Chapter Seventy-One: Debate

(Thanks to all the bosses for your monthly votes and recommendations. I will continue to work hard.)

Bai Zhijun’s younger sister was named Bai Lingyue, and she had a fresh, delicate beauty.

She wore light blue jeans and a short-sleeved T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, exuding an artistic vibe.

By her feet sat a pink suitcase, and slung over her shoulder was a yellow backpack. The moment she saw Bai Zhijun, she called out “Brother!” with excitement and a hint of dependence, giving him a sweet hug.

Yang Qing, standing to the side, couldn’t help but click his tongue in surprise at the siblings.

“Are you really from the same mother? How did all the good genes end up with one person? Shouldn’t they have been spread around a bit?”

“What’s with that look?” Bai Zhijun caught the odd expression on Yang Qing’s face and, as if he could hear his internal complaints, glared at him. “What does a grown man need to look good for? Hurry up, grab the stuff and let’s head home!”

Then, seeing his curious sister, he introduced her, “This is our neighbor and my business partner, Yang Qing. You can just call him Brother Qing.”

“Brother Qing,” Bai Lingyue obediently called out sweetly, then leaned in to whisper by Bai Zhijun’s ear,

“Brother, what big business did you get into? You have a partner now?”

“I opened a porridge shop,” Bai Zhijun replied with a proud air.

“Pfft.” Bai Lingyue couldn’t help but laugh. “You need a partner just to open a porridge shop? What’s there to cooperate on?”

“You know nothing!” Bai Zhijun shot his sister a look, boasting, “Just wait until after the holidays when the shop opens. You’ll see what it means to make money hand over fist every day!”

“Haha!” Bai Lingyue, amused by her brother, squinted as she laughed. “Brother, it’s been over a year since I last saw you, and now you can even use idioms?”

“Of course! Who isn’t cultured nowadays?”

“Haha… Then tell me, just how much is ‘hand over fist’?”

Bai Zhijun shot her a sidelong glance. “...Let’s go! Home!”

“Haha… Brother, tell me!”

After picking up the youngest of the Bai family, they returned home, then the three of them set out again.

Yang Qing and Bai Zhijun were off to buy groceries for a big meal, while Bai Lingyue tagged along out of curiosity, saying she wanted to get familiar with the area.

“Brother, where’s Sister-in-law and Xiaobai? Why aren’t they home? Xiaobai should be off today, right?” As they walked, Bai Lingyue looked around in wonder, suddenly recalling something and asking.

Bai Zhijun replied, “The kids went out to play. They’ll probably be back around five or six.”

“Oh, they went out to play? Where did they go?” Bai Lingyue was taken aback.

“Where did they go… I think… I actually don’t know,” Bai Zhijun was stumped by his sister’s question. Only now did it occur to him that while he knew the kids had gone out, he had no idea where they’d gone!

“Heh, you’re a real father!” Bai Lingyue shot back with a look of disdain, then glanced at Yang Qing, who was picking out vegetables with great care, and asked curiously, “Brother, what does Brother Qing do? He looks more professional at picking vegetables than Mom!”

“Heh…” Bai Zhijun sneered, “Want to know? Go ask him yourself!”

Bai Lingyue: …

You really are my brother! Did karma have to come around so quickly?

While the Bai siblings bantered, in the zoo, the three little girls were arguing in their sweet, childish voices.

“That’s a wolf! A big bad wolf that eats little bunnies!”

“Heeheehee… Xiaobai, you’re lying! Its fur is brown, not grey. It’s a big kitty! Big kitties don’t eat bunnies, bunnies are so cute!”

“Xier, that’s not a big kitty, it’s a leopard—a very fierce, fierce leopard. Don’t get so close!” Little Qiu’er’s face was taut as she grabbed the bouncing Xier to keep her back.

“It’s a big kitty!” Xier protested in her childish voice. “Qiu’er, we saw it in the cartoons!”

“Silly! It’s a big bad wolf!” Xiaobai insisted she wasn’t wrong.

“It really is a leopard, Xiaobai, Xier, look, it has lots of spots on its body. The leopards in the cartoons have lots of spots too,” Qiu’er pointed with her little hand at the animal strolling inside the iron fence.

The other two children looked closely, and sure enough, they saw the many spots.

Sigh…

In an instant, Xier lost her enthusiasm, her little face dejected as she muttered, “How is it a leopard? Why isn’t it a big kitty…”

Xiaobai was also frustrated, clutching her watermelon-shaped head. How could this be? She had even gone to kindergarten—how could she mistake it?

Impossible!

Still unconvinced, she asked, “Qiu’er, is it really a leopard and not a big bad wolf?”

“Heehee… Let’s go ask the older sisters,” Qiu’er grinned, then pulled her two friends over to Chunxia and Xia’er, who were reading a sign.

“Second Sister, is this a leopard?”

“It’s a big bad wolf!”

“No, it’s a big kitty!” Xier, feeling confident again, looked at Xia’er with bright eyes.

Xia’er was also confused by their barrage of questions. After a moment, she pointed at the sign, saying, “I don’t know these two characters either, but… it’s not a big bad wolf, nor a leopard, and certainly not a big kitty.”

“Huh!” The three little ones stared at her in disbelief, suspicion all over their wide eyes.

It was as if they were saying, “You don’t know the words—how do you know we’re wrong?”

You’re tricking us!

“Hehe…” Xia’er seemed to sense their doubt. She patted each of their heads and said calmly, “Even if I don’t know these two characters, I know the characters for cat, leopard, and wolf.”

“Huh.” Instantly, the expressions on their little faces froze.

This… was flawless logic.

“Haha…” Qin Xue and Tan Jiner, watching the three’s petrified expressions, couldn’t help but laugh.

“So… what animal is it, then?”

As the two women were laughing, a gentle voice sounded by their ears—it was Mama Bai.

Qin Xue and Tan Jiner exchanged bewildered looks, turning to Mama Bai, who smiled serenely, “I probably don’t know as many characters as Xia’er, and this is my first time at the zoo too.”

Silence. After a moment, Qin Xue gently took Mama Bai’s arm, her slender, fair hand immediately feeling the roughness of the other’s skin.

The touch reached her heart as well. Holding Mama Bai’s hand, she said softly, “It’s a lynx, a type of feline.”

Mama Bai seemed to sense something in Qin Xue. With her other hand, she patted Qin Xue’s hand gently and smiled, “Don’t mind these things. Life is good now. The hardships we endured before were so we could enjoy sweetness later.”

Mama Bai gazed ahead at Xiaobai, her eyes full of loving warmth as she said, “All parents are the same. It doesn’t matter what kind of food or water we have. What matters most is what our children eat and drink—they are their parents’ future.”

“Yes, all parents are great,” Qin Xue nodded softly in agreement. But as she looked at Qiu’er, Xia’er, and Chun’er holding little Dong’er’s hand, she fell silent.

Tan Jiner was silent too. For those like them, who had experienced a happy and complete family, parents truly were the greatest people in the world. But what about for Qiu’er and the others…

They didn’t even know who their parents were; in their lives, there was only their grandmother and older brother.

So… was it their birth parents who were great for giving them life, or was it their grandmother and older brother, who raised them, that deserved to be called great?

Perhaps… this was a question for them to answer themselves when they grew up.

“Heeheehee…” Just as the two women fell silent, a little one ran past them, laughing like the wind.

“Xier! Where are you running off to?” Tan Jiner snapped out of her thoughts with a start. She didn’t even need to look—just by the laughter, she knew it was her little sister, the ever-happy Tan Xier.

“Whoosh!” Xier skidded to a stop, then “swished” back to Tan Jiner’s side, pointing excitedly down a small path. “Sister! Look, what’s in that big brother’s cage? It’s so cute! Let’s hurry and catch up for a look!”

Tan Jiner followed Xier’s pointing finger, and her eyes lit up, “It’s a red panda! So cute!”

“Heeheehee… Isn’t it, Sister? Isn’t it adorable? Heeheehee… Let’s go see the red panda!”

With her sister agreeing, Xier was so happy she could take flight. Laughing, she grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her along.

“Wow! It’s really cute! Sister, let’s go see!”

At this moment, Qiu’er and Xiaobai also joined Xier, their little mouths agape with delight.

“All right, let’s go see the red panda,” Tan Jiner said with a smile. Truth be told, she was looking forward to seeing the national treasure as well.