Nonetheless, his happiness only lasted a few days. After that, he became unhappy again.

Why was that?

The reason being that the girls in his elementary school cla.s.s were more annoying than Peach.

At least Peach was obedient in front of him. Whenever he was doing something, Peach would either watch him intently, or play on her own. In comparison, the girls in his cla.s.s were overly enthusiastic in asking him tons of questions from the textbook.

"Shen Mochen, do you know what is the sum of ninety-nine and ninety-nine?"

"Shen Mochen, what's the answer when you subtract thirty from five?"

"Shen Mochen, can you teach me how to p.r.o.nounce this word?"

The girls would continually bother him with such unchallenging questions that to him were child's play. All their questioning did was to irritate him further.

At school this particular afternoon, he was ambling along the road when all of a sudden, he noticed a familiar silhouette in front of him. It was someone in a floral dress carrying a pink backpack. Without hesitation, he rushed forward to check. It was none other than Peach.

"Why are you walking alone along the road?" Shen Mochen frowned and reached out for her backpack, which was as light as a feather. Kindergarteners did not have any books to bring to school, so her backpack was probably only filled with her jacket and an empty water bottle.

Peach looked up in surprise. When she saw that it was Shen Mochen, she beamed from ear to ear. Immediately, she held onto his arm and gushed, "My parents are away on a business trip again. G.o.dfather had to attend a compet.i.tion in the province, so he could not fetch me. They planned for me to stay over in kindergarten, but since I know the way home, I decided to sneak home."

Shen Mochen glowered at her. Glancing towards her hands that were wrapped around his arm, he hesitated for a moment before letting it slide.

As the sun set, two silhouettes, one larger than the other, could be seen strolling along the lively street, towards their home.

Ever since then, Shen Mochen was tasked with fetching Peach to and from kindergarten.

Whenever Shen Mochen walked out of the alley holding Peach's hands, the old ladies sitting along the alley would look at them with a smile and tease, "Oh, Chen Chen is going to school with his wife again."

Every day, Peach would wave and greet them with a broad smile, "Goodbye Grandma Sun! Goodbye Grandma Li! Goodbye Grandma Song!" At the same time, she would tighten her grip on Shen Mochen's hand and walk straight ahead with a spring in her steps.

Not long after, the rumour that Shen Mochen would fetch his girlfriend to and from school every day, started spreading in Shen Mochen's cla.s.s.

When the rumour spread, the sound of young girls' hearts shattering could be heard.

Finally, when Shen Mochen was in the second grade, Peach protested against repeating Upper Kindergarten for the third time.

Peach's mother agreed with her, as her daughter was not unintelligent and it was understandable that she would refuse to repeat Upper Kindergarten once more. With a plan in mind, she approached Professor Shen again.

There were certain benefits to having a university professor as an in-law. Coincidentally, that year, the son of the princ.i.p.al of the elementary school took his college entrance examination but did not do exceptionally well. It was uncertain if he could make it into Z University. When Professor Shen learned of the situation, he rushed to the princ.i.p.al 's home. First, he praised Peach for being exceptionally smart and a.s.sured the princ.i.p.al that although she was only six years old, she would definitely be able to keep up with the first-grade curriculum. Then, he implicitly hinted to the princ.i.p.al that if Peach could attend elementary school, his son would have no problems being accepted into Z University.

Hence, a deal was made.