It's the students' fault if they are too popular.

"You don't want to pinch it?"

"There is no doll I like."

“Hey,” Tong Yao laughed, “You said that as if you can pick it up if you like it.”

"Then Teacher Tong pick one," the little girl said confidently, "I'll pick it up."

"Really?" Tong Yao didn't believe it. "How can you pick the one below me if I choose it?"

"It's just a matter of clamping it a few more times."

"...Boasting," Tong Yao felt that her skills were looked down upon, "I won't make it hard on you. Three chances, I'll take the one in the middle."

She tapped on the glass and pointed to the little fox doll inside.

"Teacher Tong, do you like foxes so much?" The little girl winked teasingly, "Then what reward will I get if I pick one up?"

After hearing this, Tong Yao was stunned, touched his arm uncomfortably, and said slowly:

"what do you want?"

The little girl lowered her head, and Tong Yao followed her line of sight, instantly embarrassed:

"Don't talk about touching my stockings!"

The little girl smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if Teacher Tong doesn't want to. I brought this up as a gift for Teacher Tong. I'll be happy if Teacher Tong likes it."

After saying that, she put in the coin and operated the joystick carefully.

Tong Yao stared at her in a daze, touched her cheek with the back of her hand, and found that her face was a little hot.

This kid... has become too good at flirting, right?

Ruan Qian held her breath and focused on the clamp. The clamp seemed to have a soul, moving precisely above the little fox, reaching down, and then... missing the fox.

The little girl stuck out her tongue and said, "Hey, I still have two chances. I haven't played for a long time, so my hands are rusty."

Tong Yao was amused by her. What? Her skills are almost the same as hers.

But soon, her teasing turned to shock.

The second time the coin was inserted, the grappling hook seemed to have learned its lesson. It reached down deeper and grabbed deeper. Under Tong Yao's astonished eyes, it neatly threw the little fox into the pipe.

Ruan Qian took out the little fox from below and handed it to Tong Yao:

"Teacher Tong, this is for you."

"...I don't like the doll." Tong Yao took it with both hands, refusing to admit it, and secretly touched the doll all over.

At the same time, she added in her mind that she didn't like dolls, she liked foxes.

"Yeah, I know." The little girl smiled.

They walked to the next game machine, and as they passed the corner, a man roared, his eyes almost popped out of his sockets, and pounded his fists hard on a machine that looked like a pool table.

The people around watched coldly and had no sympathy for such people.

Tong Yao stood on tiptoe to take a look out of curiosity and found that it was a fishing game.

"What's wrong with that game? Why are there so many people around?"

She looked ahead, not noticing the girl's dim eyes, and said to herself, "Is this a disguised form of gambling?"

"Yeah." Ruan Qian said softly, "You can make a lot of money if you catch a big fish."

"It's a borderline ball, but it's not banned." Tong Yao sighed, "Let's go, forget about it, let's play the next one."

"Ah."

Tong Yao took a fancy to a two-player zombie-killing game. The two of them held recoilless submachine guns and fired at the zombies and bugs that flew towards them on the screen. In the end, they actually killed all of them and made it to the end.

"Shit," Tong Yao couldn't help but say, "This is my first time clearing a level."

The little girl smiled but said nothing.

The score calculation appeared on the screen, and Player One's score was three times that of Player Two.

Tong Yao looked at where she was standing and saw the number two written on it.

...boring.

Hours passed in the arcade unnoticed by the little girl. She could play each game for a long time, and even complete it with one coin. Only then did Tong Yao realize that the little girl's strength was unfathomable.

"You are so good at playing video games, did you play them often before?" she asked.

"My family used to run a game hall." Ruan Qian explained softly, "I often played with my brother."

Tong Yao was stunned and sensitively noticed the word "before".

"what about now?"

"It's closed now," the little girl whispered. "It can't be opened any longer."

"……Why?"

"It doesn't make money." Ruan Qian smiled nonchalantly, "Except for the gambling machines, nothing else in the game hall makes money. Later, the management was stricter and gambling was not allowed. The location was not good either, so no one came and the business could not continue."

Tong Yao was silent, and mentioned the little girl's sad story. She felt guilty. After hesitating, she asked:

"Do you like coming here?"

The little girl nodded.

Nursery Rhyme Smile:

"Then I will often come to play with you from now on."

Chapter 70: New Year's Eve (Part 2)

On the pedestrian street, you will never have trouble finding a way to kill time.

When we came out of a board game room, it was already dark. The sun sets early in winter, and the bustling streets were decorated with lights, making the night atmosphere even more intense. Tong Yao held the fox doll in her hand and saw the little girl secretly looking through her wallet, and couldn't help laughing:

"It's a waste of money today."

"No!" Ruan Qian hurriedly covered up, "I... I'll check if anything is missing."

She had other uses for her bonus, so she didn't have much liquid funds. Although she had made a budget, the high cost of going out for fun still shocked her, and she was afraid that Teacher Tong would see that she was short of money.

We finally got together for a date, and we couldn’t let Teacher Tong down no matter what we did.

The little girl didn't want Teacher Tong's family to think that their daughter was cheated away by a poor boy - this kind of story has been played out too many times on TV dramas.

She is going to ride on a colorful cloud to get married in a formal ceremony.

"Teacher Tong, would you like some chicken steak?" When they reached the intersection, the little girl pointed to the food street that had just opened in front of them.

Taiwanese chicken steak.

Tong Yao narrowed her eyes. There is a Taiwanese pancake shop next door. The spokesperson is Jay Chou. I don't know if it's true or not. She touched her stomach and felt hungry. She nodded:

"Okay."

The chicken chop shop was doing a booming business, and there was no order in the queue. Orders had to be placed by shouting, and payment had to be made by squeezing in. Seeing Ruanruan struggling in the crowd, she felt a little bad, but she had to hold Fox in one hand and the little girl's bag in the other, so she could only stare blankly from outside.

Ruan Qian was very agile and squeezed to the front in no time. After getting the chicken chop, she squeezed out a little angrily, like a cat with its fur standing on end. After returning to Tong Yao, she was a cute and obedient child again.

"Teacher Tong, here!"

"Oh... you've worked hard."

Tong Yao picked up a stick, picked up a piece, chewed it slowly under the eager gaze of the little girl, and said:

"good to eat."

The flower at the corner of Ruan Qian's lips bloomed.

"I want to eat too!"

She held her own lottery ticket, and her cheerful voice was drowned out by the night.

-

-

"ah!"

The little girl suddenly exclaimed.

The wooden stick was not placed firmly, and before he could focus, it had already fallen to the ground. It was silent, like it had fallen into the water, and it was sharp, like it had pierced the child's heart.

Tong Yao was stunned. She looked at the half box of chicken steak left in her hand and her only wooden skewer. She turned back slowly. They were already far away from the chicken steak shop and would never go back to order another one.

"...Ah, it fell." The little girl squatted down, as if she wanted to pick it up, "Forget it, Teacher Tong will eat the rest."

Tong Yao felt that the chicken steak in her hand suddenly became a hot potato. As a teacher, how could she eat it alone on a date?

Anyone would probably feel embarrassed.

"...You can take my stick and eat it." She whispered, "If you don't mind."

After that, she put the sticks in a box and gently handed it to the little girl, "...Do you want to eat it?"

Ruan Qian felt a moment of disappointment - she had originally wanted Teacher Tong to feed her. She did not give up, nor did she go to take the box. She rubbed her toes on the snow and said coquettishly:

"Teacher Tong, can't you feed me..."

Tong Yao's hands trembled and her heartbeat suddenly quickened.

Hello...no?

She buried her head, her plaid scarf covering half of her face, and silently picked up a piece of chicken steak, trembling and holding it in the air. The little girl was reveling in her heart, but her face was as calm as water, with only a faint blush. Then, she opened her mouth and bit off the chicken steak.

"……Is it tasty?"

"Teacher Tong feeds us food that is so delicious!"

"Nonsense." Tong Yao's face was hot. It was her first time feeding someone, and she had given too many firsts to the little girl. She inserted another piece, her eyes swept behind the little girl, and then her face turned pale -

Two boys in the winter uniform of No. 1 Middle School were behind them, chatting and laughing while playing with their cell phones.

Ruan Qian noticed the change in Teacher Tong's expression, turned around, and was shocked to find that it was Jiang Yiming and Xu Hao - two boys who ran here, most likely to surf the Internet.

"Come on!"

Tong Yao didn't dare to feed the girl anymore, and pulled the little girl quickly to blend into the crowd. Ruan Qian was being pulled by her, and when she realized what she was thinking, she suddenly burst out laughing.

"Teacher Tong, why are we running?"

Tong Yao ran across the street with the little girl and finally stopped. When faced with this question, he was speechless:

"Because...because..."

She couldn't say anything, and suddenly felt embarrassed, so she showed her adult authority and said, "Stop asking so many questions."

She forgot that she was still holding the little girl's hand, staring at the two boys' backs as they walked away, and muttered to herself:

"What are they going to do?"

"Maybe they're going to the game hall," Ruan Qian's voice came from behind, "What else can two people of the same sex do when they come out together?"

It can't be a hotel room, right?

The little girl's voice was faint. Tong Yao was startled and felt her hand being held tightly. She quickly put it back into her pocket and said "hmm" awkwardly.

They stood there stupidly on the crowded street, and the ambiguous atmosphere gradually faded away.

"Teacher Tong," the little girl approached, "Shall we go ice skating?"

"……skate?"

"There's a roller skating rink in front. You can rent shoes. Can you skate, Teacher Tong?"

"Hmm... maybe... yes?"

She actually had never skated before, as she stayed at home every day, and she had a strong desire to try this sport.

Ruan Qian smiled, a little cunningly from an angle that Tong Yao couldn't see. She led Teacher Tong to the roller skating rink, rented two pairs of double-row roller skates, put them on neatly, and moved very gracefully. Tong Yao was nervous and asked for a set of protective gear on the wall, wishing she was armed to the teeth.

"Teacher Tong, stand up." The little girl begged.

Tong Yao held onto the stool, so focused that she dared not speak. After taking off her boots, she stood firmly with great effort. Everyone was equal on the roller skates, and her true height was exposed. She was shorter than Ruan Ruan, and she instantly didn't want to get close to the little girl.

"It seems... not difficult."

She grabbed the handrail at the edge of the roller skating rink, took a deep breath, and moved forward like a turtle.