To make up for the debt owed to Lin Qingping and Gu Juncheng

When the teacher saw that people had arrived, she simply said, "Parents still need to pay attention to their children's growth," and then started to form a relay team to greet them.

Actually, these relay races in kindergartens are mostly for fun, because the parents who come are both fathers and mothers, and the number of boys and girls is not equal when they run, so their abilities are definitely not the same.

There are three classes in total for Zhiyuan's age group.

Three teams ran.

The rankings were very close, and gradually, in the end, Zhiyuan's class fell to last place. However, fortunately, the gap between them and the top two was not far.

Teachers, parents, and children were all jumping up and down, cheering them on.

Yun Xiaoshan's father came today. He ran very fast, caught up with the second-place runner, and handed the baton to Yun Xiaoshan.

But Yun Xiaoshan was a chubby guy and couldn't run at all. He ran with his face flushed, but still came in last place. And, just as he was about to finish, Lin Qingping reached out to take the baton, but Yun Xiaoshan tripped and fell, dropping the baton...

Everyone was shouting: Pick it up! Pick it up quickly!

Even Lianyungang Xiaoshan's own father calls him that.

Upon hearing his father's voice, Yun Xiaoshan, with a mournful face, picked up the baton and handed it to Lin Qingping.

After receiving it, Lin Qingping chased after it with all her might.

Lin Qingping is considered quite capable. In her early twenties, she had lived a life of going up mountains and down rivers in her previous life. Among the young people in the village, she was more hardworking and resilient than the men. However, after marrying into the Gu family, she started to act recklessly and become lazy.

Her efforts only narrowed the gap with the second-place runner; by the time she was halfway through the race, the first-place runner had already handed over the baton.

Seeing Zhiyuan ready to receive the baton and start running ahead, Lin Qingping put in a little more effort. Finally, when she handed the baton to Zhiyuan, the second child had only run about five meters, while the first child had already run halfway.

The teachers and children in Zhiyuan's class were somewhat discouraged; this was definitely last place...

"If Li Zhiyuan had run faster, he might have gotten second place," the childcare worker said.

Another teacher chimed in, "Sigh, him? He's useless at everything, skinny as a monkey, you can't count on him..."

Amidst the teachers' chatter, Zhiyuan shot off like an arrow, his small body brimming with energy. Before the second teacher could even finish speaking, he had already overtaken the second-place student.

The teacher got stuck halfway through her sentence, unable to finish, so shocked that she could have stuffed an egg into her mouth.

Zhiyuan continued to push forward, and the distance between him and the first place was getting smaller and smaller.

The cheers on the playground had turned into screams, and teachers, parents, and children from several classes were in a frenzy.

Even Lin Qingping was extremely nervous, her eyes fixed on Zhiyuan, cheering him on loudly.

Zhiyuan finally overtook the leader in the last ten meters, and by the time he reached the finish line, he had already pulled away from the leader by a considerable distance.

"Li Zhiyuan! You're amazing!"

The voice was familiar. Zhiyuan turned around and saw that it was the teacher who insisted on making Yun Xiaoshan apologize even though Yun Xiaoshan was clearly in the wrong. It was the teacher who was impatient to listen to him and frowned as soon as he heard his hometown accent. It was the teacher who never paid attention to him in the corner during class.

But now he's clapping his hands excitedly, saying he's "fantastic."

Zhiyuan didn't know how to describe his feelings at that moment. He should have been happy, but for some reason, he couldn't feel happy.

Despite his young age, he was very perceptive and understood a principle in that short moment: many people in the world do not like you because of who you are, or rather, they do not like you because you have done what they need.

Wow, Li Zhiyuan, you run so fast!

"Li Zhiyuan! We're number one!"

Even his classmates, who never spoke to him and acted as if he didn't exist, enthusiastically surrounded him and talked to him. He never knew that they all knew him...

Zhiyuan's gaze cut through the noise and landed on Lin Qingping on the outermost edge.

She saw him too and gave him a bright smile.

In Zhiyuan's eyes, there was only her smile; all the noise and bustle had vanished...

Because of the parent-child sports day, the kindergarten was closed in the afternoon.

So, Zhiyuan went home with Lin Qingping at noon.

Lin Qingping was very happy the whole way home, and started cooking for him as soon as they got home.

Sister Zhao bought meat today, so Lin Qingping cooked braised pork herself. She also cut off a portion, chopped it up, and made eggplant fritters.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that Sister Zhao had also kept two fish in the basin. She processed them, minced the fish meat, shaped it into balls, and fried them into fish balls.

I also steamed an egg with egg white.

The three of them ate four dishes for lunch, which surprised Sister Zhao. "Is there some good news?"

"Of course! Zhiyuan came in first place today!" Lin Qingping said proudly. "Shouldn't we celebrate? Zhiyuan, aren't you happy?"

Zhiyuan nodded.

He was certainly happy, but not because he came in first.

The image of her running in from outside the kindergarten kept flashing before Zhiyuan's eyes, along with the words: "I'm Zhiyuan's mom..."

"Eat up, Zhiyuan, why aren't you eating?" Lin Qingping urged him.

Zhiyuan silently picked up his chopsticks.

In fact, Zhiyuan seemed preoccupied throughout the entire noon.

After the parent-child sports meet at Zhiyuan's place ended, Lin Qingping also planned to go back to school for classes in the afternoon.

After finishing her meal, she sat at her desk reading a book. Zhiyuan also took a book and sat down next to her, but although he turned the pages, he couldn't concentrate on anything.

As class time approached, Lin Qingping packed her things to go back to school.

Zhiyuan stood up to see her off.

"I don't need to take you. You can play at home by yourself." Lin Qingping patted his head.

Zhiyuan insisted on going to see her off.

Actually, Lin Qingping felt that the child had been preoccupied all afternoon, which was good, as he probably had something he wanted to tell her.

However, even after they reached the bus stop, he still didn't say anything and just silently walked with her.

"Zhiyuan, is there something you want to tell me?" Lin Qingping couldn't help but ask.

The tram was already swaying and wobbling towards us; if we didn't speak up soon, it would be too late.

Finally, Zhiyuan asked in a low voice, "Is it true that only the person who gives birth to the child is a mother?"

Lin Qingping was stunned.

The meaning of "志远" is...

"Can I...can I call you Mom?" He said, his face turning bright red and his head bowed low to his chest.

Something warm welled up in Lin Qingping's eyes.

She knelt down, looked at his flushed little face, and with tears in her eyes, firmly told him, "Yes! Of course you can! I'm so happy and honored to be Zhiyuan's mother."

Zhiyuan lowered his head, tears welling up in his eyes, but a lingering doubt remained in his heart, "Then... what about my father?"