The eastward flowing water, leaves falling one after another, time has thus quietly slipped away.
Now Nuan Nuan is no longer the chubby three-year-old she once was, but a chubby five-year-old.
Qiu Qiu and Er Mao have long since recovered, bouncing around lively every day, with no lingering after-effects.
In the past year and more, Ye Siqi and Ye Sizhe have also shed their childishness, gaining a touch of youthful awkwardness. At this moment, the two brothers are sitting at a table, teaching Nuan Nuan foreign languages.
"Sister, today we are going to learn English. It's very simple, with only 26 letters. It's like the pinyin I taught you before, just the pronunciation is different."
Little teacher Ye Siqi looks at Nuan Nuan with a serious little face.
"En~" Nuan Nuan nods diligently.
"I'll teach you to read it first."
Ye Siqi takes out his old textbook, spreads it open, and flips to the alphabet.
"Let's look at this first." Ye Siqi points to the first letter, 'a'.
"Ah~" Nuan Nuan says she recognizes this.
"Sister, it's 'A', not 'a'. That's how you pronounce pinyin." Ye Siqi frowns.
"But this is 'a'?" Nuan Nuan looks at Ye Siqi in confusion.
"Sister, you are speaking Dragon Country language. Brother is teaching you English, it's different."
"But why does Nuan Nuan have to learn English?" Nuan Nuan asks Ye Siqi with wide, inquisitive eyes.
"Because English is the international common language. Many countries abroad speak this language, and if we learn it, we can communicate with them." Ye Siqi gently pats the little bun on Nuan Nuan's head, finding it irresistible.
"Then they can speak Dragon Country language with Nuan Nuan! Then Nuan Nuan won't have to learn it." Nuan Nuan frowns, looking displeased.
"That's right! Brother, let them learn Dragon Country language, then we'll have one less subject." Ye Sizhe next to him agrees wholeheartedly.
"En en~" Nuan Nuan nods repeatedly.
"Because they are too stupid to learn. Nuan Nuan, don't learn from your Sizhe brother; he just says that because he can't learn it himself."
Ye Siqi glares at Ye Sizhe, who is creating a commotion nearby, warning him with his eyes.
"Then Nuan Nuan won't communicate with them. Nuan Nuan doesn't want to learn." Nuan Nuan pushes Ye Siqi's textbook away with her hand, indicating she doesn't want to learn.
"Exactly, what are you learning? Let's not learn anymore!" Ye Sizhe slams the table and stands up, expressing his full agreement.
"Ye Sizhe! You're not good at English yourself, don't corrupt Nuan Nuan." The veins on Ye Siqi's forehead twitch.
"Oh, what's going on here?" Ye Jingxing's voice comes from outside the door.
"Fourth Uncle~" Nuan Nuan immediately drops the twins and runs towards Ye Jingxing.
"Hey!" Ye Jingxing quickly picks up the little dumpling and bounces her.
"Nuan Nuan has gotten heavier!" Ye Jingxing says with a smile.
"Fourth Uncle, Dad said Nuan Nuan is growing! And Grandma also said you shouldn't talk about a girl's weight!" Nuan Nuan pouts, looking displeased at Ye Jingxing.
"Fourth Uncle just meant that Nuan Nuan must have grown taller again."
"En en~" Nuan Nuan smiles happily.
After Nuan Nuan turned five, her height hadn't changed much, so whenever someone praised her for growing taller, Nuan Nuan would be particularly happy.
"Fourth Uncle, you're interrupting our class." Ye Siqi's voice carries a hint of displeasure.
Ye Siqi had deliberately imitated his teacher's usual demeanor to emphasize his authority as a teacher. He was maintaining that posture with effort, and Ye Jingxing's interruption halfway through was unwelcome.
"Is that so? What are you learning? Let me check Nuan Nuan's learning progress." Ye Jingxing, full of curiosity, sits down with Nuan Nuan in his arms.
"Fourth Uncle, we just started, and you've already come in." Ye Siqi's words are laced with a bit of dissatisfaction.
"Why are you keeping a straight face? Just like your dad. Don't scare Nuan Nuan."
Ye Jingxing looks at Ye Siqi's serious, old-man-like appearance and pokes him, showing his indifference.
"Fourth Uncle, you're talking nonsense. Eldest Uncle isn't like that!"
Nuan Nuan disagrees, as Ye Jingchen has always been smiling whenever he's in front of her. In fact, all the Ye brothers are always smiling at her.
"It's only with you that he's always like that." Ye Jingxing pinches Nuan Nuan's little nose helplessly.
Ever since Nuan Nuan said that pinching her nose would make it flat, everyone had switched to pinching, with Nuan Nuan claiming this would make her nose higher.
"Fourth Uncle, can you leave first? I haven't finished my class for today."
Seeing the conversation veering off course, Ye Siqi is very unhappy.
"Alright, alright, I'll just sit here and not disturb you, okay?" Ye Jingxing, truly intimidated by Ye Siqi's current expression, raises his hands in surrender.
"Fourth Uncle, Sister just said she doesn't want to learn English. She asked why foreigners don't learn Dragon Country language. I also think there's no need for us to learn, but Brother disagrees." Ye Sizhe quickly sidles up to complain.
"You don't want to learn because this is your weakest subject. Don't think I don't know you love math the most. Ye Sizhe, you can't be good at one subject and bad at others." Ye Siqi sternly criticizes his brother.
"How can that be? As a pure-blooded Dragon Country person, my not being good at English is my deepest love for my country," Ye Sizhe mutters with a pout.
"That's right! Sizhe brother is right!"
Nuan Nuan applauds enthusiastically. Encouraged, Ye Sizhe proudly steps forward to high-five Nuan Nuan.
"Since you say that, then it proves your Chinese is very good? Then do you want to read the essay you wrote last time to Fourth Uncle?" Ye Siqi looks at Ye Sizhe with an air of anticipation for a good show.
"I'll read it! The topic is 'Family'. I have two special family members; one is a dog, and the other is also a dog."
"Pfft~"
Ye Sizhe had only read one sentence before Ye Jingxing couldn't help himself.
"Fourth Uncle, is what I wrote not good? I'm borrowing from the writing techniques of famous people, and the teacher said I can't borrow like this, so I argued with her, and she just said it was plagiarism and made me rewrite it." Ye Sizhe says indignantly.
"Ahem~ Fourth Uncle's Chinese isn't very good either. You do you." Ye Jingxing waves his hand, offering no opinion.
Ye Siqi: "Sizhe just can't learn English well, and now he's making excuses. I'm teaching Nuan Nuan, and you're here causing trouble."
"How am I not learning well?" Ye Sizhe retorts unconvincingly.
"If you were learning well, why couldn't you get full marks?" Ye Siqi looks at him with disdain.
"Do you want to tell Fourth Uncle what you wrote on your test paper?"
"What about it?" Ye Jingxing is quite curious.
"Just tell me, in the last exam, how did you translate 'poodle'?" Ye Siqi looks sternly at his brother.
Ye Sizhe: "v... vipdog..."
"Hahahaha!" Ye Jingxing slaps the table and bursts into laughter.
Ye Siqi: "Fourth Uncle, don't laugh yet. There's more. I asked you, 'A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring.' How did you translate that sentence?"
"We don't need to say this, do we?" Ye Sizhe looks troubled.
"Quick, say it, say it!" Ye Jingxing's curiosity is completely piqued.
"udidadidame, ihualahualau" Ye Sizhe speaks in a low voice, his face turning red, as he mumbles.
"Hahahaha~ Gē gē gē gē~ Ouch!"
Ye Jingxing is almost doubled over with laughter, toppling backward from his chair and falling. Nuan Nuan, still in his arms, falls with him.
"Fourth Uncle?"
Nuan Nuan, sitting on Ye Jingxing, looks at him blankly.
"It's okay, it's okay, hahahaha, did Nuan Nuan hurt you? Hahahaha!"
Ye Jingxing, as if his funny bone has been tickled, can't stop laughing.
"Hahahaha!"