If a child wakes up in the middle of the night and cries, it might be because of discomfort or some other reason.

If they don’t cry, they’re usually fine and will fall back asleep after playing for a bit.

Bai Ji didn’t plan to pick her up.

She just had to hold on a little longer, wait until Little Baiguo fell back asleep.

Before long, Little Baiguo sat up, turned around, and laid down on Bai Ji’s side.

Bai Ji almost blew her cover.

Her little lazybones didn’t cling to her during the day, but at night, she was so attached, waking up and wanting to snuggle up to her.

Just as she was about to hold her little princess, she froze.

“Pia—”

The sound came right next to Bai Ji’s ear.

Little Baiguo’s tiny fist landed squarely on Lin Yongcheng’s face.

After hitting bad daddy, she was content.

Now he probably wouldn’t dare appear in her dreams again, right?

Even if he did, it didn’t matter—she’d hit him again!

Little Baiguo skillfully laid back down and immediately fell asleep, successfully driving away the nightmare and turning it into a pleasant dream full of delicious food, which made her mouth water.

Bai Ji: “!!!!!!”

She was stunned!

She had thought Lin Yongcheng was just making things up about her hitting people at night, but it turned out he wasn’t lying!

—She really did hit him!!

If she hadn’t been woken up by the need to pee, she would have never known that her little princess actually sat up and hit her dad in the middle of the night.

Little Baiguo wasn’t even one yet—who would believe it?

In the dim light of the night, her little girl hit him with perfect accuracy, right in the face.

It was clear she wasn’t a first-time offender.

She was definitely a repeat offender!

The thing was, she was so small, who would suspect her?

So, the blame fell on Bai Ji.

Bai Ji, half-amused and half-pained, thought about it—she’d been sleeping next to Little Baiguo all night, while Lin Yongcheng was farther away.

Yet, Little Baiguo still chose to hit him instead of her.

Shouldn’t she feel a bit touched?

Little Baiguo was like a little lazybones; she’d rather go through the effort of hitting Lin Yongcheng than hit her mom.

She must really, really like her mom, right?

Lin Yongcheng was woken up again.

He opened his eyes in the darkness, then turned over, staring at the shadow next to him.

Lin Yongcheng sighed in resignation.

Bai Ji hit people at night, and he told her about it, but she wouldn’t admit it.

But now that he had woken her up to talk about it, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Well, whatever, it wasn’t the first time he’d been hit.

He’d just bear it!

It was just a hit, not that painful.

He closed his eyes again, preparing to go back to sleep.

But then, Bai Ji whispered, “Are you awake? Don’t say anything yet.”

Lin Yongcheng opened his eyes, about to say something, but Bai Ji stopped him. “Don’t speak, wait a few more minutes.”

Little Baiguo seemed to be asleep, but Bai Ji wasn’t fully sure, so she decided to wait a few minutes to confirm that she was really sound asleep before talking to Lin Yongye.

Tonight’s discovery was too shocking.

If she hadn’t heard it with her own ears, Bai Ji would never have believed it.

Lin Yongcheng pinched her gently under the covers.

The previous time, she had accidentally hit him in her sleep, but what was happening tonight? Was it on purpose?

If it was on purpose, that was a bit much!

Bai Ji told him to wait a few minutes, so he did, but he definitely planned to talk to her about it.

A few minutes later, Bai Ji felt that Little Baiguo was really asleep and wouldn’t wake up again. She whispered, “Don’t rush, wait a few more minutes, I’m about to burst.”

Lin Yongye: “…”

Fine, he’d wait. But this matter had to be cleared up tonight.

The potty was behind the door. Bai Ji got up, put on her clothes, and went to the door. After she finished, she climbed back into bed and sighed deeply. “You probably won’t believe this, but if I hadn’t been woken up by the need to pee, I wouldn’t have believed it either.”

“Don’t talk about that.” Lin Yongcheng had already decided that she had purposely hit him.

“Bai Xiaoji, tonight you went too far. In the past, when you accidentally woke me up by hitting me, I forgave you. But tonight, you were awake, and you purposely hit me? Tell me clearly, what are you upset about? Why hit me in the middle of the night?”

A series of questions came at her.

Bai Ji couldn’t help but laugh.

“You did get hit, but the one who hit you wasn’t me.”

“There are only the three of us in the room. If it wasn’t you hitting me, then it must’ve been Bai Guo?” Lin Yongcheng questioned.

He couldn’t believe Little Baiguo had hit him.

She was usually too lazy to move. Plus, he was farther away from her; if she wanted to hit someone, she should have hit Bai Ji.

“Exactly, it was Little Bai Gou who hit you!”

Lin Yongye: “???”

He was filled with question marks. How could she even say that? He couldn’t believe it, and he was sure she didn’t believe it either.

“Bai Xiaoji, do you have no shame? You’re letting Bai Bao take the blame for you? Tomorrow morning, when we talk to your parents, do you think they’ll believe you?”

“I’m not joking, it’s true.”

“I don’t believe it. Don’t say nonsense.” Lin Yongcheng refused to believe it.

Saying that Little Baiguo hit him was too absurd. He still remembered the first time he’d been hit, when they were living in Shanglin Daqi. Little Baiguo had been so small back then.

Now, she was a few months older.

Fish could tempt her to sit up, but he was supposed to be more attractive than fish?

It wasn’t that Lin Yongcheng looked down on himself, but he really thought he wasn’t the one who would catch her attention.

Anyway, it couldn’t have been Little Baiguo who hit him.

After a pause, Lin Yongcheng said again, “You need to understand, this isn’t the first time the little girl hit me. How old is she? She’s so slow at everything, how could she possibly commit the perfect crime every time? You know how alert I am, but I’ve never caught her once.”

Seeing that he wasn’t believing her, Bai Ji suddenly turned and grabbed his neck.

She half-lay on top of him, speaking in a very serious tone, “I’m not joking with you, and I won’t joke about the child.”

Lin Yongcheng’s smile faded.

Bai Ji continued, “If I hadn’t caught her hitting you, I wouldn’t have believed it either. But the fact is, she hit you once, then immediately went back to sleep.”

“Before we moved, she hit me too. What do you say about that?”

Bai Ji: “…”

Wait… how old was Xiao Bai Guo before we moved?

She really couldn’t explain it clearly. After all, back then, Xiao Bai Guo was so lazy, she wouldn’t even turn over, so how could she have gotten up in the middle of the night to hit him?

Bai Ji finally released Lin Yongcheng, feeling defeated as she lay back, staring blankly upwards. “If you don’t believe it, that’s fine. One day, you’ll catch her yourself.”

If he didn’t believe it, it didn’t matter. After all, she wasn’t the one getting hit.

Bai Ji didn’t want to deal with him anymore.

Lin Yongcheng immediately retorted, “Impossible. Our little girl loves her daddy the most. Don’t think that just because she doesn’t call me, she doesn’t like me. She’s saving the best for last.”

“Okay, you’re the best.”

“…”

Bai Ji’s response was too quick, too obviously dismissive, and Lin Yongcheng didn’t feel comforted.

He had to comfort himself, “Our little girl takes after me. I like to save the best for last. She doesn’t call me because she wants me to spend more time with her.”

Bai Ji said, “As long as you’re happy.”

…

The next morning, at breakfast, Li Qiurong noticed the strange atmosphere between Bai Ji and Lin Yongcheng and asked, “Did you two have a fight?”

Bai Ji gave Lin Yongcheng a glance, too lazy to respond.

Lin Yongcheng rubbed his nose, “It’s just a small thing, no conclusion.”

They both chose to keep silent about what happened last night.

Mainly because they couldn’t agree on it, with Lin Yongcheng insisting Bai Ji was the one who hit him. If Bai Ji had said Xiao Bai Guo got up in the middle of the night to hit her dad, Li Qiurong and Bai Shu would definitely scold her.

What should she do? She could only take the blame.

One day, the “little culprit” would be caught, and when that time came, she would personally clear her name and strangle Lin Yongcheng for wronging her, especially since he was so stubborn about it!

Just wait, he kept saying the little girl loved him the most.

Bah! If she loved him, would she get up in the middle of the night to hit him?

He should reflect on when he had offended the little girl.

Li Qiurong glanced at her daughter and son-in-law but didn’t ask further.

Marital matters were for them to solve themselves.

The “little culprit” drank her milk, oblivious to the undercurrents between her parents. She glanced at them, then calmly looked away.

Before leaving, Bai Ji pinched Xiao Bai Guo’s cheek.

“Before you get caught, you need to eat more, get fatter. That way, when your dad hits you, the fat will cushion the blow.”

Xiao Bai Guo looked up in confusion, what did that mean? Bad daddy was going to hit her?

She turned to look at Lin Yongcheng.

I heard you want to hit Fish Fish? And you want to fatten her up first?

Lin Yongcheng shot her a sideways glance, “You’re always badmouthing me in front of the kid.”

“You can’t hit your sister. You can’t bully her,” Xiao Zisu warned in a soft voice. “Dad, if you make your sister cry, you won’t be able to calm her down.”

Lin Yongcheng patted her on the head, “What are you believing? When have I ever hit our good girl? I haven’t even hit you, let alone our good girl.”

Xiao Zisu thought for a moment, and while Dad hadn’t hit her, Mom had.

She turned to Bai Ji and said, “Mom can’t hit her sister either!”

Bai Ji didn’t respond but gave her a look to let her figure it out.

Xiao Bai Guo was still looking at Lin Yongcheng, and he squatted in front of her, lightly patting her head, “Don’t worry, good girl. Daddy won’t hit you. You can have a little temper. If daddy hits you, you can hit him ten times back.”

Xiao Bai Guo nodded seriously.

This seemed fair—if she had to hit Daddy, she wouldn’t hold back.

One hit for ten was definitely a win for her!

“Good girl, don’t listen to them,” Bai Shu passed a spoonful of food to her mouth.

Xiao Bai Guo drank her milk, looking so obedient that Lin Yongcheng’s heart softened. How could such a good girl possibly hit him in the middle of the night?

Bai Ji, on the other hand, had a different expression.

It was nice to be the good baby, because no one would believe she was the culprit even if she did something bad, and they’d still think she was cute.

After Bai Ji and Lin Yongcheng went to work, Xiao Bai Guo lay on a blanket, listening to Xiao Zisu recite medical books. She was too lazy to sit up now.

The little fish in the jar no longer interested her. They were too small and couldn’t be eaten, so what was the point?

She used to like them because she could look but not eat. Now that she could drink fish soup, what was the point of keeping the little fish?

Xiao Bai Guo went back to her lazy, happy life.

…

Time flew, and the end of the year was approaching.

Xiao Bai Guo had successfully grown into a little chubby cub.

She wasn’t excessively fat, but her face had become round and looked really pinchable.

With only twenty days left until the New Year, the family was discussing the holiday plans.

The main question was where to spend the New Year.

Should they stay in the county town, or go to Shanglin Village?