Chapter Seventy-One: Debate

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Bai Zhijun's younger sister was named Bai Lingyue, and she had a youthful and delicate beauty. She wore light blue jeans and a short-sleeved T-shirt, her hair tied back in a ponytail, giving her an artistic air.

By her feet sat a pink suitcase, and a yellow backpack was slung over her shoulder. The moment she saw Bai Zhijun, her eyes sparkled with excitement and affection as she called “Brother!” and gave him a sweet hug.

Standing nearby, Yang Qing watched the two with amazement.

"Are you sure you two have the same mother? How did all the good genes end up with just one of you? Shouldn’t they be more evenly shared?"

“What’s with that look?” Bai Zhijun caught Yang Qing’s odd expression, as if he’d heard the silent complaint in his heart. He glared and said, “Why would a man like me need to be so good-looking? Come on, let’s get the stuff and go home!”

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

“Brother Qing!” Bai Lingyue called out sweetly as instructed, then leaned close to Bai Zhijun and whispered, “Brother, what big business are you running now? You have a partner and everything.”

“I opened a porridge shop,” Bai Zhijun replied, slightly smug.

“Pfft!” Bai Lingyue couldn’t help but laugh. “You need a partner just to open a porridge shop? What do you even partner on?”

“You don’t know a thing!” Bai Zhijun shot her a look and boasted, “Wait until after the festival when my porridge shop opens. I’ll show you what it means to rake in money every day!”

“Ha!” Bai Lingyue laughed, her eyes crinkling. “Brother, it’s been over a year since I last saw you, and now you’re using idioms.”

“Of course! I’m an educated man now!”

“Haha... Then tell me, how much is a ‘dou’ of gold?”

Bai Zhijun rolled his eyes. “...Let’s go! Home now!”

“Haha... Come on, just tell me~”

They picked up Bai Lingyue and headed back to the alley, then set out again. Yang Qing and Bai Zhijun went to buy groceries, preparing for a feast, while Bai Lingyue tagged along, eager to get to know the neighborhood.

“Brother, where’s Sister-in-law and Xiaobai? Why aren’t they home? Xiaobai should have the day off today, right?”

Curiosity bright in her eyes, Bai Lingyue suddenly remembered to ask.

“They went out to play. Probably won’t be back until five or six,” Bai Zhijun replied.

“Huh? Out to play? Where did they go?” Bai Lingyue asked, surprised.

“Where... um, actually, I’m not sure.” Bai Zhijun was stumped by his little sister’s question. Only now did he realize he had no idea where the kids had gone—just that they’d gone out to have fun!

“Wow, what a responsible dad,” Bai Lingyue retorted disdainfully, then turned to watch Yang Qing picking vegetables and asked with interest, “Brother, what exactly does Brother Qing do? He picks vegetables better than Mom.”

“Heh...” Bai Zhijun snorted. “Want to know? Ask him yourself!”

Bai Lingyue: ...

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

While the Bai siblings bantered, inside the zoo, three little girls were also bickering in their childish voices.

“That’s a wolf! A big grey 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 too cute!”

“Xier, that’s not a big kitty—it’s a leopard, a very fierce leopard. Don’t get too close.” Little Qiuer, her face tense, pulled back the eager Xier.

“It’s a big kitty!” Xier argued, voice high and bright. “Qiuer, we saw it in cartoons!”

“Silly! It’s a big grey wolf!” Xiaobai insisted she was right.

“It really is a leopard, Xiaobai, Xier. Look, it has lots of spots—leopards in cartoons have spots, too.” Qiuer pointed to the animal pacing behind the iron bars.

The other two girls peered carefully, and sure enough, they saw all the spots.

A sigh...

Xier instantly deflated, her little face full of disappointment. “How can it be a leopard? Why not a big kitty...”

Xiaobai was also frustrated, scratching her round haircut. How could she have gotten it wrong? She’d been to kindergarten—how could she make such a mistake?

Impossible!

She hesitated, unconvinced. “Qiuer, are you sure it’s a leopard and not a big grey wolf?”

“Heehee... Why don’t we ask the big sisters?” Qiuer beamed, then took the hands of her two companions and ran over to Chunxia and Xia, who were reading the sign.

“Second Sister, is this a leopard?”

“It’s a big grey wolf!”

“No, it’s a big kitty!” Xier, feeling confident again, gazed at Xiaer with wide, expectant eyes.

Xiaer was thrown off by the barrage of questions. After a moment, she pointed at the sign, “I don’t know these two characters, but... it’s not a wolf, or a leopard, and definitely not a kitty.”

“Huh?”

The three little ones stared at her, eyes wide with disbelief.

As if to say, If you can’t read the sign, how do you know we’re wrong? You’re tricking us!

Xiaer seemed to read the suspicion in their eyes. She patted each of their heads in turn and said calmly, “I might not know these two characters, but I do know the words for cat, leopard, and wolf.”

Speechless, the three girls’ faces froze in astonishment.

That was flawless logic!

Off to the side, Qin Xue and Tan Jiner couldn’t help but laugh at their petrified little faces.

“So... what animal is it, then?” Their laughter was interrupted by a quiet voice—Mother Bai.

Qin Xue and Tan Jiner both looked at her in surprise. Mother Bai smiled and said frankly, “I probably know even fewer words than Xiaer. This is my first time at a zoo, too.”

After a brief silence, Qin Xue gently took Mother Bai’s arm. Her slender, fair hand was met with rough warmth. The touch reached her heart, and she held Mother Bai’s hand softly, saying, “It’s a lynx—a kind of feline.”

Mother Bai seemed to sense Qin Xue’s emotion. She patted Qin Xue’s hand with her other hand and smiled, “Don’t worry about these things. Life is good now. The hardships of the past make the sweetness of the future worthwhile.”

She looked ahead at Xiaobai, her eyes full of loving warmth. “All parents are the same. It doesn’t matter what kind of food or water we ourselves have. The most important thing is what our children eat and drink—they are our future.”

“Mm. All parents are great,” Qin Xue nodded gently. Yet, as she looked at Qiuer, Xiaer, and Chun’er holding Dong’er’s hand, she fell silent.

Tan Jiner was silent too. For those who had grown up in a happy, intact family, parents truly were the greatest people in the world. But for Qiuer and the others...

They didn’t even know who their parents were. In their lives, there was only Grandma and their brother.

So, was it their birth parents who were great, or Grandma and their brother, who raised them with love?

Perhaps... that was a question for them to answer when they grew up.

“Heeheehee...” 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 reverie. She didn’t even need to look—the laughter was enough to know it was her little sister, the ever-cheerful Tan Xier.

Xier stopped abruptly, then spun back to her sister, pointing down a path and bouncing with excitement. “Sister! Look, what’s in that big brother’s cage? It’s so cute, let’s hurry and see!”

Tan Jiner followed her gaze, and her eyes lit up. “It’s a red panda! So adorable!”

“Heeheehee... Right, Sister? Isn’t it cute? Let’s hurry and see the red panda!”

With her sister’s agreement, Xier nearly flew with joy, pulling her sister along.

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

Now Qiuer and Xiaobai had joined Xier, their little mouths wide with wonder.

“Alright, let’s go see the red panda,” Tan Jiner agreed with a smile. Truth be told, she was pretty excited to see a national treasure herself.