Ben fell silent. The refusal got stuck in his throat.
This nanny wanted to rent books. In his mind, how could he possibly lend his books to someone else? But if it was a rental, he’d get paid—meaning he could earn money too. Then his brother wouldn’t have to work so hard to make a lot of money and would have time to play with him…
His brother was always saying he had to work. Once he got the money, he’d give it all to him—then his brother would definitely be very happy!
“I don’t know how much to charge,” Ben said, resting his chin on his hand with a troubled frown.
He wasn’t an adult—how was he supposed to know what to charge? But since he was a kid, he could just ask when he didn’t know.
“Oh, I don’t know how much it costs to rent books here either. How about we go to the bookstore together after school tomorrow and ask? We can also take a look at what books we might want to buy in the future,” Jolene said, showing a hint of frustration, then quickly added, “But I need a book urgently today. Can you lend me one for now? We can sign a rental agreement.”
Ben turned around and stared at Jolene in surprise.
Why did he feel like everything she said was something he’d never heard of before? And it sounded kind of interesting…
“What’s a contract?” Ben asked when he didn’t understand.
Jolene had instinctively assumed this kid would definitely refuse to lend her a book—mainly because he clearly wasn’t easy to handle and couldn’t be judged by normal standards. She’d never really dealt with kids before either. In the original owner’s memories, those two children had been pretty well-behaved.
To be honest, Jolene was a little afraid of children. She’d once watched a kid rolling on the floor of a shopping mall, refusing to go home, and had seen her little cousin—already five or six—still being chased around by grandparents with a spoon at mealtimes.
So Emma was definitely the exception. As the saying goes, the lazier the mom, the more capable the kid. The original owner had been out of it all the time, so Emma had developed strong self-care skills and learned to read people’s expressions.
Maybe Ben here was what a normal five-year-old was like. Since she didn’t know how to interact with children, Jolene decided to just treat him like a grown-up.
“A contract is a legally binding agreement between two people. For example, the nanny contract I signed with your brother—I’m responsible for taking care of you, and your brother pays me wages. If I take care of you and your brother doesn’t pay me, I can take that contract to a judge and tell them he broke it.” Jolene tried to explain what a contract was in the simplest terms. Seeing that Ben seemed to understand, she continued, “Now, I need to rent your book. We can set the rental period and how much I need to pay you. Later, if I don’t pay you, you can go to a judge too, and then I’d have to pay you—or else I’d be breaking the law…”
Ben’s mouth fell open. He clearly hadn’t expected that his brother could sign a contract with Jolene—and that he could do the same thing his brother did. It sounded like something only adults could do.
“Okay,” Ben said, trying to think carefully like an adult, then tilted his head. “But we don’t know how much the rent is.”
Jolene was momentarily stumped. She hadn’t expected the kid to be so sharp—he hadn’t forgotten about the price. She nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. “Ben is so smart! We can write the contract now, and tomorrow after we check the rental price, we’ll fill it in. Then our contract will be complete!”
The child was praised by an adult, and Ben felt like he was doing something just like his brother. He straightened up immediately, a big smile on his face, though he said, “It’s your own fault for being stupid, forgetting that we still need to check the price tomorrow!”
Jolene shook her head. “Yes, I really did forget. That’s why I said Ben is smart.”
The little boy had chubby cheeks with two dimples, light blond hair, and fair skin. He and Emma were both five, but he was nearly a head taller. He was quite adorable—and it made Jolene a little envious.
She wondered when Emma would grow to be so chubby and healthy. Jolene silently resolved to make sure Emma ate her fill every day, got plenty of exercise, and slept well—then she’d catch up to Ben’s height eventually.
Since she’d promised the child something, she had to follow through. Jolene got a blank piece of paper and a pen, leaned over the coffee table, and wrote up a simple contract, leaving the rental price blank.
To her surprise, Ben could actually recognize some of the words. His chubby little finger pointed at them as he read aloud: “This says ‘Ben Raymond’s name,’ this character is ‘book,’ this is ‘date’…”
“Wow—did you learn all this at school?” Jolene exclaimed.
This exclamation clearly gave the child a sense of pride. After all, he was only doing something simple, yet this mother-daughter pair was looking at him like he was a genius.
And it was true—Jolene had no idea a five-year-old could recognize so many words. She was amazed that schools here actually taught things. As for Emma, it was even simpler—she’d never been to school, so of course she was impressed that a boy her age could read so many words.
The two of them wore identical admiring expressions, which greatly satisfied Ben’s vanity.
“We have reading comprehension exercises every day, and math problems too. My brother also signed me up for swimming and piano lessons—all my classmates do it,” Ben said with a pout, acting as if he didn’t understand why it was a big deal. But the little hints of pride in his eyes didn’t escape Jolene’s notice.
Amazed as she was, Jolene realized that if Emma was going to attend Sunset District Public School, she might need to give her some extra lessons. Otherwise, it would be really hard for her to keep up with the other kids, and it would be terrible if Emma felt inferior because she couldn’t catch on.
“Can Emma and I take a look at your homework? Emma has never been to school before—maybe she can learn a little in advance so she won’t go in knowing nothing,” Jolene said earnestly.
“Okay.” Flattered by all the admiration, the little grown-up Ben immediately forgot everything else. He jumped off the sofa and ran thump-thump-thump up to the second floor, bringing back his backpack.
When he pulled out his bag, he hesitated a little—clearly remembering that he hadn’t done today’s homework yet.
Under the curious gazes of the mother-daughter pair, Ben could only steel himself and pull out his reading assignment, placing it on the coffee table. “I haven’t done my homework yet since I got home today.”
“Oh, then how about you do your homework while Emma and I take a look, and I can teach her a bit on the side?” Jolene nodded.
Seeing no trace of mockery on either of their faces, Ben felt satisfied. He sat up straight, placed the reading worksheet on the table, picked up his pencil, and read word by word: “George sat on the log reading a book. The dog slept under the chair. The mouse looked in the backpack…”
The reading sheet had only five sentences—actually a few phonics words with the same sound combinations—but underneath were five reading comprehension questions. For example, the first question asked where George was, the second asked what the dog was doing…
Ben neatly wrote “on the log” under the first question and continued answering the second.
Jolene raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed by this child. He was only five, yet he could not only answer reading comprehension questions but also put words into sentences, sequence sentences, and do simple addition and subtraction.
In no time, Ben finished all of his homework under the curious, admiring gazes of the mother-daughter duo.
“Do all the other kids do their homework by themselves too?” Jolene couldn’t help asking.
She thought about it carefully. Back in her home country, could a five-year-old recognize this many words? Some kids might go to preschool bridging classes and learn pinyin, but they definitely wouldn’t know this many words. Still, every child was different—she didn’t really understand, since she’d barely had any contact with human younglings.
Ben: “Ahem, this is easy. It’s all stuff we learn every day.”
“Oh, I see,” Jolene nodded, pointing at the homework on the table. “Could I take a look at it? I want to try teaching Emma a bit.”
Ben waved his hand, signaling she could do whatever she wanted.
So Jolene, for the first time ever, picked up what American kids were learning—and for the first time, tried teaching English to a five-year-old girl.
The feeling was incredibly strange. Eventually, Ben couldn’t stand it anymore—he felt the nanny’s teaching method wasn’t very good—so he grabbed the reading sheet himself and pointed to the word “log” for Emma. “See, this is easy. Once you learn the sound of each letter, you can read it yourself…”
Jolene realized she wasn’t needed, so she sat to the side, watching the boy teach Emma.
But clearly, while teaching, Ben truly realized that Emma had never learned a single letter before, so he had to start from the very basics—the alphabet.
Unexpectedly, Ben got so into being a little teacher that the lesson went on for a full hour—which nobody had anticipated.
Giovanni had finished washing the dishes and left long ago. He’d looked relaxed when he left—clearly happy not to have to watch the kids.
The household had three employees: the nanny, in charge of Ben’s studies and daily life; Giovanni, responsible only for meals, who went home every night; and a part-time cleaner who came for two hours each day to tidy up the house.
Now, the living room lights were on. The little boy and little girl sat on the solid wood floor, spreading K5 books across the floor—one daring to teach, the other daring to learn.
Jolene sat off to the side, secretly learning too, wanting to see how American schools taught kids English.
When Hugh Raymond finally came home at 9 p.m., this was the scene that greeted him.
Normally, he’d rush back before Giovanni left. With the previous nanny, he could drag it out even later—because he truly couldn’t handle Ben.
After their parents passed away, Ben and he had moved to San Francisco. The brothers hadn’t grown up together, and their age gap was quite large. The first time he saw Ben throw a massive tantrum, Hugh learned what it meant to have his head spin.
Over the past six months, Hugh had tried everything. Now he was even starting to dread coming home. Normally at this hour, Ben would pounce on him, but today—nothing?
“Hello, Mr. Raymond.” In the end, Jolene was the first to notice the man of the house had returned. She stood up with a smile.
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