Shen Yan blinked where the little one couldn’t see him. “My stomach, it hurts so much. Can Youyou go get Eldest Brother’s medicine?”
Su Youli was frantic, his big eyes filled to the brim with tears.
“Da-ge hurts, Da-ge.”
Seeing the little one so worried about him melted Shen Yan’s heart. He clutched his stomach with one hand and let himself fall backward, sitting down on the ground. The newly crowned Best Actor’s skills were no joke. The little one was completely fooled, panicking and circling around his big brother, even his forehead hair getting damp with sweat.
“Youyou, can you go get Eldest Brother’s medicine for me?”
Su Youli crouched down, his little hands pressing on Shen Yan’s stomach as if to help. “Youyou will go get Da-ge’s medicine!”
The little one had plenty of experience taking care of Su Siwen at home. He lifted his head, his soft curls shining chestnut in the sunlight. Shen Yan thought he was adorable and wanted nothing more than to scoop him up and cover him in kisses.
Remembering the task assigned by the production team, he held back and said in a weak voice, “Eldest Brother’s medicine is in the storage room on the third floor. Can Youyou find it?”
The third floor was quite high for a child not yet four. Even when Su Youli practiced climbing stairs, the best he’d done was reaching the second floor.
“Youyou can find it!” The little one was full of confidence.
Shen Yan’s hands trembled as he pulled a black walkie-talkie from behind his back, his voice faint. “Take this, and you can talk to me. Go.”
With that, Shen Yan closed his eyes and fell backward, seemingly passing out.
The little one’s eyes widened. He slapped his hands on Shen Yan’s shoulders and cried out loudly, “Da-ge! Da-ge!”
Shen Yan’s shoulders were actually hurting from the little one’s pats. He cracked one eye open and reached out weakly. “Medicine… go find the medicine…”
The little one shot up, grabbed his small backpack, and tucked the walkie-talkie into the front pocket. He ran forward a couple of steps, then suddenly stopped and looked back, hesitating.
Everyone watching the monitors said, “I told you Youyou would see through it, right?”
“Sigh, three-year-olds aren’t so easy to fool anymore.”
Under everyone’s watch, the little one turned back, took off his backpack, and pulled out a Stitch sippy cup. He laid it on its side next to Shen Yan’s cheek.
“Da-ge, this is water,” the little one said, pressing the button to reveal the straw. He aimed the straw at Shen Yan’s mouth.
The fussy little caretaker also pulled a small sun-protection jacket out of his backpack, shook it open with both hands, and laid it over Shen Yan’s face. Now Da-ge wouldn’t get sunburned. The little one thought he was so smart. Under the jacket, the corner of Shen Yan’s mouth twitched. The group in front of the monitors shook with silent laughter.
“What doesn’t Youyou have in his backpack?”
“How can a three-year-old be so caring? He’s too good!”
Tang Dou watched the little one’s attentive actions with pride. He was the one who packed the little one’s backpack. Since it was summer and UV rays were strong, the sun-protection jacket was a necessity whenever the little one went out. After doing all that, Su Youli took two steps, then ran back again, looking at the thick grass in the garden and the forest in the distance.
“Could Da-ge get bitten by a snake?” The little one felt around in his backpack again and pulled out the small spray that Brother Xiao Tang had prepared for him.
Surely he would leave now. Shen Yan couldn’t keep this up much longer.
“Cough… cough… give me… medicine…” the man under the jacket said weakly.
Su Youli clenched his little fists, turned, and ran toward the house, finally beginning his adventure task. The front door was ajar, but the little one couldn’t push it open with all his strength. The butler, hiding behind the door, pulled it open, and the little one slipped through the gap. First checkpoint complete. Su Youli stood in the empty house, looking up at the endless stairs.
“Youyou can do it!”
The little one’s self-encouragement reached everyone’s ears, and they were charmed all over again.
Huffing and puffing, the little one didn’t slack off for a moment, climbing step by step. Normally, when his energy was fully charged, Su Youli could climb half a flight of stairs in one go, rest a bit, then do the other half. But he had already expended a lot of energy earlier, so by the tenth step, he was already out of breath. The butler and Auntie Jiang, hiding in the corner, watched the little young master’s tiny, trembling body and felt a pang of sympathy.
“Youyou, come on!” The little one grabbed the railing and climbed several more steps with determined huffs.
Tang Dou pressed his lips together and said nothing. He was the one who cared for Su Youli; he knew exactly what the little one was capable of. On screen, Su Youli could barely manage his backpack anymore. The straps hung crookedly on his shoulders. His little face was flushed, and strands of sweat-dampened hair stuck to his forehead.
Tang Dou’s heart ached. “The third floor is too high. There’s also a storage room on the second floor. Can we change the location?”
The director team was conflicted. The task was already underway. If they suddenly changed the location, wouldn’t the earlier footage be ruined? Tang Dou frowned, about to say more, when he saw the little one on screen pull the walkie-talkie from his pocket.
“Youyou, cough, Eldest Brother gave you the wrong place. It’s not the third floor, it’s… the second floor…”
Su Youli had already reached the third step of the third floor. He held the walkie-talkie, which was bigger than his face, and asked in his milky voice, “Da-ge, which floor is it?”
The little one was getting annoyed, okay!
Eldest Brother is so silly.
He doesn’t even know where his own medicine is. Being scolded, Shen Yan pursed his lips to suppress a smile and quickly cut the connection. Su Youli sighed and resignedly climbed back down from the third floor. The second floor was somewhat familiar territory. The second room past the stair landing was his room, next to his eldest and second brothers’ rooms. But, but where was the storage room?
The little one’s legs were sore from walking. He crouched by the wall, holding the walkie-talkie in both hands, and said in his soft voice, “Da-ge, where’s the storage room?”
Da-ge didn’t answer. The walkie-talkie was silent.
“Da-ge.” The little one patted the walkie-talkie.
After calling out to Da-ge several more times, Su Youli concluded that the walkie-talkie was broken. He tossed it against the wall and continued walking along it. During the few minutes the little one waited for the walkie-talkie to respond, everyone watching facepalmed in exasperation. Shen Yan had simply forgotten to teach Su Youli how to use the walkie-talkie.
“Youyou. Youyou.”
After the little one had walked far away, his small figure growing smaller, a deep male voice came from the wall. The scene was absurd. The camera cut. On the other end, Shen Yan lifted the sun-protection jacket from his face, sat cross-legged on the ground, and took a few sips from the Stitch sippy cup. The morning breeze brushed his cheeks. He sighed contentedly.
Being taken care of by his little brother felt amazing.
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