Seeing Xu Chacha panting, Butler Zhang quickly handed her a kettle. Xu Chacha took a deep breath of the nourishing soup and experienced the feeling of a life-saving elixir.
Playing too wildly at once isn't good either, so Wen Mubai held Xu Chacha and rested her for about ten minutes before taking her to play some other activities.
Around four o'clock, they prepared to pack their things and go home.
...
Just around the corner from the exit of the arcade is the commercial street. Xu Chacha wrinkled her dog nose and smelled a fragrant aroma of roasted meat.
“Auntie.” She tugged at Wen Mubai’s hand.
Wen Mubai is now so familiar with Xu Chacha that he can tell what she's about to say just by her shifting her position. He looked up at the food street to his right and asked, "Hungry?"
Xu Chacha nodded shyly, after all, not long ago she was still sloshing around with a belly full of water, complaining to Wen Mubai that she was too full to walk.
Wen Mubai walked forward, but after a couple of steps he realized the person hadn't followed. "Let's go, I'll buy it for you."
Xu Chacha hopped on the spot and ran after the smell to the front of the teppanyaki restaurant.
"Save some room in your stomach; you'll need to eat when you get home," Wen Mubai advised.
"I know, I know," Xu Chacha replied, but her speed in picking up skewers didn't slow down at all.
Grilled squid is her absolute favorite, but because it's so expensive, she couldn't bear to eat it much in her past life.
Xu Chacha took three large squid and a handful of squid tentacles, and finally took a few skewers of cauliflower and chicken strips as a token gesture.
The owner makes everything fresh and sells it on the spot, his hands moving very fast. With a sizzling sound, the aroma wafts out, and Xu Xu Cha Cha sniffs, her mouth practically watering.
Finally, sprinkle the squid with chopped onions and coat it with a thick layer of honey sauce. Just looking at it is enough to steal the soul of any hungry cat.
The skewers Xu Chacha took ended up being packed into two large boxes. As soon as the shop owner handed them out, she stood on tiptoe to take them.
"Oh dear, miss, be careful, it's hot. Let me help you." Butler Zhang brought it over for her.
"Thank you, Grandma!" Xu Chacha wrapped a large squid in a tissue; it was bigger than her face when she held it up.
"One for Auntie, one for Grandma." She neatly arranged the three squid, "One for Chacha! Perfect."
"I won't eat it," Butler Zhang shook his head.
"Grandma, eat this, it's delicious." Xu Chacha held it to her mouth, "Grandma must be tired after following Chacha all day, she needs to eat something to nourish herself."
"Thank you, Miss." Butler Zhang accepted the offer with utmost respect, gratefully taking a bite and savoring the charm of the street food.
"Just this one?" Wen Mubai shoved a tissue into her hand. "Wipe your mouth."
"Okay, I'll eat this." Xu Chacha held up her squid and walked forward. She was on her way home, but her attention was drawn to the claw machine at the corner.
This time, Wen Mubai didn't even need to ask; he simply scanned the machine and gave her a bunch of game coins. "Auntie, will you help me catch some?"
"Thank you, Auntie!"
Xu Chacha led her to her favorite machine with a bouncy gait, pointing to the Hello Kitty inside, "This one, but it seems hard to catch, Auntie, can I catch it?"
"Give it a try."
Wen Mubai tossed the coin in. It was her first time playing with these things, but she did it with the skill and decisiveness of a pro.
The metal gripper was hoisted and moved onto the Hello Kitty cat. Wen Mubai pressed the grab button, and she smiled faintly as her claws grasped the cat's head.
That's all there is to it.
Life quickly gave her a resounding slap in the face. When her claws rose, they merely slid softly against the doll's head without actually grabbing it. Her empty claws returned to their original positions, and the smile on Wen Mubai's lips vanished.
"Go, Auntie! Go, Auntie!" Xu Chacha cheered her on.
Wen Mubai shook his hand and put five coins in one after another, and as expected, they all came up empty.
Ten more coins clacked, and Wen Mubai's eyes were filled with competitive spirit.
Unfortunately, even after Xu Chacha finished all the skewers, she still hadn't gotten anything.
"Let's find a staff member." Wen Mubai straightened up, having calmly accepted reality. "Auntie will buy it for you."
"How about I give it a try?" Xu Chacha wiped her little hands clean with the wet wipe Wen Mubai gave her, finally freeing her hands to play. "Anyway, there are still a few coins left."
"Okay, you can play now." Wen Mubai handed her the remaining coins.
Butler Zhang has already gone to find the staff. She was so anxious looking at the food that she almost wanted to take out her wallet to buy it for Xu Chacha.
"Hello, are you a staff member from the arcade over there?" Manager Zhang asked a girl wearing a vest.
The girl nodded. "Did you get stuck with your coins? I'll get them for you."
"No, no, it's just that the child wants a doll. Could you please open it and sell it to us directly?"
"Sure." This wasn't the first time the girl had encountered something like this. "Which machine do you need? I'll open it for you."
She swung her keys and followed Butler Zhang. When they arrived, it had only been a dozen minutes since they arrived, but Xu Chacha was already surrounded by a group of people.
"Wow! This little girl is so amazing! Mommy, Mommy, I want to play too!"
"Little sister, could you catch one for me too?"
"Please help me too!"
Xu Chacha, located in the center of the crowd, had several dolls at her feet, was holding one in her arms, and had another hanging from her waist. Her little hands gripped the steering wheel, and her eyes were focused.
With a "snap," she grabbed another palm-sized turtle and handed it to the little boy standing beside her. "Here, take this."
The little boy, who couldn't be comforted no matter what, finally stopped crying, smiled, and said, "Thank you, sister."
Staff: You called me over just to show me this?
...
Pleasant times always pass too quickly. Wen Mubai soon packed his bags and went back to school, and Xu Chacha also had to go back to school for classes.
After that, Xu Chacha never heard her parents or Wen Mubai speak on the phone again, and Wen Mubai never mentioned it to her. She didn't know if the relationship between Wen Mubai and Wen Mubai's father had eased up or was still tense.
She sighed, propped her head up with her hand, and couldn't hear a word the teacher was saying on the podium.
"Xu Chacha." Wang Fang never hesitated to call people by name. "What are you daydreaming about in class? Come up here and solve this problem."
Xu Chacha walked over with an "oh," stood in front of the blackboard, glanced at the pattern-finding question, and without even thinking, wrote down the answer.
"Wow, Chacha is amazing." Chen Qianqian, sitting in the last row, clapped quietly, her bright eyes filled with admiration for Xu Chacha.
"Hmph." Her deskmate Xue Miaomiao raised her chin indignantly, "Maybe it's wrong, how could it be written so quickly?"
"Cha Cha is really good at solving problems, you're not allowed to say anything to her." Chen Qianqian glared.
Xue Miaomiao gritted her teeth, puffing out her cheeks in anger, "I'm also very good. I got 95 on the math quiz last time, why don't you praise me?"
"But Cha Cha got a perfect score of 100, making her the top student in the class."
"Xue Miaomiao, Chen Qianqian, you two love to gossip so much, why don't you come up and talk?" As soon as Wang Fang spoke, the two of them immediately shrank their necks like little turtles, pretending they didn't exist.
"There are two left, come up and finish them." Wang Fang clapped her hands and invited people up.
Xue Miaomiao and Chen Qianqian stood up slowly, their heads down, and walked to Xu Chacha's side.
This is an extracurricular extension question, which is much more difficult than the in-class questions. How could they possibly answer it?
"Xixi." Xu Chacha tilted her head, blinked, and gave her an "OK" sign. "Good luck, I'm going down now."
Because Xu Chacha moved quickly, and she was raising the hand closest to the blackboard, Wang Fang's attention was also on the two people next to her, so she didn't notice her hint.
Contrary to her appearance, Chen Qianqian is very clever. She picked up on Xu Chacha's hint and immediately wrote the answer "3" on the blackboard with great confidence.
"Don't go, what about me!" Xue Miaomiao whispered to Chen Qianqian, who was about to leave, she was extremely anxious.
"I don't know how to calculate it either." Chen Qianqian waved her hand and quickly ran away. "Good luck to you."
Xue Miaomiao had to face that difficult problem alone. She stared at the blackboard for a long time, almost getting dizzy from staring at those numbers, but she still had no clue.
"If you can't figure it out, go stand in the back as punishment. Don't waste everyone's time." Even though Xue Miaomiao's grades were among the best in the entire grade, Wang Fang didn't have the habit of spoiling "good students" and punished her without fail. "Bring your books and pens. I'm going to explain now, so take good notes."
Xue Miaomiao pursed her lips, and under the watchful eyes of her classmates, quickly walked to her desk, picked up her things, and stood at the back.
She had never been punished by standing before. Her delicate face turned bright red, and she bit her lower lip tightly, looking like she could burst into tears at any moment.
In fact, once the bell rang and Wang Fang left, Xue Miaomiao couldn't help but cry. She was sobbing and extremely upset.
She is not usually talkative, and her classmates keep their distance from her. At this moment, she didn't dare to go up and comfort her, for fear of not getting any favors and being ridiculed instead.
"Miaomiao, don't cry. It's normal not to be able to solve those kinds of problems." Xu Chacha couldn't bear to see the child cry, so she stood up to comfort her. "Actually, I was gesturing to you earlier, and I thought you saw it."
"Where is it?" Xue Miaomiao raised her tear-streaked face, her voice thick with nasal tone, her usual proud demeanor turning into a hint of grievance. "You only told Chen Qianqian, and ignored me completely."
"Huh?" Xu Chacha scratched her head, then gave her the "ok" sign and drew circles with her finger to explain, "Look, isn't this a '3' and a '0'?"
The answer to Xue Miaomiao's question is zero.
Xue Miaomiao paused in her sobbing, then even more tears streamed down her face. "But I'm already so embarrassed, and now even the teacher doesn't like me anymore. It's all your fault, I hate you, waaaaaah!"
At her age, she didn't understand right from wrong. Xue Miaomiao was only focused on venting her emotions and didn't realize that what she said would hurt Xu Chacha.
Who would have thought that someone as strong-willed as her would cry over "the teacher doesn't like me anymore"? Xu Chacha wanted to laugh, but she held back for Xue Miaomiao's sake.
"Does Miaomiao hate me?" Xu Chacha lowered her head, her wrinkled little face looking very aggrieved and sad. "Oh, I see. Chacha understands."
Xu Chacha handed her the chocolate she was holding. "It's okay if you hate Chacha, as long as you stop crying. You like chocolate, right? Once you've eaten it, don't cry."
"How...how did you know?" Xue Miaomiao's voice faltered slightly.
"Because Miaomiao drinks chocolate soy milk every morning," Xu Chacha smiled. "Chacha has been observing this."
"Why are you so concerned about my affairs..." Xue Miaomiao didn't know why her ears suddenly felt hot.
It seems like she's shy, but it also seems like it's because of Xu Chacha's "mistake".
"Why?" Xu Chacha didn't answer directly, but tilted her head, her bright, grape-like eyes sending signals at Xue Miaomiao, then smiled with narrowed eyes, looking carefree, "Chacha doesn't know either."
Xue Miaomiao's mood was in turmoil because of that sweet wink from the girl, and she thought to herself with a touch of narcissism.
Did Xu Chacha actually want to be friends with her, but was too shy to say it? Could she only pitifully observe her every day and specially prepare chocolates to bring with her just to give to her?
If that's really the case, then weren't her words a bit too much?
Actually... she didn't really dislike Xu Chacha, she was just a little jealous that she had stolen the attention of the teachers and classmates.
"Um," Xue Miaomiao's palms were a little sweaty, and her voice trembled, but her expression still had the arrogance of a little tyrant, "it's not impossible for you to be friends with me."
After speaking, Xue Miaomiao glanced at Xu Chacha's expression out of the corner of her eye, nervously swallowed, and looked forward to her next words.
“But doesn’t Miaomiao dislike Chacha?” Xu Chacha frowned, looking very troubled. “Then Chacha will just have to stay away from you.”