442 That Clueless Uncle!

Regarding Little Candy calling his parents' papa and mama, little Tuan Tuan didn't have much of a reaction.

Lin Nuan saw Little Candy and was reminded of Tang Zheng sending Tuan Tuan to kindergarten this morning. She couldn't resist smiling.

She bent down with Tuan Tuan in her arms and dropped to eye-level with Little Candy.

"Little Candy, if you call me mama, your mama will get jealous!" Lin Nuan's soothing voice created a tempting feeling in Little Candy's heart.

Little Candy pushed her scarf even lower, revealing a pair of clear eyes.

Her mother had never bent down to speak to her like that. Little Candy suddenly felt very touched; if only her mother could be as gentle.

As Lin Nuan reached out to stroke her little head, Little Candy felt her ears redden. She liked Tuan Tuan's mother even more now.

Originally, Little Candy felt that since she already had a mother, what she wanted the most was Tuan Tuan's father. But now… Little Candy also badly wanted Tuan Tuan's mother!

She also wanted Tuan Tuan's mother to hug her the way she did him, for Lin Nuan to speak to her while she was on her lap.

As her thoughts reached this point, Little Candy's gaze lowered, her dense eyelashes covering the clarity and moistness in her eyes.

Little Candy's teacher approached them following that and smiled as she raised Little Candy's hand. She said, "Little Candy, Teacher just called your granny. Your mother and granny have something going on today, so they'll come for Little Candy later."

Little Candy nodded with both hands behind her back. She just stood there without a word, not making a move to leave.

Lin Nuan stared at Little Candy's unmoving manner and asked, "Did Little Candy see Uncle Tang Zheng today? The uncle who sent Tuan Tuan to kindergarten earlier?"

Lin Nuan wanted to see the look of shock on Tang Zheng's face when he saw Little Candy and her mother, but, more importantly, Lin Nuan had heard Tuan Tuan mention that Little Candy wanted a father very badly.

Lin Nuan felt that since Tang Zheng was Little Candy's father, he was responsible for accompanying and grooming Little Candy, to make up for the lack of fatherly love all these years.

Upon hearing Lin Nuan's words, Little Candy gave it some thought and recalled the uncle that she met that morning. "Ah… you mean that clueless uncle?"

Lin Nuan didn't know how to reply.

Is it a good idea for you to speak of your biological father like this, Little Candy?

"Clueless uncle?"

Fu Huai'an, who had been standing silently by the side, couldn't help opening his mouth.

Little Candy nodded her head in all seriousness. "That uncle kept staring at my mother and me. Then Mama said… not to mind that uncle, for he was a clueless fool! After I greeted the clueless uncle, I snatched Tuan Tuan as my 'husband of the bandit chief' and went into the school with him."

Last night, Little Candy was watching the television with her granny.

It was said that a bandit could snatch a man she fancied to be her 'husband of the bandit chief,' and so Little Candy cleverly drew inferences about other cases from that one instance. After snatching Tuan Tuan's hand away from Tang Zheng, she ran into kindergarten and, in a flamboyant fashion, announced that… from now on, Tuan Tuan was her 'husband of the bandit chief.'

She remembered the way that clueless uncle was looking at her, almost as if his eyes were about to pop out.

Little Candy was mindful of her mother's instructions not to speak with that clueless uncle, in case she got infected with his cluelessness and became a clueless fool herself. And so she strode gallantly into class with her 'husband of the bandit chief' Tuan Tuan, not having spoken another word to that clueless uncle.

Lin Nuan suddenly felt heartache for Tang Zheng, for about three seconds…

Imagine him being called a clueless fool by his own daughter! Did Tang Zheng cry his way back home?

Little Candy gazed at the gentle Lin Nuan, her ears somewhat reddened with embarrassment. She asked, "Is Mama bringing Tuan Tuan to the movies? Can you bring along Little Candy? Little Candy is most obedient… just holding onto Mama's pinky finger will do!"

Little Candy raised her hand and gestured a "1", but her little hand was inside of mittens, so they could only see her entire mittened hand and not the "1" that she was trying to signal with her chubby little finger.

"Little Candy, there are rules in the kindergarten. Only your mama and granny are allowed to take you away from this place!" The teacher bent over and reminded kindly.

"But…" Little Candy looked up at her teacher, clarity in her eyes. "Tuan Tuan is my 'husband of the bandit chief,' so Tuan Tuan's mama is also my mama!"

"Little Candy!" The kindergarten teacher held Little Candy's small hand, not sure whether to laugh or cry. "You can't just call anyone your mama because you want to leave kindergarten. Your mother will be sad if she hears this…"

Little Candy thought about it, then asked in a small voice, "Then… will Mama thrash me?"

The kindergarten teacher was speechless.

If she's not gonna thrash you, are you going to go around calling other people mama?

Lin Nuan didn't know what to say.

How brutal must Little Candy's mother be for the kid's first instinct to be wondering if she was going to get beaten up?

The kindergarten imposed strict rules; apart from their parents and prior authorized guardians, no one had the right to take a child away.

Lin Nuan couldn't bear to leave Little Candy alone, so she turned to look at Fu Huai'an.

Fu Huai'an had both hands in his pocket as he asked the kindergarten teacher, "Can Little Candy wait with us in the car while we wait for her mother to arrive?"

Little Tuan Tuan's parents weren't crooks, and so, after some thinking, the kindergarten teacher suggested, "How about you wait in a classroom?"

Lin Nuan and Fu Huai'an took Tuan Tuan and Little Candy to a classroom and waited for the arrival of Little Candy's mother.

Once they stepped into the classroom, Little Candy removed her hat, scarf, and mittens and dragged two small stools to the spot where her and Tuan Tuan's desks were. She invited Lin Nuan and Fu Huai'an inside like a boss, then she and little Tuan Tuan each dragged along another small stool and seated themselves in front of Lin Nuan and Fu Huai'an.

Little Candy had an eloquent little mouth; she started chattering about happenings at the kindergarten to Lin Nuan and Fu Huai'an, gesticulating merrily and giving vivid descriptions of the stories.

Little Tuan Tuan sat obediently by the side, looking wistfully at the way Lin Nuan was tickled with laughter at Little Candy's antics.

Tuan Tuan was afraid his mama would grow fonder of Little Candy than him, so he kept edging closer to Lin Nuan with his small stool, legs closely pressed to Lin Nuan's. He had a little hand placed on Lin Nuan's lap and was looking at Lin Nuan with a serious look on his face.

Lin Nuan lifted Tuan Tuan and seated him on her lap. Tuan Tuan was delighted, and he hugged both arms around Lin Nuan and leaned against her shoulders.

Little Candy looked at Tuan Tuan with an expression of envy, then secretly rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

Actually, Little Candy was truly fond of her own mother. Even though her mother was very fierce and frequently thrashed her, she was still very fond of her mother!

Although she refused to admit it, she liked her own mother even more than Tuan Tuan's mother. She also hoped that one day, her mother could hug her in the way Tuan Tuan's mother hugged him. As long as her mother hugged her like that, she would love her mother even more.

The setting sun was casting dark orange rays, shining into the classroom through the large transparent windows, soaking the entire room in a warm and uplifting shade of orange.

By the time Little Candy's mother, You Nainai, hastily arrived at the kindergarten, Tuan Tuan and Little Candy had respectively fallen asleep in Lin Nuan's and Fu Huai'an's arms.