The wedding was approaching, so Ling Tianyi and Xia Xiaoluo were busy preparing for the wedding every day. Especially for Xia Xiaoluo, she had to prepare the wedding, and also her chain restaurant. She planned to open two restaurants after the wedding. She planned to set the restaurant near the Dwichen’s College at the beginning. But because of Taotao’s study, she decided to open a restaurant near Taotao’s primary school. The two restaurants opened together. So the workload was even heavier.
Although Taotao lived in the school, Ouyang Feng was dissatisfied with Ling Tianyi, so he did not allow Xia Xiaoluo and Ling Tianyi live together in the evening, claiming that it was a custom that the couples should not meet before the wedding ceremony. Ling Tianyi was helpless. Although Taotao was not here, he still could not live with the person he loved. Ling Tianyi could only keep up his spirit to prepare the wedding seriously. Most of the affairs were decided, but there were still a lot of details to be constantly optimized.
Taotao caused a sensation in the school. A more than four-year-old child joined into grade four in the middle of the course, with his cute appearance and outstanding family background, the students in the same class felt very honored. The children in other classes also came to Taotao to take photos with him secretly. Taotao was like a star in the school. Every day, he was pursued and admired by everyone.
The only thing made Taotao annoyed was that he could not keep up with others in the Chinese classes. He could not do many exercises required by the P.E. teachers. His classmates would help him secretly, because he was young, cute, and he had a good family background.
Although everyone admired Taotao in the school, Taotao still missed his mommy very much. He was looking forward to leaving school on Friday, when his daddy and mommy would come to pick him up.
Finally, Friday came. Taotao did not eat much for lunch in the school. He thought of his daddy’s promise about the seafood feast on Friday night. So he became excited.
Taotao only had one Chinese class on Friday afternoon. After that it was the class meeting, and then it was time to leave school. Taotao was absent-minded in the class all the time. He was thinking about how to tell his mommy that he was so brave and capable this week at night. Especially the English teacher, she almost praised how standard and fluent his oral English was in every class.
“Ling Han!” The Chinese teacher called Taotao’s name when he was absent-minded.
Taotao’s former name was Ouyang Han. He couldn’t react quickly enough, because he has changed the name suddenly. And he was absent-minded, so he did not hear the teacher’s call. The desk mate pushed him before he regained his consciousness.
“Teacher!” Taotao stood up. He knew that he had to stand up to answer the teacher’s question when he came back.
“Read the second paragraph of the text!” The teacher said, looking a little strict.
“Oh!” Taotao opened the book quickly. The desk mate also helped to point out the position the teacher asked him to read.
Although Taotao’s English and mathematics were very good, his Chinese was not very good. Taotao’s spoken Chinese was fluent, and his accent was not like a child who grew up abroad. But he really fell behind in terms of characters. He stuttered when he read. And there were some characters he did not know. He finished reading reluctantly with the help of the desk mate.
“Ling Han, please listen to your teacher carefully!” The teacher was still strict. He would not treat Taotao well specially, even Taotao was the son of the richest man, or Taotao was only four years old.
“Yes, teacher. I see!” Taotao blushed with shame. He felt very embarrassed because he lost his face.
In the afternoon, Taotao came out of the school out of spirits when he met Xia Xiaoluo who was full of smile on her face.
“My baby son, do you miss me?” Xia Xiaoluo reached out her hands, wanting to hold his son in her arms.
Taotao accepted Xia Xiaoluo’s embrace. He leaned on Xia Xiaoluo’s shoulders. “Yes. I miss you very much, mommy.”
Ling Tianyi stood behind Xia Xiaoluo. He saw that Taotao’s mood was not very good, and Taotao was very depressed. So he asked hurriedly, “Son, how is it going? Did you have a good time this week?”
Taotao still endured it. When he heard Ling Tianyi ask him, Taotao burst into tears.
“Taotao, what’s the matter? Tell me what’s going on?” Xia Xiaoluo was anxious when she saw Taotao like this. Her heart was about to break.
“Taotao, a man should not cry easily.” Ling Tianyi pulled Taotao from Xia Xiaoluo’s arms. “Let’s get on the car first! Don’t do this at the school gate. Or your reputation will be destroyed if we are caught by the paparazzi, right, Taotao?”
Taotao wiped his tears hurriedly, and looked from the left to the right. He was afraid that he would be photographed by others like this.
Ling Tianyi made Taotao and Xia Xiaoluo sit at the back seat of the car. Then he went to the driver’s seat. He must fulfill his promise about taking Taotao to have the seafood feast.
On the way, Xia Xiaoluo held Taotao who was in a daze. She did not say anything, she just wanted to give Taotao more warmth.
When they arrived at the restaurant, Ling Tianyi felt that today he should arrange a private room for Taotao. So that they could have a good chat with Taotao, letting Taotao tell them his grievances. If there were any problems, he could solve the problems. If Ouyang Feng saw Taotao’s expression with grievances, he would transfer Taotao to another school for sure.
Xia Xiaoluo felt that no matter how big the problem was, she would let her son eat enough food first. If Taotao suffered the grievances, but he did not eat anything, it would be the worst thing!
Taotao did not eat much alone this week. Because of excitement, he did not eat much for lunch today. So when he saw a table of delicious seafood in the evening, his eyes became bright.
“Taotao, do you like it? Mommy will help you!” Xia Xiaoluo knew that Taotao was hungry.
Taotao inherited Xia Xiaoluo’s gene of a glutton. He did not say anything, but buried himself in the food. Until his stomach became round, he put down the chopsticks.
“Are you full?” Xia Xiaoluo asked. “Today, you eat too much. You did not eat well in the school? How was the food in the school?”
Xia Xiaoluo could not help mentioning the things in the school again. Taotao thought of the life in the boarding school this week. His nose felt sour, seeming to cry again.
“Baby, tell me, how are you going on this week?” Xia Xiaoluo held Taotao on her legs. Her heart was clutching.
“Mommy, I’m not happy.” Taotao said.
“Why?” Ling Tianyi asked directly. He thought that it was normal for Taotao to feel unhappy in the first week. Because it was very difficult to adapt to the new school in one week. But they needed to know the reason, then they could help Taotao to overcome the difficulties, growing up healthily.
Taotao told them what happened at school. “Daddy and mommy, I can’t keep up with my studies. In P.E. class, no matter how hard I worked, I was the last one and received a failing grade. And in the Chinese class, there were a lot of characters I do not know. The teacher called me to read the text. I could not read it well! I felt sad!”
“I see!” Ling Tianyi thought for a while. “It doesn’t matter. You are only four years old. You can’t compete with the 10-year-old children in running and long jump. Of course, you can’t do better than them. You can naturally pass the sports exam when you grow up. As for the Chinese class, I will find a tutor for you. I will arrange an tutor for you when you come home every week, to ensure that you can make progress at the speed of a rocket. You will not lose face in class, and the teachers and classmates will see your progress.”
“Really?” Taotao’s eyes became bright. “Can I learn all those difficult characters?”
“Of course. You, Ling Han, are my son. And you are a talented child. As long as you can pay more attention, and with the best tutor I find for you, you will absolutely be successful.” Ling Tianyi said. He was quite pleased with Taotao’s attitude. After all, Taotao wanted to make progress. All of Taotao’s sadness was because he couldn’t keep up with the others in study, rather than complaining about the difficulties of the life or homesick or something.
“Daddy, the teacher said that we would take the monthly exam. We will have our first monthly exam in advance at the end of September, because there are seven days off during the National Day holiday in October. The time is limited. I do not want to fail in the exam. So you help me to find a tutor today. I’m going to start learning the lessons tonight.” Taotao said seriously.
“It’s your first holiday after you go to the boarding school. I want to take you to the night market, and daddy wants to take you to the amusement park to play tomorrow. Why not start it next week?” Xia Xiaoluo felt distressed for her son. She did not want Taotao to be too tired. What was more, Taotao was only four years old. It was super-normal for him to study at grade four now. It was not a big deal to make him at grade two or grade three. She did not want Taotao to lose the joy in the childhood.
“Mommy, no. I have to prepare for the exam at the end of the month. The time is limited and the base of my Chinese is not good. If I work hard, and with the help of the tutor, I not only want to pass the monthly exam, but also I want to take the first place in the exam.” Taotao was full of confidence. He must earn his face in the monthly exam.
“Good boy! You are so ambitious.” Ling Tianyi liked Taotao doing things like this. “I will find the tutor for you right now.”
Ling Tianyi made a few phone calls, and finally he decided the tutor. The tutor was a senior school teacher in a key primary school in A City. He was an outstanding teacher who had won the gold medals in the national competitions.
“All right, son. I have arranged the Chinese teacher for you. He’ll teach you for two hours from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. this evening. As for the study time of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, you can talk with the teacher by yourself after meeting him, OK?” Ling Tianyi said. In fact, he could arrange the time for Taotao, but he didn’t do it. He wanted to give Taotao more autonomy and opportunities to practice.
“No problem!” Taotao patted his chest and said. At this time, Taotao seemed to be excited and energetic again. He was full of vigor.
Ling Tianyi did not delay more time in the restaurant, he drove Taotao and Xia Xiaoluo back to the villa of the Ouyang family at the first time. When they arrived home, the Chinese teacher was waiting for Taotao there.
“Taotao, what’s wrong? This teacher said that you wanted to take the lessons after school.” Ouyang Feng felt distressed for Taotao. Taotao just had a holiday. He didn’t have a good rest, and he was busy with studying.
“Great grandfather, I can’t keep up with others in the Chinese class. I do not know many characters. I do not want to lose face in the monthly exam. So I must take lessons after school.” Taotao said to Ouyang Feng.
“You are really a diligent good boy!” Although Ouyang Feng felt distressed for Taotao, he still supported Taotao to study.
Taotao didn’t talk much with Ouyang Feng. He took the Chinese teacher to his room directly.
