Chapter 30

Chapter 30

To help Little Bai Nuo make new friends, Auntie Feng had put in a lot of effort.

That heavy rain had been two days ago. The spring in Ang City was always short, with seasons not so distinct. After the rain, spring quickly transitioned into summer, and the temperature began to rise step by step.

Little Bai Nuo still couldn't be exposed to wind, so he wore an off-white long-sleeved hoodie with a big sunflower embroidered on the front, light-wash jeans, and a small crossbody bag shaped like a sunflower. With his milky white skin, soft curls, and big bright eyes that sparkled as he looked over, he had an irresistible sincerity about him.

Bai Nuo had never made friends before. Little Bai Nuo had always longed for family because in the apocalypse, those who stuck together through thick and thin were mostly family. Back then, he had few friends—kids his age rarely survived—so he had no strong attachment to the concept of friends.

But the little guy was clever. He knew how to make people happy, and he knew his dad cared a lot about whether Nono had made friends. Nono trusts his dad, so even though he was still a bit wary of strangers, he felt this was a good thing.

His little bag couldn't fit that many cookies, but there were also snacks from his uncle. And this unnamed older brother he had met once before.

Little Bai Nuo gathered his courage, shook the cookie bag, smiled, and reached out his little hand.

And so, Little Bai Nuo finally watched as this cool-looking older brother, who at first glance had a vibe similar to his uncle, walked over from the side. His hand lightly touched Little Bai Nuo's hand, then retreated. His eyes darted away, then back.

He clearly came over eagerly, but looked quite awkward. Even though he was a Little Cool Guy, his round face was full of childishness.

Yu Chuyan was the tallest among these little ones, much taller than the already underdeveloped Little Bai Nuo. As he leaned in, his shadow loomed over him, but his little face was earnest: "I'm Yu Chuyan. Since you call me big brother, I've got your back."

"And me, little brother! Don't worry, at kindergarten just say my name!"

Xie Qing squeezed in.

"Me too! Me too!" This was Xie Yue, already stuffing a cookie in his mouth and mumbling as he squeezed over. He patted his chest, then almost choked himself. Yu Chuyan, stumbling back two steps from being bumped by the twin alpha boys, quickly pulled Little Bai Nuo's hand and moved aside.

Shi Lin was frantically looking for water for Xie Yue.

But listen to what you're saying.

Is this even a normal kindergarten?

The adults all chuckled, but didn't interfere with the kids' socializing.

Only Bai Sheng rubbed his chin, looking at the Yu family's child.

As mentioned before, Bai Sheng's issue with the Yu family wasn't just business competition. Old Master Yu was troublesome, but not enough to make Bai Sheng hate him this much. Bai Sheng was simply tired of the mess in the Yu family—unlike the infighting within the Bai family, the Yu family was now infamous for tawdry gossip scandals.

But of course, Bai Sheng wouldn't project such feelings onto a five-year-old.

Still, it was strange. Bai Sheng couldn't pinpoint what was odd, but as he watched his own little one hold hands with another family's baby, the Newbie Dad rationalized this inexplicable anxiety as restlessness from having to go to work soon, unable to keep an eye on the little one.

Bai Sheng glanced at the time and nodded to Grandma Feng, who was watching the kids behind them. His overseas clients should be arriving soon.

"Contact me immediately if anything comes up. I'll check the monitor from time to time."

"Alright, Third Master." Auntie Feng nodded.

"Daddy..."

Little Bai Nuo, who had been holding Yu Chuyan's hand, heard Bai Sheng's words and instinctively let go, taking two steps toward Bai Sheng. He looked up a bit uneasily.

"Stay here and play with these big brothers. Grandma Feng will be with you."

Bai Sheng crouched down and watched the little guy lean in close. Bai Sheng pointed to the building next door.

"Daddy is right over there. I'll come find you when I'm done with work. Just a little while."

The little guy turned to look at the building, then back at his dad. Grandma Feng bent down and smiled: "Little Master, Grandma Feng is here with you."

The little guy finally nodded, gesturing with his tiny hands: "Then Daddy, come find Nono soon, okay?"

Over there, the little tot who looked like a sunflower was gesturing with his tiny hands. Over here, Xie Yu, who had been trying to act a bit warm, barely managed a smile when he heard his big son ask suspiciously: "Dad, did someone step on your foot? Why do you look like that?"

Xie Yu's forced smile immediately faded. He pushed his two sons toward the building in front of them: "Alright, my wonderful sons, let's go. If you keep this up, your dad is going to have a heart attack early."

Parents all had to go to work, but the household staff and bodyguards were following. Plus, Little Bai Nuo had the little monitor that Bai Sheng checked from time to time, so safety wasn't a concern.

But since it was the first time his own little one was truly interacting with peers, Bai Sheng watched all four little kids toddle through the ticket gate before letting out a sigh of relief.

He tilted his head, listening to a message through his Bluetooth earpiece, and frowned slightly.

"If the Liu family wants to find people outside, that's fine, but don't let them into the building."

Yes, the building where Bai Sheng was about to host foreign guests and negotiate was also a Bai family property.

The client was a very wealthy aristocratic family from abroad. Cooperating with them would open up many connections overseas. No wonder the Liu family kept using petty tricks, even now that they clearly felt Bai Sheng's targeting, they still wouldn't give up.

Bai Sheng just hadn't fully freed up his hands to deal with these people yet. Plus, Bai Qi was backing the Liu family, so it would take more effort. Now wasn't the time to strike directly.

Bai Sheng watched the small figure disappear, then greeted Xie Yu and his wife and turned to leave.

Meanwhile, Little Bai Nuo had entered the large building. This was a place specially designed for kids to play, like a certain floor of a multi-story shopping mall. Here, you bought a ticket to enter. There was a small amusement park, trampolines, a bouncy castle, a man-made beach, and various educational play areas. Each area had dedicated staff guiding the kids. On holidays, there were always a lot of children.

Today was no different.

Little Bai Nuo had never seen anything like this. The little train that went "ding-ding-ding" as it chugged along the smooth floor, the laughter of kids from the trampoline area, the tip of the bouncy castle in the distance—Little Bai Nuo, clutching his little bag, was completely dazzled.

Yu Chuyan and the others, who had been to places like this many times, stood beside Little Bai Nuo.

Yu Chuyan looked at Little Bai Nuo, whose eyes seemed to be sparkling with stars, and asked: "Little brother, what do you want to play?"

"Over there is sand. We can build sandcastles."

Xie Yue pointed into the distance.

There were plenty of molds in the sand pit.

"It feels great to stick your hands in the sand!"

"Then, then let's play with that."

Little Bai Nuo nodded.

It was no joke: he had no toys in the apocalypse. Even quicksand, not uncommon, could contain excessive pollutants in the apocalypse, leading to serious illness. Little Bai Nuo had always stayed far away from it.

The twin alpha boys from the Xie family were experienced with playing in sand. They had once, during a seaside vacation with their parents, buried their sleeping dad Xie Yu so that only his head stuck out.

The little ones made their own decisions. The adults following them said nothing as they watched the kids patter forward, each grabbing a set of sand toys and entering the sand pit.

The feeling of sticking your hands in the sand was strange. At first, Little Bai Nuo was worried about getting his clothes dirty, but after playing for a while, he was a kid after all. Soon his attention shifted, and he stopped worrying about getting his clothes dirty.

Then Little Bai Nuo saw it. In the distance, he let out a soft "wow" of wonder in his baby voice, because Yu Chuyan had used a huge castle mold to make a perfect castle. The little guy circled the castle a few times, his bright eyes fixed on Yu Chuyan, whose chin rose higher and higher.

Meanwhile, the twin alpha boys had shorter attention spans. After filling a few molds for a bit, they lost interest. Each built a building that half-collapsed. They looked at each other, started mocking each other, and then got frustrated. They each knocked over the other's "masterpiece" with a slap, almost wrestling in the sand.

Little Bai Nuo had never seen anything like this. He hesitated, wondering whether to step in and mediate, but then Yu Chuyan took his hand.

"It's okay, they're always like this."

It'd be weird if these twins went a day without fighting.

"What are you building?"

Yu Chuyan looked at the round sand pile in front of Xiaobai Nuo.

Xiaobai Nuo pointed at the little drone Dou Dou following him at the edge of the sandpit.

"I'm building Dou Dou."

Yu Chuyan nodded: "I've filled another castle mold. Want to lift it together? Later, I'll help you build, but if you want to take the finished product home, there's polymer clay crafting over there; we can go play with that later."

Xiaobai Nuo looked at the center of the small sandpit. Indeed, Yu Chuyan had already placed a new castle mold, ready to be lifted.

"Okay, okay."

Xiaobai Nuo stood up and followed Yu Chuyan toward the center of the sandpit.

But he forgot that there was still Dou Dou following him, which hadn't rushed into the sand because Xiaobai Nuo was at the edge.

Seeing the little one leave, Dou Dou panicked.

He braced himself, backed up a little, then shot forward, sped over a small slope, and with a biu, fell into the sandpit.

Hey, he made it! Lock target, action—

...

Uh oh, he got 'stuck'!

"Help, help! Please, someone help!!"

The little drone's wheels churned the sand, kicking up dust.

Aunt Feng stood there dumbfounded, rushed over to pick up Dou Dou, while Xiaobai Nuo already realized Dou Dou had gotten into the sand and spun around to rescue him.

"Dou Dou, Dou Dou, Nono is coming to help you!"

Meanwhile, Bai Sheng, mid-negotiation with a business partner, got an alert from Dou Dou, and couldn't help glancing at his phone's monitor feed. He'd been wondering if the little goof had wedged himself into some corner again, and he also wanted to see his own kid playing with sparkling eyes.

Moments ago he'd been chatting in a foreign language with clients; now he casually opened the feed and saw—a dirty little kid with sparkling eyes, clutching the drone screen, peering at it as if checking if Dou Dou was hurt, and behind him stood a few other dusty kids.

Xiaobai Nuo's babyish voice piped through the Bluetooth earbuds: "Dou Dou, are you okay?"

"Nono?"

Bai Sheng, who'd set the monitor to speaker, felt his brow twitch, and he couldn't help blurting out Xiaobai Nuo's name.

Where'd he go to get that grubby?

Then he saw the grimy kid's eyes light up even more as he scrambled closer, trying to spot Dad through Dou Dou's camera: "Daddy!"

Like he was saying—'Daddy, I'm back from 'hanging out'!'

Author's note:

Dou Dou: Exemplary model of dedication and duty.JPG

Dad: Look at my kid's full-of-energy playtime—

Dad: ...

Kid: Daddy, I'm back from 'hanging out'—

Actually, he hasn't finished hanging out yet.