at all; it was based purely on first impression.
But Lü Rong respected Chacha's choice and immediately made the decision.
“All right. We'll choose this one!”
At dinner that evening, Chacha tipped up his head and happily shared the news with Gu Ran, who had returned from school.
“Brother, I'm going to school too. I'm going to kindergarten.”
Gu Ran had spent an entire day in class listening as if the teachers were speaking an alien language, with not a scrap of knowledge entering his brain.
As his teacher put it, Gu Ran sat in the classroom with eyes both clear and bewildered.
Seeing Chacha still happily celebrating the prospect of going to school, Gu Ran couldn't help sighing and shaking his head.
Little brother, cherish these carefree days while you still can—