Chapter 1: A new daycare for Shang Li.
Mr. Li was a busy man, as his son Shang knew. As much as his father would love to spend time with his young son, the first day as a new CEO was not the time to do it. Shang's mother also busy, so it fell to Mr. Li to drop Shang off at the daycare center of his new company.
They approached the towering building, shining brightly with glass and metal. Shang thought this might be the best one his father had worked at yet. The receptionist was a sweet looking woman. She politely welcomed his father (as was normal), but took the time to smile at little Shang.
"Well hello there. What a strapping young lad you are! Are you Mr. Li the younger?" she said with a smile.
Shang had never had someone call him Mr. Li, he quite liked it. Puffing his chest up, Shang announced proudly, "I'm going to be four!"
The lady nodded seriously. "Well four is very important year. I have a daughter, but she's only just turned three."
Shang was uninterested in the conversation at this point. Girls were boring and scary. The adults talked for a bit. Eventually Mr. Li turned down the hall. The receptionist must have told his father where the daycare was. Shang was determined to be brave and make some new friends with the boys he met. He would make his father proud.
They approached a wood door that had small cut-outs of hands decorating it. Mr. Li knocked and was let in by a tall, large, and rather foreboding looking woman. Shang really hoped this wasn't the person who would be watching him.
"Greetings Mr. Li. I believe we have matched your son up the appropriate group," said the woman, her jowls shook and a grey strand of hair escaped her tight black bun, "If you leave the boy here we will escort him in. I'm sure your day is very busy..."
Shang's father held up his hand, halting the woman's speech. "I would quite like to see my son off myself. I'm sure you are as efficient as your service has been so far. While I am grateful, we have a tradition we like to uphold," he said.
Shang was deeply relieved. He knew that they had no such tradition. Often Shang's mother would drop him off before work. It was good that his father obviously saw how evil this woman was as well.
"As you wish Mr. Li," the woman said, returning to the desk. "Your son's classroom will be to the left. Chi-Fu will be there to meet you," she said waving her hand in the general direction of an undecorated door.
Shang was quite glad to be getting away from her, though he wished the front desk receptionist had been in charge of the daycare instead. Maybe he could talk to his father about having that done. Father Li now owned this place, so Shang was sure he could do it.
Mr. Li opened a rather plain door and revealed a warm, brightly lit room. Despite Shang's concerns, it looked like this might be a good center. I skinny man holding clipboard and pen approached them. It must have been Chi-Fu.
"Mr. Li? I'm Chi-Fu, it will be an honor to have your son in my group. We created this group to make room for some of the new children coming in this year. We are so happy that you are expanding the business. I'm made sure to specially choose s many individuals that will be beneficial playmates and society for your son as possible," said Chi-Fu.
"That will be fine," Mr. Li dismissed the man. Bending down, he addressed Shang, "Remember, son, we are Li's. I'm sure you will behave appropriately today."
Shang nodded seriously.
"I will see you this afternoon, after work," said Mr. Li with a pat to Shang's shoulder. He stood up, thanked Chi-Fu, and left.
Shang looked up at Chi-Fu. He could swear that Chi-Fu's eyes narrowed at him briefly. A shiver went up his back and then all returned to normal. The sun was shining in through the windows, the carpet was soft, and Chi-Fu was simply a skinny man here to keep an eye of everything.
"You may go play quietly with the toys if you like. The others should arrive shortly," said Chi-Fu and pulled out a smart phone.
Shang nodded and headed over to the bookshelf. It was best to practice his reading before the other boy's arrived. He would not be considered the nerd this time. Shang finished a book and a half before he heard the door open again.
A pair of boys were escorted in by two harried looking mothers. One was tall and skinny kid, with a goofy face, and the other was short and shout. They were laughing and pushing each other around. As their mothers greeted Chi-Fu and filled out paperwork, the two boys tore across the room looking at everything.
Shang closed his book and carefully shelved it. Standing up, he walked over to where the two boys were playing with the Mega Blocks. Shang cleared his throat and stood up straight, just like he had seen his father done many times before. He held out his hand and, remembering the way the receptionist had addressed him, said, "It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm young Mr. Li? What are your names?"
The two boys looked confused, but the skinny one grabbed Shang's hand with both of his. With an energetic pump and a wide smile (that showed a missing tooth) said, "I'm Ling and this is Yao! I'm four and a half, but Yao's almost five! We used to be in Mrs. Hau's group, but now we're in here. We were worried we would be together, but we are, and that's great! I bet being in your group will be great too! Hey, where are otters from?"
Shang was taken aback by the flood of information and was barely able to process enough to say, "Rivers?"
Ling's smile gotten even wider as Yao groaned. "Nope!" he said, popping his "p," "The answers, Otter Space! OTTER space, get it?!"
While Ling was giggling madly Yao firmly clapped Shang on the shoulder. "Don't mind Ling, he wants to be the guy that tells jokes on stage when he's big," he said seriously.
Shang filed this information away and nodded back. "Ok. Hey, Yao?" he ventured.
"Yeah," said Yao.
"Would you and Ling like to build a city, I can grab some cars for us to add," said Shang.
Before Yao could say yes or no, Chi-Fu called the boys to the front. Standing beside him was now a large, round boy with a pleasant, if simple, face. "Shang, Ling, Yao, this is Chien-Po. Please take over to the corner with you," he said, "and remember, stay quiet."
There was no mistaking it, Shang was sure this time. Chi-Fu had a most unpleasant look on his face. It was like the time his mother had found the celery sticks Shang had hid under the couch. Celery was yucky, he needed to find new place to get rid of the snack.
Shang figured it would be best if listened to Chi-Fu for now. Here was another adult he would have to talk to his father about. This new building was turning into a lot of work for Shang, but the boys seemed like decent enough sorts. He even would bet that they wouldn't ever call him "pretty boy," or "bosses boy" like the other building's boys had.
Chi-Fu gave a satisfied nod as Shang asked the other boys to follow him, and returned to using his smart phone.
Once they were safely away from the man, Shang turned to the new boy. "Hi, I'm Mr. Li, this is Ling and Yao," he said, gesturing to the two boys beside him, "We were building a city, if you would like to join us, you can help me get the cars."
"I didn't say yes YET!" grumped Yao. He crossed his arms defiantly.
"Did you have better plan?" Shang asked, trying to keep calm.
"…No…" sulked Yao, "but, I could have!"
"I'm fine with getting the cars. Can we pretend they are electric cars? Mom says electric cars will make everything a better place if we use them," Chien-Po chimed in.
It was agreed that electric cars would be fine. Shang gathered a few of them. Chien-Po surprised everyone by being able to drag the whole box of them over by himself despite being the youngest, at 3 1/2. The four had settled into chatter and building, under the careful guidance of Shang. They had to be taught the right way to lay a city out, but Shang could forgive them, not everyone had a father as smart as his. Yes, Shang thought, this was going to be a good fresh start.