Inferior A After Having a Baby with the Top Boss 97

Chapter 97: I Like You Too Much

With the end of final exams, winter break officially began at Q University.

However, the faculty still had to complete the last charity project before the new year.

Ming Fei woke up in the morning, and Zhu Yiqiao had already left the villa. Just like last time, after breakfast, she packed Ming Zaozao’s backpack and took her to Li Xing’s house.

0619 and 008 still put on an exaggerated display of reluctance at their parting, even though it was only for half a day.

Ming Zaozao patted the cat and dog, waving goodbye to 008 and 0619.

Sitting in the hovercar, she shook the silver bracelet with bells on her wrist, her round eyes filled with a smile.

“Mommy, Baby likes it so much!”

After receiving this gift from Zhu Yiqiao, Ming Zaozao wore it every day. Once, Ming Fei even saw her shaking it in front of the puppy, saying that she really liked the silver bracelet Mama gave her, and that she loved Mommy and Mama the most.

Ming Fei held her small, round hand: “As long as Zaozao likes it.”

Ming Zaozao kissed her on the cheek.

Then, she shook the silver bells again, and after playing for a while, cupped her face in her hands, drank her milk, and watched educational cartoons.

As the hovercar crossed the harbor bridge, Ming Fei’s phone vibrated.

She looked down and saw it was a reply from Jian.

It had been two days since their last conversation.

[Jian: Hi, Xiao Fei.]

[Jian: Sorry, I’ve been busy with work these past two days. My grandmother lives in the mountains and doesn’t use communication software often, so she only saw my message last night at nine o’clock and just replied this morning.]

[Jian: This is the translated symbol. I hope it helps.]

Attached was a photo. The background of the photo was dark, the paper yellowed, and on it was a string of complex and difficult-to-understand symbols that seemed vaguely familiar.

Ming Fei stared at it for a minute, then replied with thanks.

[Jian, thank you, and please thank your grandmother for me as well.]

[I have another question, is the translated pattern in its normal orientation or reversed?]

Jian replied almost instantly.

[Jian: You’re welcome, I’ll pass on your thanks.]

[Jian: The translated pattern is in its normal orientation, but this character system hasn’t been used for hundreds of years, and my mother and I rarely see it. If I hadn’t spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house when I was little, I wouldn’t even recognize it. Xiao Fei, where did you see it?]

Ming Fei thought for a moment.

[An elderly care home mainly for immigrants.]

Jian sent a cute smiley face emoji.

[But our tribe doesn’t migrate. Perhaps one of the elderly in the nursing home has some connection to our Timon tribe? Anyway, I find it quite fascinating.]

[But I have to go now, talk to you later.]

Ming Fei politely expressed her thanks again, then stared at the translated pattern for a while longer. It wasn’t until the hovercar reached its destination that she closed the photo and got out of the car with Ming Zaozao.

Because of last night’s date, Li Xing woke up a little late today and was still having breakfast when her friend arrived.

Seeing the adorable Zaozao the Great, Li Xing put down her bread and reached out to Zaozao: “Zaozao, come here, Auntie Xing.”

Ming Zaozao ran over with her little backpack and let Li Xing nuzzle her like a kitten, giggling.

Li Xing’s mother and grandmother weren’t home today, only her two great-grandmothers. Before leaving, the two great-grandmothers stuffed them with a pile of food, as if they weren’t going to work, but on a camping trip.

The hovercar set off again, and light snow began to fall.

Ming Fei, sitting to Li Xing’s right, was reviewing the students’ exam papers, grading them online while listening to Li Xing talk about Wei Lingyu.

“…I asked her what she thought of me, and she said she had liked me for a long time, then said a bunch of things that made me blush. Teacher Xiao Fei, you know, before this, I never knew she had such a…”

Li Xing found the right word: “Such a ‘smooth’ side.”

Ming Fei frowned at a student’s answer, but hearing her friend’s words, her frown smoothed out, and her lips curved upwards, clearly happy for the two lovers finally getting together.

She asked, “And then?”

Li Xing took a sip of flower tea: “And then we… um, it’s hard to describe, but we’re together now.”

Ming Fei, rarely teasing, asked, “What kind of description is that?”

Li Xing said seriously, “That process is really hard to describe! By the way, has Chief Judge Zhu talked to you about the government matter recently?”

After grading another paper, Ming Fei asked, “What matter?”

“I heard from my great-grandmother that it seems to be a problem with the pension funds of the State Council. I don’t know the specifics, I only know that several departments have been investigated recently.”

They chatted for a while, but because neither of them knew the details, they didn’t delve too deep, soon focusing on grading their respective exam papers.

Meanwhile, at the Trial Court in the city center, the first reporting meeting of the day had ended.

After the meeting, another batch of investigators went to the State Council and the Civil Affairs Bureau. Lan Lubai stood by the French window in the office on the sixteenth floor, looking down at Xi He Square under the light snow, a casual smile on her face.

She took off her cap and stretched: “Yiqiao, compared to now, I miss my time serving in the Ares unit more and more.”

Min Man, sitting on the sofa, exposed her: “Actually, you miss your time at the military academy even more, when you could… well, your aunts would always cover for you. Now, everything you do is connected to the Trial Court, and you have to be responsible for the citizens of the Independent State.”

Lan Lubai’s smile deepened: “Eh, you actually saw through me. Life was really good back then at the academy.”

Zhu Yiqiao, sitting at her desk, was reviewing the information on welfare institutions and elderly care homes related to this investigation.

Last week, during the Trial Court’s final round of year-end reviews, they discovered, through the current deputy director of the State Council, that the State Council was suspected of misappropriating national pension funds.

Corruption was always taken very seriously.

Following this lead, the Trial Court found that not only the State Council but also the Civil Affairs Bureau and various local departments were involved. If it weren’t for the deputy director of the State Council, who, out of fear, revealed her tracks while transferring assets abroad, the Trial Court might not have discovered this.

Lan Lubai and Min Man were still bickering. Soon, Zhu Yiqiao’s gaze paused on a somewhat familiar name.

—Xinmin Elderly Care Home.

A snowflake landed on the sign of Xinmin Elderly Care Home.

“Beep—”

The hovercar arrived at its destination, and Ming Fei and Li Xing smoothly got out. Because it was the last charity event, the other teachers also arrived early. Five minutes later, the entire team was assembled.

Teacher Wen and Director Mo exchanged greetings as usual.

Ming Fei stood at the end of the line, slightly distracted, her gaze shifting to the flowerbed, where she saw a cleaner sweeping in front of the mural.

A gust of cold wind blew past, and the frail elderly cleaner coughed. Perhaps because she was feeling unwell, she took off her mask, and Ming Fei saw her face.

Long, dark gold hair, green eyes, about sixty-five years old. After coughing, she took a breath and put her mask back on, methodically sweeping the snow and dirt near the mural.

Seeing this, Ming Fei couldn’t help but think,

Wasn’t it supposed to be ignored?

There wasn’t much dirt near the mural. If they were ignoring it, why bother cleaning it so meticulously and installing surveillance cameras?

She was both puzzled and curious, but out of respect and politeness, she didn’t ask.

After Teacher Wen finished talking with Director Mo, the teachers were divided into groups and went to the halls of the east and west buildings according to the same rules as last time. Ming Fei and Li Xing went to the west building. After arriving at the hall and putting on their vests, they followed the same route as last time to the elderly.

This time, the task was much easier. After a week of learning, the elderly had basically mastered the usage and functions of Little White R0337.

Seeing the elderly woman in the wheelchair again, she smiled at them kindly.

“We meet again. Thank you so much last time. The elderly friends on this floor have almost all learned how to use it. Little White even plays cards with us at night.”

Ming Fei smiled: “That’s good, as long as it can make your lives more convenient.”

Li Xing also smiled: “Yes. Serving society and providing convenience for the people, that’s the original intention of our research and development.”

The elderly woman also agreed with this intention.

She gave a command to Little White R0337 standing beside her, and Little White quickly brought her reading glasses from the table and carefully put them on for her.

After doing this, the elderly woman asked with a smile, “Teachers, how is it? I learned quite quickly, didn’t I? I didn’t waste your time.”

Hearing this, Ming Fei’s smile deepened: “Grandma, you learned very quickly, that’s great.”

Perhaps because of Ming Fei’s gentle demeanor, many elderly people gathered around her and asked questions. Even the elderly people assigned to other teams would stop and ask her questions as they passed by.

This made Ming Fei the busiest person.

But she enjoyed it. After all, contributing her part, helping the elderly, and answering their questions was her original intention for choosing this charity project.

Time flew by when she was busy.

By one o’clock, all the tasks were completed. Because the return trip would take more than an hour, the entire team stayed at the nursing home for lunch.

During lunch, Ming Fei noticed that the elderly cleaner also came over. She took off her mask, sat alone at the side, took out a thermos from her bag, and ate slowly.

The dining hall was divided into two areas. She was sitting in Area A, and Area B opposite her was clearly more lively, facing the elderly people who were chatting, including the elderly woman in the wheelchair.

Her phone vibrated, and Ming Fei looked away.

[Jiejie: Ah Fei, are you finished?]

Ming Fei put down her chopsticks.

[Mm-hmm!]

[We’ll be going back soon.]

[Jiejie: Did you eat properly?]

Ming Fei smiled.

She always ate on time. It was Zhu Yiqiao who often didn’t eat properly.

[Yes, I had the nutritious meal provided by the nursing home.]

[What about Jiejie?]

[[Kitten holding dried fish.jpg]]

After a while, Zhu Yiqiao still didn’t reply. Ming Fei guessed she was busy. As she went to put away her dishes, passing by the elderly cleaner, Ming Fei picked up the glove the cleaner had dropped when bumped by another passerby.

The cleaner smiled and thanked her: “Thank you.”

Ming Fei also smiled: “You’re welcome.”

Li Xing, walking ahead, looked over. Ming Fei didn’t linger, carrying her tray and walking forward.

It was already three o’clock in the afternoon when they returned to the city center from Xinmin Elderly Care Home.

When Ming Fei picked up Ming Zaozao, Ming Zaozao was playing on the swing. Seeing her mommy, Ming Zaozao rushed towards her like a small cannonball, hugging her leg.

She raised her little head, her face blooming into a smile.

“Mommy~”

“Zaozao, did you just wake up from your nap?”

“Mm-hmm!”

Li Xing pinched her cheek, teasing her: “Did you dream about fighting monsters?”

Ming Zaozao nodded seriously: “Mm-hmm! Baby chased away all the bad monsters!”

Li Xing was rendered speechless by her cuteness.

At four o’clock in the afternoon, the snow stopped.

The mother and daughter played at Li Xing’s house for a while. At 4:30, Ming Fei received a message from Zhu Yiqiao and took Ming Zaozao to pick her up from work.

This was the first time Ming Zaozao had gone to pick up her mommy from work. When they stopped by a flower shop on the way, Ming Zaozao also prepared a bouquet for her mommy, which she arranged herself, with Ming Fei helping her with the wrapping.

She appeared at the foot of the Trial Court building, holding a bright bouquet of sunflowers, butterfly orchids, and peonies, like a little elf who had strayed into the human world.

Ten minutes later, Zhu Yiqiao came out of the hall.

She was wearing her Trial Court uniform. The indifference and coldness around her melted away like a tide when she saw the mother and daughter.

Ming Zaozao waved at her: “Mommy~”

Zhu Yiqiao strode towards them, effortlessly picked up the tiny Ming Zaozao, and after receiving the bouquet from her, bent down and kissed her.

“Thank you, Zaozao.”

Ming Zaozao beamed.

Under the umbrella, Zhu Yiqiao’s gaze met Ming Fei’s. A snowy day, evening, tall buildings and cars, flowers and smiles, such an ordinary scene became heart-fluttering because of Ming Fei’s presence.

As their eyes met, using the bouquet and umbrella as cover, Zhu Yiqiao also kissed Ming Fei on the cheek.

Her voice was low: “Thank you, Ah Fei.”