Who knew how long she had been standing there, but the ice cream had started to melt. Sticky pink liquid dripped down onto her small white fingers, making it look like some sort of new dessert topping.

“That’s for you,” Shen Ji said, refusing to take the cone.

“Yuanyuan hasn’t eaten yet, so you eat first,” the stubborn little one insisted, ignoring the melting mess on her hands and holding the cone higher for him.

The melted ice cream was getting everywhere, and Shen Ji worried it would stain her expensive-looking clothes, so he quickly knelt down and took a bite.

Only then did he notice that the cone had two scoops, with an extra crisp wafer on top—clearly, the vendor had given them more than they paid for.

The crumpled cash he used to buy the ice cream was money he’d painstakingly saved for emergencies. He hadn’t thought much about the consequences when he handed it over earlier. Something about seeing Yuanyuan so eager for the strawberry ice cream made him want to give it to her.

As soon as Shen Ji took a bite, Yuanyuan eagerly dove in, taking a massive bite herself, nearly devouring a third of the cone in one go.

After taking her bite, she dutifully offered the cone back to Shen Ji for another round.

Staring at the mess, with melted ice cream dripping like something out of a horror movie, Shen Ji had no desire to continue eating.

“I don’t want any more; it’s all yours,” he insisted, firmly declining.

After pretending to offer it for a second longer, Yuanyuan, satisfied that Shen Ji really didn’t want any, polished off the entire ice cream in just a few more bites.

The ice cream was gone, but so were Yuanyuan’s clean clothes. Pink ice cream stains were splattered across her outfit, her hands, and even her face, which now resembled a little pink and white ball of fluff.

Shen Ji sighed, leading her over to a nearby water tap to wash her sticky hands and face. He even tried to clean the worst of the stains from her clothes.

Just as Yuanyuan was basking in the afterglow of her delicious ice cream, a deep voice boomed from somewhere nearby: “Yuanyuan, come back! It’s time for lunch!”

It was her father!

Yuanyuan looked left, then right—there was no sign of him anywhere.

“Look at your hand,” the voice continued.

The voice was coming from her watch!

Yuanyuan stared at her wrist in awe, eyes wide as saucers, glancing all around the device. “Daddy, how are you talking from inside the watch?”

“Can you find your way back?” Yu Jinxiao ignored her childish question, his tone firm.

“Yes, I can!”

“Then come back right now; it’s lunchtime. If you don’t hurry, the food will be gone.”

“?!” Upon hearing that her beloved food might disappear, Yuanyuan nearly panicked.

She’d spotted all of her favorites earlier—cakes, bread, snacks, fruit, hamburgers—so many delicious things she hadn’t gotten the chance to eat yet!

“Brother Shen Ji, we need to run!” She tugged at Shen Ji’s hand, her voice urgent, before charging off like a wild little bull, following the scent of food with all her might. “If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss it!”

In all the time Shen Ji had known Yuanyuan, he’d never seen her this flustered. For a moment, he thought something serious had happened.

But when they arrived at a group of unfamiliar people, and Yuanyuan began force-feeding him snacks, he quickly realized how absurd his earlier assumption had been.

Serious?

To Yuanyuan, food was the most serious matter of all!

“Brother Shen Ji, this is my daddy,” Yuanyuan introduced, her mouth still stuffed with food. “Daddy, this is brother Shen Ji.”

Just as she finished speaking, Yuanyuan suddenly froze, her eyes wide. In her shock, a piece of bread fell from her mouth.

Wait… what if Daddy and brother Shen Ji meeting… led to trouble?