Chapter 3: The Kindergarten Boss |
"Let’s wait a bit longer. Until Xiao Hui's health gets better." Huang Shujun's voice, usually so soft and gentle, now held a firmness that surprised even herself.
The conversation outside the room fell into silence.
....
Over the next month, Su Hao's life fell into a stable rhythm. He ate well, slept enough, and spent the rest of his time crawling and walking, gradually regaining the vitality typical of a child.
His parents were elated. They couldn't stop beaming as they watched their son slowly transform back into the lively child he should have been all along. So much so that they decided to bring him in for another check-up at the hospital, their hearts brimming with hope.
“Your child’s condition has improved remarkably. His health is stable now,” she said after a thorough examination. “Just bring him in for monthly check-ups, and if there are no issues within six months, he won’t need further monitoring.”
The doctor, a short-haired woman in her fifties, smiled happily at the sight of Su Hao’s improved complexion.
Huang Shujun, though visibly relieved, couldn't shake her lingering worry. “Doctor, why has his condition improved so much this month? Is there something we did differently?”
The doctor’s smile deepened, softening the lines of her face. “It’s simple. His sleep quality has improved, he’s getting proper nutrition, and children are resilient by nature. It’s only normal that he’s bounced back so well.”
After thanking the doctor, Huang Shujun left the hospital with Su Hao. As soon as they stepped outside, tears streamed down her face, falling faster than she could wipe them away.
Su Hao looked up at her, his small brow furrowed in confusion. Was she crying from joy, or was there something else? He instinctively reached out, tightening his grip on her hand, offering comfort in the only way his tiny body could manage.
Feeling the gentle pressure of his little hand, Huang Shujun squatted down, pulling him into a fierce hug. Her sobs came in waves, and she whispered between them,"Little Hui, it’s all Mommy’s fault. I shouldn’t have brought my bad mood from work at school back home, scaring you, making you unable to sleep or eat well. It's all mommy’s fault!"
So that was it! Su Hao suddenly understood. Everything in this world had its causes and effects.
….
Over the next three years, Su Hao’s health improved steadily. He could run, jump, and play just like any other child his age.
During these three years, Huang Shujun was filled with mixed emotions.
She was delighted that her son’s health was improving, and, on top of that, his intelligence was exceptional—he could even be called a child prodigy.
One evening, while grading homework at the kitchen table she had brought home from school, visibly fatigued after a long day at school, Su Hao surprised her. He had been sitting quietly, watching her work. Suddenly, he pointed out a mistake she’d made. Startled, she gave him a simple test to solve, testing if his correction had been a fluke. But to her astonishment, he got it right, effortlessly. She raised the difficulty. Again, he breezed through it. When asked who had taught him, Su Hao simply replied, "I read books."
From that day on, Huang Shujun was convinced her son was a genius, a one-in-a-million talent.
Wherever she was home and not at work, Su Hao would follow her everywhere, like a shadow. He hovered around her constantly, so much so that she began to question if this was normal behavior for a child his age. More than once, she found herself searching online, typing desperate queries: “Is it normal for a five-year-old to be this clingy?”
This led her to suspect that her son, in addition to being a genius, might have some peculiar form of autism. She dared not take him to a psychologist for fear that her smart son would sense something was wrong and become self-conscious.
Moreover, she worried about how to educate her genius son. His exceptional talent was undeniable, and he wasn’t just the kind of genius who excelled academically. So the question arose: How should a genius child be taught?
As a elementary school teacher, she had taught many children, but when it came to her own son, she felt uncertain. What if she taught him wrong? He was her only child, after all.
In the end, she asked Su Hao for his opinion.
"Little Hui, you’re old enough to start school. How about trying kindergarten?"
"Sure!" Su Hao replied nonchalantly.
And just like that, Su Hao’s kindergarten enrollment was decided.
Kindergarten was quite safe, with a high safety factor. As for the bunch of little kids there, Su Hao figured none of them could beat him. With his current skills, becoming the kindergarten tyrant would be more than easy.
....
Carrying his tiny backpack, Su Hao successfully started kindergarten.
On his first day, he made all the loud, rowdy, and troublesome kids cry.
From that day on, all the children in the kindergarten called him "Big Brother" whenever they saw him. The atmosphere of the whole kindergarten improved significantly, and the class teacher even praised this as the best-behaved group she had ever taught, unaware of the unseen force keeping them in line.
As for what Su Hao did in kindergarten, it definitely wasn’t playing house with the other kids. Instead, he would lie down somewhere pretending to sleep, all the while studying the Marble Space.
He knew that if he wanted to survive better and live a fuller life, he needed something extraordinary. And the most extraordinary thing he had was the Marble Space, which held his consciousness and all his information.
He needed to figure out what the Marble Space truly meant to him and what it could offer.
"Is it only meant to make me die and resurrect in an endless loop?"
No! It had to have many functions beyond his current understanding, waiting to be discovered and utilized.
The current limitations were his own knowledge and imagination.
After surviving his early childhood crises, Su Hao planned to quickly learn all the knowledge he could, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, in addition to all kinds of industries, information technology, hardware, software, and more. All this knowledge would be crucial for him.
Because once he learned it, the Marble Space would record it, turning it into something that would be his forever.
Of course, Su Hao also thought about using the Marble Space’s ability to record information by simply storing all knowledge now and studying it later. However, mere recording was of little use. Only the knowledge that he truly understood and comprehended would be his own.
That afternoon, Su Hao suddenly heard commotion outside, causing a bad feeling to well up inside him.
He rushed to the window and peered out, his sharp eyes immediately catching sight of a man in his fifties storming the gates.
The man’s face was twisted in a crazed, maniacal grin, his eyes bloodshot and wild, and in his hand, he wielded a gleaming machete.
Su Hao quickly pulled back, scanning the room. He realized there was no back door. The intruder was just outside the main entrance, and if he rushed out now, he’d be the first to be cut down. He was trapped.
There wasn’t much space to hide in either; just a pile of scattered toys in the center of the room. Su Hao ran over, grabbed two pieces of plastic board, lifted his shirt, and tucked one piece against his chest and the other against his back.
The door to the classroom creaked open.
The intruder stepped inside, his ragged breath filling the room as his eyes scanned the scene, searching for easy prey. His excitement and crazed bloodshot eyes landed on Su Hao, who stood in the middle of the room, calm and composed. The man’s lips curled into a sick grin.
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