“Zhouzhou, tell Daddy, did you touch the document on Daddy’s desk?”

“No, Zhouzhou did not touch Daddy’s document,” said Zhouzhou matter-of-factly in his childish voice.

Ye Zhen frowned a little and seemed to have noticed something. “Zhouzhou, did you use a document on Daddy's desk to make a plane while Mommy went to get the story book?”

Zhouzhou pointed outside the window excitedly, “The plane is gone!”

Ye Zhen looked at the serious-looking Lu Beichuan and asked, “Is it a very important document?”

Lu Beichuan sighed, lifted Zhouzhou from Ye Zhen’s chest, and had him stand up straight.

“Zhouzhou, that’s Daddy’s work stuff. They are not for paper planes. Do you understand?”

All kids like to have fun. Once they have a toy in their hand, they don’t hear anything an adult is saying.

Zhouzhou bounced up and down the bed. Tossing the plane into the air, he clapped happily. “The plane has flown away!”

Lu Beichuan frowned even more. Yanking him by his arm, he gave him a couple smacks on his buttock and said solemnly, “Are you not listening to what Daddy is saying to you?”

This was the first time that Zhouzhou was spanked. After the two smacks, he looked as though he had no idea what had just happened or why. He looked stupefied at Lu Beichuan and didn’t know what to do.

Lu Beichuan said sternly, “Repeat what Daddy had just said.”

Zhouzhou shrank his neck, and his eyes were quickly filled with tears from fear.

“The papers on the desk are Daddy’s work. Daddy’s work is very important and not to be made into paper planes. Can you remember that now?”

A drop of tear rolled down Zhouzhou’s cheek. Choking back his tears, he said, “Yes… I remember.”

“How many planes did you make?”

Zhouzhou sniffled a few times; his little face was covered in tears. Shrinking his neck a little, he said softly, “Fi…five.”

“Stand up straight.” Lu Beichuan scolded him sternly. “You’ve made five planes and Daddy is going to give you five smacks as punishment. Do not make this same mistake again, got it?”

Zhouzhou blinked and turned around to look for his mother.

“Can a man not own up to his own mistake?”

Zhouzhou shook his head and walked over to the bed voluntarily while wiping away his tears with the back of his hand.

Lu Beichuan wrapped one hand around him and gave him three more smacks with his other before he got him off the bed and had him stand in a corner, facing a corner of the wall by the desk.

“Five minutes. You think about what you have done wrong. Daddy wants to hear your apology in five minutes.”

There was no comfort after the lecture, and Zhouzhou whimpered as he wiped away his tears. He dared not cry out loud and had to try hard to stop himself. His little shoulders heaved up and down.

Ye Zhen watched Lu Beichuan teaching the child a lesson the entire time. She did not stop him even though she had very much wanted to. Her heart ached as she watched on, and she gave Lu Beichuan an anxious look.

Lu Beichuan replied with a don’t-worry look. He tidied up the documents in front of him and picked Zhouzhou up after five minutes.

“What should you say now?”

Zhouzhou, with his nose still stuffed, mumbled through his son, “I’m sorry, daddy. Zhouzhou was wrong. Zhouzhou will… will never make paper planes anymore. Please forgive me, Daddy.”

Lu Beichuan wiped away his tears with a tissue. “Alright, you are forgiven.”

Zhouzhou looked at Lu Beichuan, intimidated. He turned to look at Ye Zhen. Still pouting, he dared not cry again.

Lu Beichuan sighed to himself and handed Zhouzhou over to Ye Zhen.

Ye Zhen quickly took Zhouzhou over. Her heart couldn’t ache any more than it already was.

Zhouzhou pressed himself against her chest and clung onto Ye Zhen like an octopus. Tears streamed down his cheeks nonstop and he kept on calling out to his mommy.

“Alright, alright. Stop crying now. Just don’t make mistakes like this in the future. You are still a man!” Ye Zhen patted him on his back to comfort him. She pulled down his little pants. “Let Mommy take a look.”

His white little butt was still bright red. As much as Ye Zhen understood the reasoning behind it, she couldn't help but give Lu Beichuan a disapproving look.

“Does it hurt?”

Zhouzhou sniffled and nodded. His wronged look filled his teary eyes. His eyes, as though they could talk, spoke of how wronged he felt.

Ye Zhen was just about to comfort him further when a knocking came from the door. “Zhenzhen, Beichuan, is Zhouzhou with you? He hasn’t drunk his night time cup of milk yet.”

Hearing his grandmother’s voice, Zhouzhou’s tears started streaming down all over again. He sat up in Ye Zhen’s arms and started crying out loud. “Grandma!! Wooooo Oooooh….”

Mother Lu quickly pushed the door open and saw Zhouzhou running toward her with his arms stretched. Mother Lu felt her heart gripped and quickly picked him up.

“What was the matter?”

Zhouzhou put his arms around Mother Lu’s neck, and his tears rolled into the crook of her neck. “Daddy… Daddy just hit me…”

Mother Lu was taken aback a little. “Hit you?”

Zhouzhou, holding onto his own pants, gave her a wronged look. “Daddy spanked me. It hurts…”

Mother Lu pulled down his pants and saw his red bottom. Her heart ached, and she was angry. Giving Lu Beichuan an angry look, she said to him, “Lu Beichuan, why did you spank him? Do you know how old he is?!”

Lu Beichuan frowned but remained calm. “Mom, why don’t you ask him what he had done first?”

“Even so, you should have talked him through instead! He’s only 2 years old. What does he know? Who did you get this corporal punishment crap from?” Mother Lu, being protective of Zhouzhou, asked him gently, “Zhouzhou, tell Grandma what have you done?”

Zhouzhou sniffled and looked at Mother Lu with his teary eyes. Pointing at the desk, he said, “Planes…”

Lu Beichuan said helplessly, “He tore up my documents and made paper planes out of them. I needed to teach him a lesson.”

Mother Lu was taken aback. She looked at the stack of paper planes lying in front of the desk and remained silent for a little while before she said, “Even so, you shouldn’t have hit him. You are an adult and you are strong. He’s so young. What if you have hurt him? How do you call yourself a father?”

“Alright, alright. Zhouzhou is a good boy. You can stop crying now. You sleep with Grandma tonight. Grandma has lots of paper planes in her room. Let’s go play with them. We will ignore your daddy.”

Having said that, Mother Lu gave Lu Beichuan a stare and brought Zhouzhou with her as she walked out of the room.

Lu Beichuan bent over and picked up the paper planes as Ye Zhen asked in worry, “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll have my assistant prepare another set tomorrow when I get into the office.”

Ye Zhen felt a little bit down as well. It was partially her fault in this. “I’m sorry. I should have kept a better eye out on Zhouzhou today.”

Lu Beichuan said in a low voice, “It’s partially my fault as well. I shouldn’t have left the documents here. That and Zhouzhou, I haven’t been doing a very good job at educating him.”

He chuckled softly. “Alright, let’s stop blaming ourselves now. Mom’s right. Zhouzhou is still young. We will be better able to reason with him as he gets older. We just need to be more mindful during his naughty years.”

“Then why did you spank him?” Ye Zhen still felt awful about that. “Never mind. What was done was done. A lesson can’t hurt him. It will serve as a better reminder. Luckily it wasn’t anything too important. I’d have to teach him a lesson otherwise!”

“You will be able to get yourself to do that?”

Ye Zhen gave in. “Better you take care of that. I give in too easily when he is being coquettish.”

“Zhouzhou will be turning 3 in 2 months. We will find a kindergarten for him to attend then.”

Ye Zhen pondered a little. “Mom had mentioned this before as well. She feels that Zhouzhou is still young and worries that he will be bullied in kindergarten. She asked whether we should hold that off for another year.”

“Bullied?” Lu Beichuan chuckled. “Do you really think your son will be bullied?”

Ye Zhen thought about it some. The little kiddo has lots of crazy ideas all the time. There was no saying who would be the bullied one when he went to school.

“Alright. Let’s wait to see your son rule kindergarten.”

When the whole family was sitting around having breakfast the next morning, Zhouzhou’s eyes still darted around, and he kept scooting himself closer to his grandmother. He refused to look at or talk to Lu Beichuan. Apparently, he was still intimidated from the night before.

Mother Lu, too, was giving Lu Beichuan an angry look. All the dishes on the table were Zhouzhou’s favorites.

Lu Beichuan took a look, had one bite, and put his chopsticks down.

“Mom, don’t let Zhouzhou have too many sweets. It’s bad for his teeth.”

After Lu Beichuan had said that, Zhouzhou closed his mouth immediately and refused to drink the sweet porridge from his grandmother.

Mother Lu gave Lu Beichuan an angry stare.

Lu Beichuan ignored her and said to Zhouzhou, “Lu Zhifei, haven’t I taught you to feed yourself?”

Zhouzhou took a quick look at Lu Beichuan and carefully reached out to the porridge in front of him with a spoon. He refused to let Mother Lu feed him again.

DRIP. A drop of tear fell into the bowl of porridge.

Mother Lu put down the chopsticks and gave Lu Beichuan a reproachful look.

Ye Zhen kicked him under the table and said to him softly, “You are going too far.”

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” said Zhouzhou softly to Lu Beichuan. “Zhouzhou will eat on his own from now on.”

Both Ye Zhen and Mother Lu were surprised.

Ever since Zhouzhou had stopped being bottle-fed, he had been hand fed by Ye Zhen and Mother Lu and would refuse to eat if he wasn’t fed. He was the living testimony of a spoiled, rich kid who stretched out his arms when his clothes were held up in front of him and opened up his mouth when food was fed to him. They had an entire mansion full of people following behind him. Both Ye Zhen and Mother Lu felt that he was still young and that was entirely alright.

Problem was that he had been getting worse as of late. He pushed back a lot when it came to meal time and would refuse to eat if anything didn’t go his way. They could no longer coax him with toys. He had been quite a headache for Mother Lu.

Now, the bowl of porridge that they had been trying to feed to him forever was gone in less than five minutes, and he ate that all on his own, even. Mother Lu was somewhat surprised by that.

Lu Beichuan nodded and didn’t say too much. He left the house and headed into his office after taking a look at the time.

After dinner, Mother Lu sat quietly on the couch by herself. Ye Zhen walked over and smiled at her, “What’s the matter, Mom?”

Mother Lu sighed and looked over at Ye Zhen. “Zhenzhen, do you think I was wrong in giving in too much to Zhouzhou?”

“Why… why would you say that?”

Ye Zhen knew that most grandparents tend to dote on their grandchildren; as such, she didn’t say much when Mother Lu doted on Zhouzhou.

“I have done some self-reflection. Beichuan didn’t do anything wrong. Look at how docile Zhouzhou was this morning. He ate his breakfast all by himself. You had no idea. I didn’t have to wake him up this morning. He woke up and got dressed on his own. He neither rolled in bed nor made a fuss. It had always taken over half an hour in the past to get him out of bed…”

“Mom, isn’t that a good thing?”

“That got me thinking. Did I dote too much on him in the past? Should I change the way that I educate him? What if… what if I spoiled him rotten…”

“No need,” said Ye Zhen. “You raise Zhouzhou however you like. Beichuan and I will be responsible for his education. He will be fine. Don’t worry that much. Look, you defended him last night, but he was still well-behaved this morning. You do what you want. It will be fine.”

“You and Beichuan only have this one child and he will be succeeding the Lu family’s fortune in the future. I don’t want him to grow up to be a spoiled brat because of me. What if…"

“Mom.” Ye Zhen busted out laughing. “Zhouzhou is just two years old. What does he know? Stop worrying about this. Even if he wants to be a spoiled brat, Beichuan won’t let that happen.”

Mother Lu remained silent for a little bit and sighed. “That’s why I was thinking. Thinking that…” She took a look at Ye Zhen and smiled. “Do you and Beichuan have any plans for a second child?”

Ye Zhen was taken aback a little, and she blushed right away.

She thought they were talking about Zhouzhou. How did the subject jump to her all of a sudden? Ye Zhen wasn’t sure whether that idea just occurred to Mother Lu or that she had this planned all along.

“Zhenzhen, I am just asking. It’s all up to you.”

Zhouzhou dashed out from god knows where and said, “Is Mommy going to give Zhouzhou a little sister to play with?”

Ye Zhen picked him up and placed him on her lap. “Zhouzhou wants a little sister?”

Zhouzhou cocked his head and thought about it for a little while. “Little brother will be fine too.”

Ye Zhen busted out laughing. “Then, tell Mommy, are you mad at Daddy for spanking you last night?”

Zhouzhou pouted but didn’t say anything.

“Why aren’t you talking? Do you feel that you have done something wrong?”

Zhouzhou nodded silently. “Zhouzhou is not mad at Daddy. It was Zhouzhou’s fault. Zhouzhou shouldn’t have made paper planes.”

“That is incorrect.” Ye Zhen corrected him. “It wasn’t that Zhouzhou shouldn’t make paper planes. It’s that those documents were important to Daddy and you shouldn’t have touched them. If you want to play with paper planes, Mommy will play with you. But you must ask for permission first before you touch someone else’s things. Do you get it now?”

Zhouzhou nodded. “I get it now.”

Ye Zhen gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Good boy!”

Zhouzhou lowered his head and said in a low voice, “Mommy, Zhouzhou was not a good boy last night. Do you think Daddy will not like Zhouzhou anymore?”

Mother Lu couldn't help but interrupt, “Nonsense. Why would your daddy not like you? Daddy likes you the best.”

Ye Zhen smiled and stroked him on his head. “Exactly, Daddy always likes Zhouzhou a lot. Why would he not?”

“But… last night, Daddy seemed so mad…”

“Then when Daddy comes home tonight, you go and apologize to him and ask him not to be mad anymore. What do you say?”

Zhouzhou looked at Ye Zhen with anticipation in his eyes, “Then.. then Daddy will like me again?”

“Zhouzhou is so smart and cute, of course Daddy always likes you.”

That response made Zhouzhou smile.

When Lu Beichuan came home that night, he was pulled into their bedroom by Ye Zhen immediately, and she repeated Zhouzhou’s earlier words to him.

Ye Zhen stressed repeatedly that, “Go to Zhouzhou’s room in a little bit. Don’t scare him again.”

Lu Beichuan removed his jacket and changed into his casual clothes. “Don’t worry. I know what I am doing.”

Having said that, Lu Beichuan went inside Zhouzhou’s room. Zhouzhou immediately climbed out of his bed when he saw Lu Beichuan. He stood in front of Lu Beichuan quietly, not daring to talk when Lu Beichuan wasn’t talking.

Lu Beichuan picked him up and put him in bed. Zhouzhou lifted his head and took a quick look at him before he quickly lowered his head again. He summoned up his courage, tugged at Lu Beichuan’s clothes, and mumbled, “I’m sorry, Daddy. I was wrong last night. I shouldn’t have made paper planes. Will you forgive me, Daddy?”

After his talk with Ye Zhen, Lu Beichuan had an idea of what was going through Zhouzhou’s mind. He stroked him on his head and said, “Daddy likes paper planes too.”

Zhouzhou looked up and looked at him wide eyed, finding that unbelievable.

Lu Beichuan had a stack of paper in his hand, and he placed them between the two of them. He then pulled one out from the stack and folded it into a beautiful plane in front of Zhouzhou.

“Wow! That’s so pretty!”

Lu Beichuan handed a piece of paper over to Zhouzhou. “Play with Daddy, will you, Zhouzhou?”

Zhouzhou looked at the piece of paper hesitantly, not daring to take it from Lu Beichuan.

He was still young and after being punished for making paper planes, dared not touch it again. He worried that he’d be punished again.