Chapter 164

Chapter 164

"...What scarf?"

Bai Liang let out a laugh, his tone hard to read. "Why don't you just take a look yourself?"

Bai Ye mulled it over slowly.

Of course he knew what a scarf was, and he knew that wearing that little one's scarf would definitely have been noticed by the Bai family.

Bai Ye had tried before to think about what had happened to that scarf, but it had most likely been thrown away as medical waste, just like the clothes he had been wearing before.

So when Bai Liang suddenly brought up the scarf, Bai Ye felt as if it were a lifetime ago.

Not to mention that it was from that little cub.

Had he found another one, one that looked the same? Of course, he knew that the scarf had originally just been a kind of winter uniform the kindergarten handed out, just without a logo, so no one else would have noticed where the scarf came from.

But really, he didn't need one at all.

Bai Ye lowered his gaze. He stood by the bed, his hospital gown baggy on him. He pulled open the bag, looked at the scarf inside, and froze for a moment.

It wasn't what he had imagined.

The stitching on this scarf wasn't very neat. From the middle section, warm yellow and orange threads had been woven into the light scarf, blending with the pale base color, and it was quite distinctive.

The stitching even looked a bit clumsy.

Bai Ye: ...

"Can you tell?"

Bai Liang smiled and sat down on the sofa nearby. He crossed his legs, leaned back, and seemed a bit less refined—more like the merciless tyrant students talked about.

"San'er brought him to pick out the yarn, and they even looked up how to care for wool yarn properly, gave it special washing and care, removed all the damaged yarn. Nuo Nuo learned how to knit from someone, but his hands are too small and clumsy, so it took him this long to finish."

Bai Liang spoke slowly, with a hint of some unreadable emotion, looking at Bai Ye.

He'd been busy lately and hadn't seen Little Bai Nuo much, but it wasn't about quantity—it was about fairness.

Didn't Second Uncle work hard enough to earn a scarf too?

Bai Ye stared at the scarf, his fingertips twitching slightly as if he wanted to reach out. But with Bai Liang nearby, he held back.

"Oh, right, did you see the little pom-poms at the end? He learned to make those too, using the threads that had come loose from the scarf and couldn't be reused."

So everything—the original and the new bits—was all here.

Bai Liang glanced at the time.

"The afternoon after tomorrow, they'll have your little dad come over to help you re-register your identity. Oh, and by the way, our Bai family doesn't do the whole moral blackmail thing, and we don't think he has to do anything just because he's your little dad. He accepted payment and agreed to come. If he's rude to you, you don't need to hold back."

After all, Bai Liang had heard that Bai Ye's father and his little dad Song Ning had never gotten along even before the divorce, and his little dad had cheated during the marriage and never liked Bai Ye.

Bai Liang didn't think Bai Ye would come out on the losing end, but he mentioned it just in case.

Bai Ye didn't say anything. He couldn't help but lower his head and reach out to touch the little pom-pom on the scarf.

He thought back to the absurd sight of yarn hanging from a tree branch when he was pulled ashore.

Bai Ye found it hard to describe the feeling. It was as if everything was a coincidence, but when you thought about it, all the coincidences had traces, linked together in a chain.

"Oh, right, when that happens, you can go by whatever name you want."

Bai Liang gave a light clap.

"Whether you want to be called Shen Ye or Bai Ye, or any other name, it's up to you. That's always been your call. But those baseless, flimsy, fake identities—you can let those go. Nuo Nuo's about to get here. Are you going to pretend to be asleep again?"

There was a teasing glint in Bai Liang's eyes.

"Has anyone ever told you that talking to you is kind of uncomfortable?"

Bai Ye looked up at Bai Liang.

"No, not that," Bai Liang said with an innocent, surprised look. "Only Bai Qi thinks I'm asking for a beating when I talk, but unfortunately, we're about fifty-fifty when we fight."

"You two actually went at it that hard?"

Bai Ye arched an eyebrow.

Before he was sent to the lab, he'd known about the dynamic between Bai Liang and Bai Qi.

"...Probably."

Bai Liang said vaguely.

At that moment, the hospital room door was pushed open.

"Second Uncle, Uncle, Nuo Nuo's here! Have you eaten yet? Dad ordered food."

Bai Sheng pushed the door open from outside, and the little cub pattered in, holding colorful bags in his arms—probably various flavors of pop rocks.

The delicate mood in the room was broken. Bai Ye couldn't help pulling the blanket over the bag with the scarf on the bed, then met Little Bai Nuo's eyes.

Because they were in the hospital, the cub kept his voice low. Seeing Bai Ye standing by the bed, Bai Nuo immediately spoke up: "Uncle, are you feeling better today? Want some popping candy? Popping candy is so amazing!"

No matter what Bai Ye wanted to say, he couldn't say it in front of this kid.

Whenever he was in the same room as Little Bai Nuo, he went mute—most of the time, he just stayed quiet.

Bai Sheng followed the cub, checking the time: "The food's ordered and'll be here soon. I'll take him back after we eat. The day after tomorrow he's going to hang out and play games with that kid from the Yu family. When will Song Ning arrive? He still needs to keep an eye on him."

"The afternoon after tomorrow."

Bai Liang stood up to help the little kid tear open the packaging.

"Okay."

Bai Sheng nodded.

"I'll come get him then."

Bai Liang didn't care about that at all. After helping the cub tear open the packaging, he said, smiling: "Your uncle doesn't want to be a Bai. What should we do about that, Nuo Nuo?"

Bai Ye whipped his head around to glare at Bai Liang, his gaze sharp enough to stab through his back.

Talking to him feels uncomfortable? Because this guy loves to use little things to stir up trouble—is that his habit? That's why it feels that way.

Huh?

Bai Nuo looked up at the sound of that, and looked over at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye looked away, a bit awkwardly.

He had spent a long time with Bai Nuo, but times this calm and quiet were rare—was he going to try to talk him into it too?

Bai Liang, you'd better not show any cracks.

Bai Ye watched the little kid walk over, putting packets of popping candy of every flavor on the bed and pushing them toward him.

He was short, and the bed blocked most of his body from view.

Candy again.

Bai Ye opened his mouth, about to say he didn't really like candy.

But Bai Nuo spoke first.

"It's fine, Uncle, you can call yourself whatever you like."

To a little kid, it didn't really matter anyway.

Bai Nuo smiled at Bai Ye, happily pushing the candy over.

"Nono's on vacation starting today, Uncle! Nono can come visit you when you're awake."

...

"Is it really fine to let them hang out like this?"

Bai Liang lowered his voice.

"After all, we can't be totally sure about the assessment of Bai Ye's condition, right? Maybe he just went soft on Bai Nuo at that moment?"

Letting someone like that be around a kid is risky.

Bai Liang had been going over those test records so much lately that he was in a constant state of paranoia and worry.

Bai Sheng glanced at him, then looked at Bai Ye, and let out a lazy laugh. "Oh, is that so?"

Bai Liang looked over as well and saw Bai Ye sitting quietly next to the little kid, ripping open a packet of popping candy and pouring it into his mouth. Even though he was a few years older than both of them, he'd been brought into the research institute when he was really young, so he'd barely ever seen stuff like this. Now he sat there with his mouth closed and brows furrowed, looking like he was about to murder someone, while the popping candy crackled and popped in his mouth.

Bai Liang: …

"...Forget it. If you're keeping an eye on them, then I'll drop it."

Bai Liang figured that anything he'd thought of, Bai Sheng—being the actual dad—had definitely already thought about too.

After dinner at the hospital, Bai Liang still had stuff to do at the lab, so he left first. Little Bai Nuo said bye to his uncle, promising to come visit him again tomorrow.

Bai Ye watched the little kid get carried into the elevator by Bai Sheng. He could still hear the kid's voice, softly snuggling up to his dad, asking if his uncle seemed a little more energetic.

The elevator doors shut, the elevator started moving, and those voices disappeared.

Bai Ye stood there without moving, watching where the father and son had gone, his face full of mixed feelings.

The caretaker only came over after the Bai family had left.

"Mr. Shen."

He still went along with Bai Ye's request and called him Mr. Shen.

"The sun was nice at noon today, and all the snow melted away. It won't be as cold outside tonight—do you want to go out for a walk and get some fresh air?"

"No thanks."

Bai Ye just shook his head.

He didn't feel like talking much, just stood on the balcony of the hospital suite, staring outside.

Even though the room had air circulation and the balcony windows stayed closed, it was still colder out there than inside.

The caretaker came over with a coat.

Bai Ye was about to tell him to go, that he didn't need to be looked after, when he noticed the bag the guy was holding.

"Mr. Shen, I saw this on your bed when I got the coat? You're still weak right now—you should listen to the doctor and stay warm."

Bai Ye wasn't really listening, but after a few seconds, he took the awkwardly stitched scarf from the caretaker's hands.

Day three.

The Yu house.

With the kindergarten break starting, the winter temps in Ang City being pretty low, and the New Year coming up, the whole Xie family had headed south to a warmer place for their vacation and wouldn't be back until after the New Year. It was kind of a family tradition—you could say the Xies were the rare big family among Ang City's clans that still got along so easily, happily, and helpfully with each other.

So that left just little Bai Nuo and Yu Chuyan in Ang City.

As for that, Yu Chuyan was like: Great, awesome, go have fun, play a lot!

And he'd started planning a whole day ahead what games to play with little Bai Nuo, who was coming over.

The two little kids were leaning on each other, playing video games.

Yu Chen had been told by the old man upstairs to rest, so he was home too, humming a little tune as he opened packages one by one in the greenhouse.

Lately, with his free time, he'd been learning a bunch of plant-care tips from livestream shopping channels, ordering all kinds of nutrient solutions, fertilizers, and pest-control stuff, carefully writing labels and sticking them on, and arranging everything neatly.

His earlier "success" at growing vegetables had given Yu Chen a big confidence boost.

Of course, it hadn't been that successful in the end—that vegetable had gotten too old, its leaves turned yellow, and it died after getting woody.

But it still proved he could keep plants alive—he wasn't a plant killer!

Bai Nuo was holding the controller, checking the time, feeling a little restless.

It was almost time for his dad to come pick him up and take him to the hospital.

His uncle was getting his ID documents reissued this afternoon, and he'd heard that his uncle's stepdad didn't like him.

And his uncle didn't want to have the surname Bai.

The little kid thought his uncle should do whatever he wanted, but he still couldn't help feeling a little conflicted.

The little kid let out a soft sigh.

Yu Chuyan looked over, naturally leaning in, his dark eyes reflecting the little kid's cute face, with a hint of confusion.

"What's Nono thinking about? Time's almost up—we might not be able to finish this level."

"It's okay, we can play again next time."

The little one came back to his senses and glanced at his Brother Xiao Yan.

But speaking of brothers.

The little one thought for a moment.

"Dad also mentioned to Nono that Nono has another brother overseas."

Yu Chuyan had been staring at the little one's face in a daze, but the moment he heard there was another brother, Little Cool Guy's antennae seemed to stand straight up.

"Brother? What brother? Where is he from? Do I know him? Did he say something?"

If Little Rice Cake had a blood-related brother, then wouldn't he, as his brother, no longer be the one closest to him?!

"Huh? Nono doesn't know either. Nono's never met that brother, but Dad said there's no need to worry about it—they probably won't ever meet."

Probably the other person didn't want him as a little brother, right?

The little one was smart. Although the Bai family would tell him what they thought he should know, they'd put it gently, only mentioning it in passing—but the little one still picked up on it.

But that was fine too. Little Bai Nuo blinked.

If there was no connection, wouldn't that mean he wouldn't be one of Nono's bad-guy family members?

That was nice too.

Yu Chuyan breathed a sigh of relief.

Little Cool Guy said earnestly, "It's fine, Nono. You only need to see me as your brother. I'll become very reliable—more reliable than blood or family names."

Yu Chuyan said this seriously, without hesitation kicking the two Xie family members—who were already off on vacation having a blast—out of the running as the little one's brothers.

Bai Nuo listened, about to mention the Xie family brothers, but then he saw the look in Brother Xiao Yan's eyes and thought about what he'd said.

Names and blood ties weren't really the most important things after all.

The little one suddenly got it, and reached out to hug Yu Chuyan, who was right there.

"Nono will be super reliable from now on too!"

He would also become someone others could rely on—become someone his brother could rely on.

Yu Chuyan: !

"Nono?"

Yu Chen called out from the greenhouse, having seen outside through its window.

"Your dad is here to pick you up. The car's here."

"Coming!"

Bai Nuo let go, said goodbye to Brother Xiao Yan, then said goodbye to Brother Yu Chen, and pattered outside to find his dad.

Yu Chen still had potting soil on his hands. He came out of the greenhouse, told the butler and the nanny to see the little one off, and told Little Bai Nuo to slow down and be careful not to trip.

Then Yu Chen saw his younger brother covering his face, huddled against the sofa.

Yu Chen: ?

"What are you doing? You feeling okay?"

"No."

Yu Chuyan looked up, he looked fine now, but he was clearly in a great mood.

Yu Chen hadn't paid attention to how the two kids got along. He glanced at the TV screen—the game was still going—and casually asked, "Lost? Won?"

Yu Chuyan said solemnly, "Profited."

Yu Chen: ?

What?

What the hell did you little brat do now???

When Little Bai Nuo's dad brought him to the hospital, Bai Ye's little dad, Song Ning, had already arrived.

He was an omega whose pheromone level barely reached S-level, with delicate features and a rather refined, cultured look—but at the moment, his brows were furrowed with barely concealed impatience. He didn't say a word when he saw Bai Ye, only let the Federal Review Department members collect his information, and after facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, they retrieved Bai Ye's previously deleted records from the database and restored them.

Everything went fairly smoothly, until the end, when the review department staff thanked Song Ning for his cooperation and were about to generate and input a new ID for Bai Ye as he had requested.

Song Ning finally couldn't hold it in anymore and spoke up.

"His current situation won't affect me, right?"

The review department staff were taken aback and turned to look at him.

One of the staff members spoke up: "Mr. Song, this gentleman is blood-related to you. Although you're no longer on the same household registry, we'll still have to ask you about some things. Whether legally or morally, we hope you'll cooperate fully."

For someone like Bai Ye, it was extremely difficult for the government to re-establish trust in him. This was equivalent to accepting someone who claimed to be an undercover agent but had actually spent over a decade inside a criminal organization—every word and action of his had to be scrutinized under a magnifying glass, over and over. This wasn't cruelty toward one person; it was being responsible to the entire nation.

But even so, all the review department staff couldn't help but feel a basic level of sympathy for Bai Ye.

Missing his right arm, completely destroyed glands, dumped into that place at a very young age.

Song Ning, as his little dad, even if he didn't feel heartache, didn't need to be so eager to distance himself, treating him like some kind of burden, right?

"So it does affect me?"

Song Ning frowned deeply, his eyes showing clear dislike for Bai Ye, especially when he saw his missing right arm and the scars on his face and body. He even took two steps back and muttered quietly.

"I always knew Bai Kun wasn't normal, and a child of Bai Kun's bloodline isn't normal either. I got out too late—I never should have had this child in the first place..."

Bai Ye hadn't even looked at Song Ning since he walked in.

He sat quietly to the side, as if completely ignoring him, waiting for the information to be entered, as if accepting his fate—like a kite with a broken string, nothing in his eyes but coldness and emptiness.

Bai Ye heard them ask his name. He opened his mouth, about to speak.

The Bai family wouldn't stand up for Bai Ye. Since Bai Ye himself stayed silent, the Bai family members nearby showed no reaction either. After all, Bai Liang had warned Bai Ye before—if you don't speak up for yourself, no one else will speak for you.

Only the little one stood nearby, listening to the other's words, his cheeks puffing up bit by bit.

Finally, when the other muttered quietly about how he should have just dealt with it all cleanly back then and been done with it, the tiny little one couldn't hold it in anymore. He pattered forward several steps, planted himself in front of Song Ning, trying to block the uncle behind him, and angrily tried to push him away.

But he was too short and too weak—besides startling Song Ning, it didn't accomplish much else.

Only his little milky voice rang out: "Nono's kindergarten teacher taught him that even if someone's not family, you should still treat them with basic kindness!"

"You..." Song Ning instinctively started to speak, but was so startled he took two steps back as Bai Sheng stood up beside him.

"Uncle has made great contributions, but not because of you, Uncle. You've barely spent any time with him, never given him picture books, candy, or the things every child should have. What gives you the right to say Uncle turned out to be a bad person? That he's got problems?"

Xiaobai Nuo had already read a lot of books and had recently been practicing calligraphy. He was naturally clever, never forgetting anything he read. Compared to how he used to be, he was clearly more organized and serious, his little face set in a stern expression. When he didn't smile and was angry, that cute little face had a faint hint of the Bai family's dangerous vibe.

"It takes so many things for a person to grow up right. Nono's daddy has read tons of books, and Grandma confirmed so many things with the doctor uncle. Even a little kid can understand this, but you can't, Uncle. Uncle didn't have anything growing up, but Uncle is a good person. Even the coldest hand, when you press on it, has warmth and a smell to it, but you've got nothing, Uncle. You're the one who's messed up!"

The little kid tried to speak as loudly as he could: "So everything you said, Uncle, is wrong. Nono can tell that's wrong!"

Bai Ye looked up: ...

So that's why you've been giving me your stuff lately?

"Taking the money and not leaving, still hanging around—do you think the Bai family is easygoing?"

Bai Liang suddenly spoke up with a smile from behind Song Ning.

Song Ning was startled for a moment, his heart full of doubt.

He knew how bad the infighting in the Bai family was, and even saying stuff like that was partly an act put on for them, since the Bai family members often couldn't stand each other and got into fights all the time. When he took the money, he just thought the Bai family was cooperating with the investigation. He never expected things to turn out like this.

Of course, he didn't give a thought to what Bai Ye might be thinking.

So, kind of realizing he shouldn't have acted like that in front of the Bai family, Song Ning opened his mouth to say more, but was politely shown out by Bai Liang's people.

Xiaobai Nuo was carried back by his daddy, his cheeks all puffed out.

The little kid didn't dare look at his uncle. He whispered to his daddy, who looked totally calm.

"Daddy, was Nono too loud back there?"

This is a hospital. Isn't Nono supposed to be quiet here?

"Hmm? It's fine, no one else is on this floor."

Bai Sheng said casually, pinching his little cheek.

"Oh," the kid said blankly, then leaned back into his daddy's arms, "Nono was just a little mad."

He said it really quietly, trying to show with his hands, then puffed out his cheeks again.

"Okay, it was this much mad."

Bai Sheng: "Then Daddy'll go beat him up for you?"

Bai Sheng was already looking toward the door.

The people in the ward all stared at him—hey!

They felt like Bai Sheng was totally capable of doing something like that.

The kid froze for a second, then hugged his daddy's neck and shook his head: "No, no need. Nono's the one who should talk, not Daddy."

This kid knew exactly what was what.

Bai Sheng looked lazily at his kid and said offhandedly: "Hmm, isn't it the same?"

The kid blinked, then hugged his daddy's neck again.

He snuggled up against his daddy.

And Bai Ye, sitting not far away, had been watching them for who knows how long.

"Mr. Shen, please state your name for the record."

The review officer let out a sigh of relief that the whole thing was over. He said this, then heard Bai Ye mutter something like 'even the kid they're raising is learning to get mad now.'

The review officer looked up, a bit confused.

Then he heard the man suddenly speak again in a low voice: "Bai Ye."

"What?" The sudden change caught the review officer off guard.

Bai Ye looked over, his expression still dark, and repeated clearly: "Name, Bai Ye."