Chapter 160: Happiness is Contagious

"Oh, the young boss is back!"

"Haha, well done, young boss! You've brought great honor to us folks in Yangcheng. Awesome!"

"Young boss, please, can we have a photo and your autograph? You must grant our wish this time!"

"Exactly, exactly! You have no idea, young boss, these past few days plenty of unfamiliar people kept coming around trying to stir up trouble, but we chased them all away after giving them a piece of our mind!"

"Right! There were even some young internet celebrities who came here singing and dancing, and we drove them all off!"

Yang Qing, who had been merely smiling and nodding in greeting to the crowd, suddenly paused in his tracks. He turned around, smiling at Qin Hao and Qin Xue, and said, "Xuexue, Xiao Hao, you two go on inside the shop first."

"Right... hand the suitcase to Xiao Hao."

"Okay." Yang Qing handed the large suitcase in his hand to Qin Hao with a smile and said, "Thanks for the hard work, I'll treat you to a big dinner tonight!"

Qin Hao's eyes lit up instantly. Having eaten too many exotic delicacies, he now had a singular preference for Yang Qing's home-style stir-fries.

Qin Xue led Qin Hao, who was dragging two large suitcases, toward the shop. Meanwhile, Yang Qing looked at the patrons, pondered for a moment, and then bowed to them sincerely:

"Thank you, thank you for your support, and thank you for your help. Um... starting from right now, today's scallion pancakes and steamed buns are half-price!"

As Yang Qing's words fell, the customers immediately burst into loud laughter:

"Oh, the young boss is so generous! At half-price, I guess I'll have to stock up!"

"Haha, stock up my foot! What half-price, we won't accept it! Who's short of that little bit of money? Young boss, the way you dealt with those little Japanese bastards made us feel so good, how could we let some fake-foreign bootlickers bully Jin'er?"

"That's right, nobody is allowed to bully Jin'er! Jin'er is our master chef beauty!"

The customers chattered away all at once, and after listening for a while, Yang Qing understood.

The customers' meaning was simple: Yang Qing was their young boss, and Jin'er was their little chef. No matter what happened or who came by, nothing and no one was allowed to disrupt the normal business of the little shop!

Chasing after celebrities or riding on the coattails of internet trends was fine, but they had to follow the rules here—which meant queuing up!

Queue up to buy scallion pancakes or steamed buns, and then when your turn came, you could ask for autographs or photos to your heart's content.

If you wanted to stir up trouble, heh... no way!

At that moment, Yang Qing found these patrons to be utterly lovable.

Inside the small shop...

"Jin'er, Lingyue."

Qin Xue greeted the two young women warmly, while Qin Hao looked around with curiosity, finally fixing his gaze on Tan Jin'er with a smile:

"Hello, Jin'er, we've seen each other in video calls. My name is Qin Hao."

"Oh, oh, hello, hello."

Tan Jin'er quickly said, "Sister Xue, you and Brother Hao go upstairs and sit down. Lingyue, go pour some tea."

"No need, no need," Qin Xue waved her hand with a smile. "There's no need to be so polite between us. You can just ignore my younger brother here."

Qin Hao: (〇_ｏ)

"Cough, well... I heard Qiu'er's voice, so I'll go take a look."

With that, Qin Hao unceremoniously dragged the two large suitcases toward the second floor.

"Dong'er, did you miss big sister?"

On the second floor, little Qiu'er was holding little Dong'er, cooing affectionately in a soft, childish voice, "Big sister missed you so much."

"Mhm~"

Little Dong'er used her tiny hands to tug at the collar of Qiu'er's shirt while babbling in her arms, a droplet of saliva trickling down from her small pacifier.

"Hehe... Are you hungry? Big sister will feed you something, okay?"

Little Qiu'er reached out with her small hand to wipe away the drool from little Dong'er's chin, then stood up to find some food.

"Pitter-patter..."

Just at that moment, little Xi'er and Xiaobai, who had run into the small bedroom, came running out one after the other, both little ones carrying a small pouch in their hands.

"Hiahia... Qiu'er, the yummy treats are here!"

"Huo-huo... bought by my grandparents, you know, they're so delicious."

The two little ones ran up to little Qiu'er and handed her the small pouches they were holding.

"Wow! Are these for me, Xi'er, Xiaobai?" little Qiu'er asked in pleasantly surprised, touched tones.

"Mhm, mhm, eat up quickly!" Xiaobai grinned widely and said, "The dummy and I hid them just for you in secret, we've been waiting for you to come back."

"Xiaobai~ Xi'er~"

Little Qiu'er called out sweetly. At that moment, her little heart was brimming with happiness; the feeling of being remembered by her little best friends was simply wonderful.

"Hiahia... Qiu'er, hurry up and eat what's in this bag. There are candies I hid inside this one, they're super sweet!"

Little Xi'er squinted her eyes and hopped around joyfully. She loved eating candy the most, but unfortunately, because she had lost a tooth, her big sister wouldn't let her eat too many sweets.

"Mhm, mhm..."

Little Qiu'er opened the little bag Xi'er had handed her, and sure enough, she saw a few pieces of candy inside. She picked one up, peeled off the wrapper, and popped it into her little mouth.

"How is it, how is it? Is it sweet? Is it delicious?" Little Xi'er asked, swallowing her saliva.

"Delicious, so sweet!" Little Qiu'er squinted her eyes and smiled.

"Hiahia..."

Little Xi'er immediately burst into a wide, happy grin, but the next second, she felt something being stuffed into her own little mouth.

Smacking her lips together, mhm... it was sweet! It was candy!

Little Xi'er looked at little Qiu'er in astonishment.

"Hehe... let's eat together."

With that, little Qiu'er opened the bag and poured the small snacks inside onto the table.

"Crunch, crunch... slurp, slurp..."

That was the sound of Xiaobai eating potato chips and little Dong'er drinking her Bear beverage.

Meanwhile, little Qiu'er and little Xi'er squinted their eyes, sucking on their candies, the sweet taste making them swing their little legs happily in delight.

"Bang!"

At that very moment, a heavy thud suddenly rang out. The four little ones were all startled in unison, their small movements freezing into identical poses as their little heads turned toward the stairs simultaneously.

"Heh... hi, little cuties, how are you?"

Qin Hao, who was bending over and catching his breath, saw four pairs of little eyes fixed squarely on him and quickly squeezed out a smile, greeting them amiably.

"Who are you, and how come you're here!"

With a stranger appearing out of nowhere, little Xiaobai instinctively shielded the other three little ones, letting out a cute yet fierce, babyish cry.

Qin Hao: ??_??

He slanted his eyes toward little Qiu'er, who was also standing there in a daze, and said helplessly:

"Qiu'er, stop playing around, hurry up and introduce older brother to your little friends."

Then, turning back to Xi'er and Xiaobai, he said, "Xi'er, Xiaobai, do you not remember me? We met when you guys were video calling with Qiu'er."

"Oh... don't remember! Who are you!" Little Xiaobai was currently acting as a completely emotionless little bodyguard.

"Hiahia... Xi'er doesn't remember that you're the handsome brother who was peeking from behind Qiu'er at all." Little Xi'er squinted her eyes and laughed out loud.

Qin Hao: ......

Little kids, you just exposed your own cleverness.

"Hehe..."

Little Qiu'er decided to stop playing dumb. She slid down the small sofa with a *whoosh*, ran over to Qin Hao, grabbed his hand, and introduced him in her childish voice:

"He is Brother Hao, Sister Qin's younger brother. He is the most afraid of Sister Qin!"

Qin Hao covered his face. What was wrong with this little toddler? Who introduces people like that?

Who said anything about being afraid? I, Qin Hao, in all my life never...

"Xiao Hao, why are you blocking the doorway of the stairs! Move aside!"

"Oh, okay, Sis."

"Hehe..."

"Hiahia..."

"Huo-huo..."

The uninhibited, loud laughter of the three little toddlers left Qin Hao feeling deeply wounded, but when the three little ones cutely smiled and called out "Brother Hao" in their sweet voices, he melted with joy like a child.

"Come, come, come, let's open the luggage and hand out the gifts!"

Qin Hao called out, and instantly he was surrounded by the three little ones.

"Mhm... this is... oops, I actually don't know whose this is, Qiu'er, do you know?" Qin Hao opened the suitcase, and then stared blankly at a whole box filled with tiny clothes.

"I know! It's Xi'er's!" little Qiu'er cried out happily. "It's what Sister Qin bought for Xi'er, there's a little bunny on it!"

As little Qiu'er spoke, she picked up the small piece of clothing, opened it up, and sure enough, she saw a little bunny printed right on it.

"Hiahia... Qiu'er, is this really for Xi'er?" Little Xi'er took the bunny outfit and asked, pleasantly surprised and hardly daring to believe it.

"Mhm, mhm, it's for Xi'er, and there's more too!" Little Qiu'er nodded her little head.

"Hiahia... Xi'er is so happy, thank you Qiu'er, thank you Sister Qin, thank you Brother Hao!"

"Hehe... older brother bought us gifts too," little Qiu'er pointed to the other suitcase and said, "We picked them out together, there are little bags, little hats, and little water bottles!"

"Hiahia... thank you Brother Qing too." Little Xi'er laughed heartily.

"Mhm, mhm..."

Only then did little Qiu'er nod her head in satisfaction, before rummaging through the suitcase to start distributing the gifts.

"This one is for Xiaobai, this one... is also for Xiaobai, mhm... this one is for Xi'er, this one is mine, and then this one is for Dong'er..."

The little girl chattered away in her childish voice as she handed out the presents—Xi'er, Xiaobai, Dong'er, Chun'er, Xia'er...

Everyone got something. Little Xi'er's mouth was split in a smile so wide she couldn't close it, her little arms filled to the brim with things, yet she refused to put them down on the floor for fear of dirtying her new clothes.

Little Xiaobai was the same, her cute, babyish laughter echoing repeatedly, making Qin Hao feel immensely joyful as well.

"Laughter is contagious, and happiness is contagious too. Hearing their laughs makes all my troubles seem to vanish," Qin Hao remarked with emotion.

Qin Xue →_→: "Have you ever even had troubles?"

Qin Hao ←_←: "Take a guess, hurry up and let me hold little cutie Dong'er!"

Little Dong'er: ～(^з^)-