Shanshan turned around, her eyes instantly lighting up.

She skipped over and threw herself at him.

"Daddy! Grandma and Grandpa said they’re going to arrange a marriage for me."

When Ding Qin saw her son come home, she quickly explained what had just happened with a smile.

"Your dad was having a nice chat with Uncle Guo, and they’ve taken a liking to our Shanshan. They want to set up a childhood engagement."

She thought her son would just grin and nod, or at least crack a joke about it.

But to her surprise, his expression darkened, and he rejected the idea outright.

"No! I won’t agree to this!"

"Oh, come on, it’s such a good thing. Why wouldn’t you agree? Shanshan, she..."

Ding Qin stood up anxiously, wanting to explain.

"I don’t want to hear it."

"Shanshan is my daughter. I don’t care what other people think, and I don’t care if she’s my biological child or not. I’m thinking about her future. I don’t want to trap her with some childhood engagement. Who she likes in the future, who she wants to spend her life with—that’s her choice. I just want her to be free and happy, not promised to someone from a young age and tied down for life."

Without another word, Ling Anxun scooped up his daughter and headed upstairs.

Shanshan, startled for a moment in his arms, subconsciously gripped his collar with her small hands.

"Anxun, we really don’t want to tie her down. We’re just... thinking about her future."

His mother’s voice drifted up from the living room.

"I’ll take responsibility for her future. Mom, Dad, you two just rest."

Ling Anxun didn’t look back.

As soon as he finished speaking, he carried Shanshan straight upstairs.

Shanshan tilted her little face up, gazing at her father’s profile.

She didn’t know why her daddy was suddenly angry, but she rested her head on his shoulder and waved to her grandma.

Her grandma paused at the bottom of the stairs, then raised her hand in response.

In the room, Ling Anxun gently placed his daughter on the bed, then knelt down and had a long, serious talk with her.

"Shanshan, Daddy doesn’t want to put you in a difficult position. You have the right to choose your own path, even if you’re still very young."

"It doesn’t matter what other people say. What matters is what you think in your heart."

"If one day you feel tired and want to stop, Daddy will always be right behind you."

Shanshan listened, and in the end, she nodded obediently.

"I understand, Daddy."

She reached out her small hand and gently touched her father’s cheek.

"Don’t be angry, okay?"

"If Grandma and Grandpa bring this up again, you just tell them your daddy said no, got it?"

Ling Anxun took her hand and said seriously.

"Mhm! I know!"

"I’ll tell them Daddy said no means no!"

"Daddy..."

Shanshan suddenly lowered her head, her little hands fidgeting with the corner of her clothes, not daring to look at him.

Seeing her guilty expression, Ling Anxun couldn’t help but smile. He reached out and ruffled her soft hair.

"What’s wrong? You look like you’ve committed some terrible crime."

He propped his hands on his knees and leaned forward, looking at her intently. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"What is it? Tell Dad. Dad’s not going to scold you or hit you, so don’t be afraid."

"Hehe, it’s just... what I’m learning now is too easy. Can Shanshan go straight to the sixth grade?"

"Skip grades?"

Ling Anxun was taken aback.

"Are you serious?"

"Mhm! Shanshan wants to skip grades!"

She nodded vigorously.

"I don’t want to listen to stuff I already know anymore. I want to learn new things!"

She knew what "skipping grades" meant.

It meant she wouldn’t have to hang out with the little kids in the lower grades anymore and could go directly to a higher class.

"Are your classmates not playing with you? Or is someone bullying you?"

"No! Everyone in my class is super nice!"

She waved her little hand dismissively.

"It’s just that I get what the teacher says after hearing it once. It’s so boring sitting there and listening, it feels like a waste of time."

She wrinkled her little nose and continued.

"I’ve already finished the math problems three times over, but the teacher is still explaining the first one. I raise my hand and say I know how to do it, but the teacher just says, ’Don’t disturb your classmates’... But I’m seriously so sleepy!"

As soon as Ling Anxun heard this, he understood.

But he didn’t agree right away. During dinner that evening, he casually mentioned it to the whole family.

"Shanshan said she wants to skip grades."

The moment he spoke, the whole family was shocked.

Ling Zhiwei almost spat out the food in his mouth.

"Those grades... How come I’m not that lucky?"

He coughed twice, hard, and quickly grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth.

"Our Ling family has produced a child prodigy..."

Everyone’s expression became complicated.

Unable to dissuade her, the family dug out several sets of upper-grade-level test papers.

Math tests, reading comprehension, English listening—all of them were sixth-grade practice exams.

Shanshan sat at the desk, answering the questions seriously.

Twenty minutes later, she handed over the papers.

Ling Anxun flipped through them, page by page, growing more and more silent as he looked.

In the end, the school administration agreed.

She would skip directly to the sixth grade.

The principal even called personally.

"In the thirty years since our school was founded, we’ve never seen a child this young pass a sixth-grade level assessment. This child is... exceptionally gifted."

Ling Anxun stood by the window, holding the phone.

"She just... doesn’t want to waste time."

Cao Xueshan, a student from a lower grade, was going to skip to the sixth grade.

An event like this was a first, not just for Mechanical Primary School, but for the entire city.

When the news spread, Mechanical Primary School was in an uproar.

Some students crowded outside the office door, trying to eavesdrop. Some teachers stood frozen in place, clutching workbooks, unable to process the news for a long time.

That was the sixth grade, the critical stage right before transitioning to middle school.

A little kid from a lower grade was just barging in like that? Who would believe it?

But there it was on the school’s announcement board, an official notice written in black and white.

"Following a comprehensive assessment, student Cao Xueshan is hereby permitted to skip to the sixth grade."

The kids in her class looked at Shanshan with teary eyes.

"Will you ever come back?"

The little chubby boy, Zhou Zihao, his eyes red, threw his arms around Cao Xueshan’s arm.

"Shanshan, you’re leaving? Then... then are we still going to play Chinese jump rope together?"

Yang Yuyu crouched in a corner, silently wiping away her tears.

She had been Cao Xueshan’s deskmate for a year. Every day, she copied her homework and listened to her explain problems, and had long since come to see her as a "study god."

Now her god was leaving, so how could she be happy?

Even Zhang Anjun, the class’s biggest troublemaker, was uncharacteristically quiet.

"Who’s going to help me write my essays now..."

The world of children is simple and pure; a parting is a monumental event.

The teacher couldn’t bear to see her go, either.

Her homeroom teacher, Teacher Luo, couldn’t help but watch a little longer every time she saw Cao Xueshan leave the classroom with that little pink backpack on.

She still remembered the first time she saw the child.

Small in stature, with bright eyes.

Even then, she had felt that this child was no ordinary girl.

But no matter how extraordinary, she never thought she would leave so quickly.

But the one who was most shell-shocked was Cao Jiajia.

Every time the monthly exam results were posted, the first name was always "Cao Xueshan."

And among the last few rows, you could always find "Cao Jiajia."

Her family compared her to Shanshan every single day.

"She’s half a month younger than you, so how can she get perfect scores? Are you just not trying?"

She was filled with pent-up frustration.

And now, to top it all off, the girl had skipped directly to the sixth grade, leaving her in the dust at the foot of the mountain.

Just yesterday, she had been feeling smug about scoring a 62 on her monthly exam. Today, she heard that Cao Xueshan was going to attend sixth-grade classes.

Sixth grade!

That was a height she didn’t even dare to dream of!

After school that afternoon, Liu Yingzi saw her daughter walking down the road with her head hung low.

Cao Jiajia, who was usually so lively and active, seemed to have no energy in her steps today.