It has to be said that friendships between little kids really are easy to form.
Clearly, today was the first time they all played together.
But the old uncle can already confidently give little Yanfei a lift high without worry.
And once children get energetic, they'll drag their friends along to wildly pester the adults.
Now that little Yanfei has handed her legal code to Granny Ping, she has fully switched to child mode.
The old uncle is surprised to discover that his stamina is actually running low—even though they only just started with hide and seek a while ago,
yet after an entire afternoon, he already feels a bit drained, while the children still look full of energy.
"No more, no more, the old uncle is running out of strength."
Sitting down on the edge of the flower bed, the old uncle who has been looking after three children at once appears somewhat exhausted.
"Old uncle, you're already done so soon?"
Little Hu Tao came giggling to the old uncle's side and mocked him.
"Hey, don't talk nonsense, the old uncle is perfectly capable, okay? If you kids hadn't kept making the old uncle be the seeker, how could I not hold up?"
The main issue is that the children run around too wildly, and the old uncle doesn't dare to run at full speed.
Running too fast and falling is not impossible for the little milk dumplings.
Elemental power has to be reserved for protecting the children.
But he also can't run too slowly—running slowly would make the game with the children much less fun.
Anyone who has played tag knows that for the person being chased, as long as there is a safety measure, no matter how fast the seeker runs, they have to keep running.
"Hey, old uncle, this is the perfect time for that line you told me," little Hu Tao said with hands on hips, "If you're bad, just practice more; if you can't afford to lose, don't play!"
The old uncle looked at the arrogant little Hu Tao and only felt that the milk dumpling was adorably cute—it can't be called mockery, it can only be called acting spoiled.
But the old uncle doesn't indulge little Hu Tao either; he reaches out and firmly pulls little Hu Tao into his arms, sealing her with intense face-rubbing.
"Awoo... Old uncle, you're cheating!" Facing the adult Cid, little Hu Tao has no power to resist; even her struggling feels like acting spoiled.
"Hehe~ Ginger still gets spicier with age, little Hu Tao!" In that moment, the old uncle's expression was extremely smug, even activating "face art," with a very pronounced facial expression curve.
"Old uncle, that face of yours is really scary..." After struggling and failing to move, little Hu Tao gave up and obediently let herself be sealed.
"Ehe~" In just an instant, the old uncle's expression returned to normal mode.
"Kids, playtime for today is about over. Would you like to stay and have dinner with this old lady? Xianyun says she'll cook personally."
This was Granny Ping's dinner invitation.
"Eh! Then I'm in, what do you think, Hu Tao?" Cid the old uncle asked little Hu Tao's opinion.
After all, Eula is with him, Yanfei already eats with Granny Ping anyway, Shenhe will definitely eat with Xianyun, and the only one with free choice is little Hu Tao.
"I think we can give it a try." Little Hu Tao said in a deliberately profound tone.
"Very good, then let's prepare to eat!" The old uncle put down the out-of-favor little Hu Tao and headed straight toward his dear Aunt Xianyun.
"Aunt Xianyun, I'll come help out." In order to get closer to Yanfei's mother, even though he's a bit tired, the old uncle decides to activate his foodie power.
This is perhaps the special affection a Genshin player holds for their pioneer character, right?
On a whim before heading off to cook, the old uncle also casually rubbed little Yanfei's head.