Chapter 13

Bai Qian, who had completely forgotten what he wanted to say after the little one’s antics, twitched the corners of his mouth.

He met Xiao Bai Nuo’s big, bright eyes. The little one was holding his fork, and after just standing up from his chair to give Bai Jingyun the small shrimp piece, he had been pulled back down by Bai Sheng and now looked at them expectantly.

As if they were really craving that shrimp in his bowl.

This is baby food, you know? Light, low-oil, low-salt baby food! Adults don’t crave it!

Bai Qian finally swallowed that shrimp as if taking poison, his face grim under Bai Sheng’s somewhat puzzled gaze.

Bai Sheng: …If you don’t want to eat it, then don’t.

The old man, wiping his little one’s mouth with a napkin, thought rather unkindly, and casually stuffed that big piece of shrimp into his own mouth.

The taste was indeed okay, but nothing special.

“Is it tasty?”

The cub squinted his eyes in a smile and looked at the adults expectantly.

They say you don’t hit a smiling face, especially such a tiny, exquisite cub.

The somewhat cold and harsh words on Bai Qian’s tongue hovered there; then he finally said, “It’s okay.”

As for the adults’ stubbornness, the well-behaved little eater Xiao Bai Nuo wasn’t annoyed. After distributing the shrimp, he immersed himself in the meal again.

Occasionally he made exclamations, calling out “Daddy, this is so yummy.”

Meanwhile, Bai Jingyun looked at the small shrimp piece in his bowl with a strange expression.

The eldest young master of the Bai family, who was usually quick-witted and good at thinking, felt his brain freeze a bit.

What does this mean?

Did Bai Sheng just poison this shrimp piece in that instant? Planning to kill him? No, no, no, although the internal strife in the Bai family was fierce, such means weren’t allowed.

Or was it to humiliate him?

The Bai family members had always couldn’t stand each other. The second brother spent all day in the lab with his experiments, and the fourth sister never came home after adulthood, saying she had nothing in common with them. As for the youngest, he was just a freshman this year, the latest to enter the Bai family battleground and also the most hot-tempered. He ran some clubs and commuted between school and his clubs.

In short, none of them were worry-free.

Now another little one had arrived.

Bai Jingyun’s expression was strange, especially since the little cub didn’t even give him an expectant look.

He thought for a few seconds, then finally shoveled his rice expressionlessly, pushing the small shrimp piece aside.

But whatever it was, he didn’t need it.

Meanwhile, Bai Qian, who had repeatedly failed to say what he wanted, felt numb.

He also ate in silence, but by the end of the meal, he was even more numb.

He was somewhat dumbfounded: “Does he usually eat this much? It’s almost as much as I eat.”

Bai Sheng was wiping the little one’s mouth. Actually, the little one could still eat more, but Bai Sheng knew it was almost at the limit Aunt Feng had mentioned, so he stopped the cub from eating further.

“That’s because you eat too little.”

Bai Sheng lifted the little cub off the chair and set him on the floor, satisfied to see that Bai Nuo’s face seemed a bit rosier from being fed by him over the past couple of days.

“This amount won’t make him overeat.”

Bai Qian was startled, then realized—true enough, he hadn’t seen a little cub in nearly twenty years, and he himself had a small appetite due to his aftereffects. In his memory, Alpha cubs indeed had big appetites, and even cubs of similar ages used to fight during meals.

But the little one in front of him was too different from the Bai family cubs he remembered. He was also thin and pale, which made Bai Qian subconsciously think that he didn’t eat much.

Alright, he couldn’t think about these things anymore.

Bai Qian came back to his senses a bit: “You two, come with me to the study.”

Saying this, he also cleaned his hands with a towel, stood up, and without looking at the little one, turned and went upstairs with a stern expression.

Bai Sheng handed the small monitor to the little cub and told him to play in the main hall or the adjacent open-air balcony, and that he would come get him later.

This was the main building, with other servants watching, so Bai Sheng wasn’t worried about the little one hurting himself.

But seeing the little one blinking, holding the small monitor, and looking as if he wanted to say something, he bent down and gently asked the cub what was wrong.

Xiao Bai Nuo was a perceptive cub. He noticed that both Grandpa and Uncle were in a bad mood. He whispered to his dad, “Daddy, did Nono give Grandpa too little shrimp? Is Grandpa not full?”

Bai Sheng was taken aback. The little cub’s way of thinking was different from adults, so it took him a moment to react. Looking at the earnest, baby-voiced little cub and thinking that the stiff old man was accused of stealing baby food and still not had enough… he found it a little funny.

But in the little one’s eyes, Grandpa, who had eaten that shrimp, looked even more unhappy.

But Nono only had that one small bowl.

And that mean uncle—

“He ate it at the very end.”

The little cub wrinkled his nose and reached out to hug his father’s neck.

“Grandma Feng said it’s best eaten hot.”

Bai Sheng couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“Daddy?”

The cub blinked.

Then his little head got rubbed twice.

The little cub heard his father say in a lazy, cheerful tone, “Yeah, they’re all bad.”

Bai Jingyun, who hadn’t gone upstairs yet: …Hey! Badmouthing me right to my face? Not even pretending now?

The conversation in the study didn’t last long.

Bai Jingyun finished going over various matters first and left earlier than Bai Sheng.

When he came downstairs, he saw the cub playing on the open-air balcony.

The little one wore a beige little jacket, his curly hair soft in the warm light, looking at the flowers here and there, so cute that the servants in the main building let out all sorts of odd sounds, which Bai Jingyun could hear even from a distance.

Behind Xiao Bai Nuo, the familiar small monitor was still following the little one around.

It's clearly just a cold machine, but for a child of this age, it's like having a playmate. Whenever he sees something new, he calls out "Hello, Dou Dou" and calls the little monitor over to look together.

Eventually, he listens to the little monitor reciting plant science from Baidu Baike, looking utterly confused.

After hearing it, he clearly didn't understand much, but he still raised his little hand and applauded for the little monitor.

Bai Jingyun: ...

What is this? Is the main thing emotional value?

Bai Jingyun kept walking down the stairs and watched the little one. The little one happily looked over, his little hand not yet raised, but when he saw clearly who was coming down, he blinked, pouted, put his hand down, and then sat down on the small chair by the door, turning his back to him and also turning the little monitor that was facing him to the other side.

Bai Jingyun: ...

Logically, Bai Jingyun, having been snubbed, should have left without looking back. But perhaps because of yesterday's guilt or the puzzling shrimp from today, Bai Jingyun paused for a moment and finally changed direction, walking toward the little one.

Nono had just heard the sound behind him and thought it was his father coming down. He was about to let his father also see the novelty he had discovered, but unexpectedly realized it was Big Uncle. The toddler instantly recalled his father's words and withdrew his hand. His father said, "Don't look at Uncle!"

So, the little guy deliberately adjusted the direction of his little monitor's camera.

The little one almost curled himself into a ball, but Bai Jingyun still came over.

He crouched down beside the toddler and turned to look at him.

Even crouched down, the tall man from the Bai family was still a head taller than the tiny toddler.

"...That piece of shrimp, what did it mean? You should have learned your lesson before, right?"

Bai Jingyun's voice was cold and firm, yet low, and he asked directly like that.

Then he heard the little one speak in a soft, sweet voice, trying to turn his little head away.

"Nono doesn't talk to bad uncle."

That look of "Daddy said not to mind bad people" was both amusing and exasperating.

"Was it because you couldn't finish it, so you gave it to me?"

Or was it because that piece of shrimp didn't catch the little guy's fancy?

Bai Jingyun looked ahead and spoke again.

But it's fine if you don't want to answer.

Bai Jingyun thought: In the future, he probably won't have many chances to interact with this little guy.

So why did he come over for no reason, like he'd lost his mind?

Bai Jingyun was about to stand up.

But the next second, the little one's sweet baby voice came over.

"But everyone had some, and uncle didn't. Wouldn't that be unfair?"

What?

Bai Jingyun was stunned. He looked down at the little one.

The little toddler swung his two short legs on the chair and finally looked up at Bai Jingyun.

"And also, bad uncle was looking at Nono too, and in the end, bad uncle ate it, didn't he?"

Because uncle was also looking at Nono, so Nono gave it.

It's that simple.

Was I... looking at this little one all along?

Bai Jingyun was left speechless.

He felt a bit dazed.

Competition in the Bai family has always been brutal.

There's no such thing as everyone getting a share. If you compete, you compete for the highest position; if you want something, you must be the first. What kind of Bai family heir is the eldest son if he can't even outdo his younger siblings?

Bai Jingyun had heard this kind of talk many times.

But in the end, he did eat the shrimp he had initially pushed aside.

He had many cold and ruthless words and many unpleasant methods, but faced with such a little one, he found himself at a loss.

At this moment, he even found it hard to relate to his past self—when he first heard that Bai Sheng had such a toddler, the scorn and amusement inside him almost spilled over.

But now, he even had a bizarre thought for a moment: Why wasn't I the one they targeted back then?

No, no... That kind of thought is way too weird.

As if to cover it up, Bai Jingyun picked up an orange from the fruit plate beside him, peeled it deftly and handed a segment to the little one.

He said concisely, "My apology."

Peeling an orange for you as an apology for yesterday's matter.

Then he saw the toddler's little face scrunch up, as though scarred, shrinking back and shaking his head vigorously.

"Nono doesn't want it."

"It's sweet."

"Nono doesn't believe it."

The toddler hugged the little monitor and stared at him warily.

Bai Jingyun pinched a segment of orange, put it in his mouth, and chewed: "Really, I'm not lying to you."

But—"Yesterday, uncle also 'tricked' Nono with lemon like this."

"Uncle also ate a whole slice and then came to trick Nono! Nono has seen through it! Nono is a smart child!"

"And Nono thinks uncle has a problem with his sense of taste or has weird taste. Nono only believes in Daddy. Nono's Daddy is the best!"

Anyway, Nono won't believe a single punctuation mark of what you say!

The little one seemed about to suggest that Bai Jingyun see a doctor for his taste buds.

What do you mean I have weird taste?

Bai Jingyun's eyebrows twitched. For the first time in his life, he tasted the feeling of "the boy who cried wolf." And he already heard the sound behind him. He also heard Bai Sheng's light, cheerful footsteps.

Ha, of course he's in a good mood. Compared to the weird-tasting bad uncle, being called "Nono's best daddy" is just so, well, *pleasing* to hear, right?

Author's note:

Nuo Zai: Look at the lemon, the orange, the uncle — all the same, exactly like yesterday! "Hugging the baby monitor tight."

Uncle: Today's oranges are a bit sour too.

"One ticket to the kid-chasing crematorium~ Step right in~"