After Li Ming finished answering all the questions, the group of children finally got back to normal business. They separated into groups according to age or the things they struggled with, occupying the tables in this room and the other two big ones. The workers from the organization also split up, two of them each taking care of the children in one room.

Li Ming was supposed to follow along to learn first. Originally, he had intended to stay with Rong Xiang since they were already familiar but she had left the room with the teenager from before.

Considering that she was about to call her boyfriend in front of him to carry out the plan they had come up with, it really didn’t seem suitable to follow along. After all, even though this whole matter had started with him being asked about Zhu Yi, that teenager likely didn’t trust him either and it was Rong Xiang’s matter anyway. He shouldn’t get involved even further.

He thought for a bit and then followed Qiao Ya who had gone to teach some of the younger kids. He was slightly more familiar with her and Shang Ning compared to Qin Nuan and the two young men. Shang Ning was responsible for the older children though and he currently wasn’t sure if he would be of much help there.

Li Ming didn’t think that he lacked in education — he had also finished his studies at school, after all — but it had been several years since he took the final exams. By now, who knew how much he had forgotten?

If it was elementary school children, he definitely wouldn’t say the wrong thing but when it came to the older ones, he didn’t dare to make bets. Even if he wasn’t embarrassed to admit if he said the wrong thing, what if nobody noticed and the children remembered it wrong as well? He’d be making their life more difficult when he should actually be helping.

Taking this into consideration, it was better to learn what to do while helping the younger children first. After he was familiar with the kind of help that was actually necessary, he could put in some more preparation work if he really stayed long enough to need it.

Qiao Ya also didn’t mind. In fact, it was more fun with an additional person. It gave her the time to give every child more attention instead of having to divide her focus all the time. Meanwhile, Li Ming could do the same which could only benefit these children. And if there was something he didn’t know, she already felt competent enough to explain. After all, she had been here for a while!

In this manner, the workday at the organization soon passed. The younger kids had stopped learning a while ago and instead just used the rest of the time to play under Qiao Ya’s supervision. Meanwhile, Li Ming got the task to deal with the materials that had to be put away on his own for the first time.

He didn’t mind either and carefully gathered everything that had been used, sorting it into the boxes where it had come from. Seeing that Qiao Ya didn’t seem to need much help, he even used the time to familiarize himself with everything else that had been stored but not taken out today. His memory was quite good so if they needed any of this the next time, he’d know where to look or where to put it back if he was tasked with cleaning up again another day.

After taking care of that, he went back to Qiao Ya’s side and the two of them made sure to supervise the children until the end of the workday arrived. Then, they sent the children home with their parents or older siblings that had come to get them or watched as they made their way back themselves. After that, everyone cleaned up the other rooms as well before it was time to leave.

Qin Nuan, Shang Ning, and the two men left first while Qiao Ya still stayed to chat with Li Ming and Rong Xiang. The teenager that had been questioning Li Ming in the morning was also still standing close by, his arms once again crossed in front of his chest. He really wanted to see that boyfriend of Rong Xiang’s and find out whether he was worth it!

Li Ming could only smile faintly. “Is it alright if he goes back late?”

Rong Xiang just waved. “He’s old enough to go on his own. Honestly, I don’t think all of them go straight back home either. Just don’t worry about it.”

Li Ming gave a hum. Neither Rong Xiang nor Qiao Ya seemed all that worried so he didn’t think about it further. Instead, he just looked up and down the street, wondering when Zhu Yi would come. “How late is brother Zhu working? He is coming soon, right?”

Rong Xiang nodded with a smile. “Yes, he should only take a few more minutes. I told him when we’d finish and he said it wouldn’t be a problem.” Glancing at the teenager, her smile got bigger. “I even put him on speaker without telling him just so the little one here wouldn’t need to be suspicious that I was giving him any secret hints.”

Li Ming laughed. “This really sounds as if you were embroiled in some big conspiracy.” He turned to the teenager who looked a bit embarrassed by now and wanted to ask what exactly he’d be looking for when Rong Xiang’s boyfriend finally appeared. His smile immediately collapsed when he turned in that direction though. Several meters behind the teenager, at the corner of the house, he barely saw the lens of a camera vanishing and if he hadn’t been wrong, it had been pointing in their direction.

He had no idea what was happening but he had a bad feeling about this. “Wait here.” He didn’t explain anything and instead sprinted over there, trying to catch the other person while they were hopefully still unaware.