AMRWFA -Chapter 367 Master, I Want to Go With You

Lu Lingling ignored him. Just as she turned her head, someone came in to inform her that her master had arrived to pick her up.

She was overjoyed. After quickly packing her things, she ran out.

Feng Qian was stunned for a moment and hurriedly asked, “Her master came to pick her up—what about us? Is anyone coming for us?”

“She’s a minor and needs a guardian. You don’t.”

Feng Qian: “Damn! That’s blatant discrimination…”

He wanted Pang Zihao to back him up, but that guy was buried in reading materials—specifically Speculations on Extraterrestrial Life, something they had given him. It was full of things Feng Qian couldn’t understand.

Feng Qian: “…”

He wanted to curse. What kind of people had he even run into?

—

“Master…”

The moment Lu Lingling saw Ruan Yaoyao, she happily threw herself into her arms.

Even though they had only spent a short day together, Ruan Yaoyao already held an extremely important place in Lu Lingling’s heart. Aside from her parents, Ruan Yaoyao was the most important person to her.

“How is it here? Are you getting used to it? No one bullied you, right?”

“Mhm, mhm! Minister Qin and the others treat me very well, and the teachers are gentle too. There’s just one guy named Feng Qian who’s kind of annoying—he keeps trying to trick me into letting him copy my homework,” Lu Lingling pouted. “I’m not stupid. I’m not letting him copy.”

“Is the homework hard?”

“Not at all. It’s just stuff I learned before in school.”

She didn’t say that she actually felt it was deeper now.

If school moral education classes only scratched the surface, then here, they were digging down to the roots. Many questions she had never thought about before suddenly made sense after the teachers explained them.

She felt that if she went back to school, even the teachers specializing in that subject might not be able to out-debate her.

Ruan Yaoyao didn’t ask more about her studies. After a few questions about her daily life, she introduced Xie Xiuming and Xu Anzhi to her.

Ruan Yaoyao introduced him as her “godfather,” but Xu Anzhi immediately refuted it. Wrapping her arms around Xie Xiuming’s neck, she declared proudly, “This is my dad!”

Her chin lifted high, looking extremely proud.

Lu Lingling didn’t think much of it. She assumed her master and “grandmaster” were just having a disagreement. Obediently, she called him “Grandmaster,” then took out a few candies her teacher had rewarded her with and gave them to Xu Anzhi, calling her affectionately, “Little Sister Anzhi.”

That single “Grandmaster” made Xie Xiuming feel like the trip had been completely worth it. He even thought the gift he had prepared was too small and silently decided to double it next time.

Since they were here to pick her up, Ruan Yaoyao didn’t linger long. After chatting briefly with Xu Anzhi, she asked Lu Lingling to pack up so she could leave with her shortly.

Lu Lingling was surprised. She thought Ruan Yaoyao had come to visit her, not take her away. She jumped with excitement.

“Really, Master? I can leave?!”

“Why else would I come?” Ruan Yaoyao smiled. “They’ve done a full checkup on you. Your body is fine, and your mental state is very healthy, so they notified me to come pick you up.”

She added that if Lu Lingling hadn’t wanted to keep this from her parents, they would have come together to pick her up.

But it didn’t matter—they would go see her parents together anyway when she took her home.

“After you come out with me, we’ll first go to my place so you can settle in. Once you’ve rested, tomorrow we’ll buy some things, and then we’ll go to your home. What do you think?” Ruan Yaoyao suggested.

Lu Lingling nodded eagerly. “Mhm! Then we’ll say I wanted to surprise them, so I didn’t let them pick me up from the psychiatric hospital and asked you to take me home instead.”

“Alright.”

…

Xie Xiuming added from the side, “I’ll come along too.”

Lu Lingling didn’t understand why he added that, but she nodded anyway.

Ruan Yaoyao glanced at him and reminded him that he had a lot of work—if he was busy, he didn’t need to go.

The underlying message was clear: Go do your job. Don’t follow me around wasting time!

Xie Xiuming pretended not to understand. Holding Xu Anzhi, he teased happily, “Zhizhi, we’re going to Sister Lingling’s house tomorrow. Do you want to come with us?”

Since it meant going together with both “dad” and “mom,” Xu Anzhi answered crisply, “Yes!”

Ruan Yaoyao: “…”

Originally, Xie Xiuming planned to go back to the Xu family with them, but he received a company call midway and had to leave early.

“I’ll come after work. Save me some dinner.”

He hailed a taxi and bid a reluctant goodbye to Xu Anzhi.

Back in Ruan Yaoyao’s arms, Xu Anzhi became happy again upon hearing she would see him in the evening. “Okay, Dad, see you tonight!”

She answered on Ruan Yaoyao’s behalf without hesitation.

Ruan Yaoyao had a headache.

Xu Anzhi was only three years old. It would be over ten years before she became an adult—was this misunderstanding going to last that long?

It was one thing for Xu Anzhi to misunderstand, but Lu Lingling was older. She couldn’t let her misunderstand too. So when they returned to the Xu residence, Ruan Yaoyao coaxed Xu Anzhi to play aside and quietly clarified her relationship with Xie Xiuming.

Lu Lingling immediately became flustered. “Then… then I just called him ‘Grandmaster’… Master, he won’t be angry, right?”

“No. He likes kids, and you’re not much older than Zhizhi. In his eyes, you’re like a niece. Why would he be angry?” Ruan Yaoyao said. “Next time, just call him Uncle Xie.”

“Okay!”

…

That evening, when Lu Lingling called him “Uncle Xie,” Xie Xiuming: “…”

Actually, I quite liked being called “Grandmaster.” Maybe you could say it a few more times?

But looking at Lu Lingling, already in her teens, he knew she wasn’t as easy to fool as little Xu Anzhi. It seemed he wouldn’t be hearing that title again anytime soon.

Xu Anzhi had been the one to promise to “save him dinner,” so Ruan Yaoyao couldn’t ignore it. Before dinner, she informed the household to prepare an extra portion.

But when it was time, everyone in the Xu family had returned—yet Xie Xiuming was nowhere to be seen.

After calling him, she found out he had to work overtime and would come later.

She didn’t insist and simply set aside his portion, eating with the family.

So when Xie Xiuming finally arrived, he ate the reserved meal.

Everything happened so naturally that by the time Ruan Yaoyao realized it, she had already tucked Lu Lingling and Xu Anzhi into bed and was sitting in the courtyard living room.

Ruan Yaoyao: “…”

【Wait… what kind of host lets a guest eat ‘leftovers’?】

【Even if the ‘leftovers’ were set aside in advance…】

【They’re still ‘leftovers,’ right?】

…

Ruan Zhihe didn’t quite understand the rules of big families. She wanted to say—this counts as leftovers?

If this is leftovers, she’d gladly have several portions.

But seeing Ruan Yaoyao lowering her head to scroll on her phone, she swallowed her words.