Chapter 85: My Daughter Is the Hope to Save the White Rhino Brand

As they ate, Lu Yuanqiu finally couldn't help but speak up.

"You should eat too. Don’t just feed your father. He knows how to use chopsticks—I saw him use them in the hospital."

Lu Yuanqiu had noticed that Bai Qingxia kept holding a bowl and feeding her father with chopsticks, without taking a single bite herself. She had even taken out a new bowl, picking a little of each dish from the edges and placing them in it, then sat by her father’s side to feed him. It was as if the four dishes and soup on the table were prepared solely for Lu Yuanqiu, and neither she nor her father were worthy of sitting at the table.

This feeling made Lu Yuanqiu rather uncomfortable.

He was a guest, true, but not so distinguished as to warrant such treatment!

Bai Qingxia spoke up, embarrassed, "If my father eats by himself, he misbehaves. He’ll use his chopsticks to grab at everything, and food ends up all over the table..."

"So what?" Lu Yuanqiu replied. "I don’t mind at all. This is your house! Even if he put chopsticks in my face, I wouldn’t care! Both of you come and sit at the table and eat. What is this, letting me eat alone?"

Bai Qingxia pressed her lips together and compromised, "Alright then."

Three minutes later, the scene had changed.

Uncle Bai, hunched over, was entirely focused on trying to pinch Lu Yuanqiu’s nose with his chopsticks, as if it were some rare delicacy.

Lu Yuanqiu was speechless.

I was just being polite. Did he really go for my face with the chopsticks?

Bai Qingxia hurried over to stop her father, lowering his arm sternly. "You can’t do that!"

Uncle Bai glanced timidly at his daughter, then obediently returned to his seat, holding his chopsticks and bowl like a child who’d done something wrong.

"Xiaxia, don’t be mad..." he pleaded in a childlike voice, head bowed.

This time, Bai Qingxia ignored him and just glared.

Lu Yuanqiu stared blankly at the father and daughter, not stepping in to mediate, because he suddenly found Bai Qingxia’s angry face very cute, her cheeks flushed and round.

Turns out she’s only not cute when she glares at me. When she glares at others in front of me, it’s actually quite pleasing.

"Don’t do it again next time, alright?" Bai Qingxia said.

Lu Yuanqiu immediately raised his hand, "Alright, alright. I won’t dare do it again."

Bai Qingxia looked at him in surprise, apologizing quietly, "I wasn’t talking to you..."

Lu Yuanqiu smiled, "I know. Don’t scold your father too much, he can’t tell right from wrong. He just tried to pinch my nose, it’s harmless—not like he went for my eyes."

As soon as he finished, Lu Yuanqiu seemed to realize something, and reflexively raised a leg and covered his eyes, worried that if he spoke too much, Uncle Bai might actually try to grab his eyes with the chopsticks.

But Uncle Bai didn’t move.

Bai Qingxia just stared at Lu Yuanqiu in confusion, not understanding what he was doing.

"Uh, let’s eat," Lu Yuanqiu muttered, toes curling in embarrassment as he lowered his head.

...

After the meal, Bai Qingxia went to the corridor to wash the dishes, while Lu Yuanqiu sat at the bedside talking to Uncle Bai.

There wasn’t much to talk about; Lu Yuanqiu simply treated him like a child of five or six.

"Uncle, look—how many is this?" Lu Yuanqiu held up two fingers.

"That’s not a chicken, that’s a duck! Under the bridge in front of the door, a flock of ducks swims by! Come count, come and count..." Uncle Bai suddenly started singing a nursery rhyme.

Lu Yuanqiu listened to the childish song and sighed, lowering his hand.

Before he knew who the man in overalls was related to, he’d only found his silly manner endearing. But after learning he was Bai Qingxia’s father, Lu Yuanqiu felt only a heavy sadness. For years, Bai Qingxia had cared for her father as if he were her own child.

Lost in thought, Lu Yuanqiu turned to look at Uncle Bai, whose singing had stopped abruptly, without warning.

For a moment, it was as if he’d returned to normal, his expression regaining the maturity of a middle-aged man. Uncle Bai stared intently at the air behind Lu Yuanqiu, then spoke slowly, his voice now deep and steady:

"Lao Zheng, my daughter is the only hope for saving the White Rhino brand."

Lu Yuanqiu froze, instantly sobering at those words.

He glanced behind him—no one was there. He looked back at Uncle Bai.

"Uncle? Did you just... Uncle, are you back to normal?" Lu Yuanqiu asked, gently shaking his shoulder.

Uncle Bai swayed a bit, then turned to Lu Yuanqiu, his face quickly breaking into a childish grin. "Come and count! Two, four, six, seven, eight! Quack quack, so many ducks!"

Lu Yuanqiu sighed and joined in, "So many you can’t count them all..."

His uncle seemed muddled once again.

Or perhaps he’d never been lucid—maybe that was simply a fleeting moment of clarity, and he’d spoken the words that weighed most heavily on his heart before he’d lost his mind.

Lu Yuanqiu sat back down, pondering that single sentence.

Who was Lao Zheng? Why was Bai Qingxia the hope for saving the White Rhino brand?

When could those words have been said?

Did Bai Qingxia know the so-called secret formula?

But she didn’t even know her father had founded the White Rhino brand.

Lu Yuanqiu’s head was spinning. As he pondered, Bai Qingxia came in, shaking water from her hands.

He asked immediately, "Does your father ever talk seriously and say strange things?"

Bai Qingxia paused, then nodded.

"What does he say?"

"Nothing much. It’s all jumbled, nothing important. He’s always been like this. What he says never makes sense," she replied earnestly, folding her hands in front of her.

"Have you ever eaten White Rhino instant noodles?" Lu Yuanqiu pressed.

Bai Qingxia shook her head.

She had never even tasted the instant noodles that were practically a household staple.

Lu Yuanqiu knew that after taking over his second uncle’s branch company, if the Lu family’s noodle business could get hold of White Rhino’s secret recipe, they could defeat White Rhino Foods at its core. Zhang Zhisheng would be completely crushed underfoot.

But he couldn’t tell whether Uncle Bai’s earlier words were nonsense, or a rare moment of clarity.

For now, Lu Yuanqiu decided to set the matter aside.

He turned to Bai Qingxia, "Don’t forget, I’ll come pick you up at the entrance to Gui Alley tomorrow afternoon."

The girl nodded softly.

Lu Yuanqiu smiled, "I saw the pictures at your bedside, but none of them are of you now. That won’t do. If you don’t leave yourself a photo at seventeen, you’ll regret it when you look back someday."

Bai Qingxia nodded again, then forced a shy smile.

She’d never had the chance to have her picture taken...

"Tomorrow when we go out, I’ll bring my camera and take some beautiful photos for you. Remember to smile a lot—it’ll make the pictures look better," Lu Yuanqiu said.

At the mention of photos, Bai Qingxia lifted her face, nervous and hesitant. "Take pictures...?"

(End of this chapter)