Chapter 62: Sulking

Ever since they got back from his great-grandparents’ house, Dabao had been completely deflated. Even Cheng Hongying noticed how uncharacteristically quiet he was.

“What’s wrong with our Dabao?”

Dabao buried his face in Grandma’s arms, but even her familiar scent couldn’t comfort him this time.

He felt like she was the only one left in the world who might understand him. Full of injustice, he let out pitiful “ah ah ah” sounds for a long time. But he couldn’t explain anything, and the frustration brought tears streaming down his face.

Seeing him cry broke Cheng Hongying’s heart. She quickly wiped his tears. “Oh, my poor baby! Don’t cry now. Who bullied you? Was it your mom or your uncle?”

Qiu Yinuo immediately put some distance between herself and her mother. She wasn’t the one who did it, but she also hadn’t stopped it, which probably made her an accomplice in Dabao’s eyes.

Only Jinzi was still clueless about how serious the situation really was. He laughed loudly as he told the story of Grandpa tugging Dabao’s bird.

“Dabao must’ve been scared stiff. Maybe he thought Grandpa really ate his bird! Hahahahaha…” As he spoke, he reached out his hand. “Come on, little uncle will give your bird back!”

Cheng Hongying didn’t need to hear more. She smacked his hand hard. “Get lost, you idiot!”

Dabao had just calmed down, but that only made him cry harder, mouth wide open.

Evil little uncle!

He didn’t want to like little uncle anymore. Ever!

“Oh my darling, the wind’s strong today. Don’t cry, or you’ll get a stomachache from the cold.” Grandma gently pulled the blanket over his head, patting his back softly, her voice as tender as could be. “Dabao, don’t cry. Grandma will punish him for you. That useless little uncle, how dare he touch our Dabao’s little bird? Let’s beat him up and see if he still dares to laugh at you!”

Qiu Yinuo couldn’t help it anymore—she burst out laughing.

Oh god, could they stop being so ridiculous? She was laughing so hard tears were forming in her eyes.

Qiu Qianjin, who got caught in the crossfire, held her arm in pain. “Mom, why are you hitting me? It wasn’t me! It was Grandpa!”

“You should’ve stopped him! After all these years, Grandpa still hasn’t broken that bad habit. Dabao’s little bird is so delicate—what if he broke it?”

“Come on, Mom, don’t overreact. I got tugged like that for seven or eight years and I turned out fine. Why would one pinch ruin Dabao?”

“Your withered little thing is nothing like Dabao’s precious one!”

Qiu Yinuo cleared her throat twice. This mother-and-son banter was getting way off track. “Can you two not talk about this in front of the kids?”

“Dabao and Erbao are still babies—they don’t understand. No, I have to go check again. What if your Grandpa really did hurt him?”

Under the blanket, Dabao trembled. Why more checking?!

Back at home, Dabao received some very special attention from Comrade Cheng Hongying. His bare little bottom was thoroughly examined.

“Looks a little red. Maybe your grandpa’s hands weren’t clean.”

“That’s very possible.” How clean could an old man in a village be?

“His hands are like sandpaper. Next time something like this happens, stop him. Our Dabao really suffered today.”

“How am I supposed to stop him? He’s always had this weird habit of tugging little boys’ birds. I had to throw tantrums for years before he gave it up.”

Dabao, completely dead inside, lay flat on the bed. He didn’t even care that Aunt Qingqing had joined the observation team.

Once upon a time, he, Shao Xingchen, had been a legend in the entertainment industry—a living god, the dreamboat of countless older sisters.

And now? Reduced to this?

How had he fallen so low?

Qiu Yinuo had just helped Erbao with his potty needs. When she returned to the room and saw three little heads huddled together, she couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

How long were they going to keep staring at it? Was it really that fascinating?

She pushed the others aside and picked up Dabao. “It’s getting late. I’m going to wash Dabao and put him to bed.”

Dabao met his mother’s gaze, then turned his head away angrily.

Hmph!

This time, he was truly upset.

He was going to ignore her completely.

Qiu Yinuo raised an eyebrow. The boy was surprisingly stubborn.

“Alright, you go coax the kids to sleep. But don’t sleep yet, you still need to stay up for the New Year’s vigil. You can only go to bed after eating dumplings.” According to their tradition, staying up until midnight and eating dumplings was how they truly rang in the new year.

Qiu Yinuo ignored Dabao’s sulking face and carefully washed his face, hands, feet, and little bottom.

Being watched again made Dabao a little uncomfortable, and he wiggled his tiny butt.

With a light smack on his chubby bottom, she said, “You better behave. Such a little guy with such a big attitude.”

Qiu Yinuo decided she would have a proper talk with this little troublemaker later.

Back in the bedroom, she locked the door and brought both of her sons into the space.

3224 had been sprawled on the ground. Seeing the mother and sons enter, it suddenly sprang up, tumbled a few times from the force, then shook its head and trotted over.

“Host, I applied to the main system again and got lots of new features for lazy people—”

“We’ll talk about the binding system later. Right now, the three of us need to have a conversation.”

3224 looked mournfully at Erbao. “Wait for me! I want to listen too—”

Just as it spoke, the door to the library swung shut behind them, leaving it outside with no chance to slip in.

Furious, it kicked over a small tree, then rolled twice on the ground before finally calming down.

…

Qiu Yinuo set Erbao down, gave his little bottom a pat, and said, regardless of whether he understood, “Erbao, go play by yourself for a bit. Mommy needs to talk to your big brother.”

Before she could say anything more, Dabao started wiping his eyes, clearly upset.

[Bad mommy. You didn’t help me. If it weren’t for you and Erbao, would I have let that old man touch me without fighting back?]

Qiu Yinuo cleared her throat awkwardly. “That’s your great-grandfather. Um, how do I explain this… Actually, he really likes you. When you were little, didn’t any of your elders ever touch your earlobes or pinch your little nose? That’s how they show affection. It’s just… your great-grandfather’s way of showing love is a little… special.”

“I know you didn’t like it. Next time we meet, I will—”

[Never. That never happened.]

She paused. “What do you mean, never?”

[My whole family died. No one ever told me that was a way to show affection.]

Qiu Yinuo fell silent for a moment. Dabao had mentioned being an orphan before, and she’d deliberately avoided asking more, not wanting to bring up painful memories. Life was about moving forward, after all.

In this life, she was Dabao’s mother. She would give him everything she could.

But she had overlooked the fact that Dabao carried memories from a past life—ones that might even be considered traumatic.

“Dabao, can you tell me about your past life?”

[In my past life… you might have even seen news reports about my family.] He looked down, his voice low.

[Not long after I was born, there was a major earthquake. When the house collapsed, my parents and grandparents didn’t die immediately. They protected me. During the five long days of rescue, they took turns feeding me their blood just to keep me alive.]