Lin Zhengran saw Xiao Heqing's eyes suddenly turn red and well up with tears, which began to fall for no apparent reason, PATTER, PATTER.
Unable to hold back, he pinched her soft, chubby cheeks. "What are you crying for?! Are you unhappy that I'm not eating your snacks anymore? Doesn't this mean you can eat more every day?!"
Her face hurt from the pinching. She stared at him pitifully and muttered, "But you used to take my stuff every day. Why don't you want it today?"
Lin Zhengran stopped, at a loss for words. "Is there something wrong with you? Are you addicted to being bullied?"
Xiao Heqing covered her face, clutching the candy in her hand as she continued to look at him with pitiful eyes.
Too lazy to discuss the candy issue any further, he asked, "Didn't you say you were going to ask your mom to sign you up for a Taekwondo class? Have you registered yet?"
She shook her head. "I haven't told her yet..."
"Don't want to sign up anymore?"
"I do..."
Seeing that Lin Zhengran was about to scold her for being too timid to speak up again, she quickly waved her hands and explained, "It's not that I don't want to tell her. My mom and dad just got divorced recently, and they've been busy with all the divorce matters. I plan to tell her tonight."
Lin Zhengran nodded in gratification. "That's good. Although you're indecisive about small things, you're surprisingly open-minded about major events."
The kindergarten teacher was already calling for the students inside the school, so Lin Zhengran and Xiao Heqing walked in.
Xiao Heqing said, "Mainly because my mom and dad haven't been sleeping together for a long time. Since they aren't happy together, it's better for them to separate early..."
Lin Zhengran cast her an admiring glance. "The way you speak now is much more comfortable to listen to than before. It gives off a smart vibe."
Xiao Heqing lowered her head shyly, thinking that his words sounded very strange.
In the distance, the teacher was doing a head count and called out, "Is He Qing here?"
Before Lin Zhengran could answer out of habit, Xiao Heqing raised her hand first. "I'm here, Teacher!"
The teacher acknowledged her. "Since you're here, line up properly and don't run around."
Lin Zhengran stared at He Qing's shy demeanor as she raised her hand. He thought, "My painstaking efforts over the past two months haven't been in vain."
During the morning self-study period, Lin Zhengran sat there staring at He Qing. She gripped the edge of her stool with her small hands and blinked her adorable eyes, wondering what he was up to.
"He Qing," Lin Zhengran asked, "do you want to follow me forever?"
The system hadn't taught him the exact method to form a pact, but he figured it only required a sincere question and a sincere answer.
But Xiao Heqing didn't understand. "What do you mean by following you forever?"
Just then, she noticed someone in the class reading an extracurricular book. It featured a cartoon illustration of a bride and groom at their wedding, with the caption: *Two people shall be together forever.*
Xiao Heqing's smart little brain immediately connected the dots, and her face flushed bright red. Following him forever meant growing up to get married, becoming a bride and groom, and sleeping together.
Lin Zhengran didn't know how to explain it either. "It doesn't mean anything else. You can interpret it however you want, like being good frie—"
She looked back at him and, before he could finish, slowly nodded her head and whispered, "Okay... I'm willing."
Thinking she was quite decisive, Lin Zhengran held out his hand. "Then let's make a pinky promise! No one is allowed to back out!"
Xiao Heqing hooked her pinky finger with his, echoing his words, "No one is allowed to back out."
[You have successfully bound your fortune with He Fairy, poaching the sect's talent. From now on, whenever He Fairy improves her Cultivation, you will receive double the Cultivation. However, He Fairy seems to have developed other ideas about you when signing the pact.]
Forming a pact was quite simple, but what other ideas?
Lin Zhengran asked bluntly, "What kind of ideas do you have about me right now?"
Still holding the pinky promise, He Qing didn't understand. She answered with an adorably silly expression, "Wh-what ideas? I don't have any ideas. I was just thinking that I'll follow you from now on."
Lin Zhengran withdrew his hand and pushed the kindergarten reading book in front of her. As a Transmigrator, he harbored absolutely no inappropriate thoughts toward this five-year-old girl, so naturally, his mind didn't wander in that direction. "Forget it. Think whatever you want to think. Just read your book."
"Mhm..."
The whole day passed. Lin Zhengran stared at He Qing, who was earnestly flipping through her book, and then glanced at the system's Cultivation progress bar. He thought, "The progress bar hasn't changed at all. Could it be that reading doesn't count as Cultivation for He Qing?"
That evening after school, Xiao Heqing found her mother and said, "Mom, I want to sign up for a class..."
Mrs. He, who had come to pick her daughter up, looked genuinely surprised. Back when she was agonizing over whether to get a divorce, her daughter had always been gloomy and silent. Now that the divorce was finalized, her daughter seemed to have become much more talkative. It almost made Mrs. He feel as if the heavens were guiding their entire family toward a brand new life.
She crouched down to meet her daughter's eye level. "Qingqing, what kind of class do you want to take? The kind that teaches elementary school subjects in advance?"
Xiao Heqing shook her head and pulled a flyer from her pocket. It was the one Lin Zhengran had specifically accompanied her to get from the Taekwondo studio a while ago. "No, this one."
Mrs. He took the flyer and was even more shocked when she read the title. She looked at her daughter, who was as docile as a child could be, and then at the cheerful, outgoing kids pictured on the flyer.
"Taekwondo?! You're old enough to know what this is about, right? It's just a bunch of people fighting each other. Are you sure you want to learn this? Can you handle it? It's very easy to get hurt."
Xiao Heqing nodded and muttered, "I can handle it. I'm not afraid of getting hurt."
Mrs. He chuckled. After giving it some serious thought, she patted her daughter's head. "They say children grow up in the blink of an eye. Our Qingqing really has become a big girl all of a sudden. I don't even know when you became so brave."
She stood up and held her daughter's hand. "Then I will go with you to take a look right now. If you really want to learn, I'll pay the tuition and sign you up today."
"Thank you, Mom!" Xiao Heqing beamed.
Shortly after, Mrs. He took her daughter to the children's Taekwondo studio located in the mall next door. Watching the kids spar with one another, the adult couldn't help but feel a bit worried for her daughter. However, seeing how tough and brave her peers looked, He Qing's heart was filled with longing.
Ultimately, under the coach's guarantee of absolute safety, Xiao Heqing officially registered for the class, embarking on her journey to become a Taekwondo expert.
And it was on the very day she began practicing Taekwondo that Lin Zhengran discovered the Cultivation progress bar had actually started to rise.
[After wandering for months upon descending from the sect, He Fairy has finally found her own path of Cultivation. He Fairy's current level is Junior Martial Artist. Having bound your fortune with hers, you have automatically advanced to Low-Level Martial Artist. Strength +2. Spiritual Qi Level +1.]
[Total level has become 11.]
So... He Qing's path of Cultivation was Taekwondo? He felt like he could already envision what this girl would look like in the future...
Time flew by, and the end of the year was rapidly approaching. Surprisingly, the first snow fell early this year. Kindergarten also let out for winter break.
At the Taekwondo studio, Lin Zhengran stood in the spectator area, watching Xiao Heqing spar in her tiny Taekwondo uniform. Her adorable face, coupled with her powerful kicks, made for a rather bizarre contrast.
He could only conclude that the direction of her talent was truly unexpected. Who would have thought that this little girl, who used to be constantly bullied, would display such grand ambition at the Taekwondo studio? In just over a month, she went from taking a beating at the beginning to being able to defeat quite a few boys. She had even become an acknowledged expert within the studio.
Of course... at least half the credit for all of this belonged to Lin Zhengran, because he had been secretly teaching her during their free time.