"Lin Yao's daughter?"
In the dim hotel room, the white - bearded old man stood with his hands behind his back, facing away from his subordinate.
"Yes. We can't do anything. This is Lin Yao's territory. If we act, we might not be able to get out."
"Lin Yao... Forget it then. Warn that old guy Xuanyuan to behave himself and keep an eye on his disciple. Tell him not to have wild ideas. A little girl like her should just learn martial arts for self - defense."
The white - bearded old man slowly raised his hand and waved it, dismissing his subordinate and giving up the plan to cripple Miaomiao's martial arts.
He wasn't stupid enough to mess with the daughter of the boss in someone else's territory.
As long as this little girl didn't challenge the bottom - lines of the major clans like her master in the future, it would be fine.
Lin Yao's identity was an open secret. Those who knew his influence would think twice before doing anything to Miaomiao.
Just as Lin Yao expected, no one bothered Little Dumpling in the following days.
Miaomiao happily played with Wei Ziqi for three days and then returned to Nancheng.
When Lin Yao saw his intact daughter, he patted her head and asked, "So, did you have a good time out there?"
"Sure!~"
Miaomiao shouted with big, bright eyes.
"Yeah, you had so much fun. After the competition, you went out with your little teacher and forgot all about your dad."
Lin Yao pretended to be jealous and pinched Miaomiao's chubby cheeks.
Hearing this, Miaomiao shyly nestled into her father's neck, looking too embarrassed to show her face.
But Lin Yao wouldn't let her hide. He stretched out his "devil's claws" and tickled her.
Little Dumpling laughed heartily in her silly dad's arms and wriggled to avoid her father's tickles.
They played for a long time before stopping.
"Okay, let's go home." Lin Yao tidied up Miaomiao's messy hair from their play.
"Where's my little teacher?"
Miaomiao suddenly remembered Wei Ziqi who had gotten off the car with her. She'd been so caught up in playing with her dad that she'd almost forgotten about him.
"He's already gone home with his mom. Let's go home too." Lin Yao lovingly hooked his finger under Miaomiao's nose.
"Okay!~"
Miaomiao nodded, and father and daughter happily went home.
They had school the next day. After a whole day in the car, Miaomiao felt exhausted. She was more tired than after a fight.
The next day, Miaomiao slept in for the first time. She was still a bit groggy when she got to school.
"Miaomiao, why did you and Wei Ziqi disappear for four days? What did you two do? You look half - dead when you're back," Yao Mingxuan asked, looking at Miaomiao's listless face.
"Nope. I went to a martial arts competition, and my little teacher went to a math competition. We were just in the same place," Miaomiao yawned.
"What!!! You and Wei Ziqi went to the competition together but didn't tell us?" Cheng Ruan wailed and threw herself on Miaomiao. Sniffling, she continued, "Woohoo,女侠, have I fallen out of favor?"
"I didn't know I'd be with my little teacher. I only found out after I got in the car."
"Hmm? You didn't know, so that means..."
Cheng Ruan shifted her gaze to Wei Ziqi, with a deeply suspicious look in her eyes...
"There are only ten spots in the whole school. I thought it wouldn't be fair to the others who really wanted to participate if you just went to accompany us," Wei Ziqi said, his eyes on his junior high school textbook from beginning to end.
Cheng Ruan felt like she'd fallen into Wei Ziqi's conspiracy and was extremely angry, but she couldn't refute him. She could only stomp her foot angrily and grunt, lying on Miaomiao and not getting up.
"Humph, you must have had some bad intentions for stealing our 女侠 away. Humph, I'll never let you take our little cutie away."
Cheng Ruan hugged Miaomiao tightly and mumbled to herself.
Wei Ziqi didn't comment. That was one of the reasons he'd given. Another was that Cheng Ruan was just too noisy!!!
Finally having a chance to go out alone with Little Dumpling, there was no way he'd tell Cheng Ruan and bring Yao Mingxuan along to chatter.
Yao Mingxuan looked at Wei Ziqi, then at Miaomiao. His eyes flitted back and forth between them several times, and finally he smiled meaningfully.
During the break, Yao Mingxuan asked Wei Ziqi to go to the restroom with him. While they were using the toilet, Yao Mingxuan suddenly blurted out, "When did you become so possessive of Miaomiao?"
"What?" Wei Ziqi tilted his head slightly, looking confused.
"Never mind. It's okay if you don't think so."
Yao Mingxuan slowly pulled up his pants and turned to leave the restroom.
Wei Ziqi looked at Yao Mingxuan's back thoughtfully. He carefully explored his own heart. After a while, he lowered his eyes, said nothing, and silently left the restroom.
When he got back to the classroom, he played and joked as usual, as if what had happened in the restroom had never happened.
Wei Ziqi unconsciously moved closer to Miaomiao, leaning to the side, keeping a distance where they were almost but not quite touching.
Time flew by. In a blink of an eye, Little Dumpling was in sixth grade. At thirteen, Miaomiao was growing more and more graceful.
Yao Mingxuan, Wei Ziqi, Cheng Ruan, and Miaomiao's relationship grew stronger. They'd become an inseparable part of each other's lives.
Throughout her primary school years, Miaomiao always scored zero in exams.
The main reason was that the teachers always set the same types of questions, just changing the words a bit. But Miaomiao only memorized the questions by rote. As soon as the words were changed, she got confused and never did well in exams.
Lin Yao had already given up on Miaomiao's exam results.
Which father didn't want his child to be outstanding?
Silly Dad Lin Yao had once tried to help, but when Miaomiao started learning English in the third grade of primary school and got confused between Chinese pinyin and English letters, Lin Yao completely gave up.
No, it was just too difficult for his daughter.
The sixth - grade final exam was coming up.
This exam was crucial!
It determined whether Miaomiao could continue to be in the same school as her friends and whether they could still play happily together in the future.
Two of her three friends were quite smart, and one was extremely intelligent. None of them were poor students, and they would surely get into a good junior high school.
Wei Ziqi no longer had to worry about his family's livelihood. Silly Dad Lin Yao had given Wei Ziqi's mother opportunities to study and many job opportunities. Coupled with the numerous awards and scholarships he'd won in the past six years, Wei Ziqi's family's financial situation had improved significantly.
Not to say they were wealthy, but with Wei Ziqi's current academic level, he could easily get into any school. Even without a scholarship, his tuition would be waived, and he wouldn't have to worry about his daily life.
Yao Mingxuan and Cheng Ruan's parents would never agree to let their children go to a bad school.
So, in order to continue having fun together in junior high school, the three friends got together to discuss.
They must! They must quickly improve Miaomiao's academic performance!
They couldn't let things go on like this any longer!