On the other side, at the main entrance of the city center school's primary section.
Yu He had to prepare for Kai Kai's surgery these past two days, so she didn't have time to pick up or drop off the children. This task was originally assigned to Xiao Anran. Coincidentally, Ye Qichen was in the capital handling some business, and the location was quite close to the school. He took over the job.
He first dropped Yueyue off at the high school section, then took Duoduo to the primary section.
"Uncle, you can stop here. See you at noon~" Duoduo opened the rear car door and waved goodbye to Ye Qichen.
As Ye Qichen was about to turn around and leave, he noticed Duoduo's red scarf left on the back seat. He quickly rolled down the window and called out to her, "Duoduo, you forgot your red scarf."
As he spoke, he reached for the red scarf, got out of the car, and handed it to her.
Gu En emerged from the subway station and happened to see Ye Qichen helping Duoduo put on her red scarf from a distance. He froze.
It was him!
"Thank you, Uncle~" Duoduo said with a smile after putting on her red scarf. Otherwise, without her red scarf, their class would lose points again.
"Don't be so forgetful in the future," Ye Qichen said, affectionately ruffling her hair, then turned back to his car and drove away.
As soon as the car left, Duoduo saw Gu En walking from the subway station. She paused for a moment, then pretended not to see him and huffily turned to walk into the school.
"Yu Chenduo."
A boy's voice came from behind her. Duoduo thought she was hallucinating and quickened her pace.
"Yu Chenduo!" Gu En quickened his steps and caught up to her.
"Did you call me?" Duoduo looked at him in surprise, pointing at herself with her finger.
Gu En: "..."
Gu En: "Aren't you Yu Chenduo?"
Duoduo: "Yes!"
There was no one else in the whole school with the same name.
"Then that's that," Gu En said.
Duoduo looked shocked. "Are you possessed? Or have you been transmigrated?"
Didn't he tell her to stay away from him?
Why was he the one looking for her now?
"What the heck?" Gu En had no idea what she was talking about. He got to the point: "I have a question for you."
So he did have something to ask. But seeing as he had approached her first, Duoduo was happy to help.
"What is it?" she asked.
Gu En hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, "What's your relationship with that man just now?"
"Wow, are you concerned about me?" Duoduo was flattered. Being unable to keep secrets, she spilled everything before Gu En could even ask again.
"He's my uncle~ My mommy is busy these days, and Daddy is on a business trip, so Uncle had some free time and drove me and my brother to school."
Uncle?
The nameless divine doctor's brother?
As expected, they were people of status.
How could her mother have any connection with him?
Lost in thought, Gu En asked, "What's his name?"
"Ye Qichen," Duoduo replied truthfully.
Gu En memorized the name. "Will he pick you up from school this afternoon too?"
"Mhm," Duoduo nodded.
Gu En thought for a moment and then asked, "After school, can you wait for me? I want to meet him."
"Are you asking me out?" Duoduo asked excitedly, feeling it was too surreal. She blurted out, "Are you really Gu En?"
She remembered that when she saved him from those delinquents before, he hadn't even been grateful and had told her to stay away from him.
Now he was asking her out; was the sun rising from the west?
"..." Gu En couldn't quite understand her train of thought and focused on his own matter. "Will you or won't you?"
"Okay! I'll ask my uncle to treat you to bubble tea then!" Duoduo agreed enthusiastically, nodding repeatedly.
As they parted ways to go to their classrooms, Duoduo suddenly remembered and called out to Gu En, "Why don't we add each other on WeChat? It'll be easier to contact."
Many children these days had phones, but Gu En didn't.
After asking, Duoduo suddenly remembered that his family's financial situation was not well-off, so he probably didn't have a phone. She quickly changed her tune, "Never mind, let's meet on the playground after school this afternoon."
Gu En: "Okay."
Duoduo hummed a tune as she entered the classroom. Si Ketian, seeing her in good spirits, a complete contrast to her listless demeanor yesterday, leaned over and asked, "Gu En actually talked to you?"
Duoduo was surprised. "You saw? Please keep it a secret for me~" she said, making a shushing gesture.
Si Ketian was also surprised. "It's true?"
She had just guessed, seeing how Duoduo had declared she would no longer "stan" Gu En yesterday and had been down the whole day. Who knew she would act so strangely today? She had just casually asked, and it turned out to be true?
Duoduo nodded mysteriously, and then the two young friends immediately went to their seats and started whispering.
—
Finally, the afternoon school bell rang. As soon as the class ended, Duoduo immediately slung her backpack over her shoulder and rushed out, heading to the playground to meet Gu En.
Gu En was even more punctual than she had expected. Perhaps he really wanted to meet her uncle. Though she didn't know why he suddenly wanted to meet him.
"My uncle said he'll be here a little later, so let's go to the bubble tea shop and wait for him first," Duoduo said.
To avoid Gu En feeling the disparity between them, she deliberately didn't take out her phone.
"Mhm," Gu En replied indifferently on the surface.
But in his heart, he was a little nervous. He had thought of meeting Ye Qichen on the spur of the moment, but he hadn't actually figured out what he should ask him when they met.
The two walked side-by-side towards the bubble tea shop on the snack street. Before they even arrived, they saw the same group of delinquents from before approaching them.
"Yo, we were just looking for you! Not bad, you've brought the person over." The scarred man at the front, mistaking the situation, thought Gu En had wised up and brought someone over willingly.
"Let's go, Brother Shan is waiting for you!"
Gu En frowned, suddenly forgetting that they were in this area.
He instinctively shielded Duoduo behind him. "I don't know what you're talking about. Move aside! A good dog doesn't block the road."
Seeing that he wasn't cooperating and had even insulted them, the scarred man's temper flared. "Damn it, you'd rather be punished than accept a toast!"
He cursed, stepped forward, and raised his hand to slap Gu En. But Gu En wasn't one to be bullied. He dodged the blow by turning his head slightly. Duoduo, quick-witted, also lifted her leg and kicked the scarred man.
The two cooperated tacitly, immediately scattering to the sides and then making their escape. The scarred man, caught off guard, didn't land his punch and instead fell flat on his face.
"Damn it! Chase them! If I don't deal with them today, I'll write my name backward!" the scarred man roared.
It hadn't been long since school ended, and there weren't many people on the snack street. The delinquents chased the two children through the streets.
The children had good stamina and ran fast, but they were outnumbered. Moreover, they saw Brother Shan bringing a few more thugs from the end of the snack street, who were now encircling them from both sides.
Just as Gu En was about to lead Duoduo to dart to the side, he heard Brother Shan shout loudly, "Gu En, have you forgotten that your mother is in our hands?"
Brother Shan held up his phone, playing the video his subordinate had recorded earlier that day when they had gone to find Gu Yan.
Just then, Gu Yan's scream could be heard from the phone. Hearing the familiar voice, Gu En's running footsteps suddenly stopped. As he turned his head, a club swung at him.
Duoduo, who had been running, realized Gu En was missing. She looked back and saw him being struck down by a baseball bat!
"Gu En!"