Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Nuo Nuo’s hearing aids were fitted, and the children were supposed to go back to school. However, Ji Yan’s injury prevented him from being discharged from the hospital, and Tang Tang had to stay to take care of him. This meant there would be no one to look after the children if they went back to school, so Tang Tang asked the kindergarten for leave again, and the two children would not be going back to school for the time being. When Grandpa Ji found out about this, he immediately suggested bringing the children’s textbooks so they could study there. In his opinion, although the children were only in kindergarten, learning was a very important thing and should not be interrupted.
Tang Tang and Ji Yan naturally agreed to this. Learning was a lifelong pursuit, and if you don’t keep up, you fall behind. If they hadn’t had no other choice, they wouldn’t have wanted the children to take such a long leave.
However, Tang Tang had to take care of the whole family and Ji Yan every day, so she simply didn’t have much time to teach the children. Besides, she wasn’t smart enough to teach her two precious little geniuses; it would be better if the two of them taught her.
Ji Yan could teach the two little geniuses, but his injury was too severe, and he needed to rest more every day and couldn’t get up, so he couldn’t teach them for the time being either. The children could only study on their own in the hospital.
Seeing this, Grandpa Ji waved his hand dismissively, “If you don’t have time, I’ll teach them. What do kindergarten kids know about self-study?” He had nothing else to do anyway.
“Grandpa, are you sure you’ll teach them?” Ji Yan asked Grandpa Ji, as if he doubted his ability.
Only Tang Tang saw the fleeting smile in his eyes and couldn’t help but secretly smile inwardly. He could be quite mischievous sometimes, even daring to tease Grandpa.
However, Tang Tang wisely chose to remain silent, keeping her lips pursed. She had to cooperate with her husband, right?
Hehe, had she become mischievous too?
Grandpa Ji didn’t see the hidden smile in Ji Yan’s eyes and assumed he was genuinely doubting him, so he immediately became displeased. “What’s wrong with me teaching them? Can’t I teach two little brats?”
Although Grandpa Ji was a true military man, he wasn’t a roughneck in the traditional sense. He was a cultured man, having received a proper education, and his handwriting was exceptionally good. He could be considered both literate and skilled in martial arts. So, how could he accept Ji Yan’s doubt?
If he couldn’t even teach two three- or four-year-olds, wouldn’t he be illiterate?
Ji Yan coughed lightly, pulled Tang Tang aside, and remained silent, choosing to observe quietly.
Only then was Grandpa Ji satisfied. He took out the two little ones’ kindergarten textbooks and began a proper hospital lesson.
To show her support, Tang Tang had specially brought over a small stool and table from home. The two little ones sat on one side, and Grandpa Ji sat opposite them, conducting one-on-one instruction.
Ji Yan had warned Ji Xiaozhuo beforehand to be obedient and not to disrespect his great-grandfather, or he’d get a good spanking. As for Nuo Nuo, there was absolutely no need to worry.
To avoid a spanking, Ji Xiaozhuo respectfully sat up straight and listened attentively to his great-grandfather, looking every bit the model student. However, when Grandpa Ji taught them addition and subtraction within ten using a kindergarten textbook, he couldn’t help but scrunch up, especially when Grandpa Ji used the kindergarten teacher’s method of having them do arithmetic with their fingers; Ji Xiaozhuo’s chubby face scrunched up like a bun.
Seeing Ji Xiaozhuo’s furrowed brow and then at Nuo Nuo earnestly counting on her fingers, Grandpa Ji assumed Ji Xiaozhuo disliked arithmetic and didn’t want to learn it, hence his troubled expression. He patted his shoulder and said, “It’s okay if you don’t know how, but you have to try. Look, Nuo Nuo is using her fingers to calculate; you should follow suit. That’s how you get the answer.”
Ji Xiaozhuo glanced at Nuo Nuo’s obedient expression, sighed, and resignedly stretched out his ten chubby fingers to calculate, then slowly wrote down the answer.
Grandpa Ji was very pleased to see that he had calculated correctly.
Tang Tang, watching from the side, couldn’t help but cover her face and leaned close to Ji Yan’s ear to ask, “Honey, are you doing this on purpose? Why don’t you tell Grandpa how smart those two little ones are?”
Ji Yan secretly put a finger to her lips to signal her to keep it a secret, and whispered with a smile, “Ji Xiaozhuo always prides himself on being smart and never pays attention in class. Let him experience what it’s like to be a good student in kindergarten.”
Tang Tang couldn’t help but chuckle. This guy is so naughty! Will Grandpa punish him when he finds out?
Ji Xiaozhuo remembered his father’s instructions and listened attentively, pretending to calculate with his little fingers. Finally, he wrote down the answer he already knew, thinking to himself that he was being incredibly attentive. But even the most attentive child is still just a child. After calculating for half an hour, still doing addition and subtraction within ten, he was completely exhausted. His fingers were too long to extend anymore, and he looked utterly hopeless.
Tang Tang felt a little sorry for him.
Grandpa Ji pointed at the table and sternly lectured him, “Xiao Zhuo, it’s only been thirty minutes, not even a full class yet! You can’t be so impatient. You have to be persistent, serious, and hardworking when doing things. You can’t just be enthusiastic for three minutes! Look how much better Nuo Nuo is than you! You can’t even compare to a little girl?”
Ji Xiaozhuo looked at Nuo Nuo with the eyes of someone looking at a silly child, then propped his chubby face up with his hands and said plaintively, “Great-Grandpa, it’s not that I’m impatient, it’s just that what you’re saying is too simple. Can you teach me something I haven’t learned yet?”
Grandpa Ji was taken aback by Ji Xiaozhuo’s words. He looked down at the book in his hand and confirmed that it was indeed the kindergarten textbook for this semester, and the content was indeed something the children hadn’t learned yet. How could it be too simple?
“You mean you know all of this?”
Ji Xiaozhuo swung his chubby legs and nodded listlessly.
Grandpa Ji was a little skeptical, thinking the boy was probably trying to slack off, so he deliberately made things difficult for him by asking, “Tell me, what is twenty-nine plus thirty-four?”
Ji Xiaozhuo didn’t even lift his eyelids before instantly giving the answer, “Sixty-three.”
Grandpa Ji was stunned again, seeing the little guy answer without even thinking, he sat up straight and continued, “And what about ninety-two plus sixty-seven?”
Ji Xiaozhuo sighed, his voice even more dejected, “One hundred and fifty-nine.”
Grandpa Ji frowned; now he had no doubt the little guy was trying to slack off— this kid really knew the answer! He tentatively asked, “Then tell Great-Grandpa, where are you in your studies?”
Ji Xiaozhuo thought for a moment and replied, “I learned three-digit mental multiplication and division. Then Dad went on a mission and stopped teaching me. Great-Grandpa, why don’t you teach me?”
“…” Grandpa Ji turned to look at Ji Yan, who was leisurely watching the scene. “You taught him?”
Ji Yan cleared his throat and nodded, avoiding eye contact with Grandpa Ji, whose expression clearly showed he wanted to slap him.
Grandpa Ji did indeed want to slap him, because he knew Ji Yan’s intelligence perfectly well, especially his ability to mentally calculate large-digit multiplication and division. If he taught Xiao Zhuo, then wasn’t he making a fool of himself by teaching the little guy one-digit addition and subtraction? No wonder Xiao Zhuo said it was too easy.
The key was that Ji Yan knew perfectly well but didn’t say anything— how audacious!
How could an old man like him know anything about mental arithmetic? How was he supposed to teach him?
To save face, Grandpa Ji shamelessly said to Ji Xiaozhuo, “Go ask your dad to teach you this. Great-Grandpa still needs to teach Nuo Nuo. If Great-Grandpa teaches you something so profound, Nuo Nuo won’t understand.”
“Who said Nuo Nuo doesn’t understand?” Ji Xiaozhuo immediately stopped Nuo Nuo’s fingers, which were still moving around as if doing arithmetic, and gently tapped her forehead. “Silly Nuo Nuo, you already know it, why are you still calculating so seriously with your fingers?”
Nuo Nuo blinked at him, smiled, and looked obedient and cute.
Seeing this, Grandpa Ji stared in surprise and asked, “Nuo Nuo knows it too? Nuo Nuo has learned it too?”
“Of course, I taught Nuo Nuo. Nuo Nuo can now do mental multiplication and division of three-digit numbers. Although she’s a little bit worse than me, she’s still very good.”
Grandpa Ji looked at Nuo Nuo for confirmation. “Girl, you really know it?”
Nuo Nuo nodded her little head. Her brother Xiao Zhuo taught her.
Grandpa Ji was a little confused. He could say Ji Xiaozhuo’s intelligence was inherited from Ji Yan, but who did Nuo Nuo inherit it from? Wasn’t her father a normal person?
Unconvinced, Grandpa Ji posed a question: “What is 141×59?”
Ji Xiaozhuo knew this was a test from his great-grandfather and remained silent.
Nuo Nuo blinked, picked up a small pencil, and wrote the answer on a piece of paper: “8319.”
Grandpa Ji took out a calculator and tapped it a few times; the answer was indeed ‘8319’. There was no doubt now.
This little girl was so smart!
Grandpa Ji suddenly felt uneasy. Were these two children a little abnormal? What kind of three- or four-year-old could mentally calculate three-digit numbers?
Oh right, he had actually seen one such child— Ji Yan when he was little. That brat could also mentally calculate large-digit multiplication and division from a young age, making it impossible for his grandfather, who was in first grade, to tutor him. He was quite frustrated.
Unexpectedly, such a setback recurred decades later, and this time it happened twice.
Seeing Grandpa Ji’s complex mix of emotions— a mixture of shock, frustration, sighs, and pride— Tang Tang was afraid of upsetting him. After all, she herself had been greatly affected, questioning her own mental sanity, wondering how she could be less capable than three- or four-year-olds. Later, she realized it wasn’t that she was stupid, but rather that these two children were incredibly gifted.
To save Grandpa Ji’s heart and face, Tang Tang quickly went over and picked up the kindergarten books he had left untouched, saying, “Grandpa, I think arithmetic is quite boring. How about we teach them something else? You should teach what you’re best at; the two children will definitely like it. Right?”
The two children immediately nodded in agreement, wanting to learn something else, not these simple arithmetic problems.
Grandpa Ji successfully accepted Tang Tang’s offer and readily accepted it, no longer dwelling on the arithmetic issue, but instead asking the two children, “What do you want to learn? Great-Grandpa can tell you some things about the military.”
The two little ones probably didn’t know anything about the military, right?
Nuo Nuo blinked but didn’t speak, because she didn’t know what to learn either. Ji Xiaozhuo, however, rolled his eyes and after a moment asked excitedly, “Great-Grandpa, do you have guns? Can you tell us about guns?”
Ji Xiaozhuo was very curious about guns, but they weren’t something he could play with, so he tentatively made this request.
Grandpa Ji hadn’t expected him to be interested in guns, but when it came to them, he was a master. Although guns shouldn’t be played with or controlled arbitrarily, it wasn’t a problem for him; fulfilling the children’s requests was easy. So he immediately called the guard to send over guns.
The two children’s eyes lit up instantly, practically sparkling.
Tang Tang and Ji Yan exchanged a glance, doubting the future of their hospital classes.
The guard acted quickly, and soon brought over a black box containing two of Grandpa Ji’s guns, but the bullets had been removed.
Grandpa Ji placed the guns directly in front of the two children. “Look at these, you little ones. This is a gun. If you have any questions, your great-grandfather will answer them.”
“Wow— it’s amazing!” Ji Xiaozhuo immediately picked up one of the guns, his eyes shining, and examined it closely. His amazement and fascination were captivating. Like other boys, Ji Xiaozhuo seemed to have a natural affinity for such things.
Nuo Nuo also picked one up and examined it carefully, but her face didn’t show much of the curiosity or excitement he expected. Instead, she seemed to be studying some important object.
After playing with the gun for a while, Ji Xiaozhuo suddenly asked his grandfather, “Great-Grandpa, can this gun be taken apart and reassembled?”
“Of course,” Grandpa Ji replied, “Arsenal assembly is a complex skill. Watch.” He then took the gun from Ji Xiaozhuo’s hands, disassembled it in a few quick movements, and reassembled it right in front of Ji Xiaozhuo. “That’s assembly,” he said. “An excellent soldier, especially a sniper, can’t just be good at playing with guns; assembly is also very important.”
“Great-Grandpa, can I try?” Ji Xiaozhuo asked expectantly, his movements already showing his eagerness.
Grandpa Ji felt this was impossible for a three- or four-year-old child, even if the little guy was very smart. But to avoid discouraging the child, Grandpa Ji still disassembled the gun and slowly reassembled it for Ji Xiaozhuo to see before letting him try.
Ji Xiaozhuo enthusiastically tried to assemble it, imitating his grandfather. However, he soon discovered it was incredibly difficult. The parts were intricate and interconnected, requiring perfect precision to avoid any mishaps. Despite his excellent memory and attempts to replicate his grandfather’s steps, he couldn’t remember them all and could only manage a rough outline.
After a long struggle, Ji Xiaozhuo scratched his head in frustration and disassembled the gun again, dejectedly pushing a pile of parts to Nuo Nuo. “You do it,” he said. “Looks like I’m only good at disassembling.”
Nuo Nuo gave him a comforting kiss, praising him as a great brother.
Ji Xiaozhuo felt a little better and, as if accepting reality, patted her head in return. “Then you assemble it,” he said.
His grandfather, smiling and shaking his head, thought, “Even this mischievous boy can’t assemble it properly; how could a little girl possibly do it well? It’s more like the two kids are just messing around.”
However, a minute later, his grandfather was dumbfounded.
Sun Yi, watching from the side, was also stunned.
The guard who delivered the gun was also dumbfounded.
Nuo Nuo, a little girl not even four years old, had assembled a pile of complex gun parts perfectly in a minute, down to the last detail.
This can’t be real, right?
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