"Okay," Mu Qi paused, finally putting Yun Shudian down.
The words of the child just now still echoed in Yun Shudian's mind.
"Sister is so old and still needs Big Brother to hold her..."
Yun Shudian's face turned incredibly red. Absentmindedly, her feet faltered, and she stumbled backward.
A vein twitched on Mu Qi's forehead as he quickly pulled her back into his embrace.
Yun Shudian snapped back to reality and abruptly took a step back.
How could she subtly hint to Mu Qi that their actions might mislead children?
Yun Shudian frowned, truly unsure how to express that what they were doing was not suitable for children.
"Let's go." Before Yun Shudian could figure out how to tell Mu Qi, he took her hand and walked directly towards where the boy had hidden.
Yun Shudian, however, stopped Mu Qi at the opportune moment: "Let the child have some game experience. We'll go catch him later."
Mu Qi halted at her words.
"Oh, Mu Qi, I'm so tired." Yun Shudian plopped down onto the pile of ocean balls.
How to describe it?
Perhaps the phrase "mentally and physically exhausted" could summarize it.
One minute, two minutes...
Time passed quickly, and the flush on Yun Shudian's face gradually faded.
Watching the children rolling around in the ocean balls, Yun Shudian wondered if she was getting old.
However, Yun Shudian quickly dismissed this thought as impossible. Recalling last night, she glared fiercely at Mu Qi.
But meeting Mu Qi's affectionate gaze, Yun Shudian felt a jolt, and her crescent eyes shifted from fierce to flustered.
Her heart pounded uncontrollably. Yun Shudian lowered her head, yet her reddened ear tips were undeniable.
Suddenly, Mu Qi's hand appeared before Yun Shudian. Yun Shudian tentatively placed her hand into his.
Mu Qi pulled Yun Shudian up, and she naturally fell into his embrace.
Mu Qi: "Hmm?"
Yun Shudian snapped back to attention and finally noticed the confusion in Mu Qi's eyes. She quickly pulled away from his arms.
Good heavens, she had just been staring at Mu Qi in a daze!
It was all Mu Qi's fault for being so handsome.
Thankfully, she found his face appealing.
Mu Qi touched his own face thoughtfully.
Yun Shudian, still embarrassed by her recent infatuation, was suddenly led forward by Mu Qi.
"Mu Qi, where are we going?" Yun Shudian asked, looking at Mu Qi's profile.
Mu Qi: "To catch that little friend."
The words "little friend" sounded perfectly normal, but hearing them from Mu Qi's mouth gave Yun Shudian a novel feeling.
This was the first time she had heard someone say these words with such an utterly cold demeanor!
Yun Shudian came back to her senses and realized they had already reached the little boy.
Just as Mu Qi was about to pull him out of the pile of ocean balls, Yun Shudian suddenly grabbed his arm.
Mu Qi obediently returned to Yun Shudian's side.
Yun Shudian covered Mu Qi's lips with her hand and then pretended to call out, "Tongtong? Tongtong, where are you?"
"Sister has been looking for so long, how can I not even find a shadow of Tongtong?" Yun Shudian called out while watching the corner of Tongtong's clothes exposed.
Seeing the corner of his clothes move slightly, Yun Shudian chuckled.
"Tongtong, Tongtong?" Yun Shudian called out a few more times in a feigned search, then silently mouthed a warning to Mu Qi not to speak.
Seeing that Mu Qi had no objections, Yun Shudian removed her hand from his lips and then bent down, pretending to rummage through the ocean balls at her feet.
She rummaged with a deliberate order, moving inward from the center, towards the child.
Just as Yun Shudian was about to find the boy, he suddenly moved further away.
"Tongtong? Tongtong, where are you?"
As Yun Shudian moved further away, the trembling of that piece of cloth grew faster and faster, and then the entire area of ocean balls began to shake violently.
Yun Shudian watched this scene with amusement and, just before Tongtong was about to emerge from the ocean balls, turned her head away.
*Bang.*
Tongtong's little carrot-like head popped out from the pile of ocean balls: "Sister, you've been looking for so long and still haven't found me, you're so stupid. Big Brother must have found me first and is tricking you, right?"
Yun Shudian looked at the "cute" child, gritting her teeth.
Did she look like someone with a poor intellect?!
Mu Qi cast a cold glance at the boy, restraining his urge to throw the child out due to Yun Shudian's presence.
"Tongtong, you can't say that. Brother is a very good person, and he wouldn't trick me." Yun Shudian stepped forward and patted Tongtong's head, trying to correct his flawed thinking.
However, she didn't expect the child to present a rather logical argument next.
"Sister, you can't know for sure if Big Brother is tricking you, can you? People's hearts are hidden."
The little boy clearly believed the story Yun Shudian had told him about Mu Qi being a paper tiger. Standing on the ocean balls, hands on his hips, he showed no fear.
"He just wouldn't!" Yun Shudian retorted decisively, without much thought.
"Teacher said you need evidence when you speak, hmph!" The child removed his hands from his hips and crossed them over his chest.
Yun Shudian looked at this brat, lamenting how much this child's demeanor could change.
She had thought this child was adorable and well-behaved before.
"Because Big Brother loves me very much, he wouldn't bear to lie to me." Yun Shudian found herself arguing with the child.
"Then how do you know he loves you?" The little boy was too young to fully grasp the meaning of love.
"Because your Big Brother thinks of me every moment he opens and closes his eyes, and wants to see me all the time. That's why he wouldn't bear to trick me."
Yun Shudian was surprised that the child was not yet convinced. Driven by a desire to win, she blurted out these embarrassing words.
Only after she finished speaking did Yun Shudian realize what she had said.
Mu Qi probably didn't hear such shameless words, right?
Yun Shudian cautiously raised her head to glance at Mu Qi and saw the corner of his mouth curved upwards, looking quite pleased. Yun Shudian breathed a sigh of relief.
She understood now. Mu Qi liked to hear sweet nothings.