Chapter 71: Always on Your Side
His bed was gone, and so was the bookshelf that had been with him for years.
The entire room was empty.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
Ling Zhiwei slammed his bag down, his voice trembling with anger.
"This is my actual bedroom! Not some temporary storage closet! How can you just get rid of it? No matter how cute Shanshan is, you can’t just do whatever you want!"
"Fourth Brother, it’s really not my fault..."
Shanshan stood in a corner of the living room, her small hands clutching the hem of her dress. Her eyes were teary, and she looked utterly wronged.
"I-I told them not to move anything last night. I don’t have many things, so I could have made do in another room. But Grandpa and Grandma insisted on clearing this room for me. They said a child needs sunlight and ventilation, and that a south-facing room downstairs was the best... I couldn’t stop them."
She pressed her lips together and secretly lowered her head to hide a smile.
’Her heart felt so warm, though.’
’This family was unbelievably good to her.’
Just then, Ling Zhenkang walked out of the kitchen. He was wearing an old-fashioned undershirt with a towel draped over his shoulder. He shot Ling Zhiwei a sidelong glance without a word, then slowly raised a coarse finger and pointed upstairs.
"What’s all the shouting about? Your things were moved to the study long ago, all neat and tidy. From now on, that room is yours, you hear me?"
"Really?!"
Ling Zhiwei’s eyes lit up instantly, and the gloomy look on his face vanished without a trace.
"That’s awesome! I was just worrying about how messy the study was! This is perfect!"
Shanshan stood alone in the middle of the living room, tilting her head back to watch his cheerful retreating figure. She blinked a few times, her little face a mask of confusion.
’Why is he so happy all of a sudden? He was just hopping mad a moment ago.’
She paused, then gently shook her head, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly.
’Whatever. As long as Fourth Brother is happy, it’s not a bad thing.’
But when night fell, it was quiet and still. The wind was light and the moon was bright, yet she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Finally, she snuggled deep into her blankets, reached out a small hand, and secretly tugged on the corner of her father Ling Anxun’s shirt.
"Dad..."
she began in a small voice.
"Can you talk to Grandpa and Grandma tomorrow... and ask them not to buy me so many things? The clothes, the toys, the new schoolbag, and that little electric pony... It’s too much."
She bit her lip, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
"I’m scared... I’m scared I’ll get spoiled. What if I really do become a selfish, naughty, bad kid? Will you all stop loving me then?"
Ling Anxun was leaning against the headboard, reading.
Hearing this, he immediately put his book down and looked at the small figure in his arms.
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he slowly leaned down, moved close to her cheek, and planted a kiss on it.
His stubbly beard brushed against her delicate skin, tickling her so much she shrank back.
"Eww, you got drool all over my face!"
Shanshan wrinkled her little nose and, with a look of disgust, raised her sleeve to vigorously wipe her face. "Dad, why do you always do that!" she muttered.
"HAHAHA!"
Ling Anxun roared with laughter.
"You? A bad kid? Don’t be ridiculous! How could my daughter possibly be bad?"
He reached out and pinched her little cheek.
"Your dad guarantees it—you couldn’t be bad if you tried. Even if you wanted to throw a little tantrum, other people would just think you were being cute."
"Really?"
She blinked, half-convinced, a trace of unease still lingering in her eyes.
"Of course, it’s true."
He reached out and ruffled the soft hair on top of her head.
"Remember, even if the whole world doesn’t like you someday, even if they think you’re wrong or not good enough, I will always be on your side. I’ll be the first one to pull you into my arms and tell you, ’It’s okay. Dad loves you.’"
After hearing this, Shanshan’s little chest rose and fell once, and the mist in her eyes slowly dissipated.
The heavy stone in her heart finally, solidly, settled.
「The next morning.」
Her grandfather, Ling Zhenkang, was up early. He grabbed his fishing rod and called out cheerfully, "Shanshan, let’s go! We’re going fishing by the river again today. I lost so badly yesterday, I have to win this one back!"
Shanshan came skipping out, her hair in two little pigtails, holding a branch she had just broken off a willow tree.
She tiptoed to cast her line into the water and said with a serious expression, "Grandpa, I won’t go easy on you this time!"
The two of them squatted by the riverbank, staring at their bobbers for a good half hour.
Grandpa hadn’t caught a single fish, and his brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
Shanshan was also empty-handed, but she kept tilting her head to sneak a giggle.
Just as Grandpa sighed and scratched his head in frustration, she suddenly lifted the lid of her bamboo basket, revealing a large, thrashing carp!
"Look, Grandpa!"
She shook her head smugly, her eyes curving into crescents.
"I won again today! Should I give you this biggest one to make soup?"
Ling Zhenkang’s face went pale, then red.
’Here we go again! It’s like this every time! She’s clearly not even fishing properly, yet she manages to pull a fish out of thin air... It’s witchcraft!’
The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he felt.
He was a decorated old soldier who could carry a machine gun through trenches in his youth, yet now he was being run in circles by a five-year-old girl.
’This isn’t a grandpa-granddaughter fishing trip!’
’This is a spiritual beatdown session!’
Finally, he slapped his thigh and made up his mind.
"Nope! I can’t let this go on! Let’s go!"
He grabbed Shanshan’s small hand and marched imposingly toward the gate.
"I’m taking you to meet some of my old comrades today! Let’s open their eyes and show them what it means when they say the younger generation is something to be reckoned with!"
They had fought side-by-side back in the day, and their bond was still ironclad.
Now, matters concerning the grandchildren’s generation naturally had to be shared, too!
With Shanshan in tow, he held his head high, puffed out his chest, and swaggered through the courtyard gate of one of his old comrades.
"Listen up, you old geezers."
Ling Zhenkang strode through the gate, stood in the middle of the yard, and slapped his sturdy chest.
"Listen here! My Shanshan may look like she’s all small arms and legs, but her fishing skills are out of this world! Forget about you old-timers—even if you all teamed up, you’d be no match for her! She could beat the lot of you with one hand tied behind her back!"
The old men looked at each other, their gazes filled with confusion.
This old man, Ling Zhenkang, was dead set on using his granddaughter’s glory to show off in front of his old brothers today.
"Old Ling, did you stay in the hospital so long you went soft in the head? How dare you say something like that out loud? Aren’t you afraid people will talk behind your back?"
One of the old men couldn’t help but pat Ling Zhenkang on the shoulder.
"Jeez, if word of this gets out, people will think a child prodigy has appeared in a retired military officer’s family. The little girl is only this big, and you’re telling us she knows all this?"
Shanshan stood quietly to the side, her small figure hidden in her grandfather’s shadow, her hands held obediently behind her back.
She tilted her head up, listening intently as the grandfathers argued back and forth.
But she didn’t understand a single word of their roundabout conversation.
But she could tell.
There was no wariness in the way they looked at her, only warmth.
She blinked quietly, having made a silent decision.
So, while the adults were still bickering, Shanshan tiptoed over to the edge of the pond.
With a practiced flick of her small hand, she cast her line, her movements swift and clean.