Chapter 16

At 11 PM, the parents of the children began to arrive at the school to pick up their kids. Half of the children in the dormitory had already left, and the other half were still sleeping.

When Zhang Tan came down, a stranger also entered. He was a man between 30 and 40 years old, carrying a briefcase, wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and black trousers despite the hot weather. He was stout, with a round face and an oily complexion, wiping himself with a tissue as he walked.

Seeing Zhang Tan, he bowed slightly and said with a smile, "Hello."

Zhang Tan replied, "Hello, are you here to pick up a child?"

"Yes, yes, you too?"

Zhang Tan smiled. At this moment, Teacher Xiao Liu came over and said, "Chengcheng is still sleeping. Do you want to wait a bit or take her now?"

It turned out to be Meng Chengcheng's father! Zhang Tan was surprised and looked at him again. Meng Chengcheng looked like a little fairy, and although it was impolite to think so, he couldn't see any resemblance between them.

"When did Chengcheng fall asleep?" the man asked.

Teacher Xiao Liu said, "At half past ten."

"Then let her sleep a bit longer. I'll wait."

Teacher Xiao Liu said, "You can sit over there."

Seeing the man walk away, Zhang Tan asked Teacher Xiao Liu, "Is Xiao Bai sleeping?"

Teacher Xiao Liu shook her head, "She's reading picture books on the first floor and doesn't want to sleep."

She's really a night owl. All the other children are asleep, but she isn't.

Zhang Tan didn't immediately go downstairs to find Xiao Bai but turned to Aunt Huang's office.

The door was open, and the light extended into the corridor. Aunt Huang was wearing glasses and looking at the computer. Zhang Tan knocked on the door, attracting her attention, and said, "Aunt Huang, are you still busy?"

Seeing Zhang Tan, Aunt Huang took off her glasses, let him in, and asked, "You haven't slept yet?"

"I came down to check on everyone," Zhang Tan said as he sat down.

Aunt Huang looked at the clock on the wall and said, "This is the peak time for parents to pick up their children. It won't end until after midnight."

She continued, "I heard you've been helping out these past few days. You should get some rest early. You have to work tomorrow, unlike us, who can sleep in a bit more."

Zhang Tan smiled and said, "It's fine. I just want to understand how the school operates. By the way, I want to see Xiao Bai's file. Do you have it?"

"File?" Aunt Huang was a bit surprised, not understanding why Zhang Tan wanted to see it. It was confidential, but since he was the boss, it didn't apply to him.

"I have it. I'll get it for you."

She got up, walked to the file cabinet behind her desk, unlocked it with a key, and after a moment of searching, pulled out a file and handed it to Zhang Tan, "This is Xiao Bai's."

Zhang Tan took it, untied the string on the file bag, and pulled out a document.

Name: Bai Chunhua

Gender: Female

Age: 4 years

Birthday: December 1st

Place of Origin: Chengdu, Sichuan

Family Situation: Adopted by her uncle Bai Jianping and aunt Ma Lanhua

Address: No. 1035 Huangjia Village, Pujiang City

...

After reading it, Zhang Tan sighed and asked, "What about Xiao Bai's parents?"

Aunt Huang's expression was somewhat pained, "It's not written in the file, but I talked to her aunt. She said Xiao Bai's parents passed away when she was a few months old. There was only her grandmother, but she was too old to take care of her alone, so they took her in. They came to Pujiang to work this year, and Xiao Bai came with them."

Zhang Tan asked again, "What do her uncle and aunt do?"

"They work on a construction site with a fellow townsman who is a contractor. At night, they set up a stall on the street to sell small items," Aunt Huang said, "Life is hard for adults."

Zhang Tan nodded, "Yes, it's hard."

Aunt Huang asked, "Why did you suddenly want to see Xiao Bai's file? Is something wrong with her?"

"It's nothing. I just find this child special. I'll return the file. I'll go back now," Zhang Tan said as he put the file back and handed it to Aunt Huang.

"Okay, get some rest. Don't stay up late," Aunt Huang reminded him, not asking further.

Zhang Tan left the office and saw Meng Chengcheng's father leaving the school, carrying a child in his arms.

"Bye, bye~ See you tomorrow~"

A child was standing under the eaves, saying goodbye to them. Meng Chengcheng's father turned around, smiled, and waved, both as a goodbye and a signal for her to go back to rest.

The one saying goodbye was Xiao Bai, who refused to sleep.

Zhang Tan came down the stairs, and Xiao Bai, hearing the noise, turned around, her eyes brightening, "Uncle, you're here. Tell me a story."

The last time he told her a story about the mouse named Arthur, she had been thinking about it ever since.

This child ran over to find a picture book, and Zhang Tan followed, saying, "You should go to sleep. Aren't you sleepy?"

Xiao Bai tiptoed and quickly found "The Mouse Arthur" from the bookshelf, holding it out to Zhang Tan. Her face was dirty, but her eyes were bright, "Xiao Bai isn't sleepy. Uncle, tell me a story. I'll thank you."

Zhang Tan was about to refuse but found that he had already taken the book in his hand!

Well, since he had it, he might as well tell a story. The child in front of him looked so hopeful, like a little puppy.

"Should I pick a random one, or do you want to hear a specific one?"

Xiao Bai tiptoed and pointed at the open book, "I want to hear this, this, this, and this..."

Seeing this, Zhang Tan quickly said, "Okay, okay, don't say anymore. I know you want to hear all of them."

"Quack, quack, quack~" Xiao Bai laughed like a duck.

Zhang Tan made her sit down and agreed that after one story, she must go to sleep.

Xiao Bai agreed.

At this moment, it seemed like she would agree to anything.

A dog is most aggressive when eating, but before eating, it's the easiest to talk to.

Zhang Tan decided to test her. He pointed to the cover of the book, "The Mouse Arthur," and asked, "Do you know what these characters are?"

Last time, Xiao Bai said she couldn't read, and Zhang Tan didn't believe her, but after seeing her file, he learned that she hadn't attended kindergarten!

Perhaps she really hadn't started learning to read.

"It's a windmill, Arthur. I'm not a dog," Xiao Bai said indignantly.

"This is a mouse, not a windmill," Zhang Tan said.

Xiao Bai insisted, "It's a windmill."

Zhang Tan thought it was probably due to the difference between Sichuanese and Mandarin. Well, let's say she recognized it. It seemed she knew a few characters.

Zhang Tan flipped to a page with content and pointed to a line of text, continuing his test.

"How do you read this sentence?"

Xiao Bai stared at it for a while and smiled without speaking.

"What's wrong? Just smiling without speaking? Do you know how to read these characters?"

Xiao Bai shook her head.

"You don't recognize these two characters either?"

Zhang Tan pointed to the characters "Arthur."

Xiao Bai stared at them very seriously, looking at the characters and then at Zhang Tan, not understanding why he expected her to recognize them.

Shaking her head, she still didn't recognize them.

Zhang Tan said, "So you were just guessing earlier."

These two characters were "Arthur."

Zhang Tan concluded that Xiao Bai had been guessing. Book titles are easier to guess.

"What?!"

Hearing that she had been guessing, Xiao Bai was very unhappy.

"What did you say? Say it again clearly."

It seemed like she was about to get angry, and the next second might be a barrage of Sichuanese.

"Never mind, I'm not talking about you. Let's tell a story. The Mouse Arthur, one day, he met a cat..."

Xiao Bai was shocked.

"What? A cat? He's a tricky one. He's a goblin, the windmill is doomed~"

A mouse meeting a cat, that's not good.

Zhang Tan: "..."

The windmill had already given him a headache, and now there was a tricky one. He had no idea what it meant!

But he understood "goblin"!

Zhang Tan stared at Xiao Bai, not speaking. Xiao Bai looked at him innocently, not understanding why he was silent, and urged, "Uncle, keep telling the story."

Zhang Tan said, "Don't think I don't understand what you mean by 'goblin.' Children shouldn't say bad words."

"Oh, okay, okay~" Xiao Bai said, then muttered, "It's too much."

Zhang Tan heard it and asked, "What did you say?"

"Okay, okay, I'm so well-behaved. How could I say bad words? You must have heard wrong. You need to clean your ears."

"Can you speak Mandarin?"

"Okay, Uncle, Xiao Bai is a good baby."

Xiao Bai sat up straight, acting like a good baby.

Zhang Tan remembered "It's too much" and decided to look it up later. If it was a curse, he would definitely check what it meant.

No! He couldn't wait. He had to look it up now!

He took out his phone and searched online. Fortunately, "It's too much" means "troublesome."

Xiao Bai curiously leaned over to look at his phone screen.

Zhang Tan put his phone away, "You got away this time, Xiao Bai."

It took less than 5 minutes to finish another story about the Mouse Arthur. He took her back to the dormitory to rest, urging her to lie down on her little bed.

She rolled over on the bed, propped herself up, and said to Zhang Tan, "Uncle, I have something to tell you."

"What?"

"Come closer, put your ear closer."

Zhang Tan leaned in.

"My aunt is coming to pick me up. I'll go to sleep now."

Zhang Tan: "..."

He looked at Teacher Xiao Liu, who was trying to suppress a laugh and nodded.

Zhang Tan: ----