Chapter 49

Chapter 49

"Oww—!"

Before Cen Liu could finish his words, a hand suddenly slapped across his face, sending him stumbling and landing on the ground.

The sharp slap to his face brought Cen Liu back to his senses a bit.

He watched Bai Sheng bend down, pick up the little one, and place him beside Cen Zhi. When he looked over again, no kidding, Cen Liu could even smell a pungent mint scent.

Bai Sheng's aggressive pheromones gave off a scent that seemed to steal your breath away.

Hey, he was just daydreaming—was this really called for?

Cen Liu covered his nose, which stung from Bai Sheng's slap, but that wasn't the issue.

Cen Liu watched as Bai Sheng set the little one down and start rolling up his sleeves—he didn't know what the "wild" little human's flower language was, but he knew the flower language of a "kidnapper" was definitely "you're toast."

Cen Liu: ...

Cen Liu: ... "Help!!!"

He couldn't beat Bai Sheng, this top alpha!!!

"Nono, save your uncle!"

In a desperate move, Cen Liu tried to use the little one to get that irritable parent behind him to let him off the hook.

Bai Sheng's response to that was: "Nono, don't look."

"Dad, uncle."

The little one hadn't really caught most of what Cen Liu had babbled nonstop, and then he was moved behind his dad. Now, hearing his uncle's plea and his dad's words, the tiny boy stretched out his hands, suddenly unsure what to do.

"Oww—!"

Finding no help, Cen Liu scrambled up from the ground, dodging Bai Sheng's pursuit.

The two were roughhousing. Although Cen Liu was being chased by Bai Sheng, it wasn't a big deal. Cen Zhi observed for a few seconds and, with her vast experience raising five alpha kids, determined it was just ordinary play and "roughhousing." Besides, if even grandma hadn't taken him away, what made you think you could take him first? So Cen Zhi calmly withdrew her gaze and patted Xiaobai Nuo's head.

"It's okay. Your dad and your uncle are just playing."

Xiaobai Nuo seemed to understand and nodded, mainly because he trusted his grandma, the omega at the top of the Bai family's food chain.

Cen Liu turned his head in disbelief: "Auntie, Nono, are you two really just going to watch like this?!"

You call this playing?

Bai Sheng's fist, big as a sandbag, is going to hit me, an alpha who doesn't exercise enough—am I gonna die?!

You can't just watch like this?

Xiaobai Nuo blinked.

Right, Dad also said Nono shouldn't look.

The little one's eyes lit up: "Grandma, Nono understands."

He said to Cen Zhi, looking up at her.

When Cen Zhi looked down, she saw the little guy lift his hands and cover his eyes.

"There, that works."

He both listened to his dad and fulfilled his uncle's request.

Cen Liu: ...

Cen Zhi: ... "Wow, baby, you're so clever! Let's not watch here; let's go inside and get ready for dinner?"

The restaurant staff had already asked if they could start serving.

Cen Zhi picked up Xiaobai Nuo and turned to go inside.

Cen Liu: !!!

Auntie—

Xiaobai Nuo was carried inside by his grandma. As soon as he was put down, he went to see what was for dinner today.

He'd only taken a few steps when he saw Bai Jin, leaning against the table, casually crumple the empty brown paper bag and toss it in a perfect arc into the trash can over there.

Bai Jin put his phone back in his pocket and casually asked, "What are they making a fuss about outside?"

Then Bai Jin saw the little one staring blankly at him.

Bai Jin tilted his head: ?

Slowly, Bai Jin, who always seemed a bit slouchy, straightened up.

"What's wrong?"

The little one looked over at the trash can again.

Bai Jin honestly didn't catch on at first.

After all, they'd split up from the beginning at that specialty street. He didn't know what the kid had brought back. The rice cake was sitting off to the side, and further away were appetizers on the table. Bai Jin, only eighteen, a young alpha with a much bigger appetite than his older siblings, casually grabbed some nearby food and ate it—for him, that was perfectly normal.

It wasn't until the little one confirmed the trash can held his rice cake bag's remains, looked back, pouted, his eyes reddened, and tears started streaming down—

"Wah... waaah... Dad! Dad!"

Cen Zhi almost let out a sharp shriek. She stared wide-eyed at Bai Jin's bewildered face: "How could you eat Nono's rice cake?"

She really hadn't expected Bai Jin to be the one to "snatch the goods."

"...What?"

Startled by the little one's tears and immediately at a loss, Bai Jin finally realized what had upset the little one so much.

"His rice cake? How was I supposed to know it was his?"

He took a few quick steps. He watched the little one call "Dad" twice, then turn and sadly hug his grandma's leg, sobbing pitifully.

Although Bai Jin found this little guy amusing and loved to tease him, he really hadn't meant to make him cry.

"Don't you have another one?"

Bai Jin hurried over, tentatively reaching out but not daring to get too close, afraid of making him cry harder.

"Where did you buy it? Where is the location? It's just two pieces of rice cake. There will be plenty of delicious food later. No need to cry so sadly, right?"

"One piece... one is for Uncle, and the other is for Nono."

Xiaobai Nuo was picked up by Grandma, still very upset, holding Grandma's neck, complaining and almost tattling on him.

"All... all gone. Uncle ate them all... Uncle is mean, waaah..."

The little one is indeed a very generous cub, loves to share. Even if he really liked that piece of rice cake, if he had given it to Uncle and Uncle ate it all, the little one wouldn't be this upset.

It's because he had promised Dad that after dinner and some activity, he could have that piece of rice cake as a snack. The little cub obediently started looking forward to it, and then his hope was dashed.

The grievance that surged up in that instant seemed to make him relive the life of scavenging in the apocalypse, where in one wrong move, everything would be gone. Back then, although the cub was very sad and cried, there was no one to listen to his cries, so he could only bear the grievance briefly, then pack it away and keep moving. But now, raised by Bai Sheng, the little one had developed a bit of a cub's temper, and he couldn't stop crying.

Bai Jin had really stepped in it.

Outside, the two who were in a heated argument heard the commotion inside.

Bai Sheng keenly heard the little one's crying and the calls for 'Dad'. He left a bewildered Cen Liu behind and hurried inside.

"What's going on?"

Xiaobai Nuo was carried off by his dad to be comforted. Cen Zhi went to ask the owner to bring the food out quickly, hoping to distract the little guy.

Cen Liu rubbed his aching shoulder and approached the tense-looking Bai Jin.

"With so many plates on the table, you just had to eat from that bag over there?"

Cen Liu was also shocked. Although he hadn't had time to tell Bai Jin, how did he hit the target so fast and accurately?

"How was I supposed to know?"

Bai Jin frowned deeply, holding his phone and quickly typing on it.

"I just grabbed the one closest to me."

Has his luck been this bad lately?

Bai Jin muttered to himself.

"Why did you only buy this much?"

"Because it tastes best fresh, and I didn't want Nono to keep obsessing over them if we bought too much. Plus, it's been raining a lot around Chestnut Mountain lately, too humid to keep them from going bad. If we want to buy more, we have to do it before you head back to Ang City and take them with you."

Cen Liu leaned over to look at Bai Jin's phone screen.

Bai Jin was asking someone to quickly go to that stall and see if there were any rice cakes left.

The other person was quite fast; in just about ten minutes, a message came back.

"— Stall's closed."

Bai Jin frowned, distressed.

He put down his phone and looked over at Xiaobai Nuo.

The little one had stopped crying, looking a bit wronged as he was held in his dad's arms, looking at the food on the table.

Bai Jin knew the feeling of dashed expectations. He certainly didn't want that, didn't want Xiaobai Nuo to feel that way.

This shouldn't be an emotion a child has to go through.

The item he had planned to casually give to Xiaobai Nuo—the woven rattan bear in the bag next to him—he suddenly didn't know how to offer it.

Bai Jin was stuck, awkward, not knowing how to make up for it.

Cen Liu rarely saw Bai Jin with such an expression.

Although Cen Liu no longer lived at the Bai residence, because his father died young, his aunt had taken him in for a few years, so he had a good understanding of the top alphas of the Bai family.

Bai Jin was the type who did whatever he wanted, on a whim. He rarely had negative emotions; when he did, he vented them on the spot, usually making others miserable but never suffering himself.

At this moment, being so at a loss, it really seemed he had no clue what to do—these Bai family top alphas really had no idea how to comfort a kid.

Good thing he was here.

Cen Liu couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, thinking about all the things he had prepared in advance knowing the little one was coming.

"Alright, we'll buy some tomorrow. I'll go help cheer him up in a minute."

Bai Jin looked over, a silent question: How are you going to cheer him up?

Cen Liu chuckled, his expression saying, 'Just watch me'.

He came to Xiaobai Nuo's side, looking at the still upset little one, and suddenly pulled out a pack of cute gummy bears from his pocket.

"Alright, alright, don't cry. Look, what does Cousin have here? Such pretty candy! It's little bears!"

Xiaobai Nuo leaned over to look, watching Cen Liu open the package and take out a gummy bear.

"It's a soft candy, you chew it. It's very tasty. Cousin specially prepared it for you."

Cen Liu tried to distract the little one.

The little one's crying made Bai Sheng's heart ache, but at this moment he didn't stop the other from feeding candy to the little one before a meal.

The little one sniffled and took the bear from his cousin's hand, his voice still quiet: 'Thanks, cousin.'

"You're welcome."

Cen Liu smiled warmly.

He'd seen plenty of kids, even a few little omega cubs. At this age, most of them love candy, and kids are like that—their grudges come fast, but they also fade fast...

Then Cen Liu watched the little one look at the gummy bear, then at his uncle over there. Something clicked, and his cute face scrunched up, his eyes still teary, and then he opened his mouth, made a rather 'ferocious' chomp, bit the candy, jerked his head back, and bit the gummy bear's head clean off.

So much for 'come fast, go fast'?

More like he was biting that gummy bear as if it were his uncle.

Bai Jin, now even stiffer: ...

Cen Liu: ... That's one 'brutal' bite.

The gummy bear!!!

Author's note:

Uncle: Stepping on landmines is as easy as breathing. JPG

Big uncle: Applause.jpg Just like great-grandpa's legacy – old ginger and young ginger are both hot 'thumbs up'

Uncle: ...

Cen Liu: Does this cub hold grudges just like Bai Sheng?! (in disbelief)