16. The White Camellia Blossom

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At 11 p.m., the parents of the children began arriving at the academy to pick them up. Half of the dormitory had already emptied, while about half the children were still asleep.

As Zhang Tan came down, a stranger entered alongside him—a man about 30 to 40 years old, carrying a briefcase. Despite the sweltering heat, he wore a white long-sleeved shirt and black dress pants. His figure was bulky, his face round and oily, and he wiped his face with a tissue as he walked.

Upon seeing Zhang Tan, he slightly bowed and smiled, saying, “Hello.”

Zhang Tan replied, “Hello. Are you here to pick up a child?”

“Yes, yes. You too?” the man responded.

Zhang Tan smiled. At that moment, Teacher Xiao Liu approached and said, “Chengcheng is still asleep. Would you like to wait a bit or take her now?”

It was none other than Meng Chengcheng’s father! Zhang Tan looked at him again in surprise. Meng Chengcheng looked like a little elf, and though it was impolite to think so, Zhang Tan couldn’t see much resemblance between the two.

“When did Chengcheng go to sleep?” the man asked.

“Around 10:30,” replied Teacher Xiao Liu.

“Then we’ll wait a little longer, let her sleep more.”

Teacher Xiao Liu said, “You can sit over there for a while.”

After the man walked away, Zhang Tan asked Teacher Xiao Liu, “Is Xiaobai asleep?”

She shook her head. “She’s on the first floor reading picture books, refusing to go to sleep.”

She was truly a night owl; all the other children were asleep except her.

Zhang Tan didn’t immediately go downstairs to find Xiaobai but instead headed to Aunt Huang’s office.

The door was open, and light spilled into the corridor. Aunt Huang was wearing glasses, looking at her computer. Zhang Tan knocked on the door to get her attention.

“Aunt Huang, still busy?”

Seeing Zhang Tan, she took off her glasses and invited him in. “You’re not asleep yet?”

“Just came down to check on everyone,” Zhang Tan said, sitting down.

Aunt Huang glanced at the clock on the wall. “This is the peak time for parents picking up their kids. It won’t wind down until after midnight.”

She added, “I heard you’ve been helping out these days. You should rest early, you have work tomorrow. Unlike us, we can sleep in.”

Zhang Tan smiled. “It’s okay. I just want to understand how the academy operates. By the way, can I see Xiaobai’s file? Do you have it here?”

“File?” Aunt Huang seemed surprised, not understanding why Zhang Tan wanted to see it. It was confidential, but since he was the boss, it wasn’t off-limits.

“Yes, I’ll find it.”

She stood up, went to the filing cabinet behind her desk, unlocked it with a key, and after searching, pulled out a file and handed it to Zhang Tan.

He took it, untied the string around the folder, and pulled out the document.

Name: Bai Chunhua
Gender: Female
Age: 4
Birthday: December 1
Place of Origin: Chengdu, Sichuan
Family Situation: Adopted by uncle Bai Jianping and aunt Ma Lanhua
Address: No. 1035, Huangjia Village, Pujiang City
…

After reading, Zhang Tan sighed softly and asked, “What about Xiaobai’s parents?”

Aunt Huang looked somewhat sympathetic. “It’s not in the file, but I talked with her aunt. Xiaobai’s parents died when she was just a few months old. There’s only a grandmother at home, but she’s too old to take care of her alone, so they took over raising her. Earlier this year, they came to Pujiang to work, and Xiaobai came with them.”

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

“They have a fellow villager who works as a subcontractor on a construction site here. Both of them work at the site and sell small items at street stalls at night,” Aunt Huang explained. “Adult life is never easy.”

Zhang Tan nodded. “Indeed, it’s tough.”

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Aunt Huang asked, “Why the sudden interest in Xiaobai’s file? Is something wrong with her?”

“Nothing. I just find this child special. I’ll return the file now and head back,” Zhang Tan said, repacking the file and handing it back.

“All right, get some rest and don’t stay up late,” Aunt Huang reminded him but didn’t press further.

Zhang Tan left the office and saw Meng Chengcheng’s father leaving the academy, carrying the child in his arms.

“Bye-bye~~ see you tomorrow~”

A small child stood under the eaves to say farewell. Hearing this, Meng Chengcheng’s father turned, smiled, and waved—a gesture both saying goodbye and signaling that the child need not say goodbye and should just rest.

The child bidding farewell was none other than Xiaobai, the one refusing to sleep.

Zhang Tan went down the stairs. Hearing the movement, Xiaobai turned around, her eyes lighting up. “Uncle is here! Tell me a story.”

Last time he had told her about Alfred the Field Mouse, and she had taken a liking to it.

The little girl quickly ran to find picture books. Zhang Tan followed and said, “You should be sleeping. Aren’t you tired?”

Xiaobai stood on tiptoe, quickly found “Alfred the Field Mouse” on the bookshelf, and handed it to Zhang Tan. Her face was dark but her eyes bright. “Xiaobai’s not tired. Uncle, tell me a story. I’ll thank you.”

Zhang Tan was about to refuse but realized the book was already in his hands.

Well, since it was in his hands, he might as well tell a story. This little girl’s hopeful expression was like that of a puppy.

“Should I pick one at random, or is there one you want to hear?”

Xiaobai stood on tiptoe and pointed to several open books. “I want to hear this one, this one, this one, and this one…”

Seeing this, Zhang Tan quickly said, “Alright, alright, no need to say more—I know you want to hear them all.”

“Goo goo goo~~” Xiaobai laughed in a way that sounded like a goose honking.

Zhang Tan told her to sit properly and made a deal: after one story, she had to go to sleep.

Xiaobai agreed.

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

A dog is fiercest when eating, but before eating, it’s the easiest to persuade.

Zhang Tan decided to test her, pointing at the cover of the picture book with the four characters “Alfred the Field Mouse,” he asked, “Do you know what these characters say?”

Last time Xiaobai said she couldn’t read, and Zhang Tan didn’t believe her. But after reading her file, he learned she hadn’t even attended kindergarten!

Maybe she really hadn’t started learning to read.

“It’s ‘feng che che Afo’, I’m not a stray dog,” Xiaobai said indignantly.

“This says ‘field mouse,’ not ‘feng che che,’” Zhang Tan corrected.

“That’s feng che che,” Xiaobai insisted.

Zhang Tan thought it was probably a dialect difference between Sichuanese and Mandarin and decided to let it slide. She apparently recognized a few characters after all.

Flipping to a content page, Zhang Tan randomly pointed at a line and asked, stepping up the test:

“How do you read this sentence?”

Xiaobai stared at it for a long moment, smiled, but said nothing.

“What’s the matter? Just smiling and not speaking? Can you read these characters?”

She shook her head.

“Don’t recognize these two either?” Zhang Tan pointed at the characters “Afo.”

Xiaobai looked carefully, back and forth between the characters and Zhang Tan, struggling to understand why she had to know these characters from his tone.

She shook her head again, still didn’t recognize them.

Zhang Tan said, “So you were just guessing before.”

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Those two characters are “Afo.”

Zhang Tan judged that Xiaobai had been guessing just now—the book title was an easy guess.

“What?!” Xiaobai was displeased upon hearing Zhang Tan say she was guessing.

“What did you say?? Say it again, so I can hear clearly.”

It sounded like the prelude to an outburst, possibly followed by a torrent of Sichuan dialect curses.

“No, no, I’m not talking about you. Let’s tell the story. Alfred the Field Mouse, one day, met a cat…”

Xiaobai gasped.

“What? Fake expert? That fellow is doomed, the field mouse is dead for sure.”

A mouse running into a cat was a disaster.

Zhang Tan was speechless.

Just now “feng che che” had already given him a headache, and now this “fake expert” popped up—what was that? He understood nothing!

But “xian ren ban ban” (literally “immortal board board”)—he understood that!

Zhang Tan stared at Xiaobai silently. Xiaobai looked back innocently, not understanding why he had suddenly gone mute, and urged, “Uncle, keep telling the story.”

Zhang Tan said, “Don’t think I don’t understand you saying ‘xian ren ban ban.’ Kids shouldn’t say bad words.”

“Oh, okay, okay~” Xiaobai said, then muttered, “That’s so annoying.”

Zhang Tan caught that and asked, “What did you say?”

“Alright, alright, I’m such a good kid. How could I say bad words? You must have misheard. You should clean your ears.”

“...Can you speak Mandarin?”

“All right, Uncle, Xiaobai is a good baby.”

Xiaobai sat upright, putting on a good kid act.

Zhang Tan made a note of “that’s so annoying.” Fire meant the sun, another name for the sun is “ri” (day). Hmm, probably a curse. He’d have to look it up online later.

No! Couldn’t wait—he had to check now!

He took out his phone and searched online. Fortunately, “that’s so annoying” roughly meant “very troublesome.”

Curious, Xiaobai peeked at his phone screen.

Zhang Tan quickly put his phone away. You got lucky this time, Xiaobai.

In less than five minutes, Zhang Tan finished telling Xiaobai another Alfred the Field Mouse story, then took her back to the dormitory to rest, urging her to lie down on the little bed.

She rolled over on the bed, propped herself up, and said to Zhang Tan, “Uncle, I’ll tell you something.”

“What?”

“Come closer, put your ear near.”

Zhang Tan leaned in.

“My aunt is coming to pick me up. I’m going to sleep now.”

Zhang Tan looked toward Teacher Xiao Liu, who was stifling a laugh and nodded.

Zhang Tan: -_-||