Chapter 17: A Cuteness That Can Rule the World

After lying in the hospital for another two days, Dongri was finally discharged after his fever subsided.

The examination results remained unchanged. There were no significant issues, only prior malnutrition and mild anemia.

Just before his discharge, his parents took him to the psychiatry department for a while, where he chatted with a stranger doctor.

Dongri faced numerous questions, leaving him completely confused. He answered honestly when he could and blinked, acting cute when he couldn’t. He had no idea why he was there.

However, he noticed that Dong Mian was very serious, taking notes the entire time.

Then, in the days that followed, he began to feel unhappy.

To be precise, he hadn’t been truly happy since he was hospitalized.

The reason was simple.

He hadn’t eaten a satisfying meal of meat since.

It was hard to go from extravagance to frugality.

He had survived the days when he was almost starving to death before, but now that he had tasted the deliciousness of meat and fish, going back to a bland diet was doubly painful.

Although he wasn’t picky and could eat anything, he also had certain foods that he particularly enjoyed.

These days, he just wanted to eat some heavily flavored meat.

Braised pork belly, braised pork knuckle, soybeans stewed with pig trotters, heavily sauced and cooked until the skin was sticky and tender.

He just wanted to mix rice with meat sauce.

White, clean, moderately moist, and plump grains of rice, drizzled with a few spoonfuls of hot, fragrant sauce. He could eat several bowls of it.

He also wanted to drink sweet, cold, fizzy soda.

Preferably Coke or Sprite, but fruit-flavored sparkling water would also work.

A bite of tender, melt-in-your-mouth stewed meat, a bite of rice mixed with rich sauce, and a sip of refreshing fizzy drink.

Just thinking about it made him so happy.

He excelled at savoring food and embracing life.

However, his Papa refused his request, saying that he should eat less fatty meat during this time and even less rice mixed with meat sauce, as it was nutritionally unbalanced and unhealthy.

Then he started giving him lean meat at every meal, accompanied by a generous portion of fresh vegetables.

He cleared out all the packaged snacks at home. If he wanted a snack, he could only have healthy whole grains and fruits.

No matter how accurate his snack radar was, it was useless if there were no snacks hidden at home.

There were no snacks left in the refrigerator.

Before, there would at least be some cake and ice cream, but because Dongri wasn’t tall enough, he couldn’t reach them even if he wanted to eat them, and he still needed his parents to give them to him.

Now, it had reached the point where Dongri was utterly heartbroken. The refrigerator was empty, except for the fresh ingredients that were eaten every day.

It was too difficult.

Every day, he had carrots, white radishes, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, spinach, and greens in rotation.

Even the meat was only dry lean meat, and the seasoning was kept as light as possible.

Who could stand it?

The little glutton baby really couldn’t stand it.

He had to eat meat.

The strong and powerful little glutton baby surely had to eat meat.

Baby Dongri felt that it was too hard for him.

He had eaten his favorite strawberries and cantaloupe to the point of disenchantment these days, and didn’t want to eat another bite.

To satisfy his appetite, the little guy even set his sights on Yin Tian’s dessert shop.

He was best at stealing food.

He pretended to wander around the store, but in reality, he was constantly observing the terrain and formulating a battle plan in his mind.

Taking advantage of someone opening the door of the bread cabinet, he quickly flashed to the side, suddenly stood on tiptoe, and desperately reached up—

Ooh.

He couldn’t reach it.

Being short was a fatal flaw. No matter how hard he tried to reach and stand on tiptoe, the closest bread seemed to be miles away.

But it didn’t matter.

Short babies also had their own goals and pride. No matter what method he used, he had to reach one today.

Dongri desperately reached, desperately stood on tiptoe.

He used all his strength, so much so that the features on his little face were almost distorted, and then—

Yin Tian grabbed his clothes and lifted him.

The store had the heating on, so the little guy had taken off his cotton-padded coat. He was also wearing overalls underneath, which made it especially convenient to lift him.

“What are you doing? Trying to steal bread?”

Yin Tian lifted the child as if he were lifting a kitten. Even if the child struggled in mid-air, his strong arms remained steady.

“…”

The little guy felt extremely embarrassed that he had failed to steal food and was caught on the spot.

Usually, he would have been too ashamed to lift his head and would have quickly found a hidden corner to hide in.

But now he needed snacks too much.

So he bravely broke through his inner limits, endured his fear of Yin Tian and his guilt for doing something bad, and looked at Yin Tian with longing eyes, begging, “…Please, please, give baobao, eat one…”

“…”

This—

This??!!

This was truly heartbreaking and hard to refuse.

He didn’t know where the little guy had learned it from, but he had to admit that he was adorable beyond words, cute to the point of earth-shattering.

Yin Tian looked at the little guy in his hand and couldn’t bring himself to refuse for a moment.

In his eyes, the little guy’s existence had always been a nuisance.

He didn’t understand anything and was unable to do anything.

He was just clingy and annoying, and needed to be taken care of everywhere.

He also occupied most of the little immortal’s time, greatly hindering his plan to tease and win over the little immortal.

But after living together for a long time, it seemed that he had unconsciously become accustomed to accepting it.

In every moment when he was charmed by the little guy, he couldn’t help but soften his heart.

It was truly an unprecedented feeling.

He took another look at the little guy in his hand.

His eyes were large, clear, and bright, sparkling like water. His face was soft and tender, and his skin resembled boiled glutinous rice dumplings.

His lips were thin and pink, and the corners of his mouth turned down, overflowing with a pitiful and wronged innocence.

Cute.

A cuteness certified by the iron-blooded great demon, a cuteness that could rule the world.

Yin Tian closed his eyes and still let reason control his brain. “Do you think you can eat it?”

“…”

Not getting Yin Tian’s direct agreement was already a very terrifying thing for Dongri.

With his personality, he would have been frightened and wouldn’t have dared to ask a second time.

But the tempting bread and cakes were right in front of him, and the aroma was constantly wafting into his nose.

How could Dongri give up?

The little guy also went all out, mustered his courage again, blinked his big eyes full of longing, and sent a pleading light wave to Yin Tian: “…Baobao, just eat one, can eat… Please, help me…”

Please, help me.

They weren’t rare or profound words, just a few words that were commonly used everywhere.

But when they were spoken from the little guy’s mouth, they had a different kind of fun.

Where did he learn it from?

After another three seconds of eye contact, Yin Tian rarely took the initiative to admit defeat: “…Okay, okay, then eat one.”

He had to add, “Eat it secretly, don’t let your Papa know.”

Then, in the little guy’s uneasy and nervous eyes, a brilliant highlight instantly appeared. He shook his body in Yin Tian’s hand, and the tone of his voice became sweet.

“Thank, thank you… Uh, thank you!”

It was still too hot to call Yin Tian “Daddy” directly, and baby Dongri couldn’t say it.

After his tongue and teeth fought back and forth, he finally called out a respectful “you.”

Yin Tian thought he wouldn’t mind this anymore, but he minded it even more now.

His feelings about this had also changed.

Before, he didn’t like being treated differently, because in the little guy’s eyes, he was simply a fierce villain.

It now appeared that he genuinely wanted to transform his image in the little guy’s heart, as well as their relationship.

Because the little guy was always acting cute to him.

The frustrating part was that he was truly charmed.

Yin Tian just carried the little guy like this and moved the cabinet door with one hand: “Then what do you want to eat? Choose one yourself.”

He added again: “Don’t tell your Papa, okay?”

“Yes, yes, baobao knows!”

He responded very seriously and sincerely, but in reality, his soul had flown into the cabinet, and he had already started choosing bread.

This dessert shop mainly sells chocolate products.

The reason was simple.

There were enough colors and depths, and Yin Tian preferred dark chocolate because it was bitter and convenient for making dark shapes.

Unlike Dong Mian’s goal, Yin Tian agreed to open the store purely with the hope that it would close down soon.

The employees were hired casually, their skills were mediocre, and their attitude towards customers was also mediocre. They usually only made some monster shapes, as if they were always celebrating Halloween.

But the result was that it inexplicably became successful.

Due to its unique shapes and distinctive style, it was fortunate enough to become a minor hit on the internet, attracting many consumers to check in.

Yin Tian thought that the bitter and unpalatable dark chocolate had directly become mellow and rich, not sweet or greasy, and more popular with consumers.

The employees’ attitude towards customers was mediocre, and their skills were not excellent; however, they were very careful and serious about the products and genuinely enjoyed creating one unusual shape after another.

Instead, it became a store with attitude and pursuit.

To further deteriorate the business, Yin Tian began to follow the trend and launched numerous popular internet products.

That was the cabinet that Dongri was facing.

Strawberry mille-feuille tart, caramel egg tart, and chocolate tart.

Caramel nut croissant, sea salt almond cream croissant.

Butter pineapple bun, nut cheese bun.

Butterfly mille-feuille pastry, milk-flavored crisps, cheese shortbread cookies.

However, upon closer inspection, the display proved to be quite beautiful, and it had a very fragrant scent.

Not to mention that the little guy in his hand couldn’t make a decision and looked like he wanted to eat everything, even Yin Tian was about to have the desire to buy something.

Was this reasonable?

Yin Tian couldn’t help but frown. Could it be that he had allowed the chef to develop freely and never interfered, and as a result, the chef’s skills had improved?

Damn it.

He thought, why hadn’t the business gotten worse recently, but had gotten better and better?

It was simply too unreasonable.

Yin Tian urged the little guy in his hand: “Okay, hurry up and choose one. Which one do you want to eat?”

Dongri couldn’t choose at all.

Each one looked good, and he wanted to eat each one. Even if he ate one of each, he could completely eat it all.

“Uh…”

Choosing this one made him reluctant to give up the other, and selecting the other made him unable to let go of this one. The little glutton baby was highly distressed.

If he could choose a cabinet, that would be great.

Then he wouldn’t have to be so conflicted.

“Choose quickly, the faster you choose, the faster you can eat,” Yin Tian said. “Otherwise, your Papa will come over, and you won’t have this opportunity.”

“…Uh!”

The distressed choice became an anxious and distressed choice.

However, after examining all the products, he still couldn’t make a decision.

The gluttonous little baby was very anxious and ultimately made a rather presumptuous decision.

“…Baobao wants them all!”

Because he didn’t understand the limits of being presumptuous, he had no limits at all and asked for everything.

Yin Tian almost laughed out loud.

He thought that the little guy’s appetite was too big. How dare he ask for everything?

“…Please, please…”

But when he met the pitiful pleading eyes, he really couldn’t say no.

The iron-blooded great demon was unwilling to believe that he would compromise, and had already begun to back down: “…Okay, okay, then I’ll let you take two.”